The stand-off drew out. The rain poured across them from left to right like a wave, carrying a sweet smell of pine. The forest was a lush wall of green, dark on a dark sky, practically dipping its roots in the lake. The railroad tracks made parallel lines that seemed to meet at the horizon. Stride dug his feet in the gravel of the tracks, steadying himself. He pointed the barrel of his gun squarely at the man’s head, but all he saw was Cat’s face. Too close.

His eyes flicked behind him. Serena was twenty feet back, down on one knee, her gun also aimed at the man’s body.

‘Let the girl go!’ Stride shouted at him. ‘Put your gun on the ground, and put your hands up.’

The man gave no sign of surrendering. Trapped in the man’s arms, Cat used the heel of her shoe to hammer his shin, but her kicks did nothing to dislodge him. The man whispered in her ear, then moved the gun from the side of her head to the soft skin of her face, and she stopped struggling.

‘You can come out of this alive,’ Stride called. ‘If you put down your gun, no one’s going to shoot you.’

Stride watched the man’s stony face as he weighed his options. He was trapped, pinned down, with nowhere to run.

‘You want this girl alive,’ the man shouted to Stride.

‘I want everybody alive.’

‘Call off the dogs,’ he demanded. ‘Give me a way out of this.’

‘You have one way out. Put the gun down. Let the girl go.’

‘Are you ready to let this girl die? And her baby?’

Cat flailed again, erupting in fury, but he kept her locked in his grip. As she struggled, Stride noticed one thing that the man with the gun had missed. Cat’s hands were almost free. Their run through the woods had shredded the tape binding her wrists, and if she twisted hard, they’d come apart.

She knew it, too. He could see it in the blackness of her eyes. There was something in her face that he’d never seen before – something determined and violent. This man had threatened her child, and she was ready to fight back.

They were running out of time.

‘I want all of these cops out of here!’ the man shouted.

‘You can get a lawyer. You can do a deal with the feds. But not if you hurt the girl.’

‘As soon as I put down the gun, I’m dead. You think I don’t know that?’

He sounded like an animal backed against a wall, and Stride didn’t like it.

‘If you surrender, you’re safe. You have my word. No one’s going to shoot you.’

But the situation was spiraling out of control, and Stride couldn’t stop it.