The same attack again, the knife blade dangerously close now.

He struck out with his hand, and although she ducked, his hand caught in her necklace. Her neck stung when he pulled it loose.

“Look, a trophy,” he jeered, letting the necklace dangle from his fingers.

She saw him shift his weight, saw that he’d lost his concentration. In the same second, she took a step forward and made a violent attack, wrenching the knife from his hand, spinning around and striking his abdomen with full force.

The knife slid in, remained buried in his flesh.

Danilo was no longer smiling.

He froze.

She kicked with all her strength, hitting the bottom of his thigh. She mobilized her muscles and kicked again, yelling as she did so to summon all of her strength.

He staggered backward.

For a moment he stood absolutely still.

Everything was completely quiet.

Then he fell to his knees, holding both hands to his stomach, around the knife. He tried to brace himself against the pier but fell, crawling into the fetal position and coughing. Jana saw a streak of blood.

She was trembling from the exertion and forced herself to regain self-control. She went around him in a half circle, standing over him, and pulled out the bloody knife. He coughed up more blood.

“I hate you,” she said. “And I have longed for this moment, to finally say that to you.”

He tried to say something, his gaze toward the sky, but could only cough. Then she saw what he saw, a beam of light coming over the trees.

“Fuck, they’re already here,” he panted.

The muscles in her face tensed up and she vacillated between rage and controlled calm as she followed the light.

She left Danilo and went to the side of the pier, looking out over the waves, toward the bottom, but couldn’t see Isra anymore.

Then she heard the sound cutting through the icy air.

She knew she had to hurry, had to leave the pier and hide. She couldn’t be discovered. Not here, not with Danilo.

But he couldn’t stay, either.

It was possible that a lot of officers were approaching, that they were just about to occupy the area around the boathouse.

She turned around, squinting to see him.

But the pier was empty.

She didn’t see him anywhere.

She quickly went back toward the boathouse, running through the deep snow. She saw a string of blood and knew that Danilo had disappeared the same direction into the forest.

Only then did she think about the cold. It permeated her marrow, her legs, and made her reluctantly pull her shoulders up.

She stopped, holding her breath, and heard deep, rattling breaths, then a cough.

Then she saw him, just a few yards ahead of her, sliding down a cliff with one hand pressed to his stomach.

Right there, below the cliff, was a wooden boat.