“First we have to burn the wicker man. The gods will accept my offering and cure me. Evan will be saved.” Nathan nodded toward a post on the other side of the clearing. Oh, God. Evan was straining at the ropes that bound him to a post on the other side of the barnyard. Nathan took a match from the box. “Once the gods have rid my son of this curse, then we go off into the forest for the night. Just you and me.”

Mandy moved forward. “Wait.”

Nathan dropped the gas can and struck a match.

Danny crouched behind the barn. While Mandy ran headlong into the situation, he’d found cover and circled around. The dog lunged and whined.

“Sit.” He tugged on the leash. Honey sat, but her body quivered from nose to tail.

Danny peered around the corner. Nathan was standing next to the giant wooden man. Inside the structure, people in cages screamed. Nathan’s eyes had gone from crazy to don’t-drink-the-Kool-Aid. Gas cans littered the ground at his feet. He held a book of matches in his hand.

The scene shifted. The barnyard faded into a dusty Iraqi street. Danny’s nose filled with diesel fumes. Men screamed, and fire engulfed an overturned Humvee.

Danny blinked and shook the image from his head. Nathan. Focus on Nathan. He brought the rifle around. Sweat dripped into his eye. He wiped his brow with his forearm and sighted down the barrel.

Mandy walked right between Danny and Nathan.

Shit.

Nathan dropped the match. The kindling caught fire with a whoosh. Flames burst at the bottom of the wooden cage structure. Danny let go of the leash and ran forward. The dog sprinted ahead. To his left, Jed limped into the barnyard, one hand pressed against his belly. Mandy was moving toward the fire. Toward Nathan.

No!

Danny paused, ready to veer his course to intercept her.

“Help!” The man in the bottom cage huddled around his son in the center, trying to stay out of the reach of the flames. The girls in the next level screamed. On top, Doug Lang lay limp and still. In the cage with the cop, Bill pressed on the bars. Oh, God. Bill! Danny could not let six people burn to death. He had to get them out.

Honey raced around the fire, barking.

Praying that Jed and Mandy would be OK, he ducked into the barn. Scanning the wall of rusted tools, he grabbed a saw and a hatchet. Halfway across the yard he realized the fire was growing faster than he could possibly chop through the thick timber. The flames were reaching for the fisherman and his boy.