A doctor showed me an X-ray of my daughter’s face and quietly explained that her jaw had been shattered in six places.

The unmarked ambulance moved quietly through the thick fog, its sirens silent, its headlights barely cutting through the dense grey mist. Daniel sat in the back with Lily, holding her hand, his eyes fixed on the heart rate monitor. Beside him, a trusted paramedic monitored her IV.

Detective Vance was driving an unmarked police cruiser fifty yards ahead, acting as a scout.

They had been on the road for forty-five minutes, heading south toward the safe house. The highway was nearly deserted, swallowed by the late-night fog.

Suddenly, Daniel’s phone buzzed. It was Vance.

"Mercer, we’ve got a problem," Vance’s voice was tense, laced with static. "There’s a roadblock ahead. It’s not state police. It’s private security vehicles. Black SUVs. They’ve blocked the bridge over the Illinois River."

"Arthur Vance’s men," Daniel said, his muscles instantly tightening. "They must have intercepted the transport logs or tracked our GPS. Turn around, Vance!"

"I can't! There are two more SUVs pulling up behind me! They’ve boxed us in!"

A loud crash echoed through the phone, followed by the sound of breaking glass and Vance’s shouting. The call went dead.

"Stop the ambulance!" Daniel yelled to the driver.

The paramedic slammed on the brakes. The ambulance skidded on the damp asphalt, coming to a halt in the middle of the empty highway, surrounded by the swirling fog.

In the rearview mirror, Daniel saw the headlights of two black SUVs emerging from the mist, closing in fast.

"Lock the doors!" Daniel ordered the paramedic. "Get on the floor and stay down!"

Daniel pulled his Sig Sauer 9mm from his waistband. He checked the chamber, his heart rate dropping into the cold, calculated rhythm of a soldier in combat.

Three SUVs. At least six armed men. They want the phone, and they want us dead.

The passenger side window of the ambulance shattered as a bullet tore through the glass. The driver screamed, ducking under the steering wheel.

Daniel threw open the rear doors of the ambulance and rolled out onto the wet asphalt, using the heavy steel bumper of the vehicle as cover.

The two black SUVs parked thirty yards away. Four men in tactical gear, carrying automatic rifles, climbed out, moving forward in a synchronized fire team formation.

"Daniel Mercer!" a voice called out through a megaphone from one of the SUVs. It was Arthur Vance’s chief of security, a ruthless ex-mercenary named Rourke. "We know you’re in there! Give us the phone and the girl, and you might walk away from this alive! You have thirty seconds!"

Daniel didn't reply. He assessed the situation.

The fog was thick, reducing visibility to less than fifteen feet. This was his environment. In the fog, numbers meant nothing; stealth and positioning meant everything.

Daniel slipped away from the ambulance, disappearing into the tall grass at the edge of the highway. He moved silently, his boots leaving no sound on the damp earth.

"Time's up!" Rourke shouted. "Move in! Clear the ambulance!"

Two of the mercenary guards advanced toward the rear doors of the ambulance, their weapons raised.

Daniel emerged from the fog behind them like a ghost.

With two rapid, silenced shots, he neutralized both guards before they could even turn around. They fell silently to the asphalt.

Daniel immediately grabbed one of their automatic rifles, a tactical HK416, and melted back into the fog before the other two guards realized what had happened.

"Status report!" Rourke’s voice cracked over the radio of one of the fallen guards. "Team Alpha, do you copy?"

Silence.

"Team Beta, flank the right side!" Rourke ordered, his voice losing its calm demeanor.

Daniel crept through the tall grass, circling around the rear of the second SUV. He spotted the remaining two guards moving cautiously along the guardrail, their eyes scanning the fog.

Daniel took aim and fired a burst, neutralizing the third guard. The fourth guard spun around, firing blindly into the mist. Bullets chewed through the tall grass, whispering past Daniel’s ears.

Daniel dropped to the prone position, crawled five yards to the left, and fired a single, precise shot through the fog. The fourth guard collapsed.

Only Rourke was left, hiding inside the lead SUV.

Daniel stood up, walking slowly toward the vehicle, his rifle raised. "It's over, Rourke. Tell Arthur Vance his empire is finished."

Suddenly, the SUV’s engine roared to life. The vehicle accelerated backward, slamming into the front of the ambulance. The impact threw Daniel off balance.

Rourke slammed the SUV into drive, spinning the steering wheel, and sped away into the fog, disappearing toward the highway exit.

Daniel didn't chase him. He ran back to the ambulance.

The front bumper was crushed, but the engine was still running. The paramedic and the driver were terrified but uninjured. Inside, Lily was wide awake, her eyes filled with tears, but she was safe.