The frost bit through Nora Wick’s thin boots like needle-point ice, but the cold was nothing compared to the sudden, breathless silence that fell over her heart.

Behind them, the burning mansion lit up the night sky in brilliant shades of crimson. Ahead of them, Chief Miller stood on the deck of the police cutter, his rifle aimed directly at Silas Cade's chest.

"It's over, Silas!" Miller yelled over the storm, his uniform wet with melted snow. "Vance failed. Nikolai failed. But I'm taking control of this town tonight! You're going to die here, and we're going to pin the whole bloody mess on you and the Russian mob!"

Nora stepped in front of Silas, placing her body between the rifle and the injured man.

"Chief Miller!" she screamed, her voice echoing over the roaring waves. "I trusted you! You sat in my diner! You looked me in the eye after my father died!"

Miller let out a cold, heartless laugh. "Your father was an idiot, Nora! Just like you! He thought honesty meant something in a town like this! In Ironwood Bay, power is the only currency that matters!"

"Then take your payment, Chief," Silas whispered from behind her.

Silas reached down to his belt and pressed a small radio transmitter hidden in his pocket.

Instantly, from the dark, quiet town above the harbor, dozens of vehicle lights suddenly snapped on.

Dodge Rams, Ford F-250s, commercial lobster boats, and heavy-duty tow trucks—over thirty vehicles poured onto the harbor drive, their high beams piercing through the blizzard.

Out of the trucks stepped the working men of Ironwood Bay. Harbor workers, local fishermen, mechanics, and dockhands—the very men Nora served coffee to every morning. They were armed with hunting rifles, tire irons, shotguns, and harpoon guns.

Leading them was old Hank, the head of the Fisherman’s Co-op.

"You touch one hair on that girl's head, Miller," Hank shouted through a megaphone, "and there won't be enough of you left to fill a lobster trap!"

Miller’s face turned pale as he looked around. The entire town—the quiet, hard-working people he thought he had terrified into submission—had surrounded the pier.

"You think these hicks can stop me?!" Miller panicked, raising his rifle. "I'm the law here!"

"No, Miller," Nora said, her voice dropping to a icy whisper as she pulled the dull paring knife from her apron pocket one last time. "You were never the law. You were just a parasite."

Nora didn't hesitate. She threw herself sideways onto the deck as Silas raised his pistol and fired three rapid shots into the searchlight above Miller's head.