FROZEN DECEPTION: WHAT REMAINS AFTER THE FLIGHT

Before Julian could answer, the roar of a heavy engine shattered the quiet of the mountain road outside. Headlights swept through the open garage door, blinding them in a harsh halogen glare. A reinforced pickup truck with snow chains wrapped around massive off-road tires slammed into the garage entryway, blocking the exit ramp and grinding concrete against metal with an ear-splitting screech.

""Move!"" Miller yelled, lunging forward and hauling Elena from the driver’s seat into the back of the Mercedes. He slammed the passenger door and dove behind the steering wheel himself. Julian threw himself into the front passenger seat just as a hail of automatic gunfire raked across the armored windshield of the G-Wagon, spiderwebbing the thick ballistic glass but failing to penetrate.

Miller slammed the transmission into reverse, flooring the accelerator. The heavy vehicle surged backward with a roar of its twin-turbo V8, smashing directly through the low wooden barrier of the private ski-path exit behind them. Snow exploded around the windows as the G-Wagon careened onto the narrow, unplowed service trail that wound down the treacherous edge of the cliff.

""Hold on!"" Miller shouted, wrestling the wheel against the violent fishtailing of the rear tires. Behind them, the pickup truck spun around in a cloud of snow and gave chase, its high-mounted searchlights pinning them against the white expanse of the mountain slope.

Julian turned around in his seat, leaning over the console to press his hands against Elena’s wound. The fabric of her jacket was ruined, sodden with warm blood that leaked between his fingers. ""Talk to me, Elena! How did you get him? How long has he been alive?""

Elena groaned, her teeth clenched against the agony of the jarring ride. She gripped Julian’s wrist with surprising strength, her fingernails digging deep into his skin. ""The explosion... was staged by your father's partners. They kept him in a medically induced coma in Zurich for five years... decoding the data from his spine. I was assigned to extract the drive, Julian... but when I saw him... he looked so much like you."" She coughed, a spray of pink foam touching her lips. ""I couldn't let them butcher him. The tickets... the cash... it was to draw them away from the airfield in Sion. Lucas is there right now... on a private Gulfstream.""