A little girl came to a police station to confess to a serious wrongdoing, but what she said left the officer completely shaken.

Ten minutes later, the backyard was silent except for the heavy patter of rain.

Miller knew they had very little time. Captain Bradley would soon realize his hit team had failed and would send every corrupt officer under his command to secure the house.

Miller led David, Sarah, and Lily out through the back alley, placing them into an unmarked, personal civilian pickup truck he kept parked two blocks away for off-duty emergencies.

"Where are we going?" Sarah sobbed, pulling a blanket around a shaking Lily in the back seat. "We can't go to the police station! They're all working for that evil man!"

"Not all of them," Miller said, turning the key in the ignition. "But the precinct isn't safe. I'm taking you to my late father's hunting cabin up in the Blackwood Ridge mountains. There's no cell service up there, no registry, and nobody knows it exists except me."

He pulled the heavy silver flash drive from his pocket, handing it to David.

"Keep this safe," Miller said. "I've already bypassed Bradley's network and sent an encrypted distress ping directly to the Federal Bureau of Investigation regional office in the state capital. They are sending a special federal task force, but it will take them eight hours to mobilize and reach us."

They drove deep into the dark, winding mountain roads of Blackwood Ridge, climbing high above the rain-slicked valley until the pavement turned to gravel, then to mud.

Deep in the thick pine forest, a small, sturdy log cabin sat surrounded by towering trees.

Miller brought the family inside, locking the heavy iron-reinforced doors and pulling down the heavy wooden storm shutters over the windows. He grabbed a heavy pump-action shotgun from a hidden gun safe in the closet, laying out boxes of ammunition on the wooden dining table.

"David," Miller said, handing him a high-powered tactical flashlight and a heavy iron fire poker. "If anyone comes through those windows, you don't hesitate. You protect your family."

"I will," David said, his jaw set firm, a fierce protective fire in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

Outside, the wind howled through the high pines.

Hours passed in heavy, agonizing suspense. Lily lay asleep on the rustic sofa, her head resting on her mother's lap, clutching her stuffed rabbit tightly. Sarah stroked her daughter's hair, silently praying as the clock on the mantelpiece ticked slowly toward midnight.

At 2:15 AM, the lights inside the cabin suddenly went pitch black.