The wind screamed through Hellgate Pass as the stranger knelt beside Nora Whitcomb.

Snow hit his face hard enough to blur his vision, but he didn’t look away from her trapped legs.

Silas kept the revolver raised.

“Make it quick,” he warned.

The stranger ignored him.

His gloved hands tested the broken wheel, then the wagon frame. One wrong move would crush her further.

Nora whimpered, teeth chattering. “I can’t feel my legs…”

“I know,” the man said quietly.

Ruth sobbed behind Silas, while Matthew stood frozen, helpless in the storm.

The stranger glanced at the frozen axle.

Then at the shifting snow beneath it.

“On my signal,” he said calmly.

Silas frowned. “What signal?”

But the man had already shifted position.

“Now.”

Silas hesitated—then fired into the air instead of at him.

The shot echoed through the pass.

The wagon jolted as the stranger used the sound to his advantage, kicking a support stone free. The wheel shifted just enough.

Nora screamed.

“Pull her out!” the man barked.

Also Read

The Debt That Set Them Free

For a split second, Silas moved.

Matthew rushed forward, grabbing Nora under the arms while the stranger held the wagon steady with pure force, snow and wood creaking under strain.

Then—

Nora slid free.

Silas immediately lowered the gun, stunned.

The stranger stepped back as the wagon collapsed fully into the snow behind them.

He knelt beside Nora, checking her breathing.

“She’s alive,” he said simply.

Silas stared at him, breathing hard.

“You trained for this,” he muttered.

The stranger didn’t answer.

Instead, he looked up the pass.

Where fresh tracks in the snow were already forming.

Too many.

Too fast.

His voice dropped.

“They’re still coming.”

The storm suddenly felt louder.