“I’ll sn@p your arm,” my brother-in-law sneered, throwing a pair of MMA gloves at my feet and threatening to send me to the hospital in front of my terrified little girl. He thought he was facing a helpless mother with no way to defend herself. What he didn’t know was that I was a combat veteran. And he had just awakened a Special Operations major.

We rolled brutally across the icy helipad, completely ignoring the massive drop-off just feet away.

Davies was old, but he was heavily built and possessed the desperate strength of a cornered animal.

He threw a vicious right hook that caught my cheekbone, momentarily blurring my vision with pain.

I retaliated immediately, driving my knee violently into his ribs and hearing a satisfying crack.

He gasped for air but managed to wrap his thick hands firmly around my throat.

He squeezed relentlessly, completely cutting off my oxygen as the freezing wind howled around us.

My vision began to darken at the edges as my lungs screamed silently for oxygen.

I reached down to my tactical boot and pulled my small, serrated backup combat knife.

I drove the blade deep into the heavy muscle of his thigh, twisting it aggressively without hesitation.

Davies screamed in agony, his grip instantly loosening as his hands flew down to grab his bleeding leg.

I scrambled backward, gasping heavily for the freezing, thin mountain air.

Davies stumbled to his feet, pulling a small detonator remote from his expensive winter coat.

"If I cannot sell the research, I will bury you with it!" he screamed, his face completely twisted in rage.

He thumbed the red switch, intending to detonate the facility's emergency self-destruct charges.

I did not give him the satisfaction of a final monologue or a dramatic standoff.

I drew my secondary sidearm from my shoulder holster and fired two rapid shots directly into his chest.

The heavy impact threw him backward over the slippery edge of the helipad.

He dropped the detonator, falling endlessly into the dark, snowy abyss of the jagged mountain below.

I stood alone on the freezing platform, my shoulder bleeding heavily, but my spirit completely unbroken.

The pilot of the black VIP helicopter had watched the entire fight in absolute, stunned silence.

I walked slowly toward the cockpit, raising my pistol and aiming it squarely at the terrified pilot's head.

"You are going to fly me completely out of this country right now," I ordered him firmly.

The pilot nodded frantically, immediately increasing the rotor speed for an emergency takeoff.

I climbed into the luxurious leather back seat of the helicopter just as secondary explosions began ripping through the fortress below.

The mountain literally cracked open, swallowing the syndicate's billions and their twisted biological ambitions in fire.

When my newborn 'passed away,' my mother-in-law leaned in and said

My Husband Left Me Alone in My Car While I Was in Labor

“You’re Dead When We Get Home,” He Snapped

I leaned my tired head against the cool glass window and watched the terrible flames shrink into the distance.

The nightmare was finally, permanently over.

Chapter 19 - The Fire That Cleanses