Vesna Kruger hadn't set foot on Ember Pass since the avalanche took four clients and her guiding license. Now she stood at the trailhead in borrowed crampons, breath fogging, while a man named Doru loaded heavy crates onto her sled by lantern light. "Don't open them," he said, and pressed a thick roll of banknotes into her glove. "Get them over the pass by dawn. No questions." The money was more than she'd made in two years. She tightened the sled straps and looked up at the dark mountain.

Vesna handed the money back. "I don't carry blind cargo. Not anymore." Doru's friendly smile dropped. Two men stepped out of the dark behind the sled, and one of them had a rifle slung over his shoulder. "That's not really an option," Doru said quietly.