It’s Christmas Eve in Santa Fe. But among the revelers on snow-blanketed Canyon Road, a decidedly unholy scene is taking place. A desperate undercover agent, Paul Kagan, feverishly seeks refuge for himself and the squirming bundle he holds tightly against his chest, a baby who has the power to change the course of global events.

His pursuers are his former colleagues—members of the Russian mafia who will stop at nothing to reclaim the child that Kagan has risked his life and blown his cover to steal from them. Now he is a spy on the run who must ensure the baby’s survival, even if it costs him his own life.

Just a short distance away, Kagan will find an unexpected pair of allies—a mother and her young son who huddle together after an incident of domestic violence leaves them alone, their phone lines cut, and with no means of transportation.

Kagan quickly realizes that he must enlist their help to survive. With the exquisitely honed skills of his profession and the good faith of a weary woman and a disillusioned boy, he takes on forces that will stop at nothing to get to them. In the course of a wild and violent night, the unlikely trio learns lessons of generosity, courage, and selflessness, discovering within themselves the luminous strength of the Christmas spirit.

Few thriller writers are as praised as David Morrell, who has been called “the father of the modern action novel.” Now this New York Times bestselling author delivers a masterwork of suspense that is sure to become a holiday classic, one of his most emotional and gripping stories to date.