He felt Dillon’s weight, his tightly gripping arms and legs. Survival meant more to him than his own life—it meant the life of this boy. For the first time he really understood what it meant to care more for another person than himself. It was a sentiment he had felt for Janet and Logan and Macie, but in the comfort of his home in a country not racked by war.Would he have died for his wife and children? He believed he would have. But the luxuries and relative safety of his life had never forced him to take the question seriously. Here he was with a child he had known for less than a day, but he knew the answer. He would die for Dillon. A terrible thought occurred to him. The damaged street, the severed foot: could that have been Dillon’s dad? Dillon had said his father had died the other day with the strike of Declan’s weapon. He had no way of knowing this, but Hutch believed Dillon’s father had given his life trying to protect the town, his family. Why else would he have been targeted?
