Mercy enlarged each view on the screen. “I can’t see him. Dammit!”
I’m putting in more cameras next week.
“What about the barn?” Salome begged. She huddled by the stove, seeking the protection of the iron.
“I can see the barn door. He hasn’t gone back there.”
Christian moved toward the small broken window, his rifle raised.
“Get back,” Mercy snapped. “He hit it once, he can hit it again.”
“Send out the whore!”
Mercy’s head jerked up at Gabriel’s shout, her fingers frozen on her computer’s keyboard. Christian paled and looked over at Salome. Her eyes widened and then sparked in anger as she jumped to her feet.
“I believe he means me.”
“You’re not going out there,” Mercy ordered.
“Of course not. But as long as his focus is on me, I know Morrigan is safe.”
“Gabriel!” Christian cupped his mouth and shouted toward the small broken window. “What the hell are you doing?”
“This isn’t about you, Christian!” Gabriel answered. “It’s that fucking witch!”
Salome laughed, making an odd sound as if she were laughing and choking at the same time.
Her spine tense, Mercy hissed at Christian, “You don’t know how to handle this.”
“And you do?” he snarled back. “That’s my brother out there. He’ll listen to me.”
“He’s beyond listening to anyone. His brain has moved into his finger on the trigger.” Mercy struggled to recall the negotiation rules from her FBI workshops. To keep him talking was all she could remember.
“I’ll send you to hell, Gabriel Lake!” Salome bellowed. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she grinned, a crazy shit-eating grin that made Mercy’s skin crawl. “I’ll fucking curse you!” Her cackle was high and distorted, straight from every child’s witchy nightmare.
Christian stared at her, his rifle clenched to his chest. “Are you nuts?” he whispered.
“He’s terrified of me.” Salome choked on her tears and giggled, a wet clogged sound. “He’s always believed I was a witch.”
“You would see him? When?” Christian still looked rattled.
“Our paths would cross here and there in the past. He always gave me a wide berth.”
How can I use that to our advantage?
“You’ll burn, whore!”
“That’s not the way to speak to your half sister, Gabriel!” Her whoops echoed off the ceiling.
She’s falling apart.
Yanking her focus back to their safety, Mercy took another look at the camera angles. Gabriel had moved into her forward camera’s view, crouching behind the roasting Hummer.
“Can you keep him distracted? Keep yelling at him?” she asked Christian and Salome. “I’ll sneak out the back, go wide, and try to get a clear angle.”
Salome nodded, but Christian grabbed Mercy’s arm. “What are you planning to do?” Terror and worry filled his face.
Mercy was stunned at the anguish for his brother on his face. “He’s a threat, Christian. He murdered your father and Olivia. He won’t stop until Salome and probably the rest of us are dead too.” Why does he think I gave him a gun?
“But . . .” He couldn’t finish his sentence, his gaze darting between her eyes.
“I understand.” She laid her hand on his. Gabriel was Christian’s brother. He had every right to be rattled at the thought of his brother being shot, murderer or not. “I’ll only do what he pushes me to do.”
His face fell, but he nodded and pulled his hand away.
“Good luck,” he told her.
“You’re not my sister!” Gabriel roared. “You’re the spawn of a whore!”
Mercy pointed at Salome. “You’re up.”
“I’m going to curse your dick, you asshole!” Salome shrieked. “You’ll never get it up again!”
Well done. She flashed Salome a thumbs-up.
Mercy slipped out the back door and silently went down the steps. If she veered left, she should be out of Gabriel’s line of sight until she reached the edge of the woods. Then she could circle behind the barn and move closer using the cover of the trees. It was a long and roundabout way, but she didn’t see another option.
Gabriel shouted an unintelligible threat, and Salome started to chant at the top of her lungs. A singsong string of nonsense to Mercy’s ears, but eerily familiar to what she’d heard at Olivia’s deathbed. Goosebumps rose on her arms.
That ought to rattle him. Especially if he believed Salome had powers.
She was almost to the barn when more shattering glass followed by a muffled whoosh made her stop and check the house. No shots had been fired. Fresh smoke rose from in front of the house. It’s the Hummer. Something else ignited. The sounds repeated and a fresh burst of smoke appeared over her house.
Flames flashed in her upper windows.
He threw Molotov cocktails through the broken windows.
Her heart stopped as her world tilted off center.
My home. My work.
A barrage of miniexplosions sounded. Glass containers exploded as Gabriel threw them at the front of her home. Flames flickered in her small lower windows, and she took two steps toward the house, her gaze fastened on the back door, silently begging for Christian and Salome to appear. Get out!
“Aunt Mercy? What’s happening?” Kaylie was in tears.
She grabbed her radio. “He’s throwing Molotov cocktails into the house.” Vomit surged up her throat.
“It’s on fire?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Mercy choked out. “As long as everyone is safe.”
“Those were the sounds we heard in the barn . . . he was emptying the canning jars. He must have used them and the gas—”
Mercy cut her off. “I’m almost behind the barn. I want you two to get out of the cabinet and meet me outside the back door. We can’t take the chance that he sets fire to the barn next.”
“The back door is fastened from the inside with that chain and padlock.”
And the key is in the kitchen.
A major fuckup on my part.
They couldn’t go to the front of the barn; Gabriel would see them immediately. “There are bolt cutters in one of the cabinets.” Mercy closed her eyes to think. “I think the third one. As soon as you’re out, I want you to head east. Don’t stop. I’ll radio you when it’s safe.”
“We’ll leave tracks in the snow.”
“I don’t care. Just get moving. He’s occupied at the front of the house.”
Movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn to see Christian and Salome darting away from the house to the woods. Mercy exhaled noisily, her mental load lightened.
Everyone was out of the way. Now to get the girls farther away.
Mercy awkwardly jogged through the deep snow. A minute later she reached the back of the barn and pressed her ear against the door. Clanking sounded from the other side. Kaylie had found the bolt cutters.