Gideon put on his turn signal for the upcoming exit. ‘She does. And I was the one who called her, not Tom. I trust Molina, Mercy. She’s got a lot more experience with hostage situations than you do.’
Mercy saw red. ‘And I have more experience with Ephraim Burton than any of you! Goddammit, Gideon.’ Fury had tears springing to her eyes and she wiped them away. ‘I thought you understood that Burton means business, but you’re all caught up in the rules.’ She spat the word. ‘If he touches one fucking hair on Farrah’s head—’
Rafe pressed his finger to her lips. ‘Stop. Do not say things you’ll have to take back later. I don’t trust Molina either, but I do trust Gideon with my life. And yours.’
Mercy jerked her face away, pursing her lips. She faced forward, looking at no one and willing her tears not to fall. These weren’t tears of sadness. These were tears of pure rage and she hated it. ‘Did you know, Rafe?’
He exhaled quietly. ‘Yes.’
That was that, then. No apologies, just a simple yes. Goddammit. She’d trusted them. She’d trusted Rafe. I should have known better. I should have come alone.
There was a rustle behind her and Daisy was sliding her arms around Mercy’s shoulders. ‘Rafe’s right. Gideon saved you, Mercy. He broke a lot of rules to do it. So did Rafe.’
Mercy swallowed, the gentle words hitting her hard because they were true. Her rage collapsed from a raging fire to barely smoldering embers. ‘I know.’
‘Then trust Gideon with Farrah’s and André’s lives. Rafe trusts him with yours and Damien’s. If there is a way to get all three of them out safely, these guys know how to do it. And Molina’s not all bad. Her bark is worse than her bite.’
‘I don’t know about that,’ Rafe said, and Daisy smacked his arm.
‘You are undoing all my hard work, Rafe. Look, Mercy, I get it. I really do. But you need to understand that Gideon went through the same thing when you were taken. So cut him some slack, okay? He’s a good agent. And he loves you.’
‘Dammit,’ Mercy muttered, shame replacing her fury. ‘Now you’re making sense.’
Daisy chuckled. ‘I thought so. You want to hold Brutus? She’s good for situations like this and you left your cats back at Rafe’s.’
Mercy shook her head. ‘No, I’m okay. I’m sorry, Gideon. I was out of line.’
Gideon met her eyes in the rear-view mirror. ‘It’s all right. And you’re right. You do know Ephraim better than any of us. That’s why you’re here. You and Amos.’
She glanced at Amos and found him nodding reluctantly. ‘We’ll do our part, Mercy,’ he said. ‘Let the Feds do theirs.’ He looked over her head to Rafe. ‘Feds and detectives.’
She turned to Rafe. ‘I’m sorry. You’re right. Thank you for stopping me before I said something awful.’
Rafe kissed her softly. ‘I’m good. Now try to relax. We need a plan of action, given that we all know this is a trap. Is Farrah’s phone still active?’
Mercy texted the question to Mrs Romero, then nodded when Farrah’s mother replied. ‘Yes. And still in the same location.’
‘Then if it doesn’t move, it’s a lure. He might not have Farrah and the others there. Hell, he might not even be there right now, but that’s where he wants us. We can only hope we have the element of surprise. Hopefully he doesn’t know that Mrs Romero could see Farrah’s phone and that we were waiting for his next text.’
‘He turned her phone off,’ Mercy murmured. ‘He might think that kept us from tracking it. He’d had it turned off before he called me, because Mama Ro’s calls kept going to voice mail.’
‘And Damien’s and André’s phones were found in Damien’s car,’ Rafe added. ‘I’m hoping he thinks that we’re just leaving Sacramento and that he has a few hours before we arrive.’
That, at least, was comforting. ‘Should I reply to his text?’ Mercy asked. ‘Is there any way he can know where I am?’
‘Doubtful, but let’s make sure.’ Tom reached backward. ‘Give me your phone.’ Mercy did and Tom pulled another phone from his pocket. ‘Mine’s a burner,’ he said. ‘I never leave home without one. I’m going to answer him from my phone, spoofing your number. It’ll look like it came from you, but my phone’s untraceable.’ A minute later he handed her phone back. ‘Done. I told him that you were on your way with an ETA of seven thirty. It’ll be dark then. Burton thinks he’ll have that advantage.’
Gideon met Mercy’s eyes in the rear-view mirror, his expression severe. ‘This is what’s going to happen,’ he said in a tone that brooked no argument. ‘When we get to the stop, I want you and Amos to stay in the SUV. He had a rifle in Snowbush. He will be waiting for us again. We’ll park a quarter mile away from the coordinates and Tom and I will check them out. Rafe, you and Agent Schumacher will stay with the vehicles in case Ephraim’s watching and comes after Mercy.’
Rafe’s jaw tensed, but he nodded. ‘I’d slow you down, so yeah. Okay.’
Gideon huffed. ‘Come on, Rafe, you know you’d balk if I told you to leave Mercy.’
Rafe laughed then. ‘You’re right about that. It’s a good plan, Gid.’
Gideon shook his head. ‘I keep putting my foot in it.’
‘After this, I say we go out for ice cream,’ Daisy said. ‘You can buy me a double, Gideon, and I might even share with you.’
Gideon pretended to be scared. ‘I would never even ask. Nobody who values their life gets between you and ice cream.’
‘Molina’s here as well,’ Tom said conversationally. ‘So that you aren’t surprised if you see her.’
Goddammit. Mercy had figured as much, but it still pissed her off. ‘With a platoon of agents?’
‘SWAT,’ Tom corrected. ‘She and the team got up here about an hour ago. Flew in to Dunsmuir by helicopter and settled in to wait. They’ll drive to the coordinates, then canvass the area, looking for Burton and the hostages.’
‘And you’re just telling us all this now, Tom?’ Mercy asked through clenched teeth, terrified of what Ephraim would do to the hostages if he saw Molina and the SWAT team.
Tom put away his laptop, then turned in his seat to look at them. ‘Yes. You would have worried unnecessarily otherwise, and don’t even try claiming that I’m wrong.’
Mercy blew out a breath. ‘You’re not wrong.’
‘I know,’ Tom said, but there was no trace of condescension or smugness. ‘Also, there are vests and helmets in the very back. The windows of this SUV are bullet-resistant, but we’re not taking any chances. Daisy, if you could give everyone their gear?’