Say No More

by Rose, Karen

  Rafe touched her shoulder lightly. ‘You okay, baby?’

  She met his eyes, hers swimming with tears. ‘He lost the chance at another wife after my mother got taken from him,’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘He tried to keep them from marrying me to Ephraim. They told him that he would be punished. That he’d never get another wife, but he kept shouting at them that it wasn’t right, that I was too young.’ She swallowed hard and blinked, quickly swiping her cheeks with her hands, still covered with his warm gloves. ‘I thought I’d ruined his life. But he got another chance. And then she died. And he had to make her cross.’ Her voice broke. ‘He always had to make the crosses.’

  Rafe’s throat grew thick. That she’d worry about Amos, even after all she’d endured . . . ‘You are a good person, Mercy Callahan. Don’t ever let anyone tell you differently. Especially not yourself.’

  She gave a watery chuckle. ‘You’re a little biased.’

  ‘I’m right.’ He looked back to the cross. ‘She was so young. Not quite nineteen.’

  ‘Already a mother.’ She sighed. ‘A lot of women died in childbirth. I was so afraid that I’d—’ She shook her head. ‘Never mind.’

  She started to rise, but he stayed her with a light touch to her knee. ‘Tell me. Please.’

  She drew a breath and carefully exhaled, her gaze traveling to the other little crosses, their tops barely visible in the snow. ‘I was afraid I’d get pregnant. I saw so many of the women constantly pregnant. Infant mortality was very high.’

  ‘You were afraid you’d die, too?’ he asked quietly.

  She shook her head. ‘I was afraid I’d survive. With a baby. I was scared to bring another child into his home. Part of me wished that he’d kill me and get it over with. Those were the times that I really hated Gideon,’ she finished with a whisper. She cleared her throat. ‘I mean, I understand now. I do. But when I thought he’d run away and left me – us, me and Mama – to suffer for his actions . . .’

  A strangled sound made them both turn. Rafe muttered a curse when pain burned up his leg. Mercy went pale.

  Gideon stood there, just as pale as Mercy. Nearly the color of the snow.

  Behind him were Daisy, Sasha, and Erin, wearing matching looks of devastation.

  That Rafe hadn’t heard any of them was testament to how completely Mercy had pulled him into her memories. Into her suffering.

  ‘I don’t think that anymore, Gideon,’ she said. ‘I swear it.’

  His mouth opened and closed, no words emerging. He stumbled forward, falling to his knees in front of her. ‘I’m so sorry. God, I’m so sorry.’

  She put her arms around her brother, pulling off one glove to stroke his hair as his shoulders shook. Rafe knew he should look away, that he should give them privacy, but he couldn’t make his body move. He knew he was crying and couldn’t care less. This whole thing was so fucked up. So many lives ruined.

  And he didn’t know how to fix it. So he remained motionless, powerless. And hating Ephraim Burton with every fiber of his existence.

  ‘I looked for you,’ Gideon cried. ‘I searched and searched. But I couldn’t find you. I’d think about what was happening to you and . . . God, Mercy, I’m so sorry. I should have looked harder.’

  ‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘I’m sorry, too. But it’s not your fault. Not mine, either. You couldn’t have found us, because they didn’t want us to be found. Don’t cry. Please.’ A sob choked her. ‘Dammit, Gideon, you’re breaking my heart.’

  Gideon drew a shuddering breath. ‘Sorry.’ He straightened, still on his knees, then cupped Mercy’s equally wrecked face. ‘I’m just making it worse.’

  ‘No,’ she said sadly. ‘You make it better. Now that I know the truth, it’s better.’

  They were quiet for a long moment, and then Gideon looked around them. ‘It’s different, isn’t it?’

  ‘Some things, yes. Some things are the same.’ She gestured to the white crosses. ‘Graveyard’s in the same place.’

  Gideon’s gaze dropped to the cross she’d uncovered. ‘Amos married again.’

  ‘And she died. The thought of him making her cross . . . it hurts. I remember the day he made yours.’ New tears streaked down her face. ‘“Gideon Terrill, Beloved Son”.’ Her voice broke again. ‘They wouldn’t let him put the cross on your grave. They said you’d sinned, a mortal sin, even. You’d killed. So you couldn’t be buried with everyone else.’ She swallowed hard. ‘So one night he woke me up and we snuck out of the gate to where they’d buried you. Or the body they said was you, anyway. Amos had made a little plaque. “Beloved Son”. He buried it a few inches deep, just enough that it couldn’t be seen. And we both cried. For you and for Mama, because Ephraim had already taken her away.’

  Rafe hadn’t understood why Mercy had loved Amos so much, but he was finally beginning to. Yes, the man had allowed terrible things to happen to her. Yes, he’d remained in a cult that was so evil. But he’d cared for her. He’d loved her. He’d loved Gideon, too.

  Gideon shuddered out another breath. ‘Thank you.’ He rose, holding out a hand, first to Mercy, then to Rafe.

  Rafe eased himself to his feet, grimacing when his leg throbbed. He met Gideon’s gaze with apology. ‘I’m sorry. I should have tried harder to call you, Gid.’

  ‘Yeah. You should have.’ Then Gideon shocked him by pulling him into a hard hug. ‘But it’s okay,’ he whispered. ‘Thank you for bringing her here. I probably would have nixed the entire idea and she needed this. So did I.’ He let Rafe go. ‘But don’t do it again. Please.’

  ‘I won’t,’ Rafe promised.

  ‘Oh no.’ Mercy had moved to the far end of the small graveyard and was uncovering another cross. This one was natural wood, while the others were painted white. She looked over at them wearily. ‘It says “Comstock”.’

  ‘They put one up for Eileen,’ Gideon said. ‘I wonder who they killed pretending it was her.’

  Because Eileen had escaped, only to have her life stolen permanently by a serial killer.

  ‘No. It doesn’t say “Miriam”. It’s her family, Gideon. Dorcas, Stephen, and Ezra. The date is November first of last year.’

  Gideon cursed. ‘They killed them, too.’ Then he frowned. ‘Wait. They acknowledged their deaths?’

  Daisy, Erin, and Sasha joined them at the edge of the graves. ‘They didn’t normally do that, did they?’ Daisy asked quietly.

  ‘No,’ Mercy answered for him. ‘Or if they did, they wouldn’t be allowed to be buried in the community graveyard, because it was “hallowed ground” and they’d been cast out, devoured by wolves.’ Her gaze returned to the cross. ‘Amos didn’t paint it. I wonder why.’

  ‘He always painted them,’ Gideon murmured. ‘Paint was expensive, but Amos always said that it was worth the cost. That we needed to honor the dead.’

  ‘November first would have been right about the time that Eileen escaped,’ Daisy commented. ‘She was found wandering by the side of the road up in Macdoel a few days later.’

  ‘And it jibes with what Ginger in the store said,’ Sasha added, then brought Gideon and Daisy up to date with what they’d learned in the Snowbush general store.

  ‘We were discussing who to call to secure the scene,’ Erin said. ‘But we’d have to go back to Snowbush and ask to use one of the shops’ phones. No cell service here.’

  Rafe left Erin and Gideon to figure out who was best to call – who was closest and who they thought they could trust not to mess up the scene. He walked over to Mercy, who still knelt in the snow.

  ‘You’re going to get sick,’ he murmured. ‘Your jeans are soaking wet.’ Just as his were, drenched from the knees down and getting cold very quickly. ‘Hypothermia can set in quickly, even when the temps are mild like this.’

  She rose, never taking her gaze from the wooden cross. ‘Eileen’s mother was good to me,’ sh
e murmured. ‘I went to school with her brother, Ezra.’

  ‘Amos didn’t put their birth dates on the cross,’ Rafe noted.

  ‘I know. And he didn’t make individual crosses, either. He always made individual crosses with birth and death dates and something special, a message of some kind. Whatever the family wanted. I don’t know why he didn’t this time. Maybe he was rushed or maybe they wouldn’t let him, like with Gideon. The leaders would have packed everyone up and moved after Eileen escaped. That’s what they always did.’ She sighed. ‘I know it’s stupid, but I really have been hoping that the families of the dead really did get back to civilization, that they weren’t “devoured by wolves”.’

  ‘Not stupid,’ Rafe chided. ‘It’s never stupid to hope.’

  She looked at him then, her mouth turning up in a sad smile. ‘Thank—’

  But she never got to finish. A gunshot cracked the air, followed by a shrill curse behind them, and they spun to see Erin sinking to the snow. Which was rapidly growing bright red with her blood.

  ‘Down,’ Rafe barked, shoving Mercy into the snow, just as Gideon shouted ‘Gun!’ Rafe pulled his weapon, looking frantically for a shooter.

  Fucking hell. Looked like Eden wasn’t so deserted after all.

  Twenty

  Modoc County, California

  Monday, 17 April, 3.45 P.M.

  Mercy looked up from where Rafe had pushed her into the snow. And she saw him.

  Ephraim. He’d come from the far edge of the compound, from the direction of the school, but he’d made it as far as the church before he’d started firing.

  ‘There, behind the church!’ She pointed to Ephraim, who’d taken cover behind the domed roof of the earth shelter that was the largest and tallest of all of the structures in the compound. She and her group were out in the open, only able to hide behind the trees, while he was protected by earth and stone. ‘Rafe, he’s right there!’

  ‘Gideon!’ Rafe shouted. ‘Behind you!’

  Ephraim had snuck up on them, separating them from the way out. No way out. The words taunted her mind, singing gleefully every time she tried to push them away. To shove them in the box in her mind. To nail the lid shut. You’re trapped. Trapped. No way out.

  She watched, unable to take her eyes off Ephraim as he appeared above the church’s roofline, his rifle aimed at Gideon. Who was crouching next to Erin, cradling his hand to his chest and reaching for the weapon he’d dropped in the snow.

  Mercy could see the snow tinged with red below his hand. Ephraim had shot him and was still shooting. She’d counted five shots already, all fired in rapid succession. Most magazines held ten rounds, but high-capacity magazines could hold thirty or even more.

  How many rounds did Ephraim’s rifle magazine hold?

  Cursing, Rafe lurched to the side because Gideon was blocking his line of fire. ‘Gideon, get down!’

  Daisy yanked Gideon down just as Ephraim fired again, the bullet going wide to hit the tree where Gideon’s head had been only seconds before. Bark flew everywhere and, beside her, Rafe cursed again. Mercy could feel the fear rolling off him and that set her own panic spiraling, dragging her down.

  Down, where it was dark and numb and nothing hurt.

  ‘Mercy,’ Rafe hissed. ‘Stay with me. We’re going to be okay. I won’t leave you. Stay with me.’

  The sound of his voice was like an anchor, holding her for a moment. Just long enough to think. No more. She would not disappear. Not today. She dug her nails into her own wrist with the hand she’d bared to comfort Gideon, the small spike of pain helping her focus. Keeping her centered.

  It had been a technique she’d learned in therapy. Her therapist hadn’t been entirely pleased with the option, but it helped Mercy keep herself from becoming a walking zombie, so Mercy was wholly on board.

  She opened her eyes, seeing Sasha lying on her side next to Erin, putting pressure on the wound in Erin’s leg. Gideon was holding one of his hands with the other, his face contorted in a grimace.

  They were hurt. Her family. Her friends. They were hurt.

  And then Gideon was standing, holding his service weapon in his left hand as he aimed at Ephraim, who’d slipped far enough into view to point his rifle at her brother. Gideon got off a single shot before Ephraim squeezed off three in rapid succession. Gideon went down on his butt in the snow before curling onto his side.

  Mercy tried to scream, but the sound stuck in her throat. Daisy was at Gideon’s side, remarkably calm, as she ran her hands over his chest. Mercy started to move, but Daisy shouted that Gideon was all right.

  ‘Kevlar vest,’ Rafe muttered, shaken. ‘He’ll be bruised. Maybe a few fractured ribs. But he’ll live.’

  Mercy was glad she was on her stomach because she was certain her knees would have folded beneath her. I need to do something. Think, Mercy. Think, dammit.

  She didn’t have a gun. Didn’t have any weapons at all. Not even Mace.

  But she did have herself. Me. He wants me. Stand up. Let him take you.

  But she couldn’t make herself move, self-preservation holding her back. Don’t be selfish. Dammit, Mercy. Gideon, Rafe, and Erin had sacrificed for her. It was clear that they were Ephraim’s targets as well. They were the cops. They had the guns. They were in his way.

  But I’m who he wants. She pushed herself up to her knees and time seemed to stand still when Ephraim froze next to the wall of the church, staring at her. For what seemed like forever, they stared at each other. And then, like it was slow motion, Ephraim raised his rifle and aimed, his lips curving in a triumphant smile.

  But Mercy dropped back to her stomach as the blast that came from beside her had her covering her ears out of reflex.

  Rafe had fired.

  Mercy thought she heard Ephraim scream, but it had to have been in her mind, because she couldn’t hear anything now. Her ears were ringing, her heart pounding, her eyes watering, and her glasses were wet with snow, but her vision was clear enough to see that Ephraim was backing up as he fired again. One, two, three shots.

  Sasha pitched forward, landing across Erin’s body.

  Mercy’s heart dropped into her stomach. ‘No. Sasha!’ She started to rise, but Rafe yanked at her coat, pulling her back down. She wanted to fight Rafe’s hold, but she saw Sasha moving, one hand on her upper arm.

  Gideon had staggered back to his feet, taking shelter behind a tree, firing at Ephraim with his other hand.

  And then Daisy was moving, grabbing Erin’s gun, shooting at Ephraim, but the bastard had slipped through the huts and was now running along the outer ring. He appeared for only seconds between huts, firing at them as he ran for the front gate. He was going to get away.

  The air around her rang with one continuous barrage of gunfire, and Mercy was beyond deafened. But she wasn’t catatonic. She hadn’t become a zombie.

  Gideon started running unsteadily after Ephraim, disappearing from view through the huts. Rafe used his cane to get to his own feet, and then he was half running, half limping, following Gideon.

  Mercy wasn’t sure if she should stay in place or join the other women, but then she decided to stay where she was. If she was with them, they were more of a target. So she didn’t move.

  Until, through the ringing in her ears, she heard a thin scream coming from the direction Ephraim had run. Mercy didn’t stop to think, she simply ran toward the scream. Crossing the open common area, she passed Rafe at the school, ignoring his commands for her to stop, to go back. She ran faster until she’d returned to where they’d left their vehicles, then came to a dead stop, sliding in the snow a few feet as she stared in horror.

  Gideon’s Suburban was parked behind Erin’s Range Rover. And behind that, parked perpendicular to Gideon’s SUV, was Karl Sokolov’s Tahoe – the one Rafe had loaned to André and Farrah.

  André was on his back in the bloodsta
ined snow, hands closed around Ephraim’s throat while Ephraim straddled his chest, delivering blow after desperate blow to André’s head with his fists. Farrah had leaped into the fray, yanking at the rifle strapped to Ephraim’s back, screaming for help as she tried to dislodge the sonofabitch. The snow was disturbed all around them, as if the two men had rolled while trying to incapacitate each other.

  Ephraim was hitting much harder with his left fist. The right sleeve of his coat was dark with blood. At least Rafe got him, Mercy thought with grim satisfaction.

  ‘Hit—’ His right arm! she’d wanted to shout, but Rafe was suddenly beside her, huffing as he shoved her behind his Subaru.

  ‘Stay down, dammit,’ he hissed. ‘What are you thinking? You want to get Farrah killed?’

  God, no. Please don’t let him hurt her. Trembling, Mercy shifted so that she could see around Rafe.

  Both Rafe and Gideon were trying to get a clear line of fire at Ephraim, but Farrah was in Rafe’s way and Gideon’s left hand was shaking. Gideon’s whole body was shaking, his lips pressed together in a harsh line. He was in pain, Mercy realized, and afraid of shooting Farrah by mistake.

  Mercy saw the flash of metal a split second before Ephraim plunged a knife into André’s biceps. André shouted a curse, loosening his grip just enough for Ephraim to spring backward, grabbing Farrah as he struggled to his feet. Gideon got off a single shot, but Ephraim had ducked low enough that his head was behind Farrah’s.

  The shot missed Ephraim, hitting one of the gateposts instead. His uninjured arm around Farrah’s throat, he dragged her toward the Tahoe, both its front doors open, the motor still running. He’d deftly pulled a golden gun from his pocket, shoving the barrel against Farrah’s temple.

  ‘Back off, Gideon,’ Ephraim shouted, ‘or I’ll kill her. I swear it.’

  Unable to remain silent, Mercy stepped around Rafe. ‘No!’ she screamed as loudly as she could.

  Ephraim swiveled his head toward Mercy, and André used the momentary distraction to leap to his feet, pulling his own weapon to aim at Ephraim. André’s voice boomed as he commanded, ‘Let her go.’