A gunshot sounded out from below them. The a second. Behind the echo of the second shot, Mercy heard a clattering noise. She looked over toward the trapdoor and saw the two holes in the floorone of which had torn the hinge and lock directly away from the trapdoor.

The door then swung open. One hand came up and then the other. And then he was there, his face leering out over the edge of the frame and looking at her.

Mercy froze, her heart feeling as if it had stopped beating. She tried to will her hands to move but there was nothing. She was absolutely frozen as he pulled himself up out of the cellar with Kates gun in his right hand.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

Kate had no idea what had gone on between Mercy and Jack when he had gone to the trapdoor, but it was clear that Mercy had gotten the upper hand. She had rarely heard screams of pain like the ones that came barreling up out of the cellar as Mercy had worked at the ropes around the chair.

She wanted to tell the girl to run, to save herself, but the tape was blocking her mouth. She wished the girl would have taken that off first but did not fault her for doing her best. Given the situation, Mercy was operating miraculously.

But then the gunshots tore through the barn and Mercy had frozen. Shed nearly removed the tape from Kates wrists as the trapdoor came flying open and Jack Kramers hands appeared at the edges.

Recognizing the shock that had seized Mercy, Kate knew she had to run things now. The tape around her wrists was ripped a little more than halfway down. It looked as if Jack had wrapped it three layers deep, making it quite hard for Kate to pull it apart on her own. She summoned all of her strength and started to pull as hard as she could. There was much more give than before but it would still not tear free.

She looked back to Mercy and saw that the girl was literally frozen in place. She was in shock and, if things went that way, shed likely stand in that same position until Jack came up out of the cellar and started firing on them.

Across the room, she could now see Jacks face as he pulled himself out of the hole. She saw the gruesome wound where Mercy had apparently stabbed him with something just below the left eye. And she also saw her Glock in his right hand as he pulled himself shakily back up to the floor.

Kate continued to pull at the tape, trying to get it to stretch and rip even further. She channeled all of the strength from her shoulders and her core, crying out behind the tape. She pulled until she felt the muscles in her forearms cramping, until she thought her wrist might snap.