But that’s exactly why I’m here. To confront him. To distract him, so that the FBI could get Farrah, André, and Damien to safety. And then, hopefully, take Ephraim. Dead or alive. She hesitated. “I won’t sacrifice myself.”

Rafe closed his eyes. “Dammit, Mercy.”

“Would you let him kill Damien if you could stop him?” she asked quietly.

He shook his head. “No.”

“It’s like that for me with Farrah. Don’t make me promise to sit by and—” She broke off with a sharply indrawn breath when her phone buzzed in her hand. “It’s a text from Mama Romero. Her app is showing Farrah’s phone as active again. Ephraim must have turned it back on. Mama Ro sent a screenshot of the blinking dot on the map. She says it’s not in the same place as it was before, that it’s closer to the interstate.”

She started to show Mama Romero’s map to Rafe when her phone buzzed again and her heart climbed into her throat. “It’s Ephraim,” she choked out. “He just sent me a text from Farrah’s phone with map coordinates.” She swallowed, pushing her fear into the box in her mind, nailing it shut. “And a photo of Farrah, bound with duct tape. You can see André and Damien too, but just their torsos. They’re bound, too.”

“Is there a message?” Gideon asked tightly.

“Yeah.” Mercy cleared her throat and forced the words to come. “He says, ‘No cops or Feds or they all die.’”

“Let me see,” Rafe asked, his voice harsh with renewed fear. “Sonofabitch. Damien’s got blood all over his shirt.” He closed his eyes, drew a breath. When he opened his eyes, they were clear and focused. “Give me the coordinates he sent.” He typed the coordinates into his map app. “Burton’s coordinates match the map in Mrs. Romero’s screenshot. He is closer to the highway than where he called from before by maybe ten miles. We’re not far now. Another twenty minutes.”

“That’s good, though, right?” Mercy asked. “That he’s closer to the highway?”

Rafe shook his head. “I think he’s just getting in position for his getaway. Gideon, take the next exit.”

“I will,” Gideon said, then glanced at Tom. “Can you let Agent Schumacher know where we’re going?”

Mercy whipped around to stare behind them, noticing, for the first time, the SUV tailing them. It was black, a carbon copy of the vehicle in which they were riding. “Agent Schumacher is following us?”

“Yep,” Tom said. “She caught up to us about an hour ago.”

Right about the time he’d opened his laptop. “You knew you had backup,” she accused. “That’s why you were comfortable letting someone else keep watch.”

Tom sighed. “Schumacher is a good agent, Mercy. Try to trust us, okay?”

Mercy blew out a breath, trying to control her temper. “I did trust you. You, Tom. Not some agent I don’t know. I guess Molina knows, too?”

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.”