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 rearview 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.”