But the action wasn’t happening in the forest, at least not on that side of the road. This was nearly what Mercy had dreaded, but at least her friend was still alive.

“Rafe,” Amos muttered, pointing through the SUV window to the forest across the road. “Through there.”

Ephraim had a rifle pressed into Farrah Romero’s back and she walked briskly, her hands bound in front of her with what looked like duct tape. Tape also covered her mouth, and tears streaked down her face.

I can’t allow him to kill that woman. I let him kill too many already.

“What’s happening?” Mercy whispered.

Rafe drew a breath. “He’s got Farrah, but she’s alive.”

“He wants to trade,” Mercy said numbly.

“That’s not going to happen,” Rafe snarled, saving Amos from having to do so. “You promised me, Mercy.”

“I’m not going to trade myself,” she hissed back. “I’m just saying that’s what he wants to happen.”

Amos was suddenly calm. He wasn’t going to sacrifice himself, either. He finally had all of his children together. But he wasn’t going to allow Farrah to be harmed. “We can take him. He might think Mercy is here, but he doesn’t know that I am.”

“Or me,” Daisy added. “He hasn’t seen us yet. We still have the advantage.”

Rafe’s door opened, revealing Schumacher, who was crouched below the window line. “Reynolds and Hunter are headed back, so I’ll have backup. I’m going to circle around behind Burton and get the drop on him. Don’t worry, Miss Callahan. We’ll get your friend out of this.”

Still sitting on the floor, Mercy gave Schumacher a stiff nod and they watched as the agent took off at a run into the woods behind them.

Amos glanced back, blinking when he saw no Ephraim. No Farrah. “They’re gone.”

“Back into the woods,” Daisy said. “Let me out. I want a better angle.”

Rafe complied, opening his door and slowly sliding down and out, staying out of sight of the window as Schumacher had done. “Come on,” he said to Daisy, then frowned when Mercy moved to join them. “Not you.”

Mercy glared at him but stayed put, even when Amos followed the others out of the vehicle.

Rafe had his handgun and Daisy a rifle, which she handled like an extension of her own arm. Gideon’s chosen one apparently had many skills. Daisy knelt behind the front tire of Hunter’s SUV, positioning the rifle on her shoulder.

Satisfied that she knew what she was doing, Amos lifted his gaze to search for Ephraim.

“He couldn’t have seen us yet,” Rafe murmured.

“Probably just the SUVs,” Daisy murmured back. “He stole your dad’s Tahoe back in Snowbush to escape. Maybe he’s planning to get away using one of these Fed-mobiles.”

“There he is,” Amos said quietly. Grimly.

Because Ephraim had reemerged from the forest, the rifle now slung over his shoulder by its strap, a pistol in his right hand pressed into Farrah’s temple. His left forearm was clamped over her chest and that hand held a revolver, the muzzle shoved up under Farrah’s chin. He shoved the woman forward until he was ten yards from where they stood.