Mercy

Chapter 72

Spector sprinted to the door with Mercy right behind. The women had removed their ear plugs. Pine brought up the rear. When a figure loomed up in front of her, she kicked him in the head. As he started to topple, she slammed her fist into his back, causing him to scream and pitch forward.

They met an armed guard as they rounded a corner.

“What the hell is going on?” he shouted.

In answer, Spector shot him in the head.

Pine stopped and grabbed the man’s AK and pistol, and she thrust the latter into her shorts.

“The SUV’s right over here, come on,” urged Spector.

They could hear cries from inside the building from where they had just fled, as well as feet running their way from other parts of the compound.

They reached the black Escalade, and Mercy and Pine loaded Blum in. Spector jumped into the driver’s seat and fired up the engine. Mercy climbed in next to Blum. Pine was about to get into the front passenger seat when a man came out and fired at them. The slug shattered the side window and passed right behind Spector’s head.

“Get in,” she cried out.

Pine did, after placing AK rounds into the man’s torso, dropping him where he stood.

Spector slammed down the gas right as Pine managed to shut her door. They accelerated, and quickly reached the gates leading out of the compound. A man in the guard tower called out to them to stop. Before he could aim and fire, Pine, leaning out the shattered passenger window, hit him with two rounds from the pistol. The man toppled over the tower’s edge and hit the dirt next to them as the SUV rammed into the gates, popping them open.

Spector aimed the SUV straight ahead, but then started to veer as gunfire came at them from the rear flank. Pine looked back to see men running after them and firing.

Some bullets slammed into the SUV’s body, but fortunately, none of the rounds hit its tires.

Pine turned back around as Spector hung a left and they passed out of their pursuers’ sightlines. “Where the hell are we?”

“The middle of nowhere in Idaho.”

“Okay, next question: Why’d you help us?”

Spector didn’t look at her, choosing to keep her gaze ahead. “You have a wonderful assistant in Carol Blum, Agent Pine. She talks a good, honest game. She made me rethink some things that I thought I was long past rethinking.”

Mercy checked out the still not fully conscious Blum and said, “We need to bandage her up. She’s still bleeding.”

“Shit,” barked Pine. She climbed into the back seat.

“In the duffel in the cargo area I’ve got a first aid kit,” said Spector. “And some clothes, food, water, guns, and ammo.”

“You thought of everything,” said Pine. She searched through the duffel and found the first aid kit. As she worked away on Blum, she said, “Carol, you’re going to make it. You’re going to be fine.”

Blum was obviously still dazed by the flash bangs, and the blood loss had made her weak. But she managed to open her eyes and nod. She looked at the back of Spector’s head, and a small, satisfied smile crept across her face.

Pine got Blum to drink some water and then checked the wounds to make sure the bleeding had been stopped. She retaped the bandages down over the gauze, glanced at Mercy with a relieved expression, and climbed back into the front seat. She looked at the speedometer and saw they were doing eighty.

“You ladies did your part well,” said Spector.

Pine rubbed her jaw. “Maybe too well.” She glanced with pride at her sister. “I know you were holding back. If you hadn’t been, you would have knocked me out in the first minute.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Lee, you pack a wallop,” said Mercy, gingerly rubbing her left oblique.

Pine said to Spector, “Where are we going?”

“There’s a town, about a hundred and fifty miles from here. It’s the closest place. But we’re not out of the woods yet. I did my best, took out some of their vehicles, but I couldn’t get to them all. But with this head start we should be able to keep in front of them.”

“You more than did your part.”

Spector glanced at her. “I hope you remember that if we actually survive this.”

Pine looked at her for a moment and then glanced at Blum, holding the other woman’s weary gaze for a second. She turned back to Spector. “We’d all be dead but for you. I don’t care why you were there. I just care that you helped us. It was a big risk. If it hadn’t worked, they would have killed you for sure.”

“Okay,” said Spector, turning her full attention to driving. “Why don’t you and your sister change your clothes? It’s some of my stuff. You’re both taller than me, but it’ll do, for now.”

Mercy opted for sweatpants and a long-sleeved T-shirt, a lined leather jacket that was tight in the shoulders, and running shoes that were long enough but too narrow. Pine put on jeans, a wool sweater, and a sleeveless parka vest with hiking boots on her feet. She had a pistol and the AK, and Spector had brought along two other pistols, a shotgun, and a long-range sniper rifle.

“I like your choice in guns,” said Pine.

“Nothing comes between me and first-class weaponry,” quipped Spector.

Pine and Mercy settled into their seats on either side of Blum. As they rode along, Blum began to come around enough to where she sat up straighter and looked at Pine.

“We’re going to be okay, Carol.”

“I know. I will bet on you every time.” She eyed Mercy and put a hand on her broad shoulder. “And you too, Mercy.”

“I hope I don’t disappoint you then.”

“I don’t think you could ever do that.”

“Are you feeling better? Here, drink some more water, keep your fluids up,” said Pine. She helped Blum to drink some water, then recapped it and sat back.

Blum reached out and took each of the sisters’ hands in a firm grip as the SUV roared along.

Up front, Spector smiled as she looked behind her in the mirror and saw nothing except the dark. Then she glanced at the gas gauge and her jaw slackened. “We had a full tank when we left. I’m already down to half. Something’s off.”

“Shit, they must have hit the fuel tank,” said Pine. “Pop the cargo window.”

She climbed back there and peered out the rear window. Pine could see the trail of gas they were leaving behind.

“We’re never going to make that town at this point,” warned Spector.

“No repair places or gas stations along the way?” asked Mercy.

“There is nothing along the way except what you see right now.”

“Don’t you have a phone?” said Pine.

“I do, but this is one of the ‘no coverage’ spots you see on the service provider commercials. We won’t have phone service until we’re about a mile outside of the town.”

Mercy said, “Can we stop and maybe plug the hole with something?”

Pine peered behind them and saw what looked to be headlights.

“I don’t think we can stop,” she said, indicating the headlights far in back of them. “They regrouped a lot faster than I would have thought.”

Spector glanced in the mirror and said, “Well, damn.”

“Yeah,” said Pine, looking at her. “Damn.”