Without Mercy (Mercy 1)

“I’m locked out,” Nell said, her big eyes pleading.

Great! “What the hell are you doing out here?” Shaylee was pissed as she stood up and took a step toward the idiot of a girl. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be outside? That’s why they’ve got the beefed up patrols.”

“I know, I know,” Nell said, rubbing her arms and looking scared as a trapped rabbit. “It all freaks me out so bad. I—I can’t stand it here anymore. I’ve tried to get people to help me. Counselors and teachers and my mom …” Her voice faded for a second and Shay thought the goose might break down into a puddle of tears. Instead she sniffed loudly. “I—I just want to get away from here and go home.”

“Yeah, well, I get that.” Boy did she ever, but she didn’t have time for Nell’s ridiculous antics. “Look, what were you thinking? What did you think you could do? Walk through the blizzard?”

“It’s not snowing now,” Nell said, hugging herself, and blinking like crazy. “I thought maybe I could steal one of the snowmobiles and drive it out of here. I know where the keys are.”

Snowmobiles? “You do?” Shay was suddenly intrigued. This was the first she’d heard of snowmobiles, but it made sense. Of course Blue Rock Academy would have them. And they would be the answer to her prayers, a way to navigate through the snow-crusted hills and escape. For the first time in days, hope swelled inside her. “Where are the keys?”

“Here.” Nell actually held up her gloved hand and opened her palm to show off a tiny ring with two keys dangling from it. “I ripped off a set.”

“Really?” For an instant, Shay’s esteem for Nell shot to the heavens. How great was this? But Nell? Really? Wimpy Nell jacking anything, much less something as cool as a set of keys, was definitely a surprise. A good one.

Shaylee could use Nell’s idea to her own advantage, if that was what it took. She stepped around the corner of the building again, past the rhododendron with its snowy leaves. “Let me see.” She was still trying to wrap her mind around what Nell’s real agenda was. “So you were going out riding in subzero temperatures without a jacket?”

Wait a minute!

That didn’t make any sense!

Oh, crap! Could Nell be part of some kind of a—?

She felt hot breath on the back of her neck. Oh, God! NO! Fear spurted through her bloodstream. Instinctively, she started to run. Rough, strong arms clamped around her from behind, nearly knocking her down.

Oh, Jesus, please no!

He smelled like sweat. A pig.

Panic shot through her brain.

She twisted, started to scream, tried to round on this huge, burly maniac holding her. Too late! One steely arm forced her upper body and shoulders against him, a gloved hand over her mouth.

Shay bit. Tasted leather!

She felt the cold muzzle of a gun pressed hard against her temple. Instantly, she stopped moving.

“One move, one little sound,” he snarled against her ear, his breath foul and warm. “I swear, bitch, I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains out.”

CHAPTER 41

Her captor yanked Shay’s arms back, angrily forcing her hands behind her.

Click! A pair of handcuffs were locked over her wrists. Cold, hard steel bit into her wrists.

“How does it feel, bitch?” he growled against her ear again, and then, just because he could, he twisted the handcuffs a bit. She nearly fell to her knees. Pain burned up Shay’s arms, screamed through her shoulders, ground into her spine. She gasped, the agony excruciating, then wrenched herself away, desperate for a look at his face.

Moonlight washed against his handsome, cruel features.

Eric Rolfe!

Satan incarnate.

His eyes glittered with a deep-seated, evil glee that twisted his lip

s into a cruel grin. “Gotcha.”

Screaming wouldn’t work. He’d kill her before anyone noticed and then claim he’d thought she was the killer.