Mount Mercy

A second cop car pulled up behind Earl’s and the gunfire increased. Should we run? That meant standing up and that made us bigger targets. Even as I thought it, a woman fleeing across the street screamed and fell to the ground. I didn’t even see the stray shot that hit her. I stared at her twitching body, trying to figure out how to get to her...and then she went still, a life just snuffed out. I pressed Beckett even tighter against the sidewalk, my heart pounding.

And then, in the midst of all the chaos, I glimpsed a face. One of the men firing an assault rifle was Colt.

I started to recognize other faces. The old guy who’d come in with palpitations. Some of the men who’d carried the two injured guys to the ER. This was Colt’s gang, or militia, or whatever the hell they were. They’re bank robbers? That’s what they’d been planning?

I looked down and saw Beckett staring at Colt, too. “Here?” she mouthed over the gunfire. I knew what she meant. A tiny local bank like the one on Main Street wouldn’t have enough cash to be worth robbing. And why weren’t they wearing masks? Didn’t they care that everyone could identify them?

Then I saw Seth, Colt’s son. He was sheltering behind a parked car and next to him was a man in a tan jacket. Seth had a hand on the man’s arm, as if telling him to wait. Almost as if he was the man’s bodyguard.

Beckett gave a horrified moan beneath me. I followed her gaze and—

Oh God, no.

Taylor was standing about thirty feet away. She was still holding a takeout cup of coffee and she was rooted to the spot, face pale and eyes huge. She must have wandered into this just as it started and now she was frozen.

And two of the gunmen were running right towards her, gunfire chewing up the storefronts behind them as the police tried to hit them. I could see it all coming in sickening slow motion. Even if I could leave Beckett, there was no way I could get to her in time—

Seth sprang to his feet and started running, shoving other people out of his way. I saw Colt yell at him, furious, but he kept going, charging towards Taylor. He slammed into her like a linebacker, carrying her to the ground behind a car just as bullets raked the wall where she’d been standing. Seth lay there panting and frantic, his arms wrapped around Taylor’s waist to hold her there. He glanced our way and for a second, our eyes met. I glanced down at Beckett. I understood.

Colt yelled orders to his men and they started to flood across the street towards an alley. He called for his son, but Seth shook his head, still protecting Taylor.

The man in the tan jacket made a run for it. Earl yelled at him to stop. Colt raised his gun and fired and my stomach knotted as I saw Earl fall. Lloyd dropped to his knees next to his mentor, his mouth wide in shock. Then he jumped to his feet and fired wildly at Colt, screaming in rage. Most of his shots slammed into a parked car near the guy in a tan jacket—

The whole street shook as the car’s gas tank exploded. The few windows that had survived, shattered. My head throbbed and my lungs ached as the pressure wave hit us. Beckett screamed beneath me.

The shooting stopped.

For a few moments I just lay there, stunned. All I could hear was a ringing in my ears and my vision was blurry. When I got my senses back, I quickly rolled off Beckett and flipped her face-up, my heart racing. “Beckett?” What if she’d caught a piece of shrapnel from the explosion? “Beckett?”

She opened her eyes. I patted her down, looking for injuries, but she was fine, just dazed. I pulled her to her feet and then wrapped her up in a hug, lifting her right off the ground. She nestled her head into my shoulder. I closed my eyes, panting in relief. If anything had happened to her….

“Oh my God,” whispered Beckett. She was looking over my shoulder.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around.

Main Street lay in ruins. Every window was shattered, bullet holes riddled the signs and the car that had exploded was on fire, sending thick black smoke twisting down the street in choking clouds. Four of the gunmen were down and the cops were scrambling to get cuffs on them. The rest were disappearing into an alley. As I watched, Colt grabbed hold of Seth and dragged him roughly away from Taylor, then ran with him into the alley. Seth looked forlornly back at Taylor as they were torn apart and she stared back at him, tearful and accusing. How could you do this?