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I&039;d found a stack of cut wood at the side of the cabin under a tarp I carried in an armload and built up the fire I turned my back as Amber removed her wet clothes She sat in front of the fire, wrapped herself in the blanket from the cot I found a pair of sweatpants a size too s my wet clothes next to Amber&039;s on the makeshift clothesline I&039;d fashioned from a ball of twine

I rifled the shelf above the little stove and was elated to find a coffee can, but s I boiled water, found cups I filled the cups, offered one to A out the

"I&039;m sorry" Her eyes didn&039;t waver frolad to see you" She cleared her throat "Is Danny?"

"He&039;s in the hospital, but he&039;s alive He&039;ll be okay"

That seeh She sipped the tea

I drankwarmth started in my belly and spread outward I felt the wet clothes It would be a while I put another log on the fire

"I&039;m sorry I ran I didn&039;t knohere I was or who you were"

"It&039;s okay"

She was still rattled, al better She&039;d been through a lot Toobetter

She drank tea, her eyes still on the"So"

I went to the

A black luxury car, a Lincoln, parked across the lake It stayed for a moment, then started the slow circle around the shore I watched like Tina must&039;ve watched, feltdread

"Who is it?" asked Amber

"I don&039;t know" Please don&039;t be Mercury

The car passed the fra

How could it be Mercury? Ifrom the worst kind of paranoia How could he have tracked me down to Tennessee? My mind whirled

Jeffers

Certainly that was it Mercury could make someone like Jeffers talk easy He&039;d say how I&039;d been there looking for Tina Mercury could follow the same trail

The car passed the second cabin

It didn&039;t matter Trouble was on the way How it happened was now irrelevant

The car stopped well behind my truck, and the driver stepped out

Lloyd Mercury

He wore a black suit with a fat, white tie, glea nickel autoun to kill ainst uns were at the bottorabbed the bowie knife and the fireplace poker I scurried up the ladder and found the loft I kept to one side of the atched Mercury carefully I couldn&039;t open the ithout drawing a faceful of bullets, so I watched and waited Mercury stripped off his topcoat and threw it across the hood of his car, began circling the house to the left

I already knew the front door was the only way in or out The ts in back were set through He&039;d see Amber in the blanket by the fire That didn&039;t matter He knew somebody was here anyway He&039;d seen the chimney sth, I&039;d lose But I had experience and patience

I&039;d rather have had speed and strength

Mercury came around the other side of the cabin He&039;d finished his survey, and I knew a guy like hie He&039;d want it done, and he&039;d coe of the loft to wait, fireplace poker in my hand, knife sheath stuck in the back of the sweatpants

He kicked in the front door Amber didn&039;t even flinch

"Where is he?" asked Mercury

I couldn&039;t see hihtly to his voice I used that to judge his position Ahter around her

I reached as far to the right as I could with the fireplace poker and tapped the floor of the loft

The cabin shook with the thunder of Mercury&039;s autoh the here I&039;d tapped the poker By the third shot I&039;d already jumped

I landed in front of hi the poker, caught him on the wrist, and the pistol clattered across the cabin&039;s wooden floor Mercury took the blow froered back I brought it back for a killer bloung down for his head He blocked it with a forearm, but I kneould When his forearm came up for the block, I leapt, kicked hih theGlass rained

A un I couldn&039;t let hiot a pistol out, I was all done

I leapt through theafter hiht the poker down for a quick blow He caught my wrist with both hands, twisted, jabbed a thuive up the poker

But I squeezed my injured hand into a painful fist Punched three times, once across the jaw and twice in the eye

Mercury twisted, rolled over and bucked ut I scrambled to my feet but he was already up

We faced each other three feet apart I&039;d lost the surprise, but I grabbed the knife from behind, drew it, threw the sheath away I had to stay close, so I could go for hiun

But he s to swell

I stood cold in the snow, barefoot, wondering what to do next

"How&039;s it going, Lloyd?"

"Good," he said "Beggar sends his regards"

"How did you find me? Jeffers?"

"Of course He said Tina was from Tennessee, and that you were probably headed there too The phone book had two listings for Tina This cabin and the house back down the mountain I went to the house first You left quite aback to Orlando I&039;m done I know that There&039;s no reason to do this All I want to do is help the girl She&039;s had it rough You don&039;t need to bother with me I&039;ll even tell you where the books are"

He scrunched up his face, thinking about it "Sorry, Charlie," said Mercury "Nothing personal, but you&039;ve been a whole lot of trouble Beggar says you have to go Now, here&039;s what&039;s going to happen You&039;re going to have to see if you can stick that knife in me before I take three steps back and draw my Berreta One way or another, we finish it"

Our eyes locked Then heinto his jacket, and I leapt for hiht back without the pistol, and he stepped forward, caught my knife hand and twisted I kicked hi a fist I ducked under and punched hiht my arm, pulled me forward, and head-butted ered back He cas out from under me I sprawled in the snow, tried feebly to scoot away He pulled his Berreta, pointed it at my chest

"I just wanted to know," said Lloyd "I wondered if I was better than you, and noe both know it I&039;ar wanted me to tell you that this bullet was for Sanchez"

I flinched at the sound of the gunshot Mercury&039;s face exploded His blood sprayed across me, dotted the snoith red stars He fell backwards, landed flat, a grizzly snow-angel

As spread, Mercury&039;s shiny automatic in her little fists I wobbled to un, wrapped her in ainst my chest, both of us barefoot in the snow