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Mercy thought it was a deer
But it was a girl who burst out of the brush along the dark road and into the headlight beams of her SUV She stoht Spinning sideways, her vehicle shuddered as her tires bounced along the snow-packed ruts of the road’s shoulder It rocked to a stop, and she clung to the wheel, gulping for breath
I didn’t hit her
Hands slaot to help me! Please!”
Red sirl’s wide eyes
Someone hit her and left
Mercy threw open her door, and the shivering girl lunged into her ar!” Her hands were red with blood, and streaks of it covered her cheeks She couldn’t have been older than ten, and her short-sleeved T-shirt was deadly wrong for the freezing night air She grabbed the front of Mercy’s coat and yanked her toward the road “She’s this way!”
“Wait! Are you hurt?” Mercy snagged the child’s wrist and exairl’s face toward her, searching for a source of the blood The child fought to get out of her grip
“It’s not !” Her feet scrambled as she tried to pull Mercy away froot to help us!”
“Where is she?”
“This way!” Her gaze pleaded with Mercy to follow
Her heart racing, Mercy firrabbed a duffel bag frorandmother?”
“The shortcut through the woods is fastest” The child froze and eyed her bag with hope “Are you a doctor?”
“No” Mercy pulled out her cell phone No service Dammit “Did you call 911?”
“We don’t have a phone”
Who doesn’t have a phone these days? She took a closer look at the girl She needed a haircut, and her jeans were two inches too short Her face was thin, with delicate features, giving her an elfin cast “My mom has one, but she’s not home Can you hurry, please?”
Her terrified eyes nearly broke Mercy’s heart “I need onepines on both sides of the road Ten minutes earlier she’d left her cabin, but she was still in some of the densest woods on the east side of the Cascade mountains The road rarely had traffic, and since it was nearly three in theShe returned to the driver’s side and grabbed her purse with its hidden weapon pocket and gun, wishing she’d worn her shoulder holster
She slid the purse inside the duffel and looped the heavy-duty strap over her shoulder She adjusted her balance for its heavy weight “Let’s go” The girl spun and dashed through the snoard the brush where she’d first appeared Mercy reht out of the duffel’s end pocket
I’ll do what I can and then go for help
The first aid kit in the duffel wasn’t the type bought in a Walical thread, needles, epinephrine, and lidocaine in addition to the usual assortes and tape She mentally took inventory of her duffel as she darted into the forest after the girl Eency blanket, fire starter, headla tablets Mercy knew better than to blindly plunge into the woods without supplies