Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

my eyes, and prayed I’d made the right decision, that he wasn’t going to do anything more than take her to use a rest room.
    In the meantime, I needed to check on Adam.
    The dart was still stuck in his neck, and I pulled it out and dropped it on the floor. He opened his eyes when I touched him, but I don’t think he saw anything.
    â€œIt’s all right, now,” I told him, rubbing gently at the bloodstain on his neck. “I’m here, and we’re going to getyou and Jesse out. We know who at least one of the traitors is, and the rest won’t be able to cause any harm.”
    I didn’t tell him who “we” encompassed. I wasn’t sure he was hearing me anyway, but I wanted to soothe him rather than rile him. There was another dart tangled in the sleeve of his right arm, and I pulled it out, leaning across his body to do so. His head dropped forward until his face was buried between my shoulder and my neck. I couldn’t tell if it had been a purposeful move on his part or if I’d bumped him, but I could hear his breathing deepening.
    â€œThat’s right,” I told him. “You sleep and get rid of this poison.”
    I stayed there, holding him against me until I heard someone start up the stairs again. I rearranged Adam until he looked like he had when they’d left, minus the darts, then scrambled quietly back into my hiding place.
    I waited, worried, as a single set of footsteps came back up the stairs. It wasn’t until he came into my view again that I realized the guard was carrying Jesse. She was stiff in his arms and staring at the wall.
    â€œSorry, Angel,” he crooned, as he tied her up efficiently. “I’d have given you privacy if it were up to me, but we couldn’t chance it, could we?”
    He was a dead man, I thought, memorizing his features and the way he moved so I’d know him again—even if Gerry happened to have two six-foot-plus redheaded giants in his pack. I’d heard the satisfaction in his voice, and I’m certain Jesse did as well. He wanted to scare her.
    Adam stirred. I could hear it, though he was out of my range of vision. “Mercy,” he said, his voice a hoarse rasp.
    The guard laughed. “Mercy, is it. You’ll find none of that around here.” He reached down and patted Jesse’s face. “Until next time, Angel.”
    Adam called her Angel, I remembered, feeling a little sick. The door shut, and the bolt slid home. I waited until he’d gone back down before I moved out of the closet. Jesse was still staring at the wall.
    Adam’s head had fallen forward again, and I couldn’thelp but touch him again to make sure he was still breathing. Then I went to his daughter.
    She hadn’t altered her position since the guard had retied her. Two hours before it was safe to release them, I thought, even while I was digging in the pack for something to cut Jesse’s ropes. There was no way I could leave her like this for two more hours.
    I don’t know why I brought Zee’s dagger with me, or why I reached for it instead of the pocketknife I’d also packed, but it came into my hand like it belonged there.
    Jesse jerked when I put a knee on the bed, so I touched her shoulder. “It’s me, Mercy. No one’s going to hurt you anymore. We’ve got to wait, yet, but we’re going to get you out of here. You need to be quiet. If you can do that for me, I’ll get this rope off you and see what I can do about the duct tape.”
    She’d gone from being utterly passive to shivering as if she were frozen as soon as I began talking to her. It was chilly in the room, and they hadn’t covered her, so I supposed that might have been part of the problem. But she was sucking in air as hard as she could—a difficult task, since she could only breathe in and out of her nose.
    I touched the edge of the dagger to my thumb. It was sharp, but not sharp enough to make cutting through climbing rope very easy. I slid the blade between a strand of the rope and the bed frame and almost stabbed myself when I pulled back and there was no resistance. I thought at first that the dagger had slipped out from under the rope—but the rope was clean-cut.
    I gave the dagger a look of respect. I should have realized that any dagger Zee carried about as personal protection would have some surprises in store. I cut the rope at her feet, and she pulled her