Long Road to Mercy (Atlee Pine, #1)(23)

“You don’t let things be in pain, Lee, you hear me. That’s one’a God’s creatures, so you got to put them out of their misery, okay? You hear me, girl? Pain ain’t no good that way. Ain’t right. You hear me now?”

This had occurred after Mercy had been taken from them. They were all changed, all on edge, all different from what they had once been. Pain, yes, they were all certain that Mercy had been in pain.

She had wiped her eyes and nodded at her father, but her gaze had remained on the dead animal, its lifeless eye seemed to be trained solely on her, as the blood pooled around its destroyed head. She would never forget the howl the beast had made when it had first been shot. Shot for simply hunting for something to eat. She would never forget its piteous writhing on the ground, its spine crushed by a bullet, unsure of what had just happened, but instinctively knowing that its life was just about over, even as it desperately tried to rise and flee.

And survive.

On this thought Pine’s memory lurched to her sister.

And how Mercy must have felt something similar to this, as she was taken from the only home she had ever known. Her life forfeited by an unknown force. For no reason at all other than a violent lunatic’s whim.

Did someone put you out of your misery?

Did someone take the pain away, Mercy?

I hope he did. I pray he did.

At that exact moment Pine wanted to finally let something out of her that had been inside far too long. She was a dammed-up river desperately needing a release.

But it wouldn’t come. The tears would not come.

The imposing image of Daniel James Tor briefly flitted across her mind.

If he had taken Mercy, she prayed that the end had come quickly. But knowing Tor’s history, she very much doubted that was the case.

With her sister’s features firmly in her mind, Pine fell into a troubled sleep.

As she usually did.





Chapter

12



G?RAND CANYON, ONE.

Cadaver dogs, zip.

And why should that be a surprise? thought Pine.

The Canyon was nearly 280 miles long and up to eighteen miles wide, with more nooks and crannies than you could count in a lifetime. It was no wonder that a body had not been found. But it could be that no body had been found because no corpse was there to be found.

Lambert had texted her early that morning with the results, or the lack thereof.

Pine didn’t have the resources to check every pocket of the Canyon, not that anyone did. And then there was the mighty Colorado River that had served as both jackhammer and scalpel to the hard and soft rock constituting the Canyon. It was the only reason there was a Canyon. If Mr. Imposter had fallen into the icy and swift-running Colorado, his body might be in Mexico by now.

Pine changed into her workout gear and grabbed a duffel with clean clothes, which she had packed the night before. She climbed into her truck and drove off.

It was a ten-minute trip to her gym. It was pretty much a ten-minute drive to everywhere in Shattered Rock. You knew you were in rush hour if you saw more than one car at the same time. She parked on the empty street.

It was early and the heat had not yet built. But the sun had already started its rise and the warmth would follow with it, until sweat would sprout on anyone who happened to be outside moving at anything faster than a slow walk.

It would be two more months before the weather would approach anything that could be called cool or refreshing.

And right now, Pine was going to sweat inside.

She nodded to the owner of the place as she walked in.

His name was Kenny Kuni, a transplant from Maui. He was about five eight and a massively ripped 240 pounds.

He was on the squat rack with enough stacked plates to make the barbell bend at the ends. Kuni nodded back and then did another set. His shirt was soaked through from his battle with the barbells, and his shorts were stretched tight over his monster-veined and tanned thighs.

His gym was old-school, hard-core with no fancy bells and whistles, just the basic tools for the seriously inclined pusher of iron.

And another thing: Kenny didn’t believe in AC when one was working out. The only thing you got were two floor fans moving warm air from the left to the right and back again with every feeble oscillation. If you didn’t sweat in here, you needed to have your glands and pores checked.

There were two other people in the gym. Both were regulars. One was a tall black guy in his fifties who had washboard abs, the other a stocky white guy in his forties working hard to come back from a scoped knee. Pine didn’t know their names and in fact had never asked. She just knew them by their routines. The same was probably true of them toward her. The regulars didn’t come here to chat. They came here to push as much weight as they could. They saved their breath to do just that, because if you did it correctly, you wouldn’t have any wind left over to talk.

She took off her sweatshirt, revealing the tank top underneath. This also showed off four tats Pine had. On one delt was the symbol for Gemini, the astrological mark of the twin. It was simply the Roman numeral two, which looked like the symbol for Pi, but with another line added at the bottom. On the other delt was the astrological symbol for the planet Mercury, which ruled the world of the Geminis. It was comprised of a cross on the bottom, a circle on top of the cross, and an upward crescent on top of the circle.

Along both of Pine’s long arms, starting at the forearms and working their way up toward each delt, were the words “No Mercy.”