I’ve got to get us out of here.

Her body was in no condition to escape. She had been lucky to make it as far as she had, and another trek was out of the question. She had no choice but to sit tight until she was sufficiently healed.

I need to get rid of Sean.

Scanning the room, she realized he was gone. Did he abandon us? Hunger and thirst engulfed her as she tugged at her cuffed hands, imagining herself and Eden slowly starving to death. She squirmed uncomfortably as another bodily need made itself known.

“Dammit.”

She’d wished Sean gone, and now she wished him back.

The door swung open and cold air curled around Mercy. Sean stamped his feet, his arms full of firewood. He dropped it next to the stove and beat the snow off his hat and jacket. His gaze met hers. “It’s coming down again.”

She swallowed. “What time is it?”

“Dunno. I don’t wear a watch and don’t have a phone.” He put his hands on his hips as he studied her and Eden. “Thirsty?”

“Yes.” Her mouth was instantly dry.

He got her a glass of water at the sink adjacent to the stove and left the faucet dripping to help keep the pipe from freezing. “He’s got a good water setup. Don’t know what the source is, but it tastes okay.” He held the glass to her lips, and she drank, refusing to look him in the eye.

“I need the bathroom.”

Distaste crossed his face. “I figured. Wake her up, and I’ll take you to the outhouse together. Try anything, and I’ll shoot her in the head.”

His casual tone made Mercy’s skin crawl. She had no doubts he’d kill one of them.

Eden is a hostage to keep me in line.

Mercy would do anything to keep him from hurting the teen.

Anything.

She stretched and gently jiggled Eden with her boot. Confusion and then fear swept over Eden’s face as she instantly sat up. Her petrified gaze jumped from Mercy to Sean and then back again. “He’s taking us outside to the bathroom,” Mercy told her.

Sean knelt, untied the teen, ordered her to remove Mercy’s cuffs as he held the pistol on them, and then led them outdoors.

The path to the outhouse had been recently cleared, along with a trail around the huge covered woodpile. Sean wasn’t stupid. He saw the sense in maintenance during a storm. A few minutes later they were back inside, and she was thankful for the warmth.

The cabin was an oasis from the cold but ruled by a murderer.

“How long will we be here?” Mercy blurted as he tied Eden again.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “You got somewhere to be?”

Yes. Home. Truman. Kaylie.

A lonesome pang vibrated in her chest as she pictured her family. And said nothing.

He focused on Eden’s knots. “We’ll stay here until things cool down.”

Mercy was confused. “You mean until Pete’s anger with me cools down?” She couldn’t believe Sean would do her any favors.

He frowned as he tugged and tested Eden’s ropes. “No.” He shot her a glare that made it clear he was done talking about it.

Mercy didn’t care.

“Did you get in trouble with Pete? Is that why you’re here?” If he was on the outs with Pete, it was unlikely he’d take her back to the compound. Unless he handed her over as a peace offering.

He snorted. “No.”

She tried again. “Does Pete know you’re here?”

“No.”

He was calm, seemingly unconcerned that he’d walked away from his boss and the compound.

“Are you going back?” asked Mercy.

An odd expression touched his features. He stood, towering over her. “I’ve gone through that room,” he said, pointing at the small room with the storage bins and buckets. “Nelson may have been an asshole, but he was prepared to outlast World War Three—which reminds me.” He grabbed a small bottle from the table. “Advil?”

“Yes, please.” Joy quickened her pulse as he shook the bottle. It sounded full.

He dumped a few tablets into his hand and placed them in her mouth, helping her drink from the glass of water again. Apparently he wasn’t antimedication like the rest of Pete’s crew.

“I don’t see any reason to hurry back,” he said, kneeling next to her. “This place is warmer than the barracks.” His gaze lingered on her wet lips, and an unsettling chill settled over her. He touched the hair by her face. The sexual threat he’d made in the middle of the night days ago popped into her head.

Consider it a favor you can repay in the future.

The hair on Mercy’s arms lifted. She met his easily readable gaze and saw he remembered too.

“There was a spark between us that night,” he said, not dropping his gaze.

“Gross,” interrupted Eden, who had been listening and watching closely. “She’s not into you either, Sean.”

Fury crossed his face as his head swiveled in Eden’s direction.

“What happened between Pete and Nelson?” asked Mercy, grasping at straws to distract him and break up the tension that had blossomed in the room. “Vera told me Nelson had started America’s Preserve and then left, but she didn’t say why.”

Sean moved away and sat in a chair, leaning back and crossing his legs at his ankles, raking her with a stare that made her skin crawl.

Just try me.

She was injured, but her teeth and feet still worked. Well, the foot on one leg.

“Difference in leadership styles and philosophy,” he answered.

Mercy let her gaze wander over the shelves of food stores. “Let me guess. Nelson was focused on preparation and survival for the group, but Pete was more interested in protecting his interpretation of the Second Amendment and forced him out.”

He grinned. “Something like that.”

“And you?”

He shrugged, an arrogant expression on his face.

“You have a law enforcement background,” she said, throwing caution to the wind. “From where?”

His face went blank. He stood, shoved on his hat, and went outside.

“What a perv,” said Eden, slumping against the bed frame, her face hidden behind her hair. “He said all sorts of creepy things to me when you fell asleep.”

Mercy looked sharply at the teen. “Define creepy.”

“Sexual.”

Anger burned in her throat. “Is that why you said ‘either’ when you told him I wasn’t into him?”

“Yeah. Later he said he was just teasing.” She shuddered. “I don’t know what to believe.”

“I don’t think he expected to end up with us stuck in this cabin,” said Mercy. “I’m not sure what he thought would happen when he decided to follow us. But I think he’ll get tired of tying and untying you pretty soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if he lets you be untied as long as he’s in the cabin.”

“Why not you?”

“Because he knows the sort of training I’ve had. He’s had it too.”

“You really think he was a cop?” Eden asked skeptically.

“He was something. I can tell by the way he moves and handles his weapons. He’s had training.”

“If he was a cop, how did he end up in America’s Preserve?”

“That’s what I’d like to know too.”

The evening crawled by. Mercy dozed off and on. Sean fed both her and Eden by hand and took them to the outhouse again.

He left his rifle near the door and had placed his pistol on a shelf. Both in full sight of Mercy, taunting her.

At some point he’ll let his guard down.

He was in and out of the cabin a lot over the next few days. Chopping wood. Stacking wood. Shoveling snow. They could hear the crack of an ax as he chopped. He paced the main room and rooted through the bins, but often he’d abruptly stride out the door, and the ax would sound again. Sometimes he just sat and stared at her or Eden.

Mercy didn’t want to know what was going through his head.

He found some books and magazines, but neither Mercy nor Eden could hold them and turn the pages with her hands secured. Mercy begged to have one hand free, although her hurting head probably wouldn’t let her focus on a page. He refused, told her to shut up again, and continued to pace.

He was antsy.

Their days alternated between utter boredom and cold fear.

On the third day he split Mercy’s lip again when he slapped her for asking too many questions about his plans. He’d raged at the two of them to be silent, and Mercy had pushed, seeking to know where he’d draw the line. She found it. She and Eden stayed silent for the rest of the day.

He was Jekyll and Hyde. One minute giving her more Advil and the next kicking her in her sore knee for requesting a trip to the outhouse.

She missed her family. Eden did too. The teen cried often, convinced she’d never see them again, and grieved that her mother had been gone for months. At least a hundred times she’d asked Mercy if she believed they’d get away from Sean.

Mercy always said yes.

But inside she had her doubts.