Mercy

'I'll have to climb in through the window,' he said as he picked up a jagged rock.

'What are you doing?'

'I'm gonna break the glass.'

'No,' she whispered. 'I know where Daddy hides his spare key.'

Theo dropped the rock and walked over to the door. She turned the flashlight on and reached up over the door and picked up

the key from the ledge.

'That's a real clever hiding place,' he said.

'Don't be sarcastic. No one would think of breaking in Daddy's bar.'

'Why wouldn't they?'

'John Paul would go after them, and they all know it. Daddy could leave the doors unlocked if he wanted to.'

It took her two tries to get the key in the lock because her hands were shaking. Aftermath, she thought. Her body was finally reacting to the terror she and Theo had lived through.

Theo went inside first, squinting into the darkness, then, keeping Michelle behind him, he told her in a whisper to lock the door.

He heard the sound of the deadbolt slipping into place. The refrigerator began to hum and vibrate. The phone, he remembered, was in the main room at the end of the bar, just outside of the storage room. He thought he heard a sound, maybe a squeaky floorboard.

'Stay here,' he whispered as he pulled his gun out and cautiously walked into the bar.

The light from the parking lot cast a gray shadow on the tables and the floor. It was still dark in the corners, though. Theo went behind the bar. His eyes had adjusted to the dim light, his gaze now fully directed on the half- opened door to the storage area.

It was a perfect place for a man to hide. Would they have left a man behind? No, that didn't make any sense to Theo, but he

still continued to watch the door as he crept along.

At the center of the bar, he stopped, and then reached underneath the counter to search for Jake's shotgun. He wouldn't miss his target with that sucker, he thought as his hand touched the butt of the shotgun. Lifting it off the bracket, he carefully pulled it out.

Theo was turning away from the counter when he felt the tiniest brush of air on the back of his neck. He knew without turning around or hearing a sound that someone was coming up behind him and coming fast.

Her brother cut her off. 'I know who he is.' Theo blinked. 'You know who I am?' 'That's right,' John Paul said. John Paul had never backed away from a fight in his life, and when Theo took a step toward him, he took an immediate step forward. Michelle was squeezed between them.

'If you knew who I was, why did you jump me?' Theo growled.

'Yes, why did you?' Michelle wanted to know, craning her neck back so she could look into her brother's eyes. 'That was rude, John Paul.'

His sister always knew just what to say to make him laugh.'It took effort to maintain his angry expression. Rude. Hell, yes, he supposed it had been rude.

He folded his arms across his chest. 'I couldn't let him take the shotgun,' he explained to Michelle. 'He might be the kind to

spook easy and shoot someone, or maybe even shoot himself in the foot.'

Theo wasn't placated. He took another step forward. 'You were trying to kick me in my bad knee, weren't you?'

John Paul smiled. 'Always go for the weakest point,' he said. 'You were favoring your leg, so I figured…'

'You knew I was a friend of your sister's, and you were still going to break my kneecap?'

'I wasn't going to break it,' he countered. 'I was just going to make you go down.'

'You could have hurt him,' Michelle said. 'Michelle, I don't need you to defend me,' Theo muttered. His masculinity was taking

a beating, and he had had all he was going to take of Mad Max.

'If I had wanted to hurt him, I would have. I could have killed him, but I didn't.'

'The hell you could,' Theo said, as he dropped the gun in the holster.

'I could have snapped your neck, but I resisted the impulse.'

It was then, as Michelle was turning to tell Theo to stop baiting her brother, that she noticed the blood on his arm. She turned the bar light on and stepped closer to Theo. In the light she could see a sliver of glass imbedded in the deep cut. 'When did this happen? You're going to need stitches.' She didn't give him time to explain. Whirling around, she went after her brother. She poked him in his chest and demanded, 'Did you do that? What were you thinking?'

Theo smiled. He could have put an end to her tirade by speaking up and telling her that her brother hadn't caused the injury, but he was getting a real kick out of watching John Paul squirm. Her brother was backing away from her as she read him the riot act. His expression, Theo thought with a good deal of smug satisfaction, was laughable. The guy looked as if he didn't know what to do. When she was finished blistering him with her guilt trip, her brother appeared to be a little contrite. Not much, but a little.

In the harsh light, Theo could see a bit of a resemblance between brother and sister. Both had high cheekbones and blue eyes of the identical color, but that was where the resemblance ended. Michelle was beautiful. She had a gentle, loving disposition. John Paul didn't.

Theo childishly wanted to keep on hating the man, but he knew he couldn't because he could see in John Paul's eyes that he loved Michelle, and Theo figured he was just like any other big brother, doing whatever it took to protect her.

His magnanimous gesture to give the guy a break was short-lived. John Paul glared at him and demanded, 'My sister looks like she's been dragged through the mud. What the hell have you been up to?'

Michelle turned his attention then. 'You're going to have to tell Daddy you broke his best whiskey bottle,' she told her brother. 'Now, clean it up while I call Ben.'

She pushed Theo out of her way to get to the phone. She called the police station and asked the operator to put her through to

Ben Nelson's home.

Theo told John Paul to turn the light off. Surprisingly he did as he was told, then Theo explained what had happened. John Paul didn't show any reaction.

When Theo ended his account of the attack, John Paul asked, 'You think they'll come back? Is that why you don't want the

light on?'

'They probably won't, but I'm not taking any chances. We could get trapped in here.'

'No, we couldn't,' John Paul argued. 'Besides, I'd hear them coming.'

'Yeah? You'd hear them even if they were creeping up on us?'

John Paul nodded. 'Yeah, I would.'

'You think you're Superman?'

Her brother grinned. 'Pretty much. I'd love it if they tried to come in. It would give me the opportunity to kill a couple of them.'

'There's nothing more fun than a shoot-out,' Theo said, his voice reeking with sarcasm, 'but not with your sister here.'

'Yeah, I know.'

Theo was beginning to feel the effects of the fight. His jaw hurt and his arm was throbbing. He opened the cooler, took out two cold long-neck bottles of beer, and though he wanted to hit John Paul over the head with one of them, he figured that would be a waste of good beer and handed it to him instead.

John Paul didn't thank him, but then Theo didn't expect him to. He opened his and took a long drink.

Theo heard Michelle talking to Ben and interrupted. 'Tell him to meet us at the house.'

She asked Ben to hold on and told Theo they needed to get to the hospital.

He decided his arm was way down the list of priorities. 'No,' he said firmly. 'We're going to your house