Дэвид Балдаччи - Mercy

“So you’re going to kill us as revenge on the government? Doesn’t that strike you as a little bit insane?”

“Not at all. It’s incredibly logical and has a certain symmetry. And Ken was my brother. Regardless of whether it was justified or not, your sister killed him. In my world, that requires payback. So I’m killing two birds with one stone, at least figuratively.”

“So we both die then?”

“Not necessarily.”

“What does that mean? And where is Carol?”

“She’s safe. In answer to your first question, it will become apparent in short order.”

“What will?”

“What I have devised for you. But let me warn you, it will be more difficult than anything you’ve ever faced.”

“We’ve both faced a lot,” said Pine, while Mercy just watched him.

“You’ve faced nothing like this,” said Buckley. “I can assure you.”

On that, he rose and left.

Two days passed and Pine slept uncomfortably, waking at odd hours. She noted with some envy that her sister slept soundly, seemingly untroubled by the situation they were in. During the day, and knowing that they were probably under surveillance, they discussed things. Mercy filled Pine in on what had happened with Ken.

“I didn’t think I hit him that hard,” she said. “But he was going to shoot me.”

“You did nothing wrong,” said Pine.

“Oh, I know that,” said Mercy matter-of-factly.

They talked about Mercy’s life after she was taken. Her years with the Atkinses were painful for Pine to learn about, and she believed that Mercy glossed over some of it, perhaps to spare her the hardship of learning about it. The years after her sister escaped from the Atkinses were also difficult to hear about, particularly when she had been repeatedly brutalized by people along the way.

“I let it happen,” Mercy said simply. “And then I stopped letting it happen.”

“You didn’t let anything happen. The Atkinses kept you in a cage and then you got free. You weren’t capable of handling any of what happened to you, Mercy. None of this was fair to you.”

“Nothing about life is fair, at least for people like me. But I got things straightened out eventually.”

Pine watched her twin closely. “Now I wish you had left me. Then you wouldn’t be stuck here.”

“ I was the one the dude was after. They would have found me at some point. At least we can face it together, have each other’s backs.”

Pine reached out and touched her sister’s arm. “I just wish I knew where they were keeping Carol. Just because he said she was okay means nothing. I want to see that she’s okay.”

“I wonder what the guy meant about what we would be facing.”

“He strikes me as the type to understate, rather than embellish things. So, I guess we’re right to be worried.”

“Do you think the FBI is looking for us?”

“I’m sure they are. They’ll have gone over the Atkinses’ house by now. What’s left of it, anyway. They’ll have found Bertrand’s remains. They’ll bring everything they have on this one.” She said this louder, in the hopes that they were being spied on.

Mercy glanced out the window. “Any idea where we are?”

Pine looked out the window, too. “Western U.S., I think. If I had to guess, I’d say Utah or Idaho, maybe Colorado. I’ve been through those states a lot, and I recognize the topography.”

“Then we must have been flown here. I don’t think we were out long enough to have been driven.”

“Which means the man has his own jet with pilots who won’t talk.”

“He looked like money,” said Mercy.

“And this looks like some sort of compound. A jail, perimeter fencing, armed guards.”

Mercy said in barely a whisper, “Like the dude from Waco? I read about that.”

Pine replied in a low voice. “David Koresh? I don’t know. Our guy strikes me as more of a businessman, not some crazed cult leader.”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

Mercy lay back on her bed and put her arm behind her head.

Pine watched her for about a minute, certain things inside of her building, like a jet’s engines creating barely suppressed thrust before takeoff. Finally, unable to stay silent any longer, she said, “I’m sorry about everything, Mercy.”

Mercy glanced at her. “This wasn’t your fault. Dude was after me. I should be apologizing to you.”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I meant...” Pine looked down, gathering the words she wanted to use as precisely as possible. Only her emotion was impeding her effort at logic. Finally, emotion won out.

“I should have looked for you long before now. I just went on with my life and... It was like you weren’t... I didn’t deserve to... have... any... fucking thing. I... hate... myself.”

Pine leaned forward, her head nearly touching her knees, wrapped her arms around herself, and started to sob. It was like someone had just dropped an entire world on her soul, crushing it to nothing.

Mercy sat up, looking alarmed, and then her features changed to understanding. She shifted over to the other bunk, drew close to Pine, and finally wrapped her long, strong arms around her. She pressed her mouth to Pine’s ear, as Pine was wracked over and over again with sobs, her body shaking uncontrollably. Mercy tightened her grip, trying to quell the guilt-ridden rage inside of her twin.

She said in a low voice, “You’re going to get through this. We are going to get through this. You always figure it out. Always.”

Pine shook her head fiercely. “No, I don’t. It took me thirty damn years to find you. I’m useless.”

“Look at me, look at me. Lee, look at me!”

A teary Pine finally gazed at her sister.

“Do you remember that old oak tree in our yard? You would climb to the very top and it would make Mom so mad, because she was afraid you were going to fall and kill yourself?”

Pine nodded. “I–I r-remember.”

“But you always figured out how to get back down. Every single time. I watched you do it. You know that, right?”

Pine nodded dumbly.

“Well, this time we’re both up that tree, but you’re going to get us back down.”

“H-how can you be so s-sure of that?” said Pine with a pleading look on her face, and sobs still coming jerkily from her.

“I believe in you, Lee. I always did. And that got me through more than you’ll ever know.”

Slowly, painfully so, Pine’s sobs subsided. Her body stopped shaking. Her breathing slowed.

And all the time, Mercy’s grip on her held firm.

“I’m here, Lee. I’m here.”

Pine let out one additional long gasp of air, straightened, turned to her sister, and wrapped her arms around her. And held her just as tightly as Mercy was embracing her.

“I’ll never let you go, Mercy. Whatever happens, I’ll never let you go. It’s both or none, from now on.”

Mercy patted her sister’s back and stared up at the ceiling with a troubled look.

Nothing in her life had ever gone as planned. And her features betrayed what she was feeling.

She had found her sister, or her sister had found her.

They were together after all these years.

And now they would probably die together.

In another room of the jail, Britt Spector sat alone in front of a video screen set up on a desk, with a pair of audio buds in her ears. She had just finished watching and listening to this entire exchange between the two sisters.

She cut the video feed off and yanked the buds out of her ears. And with her own memories wracking her, Spector stared at the screen as the tears rolled down her cheeks.