Free Operation Swift Mercy by Karlene Blakemore-Mowle Page B

and despite th e chill of terror still lurking—ma naged to send a swarm of butterflies into nervous flight inside her.
    “That’s okay. I’m just a bit jumpy lately.”
    “Understandable. It’s going to be alright though.”
    Mercy shook her head. “It’s not Chase. It doesn’t matter what I do. He’s too powerful. He’s going to find me. All I can hope for is that I get that evidence to someone.”
    She saw Chase’s jaw clench as he took a seat across from her and stared out over the ocean before them. “ I know you’re scared, but you have to trust us. We’re going to get you through this.”
    She knew that he truly believed he could stop Nikkos. She had to smile at that—he was a good man and that kind of honourable, protective streak warmed her to the core…but it still didn’t change the fact that she knew Nikkos and knew what he was capable of. Chase wasn’t going to accept that though, so there was little point arguing with him about it.

Chapter T en
     
    Dinner with Maloney’s crew was an experience Mercy hadn’t had before. Seated in a family friendly restaurant, Mercy found herself amused by the dynamics of the people gathered around the table. The four large, rugged looking men seemed out of place among families and small children—and yet they didn’t. Tate sat patiently , convincing his daughter to eat her food, while Summer spoon fed Ruby , baby food. Even Tupper was relaxed. F or all his complaining about the lack of his friends social lives, he still held conversations over the top of children banging cutlery and dropping food with barely a bat of an eye .
    The type of outings Mercy went to had not involved small children , and Nikkos would never lower himself to eat in such a modest family environment like this place…it almost felt like she’d stepped into some alternate universe.
    “I hope we don’t scare you off with all this , Mercy,” Summer said, as she handed over a squirming child to her husband. “I vaguely remember a time when I could eat a meal while it was still hot…kind of,” she winced.
    “You’re already tougher than I was. There was a time not so long ago that I would have done anything , to avoid coming out to dinner with the three ring circus here,” Willow smiled across at her, indicating toward her sister and childre n. “So Mercy, what’s your story? ” Willow asked her with a friendly, yet direct look.
    “My story?”
    “Everyone has one,” she shrugged.
    “I’m afraid mine’s pretty dull.”
    “No such thing as a dull life story—you just got to find an angle,” she grinned.
    “Come on Willow—she survived eating with the wild Maddox kids—don’t scare her off with the scary reporter act,” Chase cut in smoothly.
    Willow scoffed, reaching for her glass of wine, her head tipping slightly to one side as she seemed to consider Mercy for a minute. “You know, you have a very familiar face. Have we met somewhere before?”
    Mercy swallowed nervously and dropped her gaze to her own wine glass briefly. Crap. Had she seen her photograph in the paper at some point? “I don’t think so.”
    “Hmm, I never forget a face…it’ll come to me eventually!” she declared with a smile.
    Mercy glanced sideways at Chase with a ‘ oh great!’ expression . “So are you all organised? With the wedding and everything?” S he added hoping to distract her.
    It worked, thankfully.
    “I swear, we should have just gone with the eloping thing. This is madness!”
    “You’re the one who wanted a wedding,” Del reminded her and Mercy’s gaze dropped to the arm he had resting across the back of Willow’s chair casually . A small catch caught in her throat as she saw the look that passed between the two. They were crazy about each other, that much was obvious, but there was more—there was something beneath that, a respect for one another…trust. How could she have believed what she’d had with Nikkos had been a real relationship? They’d never