Two of his men dragged John off his pony and over to Finn.
Sarah, her lip bloodied and open, twisted in her captor’s hands to try to put herself between Finn and her boy.
Finn looked at Sarah and smiled.
“You’ll soon be knowing what it feels to lose a cherished loved one,” he said to her with a smile. “I’ve got your handsome husband, too, you know.”
Sarah stared at the gypsy and licked her lips. She tasted her own blood. She didn’t know how he wanted her to respond. She watched his eyes to see if there was any sanity there at all.
“He’s not too handsome at the moment though—”
“What do ya want us to do with ’im?” One of the gypsies who was holding John asked. They held the boy between them in front of their leader.
“Mom, you okay?” John’s eyes were wide with fear. Sarah couldn’t imagine what she must look like to him. “You leave her alone!”
The gypsy holding him gave his jacket a hard jerk.
“Shirrup, ya hear?”
John never took his eyes off his mother.
Oh, my God, she thought, her stomach roiling. He thinks I have a plan.
“Take ‘em both into the house,” Finn said, turning back to the body. “I got a little surprise I need to get ready. Somebody move this piece of shite before I trip over it.”
The men ushered Sarah and John into one of the bedrooms. One of the gypsies took a piece of cord and tied John’s hands in front of him. When he was done, he shoved the boy down onto the bed and walked out.
Sarah heard him complaining to the other as he left: “Bastard coulda said something—good work or something. Arseways bastard he is.”
John scrambled to his feet and ran to Sarah.
“Mom, I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought… when Mr. Donovan got hurt, I thought… I wanted to…”
Sarah shook her head.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” she said, her voice a rasping whisper. “It’s okay.”
“What are we gonna do?” he asked. He looked around the room. “There doesn’t seem to be anything here we can use.” The bedroom had a window facing the back of the farm. Sarah sat on the bed, her knees no longer able to support her. She had screwed this up so badly. She tried to banish the nausea and self-recrimination long enough to think clearly. She tried to steady herself with deep breaths.
“You okay, Mom?” John came and sat down on the bed next to her. “You’re breathing funny.”
“I’m good, sweetheart. Did he hurt you when he tied your hands?” Just saying the words out loud made her want to break down and cry.
“They’re not even really tied,” John said pulling his hands out of the bind. “See? The cord’s too big so he couldn’t make a good knot.”
“You didn’t bring a gun, did you?”
“No, you told me I’m not allowed to have a gun.”
“Yes, that’s right, that’s right.”
“I coulda, though, Mom. They didn’t even check me for weapons. Guess they figured I don’t count. So they didn’t find this.” John rolled up his pant leg and pulled out a small fixblade knife from his sock.
Sarah took another deep breath.
“That’s good, sweetie,” she said. “Hide it someplace so you can get to it easier than your sock, okay?”
“Don’t you want me to cut you loose?”
“Okay, yeah, good idea,” she said, holding out her hands. “Don’t worry about nicking me,” she said. “Just pay attention to if it sounds like anyone’s coming.”
John began to saw through the hemp rope when they heard footsteps outside.
“Hide it,” Sarah whispered, pulling her hands back.
They listened carefully but the footsteps were headed to the kitchen and then out the front door.
“I can’t believe they’re just leaving us here,” Sarah said.
“You can bet there’s a guard on the front door, though,” John said, resuming his work on her cord.
Another noise made them both freeze. This time the noise came from behind them outside the back window.
“Guards out back too, I guess?” Sarah said, trying not to let the words sap all her energy for the ordeal ahead.
John stood up and went to the window and pulled back the curtain to peer out. Sarah turned to ask him what he saw when he dropped his knife and stifled a yelp. Hands reached into the room from the outside and roughly grabbed him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
David grabbed his son, hoping to clap his hand over his mouth and get Sarah’s attention before she started yelling too. He pulled himself into the room, not letting go of John and looking frantically around the room for his wife. He had listened long enough out the window to know they were alone. But they wouldn’t be for long if Sarah screamed.
He needn’t have worried. Sarah stood by the bed, her eyes as big as dessert plates, both her hands covering her mouth. David held John to him and took the two steps to Sarah to gather her into his arms as well.
“Oh, my God,” Sarah whispered into his chest as she felt his arms close around her.
John said not a word but hugged his father fiercely.
David pulled away and looked into his wife’s eyes. Her face was bruised and bloodied.
“We need to go, family,” he said. “Out the window and fast before they come back to check on you.”
Sarah nodded, her heart so full she nearly sat back down again. The feeling of being able to transfer the terrible burden of their situation to David was so exquisite, she suddenly began to feel clearer headed and stronger.
“Thank you, God,” she said looking at her husband. “You’re really here.”
“John, you first,” David said quietly, pushing the boy toward the window. “It’s a five foot drop. Clear the bushes and wait for us. Go.”
John turned for the window at the exact moment that the bedroom door swung open.
Mack Finn was framed in the doorway.
“Well, well. This is even better than the surprise I had planned,” Finn said, his eyes going from John at the window to Sarah and David standing by the bed. He held what looked like a small machete with a large sawback blade loosely in his hand, the butt of her semi-automatic protruding obscenely from the front waistband of his trousers.
“Don’t try it, boyo,” he said to John. He stepped into the room with two men behind him, both armed with rifles. Finn stepped over to John, leaned over and scooped up the dropped knife at his feet.
“Now this is interesting,” Finn said, looking at the knife. “Yours?” He gestured to John.
“Leave him alone, Finn,” David snarled.
Finn turned back to him.
“Or what, Yank?” He nodded to his men who entered the room fully. “You see your mate, Brendan? I left him out there so you could see what you did to him.”
“You left him out there so the rest of your scum could see what happens to people who cross you,” David said, moving in front of Sarah.
“Tie ’im,” Finn said. One of his men put his gun down while the other fastened David’s hands behind his back. When he was finished, he picked up his gun and smashed the butt of it into David’s face. Sarah screamed and grabbed for David as he sank, with a groan, to his knees.
“You… you bastard!” John screamed, his hands clenched in fists of fury and frustration.
Finn hefted his knife in his hands.
“You remember me?” He spoke to Sarah. “You remember me coming to your place and you shooting me and me brother? You remember?”
Sarah looked at the gypsy and willed herself not to glance at John or David. Somehow, she knew that calling attention to how much they meant to her would not be a good move right now.
“I remember you,” she said, her tongue thick in her mouth. She’d lost a tooth. “You tried to steal my horses. Your brother was hurting my boy.”