Page 121 of Lord Have Mercy Part Four: Big Son

“Look,” Gray said, light fixed on a point beyond the thin, dark sandy stripe of the beach, studded with knobby cypress knees and threaded with water grasses.

Alex powered the throttle all the way down, and it took him a moment to spot what Gray had: footprints. A pair of small sneakers. Boy-sized. Walking up out of the water and to the underbrush.

Gray leaped lightly out of the boat – “Hey, be careful” – and waded up out of the water, onto shore, and skirted around the footprints, following them from the side past the first screen of trees.

Alex strained his ears, waiting for a shout.Here he is. I found him.

Instead, Gray appeared a minute later, shaking his head. “There’s other prints,” he called. “A man.” Before Alex could ask, he added, “Not large enough to be Mercy.”

“Shit.”

A shuffling sound drew his attention to the side, and he saw that Tenny was on his feet, supported by Reese, arm across his shoulders.

“Jesus Christ,sit back down.”

Tenny ignored him. To Gray, he called, “Go look for Mercy’s pack.”

Gray nodded, turned, and melted back into the woods.

“I didn’t see Boyle again after he went overboard,” Tenny said, grimly. “It could be him. Ithasto be him.”

“What about Fallon?”

“He dove onto a boat before I went in after Remy. He’s probably halfway across the swamp by now.”

“Headed for our traps?” Alex asked, hopeful.

“Maybe.” Tenny turned to regard him, speculative. “They’d head that way quicker if they were being pursued.”

“We wait for Gray,” Alex decided, casting a longing look toward the opposite shore, which was now flooded with police light. A raft was launching out into the lake, headed toward the flaming boat, whose blaze was slowly dying down as it burned through the fuel onboard and ran out of steam. He wanted to go over there, check in, get Tenny into an ambulance and recon with Duet about next steps.

But he’d committed to this. To these people. To his brothers, and his brother’s club brothers. He couldn’t go play lawman now.

“If he can’t find Remy and Mercy, then we’ll give chase to Boyle’s people.”

Tenny’s brows lifted in mild surprise, pleased, and he nodded. “Yeah.”

“But you’re gonna sit your ass down and try not to die.”

Tenny rolled his eyes.

“Deal?”

“Whatever,” Tenny huffed, but Reese eased him down into one of the seats up near the bow, and he went without further fuss.

Gray returned a few minutes later, shaking his head, and Alex’s stomach sank. He waded back out into the water, and Reese helped him aboard when he reached the ladder.

“The footsteps go off through the swamp, and go down into a smaller canal, no sign of continuation on the other side. Mercy’s pack is gone. He’s following them.”

“Damn it,” Alex muttered.

“Let’s go,” Tenny said. “If it’s just Boyle, and just Mercy, Mercy’s got this. Nobody knows those godforsaken swamp woods better than him.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, by rote, and then it really hit him: if it was Boyle who had Remy, without any sort of backup, without supplies, in the dark, in the swamp, he didn’t stand a chance. Alex almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

“Godspeed, brother,” he muttered, and slammed the throttle down.

---