Page 61 of Wyoming Cowboy Undercover

“What is that?” Mercy asked.

“Faraday pouch. Blocks all signals. RFID, FM radio, GPS, cellular, Bluetooth, 5G, Wi-Fi, you name it.” He sealed it and hung it back on the hook. “Get comfortable.” Mac waved them over to chairs at the dining table, and they sat. “I’ll get you some hot cider,” he said, picking up a clay jug and moving to the stove.

Sue Ellen took cheese from the fridge. She sliced it along with the bread and made sandwiches. Grabbing a wooden ladle, she poured soup from the pot on the stove into bowls.

Beside her was a shelf lined with labeled mason jars filled with various herbs and plants. Sassafras. Ginger. Lavender. Catnip. Willow bark. Chamomile. All could be used for different ailments. Mercy wondered if they relied on herbal medicine.

It would make sense with them being so far from a pharmacy and hospital, but she expected that they also had supplies for a serious emergency.

Sue Ellen placed food on the table.

“Tell us, what brings you here?” Cormac asked, setting down four mugs of warm cider.

Hesitating, Mercy wasn’t sure how to start. She wasn’t the best liar. This was their opportunity to sell their story, and she didn’t want to blow it.

“Empyrean didn’t think I was the right fit for the Shining Light,” Rocco said, as easily as though it was the truth, and in a way it was. “He thought I might be better suited for the Brotherhood.”

“Not right for his commune, but he sanctioned this union with his daughter?” Cormac asked, suspicion heavy in his tone as well as his expression.

Mercy looked at Rocco. She pressed her palm to his cheek and ran her fingers through his hair, a smile she couldn’t help spreading on her face. “My father didn’t make the match, but he didn’t stop it.” Sliding closer to him, she glanced at her uncle. “He saw how we were drawn to each other. How kind and devoted he is to me,” she said, and Rocco slid an arm around her shoulder, tucking her close to his side. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s the only one for me.” The line between truth and lies became even murkier.

Wiping her hands on an apron, Sue Ellen sat next to Mac, listening, watching, assessing.

“Were you banished?” her uncle asked.

“No, sir,” Rocco said. “Things sort of came to a head on the compound.”

Mac raised an eyebrow. “In what way?”

“The FBI planted an informant in the commune,” Rocco said. “When he was discovered, I thought we should’ve killed him. And I didn’t want to stop there. Who do they think they are? Infiltrating us, spying on us, trying to take away our civil liberties.”

Mercy eyed him, mesmerized at what he was saying, at how he started taking on a whole new persona.

Cormac slapped a hand down on the table. “You are one hundred percent correct,” he said, pointing a finger at him. “It’s high time we took our country back. You know those Feds are conspiring to strip us of our rights, starting with the unalienable one to keep and bear arms. Once we’re rendered defenseless, they plan to absorb Americans into their tyrannical new world order government.”

Rocco and Sue Ellen both nodded.

Lowering her head, Mercy nibbled on her food. She figured if she kept her mouth full, then the less she’d have to say.

“The no-good ATF seized a shipment of my weapons in Colorado.” Mac took a sip of his cider. “Now they’re stealing money from my pocket and taking food from the mouths of my people. We’re going to teach them a lesson they won’t ever forget. The streets will run red with blood tomorrow.”

An icy chill jolted through her veins. She didn’t recall her uncle being violent or paranoid. Clearly, he was both.

Sue Ellen gripped Mac’s forearm, and he stopped talking. “Which makes me wonder about the timing of your arrival. Why didn’t you come last month?” his wife asked. “Why not in two days? What brings you to us specificallytoday?”

“Empyrean took the full moon and the eclipse as a sign that it was the right time,” Rocco said.

Mercy tensed. That explanation would only raise more questions than it would answer. Her father would’ve used the full moon and the shedding ceremony to make the announcement, choosing to send them the day after. Not before.

As she suspected, Sue Ellen’s eyes hardened like ice and Cormac crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair.

Mercy set her sandwich down and slipped her hand onto Rocco’s leg under the table. “Honey, I think we have to be honest about what made us expedite our plans and come today.” She turned to Sue Ellen and then Cormac. “Uncle Mac, do you remember Alex?”

Scratching his beard, he nodded. “Yeah. Of course. The weird little boy who used to follow you around like a lost puppy.”

Puppies were cute and cuddly. She’d always thought of Alex more as a shadow. Dark, silent, and only there when the light was blocked.

“He tried to kill me today.”

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