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To my surprise, Gideon perked up. “I don’t think it’d work that way, but the basic idea might have something to it.”
I let out a startled chuckle. “I guess I can be smart every now and then, huh? Who’d have thought?”
Gideon studied the buildings, his face hardening with intense thought. I swore you could see the gears turning in his head when he got like this. “He hasn’t smashed up that shoe store over there yet. I might be able to use it. But we’d need to get him to come over and make contact with some part of the building when I’m ready. I don’t know if we can be sure—”
Mercy straightened up. “I’ll do it.”
My spirits plummeted. “No. You’re not getting anywhere near that bastard.” Gideon looked equally unnerved.
Mercy shook her head. “Xavier’s here because he wants revenge. He wants it most of all from me. You’re not going to get any better bait than that. I’m fast, even with my leg hurt. I won’t get too close to him. But I can get him over to the store. You just have to make sure you don’t electrocute me too.”
“Here.” Wylder handed her his headset and nodded to Gideon. “Stay in contact with each other, follow each other’s cues. I know you’ve got this… but be careful.”
“There’s got to be another way,” I said desperately, but even as I spoke, I knew Mercy had a point.
She motioned in Xavier’s direction just as he sent another volley of bullets over the street. “Look at him. He doesn’t care if he walks out of here alive so long as he takes everybody out with him. He hates me more than anything else, and that makes me his greatest weakness.”
She was right. There was no other way. But it didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. I pulled her in for a hug while I laid a kiss on top of her head. “Good luck.”
She nodded and stepped away.
“I’ll need someone to get me to the back of the building,” Gideon said.
“I’ll do that,” I volunteered. “It was my idea—I should go with you.”
Mercy set off down the sidewalk, walking slowly but steadily toward Xavier, braced to duck if she needed to. I stared after her until Gideon tugged on my arm. “Come on. I know you’re worried about her—I am too—but Mercy can handle herself. We have to do our part.”
“Right.” I forced myself to follow him down a narrow lane between two of the stores and into the back alley that ran the length of several blocks. We had to reach the shoe store and get everything set up in time.
As soon as we were in the alley, we set off at a jog. Gideon’s breath started to rasp within seconds, but he didn’t let up his pace.
Just as we came up on the street between us and the next section of alley, a Storm man we hadn’t spotted earlier stepped out to confront us, his gun pointed right at me.
I didn’t think, just sprang at him, bringing my full weight to bear. The gun went off, the bullet ricocheting off the pavement. I slammed my elbow into his forearm, hearing the bone crack, and heaved him down onto the ground. With a swift punch, I crushed his windpipe. He sputtered and sagged, the life going out of him.
“And that’s why I’m glad I brought back-up,” Gideon remarked, sounding just a little shaken. “Let’s go before Xavier catches on to what we’re doing.”
We rushed the last short distance to the back of the shoe store. Gideon had me bash the lock on the back door and then, once we were inside, punch holes in the walls here and there so he could get at the wiring. When he was satisfied, I left him fiddling with the wires and mumbling to himself as he worked out how to adjust the connections and lay his trap.
I peered out through the big display window at the front of the store. The awning outside shaded it, and with the interior lights off, you would’ve needed to come right up to the glass to make us out inside. For now, I kept well back just in case, but Xavier didn’t appear to have noticed us. I could see him ranting and waving his gun around just a little farther down the street.
Then Mercy came into view. She’d crouched down as she got closer, staying hidden behind the cars. She had her gun in her hand, but I knew as well as she did that Xavier was moving around too fast and erratically for her to get a good shot in. Still…
“Tell Mercy to try to shoot him first,” I said to Gideon. “Even if she misses, it’ll be a good way to get his attention and get him pissed off. And maybe she won’t miss.”
“I’m trying to concentrate here,” Gideon muttered, but he passed on my suggestion into his mic, following it with, “But keep laying low for another minute or two. I’ve almost got it…”
Xavier strode a little to the left and then a little to the right, taking more shots at the Nobles who were holding their ground farther away after the earlier blast. Then he went around the truck to where he was keeping the explosives. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Hurry!” I snapped.
“I’m doing my best,” Gideon hissed back. “If you don’t want to end up electrocuted too, chill out for five seconds.”
I might have been annoyed, except it seemed like it really was only five seconds later when Gideon moved to the hole I’d made closest to the window and snipped a wire there. Holding it by the insulated covering, he pressed the frayed end to the metal window frame. It stayed in place when he moved back.
“Okay,” he said to Mercy. “All he needs to do is touch the window frame, and he’ll get a good shock. The glass and the sidewalk should be safe. Just avoid anything metal.”
Mercy murmured something and nodded in return. She cocked her gun, bobbed up, and fired off a shot.
