Mercy's Magic by P. J. Day Read Free Book Online Page B

jacket. He slapped both his hands on the rooftop with tremendous force, causing a ripple of radiant energy, starting from the tips of his boots down the building’s back wall and finally webbing the ground below.
    With guns in hand, the small army became paralyzed as they noticed a faint web of light pass underneath the soles of their shoes. Alarm transformed to fear as their guns grew warm, and static crackled their earpieces, cutting off all communication.
    But the weapons. Mercy watched as their weapons took on a bizarre oxidization, not unlike radioactivity. Pistols, rifles, even the officer’s handcuffs shone with a silver brilliance, then within seconds, they became dull, yellow and flaky. She watched them, gawking at their weapons with terrified disbelief.
    Mercy heard a strange whisper from afar. “Do you hear that?” she asked Patterson.
    But Joe was watching the bizarre scene. The officers, the weapons. “What the hell is going on?”
    An FBI agent screamed and dropped his pistol. Followed by another. Chaos ensued as the weapons glowed more brightly and grew hotter and hotter to the touch.
    From behind the trains, Mercy and Joe watched as the FBI unit chief hollered for everyone to fall back. They did so without hesitation. And still Mercy could hear a whispering, a man’s voice, somewhere in the back of her mind.
    She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating. Block him out, woman, she told herself. It worked, a little.
    Then Joe stood and ran to help. She got up and followed him. The officers, marshals, and FBI agents and their plans had completely collapsed and had turned into a retreat. They ran and hid behind their vehicles, stunned as they stared blankly at their scorched palms.
    Mercy approached one of the men. He looked down at her in disbelief. “Look at my hands,” he moaned, although he had no idea who she was.
    She looked. His hands were covered with a black dust, burning into his skin. Mercy dared not touch him.
    Patterson called for help. “That’s affirmative,” he spoke into the receiver. “We need a hazmat team out here, and paramedics. About forty officers down. Possible radioactive poisoning. That’s right, and make it quick.”
    Weapons, still glowing, lay all over the lot surrounding the building. The whispering in Mercy’s mind was replaced with echoing laughter, and then like the silence that preceded the raid and that was now inundated with incoming sirens, it was gone.
     
    Chapter Fifteen
     
    The dark early morning found Mercy and Joe in a donut shop, just hours after both were cleared of radiation exposure by hazmat. The other officers had been dispatched to burn centers for treatment and tested for radiation sickness.
    Mercy stirred her coffee, deep in thought, wondering where the whispering had come from. Surely whoever it was had enough raw energy to have created such havoc. She sensed power, dark power.
    “Penny for your thoughts,” Joe commented, smiling.
    Mercy didn’t even hear him. All she heard was the laughter. She shivered.
    “Mercy.”
    She shook her head and looked up at him.
    “Is this the closest I’m going to come to a date with you?”
    “Joe, this is no time for…”
    “…I know, I know,” he said, cutting her off, realizing his misstep. “I’m just trying to get your attention. Tell me what you’re thinking. I can see those wheels turning inside that pretty head of yours.”
    Mercy smiled. She didn’t consider herself all that pretty. She wore little makeup, didn’t do a thing with her hair except put it in a bun or tie it in a ponytail, and she didn’t have time for mannies or peddies . Yet it was obvious to Mercy and everyone else that Joe was smitten.
    “I’m just wondering, as I presume you are, what the hell happened tonight?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. And I’ve seen a lot in my years with the service before I joined the department.”
    “I know you have.”
    “But something tells me you