The Last Refusal

A Mercy Thriller Prequel Short Story

By: Baldwin Book Publishing, James R. Baldwin

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

He spent years refusing the stones.
Now they are waking again.

Thomas Haines knows what happens when the two stones are separated. A seam opens, pulling him into the final moments of a stranger’s disaster, where every second carries a price.

For a while, Thomas answered the call.

Then one rescue kept him away too long.

While he fought floodwater to save a little girl and her father, the woman he loved needed him at home. By the time Thomas returned, Evelyn was gone. The stones had cost him his last moments with the one he loved most.

Afterward, he built a trust in her name, funding rescue equipment, emergency transport, training, and the people who reach danger before it becomes tragedy. It was the closest thing he could make to mercy without the stones.

But Thomas’s heart is failing, and the stones are no longer quiet.

Before the day ends, Thomas must decide whether to die with the stones buried beside him… or place their burden in someone else’s hands.

The Last Refusal is a supernatural thriller short story set before the Mercy Thriller series.