She sat in the desk chair and opened up the laptop. She quickly connected to the internet and went to the page she’d set up just for her and her students to use.
Tears once again blurred her vision. Sadie had been so incredibly brave throughout the entire ordeal, and she had stayed strong throughout the passing days and nights. Annalise prayed she would continue to be brave and strong wherever she was at the moment.
Was Sadie going to get a meal? Would Jacob and Gretchen make sure she had food? When the two adults fed their own faces, would they remember to feed Sadie?
She hadn’t expected to see anything from Sadie so soon on the page, and there wasn’t anything there yet. She drew in a deep breath and released it slowly.
Evan. Seeing him again, even for only a few moments, had stirred something deep inside her. But there were so many other crazy emotions racing through her right now it was difficult to sort it all out.
Had she been so happy to see him simply because he represented safety and her freedom? Or was there still something there, something that yearned for what might have been with him.
She released another deep breath. Hopefully Evan and his men would find Jacob and Gretchen soon and bring Sadie back to safety.
“I should have fought harder,” she murmured to herself as she thought about that moment when Gretchen had grabbed Sadie. It had been so unexpected. However, somehow, someway she should have fought much harder and never let them take her.
It was difficult for her to realize it was Friday night. Thankfully Evan had gotten them out of there in just a little over forty-eight hours. If Chief Cummings had continued to be in charge of the situation, who knew when they might have gotten out. Who knew if they would have even survived?
She hadn’t realized Rowan had gone to get her food until she returned with several sacks from the local diner. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like,” Rowan said as she began to unload the items onto the table. “There’s a salad and some chicken noodle soup. I also brought you a few personal items like a new hairbrush and a toothbrush and toothpaste and a change of clothing.”
Despite Annalise’s worry, the scent of the food was heavenly. “Thank you for everything, and I guess I am hungry after all. That soup smells really good.”
“Eat and then try to get some rest. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal,” Rowan said.
“It’s not over yet,” Annalise replied darkly. “It won’t be over until Sadie is safe and sound. Where are the other girls now?”
“They are currently in the hospital being treated for dehydration and getting other medical treatment they might require. Their resident attendants are with them, and they’re all doing just fine,” Rowan assured her.
“What about Belinda? Do you know how she is?”
“She immediately went in for emergency surgery and is now in serious, but stable condition. She should be just fine, thanks to you. It’s a good thing you got her out when you did. Now, I need to get back to the school. Are you going to be okay here alone?”
“I’m good,” Annalise replied. “All I really want is for Sadie to be found.”
“I’m sure the team is working very hard to find her and the two fugitives,” Rowan replied. “Do you need anything else?”
“No, you’ve been more than kind,” Annalise replied.
“Then let’s hope the next time I talk with you will be when Sadie is safe and the bad guys are behind bars.” Then with a quick goodbye Rowan left.
At least Annalise could rest assured that the other three girls were being well taken care of. All of the girls at the school were very close to their resident attendants and looked to them for emotional support. The resident attendants were good at loving and supporting their young charges.
She stared at the computer screen even as she moved from the chair at the desk to a chair at the table. From there she could still see if anything popped up on the internet page while she ate.
The salad tasted fresh and good, and then she dove into the hearty delicious soup. Once she was full and her mind had finally slowed down from the chaos of the past couple of days, her thoughts once again filled with Evan.
Did she want to see him again so badly because she hoped he had news about Sadie? Absolutely. But, there was also a small part of her that wanted to reconnect with him after the ordeal.
Still, what she wanted more than anything was for him to tell her that Jacob and Gretchen were behind bars and Sadie was safe and with her resident attendant.
* * *
“DAMN IT, HOW did this happen?” Evan yelled in a rage as he glared at Chief Cummings. “How in the hell did your men allow this to happen?”
When the dust had settled, Evan was told that the black van that had been parked behind the school was gone. Jacob had apparently driven it right through the police line and had gotten away.
“My men did what they could, but somebody was shooting through one of the van windows,” Chief Cummings replied defensively.
“What did they do? Did they just run into the woods and hide instead of returning fire? If nothing else, why in the hell didn’t somebody think to shoot out the tires so they couldn’t drive away?”
“I’m sure they tried,” Chief Cummings replied. “I pulled a lot of my men off the guard duty at the back of the school. Some of them needed a break, and others I reassigned to regular patrol duty.”
“Right, because it was more important to ticket jaywalkers?” Evan asked incredulously.
“You said I had the right to reassign some of my men,” Chief Cummings protested.
“Nevertheless, nobody from inside the school should have had a chance to get into that van, let alone drive it off.” Evan didn’t wait for an answer. If he looked at Chief Cummings for one more minute, he was going to completely lose it.
Instead, he turned and headed toward the mobile vehicle. He couldn’t believe the lack of professionalism that Chief Cummings had shown, or the lack of training the force had since they appeared to allow Jacob to just drive away, apparently with his wife and Sadie, as well.
Still, he’d known something was going down when the men in the school had all begun firing out the front school windows at the same time. It had been a coordinated assault, and Evan had known immediately that it had been a ruse for something else that might be happening.
Evan had already made the decision to go in, not trusting that Jacob was going to hold it together for another night. He’d instructed his men to prepare to move in so they were immediately ready to respond.
Flash-bang grenades and smoke bombs had disoriented the men inside enough to force them to surrender and make the assault on the school successful. Evan now realized Jacob had ordered all of his men to shoot through the front windows and provide the distraction so that he and his wife could make their escape out of the back of the school.
Evan’s anger was rich and thick and filled his chest with an uncomfortable tightness. They now had two criminals on the run with a little girl as a hostage. Things had gone from bad to worse.
Was Annalise right? Had Sadie been taken because she was so gifted with her ability regarding computer science? Had Jacob had inside information about the students? Or had they taken her to use as a human shield if needed when they had escaped? If the latter was true, then they would probably dump Sadie the first chance they got. The real question was if they’d dump her dead or alive. The pressure in his chest increased.
“Hendrick,” he said once he’d connected with the tech. “What have you got for me?”
“Not much. They must be traveling on back roads, and there are a hell of a lot of mountain roads without cameras in that area,” Hendrick replied. “Since we don’t know what direction they fled, I’m watching the available traffic cameras within a twenty-five-mile radius in each direction. But so far I’ve got nothing. I’ll let you know the minute I do.”
“I need you to also be on the lookout for any report of a child found,” Evan said. “It’s possible Sadie will be dumped on the side of the road somewhere if she’s no longer useful to them.” Hopefully, if that happened, they would dump her alive.
“Got it,” Hendrick replied.
“Also, Annalise had a feeling Jacob had some inside information on the girls. I need you to do thorough background checks on all the employees and see what you find.”
“I’m on it.”
As Evan disconnected, Nick stuck his head in the doorway. “Hey, man, we’ve got a live one out here. He’s not hurt and he’s singing like a bird.”
Maybe they would finally get some answers that had eluded them so far. Evan followed Nick to the back of a patrol car where a tall, blond-haired, handcuffed man stood. “I’m Special Agent Evan Duran,” he said to the prisoner. “What’s your name?”
“Ben... Ben Hanson. This...this all wasn’t supposed to be like this.” He looked utterly shell-shocked. “This is the very last thing we all wanted.”
“So, what exactly did you want when you came into the school?” Evan asked. “Why are you here?”
“We were supposed to get in, grab one of the genius students and then get out. We didn’t intend to fire a shot. There wasn’t supposed to be a standoff. Nobody was ever supposed to get hurt.”
“So, what made it go south?” Evan asked.
“First of all Jacob told us nobody would be in the school except a teacher and a few of her students. Somebody panicked and started shooting. Then I guess the security guard managed to ring the alarm and the cops started showing up way before we expected.”
“What did you want with the student?” Evan asked.
Ben frowned. “Jacob said the kids in the school were smart enough to break into the World Bank. He said when that happened there would be all kinds of financial chaos, and during that pandemonium he’d transfer enough money to distribute to the poor and hungry. We all knew it was illegal, but we believed it was for the greater good. He said we would help to stop hunger all over the world.”
“Did you all know that Jacob and his wife own some property in the Caymen Islands along with a healthy bank account in their names only?”
Ben stared at him for a long moment and then slowly shook his head and released a deep, bitter laugh. “I don’t know why that should surprise me now. In the end they only saved their own skins and left the rest of us here to die. He even fired at Tim. He shot him in the back when he was giving himself up.”
Ben’s eyes filled with tears. “I saw the ambulance pull away after he got shot. Is...is he okay?”
“He didn’t make it,” Nick said curtly. Evan knew Nick had gotten the information from the hospital. Despite Evan’s and Davis’s best efforts to save the man, he had been DOA.
Ben’s eyes glazed over with emotion. “Damn Jacob for killing him. We thought Jacob was a great leader for change in society, but he turned out to be nothing more than a greedy monster.”
“What was the plan? Where was Jacob planning on taking the child?” Evan asked.
“The plan was for all of us to return to the compound, but now I have no idea where they might have gone.”
“Has Jacob or Gretchen ever talked about any other property they own?” Evan asked. “Does anyone close to them own someplace where they might go?”
Ben shook his head. “As far as I know, neither of them had any family. None of us own any property. If anyone had any, we all sold it and donated the proceeds to the group before we moved into the compound with Jacob. I’ve never heard either of them talk about any property they might own, especially a place in the Caymen Islands,” he finished bitterly.
Evan sighed in frustration and turned to Nick. “Go ahead and get him processed and out of here.”
Everything that could be done was being done. His men were processing the crime scene, and Jacob’s thugs had been rounded up. The wounded were being attended to, and officials all over the area were looking for the black panel van. Law enforcement at all the nearby airports was also on the lookout for the fugitives.
Maybe Annalise was right and somehow Sadie would manage to contact them and be able to tell them where she was. With this thought in mind, he decided to head to the hotel.
As Rowan drove him to the room his head filled with thoughts of Annalise. Seeing her again, even so briefly, had been surprisingly good and difficult at the same time.
He was relieved she was safe, but he couldn’t be content until Sadie was also safe. Right now, Annalise was a means to that end.
“Try to get some rest,” Rowan said as she pulled up in front of the hotel. “I know things aren’t resolved yet, but you can’t keep pushing yourself like you’ve been doing since you got here. You need to take time to sleep and recharge, otherwise you’ll end up being no good to anyone.”
“I know,” he replied. Just that quickly a thick blanket of exhaustion fell over him. He tried to shrug it off as he got out of the car, but he was only half-successful.
She handed him a room key. “You’re in room 108 and Annalise is in room 110.”
“Got it,” he replied.
“I’ll be back with some food for you,” Rowan said. “And I’ll arrange for a rental car, too.”
“Sounds good,” he replied, and then braced himself for seeing Annalise again. He knocked on her hotel room door.
“Come in.”
He was surprised to find her door unlocked. He pushed open the door and stepped inside. She stood from the chair at the desk and faced him. There was a charged stillness between them for a long moment.
She moved forward and into his waiting arms. She’d just been through a horrendous event. Who knew what she’d had to do to survive her time in that classroom.
He held her as she buried her face in the crook of his neck and cried. He knew her tears were a combination of exhaustion and stress, and fear for the little girl who was still missing.
He caressed a hand up and down her back and murmured soothing sounds as he waited for her to stop crying. He wanted to be here for her, but he also needed her to move away from him.
Holding her was bringing up old memories he shouldn’t entertain. Besides, he still had an active crime to resolve, and that’s where all his thoughts and the last of his energy needed to go.
Finally she gathered her emotions, and after drawing several deep, shuddery breaths, she stepped back from him and sat on the edge of the bed. “Any news on Sadie?”
He turned to close and lock her door, then faced her once again. “Not yet. We’re doing everything possible to find them, but so far we have nothing.” He gestured toward the computer. “You said Sadie might try to get you a message, and let’s hope that happens soon. One of Jacob’s men confirmed that was their plan all along, to take one of the girls and break into a banking system. I’d send you home, but you also mentioned a secret language you all have.”
She tucked a strand of her long hair behind her ear, an old nervous habit he remembered from years past. “It was mostly just for fun. The girls loved learning it and using it to communicate with me and each other. For me it was just another tool to keep their minds engaged and challenged.”
“So, do you really think Sadie will try to contact you on this page?”
“Absolutely. If she gets an opportunity to get on a computer, then I believe she’ll make contact. She’s very smart, Evan.” Tears glistened in her beautiful green eyes once again. “She’s very special, and she’s already been through a lot in her short life.”
“We’ll get her back, Annalise,” he said. There was no question that Jacob and his wife were dangerous criminals, but at the moment they needed Sadie to go through with their insane plan.
“You mentioned something about thinking Jacob had inside information?”
She frowned thoughtfully. “I can�
��t be absolutely sure, but all my instincts say yes. Jacob knew Sadie was the smartest of the girls. He told her that a little bird had told him she was the smartest. At one point he offered her something to eat and not the others. He also said something about having information that the only people who would be in the school when they burst in would be me and a few students.”
“That definitely sounds like there was an insider working with them.” He grimaced. “I’ve got Hendrick checking into the backgrounds of everyone who works at the school. Is there anyone you can think of who might be a part of this?”
Her frown deepened. “I can’t imagine anyone I work with helping those monsters. I truly believe all the teachers love their jobs and the students, and would never have anything to do with what happened.”
“I know you must be exhausted. Why don’t you take a shower and then sleep for a couple of hours? I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the web page, and I’ll wake you if anything shows up there,” he suggested.
She looked down at herself and frowned and nodded in agreement. He knew Rowan had provided fresh clothing for her as well as some toiletries.
“A hot shower sounds wonderful. Maybe I can wash off some of the filth I feel after being around those horrible people.”
She picked up the things Rowan had gotten for her and then headed for the bathroom. Once she was gone and the door had closed behind her, he sank down on the edge of the bed and drew in several deep breaths.
The sound of the shower running instantly evoked a vision of her beautiful naked body beneath the water. He closed his eyes. They used to love to shower together.
He opened his eyes and released another deep sigh. He’d worked many difficult cases in his years with TCD, but to save a little girl in danger by working with the ex-lover who had walked out on him promised to be one of his most challenging ever.
Chapter Seven
The long hot shower refreshed Annalise more than she wanted to admit under the circumstances, but it didn’t completely wash away the trauma of the entire event. Her lower lip was still slightly swollen from the slaps she’d received, and her body ached from the various bouts of physical abuse she’d endured from Gretchen.
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