Still, she’d take the aches and pain. At least she was alive, and she prayed that Sadie would be recovered alive and well.
She pulled on the jeans and TCD tee Rowan had provided, and then stood in front of the vanity mirror and dried her long hair, trying not to think about Evan and their past relationship. That was over and done, and there was absolutely nothing between them now but the shared desire to save a little girl.
She mentally thanked Rowan for the personal items as she brushed her teeth, and by the time she was finished with the simple task, a deep weariness filled her.
The energy she’d expended over the ordeal had been both mental and physical. She’d gotten very little sleep during the days and nights in captivity, and the continuous stream of adrenaline she’d endured while in that classroom resulted in a bone weariness she could no longer fight off.
“Anything?” she asked as she stepped out of the bathroom.
“Nothing so far,” Evan replied. He was seated at the table eating a large sandwich. “The only thing that happened while you were showering is that Rowan got me some food.”
She sat on the edge of the bed. “Rowan’s an angel.”
“She is, and she’s really smart, too. She handles all aspects of the ground game. I swear if she hadn’t gotten between me and the chief of police several times, I might have shot him.”
He explained some of the issues he’d had with the chief, and as he spoke she found her eyelids growing heavier and heavier. “Get some sleep, Annalise,” he finally said. “You’re too tired to even pretend to be listening to me.”
“I’m listening,” she protested sleepily.
He got up and turned off the light over the table, leaving only a small desk lamp illuminating the room. “I promise I’ll wake you if something breaks,” he told her.
“Okay.” She stretched out on the bed without turning down the spread. It was so amazing to rest and know she was safe. Still, she offered up a prayer for Sadie.
“Hey,” he called to her softly. “You were great in there.”
She released a half laugh and a half sob of exhaustion.
“Annalise, are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“I will be once Sadie is home,” she replied drowsily.
“We’ll get her,” he murmured.
Almost immediately sleep claimed her. She slept hard and without dreams. She awakened to early-morning daylight drifting in through the parted curtains, and the scent of fresh coffee.
She bolted upright and her first thought was of Sadie. Evan sat at the table, his eyes red-rimmed and lines of exhaustion cut down the sides of his handsome face. “There’s fresh coffee in the pot.”
“Thanks. I guess you haven’t heard anything?”
He shook his head, frowning. “Nothing. It’s like they drove away from the school and disappeared off the face of the earth.”
She raked her fingers through her hair and then got out of bed. She poured herself a cup of the hotel coffee and joined him at the table.
“Feel better?” he asked, although his gaze shot to someplace just over her head.
“Much better,” she replied. “I certainly didn’t mean to sleep as long as I did.”
“I’m sure you needed it,” he replied.
Evan looked tired. He wore a white shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows and dark pants. His hair was slightly mussed and his beard was growing out, but that did nothing to detract from how appealing he was.
She sipped her coffee as the silence grew between them. The parted curtains gave her a view of a swimming pool outside. She peeked out and then stared down into her coffee cup. She wasn’t sure what to say, and she had a feeling he felt the same way about her.
Finally she gazed at him once again. “Evan, you look positively exhausted,” she said. “I know you spent all your time on the bullhorn and working the scene, so maybe it’s way past time you take a shower and get a little bit of sleep. I can watch the computer screen and let you know if anything happens.”
He leaned back in the chair and took a drink of his coffee. “Yeah, I guess that might be a good idea. I’m definitely reaching the end of my energy.”
“Evan, you won’t be good for anything if you don’t stop and take care of yourself,” she chided.
“Maybe you could ring me in an hour or two so I don’t sleep too long,” he suggested.
“I’ll have to use the house phone. Jacob destroyed my cell phone when he found it on me.”
He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes narrowed. “What else did he do?”
She ran her tongue over her lower lip where the swelling was barely noticeable. “I don’t want to talk about...”
“I’m sorry, Annalise. I’m sorry you had to endure that kind of abuse.”
“It’s over now. Isn’t it time for you to get some sleep?”
He took another drink of his coffee and then stood. “If you’re sure you’ve got this, then I’ll head back to my room and take a short nap. My room is next door on the right, room 108.”
“I’ve got this. Go get some rest.”
“Close and lock the door behind me,” he said.
When he left the room, she locked the door then resumed her seat at the table. “Sadie, where are you?” she whispered to herself as she stared at the computer screen.
If Jacob and Gretchen hadn’t put her in front of a computer yet, maybe it was because they were still traveling and looking for a safe place to land. They had to know they couldn’t go back to their compound, so it was anyone’s guess where they might be going.
She sipped her coffee and her mind filled with the thought of Evan showering. A bit of tension coiled in her stomach, a tension that had nothing to do with Sadie or what was going on with the crimes.
She shook her head to dispel the memories. It had been nearly three years since they had been together as a couple. That amount of time changed people. She didn’t really know him now.
She had no idea what he had done or who he might have loved since they’d been a couple. It was possible he had a meaningful other right now.
She didn’t know what life experiences he’d had in the time they’d been apart. There were things they hadn’t shared. They were really virtual strangers now.
Still, there was no question being with him again had stirred some confusing emotions inside her, but she told herself all she wanted from him—all she really needed—was for him to bring Sadie home. Then they could both get back to their separate lives.
* * *
“MARIA,” EVAN YELLED to his little sister, who had just run into the alleyway chasing a butterfly. Reluctantly he got up from the stoop where he had been sitting with some of his buddies.
“Maria,” he shouted once again. Sometimes watching his little sister could be a real pain.
He entered the alleyway, the smell of the overflowing garbage cans beneath the heat of the day pungent and nearly overpowering. He narrowed his eyes as he advanced deeper into the darker narrow passageway.
He suddenly froze. A man, wearing a dirty blue bandana to hide the lower half of his face, held Maria against his body with a knife to her throat. A terror he’d never known before ripped through Evan.
“Go on, get out of here, boy,” the man said gruffly.
Maria’s big brown eyes pleaded with Evan to do something, anything to save her.
On trembling legs he took two steps forward. “Let her go.” Sweat trickled down the center of his back. Nausea rose in Evan’s throat, and his entire body flushed in horror. This was like something out of the scariest movie he’d ever seen. He had to do something to save his little sister.
“I told you to get out of here unless you want me to slit her throat,” the man growled.
“No, please don’t hurt her!” Evan exclaimed.
The man lunged for
ward and swiped the knife toward Evan’s face. Evan leaped backward as the blade slashed perilously close to his cheek. “Please...let her go. She’s my sister.”
“You aren’t in control here, kid. She’s mine now.” The man suddenly picked up Maria, then turned and ran. “Evan,” the little girl cried.
“Maria!” Evan screamed.
* * *
EVAN BOLTED UPRIGHT, his heart racing and his body bathed in a light sheen of sweat. For just a moment, he was a frightened eight-year-old again and in that foul-smelling alley, confronting a man with a knife who had his little sister.
He wiped a hand down his face and then realized it hadn’t been the nightmare that had ultimately awakened him, but rather Hendrick on a video call.
He scrambled out of bed and hurried to the desk where his computer was set up. “Hendrick, you have something for me?”
“The van.”
Evan straightened, now wide awake. “What about it?”
“I found it.”
“Where?”
“Believe it or not, in the parking lot of a grocery store five miles from the school,” Hendrick replied. “I ran security tape in the lot, and it looked like Jacob, Gretchen and Sadie left the van and then walked out of camera range. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to pick them up on any other cameras in the area.”
Evan cursed. “So, we don’t have any idea what kind of vehicle they might be in now or where they might have gone.”
“That’s about the sum of it,” Hendrick replied grimly.
“Is it possible they’re on foot right now?”
Hendrick shook his head. “I don’t believe so. They got out of that van with a sense of purpose. They didn’t look around, but rather started walking quickly. I think they knew there was another ride waiting for them.”
“Give me the exact location of the van,” Evan said.
He took down the pertinent information and then disconnected. He grabbed his holster and gun from the nightstand and then left his room. He knocked on Annalise’s door.
She opened the door. “Evan... I thought you were sleeping.”
“I just got a call from Hendrick. He found the black van in a parking lot about five miles from here, so I’m calling some of the men to meet me there.”
“I’m coming with you,” she said. “Maybe Sadie somehow left some kind of clue for us in the van. Just let me grab my room key card.”
Evan had hoped after a couple hours of sleep he would be able to better focus on finding Sadie. Although he felt physically refreshed from the almost two hours of sleep he had gotten, mentally he still felt half-exhausted with the weight of the case on his shoulders and trying to deal with his unexpected emotions where Annalise was concerned.
Minutes later, with her seated next to him in the rental car, he had an overwhelming need to reach out and touch her.
He gripped the steering wheel more tightly. He had to stay focused on the crime that had brought them together in the first place and not on anything else. He still had a little girl to find, and he was desperate to get that right.
While he drove he called Nick and Davis and told them where the van was parked and instructed them to meet him there. He then called Hendrick to see if there had been any stolen car reports from the area in and around the parking lot.
“Already done,” Hendrick replied, and so far there were no stolen car reports. “And I think it’s safe to say that if they had stolen a car, it would have been reported by now. According to the time stamp on the security tape, they had to have driven directly from the school to that parking lot.”
“It’s possible Jacob arranged for somebody at the compound to meet him with a car. See if you can get in touch with whoever is in charge of the traffic in and out of the compound. Maybe they’ll have a record of a car that went out sometime last night and then never came back.”
“On it. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have something.”
Evan hung up his phone and glanced at his passenger. She looked as tense as he felt as he pulled into the grocery store’s large parking lot. “The van is parked in section D,” he said, slowing to find the right aisle.
“Over there,” she said, and pointed to their left.
He turned and slowed down even more. He saw the vehicle right before Annalise pointed it out. There was an empty space next to it, and Evan pulled in and parked.
He and Annalise both jumped out of the car at the same time. He headed for the driver’s side door and she went to the back door. The side of the van had a couple of bullet holes, and he was vaguely surprised to find it unlocked.
If the police officers who were tasked to keep the van from leaving the school had done their job right, then there would have been bullet holes in the front of the vehicle. The fact that they were on the sides told the whole story of incompetence that Evan had suspected, and it infuriated him.
He’d only just begun to search it when Nick and Davis arrived. He got out of the van and instructed Annalise to do the same. “I want you two to go over this with a fine-tooth comb. As you know, we’re looking for anything that might indicate where they were going from here and what kind of vehicle they might be driving now.”
As the two agents got busy checking out the van, Evan got back on his phone to check in with some of the others, including Chief Cummings. Everyone had a job to do, and it was Evan’s job to coordinate all the efforts to find the fugitives.
Unfortunately, the fact that Annalise believed so strongly that Sadie would contact her by using some sort of code made her an important piece of this whole puzzle. She was especially important right now since they had absolutely no leads on where the three had gone or how they might be traveling.
Before he’d fallen asleep, he’d contacted Rowan to get Annalise a cell phone she could use for the time being. Annalise got on the phone and checked the secret page, then then shook her head. Apparently Sadie still hadn’t made contact.
“Hey, I’ve got something here,” Nick said from the backseat of the van. “It looks like something has been scratched into the back of the front seat.”
Evan looked to where Nick pointed. Sure enough, it looked like a fingernail or something had been used to scratch letters, numbers and symbols that made no sense.
“Annalise, take a look at this and see what you think,” he said. He backed out and gave her room to look.
She leaned in. “It’s...it’s from Sadie.” Her voice was thick with emotion as she straightened. “It’s in our secret language. It says ‘Sadie was here.’” Her eyes filled with tears as she gazed at him. “She wanted me...she wanted everyone to know that she was here.” She began to cry.
There was something particularly heartbreaking about a kidnapped little girl wanting her teacher and law enforcement to know that she was in the van, that she was still alive.
As Evan saw the emotion ripping through Annalise, he couldn’t just stand by and watch. He pulled her into his arms and held her.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she swiped her cheeks in obvious embarrassment. “I don’t seem to have much control over my emotions right now.”
“It’s okay,” he replied. “I’m sure you’re still functioning on a lack of sleep and your worry about Sadie. At least we know now why they want her and they aren’t going to harm her. If they were going to dump her somewhere, this would have been the perfect place. Apparently, they still need her and won’t hurt her.”
“Unless she can’t do what they want her to, or she accomplishes what they want and then what are they going to do with her?” Annalise’s tense question hung in the air.
Evan didn’t have an answer to give her, but the possibilities of what might happen tortured him. He knew Jacob and his wife had no respect for human life. The man had already proven that. It was absolutely vital they find Sadie before Jacob and Gretchen decided the little girl
was nothing more than a liability to them.
“I’ve got something,” Davis said from the very back of the van. He pulled on something and then held up a license plate. “It was hidden in a slit in the carpeting.”
“Good work, man.” Evan took the license plate from the fellow agent. “Maybe this is the break we needed. Maybe finding out the registered owner of the van will give us more information.”
Evan immediately got on the phone to Hendrick. He told the tech agent that the plate was a North Carolina plate, and he read out the numbers and letters.
“Arrange for the van to be taken into custody,” he told his two men as he waited for a call back from Hendrick. He and Annalise got back into the rental car.
“We’ll drive through someplace and grab some breakfast on our way back to the hotel.” He shot her a quick glance. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m okay, but that message from Sadie really gutted me.”
“At least it tells us she’s still okay,” he replied.
He swung through a drive-through, and they both ordered breakfast sandwiches. He’d just paid and received their order when Hendrick called back.
“The plates come back as belonging to an eight-seat black passenger van registered to Sandhurst School.”
For just a moment Evan was speechless. He’d expected the name of a person, but this was definitely a shock. “I made a few calls and found out that the school owns three of these vans,” Hendrick continued. “They are kept in a garage at a nearby vehicle rental lot, and I spoke to the owner who told me one of the vans went missing.”
“There’s no sign that the van has been hot-wired. Is the garage secure?” Evan asked.
“According to the owner, the vans are under lock and key. Only somebody with a key to the garage and the van could have driven one off. He hadn’t even noticed that one of the vans was missing. He said he gave out four garage keys to the Sandhurst School.”
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