Rowan held her breath, waiting to see if Evan was going to lose his temper. Thankfully, he murmured a thank-you to the chief, took the bread and then he headed for the mobile van which had arrived early that morning from a nearby FBI office. The van was equipped with all the communication equipment necessary to stay in touch with Hendrick and anyone else they might need to bring this to an end. Rowan was even more grateful that the chief didn’t follow Evan, but instead headed back to his squad car.
Chapter Three
Evan had managed to keep his emotions in check and off the fact that Annalise, the woman he had once been deeply in love with, was one of the hostages.
When they had gone in to get the deceased and she’d suddenly appeared, pushing the injured Belinda Baker into their arms, he’d wanted to reach in and grab her out of there, as well.
Then she’d been yanked backward by her hair and out of sight, and Evan had fought against a blinding rage and fear for her. He’d been surprised by the bravery she’d shown to get a fellow teacher help, but he could only hope she was okay now.
In that instant of seeing her again, with her long blond hair loose around her face and her piercing green eyes holding a desperate appeal, he’d wanted to scream to her to run to the safety of his arms.
Annalise had been the second most devastating loss in his life. The first one had forever changed who he was at his core. Losing Annalise, though, had left deep scars on his heart, scars that even after all this time had yet to completely heal.
His mind snapped into sharper focus. He couldn’t think about the past right now. He had a job to do that would need his careful attention if the hostages had any hope of walking out unharmed from the horrible situation they were in.
The Brotherhood of Jacob...the name rang a vague bell in his head, but he couldn’t access why. At least he finally might gain some information to help him negotiate a way out for those inside.
He hurried to the mobile van, and once inside he tapped on the keys of one of the computers and Hendrick appeared on the screen.
“Evan, talk to me, man,” Hendrick said.
“I need you to drop all the other searches you’re doing right now and find out everything you can on the Brotherhood of Jacob,” Evan replied.
“On it,” Hendrick replied, and Evan could hear the immediate clacking of computer keys. He left the van, knowing Hendrick would text him to let him know when he had the information to share.
When they’d gone in to get the deceased, he’d tried to gather as much information as he could. He’d counted six men—maybe seven—and one woman in the lobby, more than enough to guard the two doors in the building. Each one had been armed with either long guns or pistols. They definitely had plenty of firepower.
He returned to his position next to the patrol car and pulled out his phone. At least with Annalise’s number, they now had a way to communicate with somebody on the inside. He punched in the number Annalise had given to the authorities and then texted.
Annalise this is Evan. I know you can’t answer your phone. Whatever information you can get out to us will be helpful. Let us know you are all ok. We have a whole team working to get you all out safely.
He hesitated a moment and then added, Remember the moon.
He hit the send button and then cursed himself. Why had he felt the need to add that last line? He told himself it was because he wanted her to think of something happy, if only for a moment, while being held hostage.
He believed she had been happy on the night they had shared a midnight picnic in his backyard beneath a full moon. He frowned as another image filled his head and he remembered that moment when she’d been pulled by her hair out of the school lobby.
Was she okay? Had she been badly beaten or worse? Before he could continue with these dark thoughts, he picked up the bullhorn. “People in the school...will you tell me why you’re here and what you want so we can bring this situation to a successful end for all of us?”
“People are trying to sleep. I don’t want to hear you yapping all night long,” the familiar deep voice yelled out the window. “We had to listen to the damned phone ringing all last night. I don’t want to hear anything tonight.”
“If you walk out of there right now, we can offer you comfortable beds for the remainder of the night,” Evan replied. Of course those beds would be in a jail cell.
“Nobody is walking out.”
“Can you tell me what you want? I’d really like to work with you,” Evan said.
“If you want to work with me, then leave the area. Get all the police out of here.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Evan replied. “Maybe if you release a hostage or two—or at least the children—we could see about moving some people back.”
“I’m done talking to you for the night.” Gunfire punctuated the words.
Evan cursed. The man was so unpredictable and so uncooperative. He turned and smiled grimly at Daniel as the FBI sniper approached him.
“I’ve got a spot behind that tree over there where I have a perfect visual of the window where the boss man is located. But he’s been
