He was also shocked when he was eight to learn that he had a six-year-old little sister named Elizabeth. He’d immediately gotten close to her. They would whisper together whenever they found themselves working side by side. He tried to protect her from the harsh existence that was everyday life. He sneaked her extra food and hugs. He’d loved her, and he’d believed she loved him back.
She’d been so sweet and in trying to protect and take care of her, Hendrick had taken many beatings. It was after a particularly vicious beating when he’d been ten that his father had come to him in the middle of the night with a plan to escape.
Even though Father Timothy assured them all that the armed guards surrounding the compound were to keep people out, in truth they were there to keep people inside. But Hendrick’s father had found a weakness in the security, and that night he intended to exploit it to get his family out.
However, Hendrick’s mother and sister had refused to leave. They had chosen the cult over their family. His mother had chosen the cult over him. Hendrick still had plenty of emotional baggage where his mother’s total abandonment was concerned.
He sucked in a deep breath, realizing he’d been holding it as his dark memories had raced through his mind. He swiped his hands down the sides of his face, shocked by the light sheen of sweat there.
Remembering his childhood always unsettled him. He was twenty-six-years old, and he’d spent much of the past sixteen years not allowing anyone to dictate much of anything about his life. He’d had enough rigid rules and pain in his first ten years of life.
It had taken a long time for his father and him to figure out how to live out in the real world. It had also taken a long time for Hendrick to forgive his father for being in the abusive cult and the two to develop a good relationship.
If the Brotherhood of Jacob was anything like the cult he had endured, then he knew the lives of the hostages weren’t worth anything. They could easily be sacrificed on the altar of the madness that drove the people who held them.
EVAN STOOD IN the wooded area in the back of the school where dozens of local police officers were stationed. He stared at the black van parked by the back door. Even though Davis and Nick had both volunteered to attempt to move it, Evan knew it was dangerous, and he wasn’t going to let anyone do it but himself.
The lights surrounding the building suddenly went dark, just as Evan had arranged. However, he didn’t intend to make a move for at least another hour or two.
He was making a calculated guess that nothing would happen with the group in the school during the unexpected lights out. He was hoping they were all tired and hungry and not as alert as they had been earlier in the day.
Moving the van away from the building wasn’t an absolute necessity, but with it taken out of the equation it would be one less thing for him to worry about.
From his left he could hear a couple of the police officers talking softly. The clicking and whirring of night insects surrounded him, and a rustle in the brush behind him indicated the presence of a rabbit or other small animal.
Thankfully the moon overhead was mostly hidden by cloud cover, and he’d exchanged his white shirt for a black pullover that Rowan had obtained for him. Even in the dark, Evan could hot-wire a vehicle within minutes.
As he waited for the darkness to deepen, he once again thought about Annalise. It had been almost three years since she’d left him. A job offer took her to a different state, and while he wanted to make the long-distance relationship work, she didn’t. He hadn’t expected to ever see her again. He certainly hadn’t expected to see her being dragged by her long beautiful hair by hostage takers in a school under siege.
The last thing he needed was to let his emotions get hold of him. One of his strengths had always been his complete control over his emotions.
He once again focused on the task at hand. He’d been afraid to raise the bullhorn again after he’d been warned not to, but first thing in the morning he would begin a new approach in an effort to get this situation to a satisfying end. The conversations would be different now that Evan had a little knowledge about the group. Hopefully he would be able to connect better with Jacob Noble and the members of his group.
It was about 2:00 a.m. when he decided to make his move on the van. He used his radio to alert everyone that he was going in, and then drew a slow deep breath that turned him into a machine with a job to do.
He crouched and raced as fast as he could toward a tree that was halfway between the police line at the edge of a wooded area and the van. When he reached it, he slammed his body to the ground and waited and watched.
He saw no movement from the back of the school where there were six broken-out windows. Maybe nobody was manning this back side of the building during the night.
There was no cover between the tree and the van. Once he left the safety of the tree trunk, he would be completely exposed and vulnerable. He drew another deep breath, resumed a low crouch and then slowly moved toward the van.
He hadn’t gone far when shots rang out. Bullets whizzed by him, and once again he hit the ground. More shots came from the school building, and the police
