Spending this time with him had made her realize she wanted to try to rekindle their relationship again. She wanted to reclaim the magic that they once had. But she had no idea if he would ever want to try again with her. She wasn’t even sure he’d understood why she had left him in the first place.
She shook her head, aware that she was getting too deep into her emotions about Evan because thoughts of Sadie were too frightening to entertain. Every moment that passed without additional contact with the child made Annalise wonder if she was still alive.
It was just after three when Hendrick called Evan. “We’ve got them,” he said.
“Where?” Evan asked. Annalise got up from the desk and moved to stand just behind him.
“Owl’s Nest cabins on mountain road 358. It’s about three hours from where you are right now. Local authorities just confirmed with the owner there that they are in cabin number 7. The owner hadn’t heard the news of a manhunt. Jacob paid cash for a four-night stay, and the locals are staying on scene with the owner until you all arrive.”
“Get me the name of the chief of police in that jurisdiction,” Evan said.
“Already got it. It’s Chief Joe McCabe,” Hendrick replied. “He’s expecting your call.”
As Annalise listened to Evan talk to Chief McCabe, her entire body thrummed with excitement. Hopefully in the next four hours or so, Sadie would be safe and Jacob and Gretchen would be under arrest.
“Wish us luck,” he said to her when he was off the phone and heading toward the front door.
“You aren’t leaving here without me,” she protested.
“Annalise, we don’t know how this is going to go down. It could get extremely dangerous,” he told her.
“I don’t care. I’m coming with you whether you like it or not. If I don’t ride with you, then I’ll take my own car and follow you.” She raised her chin in stubbornness.
“Annalise...” he started to protest once again.
She was having none of it. She was going and that was that. There was no way in hell she was staying here. “If you get Sadie out of there, she’s going to need to see a familiar face. She’ll need me to be there for her,” she replied firmly.
He wasn’t going to stop her from coming. Sadie would need her...and more than that, she needed to see Sadie. She wanted to hold her tight, to assure herself that the little girl had not only survived physically but emotionally, as well.
“I promise you that if you don’t take me with you, then I’ll drive on my own,” she repeated firmly.
He looked at her for a long moment and then gave a quick nod. Minutes later they were on the road with Davis driving in a car behind them with Nick and Daniel as passengers.
“I’m almost glad they are out of Chief Cummings’s jurisdiction,” Evan said as he pressed the gas pedal to pick up speed. “I’ll be glad to deliver Jacob and Gretchen to him to put in his jail so he can have all the glory, but I’m fine working with somebody else to take them down.”
“I’m just so happy this is finally coming to an end,” she replied. “I just want Sadie to be saved.”
“I want that, and I also want whoever the insider is behind bars,” he replied.
They fell silent as he focused on the road ahead, and Annalise stared out the side window. She could feel his tension in the air, and the last thing she wanted was to be a distraction.
After driving for an hour and a half, he turned onto a narrow road where the trees encroached on either side and stole all the sunshine.
The shadowed semidarkness increased her anxiety. The optimism she’d left her house with waned a bit. It was only going to get darker as evening approached, and things could go so terribly wrong.
What if a gunfight broke out? Would Sadie become collateral damage? Would Evan be hurt? Killed? Her heartbeat quickened. Would Sadie still be alive when they finally got to the cabin? A glance over at Evan let her know he was probably entertaining the same dark thoughts that she was.
His hands clenched the steering wheel, and his jaw muscles were bunched. He looked like a warrior ready to do battle. All she could do was pray that the warrior would come through on the other side unscathed and that he’d have a living, breathing little girl in his arms.
The small police station was located on a narrow mountain road next to a bar named Whisky Dan’s. Evan parked next to another police car in the lot. “Stay here,” he said to Annalise. “And lock the doors.”
He’d been reluctant to allow her to come along with him, and the only reason he had brought her was because he had no idea how traumatized Sadie might be. He also knew that Annalise would have followed through on her threat to trail the team in her own vehicle. But he had no intention of her being part of the arrest and rescue mission.
He got out of the car and waited for his men to do the same and then the four of them went inside. Chief Joe McCabe greeted them and introduced four of his men. “These guys are as close to a SWAT team as we have,” he said.
“We’ve taken down a lot of men holed up in all kinds of cabins in this area,” Officer Larry Knox said.
“A lot of meth-cooking goes on in some of these little cabins,” Officer Nash Burton explained.
“The Owl’s Nest cabins are owned by Charlie Tankersly. Charlie is something of a character,” Chief McCabe said. “He claims to be an artist, and spends most of his time using trash to make things nobody ever buys. But the good news is he supports law and order, and
