Finally the girls had all fallen into an exhausted sleep, and even Annalise had managed to catch an hour or two of dreamless sleep.
But the day was upon them, a day of fear and uncertainty. “The girls need to use the restroom again,” she said to the burly man who seemed to be in charge of everything. She’d heard several of the other men call him Jacob.
He whirled around from his position on a chair just to the side of the broken window and scowled at her, as if she were personally responsible for nature’s call.
“Gretchen,” he bellowed.
Annalise sat up straighter. Gretchen? There was a woman here with all the men? A tiny bit of hope surged inside her. Maybe she could talk a woman into letting the children go.
A woman with grayish hair fashioned into two long braids strode into the room. She carried a pistol and smiled at Jacob. “Hey, baby, did you call for me?”
“Yeah, they have to go to the bathroom. You want to take them?”
“Sure,” she replied. She turned to Annalise and the children. “Up,” she said curtly. “Let’s go.”
Gretchen was a thin older woman with light blue eyes and a careworn face. Whether she could reason with this woman was an unknown. Nonetheless, right now it felt good to get up and stretch after sitting for so long, but the situation also still felt volatile and dangerous.
The restroom was right outside the classroom and to the left. Annalise wanted to check in on Belinda and whoever might be with the fellow teacher in the room across the way, but she got no opportunity as Gretchen led them directly to the girls’ restroom.
She stood just outside the door as Annalise and the girls went inside. Alone with the girls, she wiped away tears and told them she would do whatever possible to keep them safe. “We all just have to be brave,” she said.
As the girls were washing their hands, Annalise stepped out where Gretchen awaited. “Is there any way I can appeal to you to let the children go?” she said. “You’ll all still have me as a hostage, but this is no place for children.”
Gretchen shrugged. “Sorry. My husband is in charge of this operation and he makes the rules.”
“Your husband?”
“Jacob.” Gretchen’s chin shot up in obvious pride. “He’s the leader of the Brotherhood of Jacob, and all of us who are here believe in the path he has us on.”
“A path of crime and murder?” The words snapped out of Annalise with a hint of the anger that had been festering inside her since this all began.
Gretchen stepped closer to Annalise and without warning slapped her hard. Annalise immediately raised her hand to her burning cheek as her eyes began to water. “Have some respect,” Gretchen snarled.
Anger swelled up in Annalise, but she had to swallow hard against it as at that moment the girls came out of the bathroom. Besides, Gretchen had a gun and Annalise had no idea if the woman would actually use it or not. As they once again took their positions against the wall, Annalise’s cheek still burned.
“Everything all right?” Jacob asked.
“Everything is fine. I just had to give the teacher a lesson in respect,” Gretchen replied. The woman looked at Annalise with narrowed eyes. “Let’s hope she’s a fast study.”
Moments later when Gretchen had left the room, Annalise glanced at the girls. Although Tanya and Emily continued to cry, it was Sadie who worried Annalise the most.
Sadie’s background not only included poverty, she had also been physically and emotionally abused by her mother, a young drug addict hooked on heroin and bad men.
When Sadie had first come to the school, she had been a solemn, closed-off child who flinched each time she made a mistake. Over the past few months, Sadie had shared a lot of feelings and emotions with Annalise, creating a special bond between teacher and student.
It had been Annalise’s greatest joy to watch the little girl blossom and become a precocious, giggling nine-year-old who loved hugs and reveled in her own accomplishments. Despite being the youngest, she was the brightest of the three, but at the moment none of that beautiful light shone from her eyes.
Now, she was stone-faced, her big blue eyes holding a blankness that broke Annalise’s heart. What damage was this doing to her? To all the girls?
“Please let the children go,” she said to Jacob. “You’ll still have me as a hostage. Just let the children go.”
“That’s not going to happen so just shut up about it,” he replied, and raked a hand through his black hair.
“What’s the Brotherhood of Jacob?” she asked. She was aware that her cell phone was plugged into an outlet behind the desk and on a shelf half-hidden by puzzle books. Thankfully the ringer and notifications were turned off. So far she hadn’t had a chance to get to it, but if she did get a chance she would call out and at least be able to tell the police who these people were and what they wanted. All she needed was to find out exactly why they were here and what they did want.
“We are the Brotherhood of Jacob,” Jacob replied. “We have a plan, and we intend to see it through to the end.”
“Surely your plan didn’t include being trapped inside this building that by now is surrounded by squads of law enforcement officers. What is it you want? Why did you come here in the first place?”
“You don’t need to know anything, so just shut your trap and don’t bother me.” He turned back toward the window.
In the relative quiet of the building, she could hear low moans coming from across the hallway and a phone ringing. The phone had to be the one in the main office as that was the
