“You stinking traitor,” Jacob yelled. “This was all her idea. She planned it all.”
“Stop talking,” Evan commanded as he watched the two of them being patted down for weapons by Nick. Once it was confirmed neither of them had a weapon on them, they were jerked up to their feet and handcuffed.
Evan turned to see Sadie curled up in the corner of a nasty-looking brown sofa. Her eyes were huge as she watched everything that was happening. Thank God she was alive and appeared unharmed.
“Hi, Sadie,” he said to her with a smile. He crouched in front of her. “Do you know who I am?”
“You’re Miss Annalise’s friend. I saw you on her phone. Are you here to take me out of this place?”
“We’re here to take you out of here.”
She nodded. “Good. I really didn’t want to do what they wanted me to do.”
“Honey, it’s over now and those people are out of your life forever,” Evan replied, just grateful that she appeared to be okay. “Are you ready to come outside with me? Miss Annalise has been really worried about you, and she can’t wait to see you and tell you how smart and how very brave you have been.”
“Did you get Miss Annalise something to eat? Last time I was with her, her tummy was really growling because she was so hungry.”
Evan stared at the beautiful child with her innocent blue eyes and felt utterly humbled. After being kidnapped and brought to this seedy cabin, that her first thought would be of her teacher being hungry spoke of how very special this child was.
“Yes, Miss Annalise has been fed several times,” he replied. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
She got off the sofa and placed her little hand in his with utter trust. Together they left the cabin, and he used a flashlight to guide them back toward his car.
They walked for a little ways and then, sensing that Sadie was growing weary, he pulled her up in his arms. “I hope we didn’t scare you when we burst into the cabin,” he said.
“I was way more scared that Gretchen was going to kill me,” she replied. “She’s really, really mean.”
“We weren’t going to let that happen. Now she and Jacob will go to jail for a very long time.”
“That’s good. They aren’t nice people,” she said, and tightened her thin arms around his neck.
They were several feet in front of the car when Annalise finally saw them. She got out of the vehicle and ran toward them.
“Sadie,” she cried.
“Miss Annalise!”
Evan set the little girl on the ground and teacher and student raced to each other. When Annalise reached Sadie, she fell to her knees and opened her arms wide.
Tears poured down Annalise’s face as she hugged Sadie close. As Evan watched the two of them, he couldn’t help the lump of emotion that rose in his throat.
He allowed the reunion to go on for several long moments before he finally spoke again. “I’ve got to go back. You two get into the car, lock the doors and I’ll be back here as soon as I can.”
He waited until the two got into the backseat, and then he turned and hurried back toward the cabin.
Finally, it was almost over. Two bad guys were in custody and his young hostage was safe. Considering how it all could have gone wrong, the actual takedown had been surprisingly easy and rather anticlimactic, not that he was complaining. Before he reached the cabin, he pulled his phone from his pocket and connected to Hendrick.
“We got them,” he said once the tech appeared.
“And Sadie?” Hendrick asked.
“Safe and in my car.”
“Thank God. Then my naked dance with torches burning and the sacrifice of a corn dog worked,” Hendrick said with a wicked grin.
“You’ve always hated corn dogs,” Evan replied.
“Okay, so that was an easy sacrifice,” Hendrick replied.
Evan laughed, and it felt so good to finally reach this point and be able to laugh. “I just wanted you to know that this part of the ordeal is over.” His smile faded. “But we still need to identify the person who aided and abetted these criminals.”
Hendrick nodded. “You don’t believe Earl Winslow is your man?”
Evan hesitated. “I can’t be positive, but my gut is telling me he isn’t the insider. I’ve got to go. We’ve still got a lot to finish up here.”
“I’ll keep digging into backgrounds, and I’ll talk to you later.”
Evan returned to the cabin where the two fugitives were not only handcuffed but also had their ankles bound, making it impossible for them to run.
The officers had rounded up a total of three automatic long guns and two handguns. Along with the weapons was enough ammunition to ward off a small army. Thank God they had been taken down without incident.
Chief McCabe smiled at Evan. “If you want to take off, I can assure you my men will process the scene and send you all the reports and evidence we collect.”
“Thanks, and I really appreciate your cooperation in working with us on this,” Evan replied. “It’s been a pleasure.”
“Glad we could help,” Chief McCabe replied, and the two men shook hands. “We’ll make sure these two are transferred successfully into Chief Cummings’s custody. They have far more serious charges to face in that jurisdiction than in ours.”
Evan remained for another thirty minutes or so and then returned to the car where Annalise and Sadie waited. “How are you doing?” he asked when he was behind the steering wheel.
“We’re good,” Annalise said. “I’ve been telling her how smart she was in helping us find her.”
“Sadie, you’ve been amazing,” Evan said. “You asked me if Miss Annalise had eaten, but you didn’t tell me if you had eaten.”
“Gretchen made me some macaroni and cheese, but the macaroni was really crunchy and it wasn’t very good,” Sadie replied.
“How about when we see a fast-food place on the way home we
