'Don't do this. Please. No one has called the police, and Sam Dundee has no idea where I am.'
'I tend to believe you. However, I'm not a person who takes chances.' Reeves waved his gun in the air, then pointed it to the door leading to the hallway. 'Shall we go?'
Jeannie watched, feeling totally helpless, as Danette and the plump middle-aged woman gathered up six children, instructing them to form a single line beside Reeves. Confused and crying, the children ran to Jeannie, completely ignoring Danette's directions. Kneeling, Jeannie touched each child, placing them in a circle around her. They reached out, laying their hands on her. She absorbed their fear and frustration, and within minutes all six children had quieted.
'Look at the witch's power!' Reeves bellowed, storming across the few feet that separated him from Jeannie. 'She controls the minds of the innocent!'
He set Justin on his feet, then pulled the six children away from Jeannie. She reached for her cane, grabbing it up off the floor just as Reeves dragged her to her feet.
Turning to his two faithful helpers, Reeves motioned them toward him. 'She controls these children.' He pointed at the four boys and two girls Jeannie had soothed with her touch. 'They are useless to us. Take only the child you have with you, and go to your car. Wait for me outside.' He looked at Justin, who had found his way to Jeannie and was holding on to her leg. 'Take his hand, and bring him with you. And don't try any of your witchcraft on him. If you do, I'll have to destroy him when I destroy you.'
'Please, don't—'
'Take his hand! Now!' Reeves screamed.
Jeannie lifted Justin's hand, grasping it firmly, then looked to Reeves for instructions.
Reeves placed his arm around her shoulders. 'We'll walk into the hallway and through the school to the back door.'
Jeannie nodded her agreement. Danette and her cohort left the room, taking Missy and Amelia Carson with them. Reeves stuck his gun in Jeannie's ribs, motioning her forward. With each step she took, Jeannie prayed. The moment she exited the cafeteria and entered the corridor, she felt Sam Dundee's presence. Dear God, how had he found her? And what was he going to do? Had he called Marta? Had she been unable to hide the truth from him?
Danette and the other woman left the building, Missy and Amelia with them. Halting abruptly halfway down the long central hallway, Reeves squeezed Jeannie's shoulder.
'Wait,' he said.
Her breathing quickened. She clasped Justin's hand tightly. Whatever happened, she'd need to move at a moment's notice. If ever she had wished she could run, it was now.
'You and Justin will walk out in front of me,' Reeves told her. 'Just remember that I'll be right behind you, with a gun aimed at the boy.'
Jeannie nodded, swallowed hard, squeezed Justin's hand and walked them toward the back door.
'What are you doing?' Reeves fired his gun, but a big hand knocked the weapon upward, and the bullet lodged in the ceiling.
'Don't move a muscle,' Sam Dundee said.
With her arms wrapped around Justin, protecting him with her body, Jeannie rolled them directly across the hall. Curling her body into a fetal position as she rolled, she tumbled them through the open classroom door. She caught a glimpse of the female-disguised Reeves, Sam Dundee towering behind him, his Ruger pointed directly at the reverend's head.
With his free hand, Sam jerked Reeves's wig off his head. 'Looks like you've been caught in the act.'
'Let me go, Dundee, or two innocent children will have to be sacrificed.'
'What the hell are you talking about?' Sam flung the wig to the floor, then thrust his big arm around Reeves's neck, bringing the man's back up against his chest.
'Ask your precious little witch,' Reeves said. 'She'll tell you. Two of my disciples have potential sacrifices with them, and if I give the order to destroy these children for the greater good of the Righteous Light Church, they'll shoot them.'
'Sam?' Jeannie called out to him silently. 'Danette Suddath has her daughter, Missy, but I'm not sure she wouldn't harm her. And the other woman has Amelia—'
'All right, Reeves, let's you and me go outside,' Sam said. 'If what you say is true, I'll exchange you for the children.'
Reeves's maniacal laughter reverberated in the hushed stillness of the corridor. 'You give me Jeannie, and I'll give you the children.'
Sam didn't hesitate before giving his reply. 'No deal.'
'Jeannie, Dundee is willing to sacrifice the children to save you!' Reeves shouted. 'Is that what you want?'
'Sam?' she said aloud.
'Stay where you are. Trust me to handle this,' Sam said.
Reeves taunted her. 'Jeannie, I won't hesitate to sacrifice the children.'
She didn't reply. Sam gave Maynard Reeves a tight jerk, choking him momentarily, then loosed his hold and shoved him toward the back door.
'Don't try to screw around with me, you son of a bitch.' Sam growled the words in a low whisper, meaning them to be heard only by Reeves. 'No one's life is more important to me than Jeannie's. You got that? You do whatever you have to do, but if you issue an order to kill those children, I won't have any qualms about blowing your head off.'
'Jeannie? Answer me, you witch, you seed of the devil!'
Reeves struggled. Sam pressed his muscular arm into Reeve's windpipe, cutting off his oxygen. He ceased struggling and stood perfectly still.
Sam waited in the hallway for a moment, allowing Reeves to listen to the silence. 'What's it going to be?' Sam asked. 'Do you and two innocent children die, or do I exchange your life for theirs?'
'Let me go, and I'll send the children in when I reach my car.'
'No deal.' Sam rubbed the Ruger's barrel up and down the side of Reeves's sweaty face.
'State your terms.'
'We'll walk outside. You'll tell your disciples to release the children. As soon as they're within touching distance of me, I'll release you.'
'How do I know you'll keep your word?' Reeves asked.
'You don't. You'll just have to trust me, won't you?'
Sam walked Reeves out into the parking lot behind the school. Danette Suddath and an older woman sat inside a dark blue sedan, two children sandwiched between them in the front seat.
'Tell them to let the children out of the car,' Sam said.
'Danette. Nora. Release the children.'
Once Danette and Nora saw that their beloved reverend's life was in Sam's hands, they opened the car door and ushered the children out, telling them to go to the man with the gun. Missy clasped Amelia's hand, and the two girls walked toward Sam. The moment the girls came within his grasp, Sam shoved Reeves forward as hard as he could, then grabbed both girls up in his arms. Missy and Amelia clung to him.
Reeves ran toward his Lincoln Continental, parked beside Danette's sedan. He started the engine, shifted the gears and roared out of the parking lot. Danette followed him quickly.
Police sirens screamed in the distance. Sam turned around and walked back toward the Howell School. Jeannie stood in the doorway, her eyes swimming with tears. Sam set the two little girls on their feet and pulled Jeannie into his arms. Within minutes the corridor had filled with children and teachers, all of them crying.
Marta rushed out of her office, dropped to her knees and embraced the children closest to her. 'Thank God you didn't believe me, Mr. Dundee. I hope you understand why I couldn't risk telling you the truth when you called.'
'You saved us all, Sam.' Jeannie wrapped her arms around his neck. 'I was so afraid, but I knew you wouldn't
