Page 37 of Rescuing Sadie

“Quick, Annie. Put on your shoes and we’ll go.”

Annie did as ordered, slipping her tennis shoes on without a word. When she was done, she grabbed her Army man and looked up at Sadie. “I’m ready to go now,” she announced.

“Go ahead and see if you can stand. We’ll go from there.”

Annie stood and wobbled for a moment before gaining her equilibrium.

“Does anything hurt?” Sadie asked.

“My head a little, and my legs where they were stucked under the dresser. But I’m okay.”

Sadie was constantly amazed at the child. She was scared, but she was holding it together.

Annie clutched her doll with one arm and took Sadie’s hand with her free one. They walked over to the destroyed window. Sadie knocked the loose glass out of the way with a piece of wood from the floor and peered out.

It was dark and quiet. Almost eerily so. The loud explosions should’ve woken up the neighbors, even though they weren’t exactly close. The nearest house was about a mile away. Hopefully the police and fire department had already been called.

Sadie shivered. Suddenly, she did not want to leave the house. She knew without a doubt that Jonathan was lying in wait in the darkness. Waiting to snatch her away. He’d take her where no one would ever find her and do horrible things to her. She’d probably end up in a cage in a basement somewhere, having baby after baby that he’d take from her the second they cleared her womb.

“Sadie?” Annie asked in a small voice next to her. “Aren’t we leaving? I wanna leave.”

“Yeah, baby, we’re going,” Sadie reassured the seven-year-old. She unfolded the rope ladder that was lying under the window. “Stay here while I climb out. Once I make sure it’s safe, I’ll help you.”

Carefully, Sadie stepped over the ledge of the window and climbed down the ladder. Once she was outside, she looked around once again. She couldn’t see much from where she was standing near the back porch, but a quick peek around one corner revealed orange flames wrapping around the side of the house to the front.

She hadn’t realized there was a fire. Refusing to panic and blocking out everything but making sure Annie was safe, Sadie called out for the little girl.

“Catch, Sadie!” Annie yelled from above.

Luckily Sadie was paying attention, because without any other warning, Annie had dropped the plastic case with her Army doll inside. She caught it and immediately put it on the ground. Sadie didn’t bitch at the girl for her actions. The sooner the doll was safe, the sooner Annie would follow.

And she did. Within seconds, Annie had shimmied down the rope ladder and was in her arms. Sadie clasped the little girl to her chest and sighed in relief. Awkwardly, not wanting to put Annie down, she leaned over and grabbed the doll. Annie held the box under one arm, the other staying around Sadie’s neck.

Not knowing where to go, and seeing no sign yet of Emily or Rayne, Sadie shifted away from the side of the house that was on fire. Once they rounded the opposite back corner, Sadie saw that the garage was intact. Ironic, really. She and Chase had stayed in the main house to be safe. Although, she realized that Jonathan must have known exactly where she was. If she and Chase had been in the garage, she had no doubt it would currently be burning right now.

She stood with Annie at the back corner of the house, keeping an eye out for the women who were supposed to be meeting them. As the seconds ticked by, Sadie felt more alone than she ever had before. Jonathan wasn’t going to give up. He’d destroy whatever he had to, hurt whoever he had to, in order to get his hands on her. The oppressive weight of the danger she was in, and the danger in which she’d put everyone around her, threatened to strangle her.

“Look! Someone’s here!” Annie said suddenly, pointing.

Sadie forced herself to pay attention, turned to where Annie was indicating. Sure enough, there was a set of headlights coming down the long driveway at a high rate of speed. She shielded her eyes from the bright lights and when she got a good glimpse of the car, Sadie wanted to both laugh and cry.

She should’ve known her uncle wouldn’t wait until a normal time in the morning to show up. He probably thought about waiting, but decided he’d come down tonight, just in case, and Ian could come in the morning as usual. Thank God he decided not to wait.

Sadie would’ve recognized his car anywhere. He loved that 1972 Scout. It resembled a Bronco, but in a retro way. It was a hardtop convertible, and Sadie knew Sean had put in a lot of hours making it perfect.

The relief she felt that her uncle had arrived almost brought her to her knees. Instead, she ran with Annie to meet him—just reaching the front of Fletch’s home when there was yet another loud boom, causing Annie to yelp in surprise.

And Sadie watched in horror as a fireball came out of the woods beyond the far side of the house, straight toward her uncle’s car.

She screamed “No!” as whatever it was hit the back of the Scout and flipped it.

The car rolled several times and ended up lying on its roof next to the garage. She saw movement inside, and her hope rose that since whatever had hit the car had only grazed the back end, maybe Sean was all right.

“Oh my gosh,” Annie said softly. “Who’s that?”

Sadie turned her attention from the wreckage. Her head couldn’t keep up with what was happening. She looked to where Annie was pointing and gasped. A man was walking toward them. She could make out a smirk on his face in the light coming from the fire at the house.

Jonathan.