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SADIE

“We can’t leavethem in there.” Sadie backed away from Jackson’s hold the second the door closed, pulse beating like hooves against the ground.

“Hey, at least I got you out. We’ll get them too. Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Sadie asked, following but glancing back at the door.

“To get the boss. If she and I can take on a hoard of murderous robots, we can handle a posse.” He smiled, flashing bright white teeth at Sadie.

She relaxed a smidge. “We need to give them what they want.”

“We’ll give them what they deserve,” Jackson promised, face set and fist clenched. “I don’t like myself or my friends being threatened. But first, we have to settle another situation, and I think your help would be useful.”

“What situation?” Sadie’s brow furrowed, mind still half upstairs.

The lift stopped, and Jackson turned to her, holding her shoulders and searching her eyes. “I’m going to need you to keep a cool head. Can you do that? Because from what I’ve seen of you, I suspect you may spot an opportunity we can’t.”

Sadie nodded and he let go, the lift resuming.

“Prepare yourself,” he said as the doors slid open.

The space they walked into looked like a strange version of the town saloon. Wood paneling and rose covered, red wallpaper plastered the spaces between. Swinging doors hung across from them, and a piano with no player belted out tunes from the corner by the polished bar. The multiple round tables were empty except for one dead center. On one side sat Nicole, Wally’s boss. On the other, Caroline with Teddy pulled to her side as she held something Sadie knew had to be a gun or worse to his head.

Her heart leaped as the memory from moments before all but suffocated her. The terror and helplessness she’d felt…and her son experienced it now as well. A sob caught in her throat as Jackson held her arm for support.

“Let my son go!” she screamed, stalking forward out of his grip.

Caroline startled slightly but kept the weapon pressed against his head.

Teddy’s eyes met hers, and she saw the tremble he tried to hide. Her brave boy.

“Stop right there,” Caroline said, and Sadie obeyed.

Nicole stood and backed slowly away to confer with Jackson as Sadie took her place, leaning down over the table toward the woman threatening her child.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing personal,” Caroline answered. “Just protecting my interests.”

“You have a gun pointed at my son’s head. Everything about this just became personal. We had a deal,” she hissed out the last sentence between clenched teeth.

“It no longer suited me when your son here tried to turn me in.” Caroline shook Teddy a little, and Sadie gritted her teeth harder, wanting nothing more than to reach across the table and rip this woman’s hair from her scalp.

“There’s no way out now, so you may as well let him go. What’re you going to do? Kill him? Then what do you think will happen?”

“You sound just like Ms. Bennet over there. No. Teddy and I are going to leave again. This time, he’s coming with me as insurance, because if you or anyone else follows me, yes, I will kill him.”

The conviction in the woman’s tone shook her. Sadie inhaled sharply, body shaking as she gripped the table. “Take me instead. It doesn’t matter which of us you have.”

Caroline smiled. “Very nice offer, but the kid’s easier to handle and a better guarantee. I wouldn’t put it past you to try and get away or start a fight. Not that I couldn’t win, but why go there? I may end up having to kill you, too, soon.”

“You wouldn’t win,” Sadie said.

“I have multiple blackbelts and have studied everything from Jiu Jitsu to Krav Maga.”

“I don’t care about your fancy words,” Sadie said. “Just give me my son.”

“That’s enough chit chat. Come on, Teddy.” Caroline stood and yanked him along, weapon steady and tight against his skull. “Stay put. He’ll be safe as long as you don’t follow.”