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She chanced a glance backwards, toward the clearing and the cottage. She could just make out Evan, standing on the top step of the back door, staring out at the tree-line, hatred snarling across his face.
Come on. Come on, she pleaded silently.
He took a step down and then another. Then he started to jog toward the spot where she was hidden. With one final tug, the ropes fell free. Sierra stood and began to run again, drawing him closer, reeling him in like a fish on a line. Towards her and away from Jessica and Reed.
* * *
Reed had never felt more helpless in his whole life. Not even when Penny had miscarried their baby. Not even when he’d been involved in the crash that’d claimed Sierra’s daughter. He needed to get out of these bindings. Now. Sierra was out there, putting her life on the line, with a madman trying to kill her, and he had to get out there and help her.
All that lay between them seemed to be of no consequence right now. The huge gulf that’d opened up when he discovered he’d been the one driving the other car was gone. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he needed Sierra to stay alive. So he could tell her. Tell her how he felt about her. The anger was gone. Evaporated in a puff of smoke. His feelings right at this very moment were crystal-clear. He was falling in love with Sierra. With her sultry beauty. With her willful, stubborn streak. With her fragile heart that she kept hidden from the rest of the world. With her courage. The courage it took to lead Evan away, to be the bait, leaving her faith in Reed that he would save the little girl. They could work this all out. He knew it. There was something between them that just couldn’t be ignored.
A shot rang out and Reed froze. Fuck, the crazy bastard was shooting at her. Then Evan shouted something, and there was a pause and then another gunshot. Reed was going to internally combust if he didn’t free himself soon. In desperation, he looked around the room. He needed something. Anything. To get him out of these ropes.
Jessica was snuffling quietly in the corner, not looking at him, huddled in a tight ball like a cat on her bed, her hands clamped over her ears.
Poor little thing. She must be absolutely terrified, but he couldn’t even go over and comfort her, protect her, trussed up as he was.
Then Reed narrowed his gaze. She was his only chance. Could she help him untie the ropes?
How was he going to convince a terrified five-year old to do that?
Reed was already lying on his side after his thwarted struggles to free himself. He had to get over to the bed somehow. His hands were tied behind him, and his legs tied all the way from ankle to knee. He began to curl and uncurl, pulling his knees into his chest and using his shoulder, hip, and legs to shuffle forward over the dirty floorboards. He was moving, but slowly, much too slowly. Sweat trickled freely down his back and into his eyes. Another shot sounded from outside, this time muffled and farther away from the cottage. It galvanized him into even more desperate movements. If Evan was still shooting, it meant Sierra was still running. Which he hoped was a good thing.
After what seemed like an eternity, Reed made it all the way to the other side of the room. He lay breathing heavily through his nose for many precious seconds, the gag preventing him from gulping lungful’s of air as he wanted to do. With a huge surge of energy, he managed to sit up. But that was as far as he got. He couldn’t kneel, let alone stand up, the ropes were just too tight. But it was enough to bring his chin level with the edge of the bed.
Jessica’s tear-stained face peered at him from beneath her elbow. She must’ve watched his progress across the floor, wondering what he was up to. How did he communicate his need to her? How did he let her know he was one of the good guys? That he wasn’t here to hurt her, but to help her.
All he had was his eyes, and so he stared at her beseechingly, making little grunting noises which he hoped sounded calming rather than plain maniacal. Smiling was impossible with the rough, cloth gag in his mouth. The girl stopped sniffling and stared back at him, blue eyes wide and fearful, but she didn’t move.
Reed wracked his brain for something to convince her. Then he had it. Shuffling around slightly, he lifted himself as high as he could off the ground and shoved his left shoulder up at her, tilting his head sideways and grunting, trying to get her to look at what was on the side of his dark blue uniform. It was the South Australian Police badge. Would she recognize it? Would a five-year old even know what it meant?
Jessica moved, slowly sitting up, and drew her small hand across her face, scrubbing away the tears. Her hair stood out in great snarls and tangles, and her face was all big eyes and a small, rose-bud mouth. And Reed was filled with the urge to smash that pedophile’s face into a pulp. She was so small and helpless, and that bastard deserved nothing less than castration.
Shoving the rage back down his throat, he concentrated on the girl, holding his face up towards her, in a mute request for her to pull the gag out of his mouth. Finally, she moved, crawling towards him, and plucked at the dirty rag. As she pulled, Reed used his tongue to help work it out of his mouth, until it eventually fell on the floor with a soft thud.
Thank God. He could breathe now, and he sucked in two, three, four deep breaths.
Quickly composing his features, he smiled. “Thank you, Jessica.”
She said nothing, just withdrew a few inches. He couldn’t afford to scare her. He needed her help.
“You know I’m a policeman, don’t you, sweetheart?”
She nodded, her ratty hair falling down over her eyes as she did so.
“And I’m here to take you back to your mum and dad.”
Her eyes light up at his words, a small lift of her lip the first sign of hope she’d shown so far.
“I also know how brave you are.”
He wasn’t going to mention Evan, or anything to do with the abduction, in case he scared her back into that comatose state. But she straightened a little at his praise. This might work, after all.
“Do you think you can help me? If we can get these ropes of my hands, then I can take you straight home.”
She looked at him speculatively for a few seconds, then nodded again. She wasn’t speaking to him, obviously badly traumatized, but that was okay, all he needed was to get them out of here. The rest could come later.
He shuffled around farther, so she could access his hands behind his back and then prayed to whatever God was listening that her tiny fingers could undo the knots Evan had tied. She hopped down onto the floor, light as a bird, the chain clanking as she moved. Reed gritted his teeth when he heard it, quelling another urge to hurt that man so badly he’d never walk again.
