9. Sadie’s Great Escape
sadie’s great escape
. . .
Sadie
Sadie’s Guide to Hostage-Taking Being Taken Hostage, Tip #6: Beware your hostage turning the tables and taking you hostage. It happens more often than you’d think.
Davian went upstairs to change clothes, and I wanted to scream.
My impromptu hostage plan had just blown up in my face, but I could only blame myself for the turn this had taken.
I was stupid. So stupid. Even though I’d basically forced Davian to help me—at gunpoint, no less—I’d begun to think of us as a team. Partners. It was the two of us against those annoying little teenage thugs.
Clearly, I’d been wrong.
He came down the stairs in dark jeans, a black shirt, and a leather jacket, and my heart flipped over in my chest. He was every bit the dark warrior ready to exact vengeance for me.
It honestly wasn’t fair he looked so attractive when I was angry with him.
“I’ll be back with Bear before you know it,” Davian told me as he took a gun Vince held out. It was larger than the one I’d borrowed earlier, but Davian handled it with just as much expertise as he loaded and inspected it. He motioned to a couple guys outside the open door before facing me. His dark eyes glinted with amusement. “You be good while I’m gone, Sadie.”
I scoffed at the nerve of him and crossed my arms tight against my chest. “I can’t even begin to fathom why you think you have the right to tell me to be anything right now, Davian Reed. You’re nothing but a liar.”
His answering smirk made me want to punch him. “Don’t forget you pointed a gun at me to get what you wanted. I took a less violent approach. But we’ll straighten this out when I get back from keeping my promise to you.”
“You bet we will,” I grumbled.
Davian’s grin only widened. “I’m looking forward to it.”
He followed the other two down the front steps, and Vince closed the door behind them.
I fumed, clenching my fists. How dare he trap me here while Bear was out there all scared and alone. And Davian didn’t know how to soothe Bear—he only liked the salmon treats when he was scared and never allowed strangers to pet him until trust was built.
Now I was left with Davian’s grumpy guard friend, who definitely hated me but was now scrolling through his phone and acting like today was just another day.
“You’re Vince, right?” I asked, keeping my voice casual—but not friendly. As I’d just learned, these men weren’t my friends.
He grunted without looking up from his phone.
I eyed the familiar gun in his waistband and winced. “I see you got your gun back. Sorry about that, by the way. Desperate times, you know?”
His answering silence was deafening.
I cleared my throat. “So, how long have you and Davian been friends?”
He just kept scrolling, and I might as well have been talking to a brick wall.
My eyes narrowed. Was he giving me the silent treatment?
I glanced at the door, growing nervous. For all we knew, the Skulls could have dozens—or even hundreds—of members, but only two men had gone with Davian. “Is that all the backup he’s taking with him? Only two guys?”
Vince finally gave me a sidelong glance. “He won’t even need them.”
The way my stomach twisted into knots was a surprise.
Great. Now I was worried about my ex-hostage who’d turned the tables on me and trapped me here. “You don’t understand. Those boys are cruel . They could hurt Davian.”
Vince’s lips twitched like this amused him. “Trust me. Davian’s a stone-cold killer. He can handle a few kids.”
I wasn’t sure Vince meant the killer part literally, but it did nothing to ease my worries. It was my fault Davian was in this mess, after all, and I’d feel guilty if he got hurt. Even if he had just terminated our fresh crime-fighting partnership and abandoned me in a strange new place.
I also thought of Bear and how alone he must feel. “I should be there. Bear needs a familiar face right now. He’s probably so scared.”
Vince grunted again. “Your dog is fine.”
“How do you know that?”
He sighed and put his phone away before finally looking at me head-on. The man was made of pure muscle, and the urge to flee hit me hard. “He likes all the shit dogs like, right? Squirrels? Birds?”
Thrown by the question, I blinked. “Uh, yes. He loves squirrels.”
“Those wannabe thugs, the Skulls, hang out at an abandoned car wash right by a park. Your dog is probably having the time of his life chasing more squirrels than he can handle right now.”
Hope filled my chest, and I risked fishing for a bit more. “Which park? He’s picky about them?—”
“Acresfield. Trust me, he’s happy as a clam. You’ll see him soon.”
I barely refrained from pumping my fist in the air. Did Vince think I was so little of a threat that he didn’t care what information he shared? I knew exactly where that park was—we walked the dogs there all the time—and even if I didn’t know where I was now, my phone could lead me back to the city.
Trying to still look upset instead of showing how happy this news made me, I wrapped my arms around my middle. “Is there somewhere I can go to be alone until Davian brings Bear back?”
Vince didn’t even bat an eye at my poor acting skills. He believed me easily enough and led me up the wide staircase, passed a guard holding another gun at the top, and down the hallway to a tall shiny wooden door. The inside of the building was the complete opposite of the stark outside. There were hardwood floors and plenty of natural light. Intricate carvings covered the door, but I couldn’t make out any distinct shapes.
“You can stay in this guest room.” Vince opened the door and waved me in. I took a hesitant step inside. “I’ll be right out here if you need anything.”
The way he said it sounded more like a threat than an offer, but I needed to get him away from the door for a little. I used the first excuse I could think of, even if it made little sense. “Actually, I could really use a shower since it’ll be a while. Are there any spare clothes I could borrow?”
Thankfully, his glare looked more annoyed than suspicious. “I’ll find something and put it outside the door.”
“Thank you.”
He waited till I walked further into the room before closing the door behind me. A quiet click sounded before footsteps echoed away.
The doorknob didn’t budge when I tried it, and my jaw dropped. The lock was on the outside of the door?
The nerve of these men.
But I didn’t have time to fume about it.
I needed to escape.
I ran over to a window, rushed to unlatch it and let out a sigh of relief when it unlocked without setting off an alarm. I heaved it open and stuck my head out just far enough to see the ground.
It was pretty far down.
Thinking fast, I hurried to the attached bathroom and switched on the tub before skidding back into the bedroom. I flung the comforter off the bed, then stripped off its sheets.
I might love making yummy treats, but crafts had never been my thing. And there was nothing skilled about the knots I used to tie the sheets together.
Racing back over to the window, I looked outside for any of the guards Davian had mentioned—but the coast was clear.
Unless they were hidden?
It was too late to worry about that.
I quickly tied one end of my makeshift rope to the radiator before flinging the rest out the window. The end still hovered a decent height above the grass, but I was confident I could drop the rest of the way without hurting myself.
Hopefully.
Crawling out the window was the easy part, then I shuffled around until my legs dangled awkwardly over the ledge. If there were guards outside, they’d have a great view of my butt from this angle.
I really should’ve thought this through.
But I forced myself to soldier on. With no experience in rappelling, I clung to the rope for dear life. It was slow going down the sheets.
Sweat dripped down my back by the time I’d hobbled down to the end of the blankets.
I glanced down, and the ground looked very far away. Much further than I’d thought it’d be.
“Bear needs me,” I reminded myself, and it was enough to make my fingers unclench from the sheet.
I dropped like a sack of potatoes and landed on the grass with a soft “ oof .”
Looking around to make sure no one had seen, I scrambled to my feet and brushed off my overalls before making a dash for the garage—keeping close to the walls. There wasn’t any sign of guards patrolling I could see, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Luck was on my side—Davian hadn’t closed the garage door, and it only took a little hunting to find Daisy’s keys on a row of hooks near the door.
But I paused before getting into her.
What was my plan once I got to the car wash? The gun had given me confidence earlier, but I doubted I could find another one here before someone noticed me.
I cursed Davian for taking my gun. Well… Vince’s gun.
Out of options, I grabbed a broom from a shelving unit and tossed it into the car, then hopped into the driver’s side. An extra leash from the shelter was in the center console, and I stuffed it into my overalls for when we got Bear back.
Daisy was a little loud when I started the ignition.
“ Shhh, ” I whispered soothingly, praying no one heard her. “You can do this. We can do this.”
She seemed to agree. Backing out of the garage and zooming down the long driveway was a breeze all the way to the large, menacing gate.
There was just one tiny problem.
It didn’t open.
I assumed it’d opened automatically for Davian, but maybe he’d hit a trick sensor or something.
Oh. A call box stood next to my window, and I swallowed a fresh surge of panic before rolling down my window.
Here goes nothing.
“Hello? I’m leaving now. Can you please open the gate?” I asked, then held my breath.
Static crackled before a deep voice came through the call box. “Name?”
My heart thundered in my chest, and I considered lying. What if Davian had warned them not to let me out? Was I a prisoner here? But I spent so long thinking about it that I worried they’d think I was trying to come up with a fake name, so I answered with the truth. “Sadie. Sadie Morris.”
The following silence stretched while I waited for guards to pop out and ambush me.
But then a beep sounded, and the gate began to open.
The burst of relief made my chest ache. I could finally breathe normally again, and I flexed my fingers on the wheel.
“I’m coming, Bear,” I whispered, driving through as soon as the opening was wide enough. I pulled out my phone and quickly looked up directions to Acresfield Park. “Just hang in there, buddy.”
With determination in my heart and butterflies in my stomach, I sped Daisy down the dirt road away from Davian’s compound.