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“Why, you think I’m crazy?” Chloe snapped.
“No, I’m just not sure how to help you.”
“You already have.”
“Are you sure there isn’t someone else?”
“Yes.”
A few moments of silence passed between them.
“As long as he has Bubba, his bear, he’ll be fine.” Chloe handed Jenna a piece of paper. “If anything happens to me, keep Eli safe and find this man.”
Jenna glanced at the note and slipped it into her pocket. “Who is it?”
“My cousin Marcus Garcia. He lives north of Missoula, in the mountains. Don’t trust anyone else with Eli, okay?”
Jenna nodded. That wouldn’t be a problem since trusting people was a skill she’d lost years ago.
“Marcus is the only family I’ve got,” Chloe said, wistful.
“What about Gary?”
Chloe sighed. “I was so naive when I married him. I thought he was my Prince Charming.”
Jenna knew that princes only existed in fairy tales.
“But he is Eli’s father,” Jenna said.
“Gary is a selfish man,” Chloe said in a firm tone. “He doesn’t care about us.”
“Chloe—”
“He’s dangerous.” She pinned Jenna with intense eyes. “Gary is a monster.”
Prickles skittered across Jenna’s nerve endings.
Keep it together, Jenna.
“Dangerous how?” Jenna pressed.
Chloe stood suddenly. “I’m going to be sick. Watch Eli.” She rushed across the office and disappeared into the hallway.
“Chloe!” Jenna wanted to go after her, but couldn’t leave Eli alone.
“Mama?” he said.
“She’ll be right back, buddy.”
He clung tighter to his bear. Jenna kneeled beside the table and struggled to smile at Eli. Her own son would have been a little older than Eli now.
I’m sorry, baby Joey.
“Stop,” she whispered and turned her attention to the toddler. “Choo-choo, choo-choo,” she said, running a small wooden train across the table. Eli grabbed another train and mimicked her action.
As she watched him intently move his train back and forth, she couldn’t help but smile. There was something so pure about a child. Most of the time, when she was around kids, she was able to revel in that innocence instead of being pulled down by sadness. Sometimes it allowed a slight ray of hope to pierce through the darkness of her own grief, grief that drove her to start a new life in Cedar River, Montana.
The sound of shattering glass echoed down the hall. Jenna sat straight up.
“Let me go!” Chloe’s voice echoed.
Jenna automatically rushed across the room and snatched the canister of pepper spray out of her bag. She peeked into the hallway...
Two men were escorting Chloe to the exit: an unusually tall man wearing a knit ski cap, and a husky, broad-shouldered guy in a leather jacket.
Heart pounding, Jenna pulled out her phone to call for help. Her petite stature was no match for two thugs, even with her self-defense training and the pepper spray clutched in her hand.
“I won’t let you hurt him!” Chloe shouted.
As Jenna’s trembling finger pressed the 9-1-1 buttons, a male voice said, “What’s going on?”
She peeked around the corner and spotted Police Chief Billings.
For once she was relieved the cops had arrived.
“Stop it!” Chloe squirmed against the tall man’s grip.
“Release her,” the chief said.
Jenna was about to announce her presence when the chief grabbed Chloe, spun her around and put her in a choke hold.
Paralyzed with fear, Jenna watched as Chloe struggled against his firm grip, kicking and thrashing.
The thrashing slowed.
Chloe’s body went limp.
She fell to the ground.
Jenna darted out of sight. The floor seemed to tip sideways beneath her feet.
“Put her in the trunk,” Chief Billings said.
No, this can’t be happening. Please, God, help me.
He’d never listened before. Why should He start now?
“And find her son,” he said.
“You think he’s here?” one of the men asked.
“It’s worth checking. Go room by room,” he ordered.
Jenna’s mind struggled to come up with an explanation for what she’d just witnessed, but there was none. Her fight-or-flight response kicked in.
Use it to your advantage, she’d been taught after leaving Anthony three years ago.
Doors opened and closed down the hall. She had seconds to figure this out.
She softly locked her office door. Adrenaline rushing through her body, she considered her options. If only she could make it to the north lot where she’d parked her car.
Eli waved a wooden train. “Choo-choo!”
She snapped her attention to the little boy. As the men got closer, they’d surely hear the child’s enthusiastic voice. She dashed through the adjoining closet into the classroom next door and yanked the fire alarm. The sharp squealing sound pierced through the air. She rushed back to her office and quickly but gently tucked Eli into his snowsuit. The wail of the alarm drowned out his wails of confusion and fear.
Focus. It’s all about focus.
Is this why Chloe chose Jenna to protect Eli, because she sensed Jenna’s dark past, her determination never to be a victim again? The word victim sent a surge of panic through her body.
Stay calm, she coached herself.
She couldn’t wait for the fire department. She’d be dead before they got here.
You need to protect Eli.
She set the toddler down and put on her jacket, tucking the pepper spray in her pocket for easy access. Eli stumbled a few feet away, arms flailing, trying to get away from the shrill alarm.
Across the room, the doorknob twisted right and left.
In an almost disassociated state, Jenna unlocked her desk drawer, removed the false bottom and grabbed her stash of emergency money.
One at home, one at work. Be ready for anything.
Money tucked safely into her pocket, she shouldered the diaper bag, picked up Eli and handed him the polar bear. Clutching the bear, he continued to cry, so she unclipped a pacifier from a strap on the diaper bag and offered it to the little boy. He took it and instantly quieted, his eyes rounding like saucers.
Flinging her messenger bag over her other shoulder, she headed again for the storage room. Since the building had once been a school, it had connecting classrooms that would give her access to the north exit, closer to her car.
As she passed through the storage room, she noticed a few car seats they used when taking children on field trips in the van. She grabbed one and forged ahead.
She was a woman on a mission, a warrior who was not going to lose this battle. Not this time.
The wail of sirens echoed from outside. Good. That should chase the intruders away. Violent men connected to local law enforcement—not a surprise to Jenna.
She finally made it to the north end of the school. This was it. She actually might get away safely.
There was no might about it. She’d made a promise to protect Chloe’s child.
Jenna would not fail.
Clinging to Eli, she pushed open the door to the outside. Floodlights designed to discourage trespassers lit the playground all the way to the secondary parking lot. A strong gust of wind slapped her cheeks as she headed for her car.
What if the men were right behind her?
Traumatic flashbacks replayed in her mind like a video on accelerated speed. She quickened her pace, as if running could get her away from the images.
He can’t hurt you if he can’t find you.
She approached the corner of the building.
Only a few hundred feet from the parking lot.
Her car.
Freedom.
* * *
Matt Weller had been on a break, eating a sandwich in the custodian’s office and listening to the hockey game on the radio, when he’d heard a woman scream. He thought he’d imagined it at first and checked the closed-circuit video feed. Two men were dragging Mrs. McFadden to the exit. Just as Matt got up to help her, Chief Billings entered the building.
And strangled Mrs. McFadden.
Matt’s first reaction was to get his weapon.
As he sprinted across the playground, the fire alarm rang from the building. Why would the perps lure the fire department to the scene? That made no sense whatsoever.
He approached the truck and considered his next move. They would have surely taken Mrs. McFadden’s body away by now, removing the evidence.
But Matt knew there had been more than one woman in the building tonight. The lovely Jenna North had been at the center working late, as she often did.
The building was so peaceful when she was there, one of the reasons he liked the night shift.
Until tonight.
Matt climbed into the front seat and took a calming breath. He needed to be smart about this, needed to protect his cover and Miss North at the same time.
Something caught his eye across the lot—Jenna North carrying a child and a car seat. Hang on—he knew she wasn’t married and didn’t have kids.
Then Matt saw them—the two perps heading straight for her on the other side of the building.
The woman was going to get herself killed.
Matt shoved his truck into gear and drove slowly toward the building where the innocent Miss North was about to walk straight into trouble.
He couldn’t let that happen, no matter the risk.
As Jenna approached the corner of the building, Matt sped up. All it would take was an effective block. Yes, he’d innocently pull up between her and the men and play out his role of night janitor by warning them to leave the premises due to the fire alarm.
He stopped the truck, got out and motioned for Jenna to get down.
