Her Dangerous Promise - Part 2: (Romantic Suspense Serial) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the sweater her kidnapper had kept. He was here. He was back.

Chapter Eight

    Mary barely stifled her urge to cry out but a strangled squeak of panic escaped her throat. If he suspected she’d broken her promise, he might have done more than just send her a button as a warning. Would he snatch a child to further prove his point? Somehow he’d managed to speak with Tricia and even reach out and hand her a button without anyone noticing. Mary’s guts clenched, knowing he could have easily grabbed Tricia if he wanted.
    The chilled air, smelling of Halloween and dead leaves, seemed to close in around Mary. Malice hid among the innocent sights and sounds of the playground, like a snake slithering in a barnyard full of unsuspecting baby chicks, ready to gobble one up.
    The playground spun around Mary as she twirled, scanning for a man who didn’t belong and listening for the panicked scream of a child over the playground noise. There was too much movement, too many people, too much noise. Too little protection for the crowd of children.
    Mary fumbled with the whistle she wore on a ribbon around her neck and blew it in three ear-piercing bursts, signaling the end of recess. The groans of the children, followed by the bustling commotion as they stampeded toward the entrance further camouflaged any sign of the kidnapper. The other teachers monitoring recess huddled up around Mary.
    “They still have five minutes. What’s up?” Sam asked as he consulted his watch.
    “We have a security problem,” Mary managed to explain through the chatter of her teeth. “Do a head count and get your kids inside. I’ll explain later.”
    Mary didn’t need to promise to explain later. The mere mention of a security risk had been enough to mobilize the teachers. The rash of school shootings over the years and the resulting in-service emergency training provided enough incentive to go into lock-down mode now and ask questions later. Not to mention the recent attack on Mary herself. The kind of dangers that people believed never touched a small town school like Stony Bend now lurked in every shadow. The other teachers assembled the children and marched them into their classrooms in under two minutes. After double-checking her headcount, Mary guided her students not back to their room but to the hallway outside the principal’s office.
    She rapped impatiently on the half closed door and poked her head in, “Juwanda, I need to speak with you right now.” Belatedly, she added, “Please.”
    Juwanda rushed to Mary, her heals clicking like castanets on the teal gray floor tiles. She grabbed her arm with concern. Her too thin fingers curling in the fabric of Mary’s sleeve. “Did something happen? Are you okay? You look so pale.”
    Mary knew her friend blamed herself for what happened the other day, partly because as the principal she would always feel responsible for her teachers but also because if she hadn’t run back in to get the schedule Mary wouldn’t have been alone in the parking lot. That was ridiculous, of course and when things settled back to normal, Mary would have to reassure her. That was, if things ever returned to normal. The prospect of that seemed slimmer every second.
    “I need to go,” Mary glanced at her class, their attentive faces all turned up as they listened to her every word. “I can’t go into it right now but don’t let anyone else out for gym or recess for the rest of today. I have to leave.” Lowering her voice, she added, “They are not safe if I stay.”
    “Mary…” Juwanda stiffened, fear deepening the lines on her face. “Should we contact the police?”
    “No!” Mary snapped. She couldn’t let her abductor see squad cars pulling up right after his warning. “No. Just keep the children inside.”
    Impulsively, Mary hugged Juwanda goodbye and felt her fragile, bird-like frame trembling. Mary couldn’t explain, not yet, for the safety of the children, she could never return. As long as this