Free Apprehended (Amber Alert Series Book 3) by Sara Schoen Page A

and Garrett were stuck together, you were trying to hide her from Steve and it just happened to work out. Now I'm on the other side of the case. I'm the one looking for these girls and the man that took them. It's a different game when you're on this side. There's just so much on your shoulders, the stress, the parents crying about their children, and the body," I shivered absentmindedly. "We could have worked, maybe, under different circumstances, but being on this side of the case, it's more than I could handle."
    "Maybe when the case is over he will come find you and give you a big romantic gesture and say he was so dumb to let you go, like in those Lifetime movies," Audrey suggested with a smile, imaging the romantic gesture possibilities. I almost hated to burst her happy bubble, almost.
    "Something tells me Callum isn't a big romantic gesture kind of guy," I said, watching her face fall before she sighed.
    "I'm sorry it didn't work out."
    "It's not your fault, it's mine really. You were right, I was only thinking of myself. In the long run it wasn't going to work to think only of myself. I had to start thinking as a team, but I couldn't do it. I messed up, me alone and now I pay the price for it. Hopefully it just won't go on my record or something that I'm hard to work with. Then it would be hard getting another case with a team."
    "Hopefully," Audrey agreed before turning the topic back to us. We talked for hours, until there was a knock on the door and Jason and Kate stepped in to take over for me.
    I told Audrey and Damien goodbye, refusing to hug them and get myself covered in the dessert that covered their clothes. There was a promise about visiting more often than every two years, and even Jason and Kate wished me good luck for when I got back to Virginia. Jason had brought up something about another case I was supposedly working on. I tried to hide my confusion realizing that Callum must have said that I was needed in a different case instead of telling them I had been overly disrespectful to him and brought up a painful past.
    It was for the best for me that he did that, he could have ruined me if he had told them the truth. It was just awful that I had to leave when I felt there was so much I could help with and I was learning so much. For once I had the chance to be useful, and the people here didn't treat me like glass. I had messed it up before I got the chance to make a difference, but it was no one's fault but mine.
    The air had chilled since I had arrived, dropping about fifteen or so degrees. I could see my breath in the cold night air. The lights were still on, the cop car was still parked in its spot and the few people that were out were walking in pairs. There was a safety in numbers, at least according to safety videos I had watched in public school. Little did they know that those videos just scared kids and teens instead of educating them. If they considered teaching stranger danger, they should have realized that very few people that attack others don't know them. Most are people we know, and would never consider dangerous until it's too late.
    I slipped into the car, and slammed the door behind me. There was a knot in the pit of my stomach, I would have to tell my dad I was coming home and why. He would hear about it through the grape vine, whether the story Callum had told his team or the one I was going to tell him, one way or another he would hear it. I flipped open the old cell phone I had and started to type in my father's number, but I never got to make the call.
    The door flung open, and before I could react I was dragged from the car. I thrashed, screamed, and called out for help, but nothing came. I tried to push off the car and knock him over so I could escape, but he held on too tightly. We struggled until I landed my elbow into his stomach, he let go for just enough time for me to escape.
    My feet slapped along the pavement; I could hear him chasing me. There was nowhere for me to go,