Page 91 of Hot for Hostage

At the wall, I almost collapsed in relief—and from physical exertion—when I saw the top of a ladder peeking up from theother side before Ryan’s full head of blond hair popped into sight.

“Ryan!” I waved, trying to stay quiet as I herded Bear over. “Thank you so much for coming.”

He smiled and heaved himself up to straddle the wall. “We’ll always have your back, Sadie. Now, hurry up!”

“I am hurrying.” Couldn’t he hear me wheezing? “You have no idea how much cardio it took to even get this far. I’m not built for this.”

Ryan wasted no time showing why he was the most valued dog food carrier at the shelter. His bulging arms lifted the ladder over the wall in one smooth move that made my mouth drop open, before he let it drop to lean against our side.

He waved me up. “Get your butt up here.”

“Wait. Take Walter first!” I insisted before tossing the plant up to Ryan.

But my aim had never been great, and the pot smashed into the stone wall with a scarycrackbefore Walter dropped back to the ground in a sad freefall.

I winced and crouched to pick him up. “Sorry, buddy.”

He’d lost a few droopy brown leaves during his ill-fated journey, but he didn’t look too worse for wear. Well… aside from the large crack in his pot.

“Here,” Ryan called down, waving me to the ladder and bending lower himself. “Carry it up to me.”

After darting up the first few rungs, I handed Walter over to Ryan just as a sharp whistle filled the air, followed by an explosion in the sky. I jerked at the loudboom—almost falling off the ladder—and Bear barked below us before Ryan shushed him.

I gaped up at a plume of white smoke exploding in the sky. Another whistle andbangquickly followed, with flashes of red,and more smoke appeared in front of Davian’s compound. But there was no way she would…

My mouth opened and closed. “Did Gladys really just?—?”

“Yep,” Ryan said flatly. Not one to get distracted, he balanced Walter on the wall and beckoned me up. “Keep moving. We still need to swing around and pick her up.”

I stared blankly at him.Fireworkswere Gladys’s idea of a distraction?

I prayed Davian’s men didn’t find her.

Anotherboomsounded, and I scampered up the rest of the rungs.

We needed to get out of herenow.

When I reached the top of the ladder, Ryan froze as he got a good look at me. “What’s that on your face?”

Alarmed, I clapped my hand to my cheek—finding a glob of hardened icing from earlier. “Oh. It’s just icing. I was baking.”

His brows knit. “Reed lets his captivesbake?”

I wiped at my cheek, but the icing was caked on. Only a loose chunk flaked free. “I was more of a guest than a captive.”

Sort of.

A sharp bark was Bear’s way of letting us know we were dawdling, and I looked down to where he stood at the bottom of the ladder. His head cocked to the side—with that dang shoe at his feet—and I gasped.

“Oh my gosh. I don’t know how to get Bear over the wall,” I said, starting to freak out. “He can’t climb a ladder!”

Ryan’s hand rested on my shoulder. “I’ll get him, but let’s get you to the ground first. Think you can hop down from here?”

I hoisted myself up onto the wall beside him and glanced down at the grass outside Davian’s compound. The Dog-Mobile idled a couple yards away—too far to jump onto the roof. But I’d dropped from higher up twice in the last two days, so I nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Just remember to roll when you hit the ground to lessen the impact.”

…Roll?I scrunched my nose. Was he saying there were secret tricks to falling without hurting oneself?

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