“Fucking hell.” I hang up the phone to Savannah with even more panic than before. “That was nuts.”

“Who was it?” Pippa eyes me curiously. “You look all flushed in the face. Are you stressed out?”

She sits across from me at the table which has become our usual. Every time we meet up, that has been a lot recently while we try to work out who Hank Fry is, we come here and sit at this exact table.

“You won’t believe this.” I shake my head hardly believing it myself. “It was Savannah, asking me to get her out. She said that they aren’t helping her there because Bryan is controlling them and she’s on a lot of meds.”

“Oh God.” Pippa’s head rolls into her hands. “I knew this was a mistake. I just wanted to do the right thing for my friend. Now she’s stuck in hell, and she isn’t struggling with mental health either. Well, I suppose she might have depression and anxiety, but she isn’t wrong about what happened with Peter.”

“So, what do you think we should do?” I give her an expectant look. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know how, but I think we should go and get her. It mustn’t be doing her any good.”

“Okay.” I nod, agreeing with her. “We need to help her escape. She might know this Hank too.”

“Oh yeah. Good point.” Pippa’s face lights up then falls again. “Oh, but how will we do it?”

I tap my fingers on the table thoughtfully. There has to be a way. “I know we aren’t family, but couldn’t we just sign her out? Take responsibility for her? Or does it have to be Bryan who gets her out?”

“I don’t know.” Pippa shrugs helplessly. “I don’t know anything about it really.”

“No, me neither.” I bang my fingers harder. “Maybe I know someone who does.”

“You do?” She narrows her eyes at me. “Why would you know someone who does?”

“I have this vague memory of Tommy, the guy I live with in barracks, telling me about his mom once struggling with something similar. Or maybe it was his grandmother, he doesn’t talk much so it’s hard to wade through what he’s actually saying sometimes. Anyway, I don’t think it’ll hurt to call him, do you?”

“No, God, by this point I would even fucking ring Bryan…” She shakes her head. “Although maybe not, because if he is in on this then I just helped him out massively by suggesting that he take Savannah to where she is. He’s probably so happy that she’s locked away in a place where she’s drugged up to her eyeballs and everyone has the confirmation that everything he’s saying is the truth. She really is mental, oh, poor him!”

Urgh, I can’t think about that asshole Bryan without temper burning brightly. I fear for the day I actually see him and I end up wrapping my hands around his stupid throat to choke the life out of him. I know I want to!

“Right.” I shake my head, getting rid of any unhelpful murderous thoughts. “I’ll call Tommy now.” I press the cell phone to my ear and listen to the ringing sound. I’m so out of whack with the schedule that I don’t even know where he’ll be right now but I’m too desperate to wait. I need him right now.

“Hey, Jayden. Long time no speak. How have you been?”

Okay, he sounds all happy and casual so I’ll take that as a good sign. “Yeah, good, buddy. But I need your help. Do you have a moment to talk? I don’t want to interrupt anything…”

“Is this to do with that woman? Because I don’t know if I want to get in the middle of anything…”

“It’s bad, Tommy, you know I wouldn’t call you up for help if I didn’t need it. It’s really bad. I can’t give you all the details over the phone but I can let you know that Savannah is telling the truth.”

“About the boy?” he gasps, shocked. “Are you serious? He’s still alive?”

“It’s looking that way, but right now Savannah is in an institution and I need to get her out.” I shift uncomfortably in my chair. “I know this is a bit of a rough subject, but can you help me?”

“Dude, I will do whatever I can but you’re going to have to tell me more. Face to face.”

“Face to face?” I squeeze my eyes shut in despair. “But I can’t come back right now.”

“No, I know, I’m not asking you to. I’m going to come to you. You need me, I’ll be there.”

“Oh really?” Relief floods my chest. Things are always easier with Tommy around, He has this way of making things better. I already feel a hundred percent more positive just knowing that he might come. “You will?”

“You just sit tight. I will be there as soon as I can, okay? Just text me the address of where you’re staying. And you know me, I’ll find a way to make this all happen. That’s just what I do.”

“Tommy, I cannot thank you enough. You are an absolute legend!”

I hang up the phone and smile at Pippa. She gives me a look like she isn’t too convinced right now, but she will be. Soon she’ll see that Tommy is even more of a life saver than me.

“We’re going to be okay,” I tell her with confidence. “Tommy will sort this, I promise you.”

“You think?” She knots her eyebrows together. “God, I hope you’re right. We need all the help that we can get right now. I need to rectify the mistake that I didn’t mean to make.”

“We’ve all made mistakes when it comes to this, Pippa, I almost walked away. We can’t change what’s happened, we can only make it right from here on out. Together, we’ll solve this, honestly.”

Anxiety bubbles through me as I sit in the driver’s seat of the car as if I’m a get away driver. This feels all wrong, I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but Tommy has told me to trust him and that’s what I’ll do.

“What do you think is happening in there?” Pippa leans across from her seat in the back of the car and whispers to me. “Do you think Tommy is going to do it? Was he very confident that he could just get her out, is that right?”

“I know, but in all honesty, whenever he tells me that he’s going to do something, he does.”

I try to fill Pippa with confidence, and I am being truthful with what I say but it hasn’t ever involved someone’s life before. Certainly not the life of the woman I’ve loved for a decade.

“He said he knows this world anyway, so we just have to trust that it’ll work.”

“Okay.” Pippa pauses thoughtfully. “Let’s just hope that he comes out with her then. And where will we go after that? Because Bryan came to my place last to me and I’m sure he will again. Once he realizes that Savannah is missing, he’ll be gunning for me, I just know it. I don’t want to be alone when he does.”

I turn in my seat to look at her. “I will get you a motel room, if you want one? Tommy is staying in the motel too for a while so we all can, just while we figure things out. It’s out of town and won’t be booked in your name so he shouldn’t be able to find you. Me and Tommy will look after you as well.”

“Do you think maybe one of you could come back to my place first to get some stuff?”

“Of course! We all need to look out for each other in all of this… oh my God, look!”

I point towards the entrance to the building where Tommy is half carrying Savannah out. She blinks in the sunlight and shields her eyes with her hand. She looks pale and sickly, but also happy to be out.

“Oh my God.” Pippa sounds as impressed as I feel. “He’s done it. He’s actually done it.”

“I told you, didn’t I? Tommy is a legend when it comes to things like this.”

I turn the key and bring the car to life, my heart now hammering against my chest. Nerves dart through my body. At least she’s out, but now this could mean we’re in real trouble. I’m freaked out by Bryan, he seems like a loose fucking cannon and I don’t know what he’ll do next. The more I learn about him, the worse he becomes.

“Right, come on,” I mutter to Pippa so she’ll sit down and strap herself in. “Let’s get out of here.”

Tommy helps Savannah into the car and I turn to see her giving me a longing look. I turn my lips up into a smile which I hope reassures her just a little bit. I know it can’t be much after everything she’s been through but I hope it helps just a little bit. She leans into her friend, getting comfort from Pippa too.

“Come on then, let’s get a move on,” Tommy declares once he slips into the passenger’s seat. “We need to get to the motel, I would suggest sooner rather than later.”

I pull the car into drive and move out of the car park. Leaving the sleek, posh looking building behind I feel like I can breathe out a sigh of relief because Savannah is with us. I wasn’t sure she would be.

“I’m not even going to ask you how you did that, I’m just glad that you did. Thanks, Tommy.”

He leans back in his seat and smiles. “I think you need me in all of this after everything you’ve told me. I’m going to spare out a bit of my time to help you as much as I can.”

“That would be awesome. Thank you, Tommy. The more people working on this, the better.”

I glance in the rearview mirror and see Savannah with her eyes closed as she leans on Pippa. Pippa gives me a relieved smile as she embraces her friend. I can see that we’re finally on the way up. I think at this point we all need some healing and this could be the start of it.

But I want to spend some time with Savannah alone before we move forward.

“Tommy, I know that I’ve already asked a lot of you, but is there one more thing you can do for me?” He gives me a side eyed unimpressed look. “Well, it’s not really for me, it’s for Pippa. Will you pop to her house with her to grab some stuff? She wants to stay at the motel with us so Bryan can’t get at her.”

“Oh, of course. We don’t want that psycho near any of us if we can help it.”

“Thank you, Tommy,” Pippa pipes up. “I appreciate it a lot. I just need to get some stuff for work.”

“Oh yeah?” He turns right around in his chair. “And what is it you do?”

“I’m a journalist. I work for the local news station.”

“Oh wow, that sounds really interesting. You must get to cover lots of great stories.”

“Probably not as interesting as the army, but yeah, I do like it a lot…”

I focus on the road while they talk, trying to get to the destination as quickly as I can. I’m excited now, pleased that I can hold Savannah in my arms. And I’m even more grateful that I didn’t leave. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I left Savannah alone in all this hell. It’s all worked out for the best actually.

Let’s just hope things keep on looking up. We all need that.