Chapter 18-The Sacrifice

Jeremiah sat in the car on the way home shaking slightly and staring at his hands. How did Sarah's voice come out of his mouth like that? Why doesn't Sarah just leave them along before she tears their family apart? Why couldn't things just remain the way they were before Sarah found him again? These questions whirled around his head among with some others. He rubbed his temples when he felt dull throbbing pain. That was the third time that day, third day that week. He decided not to say anything about it because he didn't want to alarm his brothers.

"Jer, aren't you comin'?" Zack asked.

Jeremiah looked up and noticed that they were in front of the Tipton. He slid out of the car and flowed them inside, helping himself to a piece of candy that was in a bowl on the table, with the very expensive vase that Zack always seemed to have a run in with, and got into the elevator before the doors closed. He seemed a little bit happier than usual and Cody raised his eyebrow to Zack who just shrugged. They entered the suite with the smell of freshly baked bread and other goods. Glancing at the table their eyes lit up as if it were Christmas and their mouths dropped open in awe.

"Mom? What's all of this stuff for?" Cody asked as he sat down.

"Yeah, I thought you couldn't cook," Zack said in amazement as he and Jeremiah followed his lead and also sat down.

But their response wasn't from their mother. It was from a man. A scary man. He had a knife tattoo that was piercing through a heart and blood was dripping down his arm on his left arm. He had a scar that ran along his chin and dark cold eyes. Jeremiah's eyes widened as he fell out of his chair and backed away. He had a malicious grin on his face and his dark eyes were locked on Jeremiah. Cody and Zack rushed to his side and blocked him from the man's view.

"Who are you? What do you want? Where's our mom?" Zack demanded.

"I know who he is," Jeremiah whispered as he clutched Zack's shirt. "That's Butch, Sarah's…guy. He was the one who kidnapped me. Keep him away from me, please!"

Butch just laughed an evil laugh as he reached behind himself and pulled out a gun. He aimed it in between the space of Zack's and Cody's heads. He shot it and a hole appeared in the wall behind them as the twins flinched visibly.

"You have two choices. You either give me the boy and get your mom back or you keep the boy and your mother gets hurt. Take your pick," Butch said as he spun the pistol around on his finger.

"But if you get Jeremiah, you'll kill him. If you don't, you'll kill our mom," Cody whispered harshly,

"Exactly. You choose who you want to save," Butch said as he leaned against the table. "Take your time; I can hurt one of them either way."

Jeremiah pulled Zack and Cody back by their arms until they entered their room. He closed the door and locked it as he slid down the wall. He closed his eye ad held his head. Once he opened them and lifted his head everything was dark. He tried to move his arms but he found that he was bound to a chair. A gag was in his mouth and his legs were also tied together. In front of him was Sarah. She had an evil grin on her face and she held something in her hand. She brought her hand down and suddenly he felt pain fleeting across his face, then everything was dark once more…

"Jeremiah, wake up," Cody whispered as he shook his brother. Jeremiah raised his head and shook it slightly as pain ebbed away.

"What happened?" He asked.

"You just suddenly fell over. We thought you fainted," Zack responded.

"Mom…she's been…mom-napped!"

"What!? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Sarah has her. I saw her. Sarah…hit mom. She whipped her. I saw it all through mom's eyes. We have to get to her. Check the window!"

Cody went over to the window and pulled back the curtains. It was barred shut. He banged his fist angrily against it as he racked hi brain. Tilting his head slightly he looked up as a grin crossed his face.

"Zack, let me get on your shoulders!" He suddenly called.

"Codes, this is no time for Chicken!" Zack said as he rolled his eyes.

"No, no, I know a way out of here. Through the vent. But I have to get on your shoulders to reach it."

Zack crouched down while Cody got onto his shoulders. Zack slowly stood up until Cody pressed his palms against the ceiling and started to pry the air vent off. With one final grunt and a hard tug the hinges popped off and the air vent swung down, only being held up by two screws. Zack dropped Cody and they held their hands out to Jeremiah to help him first. At the same time Butch pounded on the door.

"Jeremiah! Get out here now!"

Jeremiah got onto Zack's shoulders and they pushed in up and into the air vent. Zack got onto their bed and jumped a couple of times until Jeremiah grabbed his hand. Cody got underneath him and pushed him up as the door started to splinter a little under Butch's weight.

As Cody reached up to grab their hands the door got knocked down and everything was still for a couple of seconds. Then Butch let out an angry growl and charged into the room. He grabbed Cody around the waist as he grabbed his brother's hands ad it was soon a tug-of-war between them. Butch was stronger so he yanked Cody down and started to drag him out of the room, but Cody struggled. As Jeremiah and Zack yelled Butch drew out his gun and brought the butt of it down on Cody's head hard, knocking him unconscious. Cody's limp body was flung over his shoulder as Butch left the room in triumph, leaving the other two Martins petrified with fear…