Not If I Save You First Quotes

“I never leave the house with just one knife. Seriously. Do I look like a one-knife kind of girl?”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Someone had even told him once that if his father hadn't been president, Logan might have been a good candidate for the Blackthorne Institute (whatever that was - it didn't even have a website), so it felt weird not knowing where he was or where he was going.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“But Logan had to laugh when he realized that he was the maiden in this scenario. And he didn't care one bit.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words from stupid Russian kidnappers can never hurt me.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Maddie shrugged at that. She actually looked like she might start chanting, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words from stupid Russian kidnappers can never hurt me.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“What about you?" he asked. "Are you going to kill me?"
Maddie had to think about the answer.
"Why would I do that when I just have to get out of the way and let Alaska do it for me?”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Mad Dog."
Logan cupped her cheeks with his big, warm hands, made her look up into his eyes.
"You're my girl," he said, and then he kissed her, right there in front of their school and his Secret Service detail - right in front of the world. So she kissed him back again.
And again.
And again.
Until he pulled back and looked into her eyes. "If anything goes wrong in there, I'll save you."
She took his hand. "Not if I save you first.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Maddie -" Logan started, but Maddie was already turning around.
Shouting, "Mr. Kidnapper Man?"
She could practically hear Stefan's groan, but he still asked "What?"
"I need to go," she told him.
His gruff laugh cut through the air. "You're not going anywhere."
"No." Maddie crossed her legs. She bobbed up and down in the age-old way of two-year-olds everywhere. "I mean I need to go go."
Maddie never had the chance to learn Russian, but she knew a curse word when she heard one, no matter the language.
Loosely translated, it meant girls are so annoying.
On this, at least, he and Logan seemed to have found common ground.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Did you know it's possible to crawl all the way from Logan's dad's office to the press room using the air-ducts?"
"No." Charlie shook his head. "It's not."
"Sure it is," Maddie told him. "Logan bet me five dollars that I couldn't do it, so I did it, and then he gave me five ones instead of one five because Lincoln is his favorite."
"You can reach the Oval Office via the air ducts?" Charlie asked, spinning to look at her.
"Yes. But I ruined my favorite pink leggings."
"Then you should definitely tell your dad that."
"He doesn't care about my leggings," Maddie said, and Charlie shook his head.
"Not about that. About ... Never mind, Mad. I'll tell him.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“It turned out, when pretty tall, pretty handsome boys needed to shave they became less "pretty" and more...handsome.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“But there are things you tell yourself. And there are things you know. And Maddie knew that the one person she could depend on was herself. But that's okay, she thought. I'm usually enough.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Dear Logan,
I'm sorry that the stupid Russians shot you.
Mainly because I really want to shoot you, and I hate that they beat me to it.
Maddie”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“So goodbye from Alaska, where I am the most important person for twenty miles in any direction.
(I'm the only person for twenty miles in any direction.)
Maddie”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Dear Logan,
I'm very sorry to hear that you are in a coma.
Or maybe you have amnesia.
Or you lost the use of your writing hand and are learning to write with your other hand, which we both know would be saying something since even with your good hand your penmanship is atrocious.
Or, wait, maybe the White House is out of paper.
Oh my gosh! Is the White House out of paper?! You'd think that would be in the newspapers that my dad brings, but I could see where it might be a national security risk. No wonder the press is keeping it hush-hush.
Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me.
Who am I going to tell?
Maddie”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Dear Logan,
You know how my dad said he was going to leave the Secret Service because it was dangerous and he didn't want to risk getting killed and leaving me alone in the world and all that?
Well, he brought me to a place where he leaves me alone all the time and where pretty much even the AIR can kill you.
Seriously.
Things that can kill you in Alaska:
- animals
- water
- snow
- ice
- falling trees
- more animals
- bacteria
- the common cold
- hunger
- cliffs
- rocks
- poorly treated burns, cuts and scrapes
- boredom
I may definitely die of boredom.
Maddie”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“I'll catch something to cook in the morning. I don't think we're far from the river. There will be fish."
"You can do that?" Logan eyed her. Maddie eyed him back, a little offended.
"I caught a Russian killer."
Logan ate another berry. "Point taken.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“But Maddie walked to the side of the bridge, and then he saw a huge knife buried in the post, waiting.
"Stefan took your knife," he blurted like an idiot.
Maddie looked like she'd never been more insulted in her life. "I never leave the house with just one knife. Seriously. Do I look like a one-knife kind of girl?" She pulled it from the post and Logan could see the fire glistening off a long blade that could have easily sliced through those old ropes.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“So just out of curiosity, what do you think I'm worth?" he asked when he just couldn't help himself. "I mean, it isn't often a person's put on the open market. What is the going rate for presidents' sons these days? Is it more or less than what you guys were going to get for my mother? Accounting for inflation, of course.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“And if you see a bear -"
"It's more afraid of me than I am of it," Logan filled in, but Maddie stopped short.
"No." She shook her head and looked at him like he might be a moron, which he probably was, "It's not afraid of you. It's a bear! So back away slowly and hope it doesn't want to kill you. Because it can without breaking a sweat."
Logan studied her face, then nodded slowly. "Killer bears. Check.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Are we supposed to be in here?"
Logan shrugged. "Probably not. But if they really wanted to keep us out, they shouldn't have let me see them punch in the code that one time."
Maddie thought he made a very excellent point. Everyone knew that Logan was really good at remembering things. All the things. Like phone numbers and access numbers and where the White House stored its chocolate.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Maddie dropped into a curtsy. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Logan's dad."
"And you, Manchester's daughter." The president bowed at the waist. "You are a far lovelier sight than your father, I can assure you."
"Thank you. My dress wasn't wrinkled when I put it on, you should know. The wrinkles are entirely Charlie's fault."
"I'll have a word with Charlie," the president said as Maddie's dad tried to pull her into a hug.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Madeleine Rose Manchester had absolutely no intention of invading the White House. But she knew seven different ways she could do it if she'd wanted to.
After all, Logan had lived there less than a year, and already he and Maddie had found four tunnels, two pseudo-secret passageways, and a cabinet near the kitchen that smelled faintly of cheese and only partially blocked an old service elevator that really wasn't as boarded up as everybody thought.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Dear Logan,

Someday I'm going to write a book: How to Not Die in Alaska -- A Girl's Guide to Fashionable Survival.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“She needed a minute. He needed a minute. Those were the lies he told himself, but the truth was they both needed the past six years back. Only six years would do.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“So what's your story?" Maddie didn't try to hide the singsong lilt of her voice as she spoke. She didn't want to. She'd learned at a very young age that nothing annoyed manly men more than girly girls, and if Maddie had one talent, it was truly exceptional girliness.
"Shut up and be quiet," Stefan snapped.
"That's just a tad redundant, FYI."
"Shut up!" he hissed near her ear.
Maddie couldn't help but shift her weight from foot to foot, almost pacing in place. She was careful of the ice and the snow, though. No use falling to the ground and having Stefan accidentally pull the trigger.
"You really do give a lot of orders," she told him.
He tightened his grip. "I'm the one with the gun."
"Well, yeah. Sure. Technically. But I'm the one with the winning personality, and that should count for something."
"You should be scared," he said in the same tone a movie villain might use to say You should be dead when the hero materializes five years later, hungry for vengeance.
Stefan was confused, and Maddie couldn't blame him.
So she turned back and shrugged. "Maybe. But I don't think you're a bad guy."
He let her go and spun her around, grabbing Logan's unzipped coat and pulling her closer.
"I. Have. The. Gun," he reminded her.
Maddie smiled and pulled away. "And I have Taylor Swift's signature scent. Doesn't make me a pop star. It just makes me smell like Taylor Swift, which isn't as great as it sounds because, to a bear, Taylor Swift smells delicious.
Stefan stuttered for a moment, then fell silent.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Your boyfriend should not have left you here."
"He's not my boyfriend. I can tell because I don't have his name drawn inside a heart on a single notebook. I swear. And who says he left me? Maybe I left him? Maybe we found someplace safe and I stashed him there."
"I doubt that," Stefan said.
"I'd totally leave him, you know. Boys are annoying."
"True. But there is no safe place. And I am no fool. I knew you would come for the phone. I have been watching this spot since daybreak. I saw him go over the edge.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Keep an eye out for caves," she told Logan. "And sometimes you can crawl into the big trees, nest in around the roots. But we have to be careful."
"Because of bears?" Logan asked.
"And wolves," she said. "Wolves like places like that."
"Oh. There are wolves now. Yay," Logan said.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“She definitely wasn't going to think about how hot Logan looked because:
(A) It was Logan!
and
(B) She'd heard stories about girls who met cute boys and then lost their heads, and being that they were currently being held by a knife-wielding, ticked-off Russian, Maddie really didn't want to find out how literal that saying might be.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Logan had thought he couldn't get any wetter or any colder, but he'd been wrong. So very, very wrong. Like the kind of wrong he was when he had bet Maddie that he could eat all the ice cream in the White House deep freeze and then found out they were preparing for a state dinner and had a hundred gallons.
He made it through half of one huge tub before she took pity on him and made him stop.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First

“Logan watched her speak. Her voice was the same, but her mouth was different. Why had Logan never noticed her mouth before? Her bottom lip was fuller, but the top lip was shaped like a little bow, and he couldn't decide which lip he liked more. He knew he was going to have to do a lot more looking in order to choose. And it suddenly felt imperative that Logan choose very, very well.”
― Ally Carter, Not If I Save You First