It compelled her to push up, ignoring the pain in the leg she’d landed on, to stand. She glanced around, knowing the backyard was totally fenced with a block wall but Justice North lived on the left side. She just forgot which way that was for a few seconds as she limped along.

For good measure she sucked in air and screamed again just in case they hadn’t heard her the first few times. The lights beckoned to her over the wall, assuring her she was heading in the right direction.

“Fucking bitch,” someone cursed behind her a second before an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her off her feet.

She fought, trying to reach back and claw his face. Her fingers hit some kind of metal, as if he were wearing an apparatus on his forehead. His other hand slapped over her mouth and he squeezed her so hard around her middle it made her hiss in pain.

“Shut up or I’ll snap your neck. Stop fighting. I’ll take you alive or leave you dead.”

He twisted around hard. Her feet arched out from the force and she lost the ability to breathe. He was crushing her stomach and it hurt her injury as if she’d just been shot all over again. He crouched, slamming her into the yard.

“Where the f**k is it?”

She stared at the lights next door but couldn’t make a sound. A large form dropped next to them. “Right corner of the side yard. It’s hidden behind the air-conditioner unit.”

“Let’s get out of here. They are going to be all over this place.”

“I’m going to kill her,” the other guy promised. “That bitch dumped shit all over the floor and I think I busted my ass when I slipped. My foot is all f**ked up from going through part of that sink thing.”

“Whine later.”

He lifted up but kept bent forward somewhat, dragging her along as she struggled to breathe. His hand moved as he ran, just enough for her to drag in air through her nose. They rounded the house on the right side of the yard where it was darkest.

“Right over here,” the other one whispered. “It’s hidden under the fake grass they laid over the grate.”

What grate?

The guy holding her froze and hissed against her ear. “One sound and I leave your corpse.”

She believed him. Her eyes adjusted enough to watch as the other man bent and pulled back a section of the artificial grass near the air-conditioning unit. She saw concrete there and what appeared to be some kind of drainage grille. The man lifted it and set it aside.

“Take her down first and I’ll make sure I put it back. They won’t find it.”

Jeanie was worried they were right. She’d walked around the backyard once and never would have known it was there. The man holding her crouched again, forcing her to do the same as his heavy body folded against hers. He pinned her with his legs and released her middle. The hand left her face and she sucked in a good amount of air to fill her lungs. She didn’t get the chance to scream.

Something was painfully shoved into her mouth and her hair was pulled as he tied the gag with a vicious yank. Tears of pain blinded her as she blinked them back and then he was pushing her, forcing her to crawl toward the open hole.

Her hands hurt, reminding her that she’d scraped them. It was almost natural to try to protect her injured palms but then she remembered what True had said about her blood. She hoped they were injured enough to bleed but it was too dark to see. She slid them across the fake grass to make sure she left as much scent as possible, then on the concrete until the jerk behind her shoved hard against her lower back. She tumbled headfirst into the dark hole.

The fall was terrifying and she tensed, believing she’d slam into more concrete. All she could do was throw her arms up and try to protect her face and head. It came as a shock when she landed in cold water. Her head went under and she hit something hard a few feet down. Pain stunned her, rendering her immobile.

The man fisted her hair and she was yanked upward until air hit her face. An arm wrapped around her waist and lifted, digging into her middle. She couldn’t see anything. It was pitch black. She was soaking wet, coughing and choking on the gag and had water in her nose.

The guy holding her shook her hard and it stopped the fit of coughing. He moved in a way that told her he was about thigh-deep in water and her legs were in it up to her hips.

“Stay quiet,” he demanded, out of breath.

She tried to scream but the gag made it come out muffled and closer to a whimper. He freed a hand from her waist and grabbed her throat.

“I can still snap your neck.”

Something splashed behind them and the guy carrying her stopped walking.

In seconds someone gasped in air. “Fuck. We aren’t getting paid enough,” the other male whispered.

“Tell me,” the one holding her grumbled. “Did you cover up our escape route?”

“Yeah. They should have no clue how we got out of there.”

The one holding her trudged on through the high water. It was too dark to see anything and Jeanie could only feel terror and misery. She was soaking wet and almost everything hurt. She didn’t fight, just tried to keep breathing. The gag was so wet it kept threatening to choke her since she couldn’t even spit out the water.

They paused and she was lifted, her bare legs scraping more concrete. It got her out of the cold water though. The guy who’d taken her climbed up beside her, his body bumping hers and he grabbed her hair.

“Stand.”

She couldn’t see anything, unsure of how he could. She struggled to her feet and his arm wrapped around her to lift her off her feet again. He walked with her in front of him, their legs bumping with every step. He stopped and it sounded as if a metal hinge squeaked before he advanced. Seconds later it squeaked again, as if he closed a gate or door. It was so dark she couldn’t tell which it was.