"Get out of the car slowly, ma'am."

One of the men standing directly in front of the driver’s side lifted his gun and pointed it at her.

Her mind went into overdrive as several different scenarios ran through her mind. None of which came with the results she wanted—to get her and Sawyer safe.

His last warning to shoot and not ask questions wouldn't let her go. Not that she could simply do such a thing and simply ask questions later. She needed far more data to make such a drastic decision. On the other hand, with the man's weapon pointed directly at her through the windshield, she was certainly within her rights to shoot him.

Another man appeared at the driver's window. "I'll take that." He pointed the muzzle of his rifle at the gun she still had gripped in her hand.

She glanced side to side and looked in her rearview mirror. They had her surrounded. She had two choices. Either do what Sawyer said and start shooting, which likely would only get them both killed, or surrender her weapon to these assholes and follow them down an unknown path that could also get them killed anyway.

She quickly weighed the pros and cons, despite already knowing the choice she had to make. If there was a chance to save Sawyer from further harm, then she had to take it. A civilian life, even one with more secrets than the pope, had more priority than her own.

"What assurances do I have that you won't kill us both the minute I hand over my weapon?" She looked the man looming at her door in the eye as she spoke, making sure he got the message that she wouldn't back down easy if he forced her hand.

"We don't do assurances," he responded. "Although, we do try to avoid killing humans if possible."

She drew her eyebrows together at his strange statement. What the hell did that mean? He was pointing a gun right at them, but they didn't want to kill them?

"I find that hard to believe with your weapon directed at my head as we speak."

"Well, what happens next is entirely up to you, sweetheart."

Penelope ground her back teeth together and swallowed her nasty retort. She hated being called sweetheart, but especially in that condescending tone. It was worse than nails on a chalkboard to her.

However, she did need to buy her and Sawyer more time. Reluctantly, she flipped the safety on her weapon and turned it around butt first before handing it through the window.

"Wise choice," he said, stuffing her weapon into the waistband of his jeans.

"Hey, lookie here."

She jerked at the sound of a new voice on the other side of the window, swiveling to find yet another man standing next to her passenger window with his left hand pulling on Sawyer's hair to hold him upright.

"This one's all burned up." He turned Sawyer's head to show the scars. Looks like we got the wolf that got caught in the fire. Man, that must have hurt like a bitch when it was fresh. Guess his luck ran out after all."

Some of the connections in her brain fired at the mention of the Club Diablo incident. She narrowed her eyes. Were these the men responsible?

"Leave him alone," she warned in a low tone, liking this situation less and less.

"What do you care what happens to a bastard wolf? You're a Fed, not animal control."

Her body jerked again at these people's apparent knowledge of who she was. She'd yet to identify herself to them as law enforcement.

"What makes you think I'm a Fed?" she asked.

He smirked at her. "We aren't here to play games, lady—especially with a Fed. We're here for him and the rest of those animals infecting this island."

"Why do you keep—?"

"You made the right choice, lady,” the first man said, interrupting her.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Although, you might not have. The Federal Government tends to take offense when people hold their agents at gunpoint.”

“And how do they feel about their agents consorting with animals?”

She shook her head. Whatever bad blood there was between these yahoos and the residents of Devils Point had to be extreme. They kept referring to them as either animals or wolves. Relegating them in their minds to some sort of non-human status is probably what gave them some sort of false justification in their criminal behavior. She'd profiled enough of their kind in the past to know how dangerous that kind of thinking could be. A criminal with a cause could easily be the most volatile.

However, understanding the kind of sociopath mentality she dealt with at the moment did not make her feel any better about her situation. In fact, she was quickly regretting not taking Sawyer's advice to shoot first.

"Don't you think that's a bit of an extreme classification?" She had to dig deeper as well as keep them talking if she wanted to get something useful out of them while she bought time. Although time for what she wasn't sure. No one would even think to come looking for her for quite some time.

He stood there and stared for a moment before responding, as if weighing his thoughts. “No, actually, it’s pretty dead on accurate. And if you weren’t too busy playing suck face with an animal you might see it too.”

“But—”

“Enough talking. You clearly don't understand what we're dealing with.” He yanked open her door, grabbed her bicep and began pulling her from the car. “And you're wasting my time. Got no tolerance for wastefulness.”

“Hey...” She watched helplessly as Sawyer was also man handled by the asshole at his door, noting how much rougher he treated her witness.

“Where are you taking us?” she demanded.

“You talk too much and ask too many questions, even for a Fed, sweetheart. Enough is enough already.”

She jerked in his grasp, digging in her heels. “First, my name is not sweetheart and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that and second, questions are what I do, so it should be expected.”

“Yeah, well that’s your problem not mine. We're not here to answer your questions. In case you haven't figured it out by now, you are not in charge.”

More obvious to her was the fact that neither of them were in charge. “Who is in charge then? I'd like to talk to him. He might not agree with you kidnapping a federal officer.”

“Again, I ain't here to tell you shit, lady.”

She wasn't giving up that easy. “So what are you here for then?”

“That’s simple. To eradicate this island once and for all of these—,” he curled his lip in disgust. “These against the laws of nature creatures before something really bad happens. You got any idea what's going to happen to the world if we don't take care of them?”

She had the next question on the edge of her lips when a crushing weight slammed into her skull and everything around her went dark...