They took us to one of those roadside motels that I’d fallen in love with during the trip to Memphis. It was a double, the beds covered with thin bedspreads that wouldn’t keep a polar bear warm.

They took turns watching us through the night, the others disappearing from sight. I assumed they had another room and were taking shifts sleeping. The sun had long since come up, but all the men were now gone. I lay on my back, my hands long since numb. Alli was on her side, asleep by some miracle.

I ran it through my mind over and over again, trying to figure out how I was going to get us out of this. They’d want me to go to the jail. I was hoping that Jack would know that, and that he would be waiting for us there. But if they didn’t bring Alli along…I couldn’t risk Jack and the others making themselves known without securing Alli first.

This wasn’t going to end well. But I had to make sure it ended well enough for Alli and me.

It was a little before dusk, twenty-four hours since I first spotted the van, when Danny walked into the room.

“We’re going.”

“What’s the plan?”

He tilted his head, flashing that gun like it meant something to me. “What do you care? As long as it goes well for her,” he said, gesturing with the gun toward Alli.

“I might need to know what I’m supposed to do. You really think I can show up at a jail like this and expect people to take me seriously?”

A little concern came into his eyes as he looked me over, his eyes lingering on the still blood-crusted wounds on my head.

“We have clothes for you.”

“Clothes aren’t going to cover these wounds.” I gestured with my shoulders. “And my hands. If they’re not completely dead now, they will be soon.”

He hesitated again.

“Take him in the other room,” he demanded, motioning to one of his guys.

My arm was grabbed, and I was lifted off the bed I’d been sharing with Alli. I looked back at her, saw her take a quick peek before feigning sleep again. Smart girl.

“You hurt her, and I’m not doing anything for you.”

“You screw this up, and we’ll put her in the trash where she belongs.”

They dragged me out of the room and into a room next door, another double that looked exactly like the other. My hands were freed from the metal cuffs that had secured them for so long, the sudden rush of blood into my fingers one of the most painful things I’d ever felt in all my life. I rubbed them together, trying to expedite the process. Danny pushed my shoulder, forcing me into the bathroom.

“Take a shower.”

I glanced at him. “You going to watch? You enjoy that sort of thing?”

“I do what I have to.”

He looked away as I undressed, but then his eyes were on me as I waited for the water to warm in the narrow shower stall. Pain rushed through me, increasing the headache that had been throbbing behind my eyes all night and day to an almost unbearable pulsing. I could feel a wound where he’d hit me with the gun, felt a knot where I’d hit the concrete floor. There was another gash just above the hairline on the left side of my head that must have come from the blow to the steering wheel. Blood flowed from my hair, both new and old, coloring the water as it dripped over my body.

There were bruises on my chest, my arms, too. We couldn’t have been going faster than thirty when we hit the van, but it was fast enough to force my body forward. I’d hit the steering wheel in more than one place. Alli, though, she must have hit the dash. I worried about her, worried that her head wound was indicative of something worse that needed attention. She’d been favoring an ankle, too, each time they dragged her around.

This needed to end. We needed to be free of these insane fanatics.

I washed quickly, using the soap provided by the motel. When I was done, I peeked my head out of the shower curtain.

“Now what?”

Danny gestured to a stack of clothing on the toilet lid. “Put them on.”

I considered dressing behind the curtain, but I wanted to see how he reacted to the full view. I ripped it open and began to dry off. He turned away for a second, but then boldly turned toward me, his eyes moving slowly over the length of me like a lover.

“They frown on that sort of thing in your church, you know.”

His face darkened. “I’m just making sure you don’t try to escape.”

“While you have Alli in the next room? I’ll be as docile as a kitten as long as you have her.”

“That’s what Briggs told us.”

“Briggs? That your new leader?”

His eyes jumped to my face. “Who told you that?”

“You just did.”

He frowned slightly, then sighed. “You’re going to get to know him very soon anyway. He’s about to rain fury down on Jack Stone and all of you associated with him.”

“Do you really believe in this stuff? In the whole corruption of morality and all that?”

“Don’t you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I went to church when I was a kid because it was the one day a week my father was sober and didn’t beat the shit out of me for perceived transgressions. But I stopped when I was out from under his thumb.”

“You should have stuck with it. Maybe you would have been more understanding of what was happening under Donally, and then you wouldn’t be in this position.”

“You think I would have turned a blind eye to corruption just because the church told me he was doing a righteous thing?”

“He was protecting the morality of his fellow church members.”

“He was covering up crimes.”

“It’s a matter of perception.”

I shook my head. “It’s right and wrong, Danny. He was wrong. Doesn’t the Bible teach that we should love our neighbors even when their beliefs are not the same as ours?”

“The Bible also says that we must live a pious life no matter the cost.”

“I don’t think it meant it was okay to go out and kill your neighbors because they were doing something you didn’t agree with.”

“Cravits’s death was an accident. A regrettable accident.”

“Is that how you’ll explain my death, too?”

His face colored.

I grabbed the jeans he’d bought for me, pulling them on with a touch of a struggle. They were a size too small, but I managed to get them on. The shirt was a size too big, so I supposed it all equaled out.

“You have children?”

His head came up. “I haven’t found the right woman to marry just yet.”

“Willis is your friend.”

“He is.”

“He’s married. Has a boy.”

“I know.”

“You think he thought about them before he got involved with the Guardians?”

“He’s doing it for them.”

I nodded slowly. “You think he was thinking of them when he told Jack everything he wanted to know?”

His face colored again. “John wouldn’t say anything to the enemy!”

“Maybe. Maybe not. You sure waited a while to come rescue him.”

“I was here alone with him. When he didn’t come back, I had to wait for backup.”

“That was a mistake. I mean, he’s in lockup now.”

“It was Briggs’s decision.”

I could see the misgivings on his face, the anger and frustration in his eyes. He hadn’t wanted to wait. He knew what a mistake it was. That was both a good and bad thing for me. It was good because it showed that he was a good soldier, that he wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t sanctioned by the boss. But it was bad because it showed that he would follow orders no matter what. If this Briggs decided I was to die before they had Willis, I was dead.

Let’s hope he didn’t make that choice just yet.

“Let’s go.”

Danny grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room, shoving me into the back of the van. Alli was there, no worse for the wear. I scooted close to her. She laid her head on my shoulder, a sigh slipping from her lips.

“Can’t you untie her hands?”

The two guys in the back with us looked at each other, clearly not sure what to do. I gestured at her arms.

“They’re turning purple! She’s going to lose her hands if you don’t at least loosen the cuffs!”

It was an exaggeration, but it got them moving. The younger one, a little blond boy wearing a leather jacket that cost more than my truck had been worth, came forward and unlocked her cuffs. Alli sat up, rubbing at her wrists the same way I had, the same look of pain on her face. But he didn’t allow her to remain uncuffed, he simply moved her arms to the front of her body and locked them looser.

At least she had circulation going now.

I pulled her into my arms and cradled her against my chest.

“You’re going to be okay. Trust me.”

She looked up at me. “What about you?”

I nodded, forcing a smile. “It’s going to be fine.”

But she saw something in my face, and her eyes darkened with both fear and anger. I was glad to see the anger, glad to see there was still something of my fierce woman in there.

“You better be the one to come set me free, Crispin Sullivan, or I’ll never forgive you.”

I kissed her forehead. “You’re going to be okay.”

My words did nothing to satisfy her, but she settled against my chest and let me hold her. It was the best feeling in the world.