Sixty-Four

VALERIA

These men had to be the ones who I had suspected had been following me around, the ones whose existence Vance had so quickly dismissed.

Everything went black for a second. I dug my fingers into my palms hard enough to draw blood so I could hold on to consciousness.

The baby. Think of the baby, I told myself.

The thought of my child in danger helped me focus. If I didn't have my wits around me, these men would hurt me and definitely my child.

"Good girl," said a cold, hard voice with a trace of amusement, from behind me. "You're smart. I can see that. Remain smart and don't move until I tell you to."

"Until we tell you to," corrected another voice. This one was completely without humour.

As if to underline the point, I felt the muzzle of the gun dig harder into my back, hard enough to leave a bruise. The thought of dying here, just when Vance was not so far away made me so frightened that I couldn't suppress a whimper.

"Try to scream and that will be the last thing you ever do!