Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,1

was so abrupt she swayed and staggered a little before righting herself.

Before she fully recovered, they jerked the hood from her head in a sharp yank that tore free some of her hair. She was still trying to get her bearings when they removed the gag. With her scalp screaming in protest, Callie glared at the faces of the four men surrounding her.

She’d already ascertained Carter wasn’t part of this, but she still searched for his face amongst the stony ones surrounding her. She didn’t know any of them, so why was she here? What had she done to deserve this?

The same she’d done to deserve Carter, absolutely nothing. However, that piece of garbage had found his way into her life. After only three months of dating, he’d shown his true colors, and she ran screaming for the door.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t gotten far from him, and she wouldn’t get far now as the three men and one woman closed in on her. They reminded her of jackals surrounding their prey as amusement glittered in their eyes and they smiled smugly at her.

She had no idea who any of them were, but she’d watched enough true crime TV to know the fact they weren’t hiding their faces didn’t bode well for her survival. She glanced frantically around, but the night and their bodies obscured most of her view. A couple of buildings rose behind them, but she didn’t recognize anything about her surroundings.

You’re never supposed to let them take you to a secondary location. You’re supposed to fight to the death if that’s what it takes, but you never allow them to move you.

She couldn’t recall where she heard that advice, but now it screamed across her mind. It wasn’t like she’d had a choice. She tried to fight, but it had proven useless, and it all happened so fast.

One minute, she was walking down the road, smiling over the night out with her friends and glad she’d turned down the offer of a ride and left her car behind. The fresh air dimmed the glow of the alcohol but not her excitement.

She’d relished the stars, the chirrup of the crickets, and her growing happiness as she walked. She couldn’t recall the last time she took any pleasure in the simple things in life, but she did then.

At one time, a night out with her friends was commonplace, but it had been months since she went out with them. She’d been too scared Carter would show up, so she hadn’t been good company in a long time. However, she refused to be afraid anymore, and she refused to miss out on her life because of him.

So, when her friends asked if she would join them at the bar tonight, she leapt at the opportunity. Being back with her girlfriends, laughing and joking as they drank beers and swapped stories, had been so freeing.

For those glorious hours, she was her old self again, and she loved every second of it.

And then it had all gone so wrong.

Chapter Two

It had been hours, maybe a day—she had no concept of time anymore—since she was taken from the back of that van and into a building. They led her into a basement before entering a tunnel carved out of the wall there.

She didn’t speak and didn’t try to get away as they guided her deep into the cool, damp earth. The beams of their flashlights played over the jagged rocks surrounding her. She worried about spiderwebs, but they were so far beneath the ground that spiders didn’t dwell here.

At the end of the tunnel, they turned right, then left, before going right again. Despite having a good buzz before this all started, she was completely sober, and she memorized their turns as they walked.

She held out little hope of ever escaping, but if she did, she would know how to do it. That little hope vanished when they came to a cross section of tunnels. They entered the second one before making a couple more turns.

The place was one gigantic maze; even if she remembered every turn, she would most likely end up lost in this hellhole. The walls were so close, she felt like she was walking through her tomb. And then she realized this most likely was… her tomb.

Finally, they came to a stop, pulled open a gate, unbound her wrists, and shoved her inside. Callie spun back to them as the gate slammed closed. She opened her mouth to scream at them