her gut. Something was wrong. “Where are you taking me?”
Jerry’s dark-brown eyes looked up at her from the rearview mirror. “Your new home.”
Jerry’s words made no sense. A home housed a family, and a family was where you belonged. She didn’t have a home. Her only family, Ava, was gone. And she sure didn’t have a place to belong. “Huh?”
Her head lolled forward. Time passed in a blink, but surely had to have been hours. The last Kenzie remembered, daylight shone outside. Now, looking out the window, she saw the full moon hanging in the diamond-crusted sky. Prickles stabbed at her head, and she frowned. What the hell happened? Where am I? Out of the corner of her eyes, she glanced at the burly outlines of Davis and Stanley. She struggled to remain calm as she remembered what had happened.
Restraints bit into her wrists, and she worked to concentrate on the murky memories. A graphic encore of the afternoon played in her mind, and she sucked in a strangled breath. The weight of her captor’s gaze sat heavily on her shoulders, and she forced each muscle to relax and keep her breathing steady. Fighting against three men was plain stupid. Her best bet was to bide her time and catch the men unaware. The longer they thought she was a docile, obedient zombie, the better for her. She let her head flop to the side, and her lazy grin must have given Stanley the reassurance he needed. The male stared at her, his lip curled into a sneer, and he looked back out the window. The car turned down a dark street and veered onto a dirt road.
Ahead, bright floodlights dotted down a perimeter, and they passed a large sign for Delmac Enterprises pinned along the fence, marking out a large boundary. A soft glow illuminated the ground where the trees failed to cover. Waves of thick fog rolled in, each wisp licking at the brick pillars guarding the entrance. Jerry lined up the sedan so that the speaker aligned with the back door. The window wound down, and Davis leaned forward, bracing his arm on the door rest. From Kenzie’s vantage point, tall trees blocked the full moon, enveloping the area in shadows.
Clicking sounded over the intercom, and a stern voice cracked over the speaker. “Delmac Enterprises—state your business.”
Davis cleared his throat and leaned forward. “This is unit 357. We have the candidate in custody.”
Unit 357? Candidate? What the hell is going on here?
Moments passed, and the gate opened, granting passage for the car to continue down the drive. Large cedar trees created a canopy overhead that thinned and gave way to a fancy garden sitting central in the circular drive. Jerry steered the car to the left and parked next to the other vehicles. He killed the engine and looked into the mirror. “Let’s get this over with.”
Stanley reached over, yanking on Kenzie’s bound wrists like a leash. The plastic bit into her wrists, and she ground her teeth together to stop her cry of pain. Men like Stanley had no regard for people like her. To him, she was nothing more than a job, a slab of meat to be taken to slaughter. Dragging her across the leather seats, he pulled her stumbling out of the car. Her bindings pinched her skin, and she winced. Stanley’s fingers laced around her chin, tilting her head to meet his assessing gaze. “Is there a problem?”
Had she blown her cover? Her pulse jumped. Damn it, she hated being backed into a corner. Tamping down her breathing, she continued to look into his frosted eyes. She kept her lips sealed, too afraid to say anything in case she blew her cover. His eyes narrowed, and his grip tightened. After a moment he released her face and slid his hands down to her bindings.
Stanley glanced toward Davis. “How long did the doc say that shit would last?”
Davis grunted and shrugged his shoulders. “A couple of hours, why? You think she’s comin’ around?”
Stanley eyed her again, and she did her best to appear docile and willing. It was a struggle.
“Maybe. Let’s just get her to the holding cell.”
The three men escorted her toward a gray building. She focused on the crunch of gravel under her feet and thought of ways she could escape. Each and every idea ended up with her dead. The guards led her to a courtyard, a large area at the entrance of the facility with covered tables scatted in