Prologue

She was young and strong, but she didn’t stand a chance against them.

There were three of them, all wearing black ski masks. One was skinny, shorter than her, and if it had just been him, she was sure she could have taken him. She would have beaten the shit out of him. But the other two were bigger than her; they were fat, but strong.

It was after midnight and she’d been forced to park to the side of the restaurant, and they took her just as she was about to get into her car. They rushed her as a group, and before she could scream, one of them clamped a hand over her mouth. Then they manhandled her to the back of the restaurant, out by the Dumpsters where she couldn’t be seen by passing cars.

They groped her a bit. The big guy who had his hand over her mouth was squeezing her right breast with his other hand, and the other big one cupped her crotch. He laughed and said, “Oh, yeah. This is gonna be good.” The little one didn’t touch her; he just watched.

The next thing she knew, she was on the ground and one of them was sitting on her chest with his hand still clamped over her mouth and the other big guy had ahold of her wrists so she couldn’t use her fists. She thought they’d try to pull her jeans off next, and she tried to get her hands free to fight and started kicking at the short one who was still standing, but he was able to evade her thrashing legs.

The short guy watched her struggle for a while, then knelt down and put his face close to hers. “You’re going to stop,” he said. “You’re gonna knock off all the bullshit and quit telling lies.” His voice sounded familiar but she didn’t know who he was. “You’re gonna quit before people lose their jobs. You saw how easy it was tonight. If you don’t stop, the next time we’re gonna take you someplace and take turns raping you, then we’ll tie you naked to a tree and leave you for the wolves. You understand?”

She couldn’t speak because the one man still had his hand over her mouth and she couldn’t even nod because he was pushing her head into the gravel. But she stopped struggling. When he’d said next time, she knew she was going to be okay.

“Let’s go,” the short guy said to his pals and the one got off her chest, giving her left nipple a hard tweak before he did, then they all took off running.

It took her a while to get to her feet and when she did, she almost collapsed back onto the ground. Her legs felt like they were made of rubber. She started crying as she walked back to her car, and it pissed her off that she’d been so scared they made her cry. She opened the door and picked up her cell phone, which she’d left in the cup holder, and dialed 911.

As she was waiting for the cops to arrive, she thought: Fuck you. I’m never going to stop.