Chapter 1

The last thing Anna remembered before she passed out was the taste of bile as she threw up in the bathroom of some college bar downtown.

Opening her eyes, she groaned at the darkness surrounding her and tried to press a hand against her forehead. Pain throbbed like a jackhammer in her skull and she squeezed her eyes shut again against the dim and yellow light around her. Her arm moved a little towards her face and then stopped as if refusing to obey. Frowning, she tugged harder with the same result. Her mouth felt like it was coated with a layer of dusty sand and she swallowed on a dry throat.

It was quiet around her, too quiet which was strange given that the bar had been in the middle of the city surrounded by everything her small hometown didn’t have. The group of friends she had gone out with were also nowhere to be found, probably having abandoned her somewhere to go hang out with Chad instead. Having been the one who invited her out in the first place, whatever stories Anna heard about football players before Chad surpassed them all. Standing six feet tall with blond hair and blue eyes, it was a dream come true when he approached her with an invitation for a night out in the town. She had accepted of course with the opportunity to finally get a boyfriend too good to be true. Now however with her head pounding as she lay against the ground, he was just about the last thing on her mind.

A few more minutes passed in silence as Anna lay in misery fighting against the throbbing inside her soul. It wasn’t until she heard a voice call out to her that fear began to race through her head.

“Making yourself comfortable?”

Panic raced through her as Anna tried to stumble to her feet and failed tripping as she went. Then, the fear grew into full blown terror as she felt the sharp circular edge of the metal handcuffs around her wrist. As her body dumped adrenaline into the fog of drunkenness around her, the reality of the situation began to seep in.

“Annabel Farthwing, eighteen years old, brown hair, brown eyes, freshman majoring in biology with an interest in mathematics as well”

The voice was deep and male like rough iron over stone. Keeping as still as possible, Anna shifted her eyes around the small puddle of light surrounding her as she tried to find the source. On the second pass, she found a glimmer in the dark and made out a pair of leather boots just outside the light. They were heavy working boots, not utilitarian enough to be those of a worker but still rugged enough that she could see the worn patches of leather where the brush had scraped up against the side. What scared her the most about them however were the two silver skulls set into the end with emeralds for eyes. Out here in the south and so close to the border, those silver skulls could mean only one thing and fresh fear rushed into her as she drew away.

Emeralds and silver skulls, the Mexican slave cartels.

The man stepped forward throwing something onto the ground in front of her and Anna struggled to make out the objects laying before her. Her heart leapt into her throat as she recognized her driver’s license and her student ID followed by her only credit card. Kicking them to the side, the man walked forward and knelt before her in the light.