"Nice nose, by the way." And he smirked upon mentioning it. "Did Max do that?" Her eyes went wide and she gave him a silent snarl, but didn't give him the satisfaction of any other answer. How dare he make such an assumption about Max. And just how bad was her nose, anyways?

They continued on in silence, Ess trying to plan out her next mode of escape (please, she prayed, let it be a successful get away this time – for once), when finally Martin spoke again. "Uh oh. Looks like we need to stop for fuel already. I thought these compact German cars were supposed to be good on gas?" He gave her another friendly glance. Oh, how she wanted to simply pummel him.

"There's a gas station up ahead, I remember. That's where I made the report back to Angoli about you last night. When we pull in, I want you to get out of the car with me, and stay by my side. Remember," he waved the gun in her direction, "I do have a gun." Ess frowned. As if she could forget about that.

He continued with his instructions, "If you try to speak out or run, I will shoot at you. Maybe I won't kill you, but I will shoot you in the leg or the arm to stop you. Angoli might not like it if I bring you in harmed, but he'd like it even less if I let you get away."

A few minutes later, they pulled up to the pump. Martin got out of the car, and ran quickly to the passenger side, not allowing Ess an opportunity to bail out and dash. She was very resistant to this little excursion towards her new future role, and he knew he had to keep any possible funny business to a minimum. When he opened the door, she made no move to get out, so he forcedly pulled her from the car.

With a tight grip around her arm and his finger on the trigger of the gun, which he again made Ess aware of as he tucked it inside the pocket of his pants, he led her to the entrance of the old gas station. When he pushed on the store's front door, it didn't budge. So, he pulled on it, and it still wouldn't give. With a bewildered look on his face, he rattled the door in the attempt to force it open. Apparently, it was locked.

"Dammit. This store was open last night at three o'clock in the morning. Why on Earth would it be closed now at five thirty in the afternoon? These are prime business hours." Martin started losing his cheerfulness.

Just then, the sound of scuffing feet was heard from behind them. Martin twisted around, forcing Ess to turn with him. Barely a few yards beyond them, they saw three men approaching.

"Martin," greeted the man on the left, rather unenthusiastically.

"What?" A very shocked Martin replied. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Martin, really? You have to ask?" The man answered while piercing him with a derisive look, and sounding as though the reason could be nothing but obvious. "We came to get her." Then he laid his eyes on her and offered a spiteful smile. "Hello, again, Esther."

Martin practically growled, "I said that I would bring her all the way to Angoli myself. And I will. I don't need you."

"That may or may not be true, but our orders were to meet up with you, and bring her back the rest of the way ourselves."

During the dialogue between Martin and this man, Ess realized that she recognized him. He was the one that she had kneed and stomped on the previous night. He had the bandaged nose to prove it. This couldn't be good. He undoubtedly had no amiable opinion of her now, and she had less desire to go with him than she had to go with Martin. This conclusion actually made her cling to Martin's arm.

"I can handle this." Martin argued back. "I found her, and I will deliver her. I don't need your help, and I won't have all the glory taken away from me. Not again." His voice neared hysterics.

"Listen," The man had a cocky expression on his face as the other two thugs pulled out strips of leather and began wrapping them tightly over their knuckles, with their own menacing smirks visible on their faces, "I don't want any issues. Either you cooperate and hand her over, or we will take her by force."

His declaration scared Ess even further. She did not want to be the rope in this game of human tug-of-war. Nor did she want to be the cause of further violence. She looked to Martin to see what he would do.

The men looked ready to pounce, and Martin looked ready to piss his pants. The leader grabbed Ess's arm, and yanked her towards him. Martin did absolutely nothing to stop him. "Smart man, Martin. Smart man." His henchmen, however, looked disappointed that they weren't going to have a chance to play.

The man dragged Ess towards a black SUV that was parked between some trees just beyond the gas station. Ess continued her struggles for freedom, but found her strength to be as useless and weak against her captors as ever. When she looked back, vaguely hoping that Martin would use his gun or try to pull some angle to get her back, she only saw him standing in the same spot they left him in, and looking defeated. She felt like crying. Although she hated Martin, and she disliked his portentous company, she would rather have been in his custody at the moment. It seemed much less likely that she could get away from these three men.

The leader pushed her into the back seat of the vehicle. The force he used on her, assured Ess that he truly did harbor hard feelings towards her. One of the other men bound her hands and feet (not so considerately, this time), and forced her to lie down on the seat; then he jumped into the front passenger seat. The man with the broken nose got in behind the wheel; and when the last guy leapt into the jump seat in the back, the vehicle backed up with a screech and turned onto the highway.

Ess slid along the seat, hitting her head on the door again. She looked up and saw the man with the broken nose lean over the seat to hover above her, "This time, if you fall on the floor, I'm leaving you there." He smiled cruelly at her, and turned back towards the road while stomping his foot on the gas.

* * *

They drove for what seemed like hours. The men talked about sports and cars and slutty women. There were also the occasional belches, which brought rounds of entertained laughter from all of them. They completely ignored Ess's presence in the vehicle.

Yes, Ess knew this was more than just a nightmare. This was her reality. Up until this point, she still managed to shelter a vague amount of hope that she could escape, that everything might turn out all right in the end. That hope finally disappeared. Unlike the movies she'd watched and the books she'd read, this couldn't have a happy ending. No alternatives arose before her, and a terrifying conclusion loomed in sight if she thought about it, so she chose not to think. The best thing to do now would be to just go numb.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"Oh, god!" Manda exclaimed what everyone else was feeling. "We've got to save her. We have to get her back from those . . . goons." She wrung her hands in her distress. It was bad enough when Max kidnapped Ess, and shocking when Martin took her, but now these dangerous and downright hostile strangers had the poor woman. The situation had now come to an impass. These big mobster-like men with genuine thug mentalities dragged innocent little Ess away to a location none of them knew.

"Well, actually," Martin cut in, "I do know the location of Angoli's estate. I do work for him as his arts acquisitionist, after all. I've delivered many works to his home, and acted as a curator for his personal gallery. Max, you remember. I brought you there once to assist in arranging one of his 'Esther Art' displays."