He let out a surprised yelp of pain. That was better. His hand dropped away from her mouth and she felt the grip round her neck loosen. She stamped down hard again, driving her elbow backwards and twisting violently at the same time. He lost hold of her completely. It was all the chance she was going to get. She lunged forward down the narrow space between the two cars. On the other side of her car she was aware of José moving fast, trying to get around the front of the car to cut her off. Behind her Juan had recovered. He threw out his arm, catching nothing but a handful of air, and started after her.

She was so close but she wasn't going to make it. She made it through the gap at the exact same time as José rounded the front of the car. He didn't even try to grab hold of her, just kept on going and plowed into her, sending her flying backwards across the hood of their car. She lay spread-eagled and winded, José sprawled across her, pinning her down. He looked like he was enjoying every minute of it. She was sure he was rubbing himself up and down against her. Juan got there a second later, grabbed hold of her jacket collar again and pulled her out from under José, who stood up and winked at her, massaging his crotch provocatively.

'I was just starting to have some fun,' he said.

Juan said something under his breath which sounded a lot like pervert.

She didn't have the strength to struggle any more. He dragged her backwards, her heels bumping along the floor as she tried to stay upright. José slipped past them and opened the back door and Juan bundled her onto the back seat and climbed in after her. José slammed the door shut after them and went round and got in the driver's seat.

Ellie rested her head on the headrest and closed her eyes. She felt sick and giddy and needed to pee. Her chest was heaving so hard she thought she'd pop the buttons on her blouse. She was glad José was in the front where he couldn't see. At least Juan's breathing sounded worse than hers; the painful, wheezing breath of a heavy smoker. Just like a pair of lovers after an energetic sex session, she thought before she could stop herself.

'You need to get down the gym a bit more,' she said, once she'd got her breath back. 'Give up the smokes, too.'

He snorted and it turned into a coughing fit. 'I should've just given you a slap, more like.'

'You're right. That sounds like your style.'

If she thought she was going to get a rise out of him, she was disappointed.

'Whatever.'

'So, where are we going?'

He twisted in his seat to look at her and coughed a wet laugh. 'Well,' he said, 'we've got quite a busy schedule.' He held up his hand and flicked out a yellow-stained index finger. A shiver sliced through her. She could feel and smell it on her mouth. She imagined him pushing it between her lips, forcing her teeth apart, pushing her tongue down her throat until she gagged. Where the hell did that come from?  'First stop, we've got to pick something up from the bar.' He flicked out a second finger, the middle one. 'Then it's back to your hotel.' He gave her a small smile and flicked out a third finger. 'Then, as a special treat, you've got a little chat with Chico.'

In the front José sniggered.

'Are you going to tell us where you're staying,' Juan said, 'or do you fancy getting in the trunk while we drive around all day looking for it?'

She knew there wasn't any point in not telling them—they'd get it out of her in the end. She might as well just avoid all the unpleasantness that would entail. On top of that, an idea had just come into her mind. There was no way she could escape from these two on her own, but if she could delay things long enough at the hotel, they might still be there when Evan turned up. Not that she thought Evan would be able to deal with these guys, but any chance was better than nothing. Trouble was, it was another two hours until he was due to get there.

Unfortunately for her, it didn't pan out the way she was hoping. It only took five minutes to pick up Evan's business card. When they told Dave the bartender what they wanted his face lit up. He fished it out of the trash where he'd thrown it after giving Dixie the details on the phone with an expression on his face that told them the more trouble he could cause Evan, the better.

'Who's this guy Evan Buckley?' Juan said, turning the card over in his fingers.

Ellie gave a small shrug. 'No idea.'

'Really?' He raised an eyebrow. 'It's just that he was in the bar asking after Dixie, and then here you are, sitting outside the exact same bar.'

'We thought maybe you sent him in there,' José said from the front seat. 'We don't believe in coincidences.'

Ellie shook her head. 'Sorry. Never heard of him.'

The pair of them nodded like they would have been disappointed if she'd said anything else.

'Hey, José,' Juan said with a grin, 'I just had an idea. You wanna bet I can't find this guy's name in her phone?'

José grinned back and shook his head. 'No way, man—it'd be like throwing money away.'

The two of them laughed and Ellie could have kicked herself for being so stupid. They wouldn't have to look very hard—Evan's number would be at the top of the call list. She placed the side of her head on the window and closed her eyes, the glass cool against her skin.

'Don't worry,' Juan said, putting his hand on her knee and giving it a friendly squeeze, 'lying about him is the least of your problems.' He lifted his hand and put it back on her thigh as if they were on a date, on their way back to his or her place in the back of a cab.

Ellie shuddered and kept her eyes shut and they drove the rest of the way to her hotel in silence. There was nobody on reception when they got there. Juan caught her looking hopefully and smiled as he pushed her up the stairs. That's what you get for staying in a dump. It didn't take more than ten minutes to turn the room over. It wasn't a large room and there weren't many hiding places. They looked in the closet and pulled out the dresser drawers, but she knew that they hadn't expected to find anything in the room—who would be so stupid, after all—but they had to do it anyway, because Chico would ask.

'We didn't really expect to find anything,' Juan said with a shrug.

'But we had to do it anyway,' José said. 'In case Chico asks.' He took a step towards her and pushed her backwards onto the bed, then sat down beside her. The ancient springs, worn out from too much abuse sagged under his weight, and they ended up pushed toward each other, arms and legs touching. She could feel the heat coming off him through his sleeve and forced herself to sit still, tried to ignore him, knowing any attempt to move away would only encourage him.

'So, what shall we do now?' he said, winking at her. What was it with men and winking? It was as if they thought they were doing you a favor: hey, little lady, this is your lucky day. What it actually did was make her skin crawl. She swallowed nervously and looked away so she didn't have to watch him staring at her boobs, his tongue hanging out. Who knows what he'd do if he caught sight of the contempt in here eyes. He bounced up and down a couple of times, the springs creaking obscenely. 'We could try these springs out. Feels like they've seem a bit of use.' His voice was thicker now; she could feel his growing excitement. He lifted his hand and started to stroke her hair, as if a little tenderness to begin with made it all okay when he raped her.

'Come on, there's no time for that,' Juan said, breaking the tension, although it sounded to her as if it wouldn’t take much to persuade him to find five minutes or so.

She didn't need to be told twice, even if he wasn't talking to her. She pushed herself off the bed giving José the perfect target. He gave her a hard slap on the ass, the sound of it loud in the small room.