"Go. Get help." Jack tossed his car keys to Lyla.

She would have had a one-in-twenty chance of catching the keys in broad daylight. In the dark, under duress, no chance. The keys landed somewhere in the weeds.

Taj's truck roared to an abrupt stop. The steep grade angled the truck upward, the headlight beams shining up into the trees. Lyla felt the hot breath of the engine on her face.

JoJo jumped down from the truck, brandishing a metal club. "Well, look who we got here," he sneered.

Jack wielded the shovel like a baseball bat.

"How do you know about this place?" JoJo shouted over the music.

No response.

"Answer me! How do you know?" His wild eyes burned through the darkness.

She trembled.

He then directed his venom at Taj. "Shut off that music, goddammit!"

Taj killed the engine, engaged the brake, and climbed down from the pickup like an agitated grizzly emerging from its den.

Though Lyla detested the blaring noise that passed for music, she preferred it to silence. The quiet exposed how utterly alone and isolated they were at the top of the secluded hill miles from any potential rescuer.

"Tell me, how you know this place, you little bitch!" JoJo roared.

She put on her bravest face. "Your mother, Rose," she stammered. "She told me about it."

"Bullshit!"

She backed away as he advanced. JoJo's eyes came to rest on the mound of dirt within the circle of gravestones.

"Is that a fresh grave I see?"

She could taste the metallic flavor that coated her tongue when she sensed the rising tide of violence.

He shouted, "Hey, Taj, that look like a fresh grave to you?"

"Sure does."

"Could be my little brother's just been laid to rest. Am I right?"

No reply from either Lyla or Jack.

"Where you been keeping him?" JoJo growled.

They said nothing.

"You freaks! What did you do to him?" The vein bulged in JoJo's forehead. He closed in on Jack.

"Dig!" he ordered.

Jack raised the shovel. "Take another step, I'll knock your damn head off."

JoJo kicked dirt at him. "I said dig."

"Leave him alone!" Lyla shouted.

There was a momentary stand-off while they eyed one another before JoJo's rage erupted. He charged. Jack swung the shovel like he was chasing a fastball. Instinctively, JoJo raised his arm for protection. The shovel cracked his bones on its path to his head putting him down like a bloodied sack of bricks.

When Taj moved in, Jack took a wild swing. Taj swiped for the shovel with his thick paw. Jack struck his assailant with a looping blow that found its mark against the side of his head. The beast wobbled and took a faltering step backward. Jack swung again, but this time Taj ripped the shovel out of his hands and tossed it over his broad shoulder.

JoJo rose to his unsteady feet, cradling his broken arm against his chest. He wiped the blood from a gash on his face then pointed a crooked finger at Jack. "You're a dead man."

While retreating, Jack stumbled over a grave marker, losing his balance. JoJo and Taj were on him before he landed among the gravestones. Jack covered his face as hard punches rained down. Fists flew, boots swung.

"Stop! Get off of him!" Lyla wailed.

Jack uttered a gut-wrenching cry of pain before he lost consciousness. JoJo applied two more wicked kicks to ensure that he would not get up.

Lyla swung her hoe with all her might, striking Taj in the back. He turned and yanked the tool from her grasp.

"Would you look at that?" JoJo leered. "A ho with a hoe."

Taj grinned at the simple-minded quip.

"Get over here, girl." JoJo waved. "Come and give me a taste of that."

Her heart pounded ferociously. Her frightened eyes went to Jack moaning and clutching the turf in agony.

As JoJo advanced, Lyla saw cruel intentions in his wicked eyes. She stared death in the face.

Please make it fast and painless.

The irony wasn't lost on her. A few short weeks ago, her life was spared when the merciful hand of fate shoved Keenan Ames into the path of Jack's car. And now, in a cruel twist, her life would likely end at the hand of JoJo on this lonely, cursed hill where his brother was laid to rest.