All of the doors were pulled open as the four very large men, breathing heavily, slipped inside. The dark-haired one who shot the dog in the driver's seat, a bald man in the passenger's seat, a brown-haired man in the backseat to my left, and a blonde-haired one in the backseat to my right.

"Come on. Let's get the fuck out of here." The bald man growled breathlessly. It only made me want to start panicking even more when I saw the black assault rifle sitting oh so casually across his lap. The engine suddenly ripped as sirens began floating up in the distance. A moment later, we were speeding down the gravel road at a speed that made me want to throw up. I didn't even think it was possible for my car to move that fast.

Through all of this, it did not even register in my mind that I should probably try to stop these idiots from driving off with my car and me because I was freaking out. When big bad men steal your car and kidnap you in the process while cops chased them, I couldn't just wave and say hello like they were my best friends.

Because they weren't. They were scary-looking things with really nice haircuts and guns who would probably laugh at my missing left eyebrow before killing me.

My heart was pounding wildly. I sat frozen in the backseat, my face pale from shock. Blind panic ran through my head, making the situation even worse. The two men who were crushed besides me had guns on their laps and ski masks pulled up to their forehead. I was too scared to look anywhere but straight ahead as the car hurtled down the gravel road at a speed that was surely breaking a few laws.

"Shit, I didn't expect it to go like that." The man to my left said in an angry voice.

Oh my God, they didn't even notice me.

Maybe it was because the car was really dark. I couldn't very clearly make out the features of the two men I was crushed between. Shadows kept on dancing, always retreating into the darkness. I suppose, since I was so tiny compared to these huge guys, it was hard to notice me. Still, how could they not? How do four living, breathing humans not notice a fellow living, breathing human in such an enclosed space such as a car? They were too interested in their conversation. I didn't know whether that was a blessing or a curse.

"Angelo was a rat, I told you!" The brown-haired man raged quietly. "What happened in Vegas was because of him, Romeo lost his whole business! Man, I told you guys. It was a stupid risk, we should have found someone else. Angelo was bullshit. His story didn't add up from the beginning."

"Excuse me." I said meekly, my heart pounding. My voice came out in a high squeak, barely a whisper.

"Angelo Bentoli is Romeo's right hand man." The driver argued breathlessly back. In the rear view mirror, I saw his dark green eyes pierce straight ahead. He was very good-looking, with a fluffy crew cut and a scar on the corner of his red lips. Oh my God, did I really just check him out? "Jonah checked Angelo out on the system. Obviously there was something wrong. What happened tonight can't happen again. We got too close, fuck!"

Angelo Bentoli? I heard about Angelo Martin on the radio just a few moments ago...

"Romeo is dead." The man to my right spoke up gruffly.

The driver, and also seemingly the leader of these four men, glared at him. In the darkness, I don't think he saw me. I was sweating through my jacket. They were so big! I was suffocating between the two. "Romeo is alive, I can promise you that. He faked death once, he'll do it again. Romeo didn't escape Guantanamo just to die by the hands of some fucking cops. He's smarter than that." His voice turned dark with frustration.

I cleared my throat. When that caught no one's attention, I took a leap of faith that these men wouldn't kill me mercilessly (it was a small leap, anyway) and gently tugged on the jacket sleeve of the man to my right. He leaned forward to talk to the driver, ignoring me.

Was I invisible or something? I mean, it was probably a good idea to just shut up and wait this out. But waiting it out might not turn out very nicely either. Besides, they'd find out about me sooner or later.

"Dirty business is what Romeo is best at. A hundred bucks, I'll bet you that he was bullshit too. Romeo is way too good at what he does. His father's in prison, he didn't rise to the top because of Mario and Cage, you know that's the bullshit story he fed you seven years ago. Ask Jonah if you don't believe me. Romeo set this up, he has been for the last decade. Tonight was the big fall." The blonde-haired man said, anger lacing his deep voice.

I came to the end of my rope. Stealing my car was one thing. Stealing me along with them was completely another. Partly because I lost a very vital part of my face tonight and partly because I was worried about Fern, I suddenly realized how stupid this whole situation was. I didn't care who they were, I just wanted to go back home. And taking into consideration how fast the man was driving, I was willing to bet we were heading out of Ivey in a couple minutes.

"Think about it!" The bald man agreed with his friend. They seemed to be trying to convince the driver about whatever they were talking about. "We've never been caught, we've never been close to ever being caught, until Romeo introduced us to Angelo-"

I frowned. Romeo, Angelo, Cage- blah, blah, blah.

"Excuse me!" I said a bit louder.

It finally caught the brown-haired man sitting to the right of me. I was astounded they hadn't noticed me until now. His dark eyes widened with surprise. I forced myself to smile politely. His mouth dropped open a second later. He cast a worried glance to the driver. "Uh- Cage? Um-"

"What?" The driver muttered softly. He ran his fingers through his hair.

"There's a chick back here." The man announced.

"There's a chicken?" The man named Cage repeated in confusion. He tried to look back over his shoulder but the car swerved violently when he did, and he looked back out at the road with caution. Trees were a blur when I looked out the window. Nervous, I stared at everyone. They all stared back except the driver. "What's a chicken doing in the car?"

A chicken. Not a human girl, but a chicken. I felt so appreciated right now.

The brown-haired man leaned forward. Something clattered off his lap and onto the floor. Before answering, he picked it back up. It was another gun with the words Ivey Police Department stamped in silver on the handle thing. "There is a girl back here."

I leaned towards the driver, annoyed. "Excuse me, sir."

"What the fuck?!" The man named Cage suddenly roared, startling everyone. "Get her the fuck out of this car then! What are you doing, Micheal? Are you honestly that stupid? Get her out of the car! Jesus Christ, do any of you fuckers have a brain? Throw her out-"

I gasped, horrified. "What?!"

"Damn it, Micheal!" The bald man shouted. He shoved his gun into the backseat, right across the man's lap. "Just shoot her-"

"I'm not gonna shoot her-"

"Please don't kill me!" I yelled in panic.

"Get her out of the car!" The driver growled.

My mouth dropped open. The audacity! "This is my car!"

"Kill her-"

"Nick, you stupid motherf-"

"How the fuck was I supposed to know she was back here?"

"Shoot her!"

"Can you guys, like, not do that? I'd like to live, thank you very much- what? Who are you even?" No one heard me as the bald man and the brown-haired man began to yell and curse at each other. With all the weapons they had, I was utterly petrified.

"Get out!"

"Cage, keep your eyes on the road-"

"Are the cops behind us?" The driver snapped angrily. We all glanced out the rear windshield, me included. I don't know why I did. The cops catching us would be a very good thing, because I had come to the conclusion that these men were criminals and I was accidentally kidnapped in the process of them trying to get away from whatever illegal thing they had just done. Fern would be so mad right now.

There was only darkness behind us. The cops had lost the chase. I could only hope someone saw my license plate. Sweet baby kangaroos, how in the world was I supposed to explain any of this? They were going to think I was the getaway driver and I'd be convicted and spend the rest of my life in a women's prison in the middle of nowhere- oh God, I was about to cry.

"No." Someone answered him. "They lost the tail a few miles back. I don't think anyone is coming for us."

"Good." We suddenly drove off the road and into the trees that began bordering the perimeter of Ivey. There was no other sign of civilization around for miles from where we were. The car fell into silence as the man drove deep into the woods, barely missing the trees. We all jumped awkwardly with the bumpy surface of the forest floor.

My shoulder nudged into the blonde-haired man named Nick. I scooted away, only to be against the black-haired one called Micheal, which was an equally undesirable thing. They took up the entire backseat, I was squished like a stress ball in the hands of a very stressed out person. And a very stressed out person would be me, for example.

This entire night was a mess.

The car suddenly jerked to a stop. The man named Cage opened the door and got out. Everyone else followed suit. The night air chilled me instantly, the wind easily penetrating my thin jacket and my superhero pajamas. We stood in silence, them angry and I terrified, until someone spoke up. It was the driver, the man who was probably the mastermind and boss of all this.

The woods were really cold and terrifying as is, but now that word didn't even begin scratch the surface of how I felt. With four ginormous hulking grown men towering over me, with their rifles and angry expressions and their ability to kill police dogs? God, it was gut wrenching. I nearly passed out on the spot when an owl hooted loudly from nearby. We were so deep in the woods that no one would ever find my corpse for weeks. Because let's face it...I was standing literally above my grave right now, wasn't I?

"Who are you?" In the darkness, I couldn't make out his features very well so my impression was solely based off his voice, which was kinda deep and sounded...nice, I don't know. He was also very tall. Not that I was very tall to begin with myself, it was just that they all did this 'tower over the small person until they start to cry' intimidation tactic, which worked.

"Who are me?" I pointed to myself, shocked that he had the nerve to ask such a question. Fear was slowly being replaced with anger. Jabbing my finger into his chest, I snapped, "Who are you? You stole my car. This-" I waved my arms around wildly, flailing until I saw the vehicle's windshield glinting off the weak moonlight. I pointed to it to emphasize my claim. ''- is my car. You literally drove off with it. I was inside. You stole my car while I was in it. The question, you stupid chicken nugget, is not whom am me, it's who are you."

Okay, I was making no sense. And I also might have called this very dangerous man a chicken nugget. A stupid one, in fact, as if that would make things any better.

No one answered me.

A little bell just rang off in my head, and I suddenly realized exactly who they were. I answered my own question with utter terror. "Oh my God!" I squealed. One of the men was startled and jumped suddenly. It would have been comical if I wasn't fearing for my life. "I know who you are! You're those Crow dudes. I just heard about you on the radio." I slapped one of the men's arm that was standing closest in excitement at the realization, no matter how terrifying. "That Sector 13 thing? And you're Cage Vickers, aren't you? You are! Oh my God. O. M. G. God, of oh my. My, oh God. Jesus. Christ. Son of Mary. Mary had a little lamb. You guys are the Crows."

Silence.

I bit my tongue to stop saying anything faulty that would dig me into a deeper hole. Now they had even more reason to kill me. Knowing your kidnapper's identities and letting your kidnapper know that you know who they are was a very bad thing. If anything, I just sealed my fate.

Cage Vickers was a ghost. No one had seen him for the past ten years. He was young but he was smart. And dangerous. Cage Vickers didn't rise to the top of the drug ring just from a title. He was so well feared because he was smart enough to make the choices that would keep him hidden from law enforcement for the rest of his life. However, if there were three things I never realized about Cage Vickers was that:

1) He was very tall. Compared to me, the guy was practically a giant.

2) He had authority. Raw, undisputed power with each word that it would make even the toughest of men tremble with intimidation. Cage Vickers was a special kind of dangerous. He killed many people before. Fern always changed the channel when a news source popped up another death caused by the Crows, which was frequent.

3) He was still human. If I kicked Cage Vickers in the nuts and ran, I think I had a pretty good chance of getting away safely. But that was going to be my absolutely last act of desperation if need be.

Playing hide and seek with the CIA was what Cage Vickers and the Crows did best. They played the game and they played it well. That's why no one was ever able to catch any of them. They were off the grid for a decade. No one else could ever have managed to do that.

Never in the seventeen years that I have been on this earth had I ever believed I would end up burning my entire left eyebrow off. You know what else I thought I'd never do? That I would come face-to-face with four of the most dangerous men in the country. Huh, life does work in mysterious ways.

"I don't know, Cage." The man who was called Micheal spoke up. I felt his eyes on me even though it was too dark to see. "We've done some pretty messed up things but I don't feel right about this. She's just a kid, man. I don't want to kill her. This was all a big misunderstanding, right? I'm sure there's another option besides murder. That dog was one thing but a kid, Cage. It's not right. You can't live with that on your conscience, and I don't think we can either. Why don't we just figure this out calmly, okay?"

No one answered him.

My heart beat quickly. I had a chance. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless. At least Cage Vickers hadn't stamped my fate yet. Before the opportunity could go away, I decided to make one last plea. "Please." I insisted gently. "Just let me go. I can just walk away. Can we pretend this never happened? I won't tell anyone. I don't think anyone meant for this to happen. Look, you can have my car and-"

"We're not taking you back." Cage cut me off, his voice low and persistent. "We won't kill you, darling. But you're not leaving either. It's too far to drive back, and there is somewhere we have to be."

"What do you mean?" I squeaked with horror. "I can walk back home. My sister is pregnant! I can't just leave her there. Excuse me, there is somewhere I need to be as well. Seriously, just say the word and I'll walk away. I will literally take steps to physically remove myself away from you-"

Cage scoffed. "We're not in Ivey anymore, sweetheart."

"I'll hitchhike! I'll call an Uber!"

"No."

"No?" I repeated, aghast. "You can't be serious."

"Does it look like I'm joking?" Cage growled. Even though I couldn't see his face, I could assume from the dead tone of his voice that he was most certainly serious about this. Fern was going to be furious. At least they wouldn't kill me. I suppose that was the only good news I'd heard tonight.

"I don't know, I can't see your face." The words slipped out before I could stop myself.

Someone whistled out a deep breath. The man named Nick whispered a 'wow' under his breath. Had I fucked up? Yeah, I definitely fucked up. I don't know where the brash confidence was coming from. Back-talking Cage Vickers was like attaching cardboard wings to your shoulders and jumping off a cliff. It was stupid and would most definitely get me killed.

"Let's go." Cage grabbed my arm roughly.

"What?" I shouted angrily. "Are you serious? Just let me go, I swear I won't tell anyone-" The words faltered when I saw myself having a staring contest with the barrel of his gun pointed straight at me.

"Stop talking. You are beyond irritating. Say one more word. One more fucking word and I swear to the heavens above, I will put a bullet in your head this very second." His voice was like the winter air, and I could sense the waves of anger radiating off him when he bent down, lowering himself to my height until we were eye level. I still could barely make out any of his features, but it was easy to tell how he was feeling right now from just the tone of his voice. Such raw, biting annoyance that I instantly closed my mouth, seething with the same hatred. I could do nothing but glower as he tore out a submission from me. "Are we clear?"

I nodded, too afraid to say anything in case he really did mean his threat.

"Hey, Cage...." A soft voice lingered from behind us, from one of the guys. I think it was Micheal, but I was still learning their names. In such a disconcerting situation, it was hard to focus.

"Don't." Someone else whispered.

Cage didn't bother turning around to listen to them. He was still glaring at me but then abruptly straightened. "Okay. Now that we are all on the same track, let's go."

"Can we talk about this?" I argued as we walked back to the car. I was thinking of making a run for it but Nick was waving his gun around and I rethought that decision. I'd have to find another way to escape. For now, it was best for all of us if I did what Cage Vickers wanted me to do. His grip was hard enough that even if I tried to leave, it would hurt me more than him.

Oh my God, he smelled like coconuts. He must have some great shampoo.