Chapter 7: The Alley

The next night I went to the bar to quit.

It was in a basement on Thames Street, behind a laundromat, with no sign.

The owner counted my last pay out of the register and told me to come back whenever I wanted.

I took the envelope and said goodbye to the other bartenders.

It was close to one in the morning when I stepped out the back door into the alley.

The alley was narrow and lit by one yellow bulb above the dumpsters.

I had walked it a thousand times.

I heard the van before I saw it.

It rolled in off the street with its lights off and stopped across the mouth of the alley.

Two men got out of the back.

One was the man in the navy coat from the clinic.

"Ms. Mercer," he said gently. "Please don't make this difficult."

"I told you what I'd do."

"You did. There's nobody to hear you."

I ran.

I got three steps before a hand caught my arm and wrenched me back.

The second man put a gloved palm over my mouth.

I bit down as hard as I could.

He swore and let go, and I grabbed the empty bottle from the top of the nearest dumpster by its neck.

I swung it at his head with both hands.

It broke across his temple, and he went down on one knee.

"Hold her!" the man in the navy coat shouted. "Don't touch her stomach, he wants her unmarked!"

That told me everything.

Whoever sent them wanted the baby alive.

I kicked at the man on the ground, and I screamed.

Headlights swung into the alley and a car came straight at the van.

It stopped with a screech of brakes a foot from the bumper.

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