“I do understand.” She rolled onto her front and came up on her knees then staggered awkwardly to her feet. “Do you think I didn’t dream about killing every one of those bastards after what they did to me?” Darby backed up a step. “You think I didn’t rejoice when I heard they were dead?”

Corinne blinked.

“That’s right. They all died. All except one and I will dance and party when he’s finally caught. I will raise a toast to all that is holy. But I will not hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it. That would make me like them, and I will not be like them. I will never be like them.”

Darby swore she saw something moving in the darkness. She needed to keep the woman focused on her and she knew exactly how to do it.

“They dragged me out of my tent in the middle of the night.” Darby shook her head a little, remembering the fear. “I didn’t hear them coming until they unzipped the netting. I never sleep that soundly. Never,” she spat out. “But that day I was tired and I’d had a stomach bug the day before, so I was exhausted. I keep replaying that night over and over in my head. If I’d woken up. If I’d heard them coming, I could have hidden. I could have run. But I didn’t and they took me, and they did terrible things to me in a hut just like this one and I will not go in there with you. You will have to shoot me first because I will not do it.”

Corinne glanced with new awareness at the hut and stepped away from it. Her eyes were alive with avid interest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Even here and now talking about it brought it all back. The fear, the rage, the feeling of hopelessness. She used her emotions to keep Corinne’s attention on her. “How dare they do those things to me. How dare they!” She yelled it into the night, venting her anger but keeping Corinne focused on her.

Darby suspected the cops were nearby and closing in. She could almost feel Eban out there, worrying about her. Looking for a way of reaching her. Finding a place to take a shot where he wouldn’t miss and wouldn’t risk hurting her.

“I got my revenge on one of them though,” Darby told her.

Corinne grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. Dammit. “How?”

“I stabbed him,” Darby admitted. “The FBI agent who rescued me came into the hut just as he finished…you know.” The memory of his touch, of all those animals’ filthy, slimy touch still made Darby want to vomit. At least she now had a good memory to block it with. At least she’d made love with Eban before Corinne had crashed into their lives, wrecking everything again.

Darby made herself breathe. She caught a glimpse of the North Star between gaps in the clouds and took it as a good omen. Corinne had to sleep at some point. Hopefully, the cops could catch up with them then. “The men started fighting but Quentin, the guy who rescued me, he needed to use one hand to stop my attacker from making a sound and waking the others in the camp. One of them had dropped a knife and I spotted it. I don’t even know who dropped it. Then Quentin started to lose the battle.”