Sam and Dani reached the road, right where the barn’s driveway led onto it. They kept going, crossing the pavement, Pierce’s clothes scraping softly on its surface.

“Ditch,” Dani said.

“Definitely.”

An instant later they reached the far shoulder of the road, just shy of the weed-filled drop-off. Behind them, Sam finally heard the sound he’d been expecting: a car’s engine roaring to life. He risked a final look back, and saw headlight beams shining straight out from within the giant barn door, which had now been pulled open to full width.

“Come on,” Dani whispered.

Sam nodded, and together they descended into the ditch, easing Pierce down with them. With his hands bound in front of him, Pierce was able to grip the dense weeds for himself. Within seconds all three of them were below the level of the roadbed; hardly a breath later the weeds above them bloomed with headlight glare. The car had come out of the barn and turned toward the road.

Sam waited for it to rev up and pull out onto the pavement, but it didn’t. Instead its engine continued growling in low gear, and then the headlight glow on the weeds slid away toward the east. The three of them turned and watched it go. It moved like a carefully controlled spotlight. Sam realized what was happening: the car was turning in a circle right there in the barnyard, sweeping its high beams over the surrounding fields. No doubt the rest of the men were watching the light, eyes peeled for any glimpse of Pierce.

Dani turned to the man and whispered frantically. “Is there a girl in the barn?”

Pierce glanced back and forth between the two of them, still shaken and probably confused as hell. Sam tried to imagine the guy’s mind-set. Tried to imagine what it all looked like through his eyes—to have been dragged away from his own grave by two strangers who turned out to be kids. And now Dani was asking about a girl in the barn, which meant they weren’t just random kids who’d seen him in trouble. It meant they knew things. Sam watched Pierce’s expression in the faint light of the ditch. Watched the guy try to make the pieces fit.

“Is there a girl in there?” Dani repeated.

Despite his confusion, Pierce nodded.

“Lauren Coleman?” Dani asked.

Pierce stared at her, then nodded again.

Dani’s breath came out in a rush. She looked past Pierce to Sam. “What do we do now?” she asked. “What’s going to happen to her?”

Instead of answering, Sam dug his feet into the side wall of the ditch and pushed himself upward. He raised his head just above ground level, still mostly concealed by the weeds, and stared across the road at the barnyard.