Pia could move her arms and legs. She was surprised to discover she wasn’t tied up. She looked around the room and saw a closed door on one side and a broken window on the other. There had also been a really loud noise. And a man on top of her. Something in Pia’s brain kicked in. She had to get out of that room, even if it was just to the other side of that door or out the window—either would be better than in there. The men’s voices were loud again, and they were coming from the other side of the door. The window, then.

Pia swung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand but she flopped down onto her knees and then her hands. Avoiding shards of glass, she crawled to the window and pulled herself upright. The old-style window had a handle that Pia held on to. As she turned the handle, the empty sash flew open, and she fell halfway out of the frame. It took some effort to reach down until her hands were on the earth in front of the window and she walked herself forward, using them until she could lift one leg then the other out and over the sill. She collapsed on the ground. Pia assumed she’d made so much noise, whoever was shouting in the other room would have heard. But she could still hear the voices, fainter but still there, still raised in disagreement.

So what are you going to tell Buda?” Genti said. He was now scared.

“What do you think I should tell him?”

“Tell him nothing happened. Look him in the eye and tell him nothing happened.”

“I don’t want to lie to Buda. Why should I lie? It’s you guys who are at fault.”

Neri looked over at the door to the bedroom where Pia was sleeping. She better not remember anything, he thought, or I’m dead.

Now sitting on her haunches, Pia resisted the urge to close her eyes, lie down, and go back to sleep, although every bone in her body was telling her to do it. Not for the first time in her life, an adrenaline rush drove her on. She looked over at the van, but she realized it was probably directly in the line of sight of where the voices were coming from. And she was in no state to drive; she’d crash into the first tree she came across.