Inky darkness flew along outside her window, shadowy landscapes that were formless and empty. The car moved too quickly over rutted and pitted roads, shuddering and banging the entire time. She could make out nothing about where she was. The car seemed to be passing through an unpopulated countryside—there were no lights out there at all. She was in the back seat of the car. The full horror of it began to sink in.

What happened?

Where are they taking me?

Who are these men?

As if on cue, that question was answered. Ahmet was in the front passenger seat. He turned and looked back at her. He stared at her for a moment, as if she were some kind of insect, or an animal about to be dissected.

Her whole body had gone numb. Now she noticed her tongue. It felt thick in her mouth. She made a sound, like a shout, but also like the horrible groaning of an animal.

The men ignored her. They talked incessantly, excitedly, almost in a panic. Their language seemed like the language of a lost jungle tribe.

A sudden attack of fear surged within her.

I can’t do this! I do not want to go anywhere with these people!

She wanted to go home. She wanted to go back! Her heart beat at a furious pace, and the blood pounded inside her temples. She pictured her mother and father—the terror they would feel. How stupid she had been!

Someone said something she did not understand. Maybe they were speaking in Turkish, since Ahmet was a Turk.

Is he really a Turk?

She realized she knew nothing about him, only what Rita had told her. He could be anyone from anywhere. Terror suddenly took hold of her.

He could be anyone.

She wanted to run away so badly, to run away and forget all of this. She wanted out.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she said.

Nobody seemed to pay attention.

What if they don’t speak English?

But it couldn’t be. She knew for sure that Ahmet spoke English.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she said again.

The man behind the wheel said something in the foreign language. Ahmet pulled a bottle from his leather jacket. It was filled with a dark liquid. Ahmet stretched out his arm to give Elizabeth the bottle.

“Drink this.”

His eyes sparkled at her. He looked like a demon.

She shook her head. “No. I won’t.”

The big man who was sitting quietly to her right all this time suddenly turned toward her, and with only his left hand, he pressed her entire body against the seat. The man held down her body with his terrible strength, and at the same time, he opened her mouth with his other hand, compressing her cheeks together, his fingers painfully pushing into her skin.