Directly across from Eric’s position, a high grapestake fence ran the length of the lot, coming to an end in a gate next to the garage. Taking a deep breath, he raised the rifle and snapped off a shot up the alley, then hobbled across to the gate—but not quickly enough. The stun gun blasted out with its highly concentrated and focused ultrasonic sound waves, catching him shoulder high. Had he been facing his attackers directly, he would have been knocked unconscious, but since he was moving sideways across the alley he took the main force of the shot in his upper arm and shoulder. Even then it slammed him backwards, spinning him into the fence. His head cracked against the wood, and his hands jerked out wildly, grasping for support. He was dimly aware that the rifle had been torn loose from his grip and clattered to the ground. He felt his legs buckle, and with a soft moan he went down. Through the daze he tried to push himself up, groping desperately for his rifle. But the footsteps came pounding up, and with one swift kick, the rifle was sent skidding away from his reach.

“Well, well!” Travis’s voice was shrill with triumph. “Look who we have here!”

CHAPTER 32

“It’s not like you to leave your back unguarded, Eric,” Travis said as he jammed the muzzle of the stun gun into Eric’s ribs and searched him quickly. “Where’s Nicole?”

Eric got up on all fours, then staggered to his feet, as dazed by the bitterness of defeat as by the stunning blast he had taken. Travis grabbed him by the arm and shook him savagely. “Where’s Nicole?” he shouted.

“I don’t know. She left.”

“I know that. With Clayne. Where are they? Where were they going?”

Again Eric shook his head. Travis slapped him hard across the face, the blow cracking sharply in the narrow alleyway. “Where are they?” he thundered.

Eric looked at Travis as a trickle of blood oozed from a split lip. “They took the dog for a walk.”

Travis’s eyes narrowed into slits, and he thrust his stun gun at the second man and said, “Hold this.” When he turned back, his fist was cocked, pointed at Eric’s face.

Eric tried to roll away from the blow, but it slammed him against the fence with stunning force. Travis grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head up roughly, his fist raised again. “Let me ask that question one more time, Eric. Where’s Nicole?”

“I’m right here, Travis.”