Trouble With the Law by Becky McGraw Page A

down to sit on the floor .  Her arms stretched over her head and went numb again.  Something warm trickled down her arm and Ronnie looked up to see she was bleeding.  Maybe she’d die from an infection.  That would be slow and painful.  No more than she deserved for being so ignorant.
    Her chin fell to her chest, and she tried to drift away somewhere nice, so she wouldn’t have a heart attack from the panic building inside her chest. 
    A beach, the one she had gone to last year for her vacation .  Tahiti after the year-long Longmire trial wrapped had been the best vacation ever.  Her only vacation in years.  Ronnie could almost taste the fruity sweetness of the umbrella drink on her tongue.  God, she wanted that drink so bad right now.  Her mouth felt like it was lined in cotton, and she wondered if her captors planned on leaving her here to die a slow death from dehydration.  Or maybe they’d starve her to death.  Her stomach rumbled.
    If they asked her for a last meal choice, she knew what that would be .  Chocolate.  A whole fucking bag of it.  She would gorge herself on every last piece in that bag, then they could do whatever the hell they wanted to do to her.  Well, not anything.  She would use the razor-sharp edge of the cuffs binding her wrists to kill herself if they tried that with her.
    Some things were worse than death.
    Ronnie dozed off, but woke suddenly when the door across the room opened and bright sunlight backlit a tall man carrying a tray of some kind.  She sat up straighter hoping he was bringing her food.  But she was leery to eat it if it was.  They could have drugged it. 
    The cuffs cut into her wrists, and she held her breath as he approached.  He got closer and it was a man she’d never seen before.  He didn’t smile, or even look at her.  He reached onto the tray and picked up a syringe filled with a sticky-looking yellow liquid then sat the tray on the floor.  He stood back up and squirted a little of the liquid out of the end of the long needle. 
    Ronnie scrambled up to her feet and pressed her back against the rough wooden wall .  There was no way she was going to let that man give her that shot without a fight.  Every muscle in her body tensed, as she waited for him to stand and face her.
    His flat eyes met hers and t he evil grin on his face amped up her adrenaline.  He took a step forward, and Ronnie cocked back her knee waiting.  When he was in range she brought her knee up between his legs.  The man sidestepped the blow and delivered one of his own to the side of her head.  Ronnie’s head slammed against the wall and her brain pinballed around in her skull.  Stars danced behind her eyes, and she fought the blackness trying to take her to oblivion.  If she passed out, he would give her those drugs. 
    Ronnie screamed into the rag gagging her, and pulled at the chains, ignoring the pain as the cuffs sliced into her skin .  The man came at her again, and Ronnie kicked out at him.  He stepped back, and another man walked through the doorway.  He came closer and she saw it was the boss, Ray or whatever his name was.  The look on his face was twice as ominous as the man trying to drug her. 
    Ronnie knew this was it .  There was no way she could fight off two of them chained like she was.  Maybe the drugs would make whatever they were going to do to her less disgusting.  Maybe she would just pass out and not know what they did.  She stopped struggling and shot daggers at them with her eyes. 
    Stepping forward again, the first man tied a rubber tourniquet on her bicep much tighter than necessary, then popped it and laughed.  “Carlos didn’t do his job, boss.”
    “I see that,” Ray said darkly.  “That’s why I had you come out to check.”
    “I’ll take care of it,” Shot Guy said with entirely too much enthusiasm.  Almost as much enthusiasm as he showed when he jabbed the needle into her arm and shoved the plunger down.  His almost