Marcie Williams stood in the small room, standing on tiptoe and peering out the window. She saw the fence – tall, strong, topped with barbed wire. It looked forbidding. The barbed wire made her flesh crawl. The teenager wiped a tear from her eye and looked at the gathering darkness. She'd been in this awful place for nearly a day now. In the distance she could hear dogs barking.

"Oh God!" Sobbing, Marcie turned from the window, hugging her body protectively, wondering what on earth was going to happen to her next. Kidnapped! The word made her gasp for breath. The girl closed her eyes and fought down the terror rising in her throat. No, she couldn't give in to these vague fears. She didn't even know what these men wanted. All she remembered was some pounding at the door. Her mother wasn't at home.

"Oh, it's getting cold!"

Marcie rubbed her palms briskly over her arms, feeling the goosepimples. What possibly could these men want of her? Her mother had no money, not really. Rhoda Williams, Marcie's mother, was a widow who worked as a registered nurse at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. Her pay was barely enough for them to get by on. When those two men burst into the house, threw some cloth over her head and dragged her out the back door, Marcie couldn't believe this was really happening. What on earth could they want?

The girl sighed, wondering what would be in store for her. Stories of what kidnappers did to their victims, especially if they were young and attractive, flashed through her mind. They were animals. They'd strike tomorrow, or possibly tonight. It was inevitable. Marcie became faint with terror.

Stretching out an arm, the girl supported herself, trying not to think of this insanity. The thought of her being taken by force to this out-of-the-way spot was almost hilarious. For a moment Marcie thought her kidnappers might be sex fiends, taking her just for pleasure. Rut then they would have raped her in a moment, violating her in the car.