"Left turn there," Kevin muttered to himself, swinging the van off the main road to a smaller gravel one. Debbie felt faint with terror. The end of the ride was at hand. What awaited her now?

They bounced along the road for fifteen minutes, stopping finally near a clearing. Peering to the right, the blonde teenager saw a large, two story, wood frame house surrounded by trees. Several outbuildings fanned out behind it some fifty feet away. From the broken fences and sagging roofs, Candy guessed no one had lived in the place for some time.

"Man, my old man used to beat the shit outta me in there," Kevin said, pointing to a smallish building to the right of the main house.

"Come on, let's get inside before somebody sees us," Ben said nervously, coming out from behind the curtains that separated the rear of the vehicle from the front cabin.

"Man, ain't no one around here," Kevin said, laughing at his partner's uneasiness.

"But Ben's right," Jack said, smoothing down his long black hair and scratching his beard. "You never know when somebody comes around and spots this van. Shit, it's been in enough robberies to…"

"All right, all right," Kevin said impatiently starting the van up again and swinging it around to the main drive.

Robberies? Candy squirmed uneasily in her seat. She'd been kidnapped by thieves!

"Let's get the little number outta here and inside. Got the key some wheres," Kevin said, fishing around in his pocket while Jack hooked one arm around the struggling teenager and dragged her out. It was cold. She felt the loose gravel crunching under her shoes as she walked toward the large home. Several windows in the second floor were broken. Above her the stars twinkled brilliantly against the black sky.