"You mess with Billy, and it's the last time ya mess with anything, do you hear me?" Sylvia said in a whisper so that the others couldn't understand. "I had him before ya even laid eyes on him, and I'll cut your tits off and shove 'em up your cunt if I have to to keep him," she hissed, inching past the girl and through the door.

"All right, what's goin' on?" Billy demanded as the two women entered the living room. When neither answered, he said, "Both of you – over there where I can keep an eye on you… and keep quiet."

Ellen brushed the tears of rage from her eyes and sat down on the bare mattress behind the table. She watched Sylvia cross the room and stand next to the window. She noticed that the girl's eyes still glowed with the reviling contempt that had sent her into the tantrum a moment before, and Ellen turned her head towards the men seated around the table.

"We got a little plan that's real interesting," Billy said, staring at Ellen, a half-grin of obvious pride on his face.

"I'd like to know what the girl has to do with the plan," the older man at the head of the table said sharply. "After all, there is a certain amount of risk involved in a venture of this nature. The greater number of participants only increases the probability of something going wrong."

"Ya keep your big words to yaself," Billy said. "She's here and she's going to be part of it."

Suddenly the large German Shepherd rose up from his prone position on the floor and came to attention next to his master's side as though he had sensed a note of urgency or danger. Billy ran his hand nervously down the animal's back, and shifted his eyes from Ellen back to the angry face of the man who pulled out some papers from his briefcase, setting them on the table before them.

"Alright, Billy," the man said condescendingly. "But let us keep in mind that you are putting yourself into a jeopardizing position. There are men higher up who won't appreciate your methods."