Chapter 127 Beyond Control:>>12

• The mobile phone rang and the leader answered, nodding once before turning it off and warning the others. They set aside their bottles and put the flour sacks over their heads, and they moved into the bushes beside the path in the dappled shadows of yellow and black thrown by the single overhead lamp. The leader crouched at the front of the group, holding a hand up to restrain the others. They could see Jen now, walking quickly with her head down and her hands in her pockets and they could see their companion loitering some distance behind her. She approached quickly, almost silent in her running shoes, her face a pale blur under the hood of her coat. They could see the glint of her eyes as she walked into the pool of light, and they waited a few moments to allow her to pass and then they pounced.
• Jen was a strong girl and she struggled, but there were four of them and there was no hope of escape. She tried to scream but they put tape over her mouth and they struck her on the side of the head to stun her, and she felt herself being lifted and carried and flung roughly to the floor of the gazebo. They tied her to one of the supporting columns, sitting up with her back to the rough stonework, and when she came to her senses they were stood over her.
• The four figures were dappled and striped by the long black shadows thrown by the columns and ornate balustrade of the gazebo, and their tracksuits looked like military fatigues. Their bodies were elongated by the perspective of her low vantage point so they appeared massive, and the sacks on their heads with the black eyeholes roughly hacked through the dark, mottled cloth were terrifying. She shrank back, her eyes frantic with fear and her low moan of terror was muffled by the tape around her mouth.