Hit Squad Read Online Free PDF Page B

drive.” He grinned. “License suspended. Why don’t you stay, Shell, we got room.” He grinned again.
    Shelley shook her head. “Okay, Mona, I’m coming. I’ll grab Jessie. Good night, Tommy. Maybe another time.”
    When the three girls got outside it was cold and dark. It had been raining. Street-lights reflected off the slick pavement. Mona felt lousy. She couldn’t wait to get into bed.Shelley and Jessie were talking nonstop, but the words just flew over Mona’s aching head.
    They turned the corner onto Pandora Street where it was darker and the wind cut into Mona’s ribs. She thrust her fists deep into her pockets.
    A van screeched to a stop right across their path and three black-clothed figures leaped out from the front. Their faces were hidden behind ski masks. The girls screamed. Mona felt herself thrust violently into the back of the van with her two friends. The three girls fell in a heap together, yelling and struggling, on the van floor. Two of the attackers jumped in behind them and slammed the door shut.
    The van took off, tires squealing. Mona struggled to a sitting position, heart beating so fast she was sure it was about to burst. She fought to get her breath. They were being kidnapped. She tried to keep her head as she felt another wave of panic sweep over her. She must think. There were four of them—two in back, two in front. The two in front justlooked straight ahead out the windshield.
    Mona looked out the window. They were heading towards downtown. Whenever they reached a lighted area, Mona saw that Shelley’s and Jessie’s faces were white with fear.
    What did they want? It couldn’t be a kidnap for money. The next thought to flash into her head was so frightening it made her lash out with her bare fists at the closest kidnapper, who fell back into the driver. The car swerved dangerously. One of the men in the back grabbed her arms and pulled her away while the other slapped her face. The blow stung. Mona started to cry.
    â€œWhat do you want? Where are you taking us?” demanded Shelley fiercely.
    Now that Mona had recovered a little from her initial shock she had time to look at their captors more closely. They were built like high school kids. Could they be from Grandview?
    They had driven through downtown. Now they were headed down Georgia Street, towards Stanley Park.
    Soon they were in the park, the twin beams of the van’s headlights picking out tall stands of cedar and pine in the dark mist.
    Mona was scared. There was no way they’d be able to run for it here. Where could they run? The park was so big.
    Shelley groaned and muttered something Mona couldn’t hear.
    The van lurched to a stop. The doors were thrown open. The three ninth-grade girls were dragged out roughly onto the grass. Mona was trembling. The ski masks gave the four kidnappers an even more menacing appearance in this dark and deserted place. One of them forced her over to the front of the van and into the glare of its headlights. He pulled her wrists around and behind a tree and tied them together. He was very rough. She could tell he was enjoying her pain and terror. He was laughing quietly, a low whisper of a laugh. He had tied her wrists too tight. The pain made her bite her lip. She could hear Shelley and Jessie yelling behind her. She turned, crab-like, around the tree trunk untilshe could see her friends. They were also tied to trees. They were terrified.
    One of the kidnappers was carrying something from the van, a loaded pack-sack it looked like. Mona squinted but couldn’t see properly because of the blinding headlights.
    The kidnappers did not speak. Mona thought they had to be from Grandview High. Where else? The whole thing had been planned, but why? What was this all about? Who at Grandview would do a thing like this? Was it Bobbie Agostino? He was cruel enough. He’d asked her out and she had turned him down in front of his brother