"You didn't recognize him?"

Jason's lack of understanding pushed Gia to act. She lurched to her feet and tried to flee his presence. Instinctively Jason's hands shot out and grasped her wrists with the quickness of a cobra.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured her unemotionally. Jason's dormant medical training urged him to release the struggling young woman's wrists. He ignored his instincts and carefully pushed Gia's sleeves up until he could see her wrists. Just as Jason suspected, angry red bruises encircled her flesh like identical bracelets.

"Come on. Let's go." Jason released Gia and turned toward the shadowed alleyways that led to his tiny apartment over Jake's Pool Hall. When she did not follow, he paused and looked back. "I'm going to take you somewhere you don't have to be afraid," he explained without emotion. "So either follow me or stay there. It's up to you."

Second in the Prison Time series:
Darkness Falls, Dispensation of Mercy, A Mistake of Tragic Proportions,
Misplaced Trust, Shaded Corners, and A Legacy Denied