“What do you reckon?” Abe asked. He and Ava stared through the window of the bistro, trying to read the conversation they were barred from. Cece sat with the three men at a table near the back corner, but she had none of the confident swagger from before. None of the snarl. She had shrunken down in her seat, hunched over and fidgeting, constantly checking over her shoulder towards the two of them.

The man kept up a genial demeanor that didn’t match this at all. If she couldn’t have seen Cece, Ava would have just thought a sweet old man was out having lunch with his friends.

Suddenly, Cece burst into some kind of exclamation, slamming her hands on the table and standing up angrily -- but one look from the muscle men and she sat back down, hunching over again as if trying to hide.

Ava would have left Cece there if she had the option. But Cece knew where Allie was, and whatever was going on in there, she had a bad feeling they weren't going to just let her leave. “Abe,” she said slowly, wrinkling her nose in annoyance as she realized what she spoke out loud: “We’re going to have to get her out of there ourselves.”