Thor (The Black Hornets MC Book 5)

by Savannah Rylan

  Before either of us could say anything, we heard a door slam open. Jace and I looked out my window, and we watched the two guards haul Diego in chains and handcuffs to the van. I looked over at Jace and he puffed out his cheeks, but I saw what was running behind his eyes.

  “You thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked.

  “I’m thinking you’re a hell of a getaway driver,” Jace said.

  I nodded, thankful that we were on the same page.

  One of the guards ripped the van door open and Diego got in. Jace and I faced forward, waiting for the guards to sit him down. They closed the door before climbing around in back, and I heard them cock their guns.

  “Time?” I asked.

  One of the guards sighed. “Thank fuck. It’s almost noon.”

  “There’s a diner with some sick food on our route to the detention center. Called Mikey’s. Pull in and I can hop out and get us all some food,” the other guard said.

  “Including the inmate,” Jace said.

  “Yeah, yeah. I guess him, too,” the guard said.

  I peered over at Jace before I checked my mirrors. I watched the guards buckle themselves in while Diego stared straight ahead. Stone-faced. Covered in tattoos. A scrawny little man with connections that could blow any of us out of the water.

  “Be on the lookout for anyone else trying to snag Diego,” Colt said.

  “Yep,” Jace murmured.

  I struck up the van and slowly pulled us away from the curb. The gate was straight ahead, and I looked over at Jace momentarily. He pulled his badge from around his neck and handed it to me. I looked back at the two guards in the rear seat, narrowing my eyes at them.

  “First transport?” one of the guards asked.

  I felt my blood run cold.

  “Learning as we go,” Jace said.

  “Yep. I remember my first transport. I made some of the same assumptions. We’ve already been checked out by the front gate. They’ll look for our faces, but they’ll only need your two badges,” the other guard said.

  I nodded as I drew in a deep breath.

  We rolled up to the gate and stopped. I rolled down the window and looked into the eyes of a woman who looked bored as fuck to be there. She held out her hand without even looking at me and I slapped both mine and Jace’s badges into her hand. She slowly looked over at me and blew a bubble with her chewing gum, then quickly scanned our badges underneath the scanner.

  I looked over at the computer and watched our faces pop up. Different names. Different social security numbers. Different places of living.

  “Where you guys headed with this one?” the woman asked.

  I drew in a deep breath. Fuck. What was the name of that detention center?

  “Mackay Depo,” Jace said.

  The woman’s eyes fell down my body before she grunted. She came out of her stall and walked over to the van door, pulling it open quickly. Diego sat there, like a stone-cold cat. I kept my eyes on the woman in the rearview mirror as my hands tightened on the steering wheel. Blood rushed through my ears. My heart slammed against my chest. I looked over at Jace and saw a small glistening of sweat on his forehead.

  “Tracy and Mack, you two back there?” the woman asked.

  “Yep. It’s us,” one of the men said.

  “Walking the two newbies through protocol,” the other guard said, chuckling.

  “Yeah, they look a little fresh around the eyes. Keep an eye on ‘em,” the woman said.

  “You’ve always been paranoid, Lizzie,” the guard said.

  “We’ll keep our eyes on them, for sure. Just for you,” the other guard said.

  “Uh huh,” Lizzie huffed.

  The van door closed and she came back up to our window. Her eyes held mine for what seemed like forever before her gaze flickered over to Jace. She turned her back and walked into her stall, then scanned our cards one last time.

  Holy fuck. Were we about to be made?

  “Lizzie! Just let us through, damn it. We’re hungry,” one of the guards said.

  I looked at the woman in the stall and stared her down. Eyed her carefully, readying myself to speed through the fucking gate. We had Diego in the damn van. I could improvise, if necessary. I felt Jace’s eyes on my face. Begging me not to do what he thought I was about to do.

  Then, the woman stuck her hand back into the van with our badges in her palm.

  “Altered arrival time for food?” Lizzie asked.

  “Add an hour and a half to our drive. The new guys look like they really eat,” one of the guards said.

  “An hour. Better make it quick,” she said.

  I took our badges from her and tossed Jace his. When the gate opened for us, relief flooded my veins. I inched the van through the gate and I felt that damned woman eyeing us the entire way. I looked back in the rearview mirror and clocked Diego, who hadn’t moved a damn inch since he’d been sat down in his seat.

  “Don’t worry about Lizzie. She’ll come around to you guys.”

  “Yeah, she’s always skeptical of new people. Been doing her job way too long, if you ask me.”

  “Yep. Woman was supposed to retire three years ago. Before her husband died.”

  “We think she replaced fucking him with fucking work.”

  The crassness of their words left a bad taste in my mouth. I hated it when men talked about women like that. If there was one rule I abided by in this world, it was respecting women. No matter the cost. But listening to those two assholes giggle and cackle like teenagers at their brash joke made me want to back over them with the van before I drove off with Diego in the first fucking place.

  “We have ‘em,” Jace whispered.

  “Good. Got out of the department all right?” Colt asked.

  “Mhm,” I murmured.

  “Good. Just stay quiet. I’ll know by the route you take which plan you’re going to use. And before you blow your cover by talking to me, yes. I had Rock put a tracking device underneath the car as he was slipping your badges into the glove compartment early this morning,” Colt said.

  I looked over at Jace and watched him snicker.

  “What’s so funny, guys?” one of the guards asked.

  I shook my head and cleared my throat.

  “You said Mikey’s Diner, right?” I asked.

  “Ah. That one. Got it,” Colt said.

  “Yep. That’s the one. You guys think about what you want to eat. My treat, to help break in the new guys,” one of the guards said.

  “Appreciate it,” Jace said.

  Chapter 23

  Willow

  My head wrenched back and my eyes fell open. Every bone in my body ached. The smell of urine was extravagant. I kept holding back my bowels just to not have to deal with it. Bile rose up the back of my throat, protesting the fast food that had been jammed down my throat after being starved.

  “Get up. We’re leaving.”

  Javier’s voice hit my ears, but I was too tired to process it. I felt another crack against my cheek and I wailed out in pain. I didn’t care who heard any longer. I didn’t give a shit about holding it back. Blood was caked on my wrists and my ankles had swelled up and bruised. The plastic cut into my skin and it forced tears down my face. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Thor. But not the strong Thor I’d come to know. I saw these men hurting him. Beating him down. Stabbing him. Shooting him.

  I kept myself awake just to not see it.

  Apparently, I hadn’t done a very good job of that, either.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “You want the gag again?” Javier asked.

  I shook my head no, unable to conjure the strength to answer him.

  “That’s what I thought, you nasty bitch.”

  I heard him. Clear as day. He wasn’t a good whisperer or murmurer. My head fell forward and spit dripped onto my thighs as he released me from my plastic confines. First my wrists. Then, each of my ankles. I bit back the groan of relief as blood rushed through my body. My l
egs had fallen asleep. My ass had fallen asleep. And as Javier gripped my arm, it felt like pins and needles were falling from the sky. Slamming into my body at an alarming rate.

  “Holy shit,” I whimpered.

  “You’ll shut up or I’ll shove that gag so far down your throat you’ll shit it out in front of your precious boyfriend.”

  I stumbled out alongside Javier. The lights of the hotel glared at me, causing my eyes to close. He dragged me along as I stumbled over myself, tripping and losing control of my faculties. A car door opened before I was tossed into the backseat. I fell into the lap of another man, who ran his hands a little too long over my body.

  “Hood her,” Javier commanded.

  Then, something pressed over my head.

  Someone helped me lean up. Shoved me against the window, like I was a piece of disgusting dirt. I couldn’t see, but I felt my other senses shoot to high alert status. The car pulled away and I found myself counting the twists and turns. I found myself paying attention to the roaring of the tires to try and gauge when we were on backroads and when we were on the highway. I wanted to try and get my bearings. Figure out where the hell we could possibly be. But, I didn’t know Redding as well as I needed to in order to pull something like that off.

  It was more of a comfort than anything. To try and give myself some sort of control I knew deep down I didn’t have.

  The men snarled and jeered at me. I felt hands running up my thighs and down my back. There were three men in the car. One beside me, one driving, and one in the passenger’s seat. None of them talked. I wanted to vomit at the feel of their hands on me. No man touched me without my permission. Hell, no one touched me without my permission.

  I felt someone’s hand drift a little too far up and I yanked away.

  “Stupid bitch,” the man murmured.

  “Hands off,” Javier commanded.

  I never thought I’d ever be relieved to hear my captor say something like that. But the man’s hands moved from my body and I snuggled tightly against the door.

  After what I could only assume was a twenty minute ride, the car came to a stop. My heart slammed against my chest. My hands shook. My knees grew weak with paranoia and fear as it overcame me for the umpteenth time since I’d been taken. I didn’t know how long I’d been in their possession. What day or time it was. I thought I was stronger than this. Stronger than what I had actually been reduced to.

  You’re a disappointment, Willow.

  I sniffed as the voice ran through my head.

  The car door I leaned against opened, and I almost tumbled out onto the ground. I felt someone grab my arm and yank me up, stumbling me on my feet. The door slammed closed and the hand around my arm tightened. Then, I was forced forward.

  “Hello, gentlemen,” Javier said.

  “Take off the hood so we know it’s her!”

  My heart stopped in my chest. Thor. That was Thor’s voice. My legs strengthened and my heart settled in my chest. Holy shit. Thor was there. My breathing picked up as someone shoved my body against the car, and I heard him cry out again.

  “Keep your hands off her or all of you are done!”

  He wasn’t going to be happy when he saw the state of my face.

  An arm came down around my neck before I was tugged into someone’s body. And light lightning, the hood came off my face. I blinked a few times, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light. The bright light of the sun that blazed down upon us. I felt the grit of the desert cake my teeth. Burn my chapped lips. My eyes adjusted to the bright sun and some figures came into view. Colt. An older man with grayed-out hair. A man with blonde hair. One with tattoos up and down his arms. A few others. Men I didn’t have names for. But I knew who they were. I recognized the leather cuts they had on.

  And Thor stood in front of them all. Towering. Hovering. Glaring at the man with his arm around my neck.

  “You son of a bitch,” Thor growled.

  “Where’s Diego!?”

  I winced as how booming Javier’s voice was.

  “What did you do to her!?” Thor exclaimed.

  I watched Colt pat him on the back as I swallowed down the last of the bile my heartburn kept forcing up my throat. My legs finally regained their strength and the pins and needles sensation fell away from my body. I drew in a deep, sobering breath. I calmed the whirring of my mind. I looked at Thor. Gazed into his dark brown stare. I saw the anger. The shock. The guilt that washed over his face.

  Then, there was the slightest nod of his head.

  “No woman without Diego,” Javier said.

  My eyes stayed connected with Thor’s, and he nodded again. Only this time, he held my gaze a little longer than necessary. Thor turned around and signaled for the gray-haired man to open the van door, but then he quickly whipped back around to face me. His fists were clenched at his sides. His shoulders, rolled back. Everything about him was on high alert, and as my eyes fell onto the opening of the van door, it hit me.

  I knew what they were doing.

  I brought my elbow up and slammed it back into Javier’s stomach. I heard him groan as he doubled over, releasing his arm from around my neck. I whipped around and brought my knee up into his nose, shattering it against my knee cap. And as the other two men in the car scrambled to get to me, I took off running toward the club.

  Toward the van.

  Toward Thor.

  “Run, Willow! Come on!” Thor exclaimed.

  I heard the cocking of guns. Adrenaline rushed through my veins. All of the pain I felt in my body melted away from me as my legs carried me as quickly as he could. Thor held his arms out for me. Ushered me past him and straight for the van. Gunshots whizzed by my head. By my arms. By my body. Thor discharged his weapon as men groaned and hit the ground.

  “Come on. In you go,” Colt said.

  As the van door opened, I dove into it. And when I looked up, I found a man with a black eye sitting in the seat. In an orange jumpsuit. A scrawny little man covered in tattoos that snarled at me. Gunshots continued to roar out, knocking against the van and denting the side of it. Bullets bounced off the bulletproof glass as the club jumped back into the van.

  “Willow? Where are you?” Thor asked.

  “We’ve got her. Trust me. Go, Thor! Get us out of here!” Colt exclaimed.

  I tumbled to the floorboard of the van as it sped away. Dust and dirt kicked up. Rocks flew at the undercarriage. I curled up, covering my head as guns continued to fire off. I closed my eyes, wishing for all of it to be over. Wishing for all of this to have never happened.

  And as we hit the highway and sped back into town, I caught my breath.

  Holy shit, I was alive.

  Chapter 24

  Thor

  “How the hell did you guys pull something like that off?” Willow asked.

  “Hold still,” I said.

  “I just… it was brilliant. Did Liv know about it?”

  “I said, hold still, Willow.”

  When they ripped that hood off her head, I saw even from the distance the damage that had been done to her. The plan Colt concocted was simple, and it was meant to throw off everyone at every turn. We intercepted the van and got it to the diner. And when the one guard hopped out of the van, it didn’t take much insinuation from Jace to get the other guard to follow him in. Once they got into the diner, we sped off with Diego and met up with Maverick and Dean who had been the two hanging around the diner. They hopped into the van and we stuck to the backroads, dodging police who had been called out on the matter. We kept an ear on the radio in the van, making sure we didn’t get caught as we sped around trying to get to our meet up point And once we picked up the highway club—which consisted of everyone else—we contacted Javier to confirm the meet up to make the “switch”.

  “Fuck. That hurt, Thor.”

  “I’m sorry. Your lips are pretty busted open, though,” I said.

  It made me irate to say such a thing.

  “Not as bad as my head,” W
illow murmured.

  I looked into her eyes. “Are you still spinning a bit when you get up?”

  “No,” she said.

  “Are you lying to me?”

  She sighed. “Maybe a little bit.”

  Willow walked away with injuries I still felt responsible for. A mild concussion. Chapped and split lips. A bruised jaw and a missing tooth. It took all I had not to put a damn bullet right between Javier’s eyes. The only thing that kept me from doing it was the fact that I knew Willow wouldn’t approve. Through all of it, we promised Liv we wouldn’t give Diego over. That we’d get him back once we had Willow and knew our next move. And Colt delivered on that promise. Liv knew we needed the police van as well as Diego to dangle over Javier’s head in exchange for Willow. Easy as pie, and it showcased just how well-suited Colt was to the position he had been thrust into.

  Despite Dean being pissed off about it the entire time.

  “How are your wrists? Any pain last night?” I asked.

  Willow shook her head. “Not really. Just itchy, at this point.”

  “Good. That means they’re healing,” I said.

  “My ankles feel fine, though.”

  “I’d hope so. They were only bruised. If they hurt you after a few days, I’d be concerned they were fractured.”

  “Since when are you a doctor?” she asked coyly.

  I gazed into her beautiful gray eyes. Eyes that boasted of strength. Of grace. Of beauty. Of perseverance.

  Of life.

  “I’ve learned a lot during my life. We’ll leave it at that,” I said.

  She had gauze around her wrists from where her ties had cut into her skin. Her ankles were bruised from her restraints. Her jaw was very bruised and her eye was swollen shut. She was on antibiotics for the tooth she had lost. Not to mention the first-degree rashes that sitting in her own piss had caused. And the constipation we had to battle.

  All at my place, where I knew she’d sure as hell be safe.

  “Thor, you don’t have to—”

  “Willow, I love you. But, you really need to shut up right now,” I said.