solar plexus, knocking breath I couldn’t waste from my lungs. The forced reaction was to try and draw in a harsh gasp of air, but the chain around my neck kept me from doing that. I lost my breath and tried to take more in at the same time, and that pain was unlike anything I’d felt before, an internal tearing sensation that rode from my abdomen to my throat.
The room disappeared into a set of dancing diamonds, and then the chain loosened around my neck and I was thrown to the floor. I didn’t even have a chance to gather myself before the chain connected with the side of my head, knocking me prone. My lips removed a smear of dust and grime from the floorboards as I slid across them.
I was only vaguely aware of a shaft of light passing in front of my face, feeling no pain in my skull yet because I was so focused on trying to bring some oxygen into my lungs. As soon as the shaft of light moved over the floor, though, the assault stopped. I heard voices I didn’t understand, people talking in Russian, and I lay there on the floor and brought in slow, painful breaths. Dust and dirt filled my mouth each time I inhaled, but air had still never tasted so sweet.
Once I was sure I could breathe again, I rolled onto my side and propped myself up on my elbow. Blood was running down the side of my face from the spot where the chain had hit my head. I wiped at it with one hand and then sat up and looked around the room. Joe was back by the door, held by a powerful-looking man who had his arm wrapped around Joe’s throat, a gun pressed to his head. The two men who’d attacked me were standing in the middle of the floor, chattering in frantic Russian with the man who’d just entered the bar, spilling the light into the room. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision, as the new man snapped something and a second later Joe was released. I still couldn’t see him properly in the dark, but I knew the soft, steady voice, even when it was speaking Russian.
We’d found Thor.
35
A moment later Thor was kneeling beside me, his fingers moving through my hair, studying the wound.
“Scalp always bleeds,” he said. “It is not bad.”
He turned and spoke in Russian, and the man in the sleeveless shirt hustled behind the bar and came back with a towel. Thor put it in my hand and pressed it to the side of my head.
“You can stand?”
“Yeah.” I wet my lips with my tongue. “We tried to find you at the River Wild. Your boys down there set us up, I guess.”
He nodded. “I was told what had happened and where they had sent you. I was close to this bar. You are lucky that was the case.”
“I guess so.”
“To go in there and do that . . . it was not wise.”
“Didn’t figure it was a particularly brilliant move, but I had to find you. It’s bad, Thor. The—”
“Do not talk here.” His voice left no room for argument. He straightened and then offered his hand to me. I took it, and he lifted me back to my feet.
“We will leave,” he said. “You will drive, and then we will talk.”
I followed him back to the front door. Joe looked unharmed. They’d apparently held him so he could watch while they whipped my ass around the room. Maybe when that was done, he would’ve gotten to enjoy the same treatment. I could finally see the man who’d looped the chain around my throat—a pale ape with tattoos all over his arms and even on the sides of his neck. Thor guided me toward the door and then stepped away. He reached out and took the man’s face in his hand, squeezing the sides of his jaw while he whispered something in Russian. He didn’t seem to be exerting real force, but the muscles in his hand and arm had gone tight and the man with the chain was squinting, his eyes beginning to tear. He made no attempt to resist, though. Thor whispered to him for a long time. When he finally released him, the man kept his eyes on the floor. Thor opened the door and held it while Joe and I walked through and back into daylight.
“You all right?” Joe handed me my gun.
I took the towel away from my head and looked at the dark red stain.
“Yeah.”
“Still bleeding pretty well.”
“It’ll stop.”
It was late morning now. Amy had been gone for five, maybe six hours at the minimum. A lot could happen in that amount of time. They could have taken her out of the state, thrown her in the back of a truck and started to drive, be hundreds of miles away from us by now and still moving. That wasn’t the worst scenario, either. Just the worst I could let myself consider.
The door opened again, and Thor joined us outside and pointed at Joe’s Taurus.
“That is your car?”
“Yes.”
“We will go in that. You will drive, and you will tell me what is happening that made you do such foolish things.”
Joe got behind the wheel, and Thor motioned me into the passenger seat, then sat behind us. He was dressed in dark jeans and a black jacket, and I didn’t have to study the jacket for any bulges to know that he was wearing a gun underneath it. He had gloves on, too, even though it wasn’t nearly cold enough to warrant them. I could see Joe’s eyes on the mirror, trying to look back at our passenger. I waited until we were out of the parking lot to speak.
“I know who was extorting Alex Jefferson. His name is Andy Doran, and he’s working with whoever Jefferson hired after you turned him down. He was hired to kill Doran, to eliminate the problem for Jefferson, but instead this guy joined up with Doran. He saw more money in that, I guess.”
The streetlight ahead went yellow, and Joe made a right turn to avoid it, driving without purpose but wanting to stay in motion.
“They kidnapped a woman today.”
Thor slouched in the seat and watched the street go by. He did not react to my words. Did not look at me.
“She has nothing to do with this,” I said. “Absolutely nothing, Thor. They kidnapped her because they know what she means to me. I’ve got to find out who Doran’s partner is, and then I have to find him. This has to happen now.”
“And you think I know who he is?”
I shook my head. “No, but you know the man who might. Whoever put Jefferson in contact with you, this attorney you told me about, he might know. It makes sense that if Jefferson relied upon him once, he would have gone back to him. I need to know who that man was, and I need to see him.”
“I have told you before that I do not wish to be a part of this. The police found me over a mistake. I do not want to see more mistakes.”
“You’re more a part of it than you realize. Did you know there’s a warrant out for my arrest? They think I killed Jefferson. Actually, they think I
“This Doran, he is the one who killed him?”
“He says he didn’t.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know, and right now I don’t care.” I lowered the bloody towel from my head, the wound finally beginning to clot, and twisted so I could face him. He hadn’t changed position, hadn’t so much as shifted since settling into the seat, but I saw that his gloved hands were clenched against his knees.
“I’ve got to get Amy back. That’s her name. Amy Ambrose. She’s an innocent in this, Thor. Other than making the mistake of knowing me, she’s got nothing to do with any of it. And they’ve got her right now.”
I was trying to keep my voice even, calm, but it wasn’t working. I knew Thor could hear the change, and when I looked back again his ice blue eyes searched mine.
