Heated Restraints (8 page)

They lay in silence, until finally she sighed. It was time for her to go. She looked at him again. “Well, I have to leave.”

“So soon?” Thor ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it way from her face. “Yeah. That’s why I was here early to tell you I couldn’t stay long. We have our monthly internship meeting tonight so I need to go by campus before the children’s home.”

There was something reflected in the depth of his eyes, but Liza was afraid to hope for more with him. She still had a couple of hours before she had to be at the school, but it was time for her to go. Thor was an addiction. She needed to give herself some time away from him. Doubtful that she meant more to him than a good time, however, she had no regrets.

Getting up, she said, “Let’s end this right this time.” Sitting beside Thor, she bent forward and kissed him, putting all of her unspoken feelings and emotions into it.

As they parted, she rose. She quickly got dressed without looking at him.

Finally, she slipped on her sandals and turned toward him. Eyeing his well-sculpted naked form in repose, there was no longer any swelling around his knee.

He would be back to work in a couple of days.

He pushed himself up to a sitting position against the headboard. “You take care of yourself, princess.”

“You do the same, Thor.” Smiling, she turned and left his house. Nothing else needed to be said.

Chapter Six

“So, how’s the MCL doing today?” Jack asked the next day when he stopped by Thor’s house to drop off a dessert plate from his wife Betty. Taking the chair across from the couch, Jack sat down.

“Good. By tomorrow I should be about ninety percent.” Thor rubbed a hand across the side of his knee. Most of the soreness had gone and he walked with only a slight limp. “Hopefully, I’ll only have to ride the desk for a few days, then I can get back out to the field.”

“Yeah? I’m surprised you lasted this long being a couch potato.” Jack reached into the cooler beside the table, tossed Thor a beer and retrieved one for himself.

“So, am I,” Thor chuckled and popped the top off his bottle.

“I guess it helped having company sitting with you while you recuperated.”

Jack opened his drink and guzzled some.

Thor was in the process of lifting his beer to his mouth when the understanding of Jack’s words hit him. “Company…hmmm. Who told you?”

“Small town chatter.” Jack confirmed and took another drink, eyeing Thor over the brown bottle’s length.

Looking at Jack intently, Thor decided not to waste time beating around the bush. He and Jack had always been straight with each other. No need to change that now. “Yeah, Liza came by a few times.”

Jack raised his eyebrow. “A few times? More like three to four hours a day,”

his friend corrected.

“Damn. That’s not chatter, that’s fuckin’ special investigations.”

Barking with laughter, Jack almost choked on a mouthful of beer. Wiping his lips and chin with the back of his hand, Jack said, “Pretty much.” He cleared his throat. “So, what’s going on with you and Liza?”

“Nothing.” He paused and stared down at his label. “I thought maybe something… but,” he stopped again, sighed and took a sip of his beer, “I’m not what she wants.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yup. She likes charity cases. Helping the helpless.” He patted his knee in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. “I was. Now, I’m not.”

“What happened? Did that accident knock all the sense out of your damn thick skull?”

Thor was shocked by the forceful tone of his friend. He and Jack went way back and this was the first time he’d ever seen him this upset. “What’s wrong with you? Liza and I are both adults. I didn’t take advantage of your town princess if that’s what’s going around.”

“No one’s sayin’ that.” Jack barked. “This town cares too much for Liza to say anything that hurtful.”

“Well, good.” Now he was angry. Thor’s beer made a loud
thunk
as he set it down on the table. “Because I care about her too, but she’s the one who walked away and hasn’t called or come by in two days.”

“Have you called her?”

Jack’s calm question knocked the wind out of his sails. “What?”

“Have you called her?” he asked again.

“No.”

“I thought you said you two were adults.”

“I am a fuckin’ adult.”

Standing, Jack grabbed both their beer bottles. “No time like the present to act like one.”

“What makes you think that she wants more from me than a good time?”

Thor asked.

“Women who want a good time don’t lay on the side of the road in the dirt holding on to an unconscious man’s hand. Nor do they spend all night in a hospital waiting for a guy to wake up if all they’re looking for is a little fun.”

Jack turned and headed toward the kitchen.

Jack’s words hit him deep in the gut.
Liza had been there at the accident
and with him at the hospital?
Thor watched his friend walk into the kitchen. He knew Jack was right. For the last two days, he’d been sulking around the house waiting for her to come by so he could talk to her. Tell her how he felt and that he cared for her. More than he ever wanted to.

Liza had waltzed her little sassy ass right into his heart. And damn it, he’d fallen for her hard. It was time for him to make the next move.

* * * *

“So, guys, this is our game plan.”

Thor watched Glen Russell, the captain of the RACE team, walk over to the white board in the conference room they’d all been in for the past hour discussing the drug traffickers.

Popping the cap off a marker, Captain Russell began to make drawings that resembled a football diagram. “I spoke with Chief Dennison and Sheriff Pyle.

We’ve all decided that our best plan of attack against these guys is a good solid roadblock.” He turned back toward his men, waving the marker as he spoke.

“There may only be one main interstate that runs through Claremont from Florida, but there are several ways to branch off it and travel around.” Facing the board again, he made a few more X’s and O’s. “Now, these are the areas we will cover. As you can see we’re goin’ need all of the law enforcement workin’

together at the same time to make this happen.”

“Any questions?” Snapping the cap on the marker, he waited.

“Does this mean we all will be on duty every night until they come through here again?” Thor asked, leaning back in his chair in the first row and trying to ignore the pain in his ass from sitting in the hard plastic seat for so long. Add it to the nagging feeling in his knee, which only acted up when he sat still; he was more than ready for the session to end.

“Nope. The schedule will remain just as it is. The only difference is everyone will be on call. As soon as these guys are spotted, you need to get to your position point in record time.” Captain Russell picked up a small stack of papers and passed them out to his team.

Thor glanced down at his copy of the town and city limits map. He sighed with relief when he located his name with a few more officers from the other two law enforcement departments. Since he was on desk duty this week, he’d been afraid they may have considered leaving him out of the detail.

“We’re going to catch these guys and sooner or later they’ll all learn to stay out of our county. If there’s nothin’ else, you all can go.”

The room was silent. When all the men were dismissed, Thor stood to exit the room. It was his day off and he had his own plan of action to execute tonight.

“Officer Zeller,” the Captain called out to him, halting Thor at the door.

Stepping to the side, Thor allowed his other teammates to pass. “Yeah, Captain?”

“I just wanted to check on how you were doin’?”

“I feel great. My leg gets a little stiff now and then, but I’m fine. I wouldn’t jeopardize the team just to be part of the show.”

Captain Russell eyed him for a moment. “Glad to here it.” Extending his arm, he patted Thor on the shoulder. “You’re still on desk for a while. But, whenever all this goes down, you’re in.”

“Thanks, Captain.”

Thor waited until his boss left the room, then popped his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in a number.

* * * *

Liza heard Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 begin to play as she hustled across the campus of Florida State to her advisor’s office. Pulling her cell phone out of its side pouch on her purse, she eyed the caller I.D. screen. Finally locating it, she smiled when she saw it was Thor. She’d given him her number one day while he was healing at home just in case he needed something. He’d never used it.

“Hello, Thor.”

“Hi, princess. I want to see you tonight.”

Damn, his deep voice sounded good. She’d missed him over the week.

Purposely, she’d kept her distance from him since he’d gotten better, needing him to show her that this
relationship
of sorts wasn’t one-sided. She was old-fashioned in a sense and desired him to make the next move. “I’m at school now, but I should be done in an hour our so. Then I just have a quick stop by the children’s home and tell the kids goodbye. What time?”

“Can you come here when you finish?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll see you then.”

They ended the call and she continued her brisk strut across campus with a little pep in her step. After she turned in her thesis to her professor, school would be complete.

* * * *

Two hours later, Liza walked out of the Sacred Hearts children’s home. It amazed her how dark it was outside. She’d only been inside forty minutes and the moonless sky gave the area an eerie feel. For a moment, she considered returning inside and asking someone to walk her to the car, but knowing the counselors inside were already beyond the ratio of children to staff, she changed her mind and continued. Rounding the corner of the building, she headed in the direction of her car. When she parked earlier, there had only been a few spaces available in the back row; now an extended-cab truck was blocking the view of her convertible.

Anxious, she accelerated her pace, finally arriving at the pickup. She began to sigh with relief. Stepping around the flatbed, she froze. A few feet in front of her, a tall white man was sliding some type of car jacking tool along her window.

Not waiting to be discovered, she pivoted on her rubber-soled flats and prepared to run back to the building for help.

“Well, what do we have here?” A short stocky dark-skinned black man called out as his hand gripped her forearm only two strides into her escape plan.

In his other hand, he held a dark colored gym bag.

She’d missed the lookout guy because he’d blended into the night.

“I take it this must be your car, little lady,” the tool man said from behind her. Liza turned her gaze away from the short mountain, looked back at the tall tawny-haired man, and took note of the scar along his jaw.
Identification
features
. “You can have the car. Please just let me go.”

“I don’t think so.” The white man leaned his arm on the top of her now open driver’s side door. Evidently, he was savvy enough to disarm her alarm system.

The blood in her arm began to throb around the place where the black man’s hand held her like a manacle.

The dark mountain began to shove her toward the open door as he said,

“You and Georgia plates are going to get us through the little speck on the map called Claremont.”

Claremont County
. Liza dug her heels into the ground and tried to pull her arm free. She didn’t have to be a genius to realize who these guys were. What she didn’t want was them to figure out who she was. That the very same town they wanted to drive through without trouble was her town. “Please, let me go. My family will miss me if I don’t show up home soon.”

Dropping the bag, the black man grabbed her other arm and pulled her closer to him. “Listen, lady, at this moment I don’t give a fuck about your family.

I’ve got an appointment on the other side of that shit kick’n town and I don’t plan to miss it.”

The other man stepped closer to them. “If you play nice then we’ll let you go and you can drive to wherever home is, unharmed. If not…,” the white man gave her a sadistic smile, then lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Now, get your pretty little ass in the car before I start thinking of other ways to get you to cooperate.”

The black man’s barking laughter grated along her nerves as he released his hold and gave her a push toward the car. Silently, she crawled into the back seat and prayed she’d get out of this alive. Both men got into the front and closed their doors, sealing her fate.

* * * *

Thor leaned against the banister on his porch, watching the car lights pull into his driveway. Well over an hour ago, she’d called him and said she was getting ready to leave the children’s home. He’d gone out and picked up food so they could have a quiet dinner and talk about their relationship or lack there of.

The ready smile on his face slowly disappeared when he realized it wasn’t her, but one of his RACE team members.

“Thor!” Chris Payton called out as he launched himself out of his haphazardly parked car and raced toward him.

Chuckling, he asked, “Is my house on fire, Chris?”

“It’s the drug runners.”

Instantly, the muscles in Thor’s shoulders tensed, as he turned toward his front door. “I’m on my way, let me grab my gun and leave a note for—”

“They’ve got Liza.”

His knees went weak and almost buckled. The only thing that saved him from hitting the ground was his grip on his front door. Thor looked over his shoulder at his teammate. “How in the hell did that happen? What happened to the fuckin’ roadblock plan?” He rushed into his house for his gun.

Following him, Chris answered each question Thor volleyed at him. “They were drivin’ her car. So, the block was never activated.”

“How’d they get her car?” Thor slammed a full clip into his gun, then placed it into the holster on his thigh.

“We don’t know.” Chris trailed Thor out the door. “We would’ve missed them completely, but Dale got curious when he tried to flag her down for a greeting and she didn’t stop. Then when he threw on his lights as a joke to get her to stop, her car sped up. That’s when he got concerned and started following her.