Texas Tornado

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “Where’d she get it?” Jack asked.

  My eyes flicked to his, noting that he looked much more relaxed. Much more happy than I’d ever seen him. “Some chick threw it at Shiloh when she yanked my pants away from her. I was wondering why she’d kept it, but I’m glad she did.”

  Silence. “So you really stripped?”

  “It was a bet. You know I don’t go back on my word.”

  “Sadly, we do. Just don’t let it happen again. I don’t want my wife seeing you in your tighty whities again.” Max murmured.

  “Where’s Cat?” I asked Jack as I took a seat beside him.

  I had about five minutes before I needed to leave, and I decided to take a load off. My body was exhausted. I’d had a tough two months, and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better anytime soon.

  “My brother has her. He took her to the fire station for a show and tell.” Jack rumbled, sucking down another swallow of beer.

  “What?” Was echoed by Gabe and myself.

  “They got some new equipment for infants or some shit. Winter volunteered Cat to test the fit on a few of them.” Jack informed us.

  “Oh, well why do they need to test them out beforehand?” I wondered.

  “You don’t want to find out in the middle of restraining an infant after a car accident that your backboard doesn’t work on a two month old, or a one week old. Nor do you want to find out that a blood pressure cuff is too big, therefore not giving you reliable readings, making you not give a needed medication en route that could’ve saved a kid’s life.” Gabe explained.

  I shuddered. It was hard to think about a two month old like Cat needing any sort of medical treatment for any reason. Just to think of Janie on a backboard gave me heart palpitations.

  “Yeah, that’s about what Winter said.” Jack agreed.

  “All right. Well I have a training exercise. I’ll catch you guys later.” I said shaking each of their hands.

  The ride to the police station had me looking over my shoulder the entire way. I knew someone was following me. When I stopped at the only stop light in between Free and the training facility, I sent a quick message to Sam, who was watching over Shiloh today.

  Sam and I had decided after the last incident, that it was best to have one of our own guys on Shiloh. It wasn’t that we didn’t have confidence in Sebastian’s MC; it was that when one of our own was in trouble, we made sure that we were the ones doing what was needed. When it came down to it, we knew each other well, and we knew that we’d protect with our lives. Each and every one of us had done nothing less for each other, time after time. We knew without a doubt that the same would be extended to our significant others and our children.

  What I hadn’t thought, was that I would need that protection for myself. I’d been too arrogant, too sure of myself.

  I never saw the shooter. Never saw the bullet.

  When the bullet from a sniper’s gun slammed into my body, I was thrown from my bike. I looked down, at the hole in my t-shirt at my lower right chest, and knew I was screwed. I was going to die.

  The blood welled from just a small round circle, to encapsulate the entire front of my t-shirt within moments, and I knew I was going to die. If not by the sniper that was likely to put another bullet in my head, then by the gunshot wound I’d sustained. It was becoming hard to breathe, and my vision started to go hazy at the edges.

  Then, the last person on earth I’d suspected to see in the world, came up from behind me in a black sedan, and stopped with the passenger side door only inches from my prone body.

  The door clicked open, and a frantic Jolie popped the door open, swinging it across my body. She reached down, with her tiny fucking hands, and unceremoniously hauled me into the car, grunting, crying, and cursing.

  “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.” She chanted repeatedly.

  “Oh, fuck. I knew this was going to happen. Jesus.” She cried.

  I tried to help the best I could, but only managed to use my feet right about the time she’d done the hard part. I pushed the last few inches until I was leaning back against the seat. She leaned over, yanked the lever, and I dropped flat, the weight of my upper body slamming the seat backwards until I hit the limit of the seat, and came to a jolting halt.

  “Sorry, sorry.” She said frantically.

  Then she leaned over me, pulled the door closed, threw it into gear, and slammed the gas down to the floorboard.

  A ping in the back glass had her jumping, but not once did she slow down. She blew through stop signs and stoplights alike. Feeling my brain going fuzzy, I lifted my hand opposite my bullet wound, and plugged the hole that was steadily leaking blood. My finger sunk in, stanching the hole with one large finger. Even the jolt of pain wasn’t enough to stop the hazy feeling from taking over.

  After the third near collision, I passed out, knowing that one thing was true.

  I’d failed.

  ***

  Shiloh

  “What kind of cookies does your daddy like best?” I asked Janie.

  We were waiting for Sam to get back from the store with the flour and sugar for our cookies. I’d managed to get James to purchase all the ingredients I’d need, however, I’d misjudged the amount of sugar and flour that we had.

  Sam had been reluctant to go at first, but after Janie got in on the pleading action, he’d agreed, albeit reluctantly.

  I was in the process of melting chocolate in the saucepan for the peanut butter balls while Janie scoured over the recipes, deciding which ones she wanted to do next.

  Sam had been gone for a little over ten minutes when the power went out.

  I looked out the kitchen window. I was frowning at the bright sunshiny day when it struck me how odd it was that the power had gone out on a day like this. Sure, it was cold, and we had a chance of icing rain, but that wasn’t until much later in the day. It was rare for the power to go out. James had just explained this morning when I asked if we should be worried about the rain that in this portion of the city, the power lines were buried, and it’d take a bulldozer digging down eight feet to disrupt the power.

  Knowing that something was wrong, I trusted my gut and turned off the heating chocolate.

  “Janie, I think we need to go to the safe...” I whispered urgently, walking up to her and taking her hand.

  “Too late.” A man said jovially.

  Janie gasped in fear, shrinking back into my embrace, and I clutched her as well as I could to my chest, cursing myself ten kinds of stupid for thinking we might need more sugar and flour, and sending Sam to the store.

  Dammit.

  “Who are you?” I gasped.

  “Oh, baby. This is gonna be fun. Cute girl.” The man leered.

  Emotions welled up inside of me. Ones that heated my blood, causing rage like nothing I’d ever felt before to tear through me at his audacity. I gritted my teeth. I wouldn’t provoke him. Not with Janie to worry about.

  Janie was shaking in my arms, and the sense of defeat tore through me. We weren’t getting out of this. The man was freaking huge. Easily James’ size, if not bigger. Tall, large ropey muscles, tattoos of skulls, naked women, and a grim reaper dominated his arms. His hair was dark, nearly black. The beard on his face could rival my father’s, but instead of keeping it tidy like my father did, this man’s was just everywhere. I swear his nose hair literally grew into the beard as well. He was hairy to say the least.

  His eyes were the color of emerald jewels. Exactly like Zander’s eyes.

  So this must be the brother. Glen.

  Damn, but I sure could pick them.

  “Are you going to come on your own? Or do I need to knock you out?” He asked, taking a step towards me.

  My eyes watched his feet as he got closer to me, and widened when I saw the knife that was sticking out of his boot at the base. Four inches long at least, all it would take was one kick, and I’d be dead. God.

  “I’ll come peacefully. I’ll come. Please don’t hurt us.”
I pleaded.

  “Walk out the door. Go to the van. My men are outside, so don’t think you can do anything funny and get away with it.” He guided me, one hand on my lower back, to the door.

  I held Janie protectively against me, but found my arms empty in the next moment. Janie was tossed on the floor like a piece of trash.

  “We’re leaving the girl here as an incentive. A show of good faith, if you want to call it that. Don’t worry though. You’re still going to come.” He snickered.

  Then he turned and regarded the whimpering Janie, holding on to my arm now, gripping it so tightly that I couldn’t cover up the wince.

  “You stay here. Tell that old man that we’ve got something he wants. It’s us making the call now.” The man, Glen, instructed Janie.

  Relief poured through me at knowing that he was leaving Janie here. Thank God, he only wanted me.

  The door opened and he all but shoved me out of it. The only thing keeping me upright was his rough grip on my arm. Janie’s squeal of alarm brought my attention back to her as she started to come towards me, wanting only to help.

  “Janie, baby. It’s okay. You stay here, talk to Silas for me. Tell him what this man told you, okay, sweetie?” I pleaded with her, hoping that she’d stop her advancement.

  Luckily, she listened, and the door closed behind us, cutting off my view of her. “Get to the truck. Don’t fuck around. No sudden moves or the girl’s going with us, too.”

  When I was in the truck, Glen followed me in, shutting the doors behind him. When he turned, I was too slow to react, and found his face close to mine. I shrunk as far into the side of the van that I could, but there was just nowhere for me to go. I was stuck.

  “Zander tells me you have a hot pussy. I think I’ll try it out later.” He jeered, running his rough hands down the side of my face, and then down lower, in between my breasts, and down my stomach.

  I puked. Everywhere.

  Boy did I puke, too. It wasn’t one of those dainty throw ups where you bend over and it comes out. No, this one was projectile. It went from the bottom of my stomach, out my mouth, covering Glen, past Glen, and then covering the wall behind him.

  I’d eaten a ton of cookie dough, bacon, eggs, and pancakes in the hours since I’d woken that day. There was a lot to throw up. Eventually, though, it stopped and silence poured through the van.

  The men in the front seat looked on in horror, and I cringed back, praying his retaliation wouldn’t hurt too bad. But it did.

  His fist snapped out, landing along my jaw, snapping it like a piece of kindling with his massive fist.

  The blow sent my head into the back of the van, hitting it so hard that the glass cracked on the window behind me. My vision swam, and I prayed that I’d wake up, and still have my clothes intact. Still be living.

  I lost the fight with consciousness in the next moment, staying awake long enough to feel the next blow that landed on my chest, stealing the oxygen from my lungs before I passed out completely.

  Chapter 24

  Welcome to the party, pal.

  -Die Hard

  James

  “How long is this going to take, Payton?” A muffled voice whispered.

  My eyes felt heavy, like I’d been sleeping really hard. Kind of like when I took Nyquil for a cold. My eyelids didn’t want to open, and it took me a long time to finally pry them apart, but everything was fuzzy.

  “His eyes are opening now. Oh, Jesus, I’m going to get fired. I’m going to lose my license.” Payton whispered sadly.

  “Oh, shut up. You just gave him the meds. You didn’t steal them from the Pixus like I did.” Cheyenne groaned.

  She sounded worried as well, and it was starting to make me curious. Why on earth would they be stealing drugs? Why did my head feel like it was filled with cotton? Why did my chest feel like something was sitting on it? What the hell was shoved up my dick?

  “James?” Winter asked.

  I blinked my eyes furiously, trying to clear the sleep from them. It took a couple of minutes, but I finally made out Winter’s bright red hair, as well as Payton’s pink, and Cheyenne’s, Blaine’s, and Ember’s blonde.

  “What the hell?” I croaked.

  Another face leaned in and surveyed my face.

  Sebastian.

  He looked haggard. Bags resided under his eyes making it look like he hadn’t slept in well past the normal amount of time. His beard nearly looked unkempt, which was a rarity for him. He was a neat freak Marine. They didn’t allow their hair to get unruly.

  Then a thought hit me. Although I saw Winter, Cheyenne, and the rest of the girls, I didn’t see Janie and I didn’t see Shiloh.

  “Where’re my girls?” I grated out.

  It felt like I’d deep throated a mace. Jesus, my throat rivaled my chest.

  Then little things started to click into place. The silence from my question started my brain working again, and panic hit me. I remembered riding to work, stopping at a stop sign, texting Sam, and then laying down flat against the asphalt. Then nothing.

  “What’s wrong? Cheyenne, please tell me. Please,” I begged.

  I hadn’t realized that I was about to cry until my vision went blurry again. Blinking the tears away, I focused on my sister, and when she still didn’t tell me, I turned my stare to Sebastian. His eyes, although haunted, were also filled with fury.

  “They’re dead.” I finally said, horror filling my voice.

  Sebastian shook his head. “Janie’s fine. Shaken, but fine. Sam’s got her. I know where Shiloh is, too. But...I need you to get her out. It’s been two days, and if we wait much longer, they’re just going to kill her.” Sebastian explained.

  I’d begun ripping out IVs and removing shit that was stuck to me before he’d even finished. It was when I started to stand that I realized that the stupid thing was still in my dick. “Tell me how to get this out.” I demanded pointing at the offending area under my gown.

  Cheyenne blushed, and left the room, as did everyone but Payton. “Want me to do it?”

  “Just tell me what to do.” I growled as I started to rip the gown off when I realized it’d be leaving me naked in front of my best friend’s wife, and stopped.

  “Okay, here’s what you’ve got to do.” She explained quickly, leaving me the tools necessary, and left the room.

  With a deep breath, I stood on shaky legs, barely suppressing the desire to puke my guts up. The only thing that kept me from doing it was sheer force of will. I didn’t have time, and it’d hurt like a motherfucker if I did.

  Pants and a shirt were left on the end of the bed. Slipping into them as best as I could without bending at the waist, I continued to ignore the ungodly pain I was in and slid my feet into my socks, but stopped before I got the boots on. There was just no way I was going to be able to do it myself.

  “Cheyenne,” I called, however it didn’t come out to well, so I cleared my voice, and called again, more loudly this time. “Cheyenne!”

  She came in quickly, took in the situation, and dropped down to her knees. “I seem to remember the opposite of this happening when we were kids.”

  I smiled slightly at her attempt to lighten the mood, but didn’t go much further than that.

  Once my boots were on, I raised my hand to her, and she grabbed on to my arm, lifting with me as I stood to my feet. Slowly.

  Once I was out in the hall, Payton shoved two pills in my hand and I swallowed them dry. “What’d I just take as we walked towards the elevator?”

  “A pain pill and an antibiotic. You didn’t finish it in your drip.” She explained as she pressed the button on the elevator.

  A woman’s panicked voice from behind us made the girls turn around, trying to shield me with their bodies, but they’re luck wasn’t with them that day. I was a good foot taller than even the tallest one. They were shit out of luck from the get go.

  However, when the elevator beeped and the doors open, I didn’t stop for the woman that was running towards us,
yelling that I shouldn’t be out of bed. I just trudged forward, and leaned my elbow against the far wall, trying my hardest not to fall down.

  “Where are we going?” I asked the wall.

  “They’re holding her at a cabin out by Caddo Lake. You’ll have to climb a tree.” Sebastian’s voice sounded tired.

  Easy Peasy. Climb a tree. Two days after being shot in the chest. No problem. Things could be worse, I could be missing a body part, I suppose.

  “Okay,” I agreed readily.

  I’d do anything when it came to Shiloh. As long as Janie was safe while I did it, I didn’t care what I had to do. I’d tear down entire cities to get to that woman.

  I made it to the car before I passed out again.

  It was when I was being physically lifted from the car like a child being lifted under his armpits that I came awake to find Sam staring me in the face. His eyes were cold and hard. Copper fucking fire.

  “You awake?” He snapped.

  “Yes,” I croaked.

  “Good. We got you to about fifteen feet of the tree we expect you to climb. We’ve got you some gear, and we’ll help you as much as we can, but you’re going to have to strap yourself to a limb, because we’re leaving you there.” He informed me.

  I nodded in understanding, looking around and noticing that all the men were there, Luke and Downy, as well as about thirty men dressed in their Dixie Wardens MC cuts. I was happy to find the women gone. Who they were with and where they were at fluttered through my exhausted brain, but I trusted the men to take care of them. Trusted them with everything that I possessed.

  “What am I looking for, exactly?” I asked as I shuffled to the tree Sam had indicated.

  “Anything that moves that isn’t Shiloh.” Sebastian answered as he slipped a bulletproof vest over his head.

  I nodded in agreement, and stepped up to the tree, laying my foot over the loop that they were going to use to hoist me up there. Elliott bent down, looped it over my boot and nodded before stepping back with the other half of the rope that was over a branch at the very top.

  Lucky for me this was a weeping willow. The dangling greenery provided good cover, and the thick, fat branches would hold my weight well. They’d chosen well, which didn’t surprise me. They were experts, just like me.