Cut and Run 09 Crash & Burn (38 page)

He bared his teeth, unwilling to lose one more piece of himself to anguish from the past. Tanner was about to pay for every moment of Zane’s suffering, every turn of his spiral. Finally, Zane could avenge himself on someone who fucking deserved it. “Let’s play, then.”

“Garrett!” Nick said from behind him. “Don’t be fucking stupid, man.”

Zane just shook his head. Tanner appeared in the doorway, two small blades in his hands. Zane motioned with one hand for Nick to hold his fire, and was rewarded with a string of curses.

Tanner raised an eyebrow, shrugging at Zane. He was grizzled, with more wrinkles on his leathery face and more gray hair than the last time Zane had seen him. But he was still wiry and spry, still capable. He rolled his head from side to side and shook his shoulders out. “All grown up, now, Zane.”

Zane eased back into a defensive stance, bringing both hands up and flipping the knife so the blade faced out. Tanner didn’t offer more conversation. He lunged, aiming for Zane’s knees. Zane dodged and swiped at his head, coming back on the return to nick the meat of Tanner’s upper arm. Blood sprayed, and he retreated, circling, arms up and ready.

“Garrett, I got him,” Nick called, but Zane shook his head.

“This one’s for me.”

Tanner attacked again, and this time Zane stepped to the side. Tanner’s thrusting knife went past his torso, and Zane brought an elbow up, smashing his chin. He jammed his ring finger under Tanner’s nose, forcing his head back, and threw him to the ground headfirst.

He kicked Tanner’s knife away, then jammed his blade in Tanner’s wrist, pinning his arm to the ground.

Tanner screamed and dropped his other knife.

Zane bent over him with a sneer. “My husband taught me that one,” he growled, and then he straightened and smashed his boot into Tanner’s face.

He backed away, knowing better than to take his eyes off Tanner even though he was pretty sure the man wasn’t getting up again. He put out a hand, and Nick placed the gun in it, then Zane took three long strides back to Tanner, looming over him.

He gurgled when he breathed, and his eyes were fluttering as he fought with consciousness. “Zane.”

“Go straight to Hell,” Zane snarled, and put a bullet in the man’s forehead.

Zane stood over him for a moment, letting the pain leak out of him along with the blood pooling on the floor.

He was done losing things from the past.

“Garrett,” Nick finally said, and Zane turned to him. He was holding to his side, breaths ragged and eyes glassy.

Zane nodded, then bent to search Tanner’s pockets for keys. He took the time to go through Tanner’s desk too, but there was nothing in the cabin they didn’t already know, and Zane wasn’t willing to spend more time searching. If Nick didn’t get help, Zane would lose him.

He gathered Nick up, and they struggled to their feet. Zane handed him the gun again so he could cover them while Zane got them to Tanner’s car.

“That was pretty,” Nick croaked.

Zane merely nodded as they shoved through the front door of the cabin. They stumbled into the dirt driveway, the setting sun blinding them both.

Something broke the tree line to their left and skidded to a halt. When Zane turned Nick toward it, Nick squeezed the trigger.

The shot whizzed past Ty’s ear before anyone even realized he was almost dead.

Nick hung off Zane’s shoulders by an arm, both of them staring at Ty with wide eyes. The gun was still clutched in Nick’s trembling hand, wavering in Ty’s direction.

Ty breathed out slowly. He patted his chest to make sure he was okay.

“I’m going to throw up,” Nick grunted. He pulled off Zane’s shoulder and turned, falling to his knees. The gun clattered away from him.

Zane took a few careful steps toward Ty before jogging to him and grabbing him.

Ty clutched to him, digging his fingers in his hair. “I swear to God, I’m never letting you leave my sight again,” he hissed in Zane’s ear.

Zane buried his face in Ty’s neck. “I’m good with that.”

The drive to Texas from Virginia was harrowing, to say the least. It took them a solid day to get there.

They had to worry about Digger strangling Liam every time the man spoke. And the way Nick’s eyes went distant when he thought no one was watching him, the way he favored his injuries when he thought no one saw. And Owen taking a couple of those pain pills for his broken arm and waxing poetic about a girl he’d been dating named Riley that none of them had heard of before, and Ty wasn’t sure whether to think she was real or a figment of Owen’s drugs.

When they rolled into Austin, Ty was driving the Mustang, with Kelly following in the SUV. Ty’d seen the car swerve a few times in his rearview mirror, but no alerts had come over their two-way. He sort of imagined a fight in the backseat that wound up with Kelly threatening everyone with a flyswatter as he drove.

Zane, apparently, had seen the last swerve as well. “Not exactly the elite fighting force we were hoping for, huh?”

“They’ll settle when it’s time,” Ty assured him. He could feel Zane watching him, and he glanced over with a weak smile. “How’s the arm?”

“It’s fine,” Zane assured him. “I can go.”

Ty knew his husband well enough to see a lie when Zane told one.

Nick lay in the backseat of the Mustang, sleeping off whatever shot Kelly had given him. His ribs were bound and they had wrapped his knee as tightly as he could stand it. Ty shook his head; the two men he trusted most in the fucking world to have his back during a fight, and neither was well enough to get into a fight.

An hour after hitting Austin, they were stopped at the front gate of the Carter Garrett Ranch. Zane got out and opened it, holding it for both cars to drive through before swinging it shut and latching it. He jogged toward the Mustang and hopped back in, and Ty continued on toward the main house.

He was surprised to see how different the ranch looked from the last time they’d visited. A few of the buildings that had caught fire had been rebuilt. New fences stretched as far as the eye could see. Even the main house had some additions: repairs from the attack it had suffered several years ago.

Ty wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Of course they’d rebuilt the place. He got out of the Mustang, stretching. Nick was still asleep in the back, and Ty left him to rest.

The chase car turned off, the engine clicking in the peaceful silence of the ranch. Then both of the driver’s side doors popped open and Kelly lunged out of the car, grabbed Liam through the open window of the door between them, and punched him in the face. The only reason Kelly didn’t go after him again was because he got caught in the window.

Ty and Zane stood side by side, watching as the others tumbled out of the vehicle to break up the fight.

Ty finally shrugged at Zane. “I don’t want to know,” he grunted, and they turned in unison toward the front porch.

Harrison met them on the porch, a tired smile hidden halfway under his handlebar mustache. He gave them each a hug, patting them both on the back and then the head like he was making sure they were really there.

“Hey, Dad,” Zane said.

“You okay?” Harrison asked, pointing to the hand Zane had in its makeshift cast.

Zane nodded. “It’ll be fine.”

“Sir, are my parents here?” Ty asked.

Harrison nodded. “Got in two days ago. They’re settling in. Got them staying in the house instead of the guesthouse, reckoned it was best to have everyone close.”

Ty breathed a sigh of relief.

A moment later, Zane’s mother stepped into the doorway. She looked frailer than Ty remembered. He nodded to her as Zane said a stiff hello. Beverly held her chin high for a moment, then brushed past Harrison and pulled Zane into an awkward, clumsy hug.

Ty gaped, and Harrison stepped closer to him, smiling as Zane tried to figure out what to do.

“Your mama and my wife have spent the last few days discussing things,” Harrison told Ty under his breath. “Been real . . . enlightening.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s the plan?” Harrison asked when it appeared that Beverly didn’t intend to let Zane go.

Ty glanced over his shoulder at the others. They were all loitering by the car, watching. Nick had roused and somehow dragged himself out of the back of the Mustang to lean against the hood, his head hanging.

“We’ve got two days tops before the NIA catches up to us,” Ty said. “We can’t risk staying longer than that. We were hoping to stay here for a day, though, and rest. Maybe leave our wounded when we go?”

Harrison looked between Ty and the others and frowned. “Your boys could use the bunkhouse, if you want them close by.”

Ty glanced at Zane for his opinion. He had wrapped his arms tightly around his mother, his head resting atop hers. His eyes were closed, but somehow he knew Ty had looked to him for an answer. He nodded.

Ty found his throat tightening at the expression gracing Zane’s face. He tore his eyes away and nodded at Harrison. “Thank you, sir,” he croaked. “That’ll be perfect.”

Harrison gestured at the small army Ty and Zane had dragged with them to Texas, waving them over as he thumped down the front steps. “Let’s go, boys,” he called to them. “I’ll show you the accommodations.”

Ty followed so he could give Zane a moment alone with his mother. The others fell in behind them, with Nick taking up his usual spot on point even though he was limping, and the others fanning out behind them.

“That car looks to be in mighty fine shape, Ty,” Harrison said as they headed for a rustic little building across the yard from the main house and beside the barn that had nearly burned down several years before. He smiled at Ty. “I’m happy to see I wasn’t wrong in thinking you’d do her right.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll be expecting the keys back when this is all done.”

Harrison chuckled. He gave the other men a pointed look. “These boys your team?”

“These are my brothers.”

Harrison glanced back at Sidewinder and nodded, smiling sadly. He unlocked the bunkhouse door and led them inside. They filed in obediently.

The bunkhouse had only one exit because it was all one room, but for a section built into a corner by the kitchen that Ty assumed was a bathroom. There was an old apron sink with a curtain to cover the lower cabinets, and a beat-up fridge and range. The only electric light appeared to be mounted over the sink. Ty supposed ranch hands went to bed and rose with the sun. A long wooden table that could seat at least twelve sat in the center of the pine plank floor. A couple old sofas were situated around a scuffed coffee table in the corner near an old wood stove, and the right half of the room was lined with sets of bunk beds.

“Built these myself,” Harrison told Ty, beaming.

“Thank you, sir,” Ty said.

The boys all moved to the bunks and set their bags down. Ty smiled wistfully when he noticed that Sidewinder had aligned themselves in the same way they’d slept a decade ago. Some habits died hard. The bed Elias Sanchez had always claimed, the bunk above Kelly, remained untouched. The bunk beside that, the one over Nick, was where Ty had always laid his head. Ty stared at both empty beds, his stomach churning.

Harrison was silent. He could probably tell that Ty had too much on his mind to take the full tour right now. He gave Ty a gentle pat on the shoulder and left them alone.

Ty stood in the middle of the big room, frowning at the door. The others were murmuring to each other, rustling around as they got settled. Finally, Ty moved to sit on the edge of one of the nearby racks. He leaned his elbows on his knees and stared without really seeing.

The bunkhouse had the same feeling the desert camps always had, and Ty was surprised by how hard that feeling hit him with the other boys here. It was something almost like homesickness: the feeling that something was simply missing.

The bed opposite him creaked and Ty straightened in surprise, feeling the heat creep up his face at being caught off guard.

“Doing okay?” Owen asked.

Ty nodded. “Feels like Eli’s here.”

Owen was still for a few seconds, but finally he nodded. “Yeah, it does.”

Neither of them had moved when the door creaked open and Zane stepped inside. He shut it again, turning the dead bolt.

“Hey,” he greeted.

The others all quieted, waiting for Zane to speak. Ty lowered his head, fighting an ache in his head and in his heart.

Zane sat down on the bunk beside Ty. “Your family is settled in. Safe.” Zane looked over the others and raised his voice. “Clancy called. They couldn’t get to the money.”

Ty breathed out uneasily. Plan A had been to simply give the fucking money to the CIA and let
them
deal with everyone else who was gunning for the millions. Without the money, though, they were stuck with Plan B. And Plan B was the one where they all died trying to kidnap the head of the Vega cartel so they could trade him for the protection of the CIA.

“What happened?” Liam asked.

“Clancy said they hit too much red tape. Even with the code word, it would take a year or more to get to that money without the account owner. Not only do we not have Burns, all we’ve got is six random letters.”