Touch&Geaux (25 page)

threshold. “This is almost exactly how I left it.”

Zane’s focus was on him, though, not the room. His

words were quiet, almost bitter. “I can’t believe it was you.”

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Ty swallowed hard. He didn’t know if this was promising

or damning.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Zane asked. “Why didn’t you say

something?”

Ty had to avert his eyes. “I wasn’t sure. I didn’t . . . I was

hoping it wasn’t.”

“Why?”

“You and your perfect wife versus me in eyeliner and my

girlfriend with feathers in her hair, asking you to play with us?

Come on, man.”

“That’s what makes you you. Jackass.”

“Exactly.”

Zane remained silent, but the irritation and disgust in

his expression hit harder than any words. It seemed all Zane

could see were lies. The tension was growing heavier, pressing

at Ty, making him want to fidget. “You think it was fate?”

“I don’t believe in fate.

Ty nodded, pushing back the tumbling of his nerves. “It

believes in you.”

“I think people make their own fate.”

Ty could think of nothing to say to the anger in Zane’s

eyes.Zane glared at him for a moment. “This is cozy,” he

said, sliding his hand along the doorjamb. “Nicer than my

warehouse, that’s for sure.” He stepped inside. “Did you do

this to the walls?”

“Yeah. It’s The Three Musketeers. Mostly.”

Zane’s brow furrowed as he stepped closer to the pages.

“In French.”

Ty shrugged. “It’s better that way.” Since Zane read novels

in Spanish, Ty figured he’d understand.

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Zane had one hand in a pocket. “This place is . . .” He

shook his head. “Gothic.”

Ty nodded wistfully. “That’s part of what I loved about it.”

“Yeah?” Zane moved a few steps closer. “Another new side

to Ty Grady.”

They faced each other, the silence heavy and tense.

“I wonder what other sides I don’t know about,” Zane

finally murmured, as if talking to himself.

Ty swallowed hard. “Zane.”

“What did you take with you when you left?” Zane asked.

He turned away, unwilling to let Ty explain. “Anything? Or

just the memories?”

Ty scowled. “Just a book I carried with me. It had a cut-

out in it with my real passport.”

Zane’s jaw clenched, like he was physically holding back

his emotions. “What did you miss most?”

Ty frowned, confused by the questions, until he finally

recognized what Zane was doing. This was how his partner

interrogated suspects. He would start with that intense stare

and then ask mundane questions to throw the suspect off.

Then he’d ease out just enough to make it seem okay before

he punched through to the real queries in a quiet, frightening

voice. It was quite effective, and Ty had seen Zane break

people no one else could get to talk.

Ty chewed on his lip thoughtfully, trying to give Zane a

real answer even as he dreaded the punch of the final question.

“I missed the smell,” he finally decided.

Most people would have taken that as a joke, but Zane

would take it seriously. He’d been there, that somewhere you

remembered by feel and scent more so than sight or sound. It

was a visceral answer.

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“Why?” Ty asked when Zane didn’t respond.

Zane slid his other hand into his pocket and shrugged.

“No one ever asked me to remember the good things.”

Ty sighed. He’d done things here he hadn’t necessarily

been proud of. But for the most part, it had been two of the

better years of his life. He remembered all of it fondly until

the end. He knew Zane’s experience in Miami had been vastly

different.

They were still standing there, silent and uncomfortable, a

few minutes later when Ava returned.

“You find what you need?” she asked, her voice breaking

the spell.

Ty cleared his throat and shook his head. “Got distracted,”

he said, surprised when his voice came out hoarse.

“I called Shine. He wasn’t home. I can go out there, snoop

around.”

“No, I can’t let you do that,” Ty said.

Ava smirked. “You won’t be letting me do anything.”

Zane snorted. Ava looked him up and down, then

whistled and shook her head. “Tyler does have a type.”

“Okay,” Ty said loudly.

She merely smiled at him. “I’ll go keep a lookout for your

friends.” She turned away.

Zane leaned sideways to watch her walk down the hal . “I

like her.”

Ty nodded, unable to say anything.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me before the

others get here?”

Ty took in the rigid line of his shoulders, the tension in

his jaw, and the hardness of his eyes. Zane had every right to

be angry. The timing could have been better, but all of this

mess was on Ty’s head.

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“I love you,” he said quietly.

“That’s it?”

Ty nodded.

Zane met his eyes for a few seconds before turning away

and disappearing down the hal .

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would very much like to know what the hell is going

“I
on,” Kelly said.

He was sitting across from Nick at the largest table in the

place. Nick had his eyes on Liam, who was wandering around

the edges of the barroom and refused to sit with the rest of

them. Nick didn’t trust the man one bit, but he was willing

to hear an explanation from someone before punches were

thrown.

The woman who’d let them in, Ava, had subsequently

barred the door and disappeared behind a curtain. Nick could

hear her moving back there, but he had no idea what she was

doing, nor did he really care.

Ty sat to Nick’s right, sedate and unusually flustered.

And to Nick’s left sat Zane, who seemed irritated and harsh.

It wasn’t difficult to deduce whatever Ty had told Zane had

jammed a wedge between them. Nick hoped they could keep

it together long enough to get through whatever this was and

sort it out when they got home.

The floorboards above them creaked, and all of them

looked up.

“Is someone else here?” Owen asked.

Zane shook his head.

“The floors do that,” Ty muttered. He was rubbing the

bridge of his nose with two fingers, hunched over the table.

Nick glanced at the ceiling again. The place had an eerie

feeling to it, like it had been abandoned by the living but was

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still occupied. A shiver ran down Nick’s spine. The whole city

kind of felt like that, actually. All the voodoo crap was getting

to him.

“Garrett, why don’t you fill us in,” Nick said, keeping his

voice low. If Ty wasn’t going to lead the discussion, someone

had to.

Zane’s dark eyes slid to glare at him, then he glanced up,

his gaze following Liam as the man moved. He took a deep

breath before speaking. “I was undercover for a while in

Miami, working in the Vega cartel.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Nick said. “They reach all the way to

Boston sometimes.”

“And further. They got a tip that they had a mole, so they

started a witch hunt. I got arrested one night on a DUI and

the Bureau took the opportunity to pull me out, to save me

and the information I’d stolen.”

Liam drifted closer, and everyone was silent as they waited

for Zane to connect the pieces.

“I thought that part of my life was history, but . . .” Zane

stared at the tabletop, shaking his head.

Liam cleared his throat. “But. Roughly two years ago

Garrett was inserted back into the cartel for a brief stay. He

was pulled again, just days before Antonio de la Vega, the

head asshole in charge, died in a plane crash in the Caribbean

while returning to Colombia. Of course, Zane’s alter ego

became the prime suspect within the cartel. Juan Carlos de la

Vega took over, righted the Vega ship, and went on a crusade

to find the man who murdered his brother.”

“How do you come into this?” Ty asked.

Liam kicked out a chair and sat, staring at Ty. His face was

expressionless. “After you shot me, thank you for that by the

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way, I couldn’t go to the NIA as planned. I had to find work

somewhere.”

Owen huffed and leaned away from Liam to look at him.

“You’re a mercenary.”

“Pays the bills.”

“Why not NIA?” Ty asked. His frown had deepened.

Liam’s eyes narrowed and he leaned closer. He tapped his

chest with one finger. “Because you missed, darling.”

Ty’s eyes followed Liam’s hand, and Nick could see the

blood draining from his friend’s face.

“Clipped my heart. The right ventricle.”

Ty either couldn’t or wouldn’t respond. He sat back in

his chair, resting his chin in his hand. Nick wondered what

was going on inside Ty’s mind, how he would have reacted if

everyone at the table weren’t looking to him for leadership.

“It was repaired before I bled out, but they weren’t willing

to take an active field agent with a compromised heart.”

“I thought you always had a compromised heart,” Digger

muttered.

“That’s funny from you, Back Woods. How many

innocent little bunnies do you have strung up in your hunting

shed right now?”

“I don’t eat bunny!” Digger shouted.

“Why are you here?” Kelly asked Liam.

“I was hired by de la Vega. He received an anonymous tip

saying the man who killed his brother would be here Easter

weekend.”

All eyes shifted to Zane, but Zane’s eyes were on Ty. He

tore them away to glance around the table. “I didn’t kill him,”

he said, returning his gaze to Ty.

“Tyler?” Liam drawled. “Care to share with the class?”

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Ty didn’t move, which was never a good sign. He looked

from Zane to Liam, then spoke without removing his hand

from his chin. “I tampered with the navigational equipment

of his plane,” he admitted. “The horizon should have read

wrong and they would have flown straight into the water

when the autopilot was turned on. I planted explosive charges

as a backup.”

Zane inhaled sharply. Nick got the feeling Zane already

knew this, but hearing it straight from Ty’s mouth was

disconcerting, even for Nick.

“Did you go with the polymer bonded?” Digger asked.

“Slurries and gel mix.”

“Oh, nice.”

“Is that how you broke your finger when we were apart?”

Zane demanded. Ty nodded curtly and Zane grunted, looking

away with a sneer. “You deserved it, then.”

Kelly cleared his throat and pointed at Liam. “So let me

get this straight. You’re here to kill him,” he said, indicating

at Ty. Then he gestured to Zane. “But you thought you were

after him because he was the mole.”

After a moment of contemplation, Liam nodded. “At its

very basic, yes.”

“So why aren’t either of them dead?” Owen asked.

“Well,” Liam said, drawing out the word. “Either I am the

worst assassin in the world, which, if you want a hint, is not

the right answer. Or . . . I realized I was after a couple of Feds

and I pulled out.”

“You refused the job?” Nick asked.

“Yes.”

“You told me you hadn’t called it in yet!” Zane shouted.

“I lied.” Liam winked at Zane. “I do that, remember?”

“Are you lying now?” Nick asked.

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Liam grinned as they locked eyes. “Maybe.”

Nick ran a finger over the bridge of his nose. “Either way.

By now they’ll have sent a backup.”

“Precisely!” Liam grinned. “You were always the brains of

this operation, weren’t you?”

“Bite me, British.”

Liam shivered theatrically and grinned. “They won’t have

had the time to plan that I did, so they will go for something

with less charisma and more brute strength.”

“How many?” Ty asked.

“I would say six to eight. Just to cover their bases.”

“So, we have cartel hit men after us?” Digger asked. “What

the shit does that have to do with gris-gris?”

“What is a gris-gris?” Liam asked.

Liam and Digger stared at each other, eyes narrowing, lips

curving into snarls.

Nick passed a hand over his eyes, groaning.

“Why did you come to the hospital?” Ty demanded of

Liam.

A frown creased Liam’s brow. “I haven’t been to hospital.”

“You didn’t come to my room and threaten me?”

“Why in the hell would I go to all this trouble if I could

have found you at the hospital? Why were you in hospital?”

Ty glanced at Nick and slid lower in his seat, rubbing his

hand over his face.

“Does that mean you really did attack a male nurse at the

ER?” Owen asked.

Ty nodded from behind his hand.

Liam shook his head, peering at Ty. “You really are off the

rails, huh?”

Ty sat forward, holding out a hand. “The point is, the

situation has changed. The cleanest way to handle any of this

is to skip town.”

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“You want to run?” Zane asked, practically sneering.

Nick narrowed his eyes, trying not get defensive. “There’s

running and then there’s strategic retreat. It’s good to know