Touch&Geaux (37 page)

think they succeeded. So we get them both there. Zane brings

me in, and he kills me in front of all of them. Their problem is

gone so they’ll clear out, and bonus points, they’re no longer

after Zane.”

“How the hell is that a good plan when it involves me

killing you?” Zane shouted.

Ty put a finger to his lips and shook his head. “There is a

small glitch, I’ll admit.”

Nick rubbed at the stubble on his chin as the idea became

clear. “We put you in Digger’s vest.”

“Fuck, that’s risky,” Digger whispered. “It’s only NIJ

II level protection. If Garrett’s close enough to make sure

someone doesn’t take a head shot, he’d be too close for the

vest; the bullet could go right through. And if it don’t go

through, it’s definitely fucking him up. Broken ribs, sternum,

maybe organ damage.”

Nick shook his head. “Not if Zane’s shooting a blank.”

“There’s no way that’d look real, there’d be no impact,” Ty

said, but he was sitting forward, warming to the idea. “But if

the real shot is taken from further away . . .”

“A sniper?” Zane asked.

Ty gave him a curt nod. “It’d have to be a long-ass way.

One, to make sure he’s not spotted during the meet, and two,

make sure it doesn’t kill me. NIJ II is . . . 1,100 to 1,800 feet

per second.”

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Nick groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re

talking eight hundred, maybe a thousand yards before a

sniper round drops to that velocity. Or more. I know I can’t

make that shot with enough accuracy to hit a vest with my

best friend in it.”

Ty met Nick’s eyes and nodded. Nick’s heart jumped into

his throat. He gave a slight shake of his head, silently pleading

with him not to ask. Ty smiled sadly, then met Liam’s eyes.

Liam began to grin.

“Oh fuck no,” Zane blurted. “No way.”

“He can make it,” Ty assured him.

“Yeah, but will he, is the question.”

Liam grinned wider. “Do you trust me not to hit your

heart, Grady?”

“Ty,” Zane hissed, reaching for his arm.

Ty tore his eyes away from Liam and met Zane’s. “I swore

to protect you from them,” he whispered. “I was already

willing to take a bullet to do that. After everything that’s

happened . . .” He shook his head, unable to finish.

Zane looked stricken, and he wasn’t able to form words

before Ty looked away.

Liam was rubbing his hands together. “Let’s go practice!”

Nick slumped in his chair and rubbed his hands over his

face. “This is a horrible plan.”

“Before we get too excited, where the hell would we set

up this meet?” Digger asked. “We’d need an open area free

of bystanders, with somewhere high enough to clear a line of

sight. There’s nowhere in the city like that.”

Liam thumped his back against the wall and sighed.

“Damn.”

The room fell silent.

“The river?” Owen suggested.

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Liam made a derogatory noise. “With the wind and

distance, there’s no way in hell. And if you cut the distance

and make it a ferry, that’s even worse.”

“The amusement park,” Ty said suddenly.

“Are you shitting me?” Liam laughed. “There are way too

many variables. Crowds, ride interference, not to mention

security as you try to walk in with a very large weapon.”

But Ty was shaking his head. “The Six Flags park was

drowned by Katrina. They never reopened it. You can see the

roller coaster from Interstate 510.”

“The rides and stuff are still there?” Nick asked.

“For the most part, yeah. It’s completely deserted, only

patrolled by a private security company.”

“That could work,” Nick said. “Roller coasters in the

air, wide thoroughfares laid out in a predictable fashion, no

bystanders, and plenty of cover if things go to shit.”

“Can you draw a map of it?” Liam asked Ty.

“What do I look like, an Etch A Sketch? I don’t know the

layout.”

Zane stood and went to his suitcase, digging through it to

bring out an iPad. “If it was ever on the internet, I’ll find it.”

Nick rested his elbows on his knees. “We’re really doing

this?”

“Unless you can see another way that doesn’t involve a

ful -blown war,” Ty said. “We’ve already lost Doc; we won’t

make it out alive if we go toe-to-toe.”

Nick was silent, nodding.

Ty sucked in a shaky breath. “We’re going to need some

supplies. We might as well start now.”

“We’ll need fake blood,” Nick said. “Lots of it.”

“Oh, I can do that.” Digger hopped to his feet and grinned,

rubbing his hands together.

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“There’s a mom-and-pop store down on the corner,” Ty

said. “The back door only has bars for security.”

“Got it.”

“We’ll need something for camouflage too,” Nick told

him.“Got it!”

“No peppers!” Ty added urgently.

“All right with your damn peppers! One little anaphylactic

episode and he’s freaking out about the peppers.”

Digger turned to get his jacket, and Owen began to gather

his things as well.

“Owen,” Ty said. Owen turned, and Ty shook his head.

“He’s got to go it alone.”

“What? Why? No one should go anywhere alone right

now.”Ty winced. “Quite frankly, he’s the only one who can walk

around in this neighborhood and not stand out.”

Digger poked a finger in Ty’s face. “That’s racist.” Ty rolled

his eyes. Digger smacked his cheek gently. “That’s okay. I still

love you, hillbilly.”

He turned to leave, a hop in his step. Nick didn’t know if

it was the prospect of action or of cooking up fake blood that

made Digger so happy. And frankly, he didn’t want to know.

Liam thumped his bag of supplies down on the coffee

table, and everyone looked to the door, where Digger’s canvas

bag sat.

“Who wants to go through his fun bag?” Owen asked.

“Guarantee you he has it booby-trapped,” Ty muttered.

Ty and Owen shared a glance. Nick held out his fist and

the other two followed suit. “Two out of three.”

Ty slapped Owen on the arm. “Close your eyes, man.”

“Why?”

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“You got a tell.”

“I have a tell at Rock, Paper, Scissors?”

Ty and Nick both nodded.

“And you tell me ten years later? You’re both assholes!”

Zane chuckled from across the room, but Liam walked

away in disgust. “You’re all bloody idiots.”

Zane lay on one side of the ful -sized guest bed, unable to

sleep as the plans for the next day ran through his analytical

mind. There was so much that could go wrong. Too much.

People would probably die tomorrow. He might be one of

them. Ty might be one of them.

Ty had set up a staggered watch so no one would be

on together too long. He obviously didn’t trust Liam, but

with a man down, they had to use him. Zane could hear the

occasional creak of steps as Digger and Liam moved about,

taking their turns.

Owen and Nick had argued over going to the hospital to

check on Kelly. Nick insisted there was no way to connect

Kelly to them, and the best way to keep him safe was to

stay away from him. Owen seemed almost desperate to get

news, though, and Zane’s heart went out to all of them. Not

knowing if Kelly was alive or dead had to be driving them

all crazy. Nick and Owen had moved to the larger bedroom,

still arguing, leaving Ty and Zane to share this tiny bed in

awkward, weighted silence. Ty had retreated to the shower

with very little to say, and Zane had crawled into bed with a

heavy heart and mind.

Now, Ty curled in the bed beside him. His back was to

Zane and he had a pillow over his head so it was impossible to

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even see him. But Zane watched him anyway in the moonlight

that filtered through the window.

He couldn’t get over the fact that he’d met Ty years ago.

An introduction so fleeting he hadn’t even remembered what

Ty looked like. When tragedy had struck Zane’s life, that

simple meeting had influenced him in ways he had never truly

pondered. Ty had done that, touched his life even before he

knew him.

Ty had said it was fate. But Zane didn’t believe in fate.

Zane reached across the bed and poked him.

Ty jerked, and the pillow moved as he raised his head.

“What?”

“How’d you know he was here?”

“What?” Ty asked. He rolled enough to be able to see

Zane.

“Liam. You hal ucinated him in the hospital before you

found the note in my pocket. So how’d you know he was

here?”

Ty settled onto his back, rubbing at his face. “I don’t

know. I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Yes you have, Ty. You think about everything.”

Ty turned his head to look at Zane.

“How’d you know he was here?”

Ty’s focus drifted until it was on the wall over Zane’s

shoulder.

“You think it was magic, don’t you? Voodoo. Fate.”

“I don’t know.” Ty sighed and pushed the pillow away.

“You don’t believe in any of it, so what does it matter?”

“I believe in you,” Zane whispered. Ty looked at him

sharply. “I believe you used to be one scary son of a bitch, Ty.

Everything I’ve been told, the glimpses I’ve seen from you.

What I’ve heard from Miami.”

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Ty was hoarse when he spoke. “What’s your point, Zane?”

“I think you put that person behind you because you

hated him. Because it scared you.”

Ty swallowed hard and snorted.

“You’re not a coward, Ty. I know what it takes to scare you.

And I think the thing you’re afraid of more than anything in

the world is yourself. But when Richard Burns told you I was

in trouble, you brought that man back out. For me.”

Ty stared at the ceiling, unwilling or unable to meet Zane’s

eyes. He was holding his breath, and as Zane’s eyes adjusted to

the dark, he could see Ty trembling.

“I’d still do it again,” Ty finally whispered.

Goose bumps rose all over Zane’s body. He wondered

what it would be like to see the man Ty was so frightened

of showing him. He could see Ty closing off, so he switched

directions. “When did you learn to speak Russian?”

“I can’t.”

“Liam said something to you today. He spoke in Russian.”

Ty sighed. “I can understand it okay but I can’t speak it. I

could never get the hang of it. He tried to teach me.”

“What did he say?”

Ty licked his lips, staring at the ceiling. “He told me there

was no use in getting hurt in a fight for a man I’d lost.”

Zane pushed onto his elbow, his eyes raking over the

shadows that made up Ty’s face. “He’s you, isn’t he?” A frown

marred his features. “He’s what you were like ten years ago.”

Ty took a shaky breath. “Yes.”

“What changed you?”

“Richard Burns gave me a cause.” He closed his eyes and

turned his head away.

Zane fell silent, trying to connect the new pieces of the

man in front of him. Nick had said the only thing keeping

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Ty on the ground was a sense of purpose. A cause. Now that

Burns had turned his back on him, what would happen to Ty

when this was over? Would he spiral away? Zane remembered

the piece of silver Ty had melted down for him, the anchor

etched into it. Pain and fear flooded him, squeezing his chest.

The only thing he could make of it was that, tomorrow,

Ty intended to risk a bullet to the chest for him. Zane wanted

to shake him, to scream at him. As angry as he had been, as

willing to walk away as he’d thought he was, the thought of

never finding all these pieces to the puzzle, of losing Ty now,

setting Ty adrift in that big sea of his mind, was terrifying.

Zane reached out, sliding his hand over Ty’s waist beneath

the covers. Ty tensed under his fingers, but Zane scooted into

the neutral territory of the bed anyway, wrapping his arm

over Ty’s waist, pulling himself closer. He shoved his face

against Ty’s cheek and inhaled deeply. Ty’s shoulder was rigid

against him.

But then, Ty reached up for him. His fingers brushed

through Zane’s hair. His hand was cool against Zane’s skin

when he placed it on Zane’s ribs.

He pushed his forehead against Zane’s lips. Zane kissed

his skin. “You’re still,” Zane whispered. “That means you’re

expending so much energy worrying, your body doesn’t need

to fidget.”

Ty laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “I love that you

know that about me,” he said sadly. His fingers tightened

against Zane’s back. “I don’t know how to make this better,

Zane.”

Zane closed his eyes. He didn’t either. The words settled in

the room like fog rol ing in off the Mississippi. Zane’s mouth

went dry. “It can’t be over,” he whispered. “Right? Not when

neither of us want it to be.”

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Ty lifted his head, and they lay facing each other in the

dark.“We’ve never made it simple,” Zane finally said.