Cut & Run (Cut & Run #1)(70)
Author: Abigail Roux

Ty turned his head and looked up at Zane with narrowed eyes. “Who is it?” he asked as the silence on the other end of the line stretched on once more. Zane held out the phone, and Ty took it with a frown, sitting back up slowly. “Hello?” he said into the phone as soon as he had it to his ear. He listened for a long minute, the shouting on the other end of the line loud enough that Zane could hear it, and finally Ty smiled tiredly and responded with, “And I love you, too, jackass… no, it wasn’t our car…. No. No, I’m not lying to you. I would never lie to you,” he went on wryly, which produced more cussing.

Finally, Ty told the man that he had to go, and he didn’t wait for the last curses before he ended the call with a small smile. “Those ex-Recon boys can mother you to death,” he told Zane by way of explanation. His face clouded over, though, and he frowned slightly. “Word of the car bomb is out, and so is the fact that we were the targets.”

Nodding slowly, Zane processed that more people than the killer would be looking for them, and that Ty had people who worried about him and kept track of him. It made the other man a little more human. “I don’t trust our own right now,” he said as he tried not to think about Ty. “But we don’t have much choice but to work with them. We need the contacts.”

“Contacts,” Ty muttered in frustration. “Call Henninger. We’ll meet him somewhere… the other hotel room,” he suggested. “Kill two birds with one trip,” he grunted as he crawled out of bed slowly.

“You doing okay?” Zane asked, watching Ty move so carefully.

“I’ll live,” Ty muttered.

Zane pulled his cell out of his back pocket, flipped it open, and made the call. It took a few rings to pick up.

“Henninger,” came the clipped answer.

“It’s Garrett,” Zane said shortly. “What’s the climate?”

“Pretty tame, considering,” Henninger answered in a completely different voice, one that was slightly more accommodating. “They’re asking about you, but not too diligently. People are wondering how f**king long it takes you two to get a cup of coffee, but other than that they’re still too distracted with the scene in the parking deck to give a damn about you,” he went on in a low, almost whispered voice. “Where are you?” he asked carefully.

“In a secure location,” Zane said vaguely. “We’re going to need some assistance, and you’re our man. Are you in?”

There was a long silence. Finally, Henninger answered carefully with,

“I’ll do what I can.”

“We’re having lunch at the Hard Rock,” Zane said, deliberately picking a busy place way across town despite Ty’s suggestion. “Try to keep the goons off our backs, all right?”

“What time?” Henninger asked softly, his voice far away, as if he had turned to look behind him as he spoke.

Zane looked at his watch. 10:30. “Noon,” he said curtly, and he ended the call.

Ty watched him with one eyebrow raised. “Hard Rock?” he asked with a frown.

Offering the other man a grin, Zane shrugged. “Popular. Busy.

Noisy.” He tucked the phone back into his pocket and stood to stretch slowly, getting out the kinks.

“How romantic,” Ty responded flatly as he rubbed the wet rag he’d retrieved over the back of his head and looked around for his clothing. “He say he’d meet us?”

“He said he’d do what he could,” Zane answered. “I think he’ll show.

Eager, wet behind the ears and all that.” He groaned as his arms reached far above him and he rolled his neck. “Christ. How long have I had this job?

Calling him a damn puppy. He must be in his late twenties.”

“His file said thirty,” Ty responded without thinking as he finally located his pants.

Zane looked at Ty in amusement. “You read his file?” His eyes narrowed. “You read my file, too, didn’t you? At least the unclassified one.”

It wasn’t a question.

Ty looked up at Zane and flushed slightly. “I didn’t read yours,” he answered in slight embarrassment.

Tipping his head to one side, Zane settled his hands on his hips. “The way you say that makes me think you acquired my file, then. Why not read it?”

Ty pursed his lips and shook his head. “Files don’t tell the whole story,” he finally murmured. “I guess I was hoping you’d make me read between the lines.”

“Did I?” Zane asked, not moving.

Ty was silent and unmoving for a long moment. Finally, he gave an almost imperceptible nod and said, “I certainly never expected you to drug me.”

Zane’s lips twitched. “You sort of got a hard-knocks pharmacist on your hands, man,” he said before walking over to the table for his holster.

After a long moment, he added, “Wasn’t any malice behind it.”

“I know,” Ty responded before he could stop himself. “Fucker.”

Zane couldn’t hold back the snort. He just shook his head and shrugged into the holster. It seemed like they’d be okay. For now, anyway.

“Get into your pants, Ty. We don’t need to attract that kind of attention.”

“Yeah, my ass is so sore there’s probably a bull’s-eye on it,” Ty grumbled as he stepped into his jeans.

“Whiner,” Zane said with a quiet chuckle as he turned to look at Ty while he shrugged into his shirt. “You’d think you went skiing and had a terrible time.”

“I did,” Ty huffed. “Barely remember it.”

“You’ve already proven what a good liar you are; no need to practice,” Zane retorted.

“I am not a liar,” Ty responded with an affronted grunt.

Zane raised an obviously disbelieving eyebrow. “ ‘No, it wasn’t our car, I would never lie to you’,” he repeated back with a smirk.

“Pft,” Ty offered as he shrugged into his shirt. “He knew I was lying through my teeth.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you were lying. Through your teeth.

Gleefully, even,” Zane said.

“Shut up,” Ty grunted.

Zane crossed his arms. “Aren’t you ready yet? You’re as bad as a woman, taking forever to get ready to go out,” he dug.

Ty stopped what he was doing and looked up, meeting Zane’s eyes.

“Chalk it up to working off the roofie,” he shot back.