Fish & Chips (Cut & Run 3)

“Anything but fish,” was Ty"s disgruntled reply. He was pacing, having foregone the robe after his shower in favor of the soft, tattered jeans he was probably going to end up stealing from Del Porter. He had his head lowered as he worked toward making a groove in the floor in front of the balcony, striding slowly back and forth.

Zane decided to suggest the short walk to a nearby counter-service shop that served burgers and fries. Comfort food sounded like a brilliant idea, and he was sure Ty could use something normal. But for this moment, he sat silently and watched his partner. He could almost literally see the smoke rising above Ty"s head.

“Okay, here"s what we know,” Ty blurted as he turned on Zane and pointed a finger at him almost accusingly. “Vartan Armen hired Del to spy on Corbin Porter. When he saw us playing the happy couple, he decided his plan had backfired, right?”

Zane blinked at the outburst and answered with a drawn-out, careful, “Yeah.” Something about that idea bothered him, but he wasn"t quite sure what. But Zane was somewhat surprised to discover that the idea of him and Ty described as a “happy couple” engendered both laughter and longing.

“And then we have the Italians in the mix, and if Dolce and Gabbana were legit Guardia di Finanza agents, I will eat my shoes,” Ty went on with a careless wave of his hand as he turned and paced away from Zane in agitation. “So we make the logical leap that the Italians are crooked or working off the books. Agreed?” He turned back to look at Zane with raised eyebrows.

“I guess it"s possible they could be Guardia di Finanza tailing Bianchi, but it"s not really likely that they would be sanctioned to operate on a ship under another country"s flag. So, yeah, they"re not legit,” Zane agreed.

“Okay,” Ty said, almost to himself. He abruptly stopped pacing and crossed his arms, lowering his head and closing his eyes. He covered his eyes with one hand and stood there, motionless. “Okay,” he repeated, his voice a soft, almost intimate murmur.

The low purr of Ty"s voice never failed to get Zane"s attention. It didn"t matter when he used it: at work, at home, out shopping, while eating… and now, thinking more about what Armen must have seen to deem him and Ty a “happy couple,” it made Zane wonder about what exactly other people saw.

“Let"s say I"m Armen,” Ty said, obviously not expecting Zane to comment. “And I have two business partners I want gone. Is it because the Italian authorities are onto them? Is it because I"m a greedy bastard and I want all the business proceeds to myself? If that"s the case, then I"d need their information as well, since the business has been compartmentalized. So I"d be after their laptops, cell phones, anything with business records.”

Once Zane figured out that Ty was mostly rambling, the majority of his thought processing returned to chew on the “happy couple” idea.

Zane knew people at the office saw them as partners who didn"t always get along. That was true enough. What about strangers who met them together while on the clock but not undercover?

A change in the tenor of Ty"s voice interrupted his thoughts, drawing him back. “I"ve planted Del with Corbin in order to get what I need from him, but I don"t trust him and I plan to eliminate him, too, when I"m done. Bianchi"s harder because he"s married, so I bribed someone in the Italian authorities to stake him out and then take him down.”

Ty was talking faster, warming to his train of thought. It was slightly disturbing to see him shift so easily into Evil Mastermind, and sometimes it made Zane wonder about how differently Ty"s brain must be wired. Ty made crazy, intuitive jumps that were more often than not correct. Zane was much more analytical, picking out patterns to connect the dots. So watching Ty like this was sort of awe-inspiring.

And freaky.

And sometimes hot.

Ty continued, undaunted by the lack of supporting evidence or the need to breathe. “So a year or so after planting Del, I"ve got all their info from him and the dirty Italians, and I suggest this cruise and a special meeting, dangle something as bait that they can"t resist. Found treasure? Something from a shipwreck around one of the islands?

Something they"ll want to be able to get their hands on and sell. But that"s irrelevant,” he said with a violent wave of his hand. “I set up the meet in the market and make sure it"ll go bad for Porter and Bianchi.

There doesn"t actually have to be anything to sell if I kill them before the end of the cruise.”

The word “kill” diverted Zane"s attention from wondering if he and Ty looked like a couple in social situations—dinner at a local restaurant, the occasional shopping trip, even working out in the gym.

Ty was still talking. “Even if the planned meet fails, I know their itineraries, I have men on board the ship, and they have nowhere to run.”

“But they"re only trying to kill you. So far. Not me. Not Corbin,”

Zane pointed out.

Ty stopped short and stared at him, then narrowed his eyes. “Del may be a problem because I"m beginning to suspect he really does love Corbin,” he responded. “So we get rid of him first.”

“That would certainly upset Corbin,” Zane said. It was upsetting him, and Zane already knew what it was like to deal with losing a loved one. He turned his gaze to lock on Ty. “Depending on how attached they are, Corbin could be seriously out of commission if he lost Del.”

Ty"s gaze went distant, and he shook his head slowly. “Both attempts were sloppy. Not at all a guaranteed kill. The fall from the wall would have broken bones, done a lot of damage, not to mention the fact there was no way of knowing I"d go first. And there was no way to know if I"d react to the screwy air or if it would kill me. Yeah, there"s drowning, but more than likely you"re looking at a case of decompression sickness or some hysteria-induced respiratory distress.”

He shook his head. “Maiming him is just as good as killing him as far as they"re concerned. Why? How does that help them get to Corbin?”

“My mind certainly wouldn"t be on business,” Zane murmured, thinking of the sense of possessiveness and the need to protect that gripped him when Ty was in trouble. His mind definitely wasn’t focused on the business at hand.

“No,” Ty agreed. His eyes brightened suddenly, and he looked at Zane. “Unless they intend to take you by force. Armen knows Del is a hired thug but suspects his motives now. He thinks Del would protect Corbin because he loves him. But with Del out of the way, they"re free to take Corbin. That must mean they need him for something, something physical.”