Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

Ty chewed on his lip and looked back down at the map.

“Ty? You have an idea?” Zane placed his hand on the small of Ty’s back, trying to urge him to speak.

“I’m not really sure if I do.”

“Try us.”

Ty shrugged. “Annie, you said exotic animal laws in Texas were different than most. How so?”

“What does that have to do with this?”

“Humor him,” Zane said.

“Well, Texas law allows for the ownership, sale, and breeding of exotic animals. Like I said, it’s hardly regulated. It’s barbaric.”

“And other states do regulate it?”

“Most, yes.”

“That makes exotic animals a commodity.”

“I guess you could call it that.”

“Is it big money?” Ty asked. “Exotic animals?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Annie said. “People will pay thousands for a tiger or lion, especially on the black market, but legally as well. They’re kept as a sort of status symbol. And they’re used for income. Circuses, traveling entertainment, private zoos. Not to mention their pelts being worth thousands.”

Ty nodded and glanced at Zane. Zane raised an eyebrow. “What, you think this is about exotic animals instead of drugs or sex trade?”

“I think . . . maybe someone should pay a visit to that place and see if any of their animals are missing.”

Zane studied the map. The sanctuary abutted the ranch and passed within two miles of the pump house. He smiled ruefully and shook his head. He never would have even considered it.

“Makes more sense than anything we’ve come up with yet,” he said, and he reached for the corner of the map to begin folding it back up.

“You kids go on, then,” Harrison said. “Check out that place.”

“Oh, hell no,” Ty blurted. “I mean, no, sir. Hell no, sir.”

Zane chuckled. “Come on, Ty.”

“What? No. Not me.”

“Chicken,” Zane whispered.

“Yeah, that’s what they think I taste like.”

Zane laughed harder.

“I don’t do big cats, Zane.”

Annie held up a hand. “I’m sorry, why aren’t you going to the sanctuary?”

“He has an unnatural aversion to large felines,” Zane told her.

“It’s not unnatural, Zane. It would be unnatural if I weren’t afraid of something that tried to eat me.”

Annie smiled gently. “They’re nothing to be afraid of. Big cats rarely attack humans.”

Ty turned his glare on her, but before he could speak, Mark barked a laugh. “And here I thought the famous Tyler Grady wasn’t afraid of anything.”

Ty glared at Mark for a moment, then at Zane, crossing his arms over his chest. “Screw you all, I’m not going.”

Zane and Annie stepped into the lobby of the big cat preserve, but Ty balked, freezing on the welcome mat. It had a black and orange Bengal tiger face on it.

“It smells like death in here.”

Annie took his arm and smiled. “I’m sure that’s just the bleach they use on their habitats. Come on.”

She dragged him over the threshold, and Zane followed with Mark, trying not to laugh.

A woman in khaki pants and a “Save the Kitties” T-shirt met them in the lobby and shook their hands.

“You must be the ones who called earlier. I’m Tish.”

Ty offered his left hand to shake, and when she took it, she immediately gripped it with both hands and pulled it to her face to look closer.

Ty stumbled and watched her with wide eyes, too dumbstruck to say or do anything.

“What was this, puma concolor?” she asked as she examined the scar on his hand.

“What?”

“A mountain lion? A cougar?”

“Uh.”

“This is stunning. Cougars are more closely linked to smaller felines than to large jungle cats, most people don’t realize that,” Tish rambled as she turned Ty’s hand over and over to look at the faded, jagged scars.

Zane often found his own fingers tracing the tooth marks and surgery scars on Ty’s hand when they were lying in bed. The pattern was hypnotic, in a way, and one more reminder that Ty was a fighter of the highest order. The only reason he’d lived through that attack was because he was too stubborn to die.

“They don’t usually attack humans. Were you feeding her at the time?” Tish asked.

“I was . . . trying not to,” Ty said. He gaped at Zane, silently asking him to do something.

Zane patted his shoulder. “We think he got too close to her babies or she was defending her territory.”

“Yeah, or he just wasn’t hungry cause he’d already eaten a dude right before me.”

Tish practically bounced. “This is just awesome, we don’t see many bite marks that nicely preserved. I mean, not on living things. You were lucky she was just playing with you.”

“You were actually bitten by a cougar?” Mark asked.

Ty grunted, and Zane squeezed his shoulder to keep him from saying anything more.

Tish let his hand go and smiled. “Anyway! How can we help you? Were you here for a tour? It’s a little unorthodox on a weekday on such short notice, but it can be arranged, especially for neighbors who’ve been so kind to us.”

Zane smiled and shook his head as he pulled out his badge and showed it to her. Ty did the same, although more grudgingly. “Actually, we’re here in an official capacity. We were wondering if you’ve had any break-ins. Any animals go missing recently?”

Her eyes widened as she looked at the badges, and she nodded. “We have. Two residents are unaccounted for. Have you found them? We’ve been worried sick about them.”

“I’m sorry, no. Were they reported?”

“Oh, of course. We reported them to the local animal registration agency and local law enforcement, as per the state statute—”

“Okay,” Ty interrupted. “How do you know they’re missing?”

“Well, they’re not in their enclosures anymore.”

“That’s . . . really?” Ty asked.

“What my partner means is, um . . . do you tag them in any way? So you can track them?”

“No, the residents are never intended to be off the property. Tagging them would be costly, traumatic, and redundant.”

“So, they’re in cages, you said? How does a lion or tiger get out of its cage?” Ty asked.