Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

“If he wakes at all,” Beverly interjected.

Zane turned his head sharply, trying to see his mother’s face.

“That bad, huh?” Stuart asked. The other three visitors began to murmur their apologies.

“He’s in quite bad shape,” Beverly said with a nod.

“That’s a shame.” Stuart sighed, like he was standing.

Beverly put her hand behind the wall and waved at Zane urgently, shooing him away. Zane retreated to the alcove that used to be a butler’s nook when the house was first built, and flattened himself there.

“We’ll just be heading on, then. Our regards to the rest of your family,” Stuart said, and soon the four men were filing out.

Zane recognized them all as the men from the honky-tonk, Stuart and his fellow ranch hands from Cactus Creek. They were dusty and dressed in their work clothes. It looked as if they’d come here directly from their ranch. Stuart was limping, trying not to drag his foot. Harrison walked them out, and as soon as the door was shut, Zane stepped out of the alcove. Harrison and Beverly both turned to look at him.

“I’m sorry to have excluded you, Zane, but I felt you would prefer to hear and not be seen,” Beverly said. She smoothed her hands down her suit in a rare gesture of discomfort.

“Thank you, Mother,” Zane said, surprised by her awareness.

“I felt they weren’t here under honest pretenses.”

“They sure as sin weren’t,” Harrison growled. “Trying to figure out how much Ty told us about what happened and whether he was like to wake up again.”

Zane nodded. He’d gathered as much from the snippets he’d heard.

“What’d you tell them?”

“Told them we found him unconscious being eaten by a tiger.”

Zane couldn’t help but laugh.

“They didn’t even take pause at that, like that was normal,” Beverly huffed.

“They kept digging to see if anybody saw anything besides the tiger,” Harrison told Zane.

“Awfully suspicious,” Zane grumbled. “Did you see him limping?”

“Yeah? That mean something to you?” Harrison asked.

Zane nodded. “Ty’s knife was gone. I’d bet anything he put it in that man’s leg.”

Harrison nodded, looking both impressed and worried. “You think your boy can identify them?”

Zane shrugged. Ty had once been able to look at a poker table full of people and tell Zane each player’s tell, down to the type of cuff links one man liked to play with when he was nervous. But there was no telling what details he’d been able to notice after being struck with a dart, alone and under fire. “I don’t know.”

“Well. Soon as he comes to, we’ll call the sheriff. I’m going to get Mark and Annie to come here and hole up, where we can be sure they’re safe.”

Zane nodded, and he looked at his mother again as Harrison left the foyer. Beverly met his eyes, then gave him a nod. Her expression was a mixture of concern and pride, something Zane could honestly say he’d never seen on her before. Was it possible that she was just now realizing that what he’d done with his life was both dangerous and worthwhile? Or was she merely circling the wagons, protecting the family and the ranch like always?

She walked away without saying anything, and Zane put his hand to his chest to rub at his sternum, trying to dispel the tightness there.

Maybe there was hope yet.

They were all gathered for dinner when they heard the shuffling of feet coming down the grand staircase. Zane pushed out of his chair and darted into the foyer, where Ty was staring at the front door as if he was trying to figure out where he was. He turned and met Zane’s eyes for a long moment. There wasn’t much recognition there, and his face was expressionless.

“Ty?” Zane said carefully as the rest of the family joined him.

Ty’s gaze took them all in before landing on Zane again. “I didn’t know they had elephants in Texas.”

“What?” Zane asked. Had Ty simply lost his tenuous grip on reality in the twenty-plus hours he’d been unconscious?

“I feel like one sat on me.” Ty rubbed at his chest and swallowed with difficulty. He sniffed at the air. “Is that steak?”

Zane laughed and went to hug him. Ty rested his chin on Zane’s shoulder and hugged him back. Every muscle in him that was usually hard and tense felt relaxed when Zane touched him.

“Are you okay?”

Ty nodded. “How long was I out?”

“Almost a whole day.”

Ty closed his eyes. “Like the worst acid trip ever.”

Zane laughed and hugged him harder, just because he could.

“You told me your hovercraft was full of eels.”

“What?”

“In Dari.”

“That’s stupid,” Ty said.

“Well,” Beverly said, prim and proper as ever. “As glad as we all are that Mr. Grady is well, we don’t want dinner to go cold, now, do we?” She gave a little clap and turned on her heel to head back to the dining room.

Sadie went skipping after her grandmother, but the rest of them ignored her and gathered to greet Ty. Annie hugged him fiercely, thanking him and almost tearing up when she apologized for leaving him to be eaten by the tiger. Mark gripped his hand and met his eyes, giving him a mere nod that Ty returned. It must have been a Marine thing, because that was the only exchange they shared.

Harrison gave his shoulder a squeeze as he shook his hand, telling him he was glad to see him up and around.

Beverly called from the dining room, sounding tense.

They all shuffled off after her, grumbling mutinously. Ty watched them go. “I think your mom would do really well with a tranq to the ass,” he said flatly.

Zane couldn’t help but smile.

“A nice parting shot from me to her. What do you think?”

“I think you need food. And then a shower.”

They’d cleaned him up after making sure he’d live, taking great pains to make sure they hadn’t missed any injuries. Zane had put fresh clothes on him, borrowed from Harrison, so he’d at least be clean when they put him to bed. But he’d still been dragged across the ground by a tiger and not showered afterward.

Ty slipped his arm around Zane’s waist. “How’d you know what I said if it was in Dari?”

Zane grinned, relieved that Ty’s mind was working well enough to ask that. “Called O’Flaherty, had him translate. I was afraid you were trying to tell me something important.”