Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

“Your meddling is going to cost us our lives,” Ronnie shouted.

“They’d have gotten away with it too!” Ty said, his words almost slurred and sounding half-delirious. “If it hadn’t been for you meddling kids.”

Cody put his boot on Ty’s back and then jerked on the lasso. Ty arched, reaching up to grasp the rope before it could cut off his air.

“Shut your damn mouth!”

“Give us the money to pay off what we owe,” Jamie told Harrison. “We disappear. Stuart and his boys take the fall for the poaching and the drugs. Nobody gets hurt. If you don’t, we burn it to the ground.”

Zane eyed his father. Harrison glanced at him, meeting his eyes. It seemed a clear-cut decision. It was only money, after all. Money for the lives inside the house was simple.

Harrison nodded at the men in the yard. “I say yes, you know you can push me around. You’ll keep coming back and taking and threatening until I’m dead and buried and got nothing but disgrace to my name. I don’t need money. But I ain’t giving you my pride.”

“Dad,” Zane whispered, both impressed with his father and terrified that they were going to shoot his lover in the head as he watched.

“It’s all right, Zane,” he whispered, and then, to the men outside, “You boys burn down the house, you only hurt yourselves. My money’ll burn down with it, and then what will you do?”

“Uncle Harry, think about this!” Jamie shouted.

“I ain’t your uncle, boy!”

“That’s it,” Cody snarled. He raised the barrel to the back of Ty’s head.

“No!” Zane shouted, panic and rage blinding him as he lunged for the stairs. Harrison grabbed him.

Glass broke as Mark took advantage of the distraction to bust the window with the butt of his rifle.

Ty jerked his head to the side and rolled, kicking the barrel of the shotgun and knocking it aside. It went off as Ty tackled Cody to the ground. Ten feet away, Jamie was knocked to his back, screaming and bloody.

Ronnie raised his gun and Harrison pulled Zane back inside as the man fired at them. The birdshot didn’t even reach the porch at that distance. Harrison slammed the front door as Ronnie switched guns.

Mark and Joe took aim and fired in return, trying to cover Ty as he wrestled with Cody in the yard and trying to deter Ronnie from peppering the house with his .45.

“Dad, go get the girls and get to your truck!” Mark shouted between shots. “Get everyone out the back!”

Harrison looked to Zane, and Zane nodded. Harrison moved away to retrieve Beverly, Annie, and Sadie and get them to safety. Zane peered around the windowsill to see how Ty was faring. He and Cody were scuffling in the dirt, but despite the covering fire, Ronnie was wading in. Ty was an injured man with one good arm and a rope already around his neck, fighting two healthy men. And he was losing. Badly.

Zane took the rifle Harrison had readied and took aim, standing above Mark and looking through the sights at Ronnie as the big man grabbed Ty and held him. Cody pulled a knife from a sheath at his thigh.

Zane let out a breath and pulled the trigger. Ty jerked in Ronnie’s arms and turned both their bodies. The bullet went through Ronnie’s arm and he howled, and Ty cried out too as they both hit the ground.

Cody dove to the gravel and all three men were out of sight.

“Did you just shoot your boyfriend?” Mark cried.

“Fuck!”

Joe and Mark both grabbed an extra gun and darted for the door, on Zane’s heels. Harrison had returned and followed them onto the porch. They were just in time to see Cody get to his feet and grab up a revolver from the grass. He pointed it down at Ty, who was writhing in the dirt, holding his arm where Zane’s shot had hit him.

Zane raised his rifle.

The others all cried out before Zane could pull the trigger. He caught a flash of orange out of the corner of his eye: Barnum the Bengal tiger speeding across the yard toward Ty and the others.

“Ty!”

Ty rolled and saw the tiger coming. He curled into a ball as Barnum rushed him. The tiger leapt over him, claws extended, graceful body long and lean as he attacked. Cody screamed and fired his gun, but the tiger hit him at full force, sending him skidding through the gravel a solid ten feet away.

Claws slashed and teeth sank into flesh. Cody screamed, a bloodcurdling sound that Zane didn’t think he’d soon be forgetting.

Zane sprinted across the yard toward Ty, who was still curled in a ball with his arms covering his head. He grabbed Ty’s arm and yanked him to his feet.

Ty wavered, but seemed to rally as Zane wrapped his arm around him. “Somebody shot me, Zane.”

Zane nodded and pulled the rope off Ty’s neck. He shoved him toward the porch, then bent to check Ronnie’s pulse. The man was alive, but he wasn’t moving. Zane gathered all his weapons, then left him to lie there, unconscious and defenseless, at the mercy of the enraged tiger.

He turned to follow his partner, but Ty was rooted to the spot, watching Barnum savage the ranch hand who had tried to kill him. Zane couldn’t bring himself to look.

“Come on, Ty,” Zane whispered. He tugged at Ty’s arm.

Ty shook his head, then he gave a short whistle. “Barnum!”

The tiger jerked his head up and growled. Ty and Zane both staggered back as if it had been a warning. Ty stopped his retreat, though, and said the tiger’s name again with a little more authority. Zane couldn’t help but glance sideways at the animal. Barnum had Cody’s hand in his mouth, and the arm was obviously broken and possibly beyond repair. There were gashes and punctures all over his body, but nothing like the damage the tiger could have done.

“Easy now. Come on,” Ty said to the tiger, and after a moment Barnum released Cody’s hand and began to prowl toward Ty. Zane started backing away.

Ty held his hand out, breathing out like he was trying to calm himself. His hand was trembling. Barnum approached and nosed his bloody muzzle against Ty’s palm. Ty carefully scratched under his chin “That’s twice you saved me. Good boy.”

Barnum chuffed and then pushed onto his back feet, putting one huge paw on each of Ty’s shoulders. Ty couldn’t take the weight of the 600 pound tiger and they both toppled to the ground. Barnum sat down with a huff and rubbed his face against Ty’s as Ty gasped for air. Then he wrapped his paw around Ty’s head and began licking Ty’s wounded face. Ty didn’t struggle, merely closed his eyes and held his breath.

“Ty?” Zane whispered.