Touch & Geaux (Cut & Run 7)

Ty cleared his throat and shook his head. “Got distracted,” he said, surprised when his voice came out hoarse.

“I called Shine. He wasn’t home. I can go out there, snoop around.”

“No, I can’t let you do that,” Ty said.

Ava smirked. “You won’t be letting me do anything.”

Zane snorted. Ava looked him up and down, then whistled and shook her head. “Tyler does have a type.”

“Okay,” Ty said loudly.

She merely smiled at him. “I’ll go keep a lookout for your friends.” She turned away.

Zane leaned sideways to watch her walk down the hall. “I like her.”

Ty nodded, unable to say anything.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me before the others get here?”

Ty took in the rigid line of his shoulders, the tension in his jaw, and the hardness of his eyes. Zane had every right to be angry. The timing could have been better, but all of this mess was on Ty’s head.

“I love you,” he said quietly.

“That’s it?”

Ty nodded.

Zane met his eyes for a few seconds before turning away and disappearing down the hall.

Chapter 9

“I would very much like to know what the hell is going on,” Kelly said.

He was sitting across from Nick at the largest table in the place. Nick had his eyes on Liam, who was wandering around the edges of the barroom and refused to sit with the rest of them. Nick didn’t trust the man one bit, but he was willing to hear an explanation from someone before punches were thrown.

The woman who’d let them in, Ava, had subsequently barred the door and disappeared behind a curtain. Nick could hear her moving back there, but he had no idea what she was doing, nor did he really care.

Ty sat to Nick’s right, sedate and unusually flustered. And to Nick’s left sat Zane, who seemed irritated and harsh. It wasn’t difficult to deduce whatever Ty had told Zane had jammed a wedge between them. Nick hoped they could keep it together long enough to get through whatever this was and sort it out when they got home.

The floorboards above them creaked, and all of them looked up.

“Is someone else here?” Owen asked.

Zane shook his head.

“The floors do that,” Ty muttered. He was rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers, hunched over the table.

Nick glanced at the ceiling again. The place had an eerie feeling to it, like it had been abandoned by the living but was still occupied. A shiver ran down Nick’s spine. The whole city kind of felt like that, actually. All the voodoo crap was getting to him.

“Garrett, why don’t you fill us in,” Nick said, keeping his voice low. If Ty wasn’t going to lead the discussion, someone had to.

Zane’s dark eyes slid to glare at him, then he glanced up, his gaze following Liam as the man moved. He took a deep breath before speaking. “I was undercover for a while in Miami, working in the Vega cartel.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Nick said. “They reach all the way to Boston sometimes.”

“And further. They got a tip that they had a mole, so they started a witch hunt. I got arrested one night on a DUI and the Bureau took the opportunity to pull me out, to save me and the information I’d stolen.”

Liam drifted closer, and everyone was silent as they waited for Zane to connect the pieces.

“I thought that part of my life was history, but . . .” Zane stared at the tabletop, shaking his head.

Liam cleared his throat. “But. Roughly two years ago Garrett was inserted back into the cartel for a brief stay. He was pulled again, just days before Antonio de la Vega, the head ass**le in charge, died in a plane crash in the Caribbean while returning to Colombia. Of course, Zane’s alter ego became the prime suspect within the cartel. Juan Carlos de la Vega took over, righted the Vega ship, and went on a crusade to find the man who murdered his brother.”

“How do you come into this?” Ty asked.

Liam kicked out a chair and sat, staring at Ty. His face was expressionless. “After you shot me, thank you for that by the way, I couldn’t go to the NIA as planned. I had to find work somewhere.”

Owen huffed and leaned away from Liam to look at him. “You’re a mercenary.”

“Pays the bills.”

“Why not NIA?” Ty asked. His frown had deepened.

Liam’s eyes narrowed and he leaned closer. He tapped his chest with one finger. “Because you missed, darling.”

Ty’s eyes followed Liam’s hand, and Nick could see the blood draining from his friend’s face.

“Clipped my heart. The right ventricle.”

Ty either couldn’t or wouldn’t respond. He sat back in his chair, resting his chin in his hand. Nick wondered what was going on inside Ty’s mind, how he would have reacted if everyone at the table weren’t looking to him for leadership.

“It was repaired before I bled out, but they weren’t willing to take an active field agent with a compromised heart.”

“I thought you always had a compromised heart,” Digger muttered.

“That’s funny from you, Back Woods. How many innocent little bunnies do you have strung up in your hunting shed right now?”

“I don’t eat bunny!” Digger shouted.

“Why are you here?” Kelly asked Liam.

“I was hired by de la Vega. He received an anonymous tip saying the man who killed his brother would be here Easter weekend.”

All eyes shifted to Zane, but Zane’s eyes were on Ty. He tore them away to glance around the table. “I didn’t kill him,” he said, returning his gaze to Ty.

“Tyler?” Liam drawled. “Care to share with the class?”

Ty didn’t move, which was never a good sign. He looked from Zane to Liam, then spoke without removing his hand from his chin. “I tampered with the navigational equipment of his plane,” he admitted. “The horizon should have read wrong and they would have flown straight into the water when the autopilot was turned on. I planted explosive charges as a backup.”

Zane inhaled sharply. Nick got the feeling Zane already knew this, but hearing it straight from Ty’s mouth was disconcerting, even for Nick.

“Did you go with the polymer bonded?” Digger asked.

“Slurries and gel mix.”

“Oh, nice.”

“Is that how you broke your finger when we were apart?” Zane demanded. Ty nodded curtly and Zane grunted, looking away with a sneer. “You deserved it, then.”