Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

“They could have been alien spaceships for all the look I got at them.” Harrison rubbed at his arm, obviously sore.

Ty glanced up at the sky. They had many hours of daylight left. “You should send your dad home,” he whispered to Zane.

“Good luck with that,” Zane said, then turned away and headed back to the group.

Ty watched him walk away, then returned his attention to the ground. He continued to look around the old pump house, scanning the area for anything he might have missed. The boot treads were all worn to nothing, no way to tell shoe sizes or height and weight, nothing but their numbers.

He stepped up to the crumbling doorway of the pump house and peered in, not sure if the structure was sound. Shafts of light filtered through the broken roof. The walls were so thin in places that he could see shadows moving through them. The interior was empty, save for a few faded beer cans and trapped tumbleweeds. He shook his head. This was no drug runners’ stronghold.

He knelt and plucked a stone from the ground, and was arrested by how cool it was. He placed his palm on the ground in the shadow of the building.

“What are you doing?” someone asked from behind him.

Ty looked over his shoulder to find Mark standing there. He hesitated, paying more attention to the feeling of unease settling in his gut. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t decide why.

Jamie and Zane joined them, both frowning down at Ty.

“What is it?” Zane asked.

Ty looked from Zane to the others and stood, holding up the rock and trying to put a smirk on his face. “Souvenir,” he said as he slid the rock into his pocket and stepped away.

Jamie and Mark shared a glance, then both shrugged. Zane, however, hadn’t been fooled. His eyes followed Ty.

Annie’s cell phone began to ring as they returned to their horses, the sound out of place in the middle of nowhere. She fumbled in her saddlebag for it, finding it and answering with a professional greeting.

Her face immediately lost its composure. “What?” she exclaimed, looking at Mark and then Zane with wide eyes. “When? Okay, we’re out in the hills right now. No, I promise you, my brother will do everything he can. Hello? You there?” She pulled the phone away and looked at it.

They were all waiting as she put the phone away.

“My stupid battery died!”

“Who was it?” Zane asked in exasperation.

“It was Tish. From the preserve. She said two more of their tigers are missing.”

“What?” Ty asked, his heart sinking. “Is it Barnum and Bailey?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

Ty swallowed hard. “Their enclosure was the next closest to the perimeter. Easiest targets.”

Zane looked from Annie to Ty. “Means someone’s got your tiger, Ty.”

“Goddammit!” Ty spat.

Harrison turned his horse. “Okay,” he said. He looked at Zane’s uncle, who Ty had decided must have been Beverly’s brother and not Harrison’s, since everyone talked about Zane being the last Garrett around. “Stan, you go with a few of them and head back for the house. I want you to stay there until you hear from us.” He glanced at Joe and Cody. “Got it? These people find out we’re after them, I want the house covered.”

“Yes, sir,” the men said in unison.

Stan was nodding, gathering the reins to his horse. “We’ll lock her up tight. Alert the authorities.”

“Annie, you go with them,” Harrison added.

Annie put her hand on the black bag that was strapped behind her on the saddle. “No, I’m coming with you.”

“Annie,” Mark started, but she cut him off.

“I’m the only one with medical training here. And you might need me if the tigers are out there and you’re able to retrieve them.”

No one seemed to like it, but they couldn’t argue with that logic. Ty chuckled. “Next thing you know, you women folk will be wanting to vote and everything,” he joked as he pulled himself into his saddle.

Annie tossed a bandana at him, which he caught and waved like a prize. He winked at her as the others parted from them, heading back to the ranch as they’d been ordered.

“Did the woman from the cat place say when Barnum and Bailey went missing?” Ty asked as her horse drifted closer to his. He handed her the bandana.

Annie shook her head, grunting a thank-you as she stuffed the bandana into her pocket. “She said they found them gone when they went to feed them.”

Zane exhaled noisily. “If we assume they did it the same time as the last job, that means we’re as much as six hours behind them.”

“Let’s see if we can find where they entered. It’s got to be close,” Mark said.

They headed off toward the fence, weaving through narrow gullies and over odd-shaped hills. Ty was surprised at how distracted he was at the thought of Barnum and Bailey in danger.

“What do they do with these tigers, do you think?”

“They won’t hurt them, not on purpose,” Annie assured him. “They’re either breeding them or selling them as commodities. A live and healthy tiger is far more valuable than a dead or injured one.”

Ty let out a relieved breath. He’d grown attached to Barnum. Something about the way the tiger looked at him with those golden eyes, one ear flopped to the side. He’d felt an instant connection to the animal. When he’d gone back to visit, he’d seen more of the tiger’s personality and he’d been hooked. Now that Barnum might be in danger, it felt personal.

“You lurve the tiger,” Zane crooned.

“Shut up, Zane.”

“Oh come on, admit it. You’re a big bad tough guy who fell in love with an itty bitty kitty.”

Ty barked a laugh, then tried to glare at Zane and failed. “Are you done?”

“Not nearly,” Zane practically giggled. “You just like things that can maul and maim you.”

“Explains my affinity for you, Hoss.”

“Meow Mix.”

Ty rolled his eyes.

“Why do you call him that?” Harrison asked.

“When we went hiking last October, he was attacked by a mountain lion.”

“Seriously?” Jamie asked, voice going higher.

Ty raised his left hand to show the scars.

“He has a paw print on each shoulder too,” Zane told them, sounding almost proud of the fact.

“You’re both wrong in the head.”

Ty remained quiet as they came upon the fence that ran along the perimeter of the sanctuary. Zane could tell his partner was pissed off and worried, and it struck him as sweet that a man like Ty was concerned over the welfare of a pair of tigers. He also knew whatever Ty had found at the pump house, he’d kept to himself. It worried him—not that Ty was keeping secrets, but why. He knew better than to ask about it now. It would have to wait until they were alone.