Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

into an undercover gig that he wasn’t ready for and didn’t want, and there’s drugs and alcohol and all kinds of shit involved from his past. He cleaned up but… it… he’s not dealing well. He tries to hide it, but he’s not,” Ty went on in frustration.
    “You brought him here for me to talk with him?” Deuce asked in surprise.
    “Not… really,” Ty answered with a wince.
    Deuce was silent, staring at him, and soon Ty lowered his head, unable to look his brother in the eye. “Did Dick order you to bring him here?” Deuce asked uncertainly.
    “No, that was all me,” Ty corrected.
    “But Dick ordered you here,” Deuce reminded.
    “It was a suggestion,” Ty argued.
    “A suggestion,” Deuce repeated dubiously.
    “A mild suggestion,” Ty said with a nod of his head.
    Deuce snorted. “The last mild suggestion Dick gave you sent you to Cuba,” he reminded.
    “Yeah, well, I kind of enjoyed Cuba,” Ty muttered as he looked away and squinted back in the direction they’d come.
    “I assume he doesn’t know this?” Deuce asked.
    “I’m pretty sure Dick knows I enjoyed Cuba,” Ty said with a smirk he couldn’t hold back.
    “I’m talking about Zane, numbnuts,” Deuce said. “And don’t try to confuse me, I’m immune,” he added. Ty sighed and looked back at his feet. “Does Zane know why he’s here?” Deuce prodded.
    Ty shook his head and looked up at his brother pleadingly. “I told him I wanted him to come along to run interference with the family. That was the original idea, actually, but the more I thought about it on the way up, the more I thought maybe you could help. I don’t know what else to do. I’m not sure he’ll let me help him.”
    Deuce was silent, studying Ty for a few minutes. Finally he nodded, taking pity. “I’ll talk to him,” he promised.
    “Thank you,” Ty said in relief.
    “Ty! Deuce!” Earl called out suddenly, his deep voice echoing in the thick woods. The tone of his voice caused Ty to turn and run instantly, leaving Deuce to keep up with him as best he could on his bad leg.
    Ty skidded into the clearing where they’d been resting, and he glanced around until he saw his father crouched in the woods at the edge of the clearing, looking down at the ground. Zane was standing behind him, and they wore matching frowns.
    “What?” Ty demanded irritably as his heart began to calm. Deuce clambered out of the woods behind him and ran into him, almost toppling them both to the ground.
    “Quit messin’ around and come look at this,” Earl requested calmly. Ty shoved Deuce gently before stomping over to join his father.
    “Don’t do that,” he requested as he knelt beside Earl.
    “Do what?” Earl asked in confusion.
    Ty just shook his head. “What is it?”
    Earl pointed at a track in the dried mud in front of him. He was pulling the leaves of an overgrown plant away in order to see it, and Ty wondered briefly how he’d even found the tracks to start with. They were standing only a couple feet from a drop-off to a creek in a ravine.
    “Is that from an ATV?” Deuce asked as he leaned over them, his hands on his knees.
    “It’s definitely a tire mark of some sort,” Ty murmured as he looked up and over his shoulder, peering into the woods in the direction the track headed. Motorized vehicles of any sort were illegal up here. Even bicycles weren’t allowed. So it was a concern to find a track like this. His eyes scanned the trees and underbrush, looking for signs of recent passage. An ATV trail wasn’t hard to follow, but Ty could see no broken twigs or brushed leaves in the area, much less any more tracks.
    “This is a pretty old track,” he finally decided as his brother and father waited for him to speak. They knew his abilities, and they were willing to defer to him even though both men had been raised in these mountains as well. His father had been used as a tracker in Vietnam because of his skills, and he had taught his boys everything he knew. Ty had merely had more opportunity to hone the talent.
    “When was the last heavy rain up here?” he asked his dad.
    “Been about two weeks, to my knowledge,” Earl answered thoughtfully. He gently replaced the fronds of the little fern he’d been holding back, and he and Ty both cocked their heads in the same manner as they looked down at the track beneath. “It was made before the rain,” Earl realized as Ty nodded in agreement. “Plant protected it from being washed away,” he