Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

days’ hike from help. Mountain’ll kill him before we have to. Let’s get back.”
    The bigger man nodded, and they both turned to slink back into the woods. They moved quietly, and Ty was impressed. They were speaking louder now, though, no longer worried about being overheard.
    “Radio back, let him know,” Earflaps ordered. “He’s all tetchy about people gettin’ to his damn treasure before we do, he’ll probably go nuts if he don’t hear from us soon.”
    Swizzlestick nodded and stopped moving again. He reached for a small radio at his hip. He pushed the button and called, but got nothing but static in response. He sighed in annoyance and waved the radio. “Still don’t work. Must be a tower washed out somewheres.”
    “Let’s get goin’, then,” Earflaps said with a grunt. They pushed through the thick underbrush and disappeared into the forest once more.
    Ty waited until he could no longer hear their progress. Then he waited some more.

    Z ANE lay still, breathing steady and low, eyes flickering about as he waited. More often than not, they moved to look about twenty feet to his right, where he knew Earl Grady was hidden. Zane gritted his teeth and forced himself to relax.
    If he thought about what the man had said to his own son, Zane wouldn’t be able to stay still, because he’d be over there kicking some sense into him. What kind of man called his own son a coward? Perhaps more specifically, what kind of man would call Ty Grady a coward? Zane knew without a doubt that had those words come from anyone but Earl, Ty would have taken off his head.
    Zane closed his eyes. Ty hadn’t been angry, though. The hurt he’d seen streak across Ty’s face had been heartbreaking. Zane knew he should have said more, done something, but once Ty had quietly agreed with Earl, Zane simply couldn’t contradict him.
    And so Zane lay there, stewing, waiting for Ty to come back from a pointless recon to see who might have set that stupid trap. And while Zane thought Earl’s plan to protect innocent hikers was a lovely, shiny idea, it was also naïve and dangerous.
    Zane’s fingers dug into the dirt, and he jerked in surprise when the underbrush stood up roughly five feet in front of him.
    “Garrett,” Ty muttered as he wiped the leaves and dirt off his face and shook off the rest of his camouflage.
    Zane squeezed his eyes closed for a second before looking at Ty. “How’d it go?”
    “This is trouble,” Ty told him as he glanced around in the general directions of his brother and father. “They’re carrying shotguns. Talked about following and killing. And there’s another one somewhere.”
    “All we’ve got is your Smith & Wesson and my Glock, unless there are more guns I don’t know about,” Zane said.
    Ty shook his head and wiped at his cheek again. “They were talking about treasure,” he said with a wrinkle of his dirty nose.
    Zane peered at him, incredulous. “Treasure?” He pushed himself up to kneel back on his heels. “Like from John’s story?”
    Ty shrugged and met his eyes. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “That’s what they said. But I’m getting really fucking tired of hearing about treasure.”
    Earl and Deuce slowly separating from the foliage drew Zane’s attention. “I don’t like this, Ty,” Zane said quietly, meeting his partner’s eyes. Ty just shook his head helplessly, and Zane curled his hands into fists, unable to hide his aggravation.
    “What did you see?” Earl asked once he reached their sides. Ty related to them everything he’d seen and heard, down to what each man had been wearing and the brand of boots each wore. “Treasure,” Earl repeated in a flat voice after he was finished. Again, Ty just shrugged.
    “Does it really matter?” Zane asked pointedly. “There are traps and men willing to kill us. Who cares what they want?”
    “It matters ’cause money is a hell of reason to kill,” Earl answered thoughtfully.
    “You really think there’s some sort of lost treasure up here?” Deuce asked doubtfully.
    “Don’t matter what I think,” Earl pointed out. “Only matters what they think. And if they think they’re gonna get rich up here, then it’s trouble.”
    “All the more reason to get out of here,” Zane said firmly, “before we get in trouble. We can’t do much to stop them if we’re dead.”
    “So we don’t get dead,” Earl said to him firmly.
    “Swizzlestick did say we were four days’ hike from help,” Ty