Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

or try to get a hundred people to run,” Zane bit off
    as he held up a hand to protect his face. There was already a thin dark
    line of blood wending down his cheek from a cut below his eye.
    Ty continued to mutter and curse under his breath, trying to move
    his body off Zane‟s in the tight space. “You‟re a dick, you know that?
    Scared the shit out of me. Made me run. Got me dirty. I lost my cover!
    Now I‟m trapped in a crypt with a dumbass.”
    “I‟m sorry,” Zane muttered. He even sounded sincere.
    Ty could only manage to slide off him and sit in the rubble next
    to him, legs drawn up against his chest. He had to hunch his shoulders
    and duck his head. He could still hear the rock shifting and groaning
    ominously as it settled. One thing was obvious: Zane never would have
    made it out alive if he‟d still been running for the door. The entire
    structure had collapsed in on itself, save for the areas where stone slabs
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    from the ceilings and walls had fallen against the stone sarcophagi in
    the corners.
    “Fuck, Garrett.”
    “Maybe later.”
    Ty looked around at the heavy stone bearing down on them both.
    He swallowed hard as he recognized a cold panic beginning to form in
    his gut. The stone was too close, too thick. “Might be our last chance,”
    he replied, trying to sound wry but falling flat.
    Zane shifted, turning enough to put his back to the fallen wall so
    he faced Ty. “We‟ll get out of here. Too many people saw me—us—
    run in for them not to dig us out.”
    Ty shook his head as he peered at Zane in the dim light. He could
    just make out Zane‟s outline, and he was only three feet away. “What
    were you thinking?”
    “I was thinking… get the bomb away from the kids.”
    Ty sighed heavily. He couldn‟t bitch at Zane for that. He could
    feel the stone brushing the top of his head as he sat, and he could only
    just stretch his legs out in front of him. If he turned the other way, he
    could lie flat, which didn‟t go a long way toward calming him. He
    could feel the stone looming overhead, feel the press of the darkness
    and the swell of burgeoning panic. His chest tightened, making it hard
    to breathe, and his fingers still trembled from the adrenaline of his
    headlong flight across the cemetery after his partner.
    He‟d watched Zane take off, understanding taking a few seconds
    to settle in, and he‟d grabbed the device from the dead kid‟s hand,
    recognizing it for what it was. It was counting down the seconds until
    that bomb went off. Then he‟d run after his stupid fucking partner so he
    could save his sorry ass before he got blown up. Again.
    “Well. What now?”
    Zane dug into his jacket pocket, pulled out his cell phone, then
    cursed under his breath. “Screen‟s busted. Maybe if we—”
    Without warning, the stone groaned again, and Ty pushed himself
    back against the shelter of the vault as another wall fell toward them
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    and shattered, sending stone fragments cascading across them. Ty heard
    a last, loud crunch, and when he carefully opened his eyes, it was to
    complete darkness.
    “Oh God,” Ty groaned. The panic began to billow. He couldn‟t
    take enclosed spaces. He just couldn‟t do it. The air in their little pocket
    of space was growing warmer.
    “Ty.” Zane‟s low voice was followed by the touch of his hand
    and a firm tug that shifted Ty closer to his partner, and after another
    tug, Zane pulled Ty practically onto his lap and against his chest, then
    wrapped his arms around him securely. “I‟ve got you, baby. I‟m here.”
    Ty struggled against the cuddling. “Quit touching me, Zane,” he
    hissed stubbornly.
    “Stop it,” Zane said firmly, though his arms loosened enough to
    led Ty slide down. “Stop it and close your eyes. Listen to my voice.”
    Ty put both hands over his face and rested his head in Zane‟s lap.
    His breaths were shallow and erratic against his hands. “I should have
    just let you get squished.”
    “You‟d never do that, baby, and we both know it.” Zane‟s hand
    settled on Ty‟s head, stroking gently. “Who else would pun you to
    death?”
    “At least I‟d finally be taller than you.”
    “I thought you liked me being taller than you.”
    Ty tried to answer, but the thought of being tall enough to brush
    his head on the ceiling while sitting made his stomach turn, and he
    managed only a ragged breath. The panic was sharp and