Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

through his hair. He
    felt Ty‟s arm move, and he imagined Ty was probably putting his
    forearm over his eyes like he did when he was worn out.
    “Wake me if you need anything,” Ty mumbled.
    “Okay,” Zane murmured as he rested his neck a little more
    comfortably along the back of the couch and closed his eyes. He tuned
    into Ty‟s breathing as Ty relaxed, smiling as he felt Ty go to sleep, and
    after a quiet minute, Zane carefully shifted, pulled out the cell phone a
    helpful nurse had saved from his suit, and activated the voice command
    function.
    “Call Deuce Grady.”
    Did you say “Call Deuce Grady”?
    “Yes.”
    Dialing.
    Zane took a deep breath and tried to let it out slowly as the phone
    rang on the other end, somewhere in Philadelphia. Ty didn‟t even
    twitch in his lap.
    “Hello,” Deuce answered after the second ring. There was
    nothing terse or clipped in the way he answered the phone, just another
    trait of Deacon Grady‟s that was wildly unlike his brother.
    “Hey, Deuce,” Zane managed, pretty happy that his voice came
    out sounding mostly normal.
    “Hey, Zane, how‟s it going?” Deuce responded easily.
    Zane swallowed. “Not so great,” he admitted.
    “What‟s wrong?” Deuce demanded, his voice losing the laid-back
    quality and becoming more urgent. “Is Ty hurt? Are you hurt? Why
    didn‟t Ty call me to tell me? Is he even conscious? What happened?”
    Zane resisted the urge to laugh as he gently petted Ty‟s hair. “Ty
    is fine. He‟s asleep. He wasn‟t the one hurt this time.”
    “Oh,” Deuce muttered, not sounding at all embarrassed over his
    outburst. “But you‟re hurt? Are you okay? What happened?”
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    “An explosion happened. A surprise one,” Zane answered. “I‟m
    okay. Mostly. No limbs missing or anything,” he tried to joke.
    “A surprise explosion,” Deuce repeated slowly. He sounded like
    he might be writing that down. “Interesting,” he drew out under his
    breath. “As opposed to a not-surprise explosion. And it did what,
    exactly?”
    “Apparently some of the parts in my head got a little scrambled,”
    Zane said awkwardly. “I can‟t see.”
    “You can‟t see what?”
    “Anything. I can‟t see . I‟m blind.” Zane was pretty proud that his
    voice didn‟t shake or break upon saying it out loud like that.
    “You‟ve lost your vision,” Deuce summarized in a clinical tone,
    not an ounce of pity or apology. “Is this a permanent thing?” he asked
    more carefully. He seemed to be wavering between psychiatrist and
    friend as they spoke.
    Several seconds passed before Zane realized he hadn‟t answered.
    “They don‟t know,” he murmured, recalling bits and pieces of what the
    doctors had said.
    “I see.” Deuce was silent for a long moment. “Let me ask you
    this, Zane: are you calling because you need a friend or because you
    need a shrink?”
    “I want to talk to you, Deuce, not Dr. Grady,” Zane said, knowing
    he sounded a little plaintive. “I know we‟ve sort of blurred the lines
    along the way.”
    “Then let me just say: dude, that sucks,” Deuce drew out with
    feeling.
    Zane cracked a grin and laid his hand on Ty‟s chest so he could
    feel it rise and fall evenly. “No shit, man.”
    “Are you with Ty or are you staying alone?”
    “We‟re at my apartment. I know my way around here,” Zane said.
    “I just got out of the hospital. I don‟t even know what time it is.”
    Deuce hummed thoughtfully. “Did Ty tell you our great-
    grandmother Elsie was blind? She had this watch that you could flip up
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    and feel to tell time. Ty might have it. But then, that was twenty years
    ago. There‟s also a button on your phone that will do that, I think.”
    “We‟ve not had much chance to talk. I was really out of it for a
    while. It‟s still… sinking in,” Zane said slowly. “The panic is starting
    to creep up on me, and I‟m trying to let him sleep a little.”
    “I can imagine,” Deuce said sympathetically. “Doesn‟t do any
    good to tell you not to panic, either.”
    Zane‟s laugh had a little edge to it. “Right.” He blinked several
    times, resisting the urge to rub at his dry eyes. The doctors had said
    over and over that it wouldn‟t help and would probably hurt. But he
    wasn‟t sure where the bag from the hospital was, and even if he did
    know, he wasn‟t going to wake up Ty to get to it. “This… isn‟t good,”
    he said,