Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

the phone rang, Zane startled and sat up in a rush, his left hand
    reaching out to fumble for his phone. He hit solid, warm skin, and he
    paused in place. He was on the wrong side of the bed, and he could tell
    by the bustle of sound from the street that it wasn‟t the middle of the
    night. He still couldn‟t see. The disappointment and fear welled into his
    throat.
    128 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    “Ow, Zane,” Ty grunted in a monotone, sleepy voice as Zane
    pawed at him. He pushed Zane‟s hand away, and the bed dipped as he
    rolled over. Zane heard him smack his hand onto the table where the
    cell phone rang. “Grady,” he grunted in answer to the call. He sighed in
    annoyance. “Now?” he asked whoever was on the other end of the call.
    “Well, why don‟t you come here and get it from me like all the other
    witnesses?” he asked petulantly. “Fine. I‟m at Garrett‟s place.”
    Then he clicked the phone closed and groaned plaintively, rolling
    around again. Zane knew him well enough to guess he was burying his
    head under his pillow in protest.
    Zane sighed and lay back down, facing toward Ty, dragging his
    own pillow under his chest. “Work?” he murmured, wide awake now,
    although the scare was fading.
    “Sort of,” Ty mumbled as he lifted up and then rolled out of bed,
    barely disturbing the mattress. “They want a witness statement from
    me,” he said as his voice trailed off toward the hallway. “They‟re
    sending a car.”
    Zane missed the warmth of Ty‟s body immediately. He stretched
    his hand out to rub his fingers across the still-warm fitted sheet. “About
    the bomb at the baseball field?”
    “That and the other. And I‟ve got to go in and find that damn kid
    and get your keys back.”
    “Not like I need them,” Zane muttered.
    “You will soon enough,” Ty told him. The water began running
    soon after.
    Zane stood to walk to the bathroom, but his phone‟s low chime
    stopped him. He felt his way back to the nightstand and answered with
    a hint of trepidation. “Zane Garrett.”
    “Special Agent Garrett, this is Dolores from PR at the Bureau.”
    “Okay?” Dolores worked for White Strips. He wondered if her
    boss made her stock floss.
    “We‟ve received a large number of requests for interviews, and I
    wanted to check to see when you thought you might feel up to giving
    some.”
    Divide & Conquer | 129

    “Giving some… interviews? About what?” Zane slowly sat down
    on the edge of the bed.
    “Some are speaking requests from community leaders who
    attended the classes you‟ve spoken at recently. But we‟ve also had
    several requests since the press somehow connected you to the
    aquarium bomb scare. You‟re quite the celebrity now,” she said
    cheerfully.
    Zane didn‟t know what to say. “I‟ll think about it,” he said
    weakly.
    “Do you still plan to give your talk at the community class this
    coming Saturday?”
    “Do you know what happened to me yesterday?” Zane asked
    carefully.
    “Yes, and I‟m very sorry,” she said, her voice softening. “The
    SAIC said that it‟s your choice about Saturday. Can you let me know
    by tomorrow if you‟re going or not?”
    “Yeah, okay,” Zane said. He ended the call and set the phone
    back on the nightstand as he heard the water cut off. Zane felt Ty
    moving around the small room very shortly after.
    “You okay?” Ty said in a low voice, much closer to Zane than
    he‟d expected. Ty patted his shoulder and sidled past him.
    Zane reached out just in time for his fingers to drag down the
    damp skin of Ty‟s back. “Yeah.”
    Ty hummed in response, the sound coming from the general
    direction of the end of Zane‟s bed. “Have you seen my blue tie?” he
    asked distractedly.
    Zane chuckled before he could help it. He stood up, moving away
    from the bed. “Ah. Maybe hanging with the other suit in the dry-
    cleaning bag.” They‟d gotten into enough messes the past few months
    that now they each kept a suit or two at each other‟s place.
    Ty grunted and made an apologetic noise. “Sorry. Forgot about
    the… seeing thing.”
    130 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    “Guess I‟ll get used to it fast,” Zane said as he tried to figure out
    by listening what Ty was doing. “Did they say how long this would
    take?”
    “Hour or two. Means probably four.” There was rustling and the
    occasional whiff of Old Spice, and Zane figured Ty was putting on
    clothing, waving his shirt or jacket through