Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

his vision in an explosion a
    Divide & Conquer | 185

    few days ago. He‟s staying with me until he gets it back or we catch the
    guy. Zane, this is… my Recon team.”
    “What remains of it, anyway. Team Sidewinder, at your service,”
    Nick provided with more than a hint of pride.
    Zane stayed in place at the foot of the stairs, hands in his pockets.
    “A surprise visit from the whole team?” His voice was a little flat, and
    Ty knew he had to be uncomfortable.
    “Not technically a surprise,” Nick answered before Ty could open
    his mouth.
    Ty cleared his throat. “I forgot,” he said again, for Zane‟s benefit
    and theirs. “Zane, this is Nick O‟Flaherty. Boston accent. Owen Johns,
    upstate New York. Kelly Abbott, Colorado. And Digger, deep Bayou.”
    His name was actually Duruand Garrigou, but since none of them had
    ever been able to pronounce his name to his satisfaction, he‟d been
    Digger since he‟d joined the team.
    They each offered mumbled hellos in turn, looking at Ty oddly as
    they did so.
    After a short awkward silence, Zane spoke up. “So there‟s a
    planned something going on? The thing you forgot?” he prompted Ty.
    Ty held his breath, looking from Zane to the other four
    uncomfortably. They all looked at him expectantly. “I‟m sorry!” he
    finally blurted. “It‟s been a rough week, okay? They blew up my
    Bronco, then they blew up my partner, and I got a little distracted.”
    Kelly and Digger looked at each other pointedly. “Revenge kick,”
    Kelly decided.
    “No doubt,” Digger agreed.
    Ty gave them both a disgusted grunt.
    “Hey, don‟t worry about it,” Nick offered easily. He looked over
    at Zane. “We‟d planned to go out in the woods and play some paintball
    this weekend,” he explained for Zane‟s benefit. “We do it every few
    months. It was Grady‟s turn to host.”
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    “Sounds fun,” Zane said, a little more energy in his voice this
    time. He must have been listening to who was standing where, because
    he turned his head toward Ty. “You should go.”
    “We just had this conversation, Garrett,” Ty said in frustration.
    “I‟m not leaving you alone until you can see or they‟ve caught the
    bomber.”
    “This sounds pretty heavy,” Nick commented drily.
    “Welcome to my fucking life,” Ty snapped. Nick merely laughed
    at him.
    “We don‟t have to go anywhere. If we stick around Grady, we
    can probably shoot real guns eventually,” Kelly offered as he sat down
    on the couch behind him. He had been their Navy corpsman, the
    medical officer. He‟d gone through the same training they had and then
    some. He was slim and wiry, with unremarkable brown hair and eyes a
    variable color between blue and gray. His manner was unassuming and
    affable, but he was the only member of their six-man team who‟d been
    undefeated in sparring matches. He was hell on wheels with or without
    a weapon.
    “I flew from fucking San Diego. I‟m shooting something,” Owen
    announced irritably.
    “I hear that,” Zane muttered. “Look. They changed the locks at
    my place. I can go there. I know my way around better there anyway.”
    He was sounding sensible, in front of witnesses, and Ty wanted to
    throttle him for it. “You can visit with them and come check on me in
    the evenings if you want.” Zane gave him a ghost of a smile. “I‟ll have
    dinner delivered.”
    “Were you two the targets?” Nick asked.
    “No,” Ty answered curtly, still glaring at Zane.
    “Maybe,” Zane corrected.
    “It‟s possible,” Ty granted reluctantly. “Look, I can‟t leave town
    right now. A bomber‟s targeting municipal and federal law
    enforcement and rescue crews, banks are being robbed all over the
    place, the city‟s going nuts—”
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    “Well, aren‟t you Mr. Doom and Gloom,” Digger observed with a
    smirk. He was a good-looking man, his skin so dark that they‟d never
    had to paint him with grease oil on a mission to hide him in the dark.
    His accent was deep Louisiana, which meant half the time he wasn‟t
    coherent and the other half he was bitching at them for not answering
    his questions.
    “Anything we can do to help?” Nick offered as the others settled
    onto the couch together. They reminded Ty of the no-evil monkeys,
    lined up in a row. He frowned at them suspiciously.
    “ Please take him out of the house for at least a few hours and
    make him burn off some energy,” Zane said