Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

answered, voice thin and exhausted. He had been taking the bulk of the driving, simply because he was the best suited to being able to keep himself awake and he’d known where he was going as they’d set out for Philadelphia. But he had reached the end of his stamina on the outskirts of the city.
    After they’d fled Gettysburg, they’d basically had three options: head for DC as fast as they could and risk hitting a CIA roadblock, go home to Baltimore and hope the CIA wasn’t sitting on their homes, or abscond to Philadelphia in the hopes that their pursuers wouldn’t expect it. In the end they’d decided that trying to get to DC would be suicide; every road in and out could be watched, and they couldn’t risk driving into the hornet’s nest. Baltimore had been viable, but they’d feared it would be watched too. Since the CIA had known to find Ty’s tracking device, they obviously knew who Ty and Zane were now and where their home was. They would spend a few nights in Philadelphia, as long as they dared, and then try to sneak their way back to DC somehow. They just needed a night’s sleep before they could figure out how to do it.
    Ty was rubbing his eyes. “Those two can take the guest bed. Zane and I will fight over the couch.”
    Deuce just nodded. “Come help me unearth the air mattress, we’ll toss it in the floor here,” he said as he jerked his head at Ty and turned to head down the hall.
    Ty pushed himself out of his chair and followed.
    Julian waited until both men were out of sight before taking a step further into the room to look at Zane. “Which one of them is adopted?”
    Zane snorted. He knew on the surface, the two Grady brothers seemed very different. While Deuce did look a lot like Ty—he was an inch or so taller, much less broad, his hair was lighter, and his eyes were greener—their personalities could not have been more different. Ty was often abrasive and blunt, wielding sarcasm like a weapon, while Deuce was more diplomatic and kind, finding the gentlest ways of saying even the harshest of things. They had completely different tastes in everything from clothing to decorating to the cars they liked to drive. Their similar looks and quick wit were really the only things they seemed to share. Zane knew better, though. Deep down in their psyches, both brothers were really just waiting to get old enough to sit on a porch and bang things with a shovel.
    “You ought to meet the rest of the family.” He arched his back, listening to the audible pops of his spine as he stretched within the confines of his gun holster. “But they’re good people,” he added, looking at Julian. “Deuce is one of the best.”
    Julian merely looked back at him. Finally, he nodded almost imperceptibly. “I decided I liked him the moment he hit Grady with a baseball bat.”
    “Deuce doesn’t take shit from anybody, Ty included. Or maybe Ty especially.” He shrugged and leaned over to pick up one of the bags, and his mind moved on to more serious concerns as he looked back at Julian. “We’ll stay here for a day, get some rest and food. Let me know if you and Cameron need anything.”
    Julian nodded again, swallowing hard as his eye strayed to the hallway where Cameron had disappeared. It was easy to see that Julian was worried now. Before, he’d either thought he could keep the situation under control or he’d been masking his apprehension well.
    “Anywhere we touch down now will be a hot zone,” he said, his voice still soft and barely audible. “Agent Grady’s brother will be in danger as well if we stay too long.”
    “Ty is well aware,” Zane said, though he shared Julian’s concern, at least for Deuce.
    The low light mostly masked Julian’s reaction, but he seemed tense and reserved, as if he wanted to say something he was keeping himself from saying.
    Ty’s voice filtered down the hallway. “How are you going to hit me with a bat I freaking gave you for your birthday? That shit’s commemorative.”
    Deuce’s response was muffled by his laughter.
    “Do you believe in God, Agent Garrett?” Julian asked suddenly, his eyes on the hallway.
    The question caught Zane off guard, but he wasn’t sure that was Julian’s goal. Religion didn’t have much place in Zane’s life anymore, like a lot of other things. But did he believe?
    “Yeah,” he said quietly. Zane figured he’d have long ago been in the ground if it wasn’t for some higher power watching out for him.
    Julian was