Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

as they sauntered past him toward the stairs, their tails swishing like the two evil Siamese cats in that Disney movie. Zane gaped at them as they trailed after Ty up the stairs.

    T HE day after returning to Baltimore, Ty and Zane finally found themselves back at their desks and back to work, with absolutely no downtime as a reward for what they’d been through. The rest of the work group greeted them enthusiastically, Scott Alston even giving Ty a hug in greeting before he handed him a stack of paperwork.
    “Welcome back,” Michelle Clancy said as she came up and put her arm around Ty’s waist as he sat on the edge of Zane’s desk.
    He laid his arm over her shoulders, then glanced over her and frowned. “What’s wrong, Red? You look like someone kicked your puppy.”
    Clancy shrugged and gave him a weak smile. “They transferred Tim yesterday.”
    Ty raised an eyebrow and glanced at Zane. “Who’s Tim?”
    “Financial Crimes guy,” Zane murmured from his seat. He looked at Clancy. “Why’d he transfer?”
    Clancy shrugged one shoulder and laid her head against Ty. She looked like she was holding back tears. “I think they found out we were dating. Sent him to North Carolina.”
    “Jesus,” Zane whispered.
    Ty stared at the top of her head, feeling as if his heart had dropped into his stomach. “Why didn’t they just reassign him?” he asked, surprised when he found his voice hoarse.
    Clancy shrugged. “They wanted to make an example of it, I guess.” A tear slid down her cheek, and Ty pushed away from the desk to offer her a hug. She accepted it gratefully, something the hard-as-nails little redhead rarely did. He looked over her head to meet Zane’s eyes, seeing the same fear in them as he was suddenly feeling.
    They had planned to be open and out when they got home, planned to move in together and stop feeling like they needed to hide.
    Now, though….
    “Grady, Garrett!” Dan McCoy called from his office.
    Clancy thanked Ty as she wiped her eyes and hurried away, leaving Ty and Zane staring at each other. Ty could feel the fear growing in both of them.
    “Hey, fruitcakes! Now!”
    Zane stood, and Ty followed him to McCoy’s office, feeling like he was moving through water. Of all the things that had happened in the last month, he thought maybe Michelle Clancy’s news was the hardest for him to take.

    T Y AND Zane filed into McCoy’s office to find Richard Burns sitting there waiting for them. McCoy closed the door for them, and Ty thumped down into one of the chairs. Zane followed a little more gracefully.
    “We’ve still got all kinds of paperwork pending, but now that the CIA is deigning to tell us what the hell was going on over there, I expect this all to clear out pretty quickly,” Burns said from his seat behind Dan McCoy’s desk as he shuffled papers. He’d come all the way from DC to speak to them, rather than make them drive any more than they had to at that point.
    Zane nodded absently, listening with half an ear, tapping his pen idly on the pad of paper in front of him. Another crisis past, another case closed, but so much had changed in the handful of weeks they’d been away. He felt off-balance being back at home in Baltimore. He felt like the world had changed, with all the revelations between him and Ty. Zane felt like he’d changed. The nervous swirling inside him was gone, replaced by an almost eerie calm. The uncertainty he always fought was taking a backseat to confidence he’d forgotten he possessed. And the most glaring change of all, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the love he was feeling for Ty was the real thing and that Ty reciprocated that conviction.
    As Burns kept talking, moving on to a précis of what they’d missed, Zane glanced to his side. Ty was slouched, palm pressed to his cheek as he leaned his head on his hand. One foot rested on a knee, bouncing to a rhythm only he could hear. He was watching Burns attentively, but whether he was listening attentively was anyone’s guess. Zane gave him a fond smile and tuned back into what Burns was saying.
    “… if anyone from over there contacts you directly again, you tell them to talk to me, got it?” Burns asked, thumping his fist on the desk.
    “Yes, sir,” Ty murmured. He shifted in his seat, putting his foot on the floor and leaning forward expectantly. “If contact is made in person, are we allowed to hit or throw anything at them?” he asked, deadpan.
    Zane chuckled and leaned