Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

took the spring.”
    “I tried to take the spring, but it didn’t have one,” Julian told him. He didn’t seem at all perturbed to have been caught.
    Ty growled and reached into the tub to grab Julian’s neck and yank him to his feet.
    Zane put his hand on Ty’s shoulder. “You can’t just strip him down.”
    “Watch me,” Ty said, and he pushed Julian face-first against the shower wall, then stepped into the tub with him.
    Julian cleared his throat as he tried to reposition his hands in a way that his wrists weren’t being torqued by the handcuffs, but he didn’t protest the rough treatment.
    Zane was torn between the urge to laugh and the more professional need to pull Ty off their prisoner. He also wasn’t fond of watching Ty manhandle anyone like that unless it was him. He realized he was more tired than he’d thought if the sight of Ty searching a criminal had him jealous.
    “Grady.”
    Ty was already patting Julian down. Quite thoroughly. He glanced back at Zane and jerked his head. He continued the pat down, and Julian moved his head so he could glance over his shoulder at them. He didn’t show any emotion, merely looked at Ty.
    “In most countries you’d have to pay for that.”
    Zane stifled a sigh and took a step back. It wasn’t exactly kosher, what Ty was doing, but the assignment gave them unusual latitude to deal with such a dangerous asset. And maybe it would help Ty work off some of that extra energy. He turned in the doorway to glance out into the main room. Cameron was sitting up, turned toward the bathroom, peering Zane’s way with a worried look on his face.
    Zane heard Ty whuff from within the bathroom, and by the time he looked back, Ty had shoved Julian’s face against the shower wall and was holding him there by the back of his head.
    “Watch the elbows.”
    “Watch your fingers,” Julian snapped.
    “Welcome to TSA training, bitch.”
    “Want the other set of cuffs?” Zane asked, hoping to appease his cranky partner. “You could spread his arms out.”
    “Will someone please tell me the safe word?” Julian asked.
    Zane snorted and leaned against the door, but he was watching Ty carefully. Something about Julian seemed to rub him wrong, and Ty’s short patience was nonexistent with this man.
    A moment later Ty reached around and slid his fingers under his belt.
    “Agent Garrett, I really must protest,” Julian said, though his voice was still calm.
    Yeah, Zane wanted to protest too. Too much of Ty’s bare skin was too close to another man for Zane’s taste.
    Julian started to speak again, but his words were choked off as Ty moved his hand further under his belt. Julian did react then, throwing his head to the side and beginning to fight as Ty pulled at the waistband of his pants.
    “Ha!” Ty yanked something out of Julian’s pants and held it up. It was a long, thin piece of metal. It had once been a spiral, but it had been straightened out. Julian cursed. Ty put a hand in the center of his back and shoved him against the wall, holding him there as he stepped out of the shower.
    “Bravo,” Zane said, shaking his head. He wasn’t sure whom he was congratulating, though.
    Ty waved the straightened spring at him and then tossed it into the sink on the other side of the bathroom door.
    “Clever bastard,” Julian muttered, sounding almost amused. “Do you have any idea how difficult that was?”
    “Is this what the whole trip is going to be like?” Zane asked with a wave of his gun at the spring.
    “I would wager so, yes,” Julian said with a nod. “Perhaps if you allowed me—”
    “No,” Ty snapped. “Sit down, shut up, stop trying to escape.” He turned to Zane. “Where’s the kid?”
    Zane nodded toward the open room.
    “Go get him.”
    That got Julian’s attention. He straightened, still standing in the bathtub, and he pulled at the handcuffs that looped around the safety bar. “No need to bring him into this.”
    “You brought him into this,” Zane said. He took two steps out of the room and waved Cameron over.
    “What’s going on?” Cameron asked as he climbed off the bed and moved to join Zane at the door.
    Ty stepped to the side so Cameron could see Julian. They hadn’t let Cameron see him at all since locking him in the bathroom, and now Cameron’s brow creased as he took in the scene. Zane knew it was a disturbing image, Julian disheveled, standing in the bathtub cuffed to the shower rail, and Ty bare-chested and