Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

uncertainty suddenly flowing between them.
    “Well,” Zane said with forced lightness, “the extent of my French is voulez-vous coucher avec moi and ménage à trois , so I hope you won’t consider me a threat.”
    Ty looked up at him, his expression one of clear calculation. It passed and his shoulders slumped. “Don’t be like that, Zane, come on. You had to know the kind of stuff I was up to on some level. And I haven’t worked a job since we got assigned together.”
    Zane sighed. “Of course I did, Ty.” He was sure Ty had no idea how much Zane knew about that kind of stuff. He shifted his weight back and forth, trying to shake off the discomfort this entire week had caused.
    “Will someone please tell me what just happened?” Cameron shouted, his voice high and wavering.
    Ty shook his head, looking down at Cameron and Julian’s limp form. “He’ll be awake in five minutes.”
    “What the hell did you do to him?”
    “Blood choke. Cut off blood flow to his brain. He’ll be fine.”
    “Ty,” Zane said in a whisper.
    Ty looked back at him, his expression softening. “I’m sorry.”
    “I know. Me too.”
    Ty frowned. “What for?”
    Zane shrugged. “Either for letting the secrets go on so long or for pushing about it now, I’m not sure. Either way, it puts you in a bad spot.”
    “Excuse me, can one of you please help me here!” Cameron said as he lifted Julian’s head off the ground.
    Ty rolled his eyes and bent to shoo Cameron’s hands away. “Zane.”
    Zane moved closer, bending to help Ty lift the unconscious prisoner onto the bed. The man was solid and a deadweight, way too heavy for his frame. “Jesus, he’s made of granite,” Zane said in a strained voice.
    Ty grunted in agreement as they flopped him onto the bed. “Bungee cords,” he said, breathless.
    Zane went to get them, and he could hear Cameron’s tremulous voice, asking Ty questions and demanding more satisfactory answers than Ty was giving.
    “You know if it was you, you’d be trying to escape too!” he was shouting as Zane came back into the room.
    Ty’s eyes flashed dangerously as he squared his shoulders on Cameron, and Zane stepped between them.
    “Cool it. Get comfortable. We’ll tie you two up together tonight,” he said, hoping the consolation prize would keep Cameron from squawking all night about his “dead” boyfriend. They made a cursory job of tying Julian and Cameron down, then Zane grabbed Ty’s elbow and dragged him out of the room.
    “Okay, talk,” he demanded, unwilling to let it stew any longer.
    Ty nodded, and his eyes shifted to the side to glance at the bedroom door before he looked back at Zane. “This is one of the things I wanted to tell you when we got home,” he said in a low voice. “It wasn’t my call to be able to tell you before. I wanted to, Zane, I don’t like keeping secrets. But I couldn’t.”
    “So what’s so different about now?”
    “Well, for one, I wasn’t the one who spilled it.”
    “Granted. What about when we got home?”
    Ty sighed. “While I was on the road I decided I didn’t give a damn anymore. I’m not keeping anything from you from now on. I don’t care if it’s classified.”
    Something inside Zane started doing a Snoopy dance at Ty’s words. He studied Ty for a long moment before saying, “I trust you.”
    “I know. That’s what made it so hard.” He stood there for another moment, leaning forward as if perched on a precipice. Then he shook himself and reached for his gun. He drew it out of its holster and checked the magazine as he strode toward the bedroom. Zane blinked after him for a moment before jumping in front of him. He took Ty by the arm and swung him around, getting between him and the door. “Whoa, Bulldog. That’s not going to help.” Zane paused. “Well, okay, it would help you feel better. But it wouldn’t help the situation here and now, and it certainly wouldn’t help any situation later.”
    “I disagree,” Ty said in a calm voice.
    “I am sure you do,” Zane said, keeping one hand on Ty’s forearm, not holding, not squeezing.
    “I’m not going to kill him, Zane, just threaten them both until I feel better.”
    “That’s a relief, but please listen. You would have to shoot his ass to kingdom come to scare him when he wakes up, and then we’d have a worse mess. Can’t we just… settle this first, and then you can deal with him about the other? Hell, maybe that’s why Burns wants him to begin