Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

could do it without contact.
    When he looked back, Ty was staring at him. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, worse than he’d looked before he’d bolted in Baltimore just weeks ago. He hadn’t given details, but his trek through the snow to find a car had to have been harrowing.
    Julian was messing with the sleeve of his shirt, and when he raised his arm, he pulled Ty’s hand with it. Julian looked at Ty and flailed his hands in a rare display of frustration. “I finally get to sleep in a bed, and I can’t even get out of my shirt now?”
    “Shut up,” Ty growled, and he pushed Julian toward the bed. He gave Zane one last glance, and Zane met his eyes long enough to nod, hoping it conveyed his tacit acceptance of the situation. He didn’t have to like it; he just had to get to tomorrow.

    C AMERON shot straight up, pulse going into overdrive, when a piercing alarm blared in the darkness now lit by red lights flashing from small boxes on the ceiling. It was so loud he had to cover his ears, and he panted for breath, trying to wake up and remember where he was and why Julian wasn’t with him.
    There was a shout and a cry of pain from the next bed over, followed by a thump loud enough to be heard over the blaring alarm.
    He saw a tall shadow move in front of him, and he relaxed. “Julian?” he called out, trying to be heard over the wailing alarm.
    But it wasn’t Julian who Cameron saw when the shadow stopped at the foot of the sagging bed. Cameron’s brain finally kicked in with the details: it was Zane standing in front of him; they were in a scary-ass motel somewhere in Ohio; and Julian was in the next bed, sleeping while cuffed to Ty.
    Cameron started trying to push himself out of the hollow in the center of the drooping mattress, but Zane was already flipping on the light. It took some wiggling and a push to get off the creaky bed, and Cameron was finally able to see Ty and Julian. Or at least see where they were supposed to be.
    Ty was sprawled sideways across the double bed, lying on his belly, arm stretched over the edge of the bed to the point that his muscles were straining and taut under his thin T-shirt. Cameron could see Julian’s hand sticking up over the edge of the mattress, fingers limp and attached to the handcuffs on Ty’s wrist.
    Cameron winced and hurried over to crouch next to Julian, who was sprawled on the floor, arm turned back at an awkward angle. “Julian, are you okay?”
    Julian groaned and turned his shoulders, trying to get off the floor while still in that position. “I’m okay,” he muttered as he reached for Cameron.
    Cameron leaned over to slide an arm around Julian’s waist and give him some leverage to clamber to his feet. When Cameron looked up, Zane was standing right there, looking at the cuffs.
    “Careful,” Zane said, grabbing Julian’s cuffed wrist and holding it still, stopping the yanking motion. “Ty? You okay?”
    “Yeah,” Ty said in a strained voice. He pushed to his hands and knees and shook his head. “Tried to go opposite ways.”
    Julian rubbed his shoulder and winced. The chain between them clanked accusingly. “Apparently I either weigh more than he does or I got out faster,” he muttered with a hint of a smirk.
    “And then you fell on your ass.”
    Before anyone could answer, the alarm shut off just as suddenly as it had started.
    They all stood in the ensuing silence, Ty’s harsh breathing really the only sound to be heard.
    Julian moved his arm, rotating his shoulder, and Ty allowed his hand to go with the motion.
    “I’m fine,” Julian grumbled.
    “Liar,” Cameron said. “Should we check to see if there’s a real fire?”
    “Call the front desk,” Ty suggested. He was still frowning, and he looked oddly haunted by the events of the evening. Julian’s words about having flashbacks now seemed like more than mockery between the two men.
    Zane moved to the phone and called the front desk. After a moment of listening, he hung up. “There’s a short somewhere. They’ve got people coming to fix it.”
    “How long will that take?” Cameron asked, reluctantly pulling away from Julian to let him work out the kink in his shoulder. He’d no more than gotten the last word out when the alarm shrieked again for about five seconds and quit.
    “Answers that question,” Zane muttered.
    Ty sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed at his eyes. Julian was forced to take a step closer, hovering over him and looking