Cut and Run 6 - Stars and Stripes

sure?”
    “Damn sure.”
    Mark and Jamie were declared the winners amidst a round of polite applause as Ty and Zane discussed it. When Zane was declared the individual winner of the event, he looked around in surprise as everyone cheered.
    “Nicely done, Big Iron,” Ty said to him.
    Zane looked at him suspiciously as Ty patted him on the shoulder. If Ty had made that lasso toss, he would have won.
    Harrison came up to smack each of them on the back. “Well, if it ain’t Pancho and Lefty. Looks like you caught you one,” he said to Ty with a big grin. He put his arm around Zane’s shoulder. “That was a mighty fine show you put on. Boy, I had no idea you could throw a knife like that.”
    Zane felt himself blushing. Ty patted him on the shoulder and gave him a wink. “I’m going to go have a discussion with the sheriff,” he said, then left Zane alone with his father.
    “I guess . . . we have a lot of catching up to do,” Zane said with a hopeful smile.
    “You bet your ass we do.”
    “Have you talked to Mother?”
    Harrison’s jaw tightened and his eyes grew harder. He nodded curtly. “If she intends to make me choose between my wife and my son, she’s got a surprise coming. I hope you and your boy decide to come down more often.” Harrison threw a pointed look at Ty, who had melted into the crowd, shaking hands, laughing with strangers. He’d been accepted for the most part, whether by his own doing or Harrison’s influence, Zane didn’t know. Zane’s mother could sign all the legal documents she wanted; it wasn’t going to pierce through Zane’s armor now.
    Zane nodded, throat tightening. “I think we’ll be able to manage that.”
    Harrison patted him on the cheek. “Did you catch him?”
    “Ty claims he has proof enough to get the sheriff. That’s what he’s doing now.”
    “Let’s hope he’s right. Why do you look worried?”
    Zane took a deep breath. “We think Mark’s involved.”
    Harrison inhaled sharply. “I hope you’re wrong on that one, son.”
    “Me too.”
    Zane remained there as his father walked away, the feeling of warmth and acceptance spreading deeper into him. His mother and their suspicions of Mark were a small blight on an otherwise bright day. He set off into the crowd to find Ty again, feeling somehow that if it weren’t for Ty, he would never have come home, and he would have drifted through life alone until it killed him. Ty had given him a new home, and then shown him he still had his old one.
    He was still musing over the twists and turns of life when a commotion broke out ahead of him. He pushed through the crowd to see what was going on, and somehow he wasn’t surprised to see Ty in the thick of it. Ty stood with the sheriff and two of his deputies, facing Stuart and his three friends. Stuart was in Ty’s face as the crowd cleared for them.
    “You accusing me of something, boy?” Stuart was saying as Zane came up on them.
    “I’m saying I know where you got that limp,” Ty said.
    Stuart puffed up his chest like he was trying for courage as he glared up at Ty. Both deputies put their hands on their firearms, ready for a show of force.
    Everyone and his brother was armed, and the tension was gathering in the air.
    Zane stepped forward, standing behind Ty and the sheriff. The others joined him, Cody, Mark, and Joe finding their way into the clearing. Zane put Mark to his side, not allowing his brother-in-law to be behind him.
    “You think you know something about me? Go ahead and say it!” Stuart shouted.
    “You’ve been poaching tigers,” Ty said, as calm as the breeze. “You’re running something out there, and you shot me in the chest with a dart that damn near killed me.”
    “You got no proof. Sheriff, this is ridiculous. You gonna let this queer come in here and tell you what to do?”
    The sheriff nodded curtly. “He seems to know what he’s talking about, Stuart.”
    “Bullshit! You got no proof!”
    “You’ve got my knife in your boot.”
    Stuart took a swing. Ty leaned away from it and trapped Stuart’s fist between both hands. He jabbed his elbow under the man’s chin, sending him reeling back, then kicked at his thigh and caused his leg to buckle. Stuart went to his knees, and Ty kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling into the dirt.
    The sheriff and his deputies pulled their weapons, fanning out to surround Stuart and his cohorts.
    Ty put one booted foot on Stuart’s neck, pressing down with the heel to