Cut and Run 6 - Stars and Stripes

couldn’t bring himself to look.
    “Come on, Ty,” Zane whispered. He tugged at Ty’s arm.
    Ty shook his head, then he gave a short whistle. “Barnum!”
    The tiger jerked his head up and growled. Ty and Zane both staggered back as if it had been a warning. Ty stopped his retreat, though, and said the tiger’s name again with a little more authority. Zane couldn’t help but glance sideways at the animal. Barnum had Cody’s hand in his mouth, and the arm was obviously broken and possibly beyond repair. There were gashes and punctures all over his body, but nothing like the damage the tiger could have done.
    “Easy now. Come on,” Ty said to the tiger, and after a moment Barnum released Cody’s hand and began to prowl toward Ty. Zane started backing away.
    Ty held his hand out, breathing out like he was trying to calm himself. His hand was trembling. Barnum approached and nosed his bloody muzzle against Ty’s palm. Ty carefully scratched under his chin “That’s twice you saved me. Good boy.”
    Barnum chuffed and then pushed onto his back feet, putting one huge paw on each of Ty’s shoulders. Ty couldn’t take the weight of the 600 pound tiger and they both toppled to the ground. Barnum sat down with a huff and rubbed his face against Ty’s as Ty gasped for air. Then he wrapped his paw around Ty’s head and began licking Ty’s wounded face. Ty didn’t struggle, merely closed his eyes and held his breath.
    “Ty?” Zane whispered.
    “Just go get someone with a tranquilizer gun please,” Ty said in a soothing, almost sing-song voice. “Slowly.”
    Zane backed away, watching in fascination as the tiger lay down in the grass and rested his chin on Ty’s stomach. Mark had already retrieved Annie, and she was readying her tranquilizer gun even as Zane reached the porch.
    They tossed out the meat that had been thawing for the BBQ to lure Barnum away from Ty, and as soon as Ty was out of his reach, Annie shot the dart. They had to wait only a minute or two before the tiger was out.
    Ty sat down beside him and laid a hand on his head as everyone else surveyed the damage. Harrison’s men and several of the party guests who’d been caught in the house rushed to the barn to try to contain the fire. Minutes later, they could hear the police cars and fire trucks approaching, sirens blazing. Tish and several interns from the Roaring Springs Sanctuary arrived ten minutes after the police to take possession of Barnum and return him to the sanctuary.
    Zane thought Ty might cry as they loaded Barnum into the truck.
    “Will they have to put him down since he attacked someone?” Ty asked the sheriff as the Roaring Springs truck ambled down the drive.
    The sheriff glanced at Cody’s ravaged body and shook his head. “Looks like he got hit by a truck to me. Ain’t that what happened, son?”
    Ty stared at him, eyes wide. Then he nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    “That’s right. A very angry truck,” the sheriff drawled as he walked away.
    The ambulance arrived a full twenty minutes after it had been called. By then, Cody had lost a good deal of blood and gone into shock. Annie refused to treat him, saying that the Hippocratic oath didn’t extend to vets or to people who shot guns at her baby girl.
    Zane couldn’t blame her.
    Ronnie and Cody would both live, though Cody would likely lose an arm and a few non-essential organs. Jamie had bled out from the shotgun blast to the chest, dying long before help could get to him. Zane suffered a pang of remorse over the death of his cousin, but he didn’t waste much effort in mourning a man who’d been willing to kill them all just for money.
    The man in Laredo, and the question of why the drug trade had veered so far off its course, were both large problems. They weren’t Zane’s problems, though, and even if he wanted to be involved, it wasn’t his jurisdiction.
    Joe was horrified and crushed by the whole affair. Cody had been his best friend. Zane felt sorry for him, even though he was more relieved to find that Joe’d had nothing to do with any of it.
    Beverly sat on the porch swing with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, staring. They had checked her for shock and deemed her in good health, then left her to sit there.
    Zane eased into the seat beside her, watching the commotion in the yard in silence for a few seconds. Ty was sitting on the porch steps, his shirt gone, his arm in a sling, and his ribs patched up until they could get him to the hospital. Mark