Cut and Run 6 - Stars and Stripes

felt an instant connection to the animal. When he’d gone back to visit, he’d seen more of the tiger’s personality and he’d been hooked. Now that Barnum might be in danger, it felt personal.
    “You lurve the tiger,” Zane crooned.
    “Shut up, Zane.”
    “Oh come on, admit it. You’re a big bad tough guy who fell in love with an itty bitty kitty.”
    Ty barked a laugh, then tried to glare at Zane and failed. “Are you done?”
    “Not nearly,” Zane practically giggled. “You just like things that can maul and maim you.”
    “Explains my affinity for you, Hoss.”
    “Meow Mix.”
    Ty rolled his eyes.
    “Why do you call him that?” Harrison asked.
    “When we went hiking last October, he was attacked by a mountain lion.”
    “Seriously?” Jamie asked, voice going higher.
    Ty raised his left hand to show the scars.
    “He has a paw print on each shoulder too,” Zane told them, sounding almost proud of the fact.
    “You’re both wrong in the head.”

    Ty remained quiet as they came upon the fence that ran along the perimeter of the sanctuary. Zane could tell his partner was pissed off and worried, and it struck him as sweet that a man like Ty was concerned over the welfare of a pair of tigers. He also knew whatever Ty had found at the pump house, he’d kept to himself. It worried him—not that Ty was keeping secrets, but why. He knew better than to ask about it now. It would have to wait until they were alone.
    They dismounted, leaving the horses with Annie a few dozen yards away, and spread out, trying to find a sign on the ground or a path through the fence. Zane wasn’t exactly a master tracker, but he could find footprints in sand, and that was what they were seeing.
    It took them roughly ten minutes, but Harrison stumbled over the entrance, links of the chain fence and the shrubbery that grew along it all cut by a bolt cutter so it would open and close like a door. When they’d visited the sanctuary the day before, Tish had told them that no one had checked the perimeter fences from inside yet. But Zane wasn’t sure they would have seen the opening even if they had. It was only obvious because of the tracks leading to it.
    They gathered around Harrison as Annie kept the horses back, trying to preserve the tracks on the ground. The fence had been cut almost seven feet off the ground, and when Ty sliced off a piece of cactus and tossed it at the fence, no current was running through it.
    “Means an inside job again, don’t you think?” Zane whispered.
    Ty was nodding. “Someone killed the security measures to make it safe to cut the fence.”
    “If it’s someone working at the preserve, why not just open the front door and cart the tigers out that way?” Mark asked.
    Zane shrugged. That was a good question. “Could be someone with limited access. Could be a convoluted way to cover their tracks. Hell, it might even have been easier to go this way. All those hills and trails inside? We need to look closer at their security to know for sure.”
    “I think it’s safe to call in the local LEOs now, though,” Ty said.
    “The local what?” Jamie asked.
    “LEO. It’s short for law enforcement officer,” Mark answered.
    “Oh.”
    Zane nodded again. They had enough evidence of a crime to bring in the local authorities. Which meant Ty and Zane could head home soon. The thought excited Zane, but it also made him sad. This was the first visit home he’d truly enjoyed since he’d left for college. Ty and the truth were both powerful sources of happiness.
    He glanced at Ty as his lover paced back and forth, head down, body tense, like a prize hound on a scent. Zane grinned. He wondered if Ty would be open to coming back here regularly.
    They continued to snoop around, trying to glean more information before they called it in. Ty told them what he was seeing: evidence of three men going in, and six coming out, carrying a heavy load. There were small tire tracks this time, like a hand truck or cart had been used. And they were fresh, less than an hour old.
    Ty bent and examined something on the ground, and when Zane came closer, he saw that Ty was holding a tranquilizer dart.
    Annie shouted from where she was keeping the horses at bay. “It’s probably a mixture of azaperone and sufentanil. Or maybe carfentanil. A combination of dopamine antagonist and analgesic that would be appropriate for such large animals.”
    “What’d she say?” Ty asked.
    “She said don’t stick yourself