Cut and Run 7 - Touch and Geaux

enough to keep him alive. And hoping they’ll fight over him instead of just teaming up to make him dead.”
    Owen’s shoulders slumped and he sat back down. “True. I wouldn’t want those odds if I was the fiddle.”
    “It’s not the fiddle game!” Digger shouted.
    Ty sat silent, resting his chin in his hand and scowling. His knee began to bounce as he examined the floor. Finally, he waved his hand and sat up straighter. “So we give them what they want.”
    “You? Dead?” Zane asked incredulously.
    Ty nodded. “We don’t need the two sides to wipe each other out, we don’t need them to fight. We just need them to think they succeeded. So we get them both there. Zane brings me in, and he kills me in front of all of them. Their problem is gone so they’ll clear out, and bonus points, they’re no longer after Zane.”
    “How the hell is that a good plan when it involves me killing you?” Zane shouted.
    Ty put a finger to his lips and shook his head. “There is a small glitch, I’ll admit.”
    Nick rubbed at the stubble on his chin as the idea became clear. “We put you in Digger’s vest.”
    “Fuck, that’s risky,” Digger whispered. “It’s only NIJ II level protection. If Garrett’s close enough to make sure someone doesn’t take a head shot, he’d be too close for the vest; the bullet could go right through. And if it don’t go through, it’s definitely fucking him up. Broken ribs, sternum, maybe organ damage.”
    Nick shook his head. “Not if Zane’s shooting a blank.”
    “There’s no way that’d look real, there’d be no impact,” Ty said, but he was sitting forward, warming to the idea. “But if the real shot is taken from further away . . .”
    “A sniper?” Zane asked.
    Ty gave him a curt nod. “It’d have to be a long-ass way. One, to make sure he’s not spotted during the meet, and two, make sure it doesn’t kill me. NIJ II is . . . 1,100 to 1,800 feet per second.”
    Nick groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re talking eight-hundred, maybe a thousand yards before a sniper round drops to that velocity. Or more. I know I can’t make that shot with enough accuracy to hit a vest with my best friend in it.”
    Ty met Nick’s eyes and nodded. Nick’s heart jumped into his throat. He gave a slight shake of his head, silently pleading with him not to ask. Ty smiled sadly, then met Liam’s eyes. Liam began to grin.
    “Oh fuck no,” Zane blurted. “No way.”
    “He can make it,” Ty assured him.
    “Yeah, but will he, is the question.”
    Liam grinned wider. “Do you trust me not to hit your heart, Grady?”
    “Ty,” Zane hissed, reaching for his arm.
    Ty tore his eyes away from Liam and met Zane’s. “I swore to protect you from them,” he whispered. “I was already willing to take a bullet to do that. After everything that’s happened . . .” He shook his head, unable to finish.
    Zane looked stricken, and he wasn’t able to form words before Ty looked away.
    Liam was rubbing his hands together. “Let’s go practice!”
    Nick slumped in his chair and rubbed his hands over his face. “This is a horrible plan.”
    “Before we get too excited, where the hell would we set up this meet?” Digger asked. “We’d need an open area free of bystanders, with somewhere high enough to clear a line of sight. There’s nowhere in the city like that.”
    Liam thumped his back against the wall and sighed. “Damn.”
    The room fell silent.
    “The river?” Owen suggested.
    Liam made a derogatory noise. “With the wind and distance, there’s no way in hell. And if you cut the distance and make it a ferry, that’s even worse.”
    “The amusement park,” Ty said suddenly.
    “Are you shitting me?” Liam laughed. “There are way too many variables. Crowds, ride interference, not to mention security as you try to walk in with a very large weapon.”
    But Ty was shaking his head. “The Six Flags park was drowned by Katrina. They never reopened it. You can see the roller coaster from Interstate 510.”
    “The rides and stuff are still there?” Nick asked.
    “For the most part, yeah. It’s completely deserted, only patrolled by a private security company.”
    “That could work,” Nick said. “Roller coasters in the air, wide thoroughfares laid out in a predictable fashion, no bystanders, and plenty of cover if things go to shit.”
    “Can you draw a map of it?” Liam asked Ty.
    “What do I look like, an Etch A Sketch? I don’t know the