Cut and Run 7 - Touch and Geaux

being set up.”
    Ty nodded. “And you know the only person who could possibly have known I was in town.”
    Ava licked her lips. “Daddy.”
    Ty quirked an eyebrow.
    “Whoa, wait, Daddy ?” Zane blurted.
    Ty and Ava both nodded. Ava put a hand over her mouth.
    “Now,” Ty said almost gently. “We need a place to stay for the night. They’ll never look here. Are the rooms upstairs empty?”
    “Yeah,” Ava whispered. She put a hand on her hip and lowered her head like she was trying to catch her breath.
    Ty met Zane’s eyes. “Call them. Let them know how to get here.”
    Zane took out his phone, glancing between them as he dialed. He couldn’t wait to hear the rest of this story.
    “Can you tell me about this bag?” Ty asked Ava.
    Ava glowered at Ty mutinously for a few moments, then dropped her hands and gave a curt nod. “Dump it on the table. I’ll get some drinks.”
    She turned on her heel and stalked back to the curtained doorway behind the bar as Zane spoke with Owen. They were the only two who had retained their phones. Once he hung up, he stared at Ty until the man met his eyes.
    “Her father was my case when I was here,” Ty told him. “He’s the 8th District Police Commander. He’s dirty as all hell.”
    Zane felt his blood run cold. “When you said you left a pissed off Cajun daddy down here . . .”
    “I meant it. I never knew if he figured out I was his problem or not. Now I know. He probably caught wind of me when we hit the airport. We’ve been dead men walking ever since we got here.”
    “Wow. And I thought I had a scary father-in-law.”
    Ty rolled his eyes. He looked around the dim tavern. “Are you sure you and Becky were here?”
    “Ty, I may not remember what your face looked like, but I remember this place like it was yesterday. It was you. How long were you down here?”
    “Couple years.”
    Zane nodded. That wasn’t unusual. It had taken him several months to establish himself in Miami. And they’d both been yanked out of their assignments: Ty because of Hurricane Katrina, Zane because he’d been arrested and had to be pulled for his own safety. When he’d been put back in, he’d discovered most of the Miami cartel still thought he had done his time in prison somewhere and his cover remained intact. Ty’s cover had weathered the storm too, and now he was back in the thick of it.
    Ty was chewing on the inside of his lip, his eyes focused on the wall near the door, where an array of framed photographs lined the brick.
    A crash and muttered curse came from the kitchen, then Ava stomped through the heavy curtain with a couple of bottles in her hand and a cloth thrown over her shoulder. Ty took a few steps and tossed the bag onto the table. She glared evilly and sat down in front of it, thumped the bottles down, and used the edge of the table to open one with the heel of her hand.
    Zane snorted. He liked this one.
    “So, Ty’s partner, tell me why you’re here.” She reached for the bag and began pulling at the strings.
    Zane considered truth or evasion for a few seconds before shrugging. “We’re celebrating a birthday.”
    She laid the cloth out on the table and dumped the contents of the bag onto it. She nodded but didn’t respond, fiddling with the pieces of the gris-gris bag for a few moments. “How did you find the bag?”
    “I told you, it—”
    “I was talking to your partner,” Ava snapped.
    Ty growled softly but let Zane answer, mumbling under his breath as he paced away.
    Zane glanced between them. He could see the possibility of chemistry there. A lot of flash and bang . . . much like himself and Ty. Had Ty ever been in a relationship that hadn’t either begun or ended with open animosity?
    “We found it in a standard search,” Zane said, wondering how familiar she was with law enforcement procedures.
    “Bullshit.” She put her nose closer to the mossy substance on the cloth. “Probably found it having sex.”
    Zane snorted. He wasn’t getting any threatening vibe off her, and he kind of liked how direct she was.
    She cocked her head at Zane as if sizing him up. Then she turned the other way, to Ty. He was watching her from several feet away, hands in his pockets.
    “What was it?” she asked him. “Migraine? Stomach bug?”
    “Kidney stone.”
    She snorted and nodded. Zane narrowed his eyes, not happy that she’d known something had been wrong with Ty. He pressed his lips together tightly. He didn’t like putting any stock in