Cut And Run - Armed And Dangerous Part 11

"In point one miles, turn left on Willowcreek Road."

"The GPS," Zane said, gesturing toward it with his coffee cup.

"She's more fun to listen to than you are. At least she knows what she's talking about."

"Ha ha."

"I kind of dig her," Ty said with a smirk.

"Yeah, well, the s.h.i.+ne will wear off when all she does is b.i.t.c.h at you for seven hundred miles," Zane said.

"And that's different from you, how?"

When Zane turned to meet his eyes, Ty winked at him. Zane looked away, a smile forming.

"In point two miles, turn left on entrance ramp to Interstate 80/90, Indiana East-West Toll Road. In point one mile, stay left on Interstate 80/90 East, Indiana East-West Toll Road."

"Loosen up, honey," Ty said to it.

"Please stop talking to the inanimate object," Julian said from the back seat.

"You can give that up," Zane said as he opened the newspaper. He didn't look at Ty, but he was still smirking. "He talks to his guns too."

"That fits," Julian said under his breath.

Ty snorted at them both but remained silent as he followed the directions the GPS gave him. He took the toll ticket as they went through the entrance, handing it to Zane as they got on the toll road. As the miles began to roll by, Ty couldn't have been more relieved that he and Zane had managed to steal those few hours in Chicago. He wanted to reach out and touch his partner, rest his hand on Zane's knee, brush his fingers against his shoulder, anything. He refrained, though, the professional side of him winning out.

Zane seemed content as he read his paper and sipped at his coffee. Of course, Zane always seemed content. That was one of the things Ty loved about him. He was rock steady most of the time, dry and unflappable. A solid wall against which Ty's changing moods battered. Traits that made the moments Zane lost his composure even more entertaining.

They stopped at a travel plaza roughly an hour after leaving the hotel in order to get breakfast. As Zane took care of whatever the h.e.l.l it was Zane did in travel plazas, Ty sat in the driver's seat, fidgeting. He wasn't going to be driving the next leg, but it was easier to see the two men sitting in the back in the rearview mirror from that side of the car, and to react with his dominant right hand if they put up a fight.

He couldn't get over the tension that had settled in his shoulders or the remnants of the Red Bull, and it was manifesting in a great deal of twitching, s.h.i.+fting, and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Intelligence operatives often pick food or travel areas as their cover, Cameron," Julian said from the backseat, where he sat examining his neatly manicured nails as his hand hung above his head. "Restaurants, gas stations. Lots of people in and out to mask suspicious behavior. A place like this, it must make Agent Grady very nervous."

"Try talking without making noise for a while," Ty said, his eyes still on Zane, who had not turned back toward the window at all. "Are you okay?" Cameron asked him.

"I get fidgety if I sit too long," Ty answered almost against his will. He'd found that no matter what Cameron asked him, he seemed physically incapable of lying to the guy.

Cameron nodded, looking almost like he felt sorry for Ty. "Aren't you supposed to be able to, like, be still and hide? On... surveillance or something?"

"I don't do that kind of thing anymore." Ty looked at Cameron with one eyebrow raised and a slight smirk. "We have cameras for that."

"Really," Cameron said, heavy on the sarcasm. "So what does a federal agent do if he's not watching other people?"

"We cause all kinds of trouble. Terrorize innocent civilians, arrest the wrong people, take advantage of government healthcare."

Ty saw Julian put a finger to his own temple and pull the imaginary trigger.

Ty snorted and shook his head. Wouldn't that save them all a lot of trouble? He began to shake his knee side to side, starting the sedan rocking. He heard Julian sigh from the back seat.

"I understand why you can't sit still, Agent Grady." He sounded almost as if he were offering a consolation prize.

"I kind of doubt that." Mentally sparring with Julian Cross had long ago lost its l.u.s.ter.

"How long were you there?" Julian asked.

Ty's movements slowed, then stilled as his breaths came harder. The hair on his arms rose as a chill went through him.

"You scream 'prisoner of war', Agent Grady," Julian said, his voice low and almost sympathetic. "But you're too young to have been captured in the Gulf. That means Special Forces, black ops. Navy SEAL?"

Ty swallowed hard, ashamed to see that his fingers gripping the steering wheel were turning white. "I was Force Recon."

"The bats.h.i.+t insane ones. Of course, that makes sense."

"What is that?" Cameron asked.

"Agent Grady was a Marine. Force Recon is their answer to the SEALs or Army Rangers."

"That's impressive," Cameron said as his eyes cut toward Ty.

"It is indeed. Save for the fact that most Marines are slightly insane before they live through the h.e.l.l of combat. Was it Afghanistan, then?"

Ty kept his eyes front and center, not looking in the mirror because he knew this man would be able to read him.

"Captured in Afghanistan, I'd wager. How long were you held?"

"I wasn't."

It was the same bulls.h.i.+t line Ty always gave when the subject came up. That operation was still cla.s.sified. The answer, though, the answer only he, Nick O'Flaherty, and that weird little guy from Homeland Security knew, was twenty-three days, nine hours, and fiftyone minutes.

Ty glanced up to see Julian's reflection. His dark eyes seemed sympathetic. Ty looked to Cameron in the mirror-the young man had gone pale with the implication. Even though Ty had denied it, they both knew what Julian had said was true. Ty nodded, not intending to discuss the matter any further.

Maybe now Julian Cross would realize that Ty knew something about trying to escape.

"I' M DRIVING. I get to choose the music."

"No," Ty said as he continued to flip through the radio, searching for a station.

Cameron raised a brow as Zane smacked Ty's fingers and then hit the preset b.u.t.ton, returning the radio to the cla.s.sic rock station. "Dude!" Ty said as he pushed the b.u.t.ton next to it and turned the dial to find the station he'd just had it on. "Pay attention to the road." Zane hit the first b.u.t.ton again. "Sit back, copilot. You had sports talk all morning." He sounded calm, though Cameron couldn't see how he maintained it. Dealing with Ty on a regular basis had to be grounds for anger management cla.s.ses. Or homicidal tendencies. Maybe that was what was wrong with Zane.

"So did you," Ty said as he hit another b.u.t.ton at random.

Cameron could see a smirk on his face as he looked at Zane. It was obvious now that he didn't care what they were listening to, he was just pus.h.i.+ng b.u.t.tons. Since Cameron was sitting behind Zane, he couldn't really see Zane's face to gauge his reaction, but his next poke at the first b.u.t.ton didn't seem angry.

Cameron glanced at Julian. "You and Preston have such a different relations.h.i.+p than them."

"There are so many ways that statement is correct," Julian said in a bored voice. He wasn't paying the two agents much attention. Or didn't appear to be.

Ty pushed another b.u.t.ton and turned up the volume. Zane hit the first b.u.t.ton again but didn't mess with the volume. Cameron tipped his head to look into the rearview mirror at Zane's reflection. He couldn't be sure, but there might have been a smile on Zane's lips. "How long have you two been partners?" Cameron asked. There was absolutely nothing about the landscape pa.s.sing by to hold his interest after the first five minutes, and Julian was sulking or plotting, or both, so he might as well try to talk to them. Julian had told him to try and converse as much as possible; it would put their guard down, enable Julian to glean information, and make Ty and Zane less likely to hurt Cameron.

Ty jabbed at another b.u.t.ton and put his hand over the radio controls so Zane couldn't touch them. "Too d.a.m.n long," he said to Cameron.

"You love me," Zane said in a tone that was practically cheerful, and Cameron couldn't help but grin as Zane used the b.u.t.ton on the steering wheel to turn the station.

Julian turned his head to look at Zane's reflection in the rearview mirror, and then at Ty.

Ty was watching Zane, eyes narrowed. He finally retaliated by turning off the radio and huffing at his partner.

"Come on, how long?" Cameron asked again. If he had anything going for him, it was that he was persistent. Julian could attest to that. "About eight months," Ty said as he continued to eye Zane. "Eleven months," Zane corrected.

"Uh huh," Cameron said, doubtful of the veracity of either statement.

"It's been eight months, official. By your logic it's almost two years."

"What?" Cameron asked.

"There was a short break in there," Zane said. "We didn't get along very well on our first a.s.signment."

Cameron snorted. "And how is that different from now?" "You heard him," Ty said with a sarcastic edge to his words. "I love him now."

"Yeah, I can tell," Cameron said, looking between them. Zane was actually smiling. It looked like he enjoyed needling his partner as much as his partner enjoyed needling him. "Why stay together if you didn't get along very well?"

"They were a.s.signed, Cameron. They don't get to pick and choose," Julian said in a gentle voice.

"Well, but surely their boss wouldn't make them work together if they hated each other," Cameron said. "They do carry guns, after all." "Do we look like we hate each other?" Zane asked.

Cameron held up his hand and waggled it from side to side in a so-so motion. "Sometimes, maybe."

"He can't tell what you look like with that beard," Ty said as he turned his head to look at Zane. Cameron could see him smirking again.

Zane's head turned toward Ty, and Cameron imagined it was so Zane could glare at him. "What's that have to do with it?"

"You look like a lumberjack."

Zane shrugged one shoulder. "'I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay,'"

he answered in a low singsong voice.

"Stop," Ty said with real urgency.

"Please," Julian added.

Zane chuckled, and to Cameron's ear it sounded a little on the evil side. "You want to sing instead?" Zane asked as he glanced sideways at his partner.

"If I sing, I'll sing whatever I d.a.m.n well want to. Might as well listen to my radio station."

"Nope," Zane said, and again Cameron wondered about his apparent saintly level of patience.

After leaning back, Cameron looked over at Julian. "They almost sound like you and Blake, sometimes. When Blake really gets on a roll."

"Must you continue to compare me with either of them in any scenario?" Julian asked as he looked at Cameron earnestly. Cameron shrugged. "I have a small frame of reference for people who kill things."

"You sing for hundreds of people sitting in the stands at a ballgame, but you won't sing now," Zane was saying.

"No, I'm not going to sing," Ty said, incredulous as he glared at Zane.

"Why not?" Zane asked.

Cameron leaned toward the middle of the seat so he could peer through at Zane. He looked relaxed, left hand loose on the wheel, right hand free and resting on his thigh. A year ago, Cameron wouldn't have thought anything about that. Now, it occurred to him that Zane was probably keeping his hand free so he could draw his gun. Cameron frowned and sat back.

"Stop it, Garrett, I'm not singing," Ty said as he jabbed at the radio.

"How in the world did they get you to sing, anyway?" Zane asked.

"Sing where?" Cameron added, and then belatedly doubted the wisdom of making Ty any twitchier.

Ty looked at Zane pointedly. He glanced over his shoulder at Cameron. "He's talking about baseball games," he said to Cameron, and then he looked at Zane and spoke in a lower voice. "I just do." "Season's suspended," Zane said. "City's refurbis.h.i.+ng that field." "And?"

Zane lifted one shoulder. "They called while you were gone about what to do with the Bronco."

Ty cleared his throat and hung his head. "Are they releasing her?" "Yeah. I had them keep her in the impound lot so you could see her one last time," Zane said. "There's nothing to be done." "We'll just see about that," Ty said with a determination that was almost frightening.

"You're talking like somebody died," Cameron said. "She did," Ty said without moving.

Zane glanced up to make eye contact with Cameron in the rearview mirror, and he shook his head.

"My condolences," Cameron murmured, a little mystified. He looked over at Julian, brow raised.

Julian shrugged, a difficult action the way he was restrained, and he whirled his finger around his temple. Cameron sighed and glanced at Ty. He was starting to think Julian was right about Ty being crazy.

Maybe Zane too, if he thought any of what they'd just talked about made any sense.

"Can I choose to ride in the boot, now?" Julian asked. "Shut up," Ty and Zane both answered.

Z ANE stepped out of the second travel plaza facility of the day with Cameron in tow, taking a deep breath of the freezing air. It had begun to snow, dropping fat flakes that were already beginning to pile up.

Zane s.h.i.+vered and glanced back inside. It was too cold to wait for Ty and Julian out here. With a steaming hot coffee in one hand and Cameron's arm in the other, he started for the car. He caught a glimpse of a hulking black SUV parked near the gas pumps, and something about it caught Zane's attention enough to warrant a second glance. He slowed, staring hard at it. Even as he did so, the car started, its lights blinking on, and it pulled away from the gas pump it had been using and headed for the exit.

"What's wrong?" Cameron asked as he watched the car drive away.

Zane pursed his lips. "Nothing. Come on, it's freezing."

The car didn't give him a bad feeling, and it was the first time he'd even thought about a suspicious vehicle on their tail. It was probably nothing to worry about. They headed back to the car, and Zane secured Cameron with a little bit less vehemence than Ty had that morning. He got in the pa.s.senger side and started the car, sighing in relief as the warm air touched his skin.

They had stopped for gas and something to keep Ty's hands busy, and Zane had been so close to buying a stress ball he'd found inside that he still regretted not making the purchase. Ty loved road trips, but he really needed to be the one driving. He wasn't cut out for the idle, easy pa.s.sage of time that was required of pa.s.sengers.

Soon enough, Ty and Julian returned. Ty shoved Julian into the backseat and clanked his handcuffs into place. They were arguing. Again. Zane turned in his seat to watch them.