Cut and Run 07 Touch & Geaux (11 page)

Ty shielded his eyes from the sun, watching the men load the deuce and a half with unmarked crates.

Turner came up to stand beside him, geared up and ready to go.

“Where’s your detail?” Ty asked.

“We’re going in light on this one.”

“Bullshit.” Ty turned to face Turner, eyes growing wider. “There’s a shit storm ten klicks from here. You can’t head out there without a detail.”

Turner shook his head. “The major disagrees.” He stepped away, heading for the heavy transport vehicle.

“Chas,” Ty hissed as he lunged to grab at his elbow and stop him. They both glanced around to make sure no one was watching. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Take my boys with you. Hell, take me with you, someone that isn’t a goddamn paper pusher with a toy gun.”

Turner shook his head and looked away. Ty shoved his arm in frustration.

“Careful, Sergeant,” Turner said in a harsh whisper. “It’s not my call, okay? You’re not ready for this.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t tell you; you haven’t been read in,” Turner said between gritted teeth.

“So read me in and take me with you to watch your back.”

Turner narrowed his eyes. “Rook, just calm down, go inside with your boys. I’ll be back tomorrow and you can take it out of my ass then.”

Ty snorted through his nose like an angry bull. Turner gave him a condescending pat on the cheek before striding off.

“Hey, Captain,” Ty called after him.

Turner stopped and turned, raising an eyebrow.

“Is there a reason you have to be such a dick all the time?”

Turner licked his lips and walked closer, looking all around them to ensure they were having a private discussion. “Because,” he said in a low voice as he drew closer. “Being such a dick all the time lets you know that when I stand here and tell you I love you, I fucking mean it.”

Ty’s mouth dropped open as he stared. Turner put a finger under his chin and pushed his jaw shut.

“Now. You stay here and ponder that, and when I get back we’ll discuss it.”

Ty nodded and watched him walk off. “Watch your damn six,” he said. Turner gave him a cocky wave over his shoulder, but didn’t turn back around.

Two days later, Ty stood with Nick O’Flaherty and Elias Sanchez and watched the deuce and a half roll in. They kept their distance with the other Recon boys, silent sentinels as the men unloaded the bodies.

“I’m sorry, Grady. I know you two were close,” Nick finally said.

Ty just nodded, unable to speak for the tightness in his throat.

“If they’d let us run detail,” Sanchez muttered. “What a fucking waste.”

They turned away and headed back for the barracks tent, but Ty remained, watching silently as they laid Chas Turner’s body in a wooden coffin and closed it up.

“Jesus, Ty. I had no idea,” Nick murmured. “You hid your grief well.”

Zane held tighter to Ty’s hand, but Ty shrugged off the sentiment. He took another swallow of beer. They’d all lost people they cared for. Chas Turner was no different, nor was Eli Sanchez. The losses never stopped hurting.

“Eli hit me harder than the captain ever did,” Ty admitted. He squeezed Zane’s hand, glancing at his lover and offering him a sad smile. “But when I look back and wonder what moment really made me who I am, it’s him.”

“He taught us just about every goddamned thing we know,” Nick muttered.

Ty nodded and glanced at his lover again. Zane hadn’t said anything, but Ty knew he was processing. He’d probably come up in a week or a month or a year and want to discuss it. The thought made Ty’s smile grow warmer, and he brought Zane’s hand up to kiss his fingers.

“Captain Turner was one badass mother, though,” Nick mused. “And now I understand why they called you Rook when we ran those missions.”

“What did they call you?” Zane asked.

“Ricochet.”

“Why is that?”

Nick shrugged, smiling enigmatically. “Couple lucky trick shots.”

“Marine nicknames usually don’t have a lot of thought put into them,” Ty explained. “And they change all the damn time. Nick had like five. I went through about ten.”

“Huh.” Zane glanced at Ty and smiled. “Rook, huh? I like that. It’s sexy.”

Ty winced. It wasn’t a name anyone had called him in years. Possibly a decade. He liked the way it rolled off Zane’s tongue, but he didn’t like the echoes of the past that came with it.

Zane leaned toward him, putting his lips to Ty’s ear. “I think I’ll stick with Bulldog.”

Ty turned his head to capture a quick kiss.

“Oh, stop,” Nick drawled. “I’m going into a diabetic coma over here.”

“I find myself fascinated by it,” Kelly said as he stared at Ty. “I can’t even come up with an appropriate comparison.”

“Stop trying,” Ty grunted. He brushed his thumb over Zane’s palm.

They settled back to enjoy the silence of the night, something the Recon team had done so many times over the years. Silence was a commodity where they’d spent most of their time. They had learned to appreciate it. And Zane was a man who inherently knew the value of silence.

Ty’s mind drifted over the many years they’d spent scratching and clawing their way through battle after battle. He and Nick had been together since the beginning, their promotions never more than a few months apart, their achievements linked in ways not many people understood.

Sanchez had come next. He’d put in for Recon at the same time as Ty and Nick, and it hadn’t taken long for him to fall into step with them. The others hadn’t arrived until they’d moved up to Force Recon, and then the six of them had been inseparable until the day they’d gone home.

And then Sanchez had come with Ty to the FBI.

“I miss him too,” Nick said.

Ty nodded and swallowed hard. Kelly sniffed.

“It wasn’t your fault, you know,” Nick said.

Ty took a deep breath, not surprised that Nick had known exactly what he’d been thinking. “He called me for help,” he whispered. “I didn’t answer it, and two days later he was dead.”

“Ty,” Zane whispered. “Jesus, is that why you always answer your phone?”

Ty nodded curtly.

Zane’s hand tightened in his.

“You wouldn’t have saved him, Six,” Nick murmured.

Ty’s throat tightened and he looked away. He covered his mouth with his beer bottle and slumped further into his chair. Zane’s hand in his offered more consolation than their words, though.

“Eli . . . he went out with his boots on,” Kelly said. He shook his head and took a drink. “That’s the only comfort there is in losing him.”

“And you know what? Zane took care of it,” Nick added.

Zane flinched, and he leaned forward to look at Nick. Nick raised his beer bottle in a salute.

“That’s right,” Kelly said. “Zane handled that shit. Like a boss.”

Zane barked a laugh. “Thanks. I think.”

Ty gave Kelly an incredulous glance. “How long has he been drinking?”

Nick shrugged. “Since we got here.”

“He’s not climbing back down there.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘falling,’” Kelly muttered. “Falling.”

Nick reached across Ty’s lap and tapped Zane on the knee. “We know how you handled it, Garrett. And to us, that means you’re our brother too, you know?”

Ty watched Nick’s profile as the man settled back in his chair, throat constricting again. Nick calling someone his brother was the ultimate in acceptance from him. There was no higher honor in Nick’s mind.

“I, uh . . . thank you,” Zane stuttered.

Kelly leaned forward, holding his beer up. “To Sanchez.”

Ty swallowed hard and held his beer out. Zane joined with his water bottle. The glass clinked as they each said a solemn, “Oorah.”

“Happy birthday, buddy,” Kelly said as he stared out into the night sky and finished off his beer.

It was over-warm and stuffy in their suite, and Zane woke up feeling half-suffocated. New Orleans in late April was pleasant after the chill of Baltimore, but it seemed the air conditioning was having trouble keeping up. It didn’t help that he was half-draped over Ty as they slept.

He slowly extricated himself from Ty’s arms and sat up, rubbing his eyes before looking down at his lover, who lay sprawled beside him. The heavy curtains blocked the morning sun, and he could barely see Ty as he tossed and turned.

Ty wasn’t an unusually restless sleeper, a fact at great odds with his waking hours. But now he seemed unsettled. He tossed his head and shifted his legs, a soft groan passing his lips. He rolled onto his side, his shoulders beginning the slow, rhythmic rocking that often kept Zane awake.

Zane watched him for a few moments, wondering if it was a dream that was causing the grimace on Ty’s face. He got up to head for the bathroom, only to find Kelly and Nick both tangled on the floor at the foot of the bed. He knew they hadn’t made it back to their room last night, but they had both started on the pullout sofa. It must have been uncomfortable as hell to make them move to the floor.

Nick was using a pillow Ty had tossed him in the middle of the night, and Kelly was using Nick’s stomach to rest his head as he snored. Zane snorted.

He rolled his eyes and stepped over them to head for the bathroom, where he took his time, brushing his teeth, shaving, savoring the silence of the early morning. He fumbled in the dark for the pile of clothing he’d left last night and grabbed his pants to hunt for his cigarettes, remembering too late that his lighter had gone missing. “Dammit.”

He was surprised when his fingers brushed the tip of the lighter, though, stuck down in his jeans pocket. He dug it out, and a piece of paper came wrapped tightly around it. Zane scowled as he unrolled it and held it up to the sliver of weak light coming through the part in the curtain to read the words scrawled on it. It was a phone number and the name “Liam” in small, neat lettering.

Zane snorted. He remembered Liam’s hand at his hip. Had the man pickpocketed him just to make an impression? He’d certainly forced a memorable way of lighting his cigarette. He’d stolen Zane’s lighter, then put it back with the number around it. Impressive. And just a little flattering. Also creepy.

Zane glanced at Ty, smiling fondly as he thought about just how riled his lover would get if he saw that note. Ty didn’t consider jealousy a part of his emotional spectrum, but it sure as hell was. Zane would always be more flattered by that than a stranger’s number in his pocket. He balled it up and dropped it and his jeans back to the floor. He’d smoke later.

He had to navigate his way through the tangle of Sidewinder limbs on the floor to make it back to the bed. He was a little annoyed that he wouldn’t be able to greet Ty in the way he wanted, but he supposed he could sacrifice a morning of groping for Ty to have some time with his friends. If they ever woke up.

Kelly snorted in his sleep and tried to burrow his face into Nick’s stomach, causing Nick to groan and push him away. Neither man woke.

Ty tossed onto his side, echoing the groan. Zane recognized the signs of a nightmare. Sometimes Ty woke disoriented and dangerous. Other times he woke shaken and frightened. And sometimes he dreamt of pain.

Zane lay back down on his side and scooted close to Ty, hoping he might be able to get him to rest a little more without having to wake him up from the nightmare. He placed his hand on Ty’s back and rubbed.

Ty groaned again, a louder, more pained sound as he rolled back toward Zane. He gasped in a breath, as if surprised that he’d woken, and blinked blearily at Zane.

Zane frowned. Ty was damp to the touch, more than he would have expected even in the warm bed. “You okay?” he whispered.

“I hurt,” Ty answered, hoarse and sleepy.

“Is it your back again?”

Ty nodded. He reached down to his side, his elbow jabbing Zane in the stomach as he did so, and curled up again. “Feels like you’ve been sleeping on top of me.”

“I
was
sleeping on top of you.” Zane slid his hand against Ty’s forehead, surprised by how hot Ty felt against his warm fingers.

Ty rolled onto his back again, gasping as if his pain had spiked. He kept his knees bent, curled up as if it hurt him to straighten out. He immediately rocked back to his side, not able to stay still, then mumbled something as he slid out of the bed and staggered toward the bathroom in the dark. He tripped over one of the men on the floor and stumbled, causing Nick to cry out and lurch to his feet, ready for battle. Sort of. But Ty disappeared into the bathroom before Nick had gained his bearings.