Touch&Geaux (18 page)

watched Zane’s retreat for a few seconds, torn. He trusted Ty

when he said Zane was the target, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t

tag along with the man if Zane refused to let him. Zane would

shake him easily, and in the end Zane was responsible for his

own safety.

He turned and headed back down the hall to knock on

Ty’s door.

Ty opened it almost immediately. Nick shook his head in

answer to Ty’s questioning look.

“Goddammit,” Ty spat. He ran his hands through his hair

and paced into the room.

Nick held the door open for Kelly and Digger, who’d been

standing by, waiting to see what would happen next. Owen

was long gone. They filed into Ty’s room, gathering around

him.“What do we do?” Digger asked.

Ty had his hands on his hips and his head lowered. He

looked pale and drawn, and Nick could see he wasn’t running

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on all cylinders yet. But years of training forced them to look

to him first.

Ty shook his head. “I . . . I don’t know.”

Nick watched him for a long moment, and when it

became obvious Ty wasn’t pul ing it together, Nick cleared his

throat. “We can leave town. But I got a feeling Bell isn’t here

’cause he can’t find us at home. He’s here because he wants us

all together. He wants us here. And he knew we’d be here.”

Kelly shrugged. “I agree, but how?”

“Sanchez,” Digger said. “He knew we’d get together for

Sanchez’s birthday.”

“Which means he also has the resources to know Eli is

dead, and that Digger is confined to the state,” Ty murmured.

“He’s either here on company business, or he’s using those

resources and gone off the reservation.”

“What does he have to do with the gris-gris bag?” Digger

asked. “You really think he killed that girl last night?”

Nick’s brow furrowed. Ty grimaced and shrugged.

“Sneaking in as a maid and leaving towels on the bed is a

little sloppy for Bell,” Kelly said.

Ty held up a hand. “We’re running off the rails here.” He

rubbed at his face, massaging between his eyes.

“Why would he approach Zane first?” Digger asked. “He

couldn’t know you’d find that note, or that Zane would tell

you about meeting him. What’s his game?”

“Everything is a game to him. It’s like chess.”

“You don’t play chess,” Nick said.

“Yes, thank you!” Ty barked.

Nick shrugged.

“We need to take care of this, right here, right now,” Ty

said. “While we’re all together.”

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Nick nodded. He knew he wouldn’t feel safe heading back

to Boston with a man like Liam holding a grudge. “What

about Zane?”

Ty hesitated, breathing faster. “I’ll send him home.”

“Will he listen?” Kelly asked, looking dubious. “He’s

pretty understandably pissed.”

Nick snorted. “Ty. He’s not going to leave you here, in

danger, even if he is pissed at you. Even I know him better

than that.”

Ty ran a hand over his eyes again. “You’re right.”

“We have to get him back here,” Nick said. “Use him as

our sixth.”

“Is he up for that?” Digger asked.

Ty straightened and shot Digger a look. “I trust my life to

him every day. He’s up for anything we throw at him.”

Digger pursed his lips. “Okay. So go fetch him.”

Ty growled. “And you two go find Owen and drag his ass

back here.”

Kelly and Digger nodded and turned, almost synchronized

in their movements. There was something comfortable

about sinking back into that uniformity, into that chain of

leadership and trust.

Nick watched Ty rummage through Zane’s jeans, looking

for something. “What about me?”

“Stay here. If someone’s not back in an hour you’re the

cavalry. Turn on the GPS tracking on the phones.”

“Great.”

Ty stood, holding a bronze sobriety chip. Nick’s father

had dozens of them in a drawer at home.

“Zane’s?”

Ty nodded, looking grim and distressed. “He might need it.”

“Really? Is he that easy to knock off the wagon?”

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Ty glared at him for a moment, but then he swallowed

hard. “No,” he whispered. “No, he’s not.” He headed for the

door and was almost out of the room before Nick called after

him.“Take your piece!”

Ty cursed and went back to his suitcase to rummage

through it.

“Are you sure you’re okay to do this? I can go out there

and bring him back. I wasn’t on a morphine drip all day and

he’s not quite as pissed at me as he is at you.”

Ty checked the clip of his service weapon and jammed the

magazine home, then stuffed it in the back of his jeans and

covered it with his flannel shirt.

Nick watched him with a growing sense of unease. His

movements weren’t measured, his mind was all over the place.

“Ty,” he whispered.

Ty just shook his head.

“Ty, you’re not up to this.”

“I will be,” Ty growled. “A few hours for the drugs to clear,

I’ll be fine.”

“Ty, I’m telling you as a friend. You’re not up to this, drugs

or not.”

Ty turned to meet his eyes.

“Liam Bell. He’s the only person I know who was ever as

good as you. And right now, he’s better than you are.”

Ty breathed out harshly and looked away. “I know,” he

said, heading for the door. “He always was.”

There was no finding a quiet spot in the French Quarter,

especially when half the revelers were wearing huge Easter

hats, bunny ears, and layers of beads.

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Zane had wandered toward the outskirts of the Quarter,

looking for familiar ground. His steps tried to follow in those

of the past, trying to find that little bar he and Becky had

visited so long ago. His memory wouldn’t lead him there,

though, so he settled for a little tavern on a side street with

empty tables.

His mind was roiling, seething, replaying the look in Ty’s

eyes when he’d refused to tell Zane what he was holding back.

They had been living together for a year. Lovers for almost

two. Partners for longer than that. The idea that Ty had been

able to keep something from him, with so little effort, was

staggering. And he could feel there was worse, lying in wait.

This Liam Bell business was only the half of it.

By the time he reached the bar, his entire body was shaking

with anger and adrenaline. He ordered a whiskey straight and

took the glass to sit at the corner table.

He placed it in front of him. A challenge. A test of how

far he’d come. He’d done everything in the last year for Ty,

trying to be worthy, trying to make himself a better, healthier

man. He’d fought the withdrawal that had wracked his body

and the cloying need that filled his mind every morning when

he woke, all to prove to himself that he deserved to be happy,

that he deserved Ty’s love.

Had Ty even been worth it?

He stared at the whiskey glass, letting the pull envelop

him just to see how strong he was to fight it now.

Ty thumped into the empty chair across from him, rattling

the table. The whiskey in Zane’s glass sloshed. He stared at it,

not looking up to meet Ty’s eyes.

“Please don’t do this, Zane.”

“Go away, Ty,” Zane said without looking up from the

glass.

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“You’ve worked so hard to get past this, don’t do this now.

Not like this.”

Zane glowered at him. “Who the hell are you to tell me

anything?”

Ty recoiled like Zane had slapped him, but he jutted his

chin out and squared his shoulders. “I’m your partner. And

I’m your friend. And I love you.”

“You’re a liar.”

“You’re right. And you can hate me if you want to, but

that doesn’t change the fact that I love you. And I’m not going

to sit idly by while you do this to yourself because of me.”

Zane glared, but the pain in the pit of his stomach was

overpowering the anger. He looked back to the glass, still full

of whiskey.

Ty reached out and slammed something onto the table.

When he moved his hand, Zane’s one year sobriety chip

remained.

Zane stared at it, then transferred his glare to Ty. “You

think I need that?”

Ty shrugged, looking pointedly at the glass.

“I really am that weak to you, aren’t I?

Ty’s eyes were steady and dark as they stared at each other,

neither man flinching. “You’re not weak, Zane,” Ty said. “But

we all need help sometimes.”

“And now you need my help, right? To deal with this

Liam Bell guy, this guy from your past you were never going

to tell me about. It’s okay to lie to me, keep things from me,

but when you need a spare gun, oh, go pick Zane up at the

bar.”“Don’t sulk, it doesn’t suit you.”

“Fuck you, Ty.”

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Ty snorted and finally looked away. “Will you come back

with me? Help us figure this shit out?”

“You’re not on the first plane home anymore?” Ty shook

his head. “You’re going to make a stand here?”

“Here we’re all together. We know where he is. He’s lost

the element of surprise and we have the stronger force.”

Zane nodded. “Fine.”

Ty gave a curt nod and pushed his chair back to stand.

“On one condition,” Zane added.

Ty sat back, resigned.

“Tell me everything. You’re hiding something, something

big, and I want to know what it is. And if you tell me it’s

classified, I will smash this glass into your face. And then I’ll

be on the first plane home.”

Ty remained motionless, not even blinking. Zane had to

fight to meet his stare. He rarely saw Ty so still. The last time

had been in a blizzard, when Ty had denied ever being in Paris

when he damn well had been.

It was Ty’s only tell. He stopped moving when he lied.

“You’re really going to force this out of me?” Ty snarled

after a few more seconds.

Zane gave a single nod.

Ty sat forward, staring at the tabletop. He took a long,

deep breath. “Okay,” he whispered, losing the hard edge to his

voice. He looked up at Zane, his eyes dark in the low light.

His nerves must’ve been contagious, because Zane’s stomach

was churning. “After the Tri-State case, after you were pulled

from Miami, Richard Burns assigned me as your partner so I

could protect you.”

Zane narrowed his eyes. “What?”

Ty rolled his shoulders, pul ing one hand below the table.

Zane knew he was rubbing his palm across his thigh to dispel

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the urge to fidget, but he also knew Ty had a gun under there,

and Ty’s hand always hovered near his gun when he was scared.

“The Vega cartel,” Ty said.

Zane straightened. “How did you know I was under with

them? Have you read my file?”

“No. It was given to me as part of my briefing, but I didn’t

read it.”

“Your briefing. What are you talking about?”

“Zane . . . for the last year and a half, you have been my

assignment.”

The world seemed to slow around them. Sounds faded.

The pangs in Zane’s chest were the labored beating of his

heart as he tried to absorb what Ty was telling him.

“You’re . . . you’re, what, on guard duty? You’re my personal

protection detail, complete with free blowjobs?”

“Stop it,” Ty snarled. “The Vega cartel found out they

had a UC working within them. You got pulled before they

could get to you. They’ve had feelers out all over the agency

ever since. They know what you looked like. If they found

out your identity or location, they’d come for you, and they’d

come hard. Almost every time Burns has called me for a job,

it’s been to head them off.”

“Oh my God,” Zane gasped. “You’re the one who’s been

wreaking havoc in Miami.”

Ty lifted his head, his expression guarded.

Zane couldn’t breathe. “I’ve been following the reports.

Someone’s taking out Vega people left and right, no one

knows who it is or why. Even the Bureau is after this guy. But

it’s you.”

“Yeah,” Ty whispered.

“Jesus.”

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Zane tried to get a handle on that, the image of Ty

sneaking off to Miami, hunting people down, terrorizing the

lower rungs of the cartel, leaving mangled bodies behind,

forcing men on their knees and putting bullets in their heads

to leave dread and suspicion in his wake. The man Zane

crawled into bed with every night, the man who held him,

the man he talked down from nightmares, was the same man

doing that.

“Don’t look at me like that, Zane,” Ty begged.

Zane struggled to reconcile it with the man he knew.

“You’re saying you’ve done all that to cover my ass.”

“Yes.”

“That’s why Burns let you run off to Texas so fast, wasn’t

it? He thought it was related.”

Ty nodded.

Zane gaped. “You . . . I’ve been your mark.”

“No, Zane.”

Zane brought his hand to his mouth because he couldn’t

seem to force it to close on his own. His fingers trembled

against his face.

“Zane,” Ty said harshly.