Cut & Run (59 page)

God. Ty. Almost six months had passed, and not a word. Not a message. Nothing but blind hope to keep him going. Work made it easier to forget. But after the second time being injured in Miami this past tour, Zane snapped out of the dangerous, depressive funk and figured out he had better listen to Ty’s request for him to be careful or he’d cut his chances of seeing him again to nil. He put in the vacation and transfer requests, and for the first time in five years, went home to Texas.

The last three weeks had been full of memories; old and new, good and bad. Ty was always there, on the edge of his periphery, and Zane felt like a part of himself was missing. What were the chances Burns would put him back together with Ty? Zane figured on absolutely none, and that was optimistic. If Zane had been put back in deep cover, then Ty had to have been as well. That was the other man’s specialty, after all, and the classified answer pretty much confirmed it. But he couldn’t help hoping. At least Burns might be willing to tell him how to contact Ty when they spoke in five days.

The bike sped out of the city and into the flats, giving its rider time to think.

TY sat at the end of the bar, watching the Orioles get the shit kicked out of them again and drinking a Sam Adams fresh out of the tap. He knew the bartender by name. He knew the waitress by name. He knew the drunk dude throwing darts at the public health poster in the corner by name. He had spent a great deal of time in this bar.

“Want another basket, sweetie?” Cindy asked him as she leaned against the bar next to him, a tray of dirty glasses and empty beer bottles resting on her hip.

Ty glanced at her and shook his head, offering a weak smile. He slid 360 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

the empty basket of chips toward her, and she smiled at him as she took it and went on her way. Ty looked back at the television, watching but not seeing.

The Orioles were just painful this season. Finally, he drained his beer, setting the empty glass down with a clunk and slapping down a fifty with it.

He waved goodbye to all the people who thought they knew him and stepped out into the warm night air. He sighed and turned away from the corner where the cabs frequented, walking instead toward his row house near Fell’s Point. It was a long walk, but Ty didn’t mind it. The walk helped quell the part of him that prayed one of the cars racing along the narrow roads would just hit him as he shuffled across the street. Life was no fun anymore.

The job was no fun anymore. The bad guys kept getting away, and shooting them wasn’t worth the paperwork. He couldn’t even watch baseball without feeling the need to slit his wrists.

Fucking stupid O’s.

He had tracked Zane right back to Miami, to an undercover job where Ty couldn’t possibly contact him. They couldn’t have sent him back down there unless he had accepted the assignment, and Ty was left with nothing but to wonder why Zane would do that.

The cell phone in his back pocket began to vibrate as he walked slowly behind a couple out enjoying the night. Ty growled under his breath and then reached back for it, flipping it open and answering with a negligent,

“What?”

“Stop walking,” the voice said on the other end of the call, “and wait for your ride to pick you up.”

Ty stopped dead in his tracks and swallowed heavily, resisting the urge to look around. “You’re having me followed?” he asked incredulously.

“Only when you’re thinking about going AWOL,” Assistant Director Burns answered with a smile in his voice.

Ty was simmering as a black Yukon Denali pulled up beside the line of parked cars next to the sidewalk and waited for him patiently. “And when is that?” he demanded in a growl.

“Midnight to four a.m.,” Burns returned knowingly. “How’re the broken fingers?”

“Broken,” Ty grunted in answer. “Why am I being tailed?”

“You have a new assignment.”

“But—”

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“Señor de la Vega had a nasty plane accident down in the Caribbean,”

Burns informed him quietly. “Seems the mechanic working on his plane had some broken fingers no one knew about, didn’t get all the nuts and bolts tight enough. Get in the damn car and let it take you home. I want you in DC by noon.”

“You and your new assignments can go fuck yourselves, Dick,” Ty grumbled. “My fingers hurt. And the important one won’t stand up by itself.”

“So hold them all up and call it a flock,” Burns advised in mild amusement.

Ty snorted. “Flock of birds. That’s funny,” he muttered disconsolately to himself as he stared at the government vehicle stubbornly.

“Ty,” Burns sighed, his voice taking on the tone of the mentor he had once been. “Don’t toss everything you love out the window, hmm? You’ve tied up your loose ends, and you get to torture your new partner tomorrow.

Noon. I’ll see you then,” he said before ending the call.

Ty looked down at the phone as if it had offended him somehow, then up at the agent patiently waiting for him by the open back door of the Yukon.

Ty’s jaw tightened as he looked up and down the sidewalk. Finally, he sighed and trudged over to the waiting vehicle, sliding into the back wordlessly.

ZANE ignored Burns’ offer of transport, instead spending a couple more days with his parents before getting on the bike and heading east. He really didn’t care what time he got to DC on the fifth day. Burns hadn’t specified, after all.

He stopped both nights along the way and tried a lot not to think about what was waiting for him. A new partner.

It was a few minutes after noon when he pulled into the Bureau lot and showed his identification. Once he parked, he got a hit of déjà vu. He’d arrived like this last time. Same bike, same leather—different jacket. His mother had insisted he cut his hair, though, so it was trimmed and neat once more. He had a few more scars. He’d not told anyone about those. No one to tell, really, and they’d mostly healed up.

Wrinkling his nose, Zane dropped the helmet on the seat and clomped his way into the building, grumbling to himself.

With all his contacts, he’d managed to find out only that Ty had been released from Walter Reed on the day Zane had last seen him, but then he hit 362 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

a dead end. How it was possible for Ty to just walk out of the hospital and disappear, he didn’t know; agents not on assignment were usually pretty easy to find through the Bureau. He hadn’t gone on the lecture circuit like he’d said he was, that was for certain. The only thing Zane could come up with was that Ty was working something off the books—not even undercover, but serious black-ops stuff—and that meant he wouldn’t be found at all. It had been frustrating as all hell as Zane searched for him. And now here he was, faced with a partner he didn’t want in a job that was swiftly becoming more like work and less like something he enjoyed.

“GOOD to see you doing well, Special Agent Grady,” the secretary offered insincerely as Ty entered the outer office.

“Good to see the stick still firmly lodged, Princess,” Ty responded as he walked right by her and waved for her to tell Burns that he was there. She puffed up angrily and jabbed at the intercom to announce him.

Ty entered the Assistant Director’s office and stopped short. Over the past five or six hours, he had allowed himself to hope that his new partner would really be his old one. That Burns had finally pulled Zane out of that hell in Miami and brought him back to the Special Crimes unit. But now, he saw with a sinking sensation that his new partner was already here, sitting in one of the chairs opposite Burns with a leather portfolio in his lap, taking notes.

Holy Jesus, he was
taking notes
.

The young man looked up and over his shoulder to study Ty as Burns started talking. “Special Agent Grady, thank you for joining us. This is David Reese.”

The blond man stood, clutching the folder to his chest. Bright green eyes shone through wire-rimmed glasses. “Special Agent Grady,” Reese said.

“It’s great to meet you.”

Ty remained planted where he was, staring at the kid. He looked to Burns with sheer outrage glinting in his eyes. “What the shit is this?” he asked.

Reese blinked and looked back at Burns, who was smiling. “David is a junior at Georgetown. He’s interning with me this summer. Say hello, Ty,”

the Assistant Director ordered pleasantly.

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Ty stared at him, slightly nonplussed as he looked back at the kid.

“Shit,” he finally muttered apologetically as he stepped closer and took his hand in greeting. “I thought you were my new partner,” he said with a laugh.

“Jesus,” Reese muttered as he shook Ty’s hand. “I feel for your new partner, man. He’ll be crapping his pants.”

Burns snorted.

“Yeah well, he also won’t look twelve, so he’ll be fine,” Ty huffed in return.

Reese smiled slightly, but he didn’t appear amused by the crack about his age.

“David, Special Agent Grady here is one of the more unconventional agents you may encounter here at the Bureau. Do not include him in your summaries,” Burns cautioned with a smirk as he leaned back in his chair.

Reese nodded and smiled wryly. “I should hope not, sir,” he answered. “I don’t know how you’d keep new recruits.”

“We’d feed them to the military,” Ty grumbled as he went over and flopped down into the empty chair. “So where is this asshole, anyway?” he asked with frown. “You can’t tell me I’m the one on time.”

“Actually, you are, although he’s not far behind. Security said he came through a few minutes ago,” Burns said. Then he looked to Reese. “You see, David, one of the more arduous jobs we have here is figuring out how to gather agents who work effectively together. Special Agent Grady here presents a particularly difficult challenge, as I’m sure you can imagine.” The young man glanced to Ty, obviously agreeing with the sentiment.

Burns cocked his head when he heard the outer door open and footsteps clomp in. The office door opened and Reese turned curiously to look. Ty was almost afraid to do the same, but curiosity got the better of him.

Zane Garrett stood totally still just inside the doorway, his eyes already settled intently on Ty.

“Special Agent Garrett, how lovely of you to join us,” Burns drawled.

“This is David Reese, my newest intern. I believe you already know Special Agent Grady.”

After a short pause, Zane nodded slightly.

Ty found himself struggling for something to say as he blinked stupidly at Zane. The lack of reaction was disconcerting. Ty had tried every trick in his book, trying to find a way to get in touch with Zane after the 364 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

medical leave had ended. But an undercover operation trumped even fake family emergencies, and Ty hadn’t been able to get anywhere before his own assignments commenced. He found himself wondering, not for the first time, whether Zane took an assignment he knew would keep him under on purpose, just to keep away from him after the haze of the drugs had cleared.

“Well, David, it’s time for your next appointment,” Burns said pointedly, ushering the student out the door past Zane. The Assistant Director shut the door behind him and turned to look at the two men. The office was quiet.

Ty finally swallowed down his shock and looked from Burns to Zane uncertainly. “Hey,” he offered.

Zane glanced to Burns as well, and back to Ty. “Hi,” he said quietly, taking in Ty’s features.

And there seemed to be nothing more to say. Ty finally looked down, unwilling to meet Zane’s unreadable eyes.

“Well,” Burns said as he moved back to the chair behind his desk.

“Garrett, if you choose to move from Arlington closer to your new assignment, the Bureau will pay for temporary accommodations until you can get yourself settled in DC. Paperwork’s in the mail,” he told them as he waved his hand through the air in dismissal, though there was the slightest twist of a smile on his lips.

Zane blinked, surprise and hope emerging in his eyes. “You’re …

partnering us again?”

“As long as you don’t blow anything up again or kill anyone else, yes,” Burns answered with some amusement as Ty glanced back up at Zane in surprise. “You’ll be working the DC area for now. No undercover work, no big cases until you’re both … mentally stable,” he said with a wry smirk.

“Does that mean this is a permanent assignment?” Ty asked, his voice low and slightly hoarse. Burns merely laughed and leaned back in his chair again.

Zane had to tear his eyes away from Ty. “No objection,” he said softly.

“Good!” Burns responded with a smile. “Now get the hell out of my office,” he said as the smile dropped back into his customary scowl. “And take a fucking shower,” he ordered. “Both of you.”

Zane took an awkward step backward, watching Ty again, and Cut & Run | 365

reached behind himself to grasp the doorknob. He pulled open the door and waited. Burns’ lips twitched as he watched, and he shook his head ever so slightly.

Ty looked back at the Assistant Director uncertainly and then nodded obediently, glancing at Zane as he passed by him out the door. Zane watched him the whole way and then followed, pulling the door shut as they left. He was completely oblivious to the secretary staring at them.

Ty slowed to a stop and turned to meet Zane’s eyes. He glanced at the secretary and then back at Zane, turning again to keep moving without ever saying anything. After a moment’s pause, Zane blinked and strode after him, out into the hall, catching up at the elevator.

Ty had his head down, waiting for the doors to open. “How have you been?” he asked quietly without looking up.

Zane cast over the five months of hell in Miami. “Shitty,” he answered in the same soft tone. “You?”

Ty looked up slightly but didn’t answer. The doors whooshed open, and he stepped inside the elevator car. Zane didn’t hesitate to follow. He punched the button for the parking garage, and the doors slid shut. “I tried to get in touch with you,” Ty finally murmured without looking at Zane. “They said you were unreachable. You went back to Miami,” he said bitterly, his voice almost accusing.

“I didn’t have much of a choice. It was that or New Mexico,” Zane said. He didn’t try to apologize. “I … I didn’t know you were looking for me.