“That was f**king stupid,” Ty muttered from the backseat. “I told you to go.”
“Yes, well, unfortunately my conscience is a little more willful than most,” Julian grumbled, and Cameron knew his lover was talking about him.
“They were CIA again, Zane,” Ty said, voice soft and hoarse. He pulled a badge from his coat, waving it at them. He had lifted it from one of the men in the airport. “I identified myself and they didn’t care.”
“Rogue cell,” Julian murmured. “They’ve got to be acting under his orders.”
“Whose orders?”
Julian took a moment to explain what was going on to Zane, and it was mostly news to Cameron too.
“Burns must be protecting someone,” Ty said, voice still strained. “Or investigating on the down low.”
“Rogue or not, they’ve had the resources and the manpower to stay on us this long. I don’t see that mess stopping them from keeping after us,” Zane said as he shifted his attention back and forth from traffic and the rearview.
“We need to get somewhere safe. Unexpected,” Ty said. Cameron couldn’t see him, but he sounded worn and beaten.
“And soon. Your partner is bleeding,” Julian informed Zane without a hint of sympathy.
Zane finally looked over his shoulder back at Ty. “How serious?”
“Shut up, that’s not my blood,” Ty murmured. His voice sounded weak.
“Ty,” Zane said, his voice brooking no humorous pushover. Cameron heard leather squeak, and when he looked, he saw Zane’s hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.
“What? It’s not my blood!”
“Let me see it,” Julian demanded, and a moment later there were sounds of a scuffle from the back seat.
“I am AB positive and this is distinctly type O blood!” Ty finally shouted at him. “Look at the little Os!”
“Jesus Christ, Grady, can you not take one f**king thing seriously?” Julian yelled back in utter frustration. Cameron wondered what it was about Ty that made Julian lose his composure so easily. If he weren’t so secure in their relationship, he might actually be jealous of it.
Cameron gasped as the SUV jerked over to the shoulder of the road and came to a sudden stop. Zane threw it into park and turned in his seat. “Enough!” he shouted, grabbing Ty’s wrist when it flailed within reach. Cameron shrank back, leaning against the passenger-side door as Zane growled. “Grady, give me a clear answer, dammit!”
“I’m not bleeding!” Ty insisted, sounding a mixture of exasperated and hurt that Zane didn’t believe him. “Would you put the car back in drive before we’re strafed by CIA fighter jets or something?”
“I swear to f**king God,” Zane cursed under his breath as he let go, turned back around, and got the SUV moving again.
Cameron leaned his head back against the leather headrest and closed his eyes. This was like National Lampoon’s Vacation, but with death, property destruction, and an Irish accent. He groaned and covered his face with one hand, only to touch sticky blood all down his cheek and jawline. He groaned again. The second time it sounded pitiful, even to his ears.
There was a tense silence for several seconds, and then Ty opened his mouth one last time. “I think the kid is bleeding.”
“WHO are these people?” Agent X asked his superior in utter frustration.
“We’ve finally discerned their identities. They’re FBI.”
“Real FBI?”
“It would appear so. Richard Burns is pulling no punches when it comes to old friends.”
“Do you wish us to continue? They killed two of my men.”
“And stole two of your vehicles.”
“I don’t mourn the cars.”
“Now that we’re certain we know the names of the men involved, it will be easier to find them.”
“If you say so, sir.”
“Keep on them.”
“Yes, sir.”
He hung up and looked around the concourse of Pittsburgh International Airport. FBI agents. They had done this with two prisoners in tow and no weapons. He was beginning to wish he’d been sent to Alaska instead of this assignment.
“OKAY, if this is the CIA, what else are they doing?” Ty asked Julian as soon as they were satisfied that they’d lost any tails and disassembled the GPS in their stolen car.
“What do you mean?”
“We know they were pinging the GPS in the bureau car.”
“Wait, I thought you dismantled that,” Cameron said as he turned around.
“Bureau issue vehicles have two types of GPS. The backup is covert, meaning it’s passive,” Ty said.
“The Agency was pinging us with their remote systems,” Julian explained.
“You knew,” Zane said as he looked in the mirror at Julian.
“Well, at the time I was hoping to pit the sides against each other and escape.”
“At least he’s honest,” Ty grumbled.
Zane glared at both of them for a moment.
Cameron waved a hand. “Okay, I get how they found us in the car you stole.”
“Borrowed,” Ty said.
“Whatever, psychopath. But how did they find us after?”
“Any number of ways,” Julian said in a troubled voice. “Credit cards. The tolls when we passed through. Our cell phones. Depending on how high this goes, they could have even diverted a satellite.”
“How high does it go?” Zane asked.
“I don’t know his name, I just know his voice.”
“You said cell phones,” Ty murmured
“Yes. You turned the GPS off, but again, if it goes high enough, they can turn it back on remotely.”
“Right. But do they have the firepower to listen in on calls?” Ty asked.
“Yes,” Julian said with a simple nod.
Ty looked from Julian to Zane, and Zane had to take his eyes off the road long enough to meet Ty’s eyes in the mirror. He could tell Ty was formulating a plan, and the fear behind those hazel eyes told Zane that Ty didn’t like what he was thinking.
“What?” Zane asked with a growing sense of dread.
“If they’re picking up on our calls, maybe we can call for help.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, I believe you lost me as well,” Julian said.
“At least I’m not the only one,” Cameron muttered.
“They’re big, we’re little. Their strength is the information they gather and how they do it. We have to turn that against them.”