Zane’s gaze wrenched up from the ground just as Earl and Deuce began begging Ty to calm down.

No one seemed to know what to do now that Ty was literally telling them to shoot him. Swizzlestick stood in front of Ty, gripping his shotgun uncertainly and glancing at Redjacket for guidance. As Ty threw his hissy fit, Redjacket moved closer to sort it out, his glasses in one hand and his gun in the other. Swizzlestick tossed his plastic stick away with a curse and gripped his shotgun tighter to point it at Ty threateningly, shouting for him to shut up and sit back down.

They circled around Ty, leaving Earflaps a good fifteen to twenty yards on the other side of the clearing. Alone with Zane.

Whether Ty did it on purpose was hard to tell, but it was Zane’s opinion that he was just losing his temper and didn’t care if they shot him, rather than purposely trying to divert their attention away from the rest of them. Ty did have a short fuse upon occasion, and Zane figured he had reason today. It was even possible that he was halfway lost in a flashback to his Recon days. If anything was going to cause one, this would. Ty turned to Redjacket as they circled him, both of them pointing their guns at him and shouting for him to get back on his knees. He ignored the orders and continued bitching about their tactics. “You don’t tell your prisoners you’re gonna kill them!” he shouted at Redjacket in annoyance as he took a step toward him.

It reminded Zane suddenly of the lessons Ty had been telling the rookie FBI candidates back at Hogan’s Alley. Never overestimate the mental stability of your opponent.

Swizzlestick stepped forward and jabbed his shotgun into Ty’s belly.

Zane’s shoulders twitched, cold fear flooding him. He hoped to hell Ty knew what he was doing. There was no way he or Earl or Deuce could get to him to help when Ty already had a shotgun point blank in his middle.

Ty took another step, causing the barrel of the gun to dig against his abs and pushing Swizzletsick back a step. The man’s trembling finger tightened slightly on the trigger.

“You give them hope!” Ty yelled at the man. “It keeps them docile and cooperative so they don’t resort to desperate measures when you’re not paying attention!” he said as he grabbed the barrel of the gun, shoved it away from his body, and struck out at the man with a left hook. The gun went off just as Ty let it go, the shot just barely missing Redjacket.

“Hey!” Redjacket yelled, raising his gun. Ty kicked back at him, hitting him square in the chest with his heavy hiking boot and sending him stumbling backwards before rounding on Swizzlestick again.

Earl and Deuce began to truly struggle with their restraints as all hell broke loose around them. Suddenly everyone was moving.

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Zane was already twisting to slam his arm across the back of Earflaps’ knees before giving him a heavy push, toppling the man over. He landed on his ass with a loud grunt, but he held onto his shotgun. Zane lunged at him, hand out to grab at Ty’s gun, but Earflaps swung the shotgun, catching Zane in the face again, and the pain shattered through him. He was dazed for a moment, long enough for Earflaps to jab him in the kidney with the gun barrel before he shook the haze off and kicked at him. He could hear the cursing and yelling and scuffling going on behind him as Ty dealt with two men at once, but Zane couldn’t get to them yet—he had to deal with this ass**le first. Lurching to his feet, Zane grappled with Earflaps and slapped at his belt to dislodge the gun, getting a knee in the gut for his efforts.

“That there’s part of the payback,” Earflaps hissed as Zane collapsed to one side with a harsh gasp, trying to get air in.

Zane blinked hard, the others coming into focus for the seconds it took him to roll out of Earflaps’s reach and get to his feet. Swizzlestick was on his knees, coughing blood and dazed. Ty had Redjacket down, holding him by the neck in a sleeper hold until he lost consciousness. Deuce and Earl were still tied, though Earl seemed to have almost managed to loosen his ropes.

Zane had to duck as Earflaps took another jab at him with the shotgun, too close to get off an actual shot with it, and he managed to get the man in the gut with a good punch. As Earflaps doubled over with a howl, the gun fell from his belt to the dirt, only to kick away toward the others. Zane stayed on him and kicked out viciously, his boot coming into crunching contact with one of Earflaps’s knees and then his gut; Earflaps gave a series of pitiful howls and collapsed, falling over on top of his shotgun. Zane spun around, trying to find the sidearm.

Neither Earl nor Deuce were free yet. Ty still held Redjacket by his neck, and as Zane watched he rolled the unconscious man to the side and pushed himself up, reaching for the gun on the ground next to him. But before Ty could get to it, Swizzlestick raised his shotgun and aimed it right at Ty’s back.

In that split-second, Zane reacted instinctively: he snatched Ty’s gun up from the dirt and pulled the trigger without a single thought.

Three gunshots cracked loudly in immediate succession, echoing in the forest, and everything came to a sudden stop as Swizzlestick collapsed, thudding hollowly on the ground with three bullets in the chest.

Chapter 11

TY ROLLED to his side as soon as the shooting started, ducking and covering and then rolling into a crouch with Redjacket’s gun, prepared to return fire. He found himself with his gun aimed at Zane, his finger on the trigger and ready to squeeze. Zane was on his knees, having turned his gun on Earflaps, who seemed frozen in place, shotgun loosely in hand, as he stared at Swizzlestick’s bleeding corpse.

“Put it down or you’re joining him,” Zane said harshly to the stunned man, outstretched arm not wavering as he held his gun on him.

Ty gasped, his heart racing as he aimed the gun away from Zane. He turned his head to look at the man who lay dead. He was sprawled on his back, bleeding from three different expertly placed bullet holes.

Zane had killed the guy without even a blink of the eye. Ty had agonized over how to do this without bloodshed, and then Zane had just gone off and shot the guy. While he’d known that Zane was capable of killing, Ty hadn’t seen it. Not like this. Not at all, now that he thought about it.

The gunshots had caused everything to cease long enough for Earl to finally free himself. He was cutting Deuce loose with a knife he’d grabbed from somewhere. Ty knew he should move to help, but all he could do was stay there on his knees and stare at his partner in stunned silence. He’d known Zane had killed Tim Henninger from reading the reports of what had happened in New York. He’d never asked Zane about it, though, and on some level he hadn’t truly believed Zane really had it in him to take a life so easily.




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