When Ty turned, he looked like a different person. His eyes had gone hard and flat, his mouth set in a thin line. All the humor and charisma that made Ty Grady who he was had disappeared, replaced by the soulless, lifeless person the military had battered them all into. They had been trained to morph into that person when they needed to act without emotion. Nick hadn’t seen that look since they’d come home. It had always ended in blood. It sent a shiver down his spine.
“I need a few minutes,” Ty said, then he stalked through the room and out the front door.
“Well, that’s that,” Liam sighed.
“What?” Zane asked.
Liam shook his head. “The only things Tyler’s ever understood were loyalty, honor, and orders. His entire life has been devoted to them.”
“I know,” Zane growled.
“Do you really?” Liam shook his head. “Because I think if you did, you’d be a little more frightened right now. Do you know what happens to people like Ty when they realize everything they’ve been living for has been a con?”
Zane glanced at Nick quickly, then back at Liam. Nick lowered his head and closed his eyes.
“Have you ever seen a trained dog that’s always been kept on a leash?” Liam asked after a few moments of tense silence. “Only released when the order to kill was given?”
Nick looked up. Zane was staring at Liam, grim.
No one answered. Liam sat straighter. “Have you ever seen what one of those dogs will do once no one’s giving it orders?”
Zane sniffed and ran a hand over his face. He nodded, staring at the darkened window. “Not a goddamned thing.”
“That’s right,” Liam said in disgust. “He won’t even eat unless someone tells him to. He curls up and starves without his master.” He stood and grabbed his jacket.
Nick scowled as Liam pulled on the coat. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving.”
“What?”
“Leave. Ing. Leaving.” He pointed toward the door. “That is not the man I knew ten years ago. He’s not even half the man I knew. And now look at him. His heart’s broken, Dick Burns has betrayed him, and he’s getting his men shot left and right. He’s done. And I for one don’t intend to follow him into the hereafter.”
Nick lunged to his feet, shaking with anger. If they knew half the things he and Ty had done, half the sacrifices Ty had made to see orders through, it wouldn’t be so easy to sneer.
“Don’t,” Liam grunted. He waved a hand at Nick. “Don’t defend him. Jesus, it was hard enough watching you two circle-jerk in service, I don’t need to see it now.”
He headed for the door, still shaking his head. When he yanked the door open, a hand reached out and grabbed him by the throat. Liam didn’t have time to react or defend himself before Ty shoved him back into the room. Nick and Zane both lunged to their feet.
Liam kicked out, but instead of dropping back and defending like Ty often did, he attacked. He used Liam’s leg and then shoulder for leverage, kicking up, wrapping a leg around Liam’s neck and twisting and rolling to slam him to the floor. The entire house seemed to shake when they hit. Then Ty was on Liam, his knee in Liam’s solar plexus, his hand on Liam’s throat again in an iron grip. Liam kicked and flailed, grasping. Ty easily avoided every attempt he made to free himself.
“This trained dog’s still got a few tricks up his sleeve,” Ty snarled.
Liam made a gurgling noise and kicked his feet against the battered hardwood floor, trying to get leverage. He smacked at Ty’s face. The veins in Ty’s arm jumped as he squeezed Liam harder.
“Grady,” Nick shouted, the same voice he’d used to relay orders. “Let him up.”
Ty squeezed just long enough for Liam to start clawing at his head. Then he released him, grabbing him by his jacket collar and lifting his shoulders off the floor. “You’re in this until the end,” he hissed. “Is that understood?”
Liam grasped at Ty’s wrists, gulping for air. He nodded. “As long as you can still do that to someone like me? I’m with you.”
Ty released him and stood. They all stared at him with wide eyes. “Time to stop waiting for the cavalry.”
A grin slowly overtook Nick, and he sat back down and put his hand over his mouth to hide it. That was the Ty Grady he remembered, the one a lost eighteen-year-old from Boston had fallen in awe of.
He wondered if Zane was seeing the same thing.
Zane’s arms were crossed and his eyes narrowed. “Do you have a plan?” he asked Ty.
“No. But I’m in a room with some of the smartest, most devious ass**les I’ve ever known. If we can’t slither our way out of this, then we don’t deserve our titles.” Ty nodded at Owen and Digger, then at Nick. Nick smiled.
Liam began to sit up, but Ty put a foot on his shoulder and shoved him back to the floor. A ghost of a smile crossed Zane’s lips.
“Right now we have two enemies, after two different things, who’ve joined forces,” Liam rasped. He shoved at Ty’s foot. “We need to pit them against one another. Will you get off me!”
Ty stepped away, smirking at Liam as he pushed himself off the floor and brushed himself off.
Owen stood from where he’d been lounging on the couch. “What if we give them what they want?”
Ty sat down hard in the chair Liam had vacated, across the table from Zane. “I’d rather not die in this plan.”
Owen held up a hand. “They think you’re Tyler Beaumont, right? Ex-military, wandering performer, hired henchman. CI important enough for the FBI to try to save.” He shrugged. “Who’s to say you weren’t hired to off someone?”
Ty cut his eyes toward Nick, not yet willing to say he wasn’t following but obviously not following any more than Nick was. Nick shrugged.
“And Garrett,” Owen continued, “he could be a dirty Fed, still be part of the cartel crowd.”
Ty and Zane shared a look over the table. Both men still seemed confused.
Digger leaned over and put both hands on his head. “Johns, I swear to baby Jesus, if you don’t start making sense, I’m gonna kick you.”
“Listen,” Owen insisted. “Bell contacts the cartel, tells them Garrett, or whatever name you used, wants a meet with them. Follow?”
The room was silent.
“Oh my God!”
“Can you . . . draw it in a chart or something?” Nick asked.