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“So did you,” Ty said as he hit another button at random. Cameron could see a smirk on his face as he looked at Zane. It was obvious now that he didn’t care what they were listening to, he was just pushing buttons. Since Cameron was sitting behind Zane, he couldn’t really see Zane’s face to gauge his reaction, but his next poke at the first button didn’t seem angry.
Cameron glanced at Julian. “You and Preston have such a different relationship than them. ”
“There are so many ways that statement is correct,” Julian said in a bored voice. He wasn’t paying the two agents much attention. Or didn’t appear to be.
Ty pushed another button and turned up the volume. Zane hit the first button again but didn’t mess with the volume. Cameron tipped his head to look into the rearview mirror at Zane’s reflection. He couldn’t be sure, but there might have been a smile on Zane’s lips.
“How long have you two been partners?” Cameron asked. There was absolutely nothing about the landscape passing by to hold his interest after the first five minutes, and Julian was sulking or plotting, or both, so he might as well try to talk to them. Julian had told him to try and converse as much as possible; it would put their guard down, enable Julian to glean information, and make Ty and Zane less likely to hurt Cameron.
Ty jabbed at another button and put his hand over the radio controls so Zane couldn’t touch them. “Too damn long,” he said to Cameron.
“You love me,” Zane said in a tone that was practically cheerful, and Cameron couldn’t help but grin as Zane used the button on the steering wheel to turn the station.
Julian turned his head to look at Zane’s reflection in the rearview mirror, and then at Ty.
Ty was watching Zane, eyes narrowed. He finally retaliated by turning off the radio and huffing at his partner.
“Come on, how long?” Cameron asked again. If he had anything going for him, it was that he was persistent. Julian could attest to that.
“About eight months,” Ty said as he continued to eye Zane.
“Eleven months,” Zane corrected.
“Uh huh,” Cameron said, doubtful of the veracity of either statement.
“It’s been eight months, official. By your logic it’s almost two years. ”
“What?” Cameron asked.
“There was a short break in there,” Zane said. “We didn’t get along very well on our first assignment. ”
Cameron snorted. “And how is that different from now?”
“You heard him,” Ty said with a sarcastic edge to his words. “I love him now. ”
“Yeah, I can tell,” Cameron said, looking between them. Zane was actually smiling. It looked like he enjoyed needling his partner as much as his partner enjoyed needling him. “Why stay together if you didn’t get along very well?”
“They were assigned, Cameron. They don’t get to pick and choose,” Julian said in a gentle voice.
“Well, but surely their boss wouldn’t make them work together if they hated each other,” Cameron said. “They do carry guns, after all. ”
“Do we look like we hate each other?” Zane asked.
Cameron held up his hand and waggled it from side to side in a so-so motion. “Sometimes, maybe. ”
“He can’t tell what you look like with that beard,” Ty said as he turned his head to look at Zane. Cameron could see him smirking again.
Zane’s head turned toward Ty, and Cameron imagined it was so Zane could glare at him. “What’s that have to do with it?”
“You look like a lumberjack. ”
Zane shrugged one shoulder. “‘I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay,’” he answered in a low singsong voice.
“Stop,” Ty said with real urgency.
“Please,” Julian added.
Zane chuckled, and to Cameron’s ear it sounded a little on the evil side. “You want to sing instead?” Zane asked as he glanced sideways at his partner.
“If I sing, I’ll sing whatever I damn well want to. Might as well listen to my radio station. ”
“Nope,” Zane said, and again Cameron wondered about his apparent saintly level of patience.
After leaning back, Cameron looked over at Julian. “They almost sound like you and Blake, sometimes. When Blake really gets on a roll. ”
“Must you continue to compare me with either of them in any scenario?” Julian asked as he looked at Cameron earnestly.
Cameron shrugged. “I have a small frame of reference for people who kill things. ”
“You sing for hundreds of people sitting in the stands at a ballgame, but you won’t sing now,” Zane was saying.
“No, I’m not going to sing,” Ty said, incredulous as he glared at Zane.
“Why not?” Zane asked.
Cameron leaned toward the middle of the seat so he could peer through at Zane. He looked relaxed, left hand loose on the wheel, right hand free and resting on his thigh. A year ago, Cameron wouldn’t have thought anything about that. Now, it occurred to him that Zane was probably keeping his hand free so he could draw his gun. Cameron frowned and sat back.
“Stop it, Garrett, I’m not singing,” Ty said as he jabbed at the radio.
“How in the world did they get you to sing, anyway?” Zane asked.
“Sing where?” Cameron added, and then belatedly doubted the wisdom of making Ty any twitchier.
Ty looked at Zane pointedly. He glanced over his shoulder at Cameron. “He’s talking about baseball games,” he said to Cameron, and then he looked at Zane and spoke in a lower voice. “I just do. ”
“Season’s suspended,” Zane said. “City’s refurbishing that field. ”
“And?”
Zane lifted one shoulder. “They called while you were gone about what to do with the Bronco. ”
Ty cleared his throat and hung his head. “Are they releasing her?”
“Yeah. I had them keep her in the impound lot so you could see her one last time,” Zane said. “There’s nothing to be done. ”
“We’ll just see about that,” Ty said with a determination that was almost frightening.
“You’re talking like somebody died,” Cameron said.
“She did,” Ty said without moving.
Zane glanced up to make eye contact with Cameron in the rearview mirror, and he shook his head.
“My condolences,” Cameron murmured, a little mystified. He looked over at Julian, brow raised.
Julian shrugged, a difficult action the way he was restrained, and he whirled his finger around his temple. Cameron sighed and glanced at Ty. He was starting to think Julian was right about Ty being crazy. Maybe Zane too, if he thought any of what they’d just talked about made any sense.
“Can I choose to ride in the boot, now?” Julian asked.
“Shut up,” Ty and Zane both answered.
ZANE stepped out of the second travel plaza facility of the day with Cameron in tow, taking a deep breath of the freezing air. It had begun to snow, dropping fat flakes that were already beginning to pile up.
Zane shivered and glanced back inside. It was too cold to wait for Ty and Julian out here. With a steaming hot coffee in one hand and Cameron’s arm in the other, he started for the car. He caught a glimpse of a hulking black SUV parked near the gas pumps, and something about it caught Zane’s attention enough to warrant a second glance. He slowed, staring hard at it. Even as he did so, the car started, its lights blinking on, and it pulled away from the gas pump it had been using and headed for the exit.
“What’s wrong?” Cameron asked as he watched the car drive away.
Zane pursed his lips. “Nothing. Come on, it’s freezing. ”
The car didn’t give him a bad feeling, and it was the first time he’d even thought about a suspicious vehicle on their tail. It was probably nothing to worry about. They headed back to the car, and Zane secured Cameron with a little bit less vehemence t
han Ty had that morning. He got in the passenger side and started the car, sighing in relief as the warm air touched his skin.
They had stopped for gas and something to keep Ty’s hands busy, and Zane had been so close to buying a stress ball he’d found inside that he still regretted not making the purchase. Ty loved road trips, but he really needed to be the one driving. He wasn’t cut out for the idle, easy passage of time that was required of passengers.
Soon enough, Ty and Julian returned. Ty shoved Julian into the backseat and clanked his handcuffs into place. They were arguing. Again. Zane turned in his seat to watch them.
“I refuse to search you every time you take a piss. Refuse!” Ty was saying through gritted teeth.
“Then don’t do it, Agent Grady. It’s very simple. ” Julian was watching as Ty went through the ever-increasingly complicated ritual of tying him down. If this kept up, Julian really would be riding in the trunk.
“Then stop trying to escape!”
“You wouldn’t have one modicum of respect for me if I didn’t try to escape. ”
“I don’t have any for you now! The only thing I care about is getting your sorry ass to DC so I can go home. ”
Julian sighed as Ty slammed the door.
“What have you done now?” Zane asked him.
“That is a trade secret, Agent Garrett. ”
Zane rolled his eyes and turned back around in his seat as Ty threw himself into the car.
“You want to drive?” Zane asked as soon as Ty sat in the driver’s seat.
“Yes, please,” Ty said in a rush of relief.
Zane grinned. “Everything okay?”
“No. They didn’t have any Cheetos. ”
“Tragic,” Zane said as he took the lid off his coffee. “The coffee is fantastic, though. ”
“I don’t like coffee, Zane!”
“It really is very good,” Cameron said. “They don’t over roast the beans like Starbucks. ”
Zane hummed in contentment as he took a sip.
“Shut up,” Ty muttered as he jabbed at the GPS and hit the button that would continue their previous course.
The suction cup that attached the unit to the dash popped up, and the unit jumped off the dash into Ty’s lap. He flailed briefly as he fought with the charging wire, trying to disentangle it and retrieve the unit as it slid down his leg and tangled in the steering column.
Julian chuckled drily from the back seat. “Looks like she likes you too. ”
JULIAN’S fingers had long ago lost all feeling, and the tingling sensation was marching its way down his arm toward his shoulder by the time the snow got heavy enough that the two FBI agents were discussing stopping.
“I think we can make it out of the storm,” Zane was saying even as Ty shook his head.
“I’m telling you, Zane, if there’s one thing West Virginia knows, it’s snow. This is a car killer, and we’re in a Crown Vic. ”
“You’re saying we should stop for the night?”
“Yes. ”
“And let the snow pile up around us as Cross tries repeatedly to kill us and escape?”
“Well, not when you put it that way, Zane. Jesus. ”
“I really don’t want to die in a snow storm in the middle of Indiana,” Cameron said in a small voice.
“I said it would kill the car, not us,” Ty grumbled.
“It’s… sort of the same thing, though,” Zane pointed out. “We don’t even have winter coats. ”
Julian could clearly see the glare Ty shot at Zane
Julian glanced to Cameron and met his lover’s eyes. Cameron still looked worried and overwhelmed, and Julian had been trying his best to remain outwardly calm for his benefit. It was getting harder to do, though, the longer this charade went on. Both attempts at escape had been foiled, and he had to admit, he was a little surprised. He smiled and gave Cameron a wry roll of his eyes despite his concern.
He was torn over what he wanted Ty and Zane to do. Every mile they drove brought them closer to DC and the danger that lay in wait there. But while stopping in the snow storm would afford him and Cameron the chance at escaping, how far could they realistically get in a whiteout blizzard like this?
Eventually, the snow was falling so fast and thick that it didn’t matter what any of them wanted to do. Ty could barely see to drive the car, and as soon as they caught wind of an exit off the toll road that had a hotel, Ty headed for it. It took them half an hour to get from the exit to the hotel, inching along in the driving snow. Every minute that passed, the agents grew edgier and meaner.
“I could get out and walk and get us a room before the car could get there,” Zane said.
“Zane, shut up,” Ty said through gritted teeth. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Julian supposed it was partly instinct and mostly dumb luck that he was able to navigate at all. He was tense, though, and for someone wound as tight as Ty already was, making him more so wasn’t going to help anyone.
Julian and Cameron wisely kept their mouths shut.
“You want me to drive for a while?”
“Zane, seriously, stop talking to me right now, okay?”
Zane cleared his throat and shrugged a shoulder, looking out the window.
Julian glanced over at Cameron again, trying to gauge how well he was holding up. “You okay?”
Cameron shook his head, eyes darting to the front to see if either agent was looking at him. Julian knew that Cameron was ashamed to admit to his fear in front of Ty and Zane.
The anger flared so unexpectedly that Julian gave a sharp gasp as it burned through him. Who were these two clowns to make Cameron feel like that? Who the hell did these assholes think they were dealing with?