“Shut up,” Redjacket growled at him.
“—over a few pieces of broken—”
“I said shut up!” Redjacket shouted as he raised his hand, prepared to hit Zane again.
A noisy tumble of pebbles and dirt from the treeline to their right halted him, and Earflaps turned to aim his shotgun at the noise as Redjacket pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. “Who’s out there?” he shouted as he pointed his gun at Zane’s face and squinted into the darkening woods. There was no response as every man in the clearing held his breath. Zane tried to turn his head just enough to peer into the forest, trying to see who or what it had been. He almost hoped it was some wild animal stalking them rather than Ty or Earl being careless. Swizzlestick pumped the action of his shotgun and pointed it at Deuce when the silence stretched further.
“Show yourself or both these men die right now,” Redjacket called out.
Another movement answered the threat, and Earl slid down the small hill of the treeline and into the clearing gracelessly, his hands held up and out over his head as he stumbled out.
Zane grimaced and exhaled heavily. Fuck. This was both good and bad. Bad because now Deuce and Earl were both here and in the line of fire. But good because Ty was still out there. And these idiots would have no way of knowing.
Redjacket began cursing as Earl showed himself, and he turned just slightly, his attention wavering from Zane as he ordered Earflaps to go search Earl.
In the space of a few seconds, Zane calculated his chances: all three men were turning away, Deuce was mostly out of the way, Earflaps had his shotgun in his arm rather than ready as he approached Earl, and Redjacket and Swizzlestick were both in easy grabbing distance. Without even consciously deciding, Zane moved, shoving Redjacket hard in the back to tip him over and then lurching to grapple with Swizzlestick for the shotgun. In the midst of the struggle, Zane was aware of three quick shots coming from the trees to their left; Ty offering covering fire from his hiding spot and giving away his presence. Zane laid Swizzlestick out with a hard hook, but as he turned to face Redjacket, pain exploded in his cheek as his world went bright white and flared out.
EARL was on his knees, his hands laced behind his neck and his head lowered. He cursed himself for his clumsiness. Twenty years ago, he’d never have made such a misstep. When he’d seen the gun pointed at Deuce’s head, he hadn’t even considered not showing himself. It would be up to Ty now if they were going to get out of this.
The skinny guy with the swizzle stick was complaining loudly about his jaw as Earflaps rolled Zane over roughly. Earl watched as Earflaps rifled through Zane’s pockets, looking for any sign that Zane might be conscious. The man was out, though, limp and unresponsive. He saw Earflaps pull out Zane’s gun, and after a little more searching, he yanked sharp-looking knives from sheaths that were strapped to Zane’s forearms. He watched Earflaps examine the knives before tossing them into a nearby sack. All this time, Earl hadn’t even known Zane was wearing the weapons.
His eyes flicked to the side, to the woods where Ty’s shots had originated. He knew Ty would be long gone, having simply disappeared into the forest after the treasure hunters regained control of the situation. He hadn’t made a sound as he’d gone, Earl had noted with a hint of pride. He hoped the boy was halfway to the nearest ranger station by now, like they should have been to start with. But he knew that Ty wouldn’t leave for help now. He’d stick around and probably get himself killed trying to save them. It was what Earl would have done. If these boys thought they had the upper hand, though, they were sadly mistaken. Ty was in his element up here.
“Fuck!” Redjacket shouted, the sound echoing through the clearing and off into the woods. “Where the fuck did they come from?” he shouted. “How many more’s out there?”
“I told you they was trouble,” Earflaps answered, unperturbed by the yelling.
“Well, no shit,” Redjacket snapped. He looked around, his eyes landing on Earl. “What’s your business up here, old timer?” he asked. Earl stared back at him wordlessly. He didn’t even blink in response. “You FBI too?” he demanded. Earl just looked at him, betraying no expression.
“What about the other’n?” Swizzlestick asked as he gnawed nervously on the tiny, thin piece of plastic he had managed to salvage after Zane attacked him. “You want us to get after him?”
Redjacket turned away and looked out into the woods without answering.
“If he ain’t smart enough to hightail it outta here, the mountain’ll kill him before we could,” Earflaps offered as held his shotgun at his hip. “Ain’t none of ’em too bright, following us like they did.”
Redjacket shook his head slowly, his eyes darting back and forth amidst the trees. He turned back to Earl and knelt in front of him. “You get sent up here or was this just your unlucky day, huh?” he asked Earl quietly. He stared at Earl, waiting for any sort of response, but all he got in return was another blank stare. Earl would be damned if he answered any questions while they held guns at their heads.
“That boy out there know the mountain?” Redjacket tried, getting nothing but silence in answer.
Zane groaned softly and tossed his head as he lay flat in the dirt. Earl’s eyes flickered to check on him, seeing Earflaps shift as he stood over him, the shotgun pointed at the ground beside Zane’s thigh. Zane would be awake very shortly, and God knew what that man would start saying once he was. Boy had a mouth on him to rival Ty’s, just not the brains to put behind it. Earl moved his chin slightly so he could check on Deuce, who was kneeling, wincing in pain as he was forced to put too much pressure on his bad leg.
Redjacket watched him closely, following his gaze to rest on Deuce. “You’uns got a bit of family likeness to you,” he murmured, and Earl’s eyes darted back to glare at him. “That your boy?” the man asked knowingly with a nod at Deuce. Earl’s jaw tightened, and his lips compressed against the words he wanted to say. Redjacket nodded. He stood and lifted his gun, pointing it in Deuce’s direction.
“Stop,” Earl said quickly as his heart stuttered and his stomach plummeted. He closed his eyes and breathed out heavily. Redjacket lowered the gun and looked at him expectantly. “We weren’t sent here,” Earl answered through clenched teeth. “We took a wrong turn on the trail, that’s all.” Swizzlestick snorted heavily. Earl didn’t look away from Redjacket. “We don’t want nobody hurt,” he told him firmly.
“I bet you don’t.” Earflaps laughed as he nudged at Zane’s hip with his shotgun. Zane shifted in the dirt and groaned again.
“So,” Earl continued as if he hadn’t heard the big man speak, “y’all just surrender now, and we’ll see that you get back down the mountain in one piece,” he offered charitably.
Redjacket looked at him oddly, then huffed a laugh and turned away. “Tie ’em up, we’ll deal with this shit later,” he ordered no one in particular as he walked away. They went about binding Earl and Deuce quickly, leaving Zane mostly unconscious in the dirt without bothering to restrain him. Earl prayed that would be a mistake as his arms were jerked behind his head and bound tightly.
Once they were bound, Redjacket stepped up to Earflaps and murmured to him at length. Earl watched them carefully, trying and failing to see a way out of this that didn’t end with someone dead.
Once they’d formulated their plan, Redjacket kicked Zane’s hip hard.
TY WINCED as he watched Zane contort in pain. Crouching further into his hiding place, Ty tried to slow his racing heart and think clearly. It had taken more discipline than he’d expected to restrain himself when he’d seen the man in the red jacket pistolwhip his partner and send him crashing to the ground.
But he had to be careful. He had to focus, despite his heart beating in his throat and his fingers shaking with adrenaline and absolute terror. Three of the people he cared for most in the world were in danger, and there was very little he could do about it that wouldn’t involve bloodshed. The probability that at least one of them was going to get
badly hurt was too high for Ty’s liking. There had to be some way to do this without the guns, without violence.
He just wasn’t seeing it.
He wasn’t even seeing a way with violence that didn’t end up with at least one of the three prisoners dead or dying by the end of the shootout. He wasn’t even sure that he could get off three accurate shots—and they would have to be kill shots—fast enough to keep one of the treasure hunters from firing off one of those shotguns. It was too much of a risk to take, even if Ty didn’t have serious issues with killing random assholes in the mountains. He’d offered covering fire when he thought Zane might have a chance to fight his way out. Now he regretted not taking the one kill shot he’d had.
Ty looked around the quiet woods with a hint of desperation. He was alone now, outgunned and out of options. There had to be another way.
AFTER the second kick, Zane jerked, and his eyes snapped open. Before he could move, though, a shotgun barrel appeared in his line of vision—lined up right between his eyes. He blinked up at it and remained still and silent, his hands limp at his sides. This was unfortunately a more common occurrence in his past experiences than he would have liked. Then the pain came crashing in. His face burned like it was on fire, emanating from the right side but causing his entire head to ache. It was nearly overwhelming, and he had to close his eyes and swallow hard as the nausea welled up and the agony washed through him.
He distantly heard men talking, and he knew on some level what must have happened. He shifted a little where he lay in the dirt, hissing slightly as his head protested angrily. He tried to carefully shift his jaw, but damn, it hurt. At least it didn’t slide, which meant it wasn’t broken. Thank God for small miracles.
Redjacket was standing over him, pacing, looking at Earl in annoyance. Zane rolled slightly to his side both to quell the nausea and to check on Earl and Deuce. He relaxed a tiny bit when he saw them both kneeling, looking relatively whole and unharmed even though they were heavily bound with rope and bungee cords.
“What’s his name?” Redjacket demanded of Earl. Earl narrowed his eyes and looked at Zane. “The feller out in the woods,” Redjacket snarled. “What’s his name?”
Momentary relief washed through Zane when he heard the words. That meant Ty was still free. They still had a chance.
Earl swallowed hard but remained silent. He looked sideways at Deuce, who was watching him with wide eyes. Earl shook his head and looked back at Redjacket. Earflaps mumbled in annoyance and nudged at Zane’s shoulder with the end of his shotgun. Zane jerked and groaned, rocking more to one side and curling up. If they thought he was hurt enough, they wouldn’t consider him any more of a threat, and they might not tie him up.
He peered up at Redjacket, whose face was surprisingly composed as he and Earl stared at each other. Zane wondered what was going through his mind. He suspected whatever it was wouldn’t be good for them.
“One more time, old timer,” Redjacket threatened Earl.
“I don’t know,” Earl answered defiantly. “He ain’t one of ours,” he claimed steadily.
Earflaps kicked Zane in the hip again. “Maybe this ’un’ll talk now that he’s hurtin’.” A choked groan escaped Zane as he rolled away from the man’s foot.
Redjacket raised an eyebrow at Earl, waiting for him to say more. Earl’s jaw tightened as he nodded at Zane, who was fully sprawled on his side now. “He’s my oldest son,” he told Redjacket calmly. “The other man, we came across him on the mountain this morning. Crazy son of a bitch. We don’t know him,” he claimed firmly. Redjacket turned to look down at Zane with narrowed eyes.
Zane very slowly raised a hand to his face and covered his cheekbone carefully. He glanced up at Earflaps. He was burly and solid, but Zane figured he could take him down if he had to. He was still aware of Redjacket’s eyes on him. If Redjacket figured out that Ty was invested in any of them, he could use them to force him out of the woods. Ty wouldn’t just sit out there and let any of them be shot. Despite Ty’s little game in Hogan’s Alley, he wouldn’t use any of them for cover, not willingly.
Redjacket looked from Zane to Earl and shook his head, obviously seeing something in one or both of them that didn’t sit right. “Don’t like to be lied to, old man,” he said finally. He nodded at Earflaps and stepped away, holding his gun up and ready.
Earflaps grinned slowly and stepped closer to Zane, pumping the action of his shotgun and then pressing the barrel to Zane’s forehead. Zane felt himself go cold all over. Cold with fear, sure, because this guy looked like he might just enjoy pulling the trigger. But also cold with anger.
“Don’t do this.” Zane’s voice was low and level and not at all shaky. “You won’t like the result.”
“Neither will you, hot shot,” Earflaps muttered to him with a smirk.
“Show yourself, friend!” Redjacket shouted into the woods where Ty had disappeared. “And we won’t blow this man’s brains all over the woods!”
“You pull that trigger, and you won’t live to regret it,” Zane told them quietly. “That’s a promise.”
He was aware of Earl’s attention focusing on him, and Deuce’s, too, but Zane didn’t care what they thought. If Earflaps shot him, Zane had no doubt Ty would kill him. Ty would kill him, and the others, too, in front of his father and brother. It would be messy. And Ty would regret it later, if only because Earl and Deuce had to watch.
“You got to the count a three!” Redjacket called out to Ty. “You ain’t a good enough shot to hit all of us before he dies!”
Zane kept his eyes on Earflaps, willing Ty to make something happen. He wouldn’t take that bet against Ty, not when his family was involved.
“One!” Redjacket started as Earflaps began laughing softly.
“That’s one stupid asshole out there,” Swizzlestick observed in a detached voice. “Gonna get his friend killed.”
“Two!”
Zane was vaguely aware of Earl trying to reason with them, telling them that if they shot Zane there’d be no reason for the man in the woods to hold his fire, but Zane and the men with the weapons all ignored him. Zane was keeping his attention on Earflaps. Although it wasn’t his personal choice in the way to die, he would stare it down. Ty would be pleased with the method, anyway; it would be quick. He hadn’t liked Zane’s preference to die slow.
Redjacket took in a deep breath to shout again, but then Ty stepped into the clearing suddenly, almost ninety degrees from where Redjacket was looking, drawing everyone’s eyes with the movement. Swizzlestick jerked his shotgun around and cocked it at Ty, who stood with his hands above his head obediently. In one hand he held his gun, hanging by the trigger guard off one finger. He dropped the gun as soon as they turned on him and then moved his hand to join the other, which was behind his head already. What he’d been planning to do was anyone’s guess. He obviously hadn’t had enough time or ammo to do anything but surrender.
Zane shifted back onto his elbows from his side to better see Ty. “Quit yer movin’,” Earflaps snarled to him.
Ty stood stock still, watching them all impassively. Zane couldn’t decide if he was glad to see him or disappointed that their last chance at escape might have just evaporated. But he knew better. There was no one better to get them out of this than Ty, even if he was unarmed now. And possibly in the midst of a mental breakdown. He didn’t look like himself, nor had he been behaving like the man Zane knew for some time. Even now, he stood staring at them all sedately, no hint of anger or a challenge in his expression.
“What’re we gonna do now?” Swizzlestick asked as he looked over their four prisoners critically.
Redjacket looked to Earflaps and nodded at Ty, as if giving him an order to go take care of him.
Ty’s eyes slid from Earflaps back to Redjacket. He didn’t appear too worried about the prospect as the big, burly man walked over and hauled off to punch Ty in the gut.
Reflexively, Zane sat up in a shot. Seeing Ty being attacked made something insid
e him clench, something that made him feel possessive and scared and angry as hell all at once. But the shotgun at his chest stopped him from moving further to help.
Ty didn’t even try to defend himself. He kept his arms over his head. His entire body tensed, and Zane heard him breathe out hard as Earflaps grabbed him by the shoulder and rammed his fist into his stomach. Ty merely turned slightly, letting the punch hit him in his oblique muscles, along the side of his torso. He did everything Zane knew he could to lessen the impact of the direct blow to his torso.
The dull thud of fist hitting hard muscle seemed loud in the small clearing, but Ty barely reacted other than to wince with the impact. The punch should have leveled him. Earflaps looked at Ty in shock as he shook his hand and backed away a step, and Ty smirked at him.
“My turn,” Ty told him with a grin before whipping his left hand around to smash his fist into the man’s face. He held a rock in that hand, the one no one had thought to check. The crack of bone made Zane wince as his own face throbbed in sympathy. Ty could pack a punch, Zane knew from experience. He didn’t want to think about the damage he could do actually wielding something solid. The moose hat went flying and blood gushed down the man’s face as he fell back and landed in the dirt with a dull thump. Swizzlestick turned, raising his shotgun clumsily as he tried to aim it at Ty, and Zane surged to his feet.
Ty turned and threw the fist-sized rock at Swizzlestick, hitting him in the head and knocking him and his shotgun on his ass. Then Ty whirled around, intending to go for the gun he’d dropped.
He came to an abrupt halt when Redjacket calmly stepped up to him with his handgun and aimed it at his head. Something in the man’s eyes must have told Ty he would fire, because Ty slowly put his hands up obediently.
Zane had almost reached the shotgun when Redjacket shouted forcefully. “Stop!” He deliberately pushed the barrel of his .45 under Ty’s chin, forcing Ty’s head back slightly.