Sticks & Stones

Zane hummed slightly, and his eyes remained trained on Ty. When he spoke, it came out a little deeper. “Well, don’t get used to it. I expect a lot more fighting in our future. That’s how we get along best, remember?”



Ty gave him a weak smile and nodded.



Zane shook his head and poked Ty in the ribs. “Quit thinking so hard,” he said as he tried to muffle a yawn. He curled his arm around Ty’s waist and dragged him close enough that their bodies bumped gently from chest to knee. “Sleep,” he murmured, his lips close to Ty’s temple.



Ty swallowed hard and closed his eyes, turning his face into Zane’s and inhaling his scent deeply. Just as it always did, it sent a thrill through him and caused a dull ache to start in his chest.



What he was afraid of, he’d come to realize, was not dark spaces or falling from great heights or being buried alive. His greatest fears, in the end, were letting down those he loved and saying the words “I love you” without any hope of hearing them in return.



He knew, deep down somewhere, that if he fell for Zane Garrett, he’d be falling alone.



RICHARD BURNS sat back in his chair with a long sigh. He waited a few moments to ponder what Earl Grady had related to him on the phone. It had been a week since Earl and the boys had made it off the mountain, but he was just now getting the full story. At first blush, it was hard to tell whether the debacle would fall under FBI jurisdiction. It might be handled by the Parks Department or the local law enforcement. Hell, treasure hunters and a booby-trapped mountain could even fall to the National Guard. Burns really hoped the Bureau wouldn’t need to deal with it.



A team of rangers had located two of the dead men, although they’d had to comb several miles down a ravine for one of them. The shooting was being half-heartedly investigated, but Burns had no doubt Zane would be cleared. He had three good men vouching that he’d saved Ty’s life and that deadly force had been required. There was no trace of the third hunter. And so far four bodies of missing hikers had been found in the area of the main camp.



The only thing that concerned Burns was how Earl and the boys were handling themselves since they’d come off the mountain. Burns knew there was going to be some fallout over the events Earl Grady had described. Earl had sounded close to tears as he’d told Burns about what he’d said to his son. Burns had been dumbfounded as he listened, unable to do anything but call his old friend an idiot and tell him to fix it.



Whether Ty or Earl would ever get around to fixing it was the real question. And knowing Ty like he did, it might just roll off him like water off a duck. It was hard to predict what would hit that boy hard and what would glance off. Ty had been through a lot of things like they were a walk in the park, things that would have mentally destroyed a lot of people. But when his cat had died of old age a few years ago, Ty had been inconsolable for a week.



Burns told himself not to worry. Things would be resolved, or they wouldn’t. It was one family affair he would stay out of if at all possible.



They were all home safe now, anyway, which was sort of a miracle considering Ty had stayed in West Virginia for a third week of vacation along with Deuce. Burns kept expecting to hear about a mushroom cloud appearing over the West Virginia mountains.



Zane Garrett had returned to DC earlier than his partner, but as Burns had ordered, he hadn’t turned up at the office at all and hadn’t made a single noise about the extra week of vacation tacked on to his original three. Burns did know, through regular channels, that Garrett had shown up at the Bureau clinic and requested an appointment; he’d been attending the therapy sessions like clockwork, and the results were already very promising. Apparently, whatever had happened up on that mountain had convinced Zane that he needed to get himself together.



Burns sat staring at the packet of transfer papers on his desk, tapping it with his finger. Zane had passed all his evals earlier that day—blowing the academic end out of the water, as per usual; showing an excellent score on the physical; and squeaking by on the psych exam, to Burns’ relief. Ty was almost fully recovered from his ordeal with the cat, although he’d be in the cast for a couple more weeks, probably. They were about ready to be reinserted into light fieldwork. Burns needed to sign these last papers, and the transfers to Baltimore would be final.



He just needed to know one thing before he could in good conscience put Grady and Garrett on another assignment together. He picked up his personal cell phone and hit the speed dial.



“Talk to me, son,” Burns requested after the man answered. He pushed the button to turn on the speaker and set the phone on his desk. “I need you to tell me about them.”



“First of all, sir, I feel the need to reiterate my extreme discomfort with this situation,” the voice emitting from the speaker said seriously.



“Believe me, son, I know it feels a little dirty. But it’s for his own good,” Burns responded wearily. He was so tired of worrying, and he knew that while it felt slightly wrong to be doing this, it would also ease his mind both professionally and personally. “You know how hard-headed he is, he’d never let us do this with his knowledge. Now tell me what you know.”



“Sir—”



“Deacon,” Burns bit off sharply. “I would not ask this of you if it weren’t important. Please. I don’t want to hear about Garrett, there’s doctor/patient privilege involved now,” he said before Deuce Grady could remind him of the fact. For all the rules the Grady brothers had stretched, bent, crossed, and broken over the years, Deuce was admirably inflexible when it came to his work.



“Ty also speaks to me with the expectation of confidence,” Deuce murmured. “It feels wrong to talk about him to you, Dick.”



Burns knew how Deuce felt. Dirty and dishonest. Burns had felt that way when he’d all but ordered Ty to go home. He’d felt that way when he’d called Deuce to request he observe them closely. But he knew that if the Gradys weren’t as close as family to him, he wouldn’t be dealing with these issues at all. He’d just send Ty to a therapist and get a nice clinical evaluation of his mental state and then send Ty and Zane together to determine how they worked as a team.



But Ty had too much psychological training to go to a psychiatrist and not say just what needed to be said. He had to be tricked into it. And until just recently, Zane had to be pushed with a cattle prod to even get him into the doctor’s office.



“I don’t want to know what Ty talks to you about,” Burns assured him softly. “Just tell me,” he continued sympathetically, “is he still—”



“Sane?” Deuce provided flatly.



Burns sighed loudly. “Is he?”



“I’ve never seen him like he was up there on the mountain, Dick,” Deuce confided. “But then, I’ve never seen him at work, so that could just be how he handles the stress of nearly being killed all the time. Hard to say. In my professional opinion, he’s nuttier than squirrel shit,” he claimed. Burns laughed before he could stop himself. That was what all the Bureau shrinks thought too. “But as his brother, I’d say he’s as sane as he’s ever been,” Deuce continued confidently. “I’m not certain how many more of your little special cases he can go on and remain that way, though,” he added disapprovingly.



Burs pursed his lips and scowled. “I don’t want to know how you know about those cases,” he grumbled. “When he’s done he’ll tell me,” he stated in a voice that said that line of conversation was done. “Do they function as a team?” Burns asked slowly. “That’s all I want to know, Deacon. Can I, in good conscience, keep them together and expect them both to live through it?”



Deuce was silent. Burns could hear him tapping a pen on a pad of paper as he mulled over the question. “I think,” Deuce drew out hesitantly, “‘function’ is perhaps too strong a word.”



Burns closed his eyes and placed a hand over his forehead, feeling his heart sink.



“My brother would take a bullet for his partner,” Deuce added assuredly. “I mean, we know that from experience. The thing is, it wouldn’t matter who his partner was. He just thinks that’s part of his job. And his goal in life is to do his job well.”



Burns nodded silently. Anyone who knew Ty even a little bit knew that much. He had always been driven toward something no one else could see, and he still was. It seemed like the man felt his purpose in life had always been to die for a cause. He had been trying to get himself killed ever since he could walk.



Burns could count on one hand the number of times Ty Grady had told him “no” in the past six or seven years. He was always ready, always willing, and always more than capable of doing whatever Burns needed. It was one reason he was so valuable. And one reason he scared the ever-loving bejeezus out of Burns.



“The real interesting thing, though, is that Zane Garrett would do the same for Ty,” Deuce concluded.



Burns raised his head and stared at the phone. “Really?” he asked in unconcealed surprise.



Deuce laughed softly. “I believe so, yes. As a unit, they are largely uncooperative, unorganized, antagonistic toward each other, stubborn when problems arise, and they conceal their weaknesses from each other and sometimes from themselves. But somehow, it works for them. They trust each other. They’re fiercely loyal to each other, as well. When there’s an outside force working against them, they pull it together in one way or another and defend one another. Viciously, if need be. Zane Garrett stood up to my father, Dick. More than once.” He paused to allow that information to sink in and then continued. “In my professional opinion, they aren’t fit to be partnered with anyone but each other,” he said wryly. “They’d drive anyone else crazy.”



Burns sagged his shoulders in relief, sitting back in his leather chair with a sigh. He hadn’t even wanted to consider the nightmare of trying to find Grady and Garrett new partners. They would’ve had to have both gone solo, and that meant undercover for Ty and a desk for Zane. Neither of which would end well.



“The only issue I can see arising in the future is… personal,” Deuce said in a careful voice.



“How do you mean?” Burns asked with a frown.



“I still can’t tell if they like each other or not,” Deuce answered with a small laugh.



Burns smiled slightly. “Well. We’ll just have to see, I suppose. Thank you, Deacon,” he murmured. “I owe you one.”



“Yes, sir, you do,” Deuce assured him. He ended the call before Burns could respond.



After a long moment’s consideration, Burns reached to press the intercom button on his desk. “Get me Ty Grady on the phone, please,” he requested of his secretary.



“Um, sir?” she responded uncertainly. “He’s here.”



“What?” Burns asked in surprise.



“Special Agent Grady is sitting out here, waiting to see you,” she said with a hint of suspicion in her voice.



“He’s waiting?” Burns asked in disbelief. Ty had never sat out there patiently and waited to be seen. “Send him in,” he requested, alarmed. He stood as Ty was shown into the office.



“You look better than I thought you would,” he told the younger man as soon as the door was closed.



Ty gave him a game smile and moved to take a seat across from Burns. Burns slowly sat down again.



“When I started with the Bureau,” Ty said without further small talk, “you told me there were three situations where I could quit your… personal missions,” he said haltingly.



Burns nodded slowly, a hint of worry forming. “If you ever got married, had a child, or felt you were physically or mentally incapable of performing,” he listed off in slight trepidation.



Ty nodded. He looked determined, and Burns wondered how much time Ty had taken to work up the nerve to have this conversation. “Sir, I’m not getting married,” he said. “And I’m not a father. And I can honestly say that I do believe I’m still capable, physically and mentally,” he said firmly. “But I would like to request a temporary break to the assignments, nonetheless,” he said in a voice that was confident, if a little sad.



Burns could see clearly that Ty had anguished over this decision. His heart went out to the kid, and he wondered what had happened to precipitate this sort of decision. Was it what had happened on the mountain or had this been a long time in coming? Either way, Ty had lasted longer than Burns had ever expected.



He found himself nodding. “Care to share the reason?” he asked. Ty blinked at him, the only change to his expression as he sat stiffly in the seat across from Burns. Burns cocked his head sympathetically. “Would you tell me as a friend, rather than your boss?” he asked softly.



Ty lowered his head, linking his fingers together. “It’s nothing… bad,” he assured Burns finally. “There’re just some things I need to take care of—personal things—before I give any more of my time,” he explained, looking up to meet Burns’ eyes from under lowered brows.



Burns found himself nodding again, realizing that he’d grant any request Ty made right now. He looked determined, if nothing else, and Burns wondered what could have finally found a place in Ty’s life that he put ahead of his job. Burns would never have thought it possible. He hoped Ty wasn’t lying to him and that it really was something good, rather than something that had happened on that mountain.



“Thank you, sir,” Ty murmured as he stood again.



Burns stood with him, coming around the desk to walk him to the door. “Ty,” Burns said worriedly as he reached out and took Ty’s shoulder to stop him. “I heard about what happened,” he said with a deep frown.