“Jack Tanner.”
“Jack Tanner told you?” Zane asked, aghast. Jack Tanner had been one of his instructors in the academy. He had single-handedly prevented Zane from dropping out and turned him into the agent he had become.
“No,” Ty said. “You told me he used to eat dinner at your house.”
“Yeah?” Zane said, confused.
“That’s how he pulled me too. And then knowing what I do about Burns and the way he treats you… I put two and two together.”
Zane’s mouth was dry as he stared at Ty. “How… Jesus, Ty. Why didn’t you say something?”
Ty shook his head. “You’ve had so much trouble with your past and getting over it,” he murmured as he let his hands snake around Zane’s back. “I’d rather you live in the present.”
Zane swallowed hard. Ty was right, for the most part. Those were days he didn’t want to relive.
“I’m not asking to talk about it. I just figure it’s out there now. It’s not something we need to hide or skirt around anymore.”
Zane nodded, feeling dizzy. He couldn’t believe Ty had put that together with so little to go on, but then he supposed Ty never did get enough credit for being as smart as he was. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
Zane leaned over enough to catch Ty’s lips in a gentle kiss. It didn’t last long. “I know you love me. And you know I love you. The rest will wait a little longer.”
“Feels good to say that, doesn’t it?”
Zane dragged one finger along Ty’s lower lip. “Yeah. And I intend to keep saying it. Often.”
Ty smiled wanly, but then he looked away as if he was struggling with what to say next. Or perhaps wrestling with a difficult decision.
“Tell me?” Zane murmured as he rubbed Ty’s back, trying to soothe him. It was like working with a spooked horse, and it had been decades since Zane had tried to rein one in.
Ty hesitated before sighing. “Burns sent me—us—because he thought I knew Cross,” he said in a low, tense voice. “It was in a report that he was a contact from a Paris job six years ago.”
“Yeah?”
“He wasn’t working under the name Julian Cross, but that’s the name the CIA put in the file. I’m telling you right now, though, the man from Paris was not Cross. Not this Cross, anyway.”
Zane frowned, mulling that over. “So either who we have isn’t the original Cross, or the CIA guy you worked with said he was Cross but wasn’t.”
“We know our Cross is connected somehow, because he knew me,” Ty said.
“Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe he’s like the Dread Pirate Roberts.”
Ty looked at Zane warily.
Zane nodded and cocked his head at Ty. “What?”
“I’m just waiting for you to bust out the ‘double cross’ pun so we can get it over with.”
One corner of Zane’s lips curled up. “Want me to come up with one real quick?”
“No. Stop it.”
Zane laughed and pressed his lips to Ty’s cheek. Ty’s body was still tense against his, and Zane could feel that there was still more his lover wanted to say. He reached up to put his hand against Ty’s cheek, looking into his eyes, feeling that tangle of warmth spread in his chest like it always did when Ty looked at him like that. “What else, baby?”
Ty shook his head and wrapped his arms around Zane’s neck instead, kissing him messily. They were still kissing when the water began to cool and Ty pulled away to meet Zane’s eyes.
“We’ll drop these two bozos off, then disappear for a night or two between DC and home, okay?” he whispered. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know. And I’ll make it up to you for bolting.”
Zane nodded and smiled, fighting down his racing pulse as he looked into Ty’s eyes. Now that was something to really look forward to.
Chapter 9
“WHAT mile marker are we near?” Zane asked as he peered at the map they’d bought that morning.
“129.3,” Ty answered without cracking a smile or taking his eyes off the road.
Zane glanced at him and rolled his eyes. He set the map on the floorboard and took up his crossword puzzle book. A moment later they came upon a green mile marker. It read Mile 130.
Cameron watched it pass, and then leaned sideways to look at Ty in the rearview mirror. “How are you doing that?”
“Doing what?” Ty asked in a bored voice.
Cameron huffed and glanced at Julian, who was watching Ty with one eyebrow raised.
Ty tried to hide his smirk. He’d been doing it for a solid hour, and not one of them had managed to figure out how. Ty was once again behind the wheel, trying not to zone out as the road stretched out before them in a seemingly endless roll of pavement, snow, and Holiday Inns.
“He’s either doing complex math equations in his head, or he’s got GPS embedded in his ass,” Zane muttered.
Cameron huffed and Ty allowed himself to grin. He glanced at Zane, his only real source of amusement, and he smirked as he turned his attention to the road.
“Okay, here’s a quiz,” he said. “It was the last set of questions they asked before I got accepted for Recon.”
Zane looked up from his crossword puzzle to give Ty a sideways glance. “Are you this bored?” he asked in a knowing tone.
Ty shrugged. “Just trying to pass the time.”
“I live to be your favorite source of entertainment,” Zane drawled. “What are the questions?”
Ty glanced at him again, raising an eyebrow. Zane gave him an innocent look. Ty huffed at him, but he was still smiling when he asked the first question. “How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?”
Cameron groaned in the backseat. “If the answer involves knives I want out of the car.”
Zane tipped his head to the side, his brows drawn together. He opened his mouth to reply, paused and narrowed his eyes at Ty, then hummed. “Open the door and stuff it in.”
Ty glanced at him, trying to hide his smile. “Very good. How do you put an elephant in a refrigerator?”
Zane leaned his head back against the headrest as he drummed his fingers on his thigh. “I feel like this is a trick question. Same answer, though.”
Ty was shaking his head. “You have to take the giraffe out first.” He glanced in the rearview mirror at their prisoners. Julian was watching them, head cocked as he listened. Ty continued. “The Lion King is hosting an animal convention. All the animals attend except one. Which one is it?”