Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

They dismounted, leaving the horses with Annie a few dozen yards away, and spread out, trying to find a sign on the ground or a path through the fence. Zane wasn’t exactly a master tracker, but he could find footprints in sand, and that was what they were seeing.

It took them roughly ten minutes, but Harrison stumbled over the entrance, links of the chain fence and the shrubbery that grew along it all cut by a bolt cutter so it would open and close like a door. When they’d visited the sanctuary the day before, Tish had told them that no one had checked the perimeter fences from inside yet. But Zane wasn’t sure they would have seen the opening even if they had. It was only obvious because of the tracks leading to it.

They gathered around Harrison as Annie kept the horses back, trying to preserve the tracks on the ground. The fence had been cut almost seven feet off the ground, and when Ty sliced off a piece of cactus and tossed it at the fence, no current was running through it.

“Means an inside job again, don’t you think?” Zane whispered.

Ty was nodding. “Someone killed the security measures to make it safe to cut the fence.”

“If it’s someone working at the preserve, why not just open the front door and cart the tigers out that way?” Mark asked.

Zane shrugged. That was a good question. “Could be someone with limited access. Could be a convoluted way to cover their tracks. Hell, it might even have been easier to go this way. All those hills and trails inside? We need to look closer at their security to know for sure.”

“I think it’s safe to call in the local LEOs now, though,” Ty said.

“The local what?” Jamie asked.

“LEO. It’s short for law enforcement officer,” Mark answered.

“Oh.”

Zane nodded again. They had enough evidence of a crime to bring in the local authorities. Which meant Ty and Zane could head home soon. The thought excited Zane, but it also made him sad. This was the first visit home he’d truly enjoyed since he’d left for college. Ty and the truth were both powerful sources of happiness.

He glanced at Ty as his lover paced back and forth, head down, body tense, like a prize hound on a scent. Zane grinned. He wondered if Ty would be open to coming back here regularly.

They continued to snoop around, trying to glean more information before they called it in. Ty told them what he was seeing: evidence of three men going in, and six coming out, carrying a heavy load. There were small tire tracks this time, like a hand truck or cart had been used. And they were fresh, less than an hour old.

Ty bent and examined something on the ground, and when Zane came closer, he saw that Ty was holding a tranquilizer dart.

Annie shouted from where she was keeping the horses at bay. “It’s probably a mixture of azaperone and sufentanil. Or maybe carfentanil. A combination of dopamine antagonist and analgesic that would be appropriate for such large animals.”

“What’d she say?” Ty asked.

“She said don’t stick yourself with it.”

“Oh.”

Annie drew closer to look at the dart. She left the horses, their reins draped over scrub brush to keep them from wandering. “When the dart hits, there’s a steel ball that pushes forward and injects the medication. It’s collared to keep it from falling out. The barbs on that dart haven’t been replaced properly, meaning it was either yanked out or it fell out.”

“Why would that happen?” Zane asked. Ty twirled the dart between his thumb and forefinger.

“They could have hit bone with it instead of muscle. That means that the animal they were trying to sedate didn’t get nearly enough of the medication to be out.”

“I hope he eats them,” Ty growled.

Zane patted his partner’s shoulder, torn between amusement at Ty’s vehemence and worry for the animals.

Ty got up and began wandering north along the fence, away from the tracks.

“We’ve got tire tracks, clear as day. I say we follow them,” Mark called out as he examined the tracks that led south, toward the nearest roads. The poachers had obviously found a more direct path to the fence this time.

Zane nodded. He headed over to peer down at the tracks. They were so clear that even he could have followed them. They’d had a rare summer rain several days ago, making the earth just moist enough to retain the heavy impressions. He glanced up, seeking either his father or Ty for their opinions. Harrison was nodding, but Ty had wandered away from them. Annie had managed to wrangle in the other horses, but Ty’s horse was following behind him, unbeknownst to Ty, of course, or he would have been throwing a shit fit about it obscuring evidence.

Zane almost laughed as he watched the animal plod along. What was it that made Ty a target for such undying loyalty? He seemed to inspire it in everyone he dealt with, including animals he hated.

Ty was studying the ground, good hand at his mouth, the casted one stuffed into his pocket.

“Ty!” Zane called out.

Ty glanced up and turned, saw the horse standing right there behind him, and stumbled back with a surprised shout. He almost tripped over a cactus behind him, but he caught himself and bent over, holding his hand to his chest.

“Don’t do that!” he yelled at the horse. The animal whinnied happily and butted its nose against his shoulder.

The rest of them laughed, not even trying to spare Ty’s pride.

When Ty finally pushed the horse’s head away, he looked over at Zane, but then returned his attention to the ground. “I think I have cat tracks here.”

“Tiger tracks?” Annie asked.

“It sure as hell ain’t Tom and Jerry.” Ty knelt to touch the dust near his feet. “I’ve never tracked a tiger before, but this is definitely feline and not canine. Can somebody come get this stupid horse!”

“We thinking one of the tigers got away?” Harrison asked, clearly concerned. He had thousands of acres of horses, sheep, cattle, and other livestock out here, not to mention the daily busloads of greenhorns who came to ride the trails. The last thing they wanted was a large predator on the loose.

“He definitely got away. These are running strides.”

Zane smiled as he watched his partner. The confidence with which he could say that was indescribably sexy, and Zane wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was proud of Ty.

Ty’s aviators glinted in the sunlight, and his jeans and thin white Henley were soaked through with dirt and sweat. Zane wanted to tackle him to the ground and lick him all over.

“I think we follow the truck,” Mark said. “Finding the tiger doesn’t get us any closer to catching these guys.”