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who have sex with other men, but who don t identify as gay. It s widespread in
communities where being real macho is important. He took a big swallow of coffee,
risked a look at Ty s face. Tyler stared back, waiting.
 I m pretty self aware. I noticed that I was a lot more turned on by the guys than by
any women I met. I went to that club in Laughlin to test the waters, to see if maybe I
hadn t been in some sort of denial all these years. Then I ran into Drew. Believe me, I d
already noticed him more than I d wanted to. You know the rest.
 Do you love him?
This time Cass did get the first word.  Jesus, Ty. What is this? Their business. Not
ours.
 Ty  His phone rang, and Holden glanced briefly at the unfamiliar number. Not
Drew.
 Titus.
 I assume you recognize my voice. This is a disposable phone, but let s keep names
out of it. I wanted to give you a head s up. That name I gave you the other night is
confirmed. Nothing is going to happen on this end for days, because that s still an
offshoot. If there s any chance, you re probably it.
*
It was funny how life could change in an instant. One minute, Ty had been ready to
ream him a new asshole for hurting his friend, the next, the former Navy SEAL had
taken over and they d been planning a covert operation. Not that they had a team or
any official standing. But that didn t seem to bother Ty any more than it had bothered
him.
Now, he sat in a darkened truck and waited for Ty to return from his reconnaissance
of the concrete outbuilding located on a ranch in the remote eastern part of the county.
He was pretty sure Ty was the only one having any fun. His replacement, Sheriff
Morgan was royally pissed because all he d been told was to have deputies standing by,
and a general location, but not why. Cass was pissed because Ty was on this mission
without him while he stayed home watching Alex. Holden wasn t exactly pleased
himself, since he was left sitting here in the dark, monitoring the communications Ty
had rigged.
According to the plan, Ty would confirm the presence of the illegal aliens, and
specifically Enrique, if he could. Then he d return to the truck and as soon as they were
back on the Interstate, Holden would call Sheriff Morgan and anonymously report that
Mexican citizens were being held against their will on the Long T Ranch. Juan s cousin
would be arrested, but eventually he d make it home alive.
The radio crackled to life.  Start the engine, we re coming. Fuck& fuck, start the
engine. Hurry, they re right behind me.
Dragging himself to the driver s side, Holden did as directed. He had no idea what
was happening, but if Ty said hurry, he wouldn t be kidding. Starting the engine, he
put the big truck in gear and waited, straining to see against the dark night. The brake
lights had been covered as soon as they d left the main road, and he kept the headlights
off. The truck was as invisible as they could make it, but he trusted Ty knew how to
find him in the dark.
There was an impact as something thudded into the bed of the truck, followed
closely by another truck shaking thud. Then Ty was pounding on the metal bed,
shouting,  Drive, drive.
Ignoring the pain that shot through his leg, he pressed his foot to the accelerator. It
was only a muscle and muscles healed but if some stray bullet hit one of them, they d
be in a lot more trouble than he was prepared to handle. He needed to get Ty and& he
flashed a glance over his shoulder& whoever Ty brought with him, out of here.
Great. Now he d probably be arrested for human smuggling. Gripping the wheel, he
focused on maintaining control as the truck bounced and rocked over the desert
landscape. When he saw the flat black ribbon in the distance that signified the road, he
wanted to accelerate, but it wasn t until the rear window of the truck exploded into a
million tiny glass pebbles, that Holden flipped on the headlights and pressed the pedal
to the floor. They obviously were not running in stealth mode any longer. He might be
lighting himself up like a Christmas tree, but he could at least see the damn way clear of
boulders and saguaros. Crouched as low as he could in his seat, he let the big truck
loose and with a growl of the powerful engine he muscled them to the highway and
toward the relative safety provided by others. He didn t breathe any easier until he saw
the headlights of the vehicle that had been chasing them turn back toward the desert
rather than follow them onto the main roadway.
He went another two miles just to be sure, then pulled into the emergency access
lane. He just sat for a moment, trying to catch his breath, making an inventory of his
body parts.
 Whoo hoo, Ty said, jerking the door to the truck open. The words might have
sounded casual, but there was an air of all business around the younger man.  I got
Enrique. You okay, Holden?
 Yeah. It was all he could manage for a minute, as visions of his son flashed
through his mind.  You brought him out. How can I direct the officers to the property
now?
 Hurry and call it in right now. There are three others still there. I could only
manage to get one loose. My bad luck they had a sentry posted and he stepped around
for a smoke.
Pressing the speed dial button, he watched and half listened as Ty turned to the
other man who climbed out of the truck. In rapid Spanish, Tyler rolled off some
directions too fast for Holden to follow, but Enrique seemed to understand. They peeled
off the plastic garbage bags Ty had taped to the taillights, then Enrique climbed into the
back seat and Tyler nudged Holden to scoot over.
 Morgan? Titus, here. You and your men need to hurry to the Long T. They are
already alerted that their security has been breached. Three men are being held against
their will in a concrete outbuilding approximately one quarter mile from the main
house. He relayed the GPS coordinates, evaded a few questions, then ended the call.
Then they were back riding smoothly along the highway, heading west toward
home. He could almost make himself believe nothing had happened. Except for the
rush of wind from where a shotgun blast had come too close to his head for damned
comfort. Goddamn& Goddamn it!
Despite the planning, despite the reassurances, Ty had put them all at risk by
attempting a rescue they weren t equipped to handle. Yet, in this moment of brutal
honesty, he knew without a doubt, had he been the one to go in, he would have been
unable to leave Juan s cousin or anyone else behind. Closing his eyes, he swallowed
down the bile and fought against his anger.
Denial had no place here. Had he been whole and healthy& this would have been
his job. Even now, he would be the one racing into the scene, weapon drawn, no room
in the moment for outside distractions. Thoughts of his son, creating a stable home,
their future& those would have been necessarily pushed aside. Time and time again he
would have put his Kevlar vest on, buttoned his uniform shirt, strapped on his service
belt, and gone to work as if it were nothing more than a routine job. It was exactly what
he had done.
Reality pressed down, crushing him under the weight of his responsibility.
How& why had he thought he could continue to be a cop once Karen died? By the grace
of providence he d been given a second chance to show that his son really was his top
priority. He wasn t going to fuck it up again.
Chapter Thirteen
The door to the ranch house opened with a bang.  Ty? Cass? Where is everybody?
 We re back here, Drew, Cass called. Drew kicked off his boots and headed toward
the living room. Cass was stretched out against the arm of the long sofa, his arm around
the reclining Ty s shoulders.
Picking up the remote, Ty pressed mute on the Diamondbacks baseball game they d
been watching.  Hey, Drew. Welcome back. Where ve you been all week? Ty asked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]