Free Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer by Abigail Madeleine u Roux Urban

least one within easy reach at all times. Ty‟s
    weird allergic reactions were off the charts when they happened, and
    Zane needed to be better prepared.
    “It‟ll be okay. The hot paramedic chick gave me her number to
    call if I needed help,” Ty continued, his good hand weakly chasing
    Zane‟s. “She plays first base.”
    “That‟s nice.”
    “I‟d rather be with you.”
    Zane struggled to tamp down the worry. “That‟s good to hear.
    You‟d never tell me that if you weren‟t drugged, I bet.”
    “Nope!” Ty told him happily. He looked over at Zane with a
    nearly serene smile. Zane leaned over and captured Ty‟s full lips in a
    quick yet warm kiss before stepping on the gas pedal. “I should tell you
    more often,” Ty whispered, not moving from where Zane left him, the
    side of his head resting against the seat.
    Zane stared out the windshield at the busy street as he drove.
    After a long silence, he reached out to catch Ty‟s good hand and pull it
    around to kiss the dirt-stained knuckles. “I wouldn‟t mind hearing it
    more often,” he said, the words coming out hoarser than he expected.
    When Ty didn‟t answer, Zane squeezed his hand gently and
    moved it, noticing Ty‟s arm was limp. He looked over to see Ty still
    slumped sideways, dozing, breaths ragged but steady. Zane couldn‟t
    help but roll his eyes and smile. He kept Ty‟s hand in his and set them
    on his right thigh as he focused on getting them home.

    TO GET into the baseball complex, Pierce would either have to pick
    the lock or park his car on the street and risk getting a ticket as he
    Divide & Conquer | 49

    climbed over the fence. He knew his crime history. Too many people
    got caught because they parked in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    There was one car in the locked lot, an old Ford Bronco with vintage
    stickers on the windows. Pierce knew who it belonged to: that brazen
    federal agent who had called him out on the local news.
    Pierce did his research. He even knew the man‟s name. Grady.
    Tyler Grady. Pierce sneered as he thought about the newscast. Man had
    one hell of a nerve to talk shit when he didn‟t even have any leads. But
    Pierce had plans for him now too. He didn‟t know why the truck had
    been left behind, but it would save him the trouble of having to find
    Grady‟s address.
    Grady wasn‟t the only thing he‟d researched. He‟d also Googled
    how to pick locks, and he was reasonably sure he could do it. The
    others stayed in the car as he tried his hand at it.
    He could hear them growing more and more impatient, heckling
    him through the open windows as he struggled with the lock-pick set
    he‟d bought on eBay. Finally he cursed and jogged back to the SUV.
    “I can‟t get it,” he told his companions. He pointed at Ross and
    Hannah in the backseat. “You two stay in the car. If anyone comes by,
    light a blunt and start making out, got it?” They looked mutinous about
    being left behind, but nodded.
    He beckoned to Graham, the last member of their enterprising
    little group, to accompany him. Then Pierce took the equipment out of
    the back, handed off one of the bags, and carried the other as they made
    their way over the barrier into the parking lot and toward the first
    softball field, where all the municipal league games were being played.
    When they got to home plate, Pierce gingerly pulled the
    homemade bomb from the bag and set it beside him on the ground,
    smiling at it with no small amount of pride.
    “We have to dig it up?” Graham asked. Even in the shadows it
    was easy to see the sour look on his face.
    “We have to hide it,” Pierce said glibly. He‟d already explained
    all this, there was no way he was doing it again, not out here in the
    open when time was of the essence.
    50 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    Graham grumbled and complained as they went to work, digging
    up home plate. By the time they had a big enough space under the plate
    for the device to fit, they were both