Read Online Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban, Abigail Roux - Free Book Online Page A

He should have known Ty would disrespect even this. “Alcoholics don’t recover,” he said sharply as he pushed out of his chair. “I’ll be back,” he muttered, heading to the front door.
    “I know they don’t,” Ty called after him without getting up. “They must not have a sarcasm translator in Cyber,” he muttered to himself with a roll of his eyes.

    40 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    Zane heard him but was too angry to turn around. He had to calm down or he’d lose his grip on his well-practiced control. He pushed out the doors and onto the sidewalk, walked a few yards away, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and lit up, watching the foot traffic go by as he cooled off.
    Left behind in the restaurant with several patrons glancing at him curiously, Ty simply shrugged and reached for a breadstick to gnaw on. The alcoholism thing didn’t mesh with the mental profile he’d created of his new partner. He’d have to reconsider after his task tonight.
    Taking his time with the cigarette, Zane jammed the butt out when he was done and tossed it in a trash can outside the restaurant before heading back in. The salads were on the table, and he sat down and started eating without saying a word.
    “Bit of a temper, huh?” Ty greeted as he chewed. “That’s a good idea,” commented the man who was notorious for losing his temper in explosive ways. “To walk away like that.”
    Zane grunted in answer as he ate a few bites of salad, deciding if he wanted to answer. “Had to learn,” he finally said as he nabbed a breadstick.
    “Were you a cop?” Ty asked him in return, his mind making leaps and bounds of logic as he continued to chew.
    “Are we playing twenty questions now?” Zane asked. “No. I was never a cop.”
    “I ask ’cause big city cops are usually plagued by drinking and anger problems,” Ty informed him. “And I assume they started and were taken care of before you were in the Bureau because you wouldn’t have stayed in after developing them. Military?” he asked dubiously.
    Zane had to smile a little as he looked up and saw the wheels turning.
    “Not military. You get two more guesses.”
    “Funny, I had you pegged for Air Force,” Ty drawled with a shake of his head and a smirk.
    A sharp bark of laughter escaped Zane before he could repress it.
    “Unfortunately, my candy-ass image is only recently cultivated. I’m pleased that it’s so convincing,” he said, not at all brightly. He still wanted a drink, and his itchy hands and parched throat were getting worse. “You’re military, of course.”
    “Marines,” Ty offered as he looked up at Zane without moving his head, his fork stopping as he smiled slowly. “Force Recon.”

    Cut & Run | 41

    Zane’s shoulders stiffened. So Ty was a highly specialized warrior, trained to take the worst of a hostile environment. To be there and be invisible. To be there and be deadly. The knowledge made something inside Zane go cold. “Makes sense,” he said tightly. “Anyone who could be so insubordinate could only have been the total opposite at some point in time,”
    he observed. Zane pushed the salad bowl away and strongly contemplated another cigarette.
    Ty snorted and shook his head in amusement. “Insubordinate,” he echoed with a little snicker.
    Glancing up, Zane was already resigned to being insulted. Modus operandi for Ty. “What?”
    “If I were really all that much of a liability, do you think I’d still be around?” Ty inquired curiously. “I mean, I’m good, but I ain’t that good.”
    Zane didn’t even have to think up his answer. “Incorrect. It means you’re so good that you can be as insubordinate as you like and get away with it. We both know there’s a difference between being a liability in the field and an asshole in the office.”
    “We certainly do,” Ty agreed with a shit-eating grin. “Asshole.”
    “Coming from you, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
    Ty merely shrugged and went about eating his