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All Ty could do to respond was close his eyes and let his head loll to the side The thick leather of his jacket had saved his ar shrapnel and it s cow He couldn’t seehts

"Shit Who decided ere taking turns?" Zane plucked the leather at Ty’s arh it was scorched He slid an ar the saed "That was our car"

Ty sat staring at the flaan to trickle down his neck He shivered and lowered his head "Help ot to his feet before crouching to help Ty, and he caught sight of the blood "Ty? You hit your head? So hit you?"

Ty turned his head obediently for Zane to look and closed his eyes, shivering again The blood already matted his hair and covered the entire back of his neck

Zane’s lips co Ty up and along toward the side stairwell, away froate The fact that Ty didn’t protest being led anywhere should have caused Zane more worry The injured man practically kept his eyes closed as they , and the blood flowing down his neck orking its way under his collar and down his back

Getting theainst the hile looking back through the s and circling Frowning, he got Ty’s arround floor He helped Ty sit on the bottoet his attention "Ty? Stay here

I’et us a car, okay?"

Ty cleared his throat and blinked up at Zane, narrowing his eyes "I think I ht need a doctor, man," he rasped slowly

"I’ll take you to an eents around

Stay here, okay?" Zane said intently, holding Ty’s chin

"Yeah," Tyfaster

ZaneThe clerk in the key cage was gone, so Zane grabbed the first keys he saw Once in theheadlights of a ht it to a halt at the stairwell and cliot back into the stairwell, he found Ty on the stairs where he’d left hier crouched next to hier agent was 186

still bandaged from the explosion in the records room, his face and ar to look into Ty’s face as he slid his hand into his jacket, apparently reaching for a phone to call for help

Henninger turned and half-rose when the door opened, tensing, and then relaxed slightly when he saw Zane, who stopped in place, eyes narrowed

"Henninger We’re getting out of here," he said as he knelt in front of Ty and slid his arhtly, and his hand clutched in the material of Zane’s jacket "Keep your er questioned "Look, he’s hurt Why don’t we get the EMTs down here and--"

"Because it’s too risky I’ll take hi to help or not?" Zane asked in a flat, no-nonsense tone as he helped Ty to his feet, worried when the other er asked as he followed the with you two? Let theot Ty to the passenger side "You’re going up there and telling theot it?"

Henninger opened the door, hand gripping the side of it until his knuckles turned white "But why? They’re going to know it’s your car," he said logically

"Yeah, and by then, we’ll be where no one can get at us," Zane said as he practically lifted Ty into the backseat of the SUV

"You think soer asked incredulously, brows nearly up into his hairline

"It ht not be a bad idea for you to hide out for a while after this, too," Zane said without answering the question "You were too close to that coer blanched and repeated hi to kill you? But that means they’d have to knohy you were really sent here"

"And now you see the proble the door carefully He turned to the other agent "But right now, kid, you’re the only person I trust besides him," he said with a jerk of his head at Ty, who had slumped in the backseat "Look, call my cell phone once they pick apart that car and let me knohat they find, okay? There’s obviously soer’s face went hard as he followed Zane around the SUV

"Got it," he murmured in a low voice

Zane nodded and cli the door, he stuck out his hand, which Henninger shook "Take care of yourself Get Morrison to watch your back"

Henninger nodded Zane shut the door and drove out of the garage, leaving Henninger behind to cover for theht, Ty was unconscious

Carrying his bloody partner into the eency room didn’t even raise any eyebrows until Zane was able to flash his badge, and then everyone got busy, fast Ty had a nice crack on the head; a long, thin gash that had bled badly but didn’t even need more than a few stitches, and so down his arm Aside from the unpredictable head wound, the worst injury was to his rib cage Nothing was broken, but he had pulledthe intercostals that would impede his movement for quite some time Weeks, definitely Possibly months, the doctor had told Zane

Zane sat in a chair, leaning over with his elbows on his knees next to the bed where Ty sprawled, hooked up to an IV and all kinds of et theet in, ould get back to the office sooner rather than later The adht, to watch the concussion and ly They had kept Ty awake ht, and it had made him very cranky, very sulky, and very difficult to deal with Even more so than he usually was Now he dozed as Zane waited iain just as the doctor walked in

"He’s got a little internal daht bother hi lump on the outside," the doctor offered before Zane could even question hi okay, other than the pain Take him home, put an ice pack on it Keep an eye on hiive him pain ive theony pain," he said sternly "And keep hioes down A head injury like this can turn bad quickly, though, so like I said, keep an eye on hi of vision, slurring, shakes, confusion, nausea and so on, call an a in his head is the worst probleht cause some memory issues Any questions?" he asked