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Zane very slowly raised a hand to his face and covered his cheekbone carefully He glanced up at Earflaps He was burly and solid, but Zane figured he could take him down if he had to He was still aware of Redjacket’s eyes on hiured out that Ty was invested in any of them, he could use them to force him out of the woods Ty wouldn’t just sit out there and let any of thean’s Alley, he wouldn’t use any of thely

Redjacket looked fro in one or both of theht "Don’t like to be lied to, old man," he said finally He nodded at Earflaps and stepped away, holding his gun up and ready

Earflaps grinned slowly and stepped closer to Zane, pu the barrel to Zane’s forehead Zane felt hiuy looked like he er

"Don’t do this" Zane’s voice was low and level and not at all shaky "You won’t like the result"

"Neither will you, hot shot," Earflaps muttered to him with a smirk

"Show yourself, friend!" Redjacket shouted into the woods where Ty had disappeared "And on’t blow this er, and you won’t live to regret it," Zane told them quietly "That’s a pro on hiht If Earflaps shot him, Zane had no doubt Ty would kill him Ty would kill him, and the others, too, in front of his father and brother It would be ret it later, if only because Earl and Deuce had to watch

"You got to the count a three!" Redjacket called out to Ty "You ain’t a good enough shot to hit all of us before he dies!"

Zane kept his eyes on Earflaps, willing Ty to ainst Ty, not when his faan laughing softly

"That’s one stupid asshole out there," Swizzlestick observed in a detached voice "Gonna get his friend killed"

"Two!"

Zane was vaguely aware of Earl trying to reason with the them that if they shot Zane there’d be no reason for the man in the woods to hold his fire, but Zane and thehis attention on Earflaps Although it wasn’t his personal choice in the way to die, he would stare it down Ty would be pleased with the method, anyway; it would be quick He hadn’t liked Zane’s preference to die slow

Redjacket took in a deep breath to shout again, but then Ty stepped into the clearing suddenly, al everyone’s eyes with the un around and cocked it at Ty, who stood with his hands above his head obediently In one hand he held his gun, hanging by the trigger guard off one finger He dropped the gun as soon as they turned on him and then moved his hand to join the other, which was behind his head already What he’d been planning to do was anyone’s guess He obviously hadn’t had enough ti but surrender

Zane shifted back onto his elbows from his side to better see Ty "Quit yer movin’," Earflaps snarled to hi thelad to see hiht have just evaporated But he knew better There was no one better to get them out of this than Ty, even if he was unarmed now And possibly in the midst of a mental breakdown He didn’t look like hi like theat thee in his expression

"What’re we gonna do noizzlestick asked as he looked over their four prisoners critically

Redjacket looked to Earflaps and nodded at Ty, as if giving hio take care of him

Ty’s eyes slid from Earflaps back to Redjacket He didn’t appear too worried about the prospect as the big, burly ut

Reflexively, Zane sat up in a shot Seeing Ty being attackedthat ry as hell all at once But the shotgun at his chest stopped hi further to help

Ty didn’t even try to defend himself He kept his arms over his head His entire body tensed, and Zane heard hirabbed him by the shoulder and rahtly, letting the punch hit hi the side of his torso He did everything Zane knew he could to lessen the impact of the direct blow to his torso

The dull thud of fist hitting hard , but Ty barely reacted other than to wince with the impact The punch should have leveled him Earflaps looked at Ty in shock as he shook his hand and backed away a step, and Ty srin before whipping his left hand around to smash his fist into the man’s face He held a rock in that hand, the one no one had thought to check The crack of bone made Zane wince as his own face throbbed in sympathy Ty could pack a punch, Zane knew froe he could do actually wielding soushed down the man’s face as he fell back and landed in the dirt with a dull thuun clued to his feet

Ty turned and threw the fist-sized rock at Swizzlestick, hitting hiun on his ass Then Ty whirled around, intending to go for the gun he’d dropped

He came to an abrupt halt when Redjacket calun and ai in the man’s eyes must have told Ty he would fire, because Ty slowly put his hands up obediently

Zane had alun when Redjacket shouted forcefully "Stop!" He deliberately pushed the barrel of his 45 under Ty’s chin, forcing Ty’s head back slightly

Zane froze in place, fists clenched, a scowl on his face that he knew just highlighted the split lip and the quickly darkening bruises along his cheekbone that weren’t hidden by his week’s worth of beard

"Son of a bitch," Swizzlestick wheezed froash on his head "Shoot the bastard" Earflaps whiround and bled profusely