Julian glanced back and turned, putting himself between Cameron and the pursuers. Ty was looking around the concourse, and Cameron caught a glimpse of the wild cast to his oddly colored eyes. He looked like a cornered animal, wily and dangerous.
“We’re trapped,” Julian said.
After a last look at their paltry options, Ty pointed a finger into Julian’s chest, then waved them toward the exits. “Go,” he snarled.
“What?”
“Go! Find Zane. I’ll hold them off.” Then he turned his back on them, facing the men coming after them with a roll of his shoulders and a tilt of his head.
Julian took a step back, momentarily stunned, but then he gripped Cameron’s hand harder and pulled him, turning and running, leaving Ty behind them to stem the tide of the oncoming suits. Cameron managed to glance back in time to see Ty launch himself into the first man; then they were obscured by the panicking crowd around them.
“But… Julian! They’ll kill him!”
“They’ll kill us, Cam!”
Stopping him was impossible against Julian’s size and determination. They darted in and out of pockets of confused people, weaving their way through the masses and finally finding a side hallway that had an emergency exit at the end. Julian started toward it, but he hesitated, glancing over his shoulder. Cameron jumped on the vacillation.
“Julian, I know you two didn’t get along, but please! He and Zane could have just given you to them, but instead they’re trying to help us,” Cameron said, pulling on Julian’s hand, the upset getting stronger the longer they were away. Every second was a second Ty could be dying. “He doesn’t deserve to die for trying to help us.”
Julian met his eyes, and Cameron could see the indecision there. Then he shook his head and turned for the exit.
“Please! He’d come back for you, and you know it!”
Julian stopped and turned again, an anguished expression passing over his face. “Goddammit all to hell, Cam,” he finally growled, the words rolling out beautifully in his Irish accent. “Stay here.” And with that he launched himself back into the crowd.
Now both desperately afraid and insanely relieved, Cameron followed despite what Julian had said. The concourse had cleared some, but the space where they’d left Ty to make his last stand was a jumble of people and suitcases and café chairs. Tables were overturned, magazines littered the floor, and the contents of suitcases were strewn about where they’d been dropped.
Two men lay on the floor as well, one bleeding and motionless, the other writhing and screaming as he held his arm at an odd angle.
They reached the melee just in time to witness an impressive roundhouse kick to a charcoal suit’s head that sent the man sprawling. But then a gun was pulled behind Ty, drawing his attention long enough for two more suits to swamp him. He disappeared under a hail of fists and expensive wool and silk. Cameron could see Ty lashing out, being held down and fighting like a wild horse trying not to be roped. He was kicked in the ribs, stomped on the side of the head as he tried and failed to roll away. Another gun was pulled and put to the back of his head.
“No!” Cameron yelled just as Julian went for the gun, knocking it and its owner to the ground. Zane appeared on the other side of the dog pile, wading in as if they weren’t outnumbered and weaponless.
Julian’s movements were quick and efficient, hands grabbing the suit’s neck and chin and twisting with a vicious, sickening crunch. He shoved the man aside and reached to the bottom of the pile, pulling Ty out by his collar like he was scruffing a kitten.
“How did I know this commotion was your doing?” Zane yelled at them.
“Come on!” Cameron called. Before he could get more words out, he was shocked into crying out when someone grabbed him from behind. He immediately started to struggle against whoever held him. “Julian!” Cameron called out in real terror.
Julian looked up, dropped Ty’s nearly limp body back into the fray, and raised the gun he’d confiscated. The shot was deafening, and the warm spray on Cameron’s ear and cheek was evidence that Julian’s aim was true. The hands released him, and the bulk that had been behind him fell away. Cameron reflexively lifted his hand to wipe at the splatter across his cheek.
Then Julian reached back down and grabbed Ty again, jerking him off the floor. “Come on!” he shouted at Zane. Zane knocked down the man with whom he’d been grappling with a vicious punch to the midsection, grabbed a gun off one of the unconscious men, and was only a couple of steps behind them as they ran toward Cameron, Julian dragging Ty with him.
The gunshot had caused more panic, and now TSA and other airport security were starting to appear, rushing into the wrecked causeway, trying to get people out of the way and assess the situation.
Julian wrapped his arm around Ty and supported some of his weight, ducking his head and hiding his face as they made their way past the overwhelmed security checkpoint. They followed the crowd, letting it sweep them toward the exits. Cameron ducked under Zane’s arm to hide as they shuffled out. Zane flashed his badge at the man who tried to stop them to hasten their exit.
“There. Government-issue SUV at the curb,” Julian said as he pointed through the glass doors. “I managed to get the keys off one of them.”
Zane headed that way without even questioning it, and he went to the back door to try the handle. It popped open, and Julian shoved Ty inside and then climbed in after him, leaving the front for Cameron and Zane. Cameron scrambled in through the driver’s side and over the console. Zane glanced around them before climbing in, calmly shutting the door and driving away into traffic.
Cameron turned in his seat to look at the two men in the back. “Ty? Are you okay?”
“Feels like somebody shoved a boot between my ribs,” Ty answered, voice strained.
“That’s actually exactly what happened,” Cameron told him.
Ty hissed and then growled at Julian. “Quit touching me.”
“I’m trying to make sure you’re not dying,” Julian shot back.
“Well, that hurts!”
“All the more reason to poke it!”
“Play nice,” Zane said, but there was too much edge in his tone for it to be funny.
Cameron watched how he kept checking the rearview mirror. He wondered if Zane was checking for a tail or trying to get a look at his roughed-up partner.
“Will we get away?”
“For now,” Zane said. “It’ll take them some time to figure out who’s where and what’s missing, enough time for us to get somewhere and disable the GPS in this thing. But it won’t last.”