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. What are we supposed to do with this? Zane asked. They don t actually expect us to work in the field, do they?Aren t we a little past our expiration date for the CIA? My understanding was that we re supposed to be fieldsupport when called upon.Sort of.part-time, I guess. Tyshowed the badge to Zane with one eyebrow raised pointedly. Welcome to the Company, Mr.Bond, he said with a smirk,and handed Zane his badge.Zane pursed his lips, considering it. Not too bad, right? He held the badge up to his face to mimic the photo the CIAhad pulled off the FBI servers in order to create the ID.Ty looked him up and down appreciatively, then pickedup the last item in the welcome packet.It was a silver key witha tag attached to it.Ty s brow furrowed as he plucked thetag between two long fingers and read it. These are.the coordinates of the bookstore. Zane only needed a glance to know they were the samenumbers as the ones on the ring he still wore on his righthand. What s that mean? Ty turned the tag over, and on the other side was whatlooked like a logo.A phoenix made of fire sat atop the words. Brick & Mortar Books? Ty read, obviously confused. How.? Zane shrugged.Ty shrugged back at him and stuffed the key into hispocket. You feel up to a walk to go find out? 399 Zane turned wordlessly, and they both struggled intotheir jackets, locking up the row house before they headed offon the several block walk toward Fell s Point and the remainsof their building.When they reached the end of Ann Street, though, thebrick building on the corner wasn t a ruin like Zane d expectedit to be.Men were crawling over scaffolding, doing masonrywork.Saws buzzed as they cut lengths of two-by-fours andmeasured for new windows and doors.Salvaged molding andantique parts had been collected and stacked inside.Ty and Zane both gaped, confounded by it all. I get it, Zane said with a slow grin.Ty still looked a littleconfused. A brick and mortar bookstore.It s our cover.Wesell books from the front, and we deal with baby CIA agentsfrom the back. Ty eyed him, still frowning when he turned his attentionback to the partially rebuilt building. Are you telling me youget to run a fucking bookstore and kill things for a living?How is that fair? Where s my carrot? I don t want to organizebooks all day! Zane chuckled and slid his arm around Ty s shoulders,steering him away to head back home. Your carrot is alsogetting to kill things for a living, baby. Do you have any idea how hard it is to organize books bysubject when they should be alphabetical? Ty shouted. Thisis going to drive me crazy! Too late, Zane said under his breath. What was that? Nothing. Zane slid his hand down Ty s arm and workedhis fingers in between Ty s, fighting a smile.They walked on in silence, hand in hand, the warmthinside Zane growing until he thought it just might burnhim up.400 Can I get a cat? Ty asked after exactly one block. What? A cat.I want a cat.You get a bookstore, I should get a cat. Zane suffered through a brief moment of terror as herecalled his many encounters with Smith and Wesson.Thenhe remembered the smile on Ty s face whenever one of thosemonstrous, fuzzy, evil felines had bumped its head againstTy s, and Zane instantly caved. Okay.You can get a cat. Ty yanked him to a stop, wrapping his good arm aroundZane s neck to kiss him.Zane pressed his forehead to Ty s, hisfingers sliding along Ty s shoulder to fix the twisted strap ofhis sling.He stole another kiss as Ty grinned. I love you, Zane whispered.Ty kissed him again. I love you. He waited a beat, eyesnarrowing, sparkling dangerously. Two cats? Don t push me, Grady. 401 Author sNoteI m not sure what to say about this book and this seriesand this piece of my soul.I ve spent almost every day of thelast eight years with Ty and Zane, and saying good-bye tothem as this series comes to a close is bittersweet.My worldwill be an emptier place without them.Ty and Zane started their lives as a message betweenmyself and my former cowriter.A message asking, Whatshould we do now? How about murder? was my reply, and that was that.We wrote Cut & Run, and we finished it with enoughcontent to fill two books, and in the end Ty and Zane walkedoff into the sunset, happy and in love.It didn t feel right.Aftera day to let the ending settle, it was painfully obvious that thiswas not the proper end of the story.There was more to tell,and the rewrite began.A story arc formed a tortuous, cruelstory that would force Ty and Zane to work for their happyending.It s no secret that I was responsible for Ty.He hoppedonto the page fully formed with his entire background andcircle of family and friends sitting there, waiting.He was easy.When Zane became mine after the fourth book, I suffered through a few months of doubts.Zane wasn t mine.I didn tknow him.How could I do this series justice on my own?How could I do these characters justice?It didn t take long to get to know Zane, though, and whatI began to see among the shadows was a flickering spark.Icalled him a phoenix hoping to lure him out, and it worked.He s mine now, just as precious to me as any other.And I suppose that sums up Ty and Zane.They re preciousto me.And I hope, along the way, they ve become precious toyou as well.Thank you all for letting Ty and Zane, and me, into yourlives. Explore more of the Cut & Run universewith the Sidewinder series at:riptidepublishing.com/titles/series/sidewinder Dear Reader,Thank you for reading Abigail Roux s Crash & Burn!We know your time is precious and you have many, manyentertainment options, so it means a lot that you ve chosen tospend your time reading.We really hope you enjoyed it.We d be honored if you d consider posting a review goodor bad on sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo,Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and your blog orwebsite.We d also be honored if you told your friends andfamily about this book
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