73. “We shouldn’t be doing this.” For Tayen & Sharky, pls? 💖
Summary: Turns out Sharky is not a fan of flying, and he’s still not exactly sure why Tayen dragged him out on one of her sneaky type outings.
a/n: Yep, I’m retconning some shit in the quest lines because I can. Just for @shallow-gravy because she asked for: 73. “We shouldn’t be doing this.” And no this was not at all what I expected when I started playing with this.
The sun crested the trees, kissing the sky in shades of pink and orange. The backdrop made the fluffy tufts of pines and firs look black by comparison. Shadows from the buildings lengthened and crept toward the spot along the fence where thick bushes provided a nice hide that kept the junior deputy deftly and the county’s most notorious pyromaniac hidden from the not so prying eyes of John Seed’s security forces, who seemed bored out of their skulls. Not that Shakry could blame them at all, walking around that big place in circles would get on his nerves as well.
“You sure we should be doing this, Dep?” Sharky asked for one more time for good measure.
Tayen Quick just glanced over her shoulder at him and lifted one brow. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you get your seatbelt on before I take off.”
“That’s not …” he huffed at her, adjusting his hat. She’d laid out her plan of sneaking onto the ranch without raising an alarm, but he wasn’t good with quiet and understated. It was outside of his wheelhouse.
She chuckled low and lifted the binoculars again. “There’s a patrol that’s so bored he’s even more predictable than the ones who can tell time,” she assured him before lowering the her hands and packing the binoculars away into her haggard pack—it looked like hell but she swore it was reliable and still waterproof. He knew better of course, she’d explained it one night when they were at the marina and someone suggested she grab a new one from the shop.
The deputy was a creature of habit he knew. She had a way for everything.
Well, he recalled with a grin as he studied the shadows creeping across the ranch, almost everything.
Once she adjusted the straps, Sharky handed her the long rifle she usually preferred in situations like this, but that night she slung it instead. That wasn’t a good sign, at least not for him.
She motioned for him to do the same. Crap. In a smooth motion, like a snake she slithered through the tall grass, leaving barely any trace that she’d been there a second before he stepped into her tracks. Each step felt like it took every muscle in his body to keep from giving away their position.
Meanwhile, even within feet of her, Taye could almost disappear in the brush. He felt like he stuck out like the burning bush Pastor Jerome mentioned a few weeks back.
He didn’t realize she’d stopped until he bumped into her. She turned toward him and looked at him with that serious I’m working here look. He shrugged. For a hot second, he didn’t know what to think when she reached out and grabbed his collar. The next second his blood was pounding even louder in his ears as he moaned into her mouth.
“Shh,” she scolded, breaking the kiss. Her forehead pressed against his and her voice barely reached his ears, though he could feel every word sear against his skin. “You got this. Stop over thinking it, babe.”
The grip she had on his hoodie loosened; her fingers smoothed out the green knit as if just her touched could flatten out any wrinkles. Then she patted the sheath on his thigh, a signal. Sharky shifted his hat again, trying to cool down a notch before falling in behind her again. In a series of hand signals, she’d painstakingly tried to explain her plans to him, Sharky moved to where he thought she wanted him to wait for the two men making the rounds near and around the hanger. He’d be in the shadow of the barn, but Taye was better at this sneaky bastard kind of shit.
Scratching his crusty beard, a Peggie strode around the corner of the barn sighing. He’d slung his rifle. That was a plus, Sharky thought. Maybe he wouldn’t fuck this up.
He couldn’t see Tayen, but he didn’t need to. He just waited until the patrol shuffled past him. Biting his bottom lip, Sharky tried to move fast. He lunged at the guy, aiming to get a hand over his mouth to bury the knife in the man’s throat. It might have worked, but he stumbled and the guy got one hand up in time to keep the knife from hitting home. The local pyromaniac did keep the guy from screaming out, but it wasn’t easy.
“Sharky,” he heard over his own scuffling footsteps in the gravelly ground near the hanger. He turned, pulling his new friend off balance enough for them both to stumble.
His wriggling partner seemed to be calming unexpectedly, and Sharky looked down. The dude sprouted a thin silvery blade in the center of his chest. He looked up at Tayen, it’s the only place it could have come from. Unless Jess was hiding in the trees, too. He scanned in that direction just in case. Finally Sharky let the man go, lowering him to the ground.
“Come on,” she ordered and ducked around the backside. Her body pressed against the wall of the wooden structure. With a click, the door opened and she scooted through. He stepped into the hanger behind her.
“Get the front door.” She didn’t seem as concerned about noise now, but they’d reached their objective.
“I still think we shouldn’t be doing this.”
“So, write him a ticket.”
“You’re just still mad because I said no to burning the hangar to the ground.”
He was a little sore about it. Even if the wood was treated with a fire retardant, he could probably still get it to go up. There had to be some fuel around her somewhere. Maybe even something fancy that would make the blaze that much more spectacular, more memorable.
“Get the door and get in!” There was something in her voice that made her glance over at her. “Please.”
His next step faltered. He knew that look. Without an ounce of hesitation, he punched the controls and then rushed back over to the bright yellow plane. She smacked him on the ass as he clamored into the backseat. He hummed, letting his brain turn all upside down reading all sorts of ideas into that touch. She took her seat and started the engine, which sputtered to life under the whine of the door. Either of those sounds would have woken anyone on the ranch, let alone both of them.
He yanked the little window open, and tried to work out the trigonometry needed to get the barrel through enough to properly aim.
“Don’t worry about it,” she yelled as plane started to move. “Won’t matter much in a sec, and you might damage her more than they could.”
He might not be able to hear her chuckling, but he could see it in subtle shift of her shoulders. “I would,” he pouted. A round pinged off the metal. “Shit!”
“Stay down,” she shouted above the revving engine and the whistle of the wind.
Doing just that, Sharky slouched in the seat the few inches of clearance he had. The trimmed, graded stretch of land caused the plane to bump and rumble. A few times he felt that stomach twisting lift, only to bump against the ground once more. The trees raced past, the occasional ping of gunfire sounding over the engine.
“Hell, yes!” Tayen howled, and Sharky felt himself relax in the seat only to realize what that sound meant.
He peeked over the edge of the door and leaned his head back against the seat as a new kind of tension crept through his body. Sharky hated fucking flying. He groaned and tried to not notice any of the landscape racing beneath them as he stared at the ceiling. Trying to melt back into the seat he braced himself between the seat and the metal panel digging into his shin. The Rye’s place can’t be that damn far off. Not when it was a straight shot, right?
