Out of the truck, Zane could see the young agent was tall and lanky, and his short haircut couldn’t restrain the dark curls that had to be natural. “Did you want to meet with her personally?” he asked with an indiscernible look at Ty.
“Absolutely,” Zane answered firmly. “Her insight is invaluable, and some things just don’t translate from paper.”
“We’ll arrange the meeting ASAP,” the man assured him, looking again at Ty almost questioningly.
Zane glanced at Ty to see if he had anything to add. His new partner was kicked back in his chair and staring up at the ceiling idly, a slight curl of distaste on his lip.
“We won’t need the driver. Thank you, sir,” Zane said as he closed his file and stood.
“You need anything else, you just go through Agents Henninger or Morrison, here,” McCarty said with a gesture of his thumb over his shoulder at no one in particular. “They’ll get you anything you need,” he assured them as the Hardy Boys nodded.
There was a discreet knock on the boardroom door, and McCarty straightened up and called out a curt “Enter!”
The receptionist stuck her head through the door. “Sir, the Assistant Director on line four for you and Special Agents Grady and Garrett. He says it’s urgent.”
“Thank you, Denise,” McCarty grunted, and she withdrew silently.
McCarty watched the door until it clicked closed, and then he leaned forward and pressed a button on one of the units in the middle of the large boardroom table. “Richard,” he greeted.
“Good morning, George,” Dick Burns’ voice said clearly over the speakerphone. “I trust Grady and Garrett are there and already causing problems?”
“You always did take the safe bet,” McCarty responded wryly. “I must repeat my disapproval of this little operation, Richard. I just don’t believe one of my staff here is responsible for this madness.”
“I understand how difficult your position is, George,” Burns responded easily. “But unfortunately, Director Radshaw and I disagree.”
Behind McCarty, Henninger and Morrison both shifted uneasily and shared an indiscernible glance. Ty cocked his head, frowning slightly at the speakerphone. He wasn’t liking the sound of this conversation, but he thought maybe he understood why they were here now. His sharp hazel eyes traveled up to observe McCarty curiously as the two men spoke over the phone.
McCarty sighed and looked up at Ty and Zane with narrowed eyes.
“They look slightly confused, Dick,” he told Burns with a hint of amusement.
“Gentlemen,” Burns said loudly over the phone. “I do apologize for not filling you in more completely while you were here, but the finer points were still being ironed out.”
“Finer points?” Zane asked, a bit peevish at being left out of the loop.
Ty rubbed his nose and squeezed his eyes closed. “Why do you always do this to me?” he asked plaintively.
“Because I dislike you quite a lot,” Burns told him in amusement.
“You will be working the Tri-State case,” he went on without waiting for a response. “You will appear, to the members of the New York team, to be inexperienced, inept, and lackadaisical. If you happen to stumble across any leads, then good for you.”
Ty glanced over at Zane and smirked, restraining himself from commenting. Zane was hard-pressed not to sneer back at him.
“On the periphery, and more importantly to your own assignment, you will be concentrating not on the serial murders, but on the deaths of Special Agents Reilly and Sanchez.”
“Because you suspect an inside job?” Zane inquired quietly.
“Precisely. We believe if we can uncover how the killer got to them, we’ll have him.”
“And our parameters for operating?” Ty asked eagerly as he sat forward, closer to the speakerphone.
“Don’t kill each other,” Burns ordered with a smile in his voice. “Any future questions, you come directly to me. George is to be left out of the loop on the off chance he needs to deny knowledge of your operations,” he added.
Ty and Zane both looked up at McCarty. The man did not look pleased, but it was obvious that he’d already had words with Burns regarding the plan.
“That will be all, gentlemen. Good luck,” Burns told them. “George, give my love to your girls,” he added before the line went dead.
McCarty looked at the two agents sitting across from him and snorted. “Anything else?” he asked them with a raised eyebrow.
“No, sir,” Zane answered with a shake of his head.
McCarty merely nodded. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with the mayor.” He grunted unhappily and swept out of the office, leaving Morrison and Henninger behind.
Ty sat twirling his pen idly, unmoving as he looked at the two younger men in amusement. “How’d you get stuck with this shit?” he asked them finally.
“We’re just errand boys, sir,” Henninger answered in a low voice, a hint of amusement in his dark eyes as he looked at Ty.
Ty grinned crookedly and nodded. “So are we,” he responded wryly.
Henninger fought hard not to smile.
Zane glanced at the two agents and back to Ty. “Any miraculous sparks of insight, Grady?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Ty answered as he stood and removed his suit jacket. He yanked off his tie and threw it onto the table. “I need to find me a Batgirl,” he drawled thoughtfully.
“I’m sure the bat signal’s upstairs,” Zane answered absently as he paged through the folder, checking to see if there were materials he wanted to request. Morrison and Henninger exchanged dubious looks.
“You have way too many of these comments stored up,” Ty told Zane disapprovingly. He turned to Morrison and Henninger and gave them a sweeping gesture of his hand. “Take us to the Bat Cave!” he ordered with a straight face.
Morrison’s jaw dropped as he stared at Ty, obviously thinking he was insane. His partner looked at him and rolled his eyes. “C’mon, Mark,” he muttered. “He’s still yanking your chain.” The two younger agents led the way out, muttering to each other.
“You know it’s more likely they’re taking us to Wayne Manor,” Zane said as they followed along, both to make his point and to get a jab in at Ty while he could. “Hide in plain sight and spare no expense account.” Sad, but true. It was a good thing they weren’t supposed to be completely undercover, or they’d already be spoiled.