Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

and
    opened another as he watched Ty discreetly. “Say hello for me,” he
    said smugly. He knew that the only thing worse than paperwork, in
    Ty‟s opinion, was a multi-departmental meeting where he was expected
    to sit still.
    “Don‟t break anything playing solitaire,” Ty shot back as the
    three of them headed toward the elevators.
    Zane let the smile pull at his lips as he tapped his fingers on his
    phone and watched Ty walk away.

    TY HAD his eyes closed and massaged the bridge of his nose as he
    leaned his elbow on the arm of his chair, slumping slightly. He was
    listening. Quite attentively, to his everlasting chagrin. But he could
    listen with his eyes closed.
    He was pretty sure he, Alston, and Perrimore had all been
    summoned to this meeting by mistake anyway. So far they‟d been over
    the escalating violence in the city, in particular a nasty case of arson in
    which a second explosion had been rigged with the express purpose of
    injuring or killing firefighters. Everyone was up in arms about it,
    including Ty. There would be a memorial for the slain heroes next
    week.
    But while escalating violence could possibly be in Ty‟s job
    description, arson certainly wasn‟t.
    Next they hit on a bank robbery that had “professional job”
    written all over it. They‟d caught a break publicity-wise with that one,
    since it had happened on the same day as the arson tragedy and hadn‟t
    received much press yet. What‟s-His-Name from Financial Crimes was
    told to look for similar robberies in neighboring states over the
    weekend. Something that organized had probably been run before
    somewhere and would surely be run again. Soon.
    Divide & Conquer | 15

    Weekend assignments. Awesome.
    And bank robberies weren‟t Ty‟s job either.
    Then the agenda moved on to the negative image the FBI was
    being painted with of late and several avenues the PR people had come
    up with to nip it in the bud.
    None of which had much of anything to do with Ty, so he still
    wasn‟t exactly sure why he was supposed to be here at all.
    “So,” Special Agent in Charge Dan McCoy was saying, “we‟re
    going to give them what they want so they‟ll get off our backs for a
    while. And Grady, the next time you and your partner want to blow
    something up, at least pretend you‟re sorry afterward, got it?”
    “Yes, sir,” Ty said as he opened his eyes and shifted to a slightly
    less outwardly miserable position. He wasn‟t sorry, though. That fax
    machine had deserved what it got. And Zane had laughed his ass off.
    There were only thirty minutes left in the work day, and then he
    was free to go do cartwheels in the parking lot. He glanced at Alston,
    who was asking another question, and then Ty‟s pants pocket vibrated.
    He actually jerked in his seat before he could stop himself, quickly
    leaning forward to place his elbows on the table and cover the reaction.
    “Something to add?” McCoy asked.
    “Nothing constructive,” Ty admitted with an innocent smile.
    McCoy rolled his eyes and nodded. As he continued outlining the
    plan to make the Bureau more “fan-friendly,” Ty leaned back again and
    pulled his phone out of his pocket slowly. He kept it under the table as
    he slid it open and pressed the button that would open the text message
    he‟d received. Ty was almost surprised to see that it was from Zane and
    not one of the usual suspects.
    Baby seal walks into a club.
    He pressed his lips together tightly and looked up at McCoy as he
    tapped out his response to Zane‟s weak opening gambit.
    You shouldnt club baby seals. Bastard.
    16 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    It wasn‟t a minute before the phone vibrated in his hand again. He
    quickly set it to silent so no one would hear the vibrations, and then he
    glanced down at it to read the new message.
    Energizer bunny arrested. Charged with battery.
    Ty‟s lips twitched as he tapped out a quick response.
    Is he being held in a duracell?
    He returned his attention to McCoy just in time. McCoy slid a file
    across the table toward him, and Ty opened it as he massaged his left
    temple.
    It was a proposal that outlined a plan to pull as many government
    and municipal service organizations as possible into a softball league
    and then open up the games to the public. Ty huffed in amusement.
    “Think you could get the ball rolling on that if it‟s the plan we go
    with?” McCoy asked.
    Ty nodded slowly and then looked up at McCoy. “I know a guy
    who knows a guy,”