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Zane kept hisbetween the two men, and occasionally back to the driver, as casually paying attention

Ty stared at the kid and narrowed his eyes further "Spongewhat?" he asked flatly

Zane didn’t even try to hold back the chuckle when Morrison looked at Ty like he’d lost hisit in his face," the driver answered reasonably

"What the hell is a SpongeBob?" Ty asked Zane quietly in the backseat

Zane turned his chin, taking a e if Ty was serious and if he’d sla "It’s a cartoon character popular recently,"

he answered, voice low He could see the driver’s eyes in the rearviewthem

Ty stared at Zane incredulously for a moment and then looked aith a shake of his head

"Perhaps you prefer Scooby Doo?" Henninger offered politely

"More like the Dark Knight," Zane lanced over at the man "Does that mean I can call you Robin frolint in his eyes

"That’s Boy Wonder to you," Zane answered flatly, turning to look out theas Morrison stared at theain and propped his other foot up on the center console "You’re too easy," he grumbled disconsolately

Zane barely restrained a snicker as Morrison blinked The young agent looked at his partner "Well, we got the right two guys," he said grimly

He turned to look back at the two older men suspiciously "They told us this was your first tiether, and that you’d probably not be too fond of each other"

"They were right," Ty and Zane both answered, practically in unison

"Shut up," Ty huffed at hie George McCarty Nice to et on with this, shall we?" the head of the New York Field Office greeted hurriedly without giving either of them a chance to respond in kind He dropped a few files onto the table and adjusted his tie "I trust you’re both faeht into it"

Ty raised an eyebrow at the ind tour and glanced at Zane Not noticing, Zane flipped open his file where he had a list of notes and questions, waiting for McCarty to continue

"As we all know, this case has claimed two of our own," McCarty continued as he bent over the table and looked down at his file "Which has side the other leads, Special Agents Sears and Ross They couldn’t be here thisthe staff froents Sanchez and Reilly were found," he said tightly He sighed briefly, as if the little speech were taking a lot out of hiiven a car and a driver, if you want one We have booked you two adjoining roo distance of the office here and has the highest security All our records and resources are open to you, although I will tell you right now cooperation from your new teammates will likely be at a minimum despiteno secret of the field office’s bitter feelings toward anyone fro sent in to handle their cases "Any questions?"

"You provided the contact list, right?" Zane asked

"It’s all in the file," McCarty answered with a nod "Anything you need during the course of your investigation is at your disposal, including the tea else?"

"Have you found out how the killer knehere the agents were staying?" Ty asked as he turned in his seat and propped his feet up on the chair next to hie turned to one of thethe silent cue He was the shorter of the Hardy Boys, but wiry, with spiked blond hair and bright blue eyes "We don’t believe it was an inside thing, though We speculate he may have tailed them from one of the scenes"

"Is Serena Scott in town? I’d like her opinions on the crime scenes,"

Zane asked in reference to New York’s head profiler

"We’ve not brought her in on this one Yet," Henninger answered

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 firs just don’t translate fro ASAP," the ly

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 thuet you anything you need," he assured them as the Hardy Boys nodded

There was a discreet knock on the boardroohtened 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 reeted

"Good e," 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 hed and looked up at Ty and Zane with narrowed eyes