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"You worry about your own self," Ty griped
He thought some of the sharpness hadn’t returned to Ty’s voice, so Zane didn’t push Seeing a sign for a diner, he turned the corner and parked in a Police Only space on the side of the street "Food," he said happily
"What the hell?" Ty muttered as he stared out at the diner "Can’t you eat stale bagels and shit like normal people?"
"We all have our vices You want to eat a stale bagel and brighten your oh-so-lovely disposition with constipation, be ot out of the car
"Kiss my ass," Ty shot back as he sat in the seat and huffed
"Maybe after breakfast," Zane answered with saccharine sweetness as he shut the door and walked toward the diner, lighting up and pausing just around the corner to sot his holster redone correctly and his jacket collar straightened, and he trudged after Zane into the greasy spoon "I think I just got heartburn by osrumbled as he sat down opposite Zane He didn’t trust New York eateries as far as he could fling one
Zane ignored hi over the menu with a content expression
"M them proper consideration
Ty just rolled his eyes and waved his hand at the waitress "Eggs, bacon," he ordered "And el," he said with a wave of his hand at Zane
The waitress raised her eyebrow and looked over at Zane questioningly, who just rolled his eyes "Waffles and sausage links And orange juice" The waitress nodded, chewing her gu note of their orders
"I appear to beup in the world," Zane pointed out, deliberately prodding at Ty all he could while the man was tired and not as snappy with the co an idiot?" Ty asked with a tilt of his head "Yeah, I suppose that is a step up from your usual state"
"Better than a prickly ass," Zane co his head to look out the
"Other than the little bit of buckshot still left in it, my ass is perfectly smooth, I’ll have you know," Ty replied easily
"I hope so, since I’m supposed to kiss it after breakfast," Zane said facetiously as the waitress arrived with his drink
"I don’t do that before lunch," Ty cautioned "Can I have an orange juice, please?" he asked the waitress with a brilliant smile that fell back into a tired frown i the wide-spectru die and instead watched MSNBC on the television over Ty’s shoulder
"See? I can be nice," Ty pointed out as they sat there
Zane’s eyes shifted to Ty, and he nodded "Yeah I’ to want, but nice is good For a change
Occasionally"
Ty sat there looking at hi moment, face expressionless
"Shut up," he finally , Zane did, until the waitress came over with their food
He thanked her politely
"So, aside fro every four hours, what is it you do, exactly?" Ty asked Zane as he picked up a piece of bacon and crunched into it
"I just finished six e’s computers,"
Zane answered evenly
"Is that a euphemism for Hell?" Ty asked seriously
"Very nearly," Zane said, voice dark "I have new respect for the nice, plain insanity of terrorists after those cyber freak bastards"
Ty hummed nonco up so off the last of the exhaustion
"What’d you coht, anyway?" he asked finally "Did I ask you that?"
Zane smiled a little "Yeah And the ansas noth --" The smile fell off his face as his eyes focused totally over Ty’s shoulder, and without warning he was up, tossing a twenty on the table "Ti out his cell phone as he stalked past the television and out the door
Ty cursed quietly and gathered his bacon in a napkin haphazardly as he got up to follow, glancing up at the lurid red letters scrolling across the television screen: "NYPD reports Tri-State killer strikes again"
ird flu," Ty repeated in disbelief as the ave them the autopsy report He held a whiteto put the little elastic bands over his ears "What the hell?"
The woent Ross the file " ‘What the hell’ is not my job," she answered with a small smile that showed in her eyes The white mask she wore over her nose and face covered the rest of the expression
"Isn’t bird flu pretty rare?" Ty asked her in a et it?"
"Well, more than two hundred confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A viruses have been reported since 2004," the ME answered, sounding to Ty as if she were reciting facts she’d just recently looked up
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and frowned "The virus isn’t easily sustained frohly contagious Still," she went on with a shake of her head, "thedead birds that were infected
And, to e, there haven’t been any reported cases in the Tri-State area in at least three years"
"So …," Ty prodded as he leaned closer expectantly
"Unless he was traveling in east Asia or the Middle East, Special Agent Grady, I don’t believe he would have been able to contract it by natural means"
"He was intentionally infected," Ross concluded with a frown
"How?" Zane demanded before the ME could even answer
"I’d rather wait to get the preli too much," she answered hesitantly "But the easiest way to do it--and safest for the person who did it--would have been an injection"
"How long would it take for an injection like that to infect so up from her notes Sears and Ross hovered near the exam table Ross merely held his mask to his face like Ty did and looked down at the body in distaste He handed the file to Zane absently without looking up
"Incubation period would be about the same as if he were infected in more typical ways," the ME answered "I can tell you that bird flu does not have to be lethal Most cases, in fact, if treated promptly, there’s a full recovery That’s prettyis, either he didn’t knoas sick, didn’t care that he was sick, or wasn’t able to get to a doctor?" Ty asked with a deeper frown
"Pretty much," the wons of restraint or struggle?"