Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

warning he was up, tossing a twenty on the table. “Time to go,” he said sharply, pulling 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."
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Chapter Three
    "Bird flu,” Ty repeated in disbelief as the medical examiner gave them the autopsy report. He held a white mask to his face, refusing to put the little elastic bands over his ears. “What the hell?"
    The woman nodded and shrugged as she handed Special Agent 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 mystified voice. “How would he get 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 from human-to-human transmission, but it can mutate to be highly contagious. Still,” she went on with a shake of her head, “the most likely source would have been from handling dead birds that were infected. And, to my knowledge, 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 preliminary reports before speculating 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 someone?” Special Agent Sears asked, looking 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 pretty much the extent of my knowledge."
    "So what you're saying is, either he didn't know he was 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 woman nodded.
    "For two weeks?” Zane asked. “Were there any signs of restraint or struggle?"
    "None,” she answered with a shake of her head. “Is there anything else?” she asked as Zane flipped open the folder and started reading. “I've got more in the morgue."
    Zane closed the file and looked back up at her. “Thank you, Karen. I hope we won't be seeing you again while we're still breathing,” he said. She gave him a little laugh.
    Ty rolled his eyes and looked away. She shook their hands and went back to work, and Zane turned to look at Ty. “We need to talk to the cops. Number one, why didn't they call us first—before the damn press got hold of it? And number two, see if they're having any luck connecting the victims."
    "That's their job,” Ty responded pointedly as he nodded his head at Sears and Ross. They both gave him disgusted looks as Zane glanced over at them and raised an expectant eyebrow.
    "We'll get right on that,” Sears said to them in annoyance as she jerked her head at her partner and they both stalked out of the room.
    Ty looked down at the body, still on the table and covered mostly by a sheet. “Bird flu,” he murmured in a slightly mystified voice.
    Sighing, Zane tapped the file against his hand. “And another token."
    "What is it this time?” Ty asked dejectedly.
    "A black feather,” Zane answered with a frown. “It's the first one that's made any sense when you consider the method of killing."
    "Hmm,” Ty responded distractedly, still frowning as they made their way out of the morgue. “I need