Cut and Run 3 - Fish and Chips

office, especially at times like today when the whole team—like schoolkids in a little pod of desks shaped like the Pentagon, he thought wryly—was stuck slogging through their casework.
    He was sitting with Michelle Clancy, Scott Alston, Fred Perrimore, and Harry Lassiter, the other members of their extended Bureau assignment team. Still, it could be a call from one of the other departments, a contact, or another agent. So Zane slid the cell out from under a pile of folders and thumbed off the key lock as he looked at the screen. It was a text message. Frowning a little, Zane hit the key to open the message.
    Whats proper workplace etiquette for picking up computer and tossing out window? Open window first or break glass?
    Zane blinked and read the text again. Then he focused on the number and realized who’d sent the message. He sighed and set his phone down, going back to his report. It wasn’t a message that needed an answer. His partner wasn’t more than ten feet away, sitting at his desk, staring at his computer screen and tapping the same error key on his keyboard repeatedly. If Ty Grady wanted a response from Zane, he could just open his mouth and speak. When Zane glanced at him, he saw Ty sit back in his chair and cock his head at the computer. He’d stopped typing, and he looked listless and frustrated.
    Ty’s computer never worked the way it was supposed to. The team joked that he had electromagnetic pulses going through him, because no matter what he touched, the machine nearly always messed up. The computer, the printer, the fax machine, sometimes even the automatic faucets in the bathrooms. They never worked correctly for him. He also hated paperwork with unusual passion, so it made it doubly funny.
    Zane looked down at the files spread across the desk in front of him. He could sit and do detail-crunching all day; it appealed to his analytical brain. Ty, however, made no apologies for being bored by paperwork. He was definitely a man of action. Zane usually tried to at least send him out on errands, but today there wasn’t even that to throw in front of him. With one last glance at Ty, Zane went back to reconciling suspected criminal bank account transfer data connected to a series of kidnappings.
    Several minutes later, the light on his phone blinked again. Zane stopped typing as he looked at the phone and then across the desks at Ty. He didn’t appear to have moved, and his phone was nowhere in sight. He wasn’t looking at Zane, and there was no hint of a smile on his lips like there would have been if he’d been up to something. Zane had seen that smile too many times to miss even a hint of it. He picked up his phone and saw the second text message. Same phone number. He debated not even looking at it; he wasn’t sure he wanted to encourage Ty to distract him from work. Then, after a moment, Zane shook himself. There was no reason to be so seriously uptight about this. He activated the phone to read the message.
    The last 3 calls on my phone are for backup and pizza and sex. In that order. Cant decide what that says about me.
    Zane almost forgot to repress his smile. Last night Ty had called him to say he’d ordered pizza and that Zane should pick it up on his way over. They had intended to watch some baseball in front of Ty’s big-screen TV, but spring training ball wasn’t enough to hold Ty’s attention for long. After the pizza was gone, they’d wound up in front of the TV all right… doing something entirely different than watching it.
    Zane sniffed. He very purposefully did not shift in his chair as he set his phone down without answering or looking up at his partner.
    Maybe he’d pick up dinner tonight too.
    His phone almost immediately lit up again. Zane hadn’t even picked his pen back up. This time he glanced around the desks at their team members—none of them were paying him or Ty a bit of attention—before he poked at the phone to read the message. 
    You realize I have free texting plan right?
    Obviously, ignoring Ty wasn’t going to work. But Zane pushed away the phone, determined to do his level best. Simply because the struggle would amuse Ty, if he were being honest with himself. And keeping Ty amused was good for the rest of humanity.
    The phone lit up again, and when Zane’s eyes cut to look at Ty, his partner was leaning back in his chair, feet blatantly propped on his desk as he held his phone in his hands.
    Zane kept typing with one hand as he