First Time
Just once, once, I would like a simple assignment to turn out to be just that. I go in, get the package, turn it over to Analytics, go home, grab a quick shower and then head out for the night. Cat-and-mouse in the name of national security is getting a bit old. I'm getting a bit old. Then again, it could be worse. I could be Warner. I could be dead.
Lee Stetson was talking to himself as he dodged in and out of the flow of morning commuters on the Amtrak platform. He gripped the small brown box like a football, but the goal line was nowhere in sight.
Alright, Scarecrow. Time for a bit of that espionage magic that you're famous for. If I can't get this package out of here alive, I'm going to have to recruit someone else to help me. I hate having to endanger a civilian, but the alternative is endangering every field agent at the Agency, myself included. I just need to pick someone innocuous. Someone those goons chasing me won't give a second glance.
Seeing a youngish brunette woman in a trench coat approaching, he made a snap decision and spun her around to follow him.
Jesus, woman, can't you tell that I'm desperate, or I'd never be asking for your help. Please, just listen to me and get on that damn train, or else we're both going to be in a world of hurt.
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
She's actually quite pretty. Dowdy, but pretty. I didn't notice before. This might be more pleasant than I anticipated.
Lee stood on the stairs of his club, posing in his new tux. Catching her attention, he trotted lightly down the stairs, greeting her in his best smoky voice that, more often than not, caused women to give him whatever he was asking for.
She's nervous. I guess that's understandable. She's pretty out of her element here. I'm guessing they don't have many daytime costume parties like this in Arlington.
An attractive, Russian-looking woman breezed by, trailing her hand along Lee's chin and back.
Hmmm, hell-o. Where do I know her from? Nice ass. Oh, right, Mrs. King. Guess this isn't going to be one of those parties. God, Celeste, you elitist snob, leave the poor woman alone. Maybe meeting at this party wasn't my best plan. I might as well ask her to dance, before anyone else comes by. She's easy to dance with. And she's very pretty. Ha! She thinks I'm a gangster. Oh, Amanda King, that would be the easy answer. My life is a lot more complicated than that, and the sooner I get that package from you, the sooner you can get out of it and head back to Arlington.
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
Lee walked briskly up the stairs of the Jefferson Memorial.
God, why is she still following me? It's like having a puppy. Always underfoot, and you don't have the heart to be cruel, because of those big, liquid brown eyes. Meddling too, with her persistent questions about my private life and my plans for Thanksgiving. She'd die of shock if she had any idea how I spend my free time. Why can't she simply understand that I don't want or need anyone? Is that so hard to believe? I don't know what possessed me to mention Jack. It's been over two years, and I still don't speak of him by name. It must be the strangeness of this case. And I guess I want her to know what happens to people who get too close to me. They die. Go back to Arlington, Amanda King. You seem like a nice woman, and I am an albatross. Get far away from me while you still can.
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
He was ushered roughly towards the helicopter, his hands tied firmly behind his bed.
Here we go again. Another life or death situation. Wait, what the hell? What is she doing here? That's too weird to be a coincidence, so she somehow managed to figure out the connection between the clues in the package and Colonial Cookery. Not just another pretty face, Mrs. King. Now if only you owned a gun. Although I admire your creativity in holding someone at gunpoint with a finger pistol, it isn't going to get us out of this mess. And I suppose it's unreasonable to expect you to know how to fly a helicopter. But just for a minute, it felt kinda good to have someone on my side for once.