Matthew's Troubles
Matthew shook his head at his Aunt Francine, "I don't understand why my sister would even want to do something like this. This has left our lives in turmoil throughout most of it until our parents decided to go to consultants when they became too old to be field agents. I almost jumped for joy when they made that decision." Matthew was very adamant as eh said this to his aunt.
"Look you're parents were the best in the agency and they loved doing this work. I don't know why you're sister got involved with the undercover cops network but I've been watching her and I can tell you that she is good and that her aim with a gun is much better than your mother's was when she first began trying to do any kind of target practice." Francine was not really the kids aunt that is just what their parents had called her on front of them while they were little when they wanted time for themselves when Jamie and Phillip had started college and the two boys couldn't take care for them while they were gone. She had taken them in when they were little and their parents had been sent out on mission or two as they were growing up. At the time she was the head of the agency and Billy had succeeded Dr. Smyth in the top agency office. Billy had been Grandpa to the kids since both Amanda and Lee's fathers were no longer around. Jean had been called Grandma and both these people were proud of this little babies that had their cute little happy faces sitting on the desks of the people that were closest to Scarecrow and Glinda. These children were literally the pride and joy of the agency. They were also probably the most protected children in the whole U.S. of A and maybe around the whole world.
She answered the ringing phone. "Francine Stone." Matthew watched her face and could see that something was wrong. "Yeah, we'll be right down there." With the look on her face he didn't question whether he was supposed to come with her out of the agency.
"What's going on Aunt Francine?" He grabbed his brown leather jacket as he got up from his chair.
"Your sister has been shot by the people that she was after. Your brother has probably just gotten news of what was happening by now and your parents as well. She's down at the hospital. The N.E.S.T team has been informed are on their way down there as we speak. Dr. King is at the hospital as we speak." He didn't have to see her face as they rushed out of her office and headed out of the agency to know that she was very angry.
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Arriving at the Bethesda Hospital they rushed in. "I want to speak with Dr. King please." Francine ordered the nurse that sat at the desk.
The nurse looked at the woman who's gray hair was piled on top of her head. She touched a button on the desk and called the required doctor.
Matthew saw Officer Travis and went over to him without any constraint at all. He pushed him up against the wall and started talking to him in a very angry voice. "You allowed my sister to get hurt while hunting down one of the men tht you were after. You couldn't have sent one of your men with her or given her extra protection." By now Francine was over there trying to pull Matthew away from Officer Travis. Jamie came in and saw what was going on and went over and helped Francine. Even together they couldn't do it until after his father walked in.
"That's enough! Get off of him Matthew now!" His father ordered him. Matthew got off of Officer Travis so quickly that Francine and his brother fell down.
Officer Travis was rubbing his neck and he caught his breath. "Can I explain what happened now?" With the consent of everyone that was around him he started telling them what they needed to know. "Miss Stetson just about had everyone rounded up when someone came up behind her and was shot in the back. She's not invincible you know and she knows that as well. Now if you want these men stopped you're going to have to help me go after them." He looked directly at Matthew and appealed to him.
Officer Young had come in and heard everything that Agent Travis suggested. "you do realize what you are suggesting right?"
"Yes, I do and I'm pulling you off the your assigned area to help him out." Officer Travis informed him.
That silenced the young officer almost immediately. Matthew spoke up and was finally able to put in his thoughts in through the conversation. "How do you know that I will go after this person?"
Phillip came and heard most of the conversation. He signaled his Mom and Dad to the side because he wanted to talk to them. "He's going to do this. I can see it written on his face. When he consents I want him outfitted with a top of the line agency bullet proof vest. He's too much like you." He looked at Lee.
"I'm not going to give him a choice about it. He's going to go in and get a bullet proof vest." Both Lee and Amanda knew that a bullet proof vest wouldn't completely protect their children.
"Mom, I'm going to take this assignment and whoever it was that hurt my sister is going to pay." Lee looked at his son as if he was looking at himself all over again. The only exception was that it was his daughter and not Amanda King being protected by him.
"Matthew, if you're going to do this we're going into the agency and we're going to do the same thing that I did with Sis. Let's go." Philip told his baby brother taking him by his elbow and guiding him out the door.
Phillip explained everything on the way over to I.F.F. HE was going to have to take a crash course in shooting and how to put on a bullet proof vest. Phillip knew that he would do just fine in the shooting range because he had already seen his brother play pitcher on the baseball.
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"Now that you've got that annoying little girl out of the way maybe we can get everything done. We're behind schedule and our dealers are very unhappy." the deep sinister voice said.
"Yes sir," They continued loading the large cartons onto the truck. They really didn't want to get on their boss's bad side especially considering everything that had been going on.
"Do you really think that they will send someone else to capture us?" Was the whisper that went around the room.
That didn't help any of the tensions that were hanging around the room. When they were finished they found that they had to do the loading again because the head bosses were not satisfied(or they were just upset.)
"I want her found and I want her taken care of to the point that she can no longer bother us." The tall sinister looking man said to one of his lieutenants.
"Sir, we will find her." He knew that they would have to find her because if they didn't they would quite probably be killed.
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Matthew had passed his little initiation into agency life and he knew that his life would never be the same again. He also knew that he would have to embrace everything that he and been fighting ever since he was a little boy.
He had learned how to pick a lock as a young boy but at that time he hadn't known what it was that his parents did for a living. When he was about ten years old his parents had told him and told him that he couldn't tell a single person because it was top secret. He later found out that his Aunt Francine and Grandpa Melrose had been an agent as well and worked for the agency. Grandpa Melrose had died of a ripe old age of about 95 at the agency home for elderly agents. Grandma Jean was as proud as the Stetson's over their children.
"Okay Officer Travis I'm ready." In truth he really wasn't but his sister had been hurt and the people that had hurt her were going to pay.
"Okay this is what you're going to do." Officer Young had gone to procure a car for them while Officer Travis explained what they were going to do.
"Officer Young please don't let anything happen to him. I'm already in hot water with the agency and the Stetson's because of what has happened to Jenny. If something happens to their son I'll probably lose any standing I have left with anyone having to do with the undercover world." Officer Travis ordered the younger officer who had been pulled off of regular duty for this job.
"I'll certainly try." Officer Ayala Young knew that for some reason there wasn't going to be a thing to go as they had planned out and that the new young man that they had just brought into this world would play a huge part in this little problem and that the report would be completely and totally different than was intended.
They pulled up to a warehouse and stopped. "You ready?" Officer Young looked at the young man and wondered what he was going to answer.
"No." Matthew Stetson answered with every bit of trepidation in his voice that came with every fear that he held inside of him.
"Well at least put on the pretense that you're ready." The command was very unnecessary as he had already composed himself and made his face as unreadable as they came. The only thing that you could really read were his eyes and that was a very angry look that would have scared off any sane person that came a long.
"You know you might want to hide your feelings completely." He paused for a minute. "Your feelings serve you well but you must bury your feelings and your thoughts because they will give you away." He did a very good impression of Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi.
The laugh that Matthew let out released all the tension that had built up inside him and around him. This time when he guarded his face you could read absolutely nothing not even his eyes. "Better." Officer Travis did the same thing and they silently skulked around trying to find an entrance.
They found one at the back and saw that there was a truck being loaded with something. When two men came to the side Matthew and the officer knocked them out and put on the uniforms that fit almost perfectly. "This wasn't on the plan." Officer Young whispered to the young man immediately.
"I don't care. They hurt my sister and they're going to pay." The young man whispered with a little spark coming into his eyes walked like they belonged their and started loading boxes as well. They knew that they would have to act fast because even though those other two men were knocked out and gagged and tied up they would come to soon and figure out how to get out of their bonds. They had called for backup but didn't know how long that it would take.
Then just as they turned around to get another box they saw the head guys come out. As if by mutual consent they disappeared behind the truck. "Okay this is definitely looking better. "Where are Dinton and Losil?" Nobody knew the answer to that question.
"We're right here." Matthew came from behind the truck with their guns drawn.
Officer young came around and started to go around disarming the men by the truck until one of the other men pulled his gun on the young officer. With that there was a fight and Matthew was working his way to the head people when he saw that they were trying to make a get a way.
"Oh, no you don't." He knocked the man that he was fighting with out and ran after him. "you hurt my sister and mow you're going to pay." He muttered under his breath. "Freeze!" He called out he didn't really expect them to so he wasnt' really surprised when they didn't. Looking up he saw a net that had been set up and shot one of the ropes that held it up. When they started shooting at him he also had to shoot towards them as well as the net. Just as he finally got the net shot down he heard the police sirens.
The villains were fighting the net that had fallen down on them but it didn't make a difference. There was one who had gotten away and he went after him. "This is for my sister." He again muttered under his breath. The man arrived at the front of the building and was about to go out it when Matthew gave a football style tackle. "No you don't. You're not hurting anyone else." He began to punch the guy over and over until Officer Young arrived with a small group of officers and agents.
"Matthew!" It took about four men to pull him off of the head the gang. The man was beaten to a pulp and he very likely wasn't going to be able to talk for a week but it was definite that he was going to jail.
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Everyone was crowded into the waiting room expecting an okay to go and see Jenny. It was agreed that Amanda and Lee would go in and see her first to see how she was doing and they would then work it from there. They had been told that they would only be allowed to see her two at a time. "She's awake." Dr. King walked in and informed them. He was glad that he was his family's doctor because he was actually the first to greet his sister when she awoke and gave her a kiss and told her what a good job she had been doing.
Lee and Amanda anxiously walked to their daughter's room and went with all smiles. "Hey, honey! You look a lot better than you did." Amanda gave her daughter a gentle hug careful not to hurt her daughter's back.
Lee only smiled atr his daughter and kissed her cheek. While he looked at her he remembered looking down at Amanda 30 years ago when she had been shot during their honeymoon while they were in California. "I love you, Jenny." he held her hand and quickly explained that she wouldn't be able to visit for very long because everyone was waiting to see her.
She smiled at him as if she knew and she probably did because her brother had already told her. "I know Daddy. I love you and Mom. Please send in whoever is supposed to be next." When she looked all around her room she still couldn't believe that she had been sent all these flowers and wanted to cry.
The next people that came in were her brother and friend Ayala. "Hey, beautiful." Officer Young sat on her bed and took he hand.
Her brother stood on her other side and took her other hand. "Hey, you." She looked at her brother. "I thought that you had a date with," she thought for just a minute, "Minnie."
He gave her a brotherly grin and kissed her forehead. "I think that my baby sister managed to get herself shot. Somewhere in my book that is more important than my personal dates."
"You're brother did a good job wrapping up the case. We caught all the bad guys." He squeezed her hand and they got up and left.
It took all day to see everyone that had wanted to see her. They all came in pairs starting from: Aunt Francine and Uncle Jonathan, Phillip and his wife Liz, Officer Travis and Chief Ginnis, Leatherneck and Emily, and Beaman came all alone. By the end of his visit she was sound asleep.