Jannes Case Debriefing Review
Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions and I claim no ownership of them and make no money from them. The story is mine.
Rating: G
Timing: shortly after 'the Dancing Weasel'
Summary: Jannes' point of view
Feedback: Yes, all feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Definition: squibload - when less than normal pressure or velocity is developed after the ignition of the cartridge (coped from board in gun carry class)
Note: The form for the debriefing report is modified from an FBI case I found online.
Scarecrow was at his desk in the Q Bureau reading old files. It may have been necessary but he wished someone else had been assigned to it. Some of the case files were enlightening; Nightlife and Red Skirt, Angel and Baron Fredrick, etc. but he had been at it all morning. He wondered if he could stop for a while then he noticed the next folder, 'Jannes Case Debriefing Christmas 1983'. This might be interesting, Lee had been in the hospital with a shoulder wound when Rudolf was debriefed and had never had a reason to see it before. Stetson settled back in his chair with his feet on the desk.
Opening the file on his lap, he read the cover page synopsis, then his own statement, short as it was. Amanda's statement was full of praise for him, how he had gotten them though the forest with no mention of her direction finding from the moss on the north side of the tree. She had told about his spotting the KGB and knocking her to the ground to protect her, his decision to circle around the Russian agents and his ordering her to crouch by the wall. Most of the rest of her statement centered on her first aid treatment.
Edward 'Ted' Rudolf, AKA Jannes, had a long detailed report starting when he first decided he needed to come in. Agent Fredrick Bains had taken the report.
Jannes:
… I had the .22 rifle aimed out the window at them. Mrs. King was startled and put her hand on Scarecrow's sleeve, then was very still. Scarecrow identified himself . I went out to them, Mrs. King said, "hi, Dad" and we embraced. I didn't really notice at the time but several times when she made a mistake she looked at Scarecrow, then corrected herself quickly. Looking back it is very clear she knew him.
Bains:
How was it clear?
Jannes:
The way she acted, her hand on his arm when I had a gun on them, the way she looked to him for … everything. My daughter would have only known him for a few hours.
***Scarecrow knew that Amanda looked to him for protection, instruction, yeah, just about everything.***
Bains:
Go on.
Jannes:
Scarecrow said that we needed to leave and Mrs. King jumped in to agree with him. Then he saw the Russian agents out side. We knew that we could not leave and it would be difficult to defend ourselves. We only had my .22 and my firewood axe along with Scarecrow's pistol.
Bains:
That was it?
Jannes:
I didn't think I would need more. It is a hunting cabin, not a fortress. Mrs. King made coffee while Scarecrow and I planned. She was very calm, really she was to calm for a civilian. Scarecrow suggested that I guard the cabin while he went out a window to get the drop on the KGB agents. Mrs. King wanted us to call a truce."
Bains:
A truce?
Jannes:
Yes, a truce. We explained that it would not work. She argued with Scarecrow. Scarecrow told her to "crouch by the wall or something, there is going to be some shooting." Anyone could have said it. It should have been my job as her father to protect her, but she obeyed him and got down by the settle and stayed there.
***Stetson though, 'of course she did. She knows better than to keep standing … any woman would know better than to keep standing when bullets are about to fly.'***
Jannes:
Scarecrow went out a window in the bedroom while I covered the front. He got the drop on one of the KGB agents . Shot were fired … He admitted that he was hurt and she jumped up immediately to help him. Once he was in a chair, she wanted towels and antiseptic. When I did not have any, just rags in the cupboard, she mentioned a medical kit in the car. We moved Scarecrow to a chair closer to the fireplace and propped his feet up. Mrs. King cut off his sweater vest for a bandage and did what she could about his wound. She covered Scarecrow with a blanket. Mrs. King decided that she was going to get the medical kit from the car. It was dark and would have taken at least three hours round trip. I was not going to let my daughter go out there. That was when she told me who she really was. She reminded me that Scarecrow was very badly wounded and one of them was wounded and there was a medical kit in the car. She said, "I don't want him to die", and asked me to take care of him while she was gone. She offered comfort to me by placing her hand on my chest for a moment.
***Stetson thought, "she was going to risk her life because she did not want me to die. Oh, Amanda."***
Jannes:
Scarecrow was either asleep or unconscious, I don't know which. She took her white flag to the ..
Bains:
White flag?
Jannes:
Something white on a broom. She took her white flag to the door and called to the KGB. She told us about her sons, Christmas and the medical kit. Then she invited them in out of the cold. We could hear the fear in her voice, she got quieter and hoarse. Mrs. King showed her determination when she asked them not to shot her before stepping down and walking forward. Demitri grabbed her (she did not scream or anything) and they spoke softly for a moment or so. I couldn't hear what was said but after that they helped Ivan into the cabin. Once inside they settled him in a chair on the other side of the fireplace from Scarecrow, who was still out. Demitri left. Mrs. King cut Ivan's trouser leg so she could attend his thigh. After she took care of him she checked on Scarecrow, his pulse, temperature, the bandage.
Bains:
How could she check his temperature?
Jannes:
She kissed his forehead. She mothered him; stroked his hair, caressed his check.
Bains:
He let her?
Jannes:
Scarecrow could not stop her. He was out.
Bains:
Alright, then what?
Jannes:
Amanda and I talked. We had a couple of hours before Demitri came back with the medical kit.
Bains:
What did you talk about?
Jannes:
Family, Christmas,
Bains:
What about family and Christmas? There was a KGB agent in the room.
Jannes:
I asked her about how she really spent Christmas. She told me, us about craft projects with her boys, Phillip and Jamie. They sing carols, go to Christmas pageants, church on Christmas eve, open gifts and on Christmas day she and her mother cook a large dinner for family and friends. This year her boyfriend is coming, along with a neighbor family, the mother has just recovered from a bad case of the flu.
***Lee muttered, 'why did Amanda have to invite Dan?'***
Bains:
What did you tell her about yourself?
Jannes:
I told her about Karen's babyhood and my wife. How dangerous Lily though my job was and why I would not give it up. I was trying to make the world a safer place for Karen. Amanda said she wanted a safer world for her boys. She went to check on her patients several times. I think Lee woke up because she was taking his vitals in her own way. She answered whatever he said and helped him drink water, then Scarecrow dosed off again. She went to Ivan with water and came back to the table. We talked about her first aid training, her volunteer work at the hospital, Junior Trailblazers,
Bains:
What are Junior Trailblazers?
Jannes:
Sort of like Boy Scouts. She is the den mother. She does PTA, camping, class field trips, coaches little league baseball. Nothing the KGB will care about … Have you ever met Amanda King?
Bains:
No, I haven't. What happened next?
Jannes:
Demitri returned with the medical kit, he opened the door, I turned and covered him with the .22. Demitri pointed his machine gun at me. Amanda stopped us saying something about no guns, truce in the cabin; then she walked between us to get the medical kit.
Bains:
She walked in between two agents holding guns?
***"A-man-da", Stetson rubbed his forehead with his finger tips before he resumed reading.***
Jannes:
Yes. She took it over to Scarecrow and worked on his shoulder. He did not wake up. Next she went to doctor Ivan's thigh. She made coffee, acted as the perfect hostess and nursed her patients. I was sitting at the table with Demitri. He had admitted that they were supposed to kill me, all of us. Amanda was poring coffee when Scarecrow woke up. He must have still been groggy because he softly called Amanda over to him.
Bains:
Why do you believe he was groggy because he called Mrs. King?
Jannes:
She was supposed to be my daughter, Karen. He did not know she had told me she wasn't.
***Lee groaned, shook his head, rolled his eyes; he inhaled deeply and continued reading the file.***
Bains:
Continue.
Jannes:
She put the coffeepot back on the stove and then went to him. He must have just discovered that we had company. Amanda sat in a kitchen chair beside him, stroked his hair and explained what had happened. I could not hear it but I could see it in the way they talked ..
***After rubbing his forehead again and closing his eyes, Lee Stetson opened his eyes and resumed reading.***
Jannes:
Mrs. King heated canned beans for all of us for dinner … She isn't used to drinking vodka … she feed his beans to him …
***'No, please, no', thought Lee, 'that is not something I would have ever wanted to have in a report. It wasn't in my report and it wasn't in Amanda's. Why does it have to be in Rudolf's?***
Jannes:
We were drinking vodka, toasting Christmas, football teams, etc. … she was sitting on the arm of Scarecrow's chair while we sang Christmas carols … I do not know how they agreed to a truce but they came in peacefully. Amanda told the Russians about Ivan's wound care, She made sure his jacket zipper was all the way up and told him to take care as she smoothed his jacket down. They left.
***Stetson remembered looking over the medic's shoulder in time to see that.***
Jannes:
Our team was working on Scarecrow. Amanda, … does she have a codename?
Bains:
Not to my knowledge.
Jannes:
Mrs. King was watching closely and answering questions on his care. I don't know what they gave him but he was out when they carried him to the car. … An ambulance was waiting for us when we reached the road. As the medics were loading Scarecrow, Amanda King hugged me goodbye and suggested that the reason the Agency was having trouble finding my daughter is that Karen is married. There maybe children. I could be a grandfather. … The last time I saw Amanda King, she was in the ambulance with Scarecrow on the way to the hospital.
***Stetson flipped through the rest of the file; the rescue team leader's report, the medic's report as well as the ambulance crews' report which all included Amanda King's demand to go with them. The office door opened allowing her to enter. She put down a stack of files and retrieved a single large envelope. "Amanda, why did you insist on going in the ambulance with me?" asked Lee.
"What ambulance?"
"When we went to get Jannes."
"Oh, you were hurt, I was worried about you."
"How long did you stay?"
"Until they moved you to a room."
"After surgery, After recovery?"
"Yes."
"It must have been dawn."
"No it was only around 5, but then I had to get home before the boys got up. I need to get this down to Mr. Melrose. See you later," as the door closed behind her.
Lee put his feet back on the floor and turned his chair back to his desk. Thinking about the Jannes case, Stetson had a new prospective. Amanda's report made him look good. Actually, they usually did.
Jannes' viewpoint showed a side to Amanda he usually did not think about. He did not really remember but he did know that she looked to him for support, protection. She frequently had her hand on his arm, on his shoulder or holding his hand.
He had won an argument and she had obeyed him and stayed put, not a typical situation. He remembered part of her care, he fully believed she did not want him to die, but to brave the KGB… He had been mothered by her before, Amanda was good at it.
Stetson thought about times he had seen her scared, he had seen her determined, he had seen her get her way over and over. Maybe he should have just tried for the truce first although he really did not believe it would have worked had Ivan not been wounded, too.
He had always known she was brave, braver than anyone else he knew if you thought about it. Going into unknown danger without a weapon or backup. She barely knew him when she rescued him from Mrs. Welch. It did not really surprise him that she would try to get the medical kit, however facing down the KGB, not once but twice did. He could almost hear her, so scared and so determine. Offering shelter to the enemy, caring for Ivan, making coffee and cooking. Making the best of a bad situation.
'And she went with me to the hospital and stayed until she was sure I was alright', he thought. The shoulder wound had turned out to be little more than a nick, barely penetrating the skin. Well a little deeper than barely, he had bled a great deal. The usual shot would have gone straight through his shoulder. Presumably it was a squib load. Of Course, Amanda had no way of knowing that. You have to love her for that. … Wait, love her?'