The Door
by rankamateur
Scarecrow and Mrs. King belong to Warner Bros. and Shoot The Moon Enterprises Ltd.
In "The Eyes Have It", written by Lynne Kelsey, Leatherneck asks Amanda about an old injury to her car.
AU of course.
Thanks to Buffy and randibaby for their suggestions and error catching. What's left - I did it.
------------------
"When'd you get your door blown off?" Leatherneck asked.
"The door? That was last year.........how did you know? I didn't even bring it here to be fixed," Amanda replied.
"Your car told me," he responded with a smile.
As she drove towards the hospital, Amanda thought about Leatherneck's words - *your car told me*. 'Yeah, right.' Well, maybe it did. Leatherneck was quite a guy. He seemed to know a least a little bit about so many things, a kind of *Renaissance Man* in his own way. He was certainly a jack-of-all-trades for The Agency.
And he was right about the door. It was last year.......
It was supposed to be a be a simple surveillance. They had used Amanda's station wagon because, for one thing Lee's car was in for routine service, and for another, it was just a bit too flashy for this kind of a job. It turned out to be one of those situations that reminded her that being a spy....umm, an intelligence operative, could be hazardous to her health and *devastating* for her poor automobile.
---------------
A year earlier..........
Lee hung up the phone, took a small bag out of the bottom drawer of his desk and walked to the desk where Amanda sat typing. "Amanda, I need you. Come on."
"You need me?"
"Yeah. Grab your purse and let's go. Hurry up!"
Amanda picked up her purse and also took the jacket, which was hanging on the back of her chair. "What's the big rush?"
"One of my informants, Rhonda, just called. Mikhail Berton is back in this country - illegally. The last time he was here he should have gone to jail but he had diplomatic immunity so all we could do was kick him out, but this time he can't have immunity. Anyway, she gave me the license plate number of the Mercedes he's driving and she overheard the name of the restaurant he and his associate are headed for. I want to follow him and see just what he's up to this time."
As they moved quickly through the doors of the Bullpen and down the hall to the elevator Amanda asked, "Who is this guy?"
"He was, probably still is, the KGB's head of wet-operations. His codename was *Omega*"
"Wet operations? What does that mean?"
"It means, he kills people, Amanda."
"Ohh."
As they reached the parking lot, Lee asked, "Amanda, can I drive?"
"Sure." She handed him the keys.
After unlocking the passenger door and assisting her into the car, Lee ran and around and got in the driver's side. Of course, Amanda had unlocked the door before he got there.
"Here, could you just stick this in the glove box," he asked, handing her the small bag he carried in his other hand.
"All right. What's in this?"
"Just some stuff that comes in handy for surveillance."
They left IFF's parking lot and started driving through Georgetown.
A short time later, they pulled into the parking lot behind *Maxim's*. A pretentious name for a rather unprepossessing bistro. It appeared that Berton wanted to keep a low profile, except of course, for the Mercedes. Certainly nobody who frequented a place like this would know a top KGB operative on sight. Lee wished he knew just who Mikhail was meeting. He couldn't go in and look, for fear that he would be spotted and recognized. It was he who had arrested Berton three years ago, foiling the plot to assassinate two KGB agents who had defected and who were scheduled to testify before a Congressional Security committee. Berton's cover as a *cultural attache'* had allowed him to escape American justice. Now he was back in the U.S., illegally, without benefit of diplomatic immunity. Nothing would give Lee more pleasure than to see Omega behind bars.
Lee knew that Berton had to be here for some nefarious purpose - something really big. Otherwise he never would have returned and risked being caught without the protection of his government.
Lee pulled into a parking space. "This is good. We'll be able to see his car without being noticed, and we can follow it no matter which exit he uses."
"OK. Now what?"
"Now we wait. Oh, give me the camera, please."
"What camera?"
"It's in that little bag I gave you. The one you stuck in the glove compartment."
"Oh yeah," she opened the compartment, took out the bag and retrieved the camera. "Here you go."
After what seemed like days but was actually about an hour, Berton came out of the restaurant, accompanied by three men.
"There he is," Lee said. "And he's got some KGB goons with him."
"How do you know they're KGB?"
"Look at their suits. KGB - lower echelon."
"I'll have to remember that," Amanda smiled. She thought it sounded more like something Francine would say.
Lee took several photos of the men. Two of the *lower echelon* types crossed the lot and got into a non-descript dark sedan. Berton and the other man got into the Mercedes. 'A little ego trip that might prove useful in keeping track of him,' Lee thought.
They followed Mikhail to a cheap hotel in a rundown neighborhood on the edge of DC. Lee found a phone and called The Agency. Billy authorized round-the-clock surveillance. Soon an Agency car pulled in behind Amanda's station wagon. Lee walked over and talked briefly with the two agents and then returned to the car.
"Well, if you could drop me off at *Bill's Service*, I'm sure my car'll be ready by now. Then I'll go back to The Agency and get these pictures developed. I don't recognize the men with Berton and I want to do a Photo Ident on them."
"What do I do?"
"Go home," he smiled.
"Go home? That's it? Aren't we going to stake out this place? What if he's gonna do whatever it is he's gonna do tonight?"
"Amanda," Lee held up his hand. "You and I are going to relieve the team in the morning. You can come by my apartment about 6:00 AM and we'll keep using your car for the surveillance. OK?"
"OK.....I guess."
Lee got back behind the wheel and headed the car back towards Georgetown, where *Bill's* was located.
----------------
Returning to The Agency, Lee went directly to the Photographic Surveillance and Identification Dept. and handed over the roll of film, asking for a rush job.
A short time later, he had the pictures and the identities of the three other men. Just as he had told Amanda, they were low level KGB operatives. Two, Vasily Prentoff and Andreas Markovitch were strictly muscle. The third man, however, Serge Boolenofsky, was known by the nickname of *Boomer* because of his expertise in explosives. He was especially fond of plastique.
Lee was sitting at his desk, studying the material he had just received, when Francine walked up and stood beside him.
"What are you doing back here," she asked with a smirk. "Putting in some overtime? No hot date to rush home and get ready for? What's wrong Scarecrow?"
Lee looked up and frowned. "Francine....., really." Then he filled her in on what he had so far on Berton and his henchmen.
"Sorry, Lee. That is serious. Good luck and don't take too many chances."
"Thanks. I won't."
'Not with Amanda along, I won't,' he thought. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. What had Francine said? No hot date? There was no date at all, hot or otherwise. He planned to stop and pick up some take-out and then swing by Amanda's and make sure the King household was secure. It wasn't really out of his way. Well, not *that* far out of his way. Then he'd head home and turn in early. After all, Amanda was picking him up at the crack of dawn. 'Yup,' he stood up and stretched. 'Might as well call it a day.'
------------
The next morning, Amanda pulled up in front of Lee's apartment building and found him standing at the curb, waiting. "Good morning," she called cheerily.
"Well, we ID'd the guys with Berton," Lee said, not returning her greeting.
Amanda sighed. Lee so rarely observed the amenities - like a simple - *hello*. "Yeah? Who are they?" She asked as she put the car in gear and took off.
"Two of them are what I thought, low level muscle - shooters mainly. The third one is an agent we call *Boomer*, because he's so good with explosives."
"Boomer? Cute. So, if the KGB already has shooters and they have Mr. Boomer already here to handle explosives - if they want to blow up somebody - why send Berton?"
"Probably to take charge, coordinate the job, make sure everything runs smoothly because the target is somebody very important. That's what we have to figure out. Who's the target," Lee rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Oh. OK. So.....who's in this country right now that the KGB would want to see dead? Somebody important enough so that they would send a top man to supervise the job?"
Lee thought for a moment. Then he remembered a memo that had come across his desk last week. An Inter-Agency alert about a very important defector. "General Korlovich, that's who!"
"General Korlovich? Why is he so important?"
"The General was in charge of formulating the Soviet's military strategy in Afghanistan. Which is certainly something Moscow doesn't want us to have so we can pass it on to the *mujadeen*."
"Right," Amanda responded. "I can see why they wouldn't. They're having as bad a time there as we had in Viet Nam. They don't need those guerrilla fighters getting an edge like that."
"Yup. So that's why the General is so important and why they would send in Omega to take him out."
After a short time, they arrived at their destination and Amanda parked.
Lee got out of the wagon and walked over to the Agency car containing the team that he and Amanda were relieving. "Hi Frank, Marty. Listen, would you please arrange for somebody to come back here in a couple of hours, around oh, say 11:00. I want to be able to go into the office and talk to Billy about this case."
"Sure, Scarecrow," Frank responded. "I'll take care of it."
"Thanks. Anything happen?"
"Nope. Haven't seen hide nor hair of either one of them," Marty yawned.
"Swell. See ya later." Lee tapped the top of the car and Agent Duffy took off.
-------------------
Later that morning, Lee briefed Billy on what they had found out so far.
"Interesting Lee, but the General is basically the CIA's problem. They've made it very clear that *they* are handling the defection and the debriefing and everybody else is supposed to stay off their turf. But you two have done some really good work here. It would be kind of....interesting," Billy grinned an evil little grin, "to maybe give the boys at Langley a little help they weren't expecting."
Lee and Amanda both smiled back at Billy.
"Look Amanda, with Omega involved, this could get way too dangerous. I'll have Francine work with Lee on this. She'll be back in the office within the hour. You go home."
Amanda opened her mouth as if to protest.
"And that's an order!" Billy banged his fist on the desk for emphasis. Of the many things he had learned about Amanda King over the last nearly two years, one - was that she had a hard time staying out of trouble, two - she had difficulty staying in the car and three - she had a problem with just doing what she was told. Not that those qualities hadn't got Lee out of some tight scrapes on more than one occasion, but Billy didn't want to see Amanda get hurt - ever.
They left Billy's office and started across the Bullpen. Amanda walked slowly, with her head down. Lee knew she was hurt and upset.
"Amanda....."
"Lee, that's.....that's not fair. I've been doing the job and I can keep doing it. Putting Francine on the case now is - well it's just not fair!"
"Didn't we have a little talk about *fair* a while back?"
"Yeah, but I'm still expecting it. Shoot!"
"Ah, Amanda. I'd really like to keep using your car for the surveillance. It's your car so if you're in it, well, I couldn't very well throw you out of your own car. I don't see Francine and I'd really like to get going......"
"I'll race you to the parking lot," she said, picking up the pace.
"You're on."
---------------------------
"Any news on the General's where-abouts, comrade Berton," Boolenofsky asked, as he set his teacup down on the table.
"Yes, finally. Our friend at Langley left word at our old message drop. The CIA *is* handling the debriefing. The General is staying at the Potomac Plaza Hotel here in DC. Some agents will be arriving there this afternoon. Markovitch has already engaged a room for us," he held up a room key. "It's even on the same floor. So, we have got to get close enough to room 714 to see to it that Korlovich is silenced once and for all."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Yes. Nothing terribly brilliant or original, I'm afraid. We will disguise ourselves as waiters and push a food cart up to the door. We will simply call for room service and we will have our cart. The waiter's uniforms are in a small suitcase in there," he said, gesturing to the closet. "You have your own case, of course. With enough explosives, we don't have to get inside. We will simply leave the cart outside the door. We can make our escape in the panic and confusion that will follow. Prentoff and Markovitch will wait for us in the parking garage. They will help cover our exit - if there are any problems. Which I do not anticipate."
Good. I have plenty of plastique. Enough to destroy an entire floor of the hotel, if necessary."
"Excellent, comrade, but we don't need quite that big a boom," Berton laughed maliciously at his own poor attempt at humor. "Let's go."
Boolenofsky picked up both suitcases and followed his superior out the door and down the hall to the elevator. Soon they were on their way to the Potomac Plaza Hotel.
Berton felt that rush of excitement, which he always got when he knew he was closing in on his adversary. 'Soon,' he thought, 'soon this business will be concluded and I will be on my way home.'
-----------------------------
Francine knocked on the door of Billy's office and walked in without waiting for a summons.
Billy looked up from the file he had been studying. "Francine, what are your doing here?"
"I work here?"
"Funny. Where's Lee?"
"How should I know? Last I heard he and Amanda were working on the Omega thing."
"I pulled Amanda off that case and told Lee to get you to help him."
"Well, I just got back from State on that other security matter you wanted me to coordinate with them and I haven't seen Lee since, umm, since yesterday, actually."
"Great! Wait till I get my hands on him!"
----------
Lee and Amanda watched as Berton and Boolenofsky got into the Mercedes. Boolenofsky had placed two small suitcases on the back seat. Then they drove off. They finally arrived at the entrance to a parking structure, which Lee recognized as belonging to the Potomac Plaza Hotel. As he carefully maneuvered the Mercedes into a space, Berton, looking in the side-view mirror, spotted a familiar face, driving a station wagon and pulling into a parking place about a dozen spaces down from his location. The face belonged to Lee Stetson, the American agent responsible for the failure of his last mission. Berton grinned at this happy turn of events. It was his chance to even the score, more than even the score.
"Comrade Boolenofsky, I want you to leave some plastique here, just enough to blow up a car - a station wagon to be precise. I see an old friend and I want Prentoff to give him my regards. I want Vasily to attach the explosive to the car Lee Stetson and his lady friend are sitting in."
Picking up the two-way transmitter, he communicated these instructions to Prentoff.
"Do you understand Vasily and do you see the car I mean?"
"Yes, Comrade. It is a station wagon parked on the other side of the aisle and about twelve spaces down from you."
"That is correct. I suspect they will follow us into the hotel. As soon as they are out of sight, you will pick up the plastique and plant it in their vehicle."
"I will, Sir. Don't worry."
Lee was so occupied with watching Berton that he didn't see Prentoff and Markovitch in another car across the garage. When Berton and Boomer got out of the Mercedes and headed for the entrance to the hotel, Lee and Amanda left their car and followed at a discreet distance.
As soon as Lee and Amanda were out of sight, Prentoff made his way to the Mercedes and opened the back door. There, laying on the seat, was a small amount of the explosive, with some wires sticking out of it. Prentoff was not terribly familiar with plastique, but he was sure that all he had to do was press it into, or onto the target, and things would take their natural course, at some point in time. He trusted that Boolenofsky had determined exactly when the device would explode.
Walking over to the station wagon, he crouched down and trying the passenger side door, found it unlocked. He opened it and stuck the small bit of plastique to the door, near the front hinge. Then he gently closed the door, straightened up and walked swiftly back to his own vehicle. Now, all he and Markovitch had to do was wait for Berton and Boomer to finish their work and return to their car. Then they could head for the safety of the Soviet Embassy.
-----------------------------------------
"There they are," Lee gestured to an area across the lobby, "getting on the elevator. It's stopping on the fifth floor. Of course, that doesn't mean they're staying on the fifth floor. The General has *got* to be in this hotel - somewhere. That's the only reason Omega and the Boomer would be here, carrying suitcases. I'm going to call Billy."
Finding a bank of telephones, Lee dialed the familiar number.
"Melrose here."
"Billy, it's Scarecrow. Berton and Boolenofsky are here at the Potomac Plaza. I'll bet my next paycheck that General Korlovich is here, somewhere in the hotel. Now the elevator stopped on five, but of course they could have walked up or down a flight or two. Anyway, I think you'd better call your friend Fredrickson at the CIA and let him know so he can warn his guys. They must be here with the General."
"I think you're right Lee. I'll get on the phone to Jack Fredrickson right away. Now you just hang back. Remember, it's the CIA's baby. By the way, is anybody there with you - backing you up?"
Click.
"Scarecrow - *Scarecrow* - Ohhh........" Billy hung up and quickly dialed Jack Fredrickson's private number.
In a short time, probably no more than ten minutes, men in well tailored suits started arriving in groups of twos and threes. Some got on the elevators. Others made their way to the stairwells. Lee knew who they were even before he spotted Mark Rogers, an old acquaintance from the CIA, entering the lobby.
"Mark, how's it going?" It was obvious from his tone that Lee's question was business, not personal.
"Stetson, hello. It's going OK....wait a minute." Agent Rogers smiled at Amanda and held up one hand as if to put Lee on pause, while he put his other hand to the side of his head, pressing the small ear-piece further into place.
"OK, thanks." He turned back to Lee and Amanda. " Our guys found and disarmed the explosive device they had left outside the door of the room. One of our people spotted a guy in a waiter's suit going into a room down the hall and sure enough it was Berton. So we've got him and Serge Boolenofsky in custody. Thanks to you and....," he looked questioningly at Amanda.
"Ahh, Mark, this is Amanda King. Amanda, Mark Rogers. She, ahh, we, ahh, work together - often."
"Mrs. King," Mark smiled his most engaging smile, "it's so nice to meet you. I've heard that you and Lee have been on some pretty interesting cases together."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. The intelligence community is kind of like a big family. We hear about the other members all the time and stories about you and Scarecrow have come up pretty often."
Amanda looked at Lee, who was intently studying the pattern of the carpet. "Well..... Umm, it's nice to meet you too Mr. Rogers," Amanda extended her hand.
Mark took her hand in his and held onto it - a bit too long, as far as Lee was concerned.
"Well, old buddy, I bet you have a million things to do - mopping up this operation, so Amanda and I will just get going and get out of your way." That said, Lee took Amanda's arm and pulled her out of Mark's grasp and across the lobby, towards the garage.
"Gosh, Lee, slow down a bit."
"We need to get back to The Agency and start our report on this. Billy might be just a little ticked off at us - well at me - for bringing you along. But the way it's turned out, maybe he won't stay mad. Anyway, I want to be the first to tell him the good news."
"OK, OK. Let's go. And Lee...." Amanda took his hand from her arm and held onto it.
"What?"
"Thanks for letting me tag along." She gave his hand a little squeeze.
"You got it." He smiled and squeezed her hand in return.
----------
"Look," Markovitch pointed excitedly, "it's Stetson and his partner. I have a bad feeling about this. Let's get out of here. Now!"
Prentoff agreed.
--------
Lee had pulled out of the parking garage and was driving down a side street, taking a short cut back to The Agency.
"Gosh Lee, look at this."'
"What?"
"This funny little hunk of stuff stuck to the door here. See? Right here."
Lee stopped the car. "Open the door so I can get a better look at what you're talking about."
She opened the door and he got a better look. "Ohh no. Amanda - get out of the car and start running - NOW."
Amanda did as she was told, getting out of the wagon and running for the front of the car, where Lee was waiting, his hand extended towards her. Grasping hands, they started to run towards the sidewalk on the driver's side. In a heartbeat, there was an explosion. Lee instinctively pushed Amanda to the ground and covered her body with his own. A moment later there was a crash of metal. Looking up they could see the passenger door of the wagon, burned and crumpled, laying in the street.
"Oh my gosh! That coulda been me. Or maybe both of us," Amanda said softly.
She turned back towards Lee and he put his arms around her and held her close.
A reassuring little hug - in the line of duty, of course - was probably very beneficial for a civilian auxiliary like Amanda. And it couldn't do the senior agent any harm either.
"Hey. We're OK," he said. "I think you saved both our b...behinds again."
"Oh, Lee. Look at my car. What am I gonna do? Since Mr. Melrose told me - *ordered* me to stay out of this investigation, he's not going to have The Agency pay for the damage."
"Don't worry about it." Lee stood up and helped Amanda to her feet. "I've got a friend who owns a body repair shop. He owes me a favor. We'll get him to fix it and I guarantee you - the price will be right."
"It'll still make my insurance rates go up."
"Naw. I'll pay for it."
"But..."
Lee interrupted. "After all, you went against Billy's orders so you could help me. It's the least I can do. You helped me solve the case, save the General, put the KGB's top guy in jail, you kept us from getting blown up. I think paying for the repairs is only fair." He smiled that special smile at her.
"All right," she looked down, blushing just a little. "If that's the way you want it."
"That is the way I want it."
--------------
TAG
Amanda pulled into the parking lot of Parker General Hospital. She realized that she had been driving on autopilot. Remembering the details of the Berton case brought back the fear she had felt for herself and Lee. She smiled. At least he was safe for the moment, upstairs in a hospital room and guarded by a fellow agent. She picked up the plant she had brought for him and hurried across the lot to the side entrance. She could hardly wait to see him.
end
by rankamateur
Scarecrow and Mrs. King belong to Warner Bros. and Shoot The Moon Enterprises Ltd.
In "The Eyes Have It", written by Lynne Kelsey, Leatherneck asks Amanda about an old injury to her car.
AU of course.
Thanks to Buffy and randibaby for their suggestions and error catching. What's left - I did it.
------------------
"When'd you get your door blown off?" Leatherneck asked.
"The door? That was last year.........how did you know? I didn't even bring it here to be fixed," Amanda replied.
"Your car told me," he responded with a smile.
As she drove towards the hospital, Amanda thought about Leatherneck's words - *your car told me*. 'Yeah, right.' Well, maybe it did. Leatherneck was quite a guy. He seemed to know a least a little bit about so many things, a kind of *Renaissance Man* in his own way. He was certainly a jack-of-all-trades for The Agency.
And he was right about the door. It was last year.......
It was supposed to be a be a simple surveillance. They had used Amanda's station wagon because, for one thing Lee's car was in for routine service, and for another, it was just a bit too flashy for this kind of a job. It turned out to be one of those situations that reminded her that being a spy....umm, an intelligence operative, could be hazardous to her health and *devastating* for her poor automobile.
---------------
A year earlier..........
Lee hung up the phone, took a small bag out of the bottom drawer of his desk and walked to the desk where Amanda sat typing. "Amanda, I need you. Come on."
"You need me?"
"Yeah. Grab your purse and let's go. Hurry up!"
Amanda picked up her purse and also took the jacket, which was hanging on the back of her chair. "What's the big rush?"
"One of my informants, Rhonda, just called. Mikhail Berton is back in this country - illegally. The last time he was here he should have gone to jail but he had diplomatic immunity so all we could do was kick him out, but this time he can't have immunity. Anyway, she gave me the license plate number of the Mercedes he's driving and she overheard the name of the restaurant he and his associate are headed for. I want to follow him and see just what he's up to this time."
As they moved quickly through the doors of the Bullpen and down the hall to the elevator Amanda asked, "Who is this guy?"
"He was, probably still is, the KGB's head of wet-operations. His codename was *Omega*"
"Wet operations? What does that mean?"
"It means, he kills people, Amanda."
"Ohh."
As they reached the parking lot, Lee asked, "Amanda, can I drive?"
"Sure." She handed him the keys.
After unlocking the passenger door and assisting her into the car, Lee ran and around and got in the driver's side. Of course, Amanda had unlocked the door before he got there.
"Here, could you just stick this in the glove box," he asked, handing her the small bag he carried in his other hand.
"All right. What's in this?"
"Just some stuff that comes in handy for surveillance."
They left IFF's parking lot and started driving through Georgetown.
A short time later, they pulled into the parking lot behind *Maxim's*. A pretentious name for a rather unprepossessing bistro. It appeared that Berton wanted to keep a low profile, except of course, for the Mercedes. Certainly nobody who frequented a place like this would know a top KGB operative on sight. Lee wished he knew just who Mikhail was meeting. He couldn't go in and look, for fear that he would be spotted and recognized. It was he who had arrested Berton three years ago, foiling the plot to assassinate two KGB agents who had defected and who were scheduled to testify before a Congressional Security committee. Berton's cover as a *cultural attache'* had allowed him to escape American justice. Now he was back in the U.S., illegally, without benefit of diplomatic immunity. Nothing would give Lee more pleasure than to see Omega behind bars.
Lee knew that Berton had to be here for some nefarious purpose - something really big. Otherwise he never would have returned and risked being caught without the protection of his government.
Lee pulled into a parking space. "This is good. We'll be able to see his car without being noticed, and we can follow it no matter which exit he uses."
"OK. Now what?"
"Now we wait. Oh, give me the camera, please."
"What camera?"
"It's in that little bag I gave you. The one you stuck in the glove compartment."
"Oh yeah," she opened the compartment, took out the bag and retrieved the camera. "Here you go."
After what seemed like days but was actually about an hour, Berton came out of the restaurant, accompanied by three men.
"There he is," Lee said. "And he's got some KGB goons with him."
"How do you know they're KGB?"
"Look at their suits. KGB - lower echelon."
"I'll have to remember that," Amanda smiled. She thought it sounded more like something Francine would say.
Lee took several photos of the men. Two of the *lower echelon* types crossed the lot and got into a non-descript dark sedan. Berton and the other man got into the Mercedes. 'A little ego trip that might prove useful in keeping track of him,' Lee thought.
They followed Mikhail to a cheap hotel in a rundown neighborhood on the edge of DC. Lee found a phone and called The Agency. Billy authorized round-the-clock surveillance. Soon an Agency car pulled in behind Amanda's station wagon. Lee walked over and talked briefly with the two agents and then returned to the car.
"Well, if you could drop me off at *Bill's Service*, I'm sure my car'll be ready by now. Then I'll go back to The Agency and get these pictures developed. I don't recognize the men with Berton and I want to do a Photo Ident on them."
"What do I do?"
"Go home," he smiled.
"Go home? That's it? Aren't we going to stake out this place? What if he's gonna do whatever it is he's gonna do tonight?"
"Amanda," Lee held up his hand. "You and I are going to relieve the team in the morning. You can come by my apartment about 6:00 AM and we'll keep using your car for the surveillance. OK?"
"OK.....I guess."
Lee got back behind the wheel and headed the car back towards Georgetown, where *Bill's* was located.
----------------
Returning to The Agency, Lee went directly to the Photographic Surveillance and Identification Dept. and handed over the roll of film, asking for a rush job.
A short time later, he had the pictures and the identities of the three other men. Just as he had told Amanda, they were low level KGB operatives. Two, Vasily Prentoff and Andreas Markovitch were strictly muscle. The third man, however, Serge Boolenofsky, was known by the nickname of *Boomer* because of his expertise in explosives. He was especially fond of plastique.
Lee was sitting at his desk, studying the material he had just received, when Francine walked up and stood beside him.
"What are you doing back here," she asked with a smirk. "Putting in some overtime? No hot date to rush home and get ready for? What's wrong Scarecrow?"
Lee looked up and frowned. "Francine....., really." Then he filled her in on what he had so far on Berton and his henchmen.
"Sorry, Lee. That is serious. Good luck and don't take too many chances."
"Thanks. I won't."
'Not with Amanda along, I won't,' he thought. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. What had Francine said? No hot date? There was no date at all, hot or otherwise. He planned to stop and pick up some take-out and then swing by Amanda's and make sure the King household was secure. It wasn't really out of his way. Well, not *that* far out of his way. Then he'd head home and turn in early. After all, Amanda was picking him up at the crack of dawn. 'Yup,' he stood up and stretched. 'Might as well call it a day.'
------------
The next morning, Amanda pulled up in front of Lee's apartment building and found him standing at the curb, waiting. "Good morning," she called cheerily.
"Well, we ID'd the guys with Berton," Lee said, not returning her greeting.
Amanda sighed. Lee so rarely observed the amenities - like a simple - *hello*. "Yeah? Who are they?" She asked as she put the car in gear and took off.
"Two of them are what I thought, low level muscle - shooters mainly. The third one is an agent we call *Boomer*, because he's so good with explosives."
"Boomer? Cute. So, if the KGB already has shooters and they have Mr. Boomer already here to handle explosives - if they want to blow up somebody - why send Berton?"
"Probably to take charge, coordinate the job, make sure everything runs smoothly because the target is somebody very important. That's what we have to figure out. Who's the target," Lee rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Oh. OK. So.....who's in this country right now that the KGB would want to see dead? Somebody important enough so that they would send a top man to supervise the job?"
Lee thought for a moment. Then he remembered a memo that had come across his desk last week. An Inter-Agency alert about a very important defector. "General Korlovich, that's who!"
"General Korlovich? Why is he so important?"
"The General was in charge of formulating the Soviet's military strategy in Afghanistan. Which is certainly something Moscow doesn't want us to have so we can pass it on to the *mujadeen*."
"Right," Amanda responded. "I can see why they wouldn't. They're having as bad a time there as we had in Viet Nam. They don't need those guerrilla fighters getting an edge like that."
"Yup. So that's why the General is so important and why they would send in Omega to take him out."
After a short time, they arrived at their destination and Amanda parked.
Lee got out of the wagon and walked over to the Agency car containing the team that he and Amanda were relieving. "Hi Frank, Marty. Listen, would you please arrange for somebody to come back here in a couple of hours, around oh, say 11:00. I want to be able to go into the office and talk to Billy about this case."
"Sure, Scarecrow," Frank responded. "I'll take care of it."
"Thanks. Anything happen?"
"Nope. Haven't seen hide nor hair of either one of them," Marty yawned.
"Swell. See ya later." Lee tapped the top of the car and Agent Duffy took off.
-------------------
Later that morning, Lee briefed Billy on what they had found out so far.
"Interesting Lee, but the General is basically the CIA's problem. They've made it very clear that *they* are handling the defection and the debriefing and everybody else is supposed to stay off their turf. But you two have done some really good work here. It would be kind of....interesting," Billy grinned an evil little grin, "to maybe give the boys at Langley a little help they weren't expecting."
Lee and Amanda both smiled back at Billy.
"Look Amanda, with Omega involved, this could get way too dangerous. I'll have Francine work with Lee on this. She'll be back in the office within the hour. You go home."
Amanda opened her mouth as if to protest.
"And that's an order!" Billy banged his fist on the desk for emphasis. Of the many things he had learned about Amanda King over the last nearly two years, one - was that she had a hard time staying out of trouble, two - she had difficulty staying in the car and three - she had a problem with just doing what she was told. Not that those qualities hadn't got Lee out of some tight scrapes on more than one occasion, but Billy didn't want to see Amanda get hurt - ever.
They left Billy's office and started across the Bullpen. Amanda walked slowly, with her head down. Lee knew she was hurt and upset.
"Amanda....."
"Lee, that's.....that's not fair. I've been doing the job and I can keep doing it. Putting Francine on the case now is - well it's just not fair!"
"Didn't we have a little talk about *fair* a while back?"
"Yeah, but I'm still expecting it. Shoot!"
"Ah, Amanda. I'd really like to keep using your car for the surveillance. It's your car so if you're in it, well, I couldn't very well throw you out of your own car. I don't see Francine and I'd really like to get going......"
"I'll race you to the parking lot," she said, picking up the pace.
"You're on."
---------------------------
"Any news on the General's where-abouts, comrade Berton," Boolenofsky asked, as he set his teacup down on the table.
"Yes, finally. Our friend at Langley left word at our old message drop. The CIA *is* handling the debriefing. The General is staying at the Potomac Plaza Hotel here in DC. Some agents will be arriving there this afternoon. Markovitch has already engaged a room for us," he held up a room key. "It's even on the same floor. So, we have got to get close enough to room 714 to see to it that Korlovich is silenced once and for all."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Yes. Nothing terribly brilliant or original, I'm afraid. We will disguise ourselves as waiters and push a food cart up to the door. We will simply call for room service and we will have our cart. The waiter's uniforms are in a small suitcase in there," he said, gesturing to the closet. "You have your own case, of course. With enough explosives, we don't have to get inside. We will simply leave the cart outside the door. We can make our escape in the panic and confusion that will follow. Prentoff and Markovitch will wait for us in the parking garage. They will help cover our exit - if there are any problems. Which I do not anticipate."
Good. I have plenty of plastique. Enough to destroy an entire floor of the hotel, if necessary."
"Excellent, comrade, but we don't need quite that big a boom," Berton laughed maliciously at his own poor attempt at humor. "Let's go."
Boolenofsky picked up both suitcases and followed his superior out the door and down the hall to the elevator. Soon they were on their way to the Potomac Plaza Hotel.
Berton felt that rush of excitement, which he always got when he knew he was closing in on his adversary. 'Soon,' he thought, 'soon this business will be concluded and I will be on my way home.'
-----------------------------
Francine knocked on the door of Billy's office and walked in without waiting for a summons.
Billy looked up from the file he had been studying. "Francine, what are your doing here?"
"I work here?"
"Funny. Where's Lee?"
"How should I know? Last I heard he and Amanda were working on the Omega thing."
"I pulled Amanda off that case and told Lee to get you to help him."
"Well, I just got back from State on that other security matter you wanted me to coordinate with them and I haven't seen Lee since, umm, since yesterday, actually."
"Great! Wait till I get my hands on him!"
----------
Lee and Amanda watched as Berton and Boolenofsky got into the Mercedes. Boolenofsky had placed two small suitcases on the back seat. Then they drove off. They finally arrived at the entrance to a parking structure, which Lee recognized as belonging to the Potomac Plaza Hotel. As he carefully maneuvered the Mercedes into a space, Berton, looking in the side-view mirror, spotted a familiar face, driving a station wagon and pulling into a parking place about a dozen spaces down from his location. The face belonged to Lee Stetson, the American agent responsible for the failure of his last mission. Berton grinned at this happy turn of events. It was his chance to even the score, more than even the score.
"Comrade Boolenofsky, I want you to leave some plastique here, just enough to blow up a car - a station wagon to be precise. I see an old friend and I want Prentoff to give him my regards. I want Vasily to attach the explosive to the car Lee Stetson and his lady friend are sitting in."
Picking up the two-way transmitter, he communicated these instructions to Prentoff.
"Do you understand Vasily and do you see the car I mean?"
"Yes, Comrade. It is a station wagon parked on the other side of the aisle and about twelve spaces down from you."
"That is correct. I suspect they will follow us into the hotel. As soon as they are out of sight, you will pick up the plastique and plant it in their vehicle."
"I will, Sir. Don't worry."
Lee was so occupied with watching Berton that he didn't see Prentoff and Markovitch in another car across the garage. When Berton and Boomer got out of the Mercedes and headed for the entrance to the hotel, Lee and Amanda left their car and followed at a discreet distance.
As soon as Lee and Amanda were out of sight, Prentoff made his way to the Mercedes and opened the back door. There, laying on the seat, was a small amount of the explosive, with some wires sticking out of it. Prentoff was not terribly familiar with plastique, but he was sure that all he had to do was press it into, or onto the target, and things would take their natural course, at some point in time. He trusted that Boolenofsky had determined exactly when the device would explode.
Walking over to the station wagon, he crouched down and trying the passenger side door, found it unlocked. He opened it and stuck the small bit of plastique to the door, near the front hinge. Then he gently closed the door, straightened up and walked swiftly back to his own vehicle. Now, all he and Markovitch had to do was wait for Berton and Boomer to finish their work and return to their car. Then they could head for the safety of the Soviet Embassy.
-----------------------------------------
"There they are," Lee gestured to an area across the lobby, "getting on the elevator. It's stopping on the fifth floor. Of course, that doesn't mean they're staying on the fifth floor. The General has *got* to be in this hotel - somewhere. That's the only reason Omega and the Boomer would be here, carrying suitcases. I'm going to call Billy."
Finding a bank of telephones, Lee dialed the familiar number.
"Melrose here."
"Billy, it's Scarecrow. Berton and Boolenofsky are here at the Potomac Plaza. I'll bet my next paycheck that General Korlovich is here, somewhere in the hotel. Now the elevator stopped on five, but of course they could have walked up or down a flight or two. Anyway, I think you'd better call your friend Fredrickson at the CIA and let him know so he can warn his guys. They must be here with the General."
"I think you're right Lee. I'll get on the phone to Jack Fredrickson right away. Now you just hang back. Remember, it's the CIA's baby. By the way, is anybody there with you - backing you up?"
Click.
"Scarecrow - *Scarecrow* - Ohhh........" Billy hung up and quickly dialed Jack Fredrickson's private number.
In a short time, probably no more than ten minutes, men in well tailored suits started arriving in groups of twos and threes. Some got on the elevators. Others made their way to the stairwells. Lee knew who they were even before he spotted Mark Rogers, an old acquaintance from the CIA, entering the lobby.
"Mark, how's it going?" It was obvious from his tone that Lee's question was business, not personal.
"Stetson, hello. It's going OK....wait a minute." Agent Rogers smiled at Amanda and held up one hand as if to put Lee on pause, while he put his other hand to the side of his head, pressing the small ear-piece further into place.
"OK, thanks." He turned back to Lee and Amanda. " Our guys found and disarmed the explosive device they had left outside the door of the room. One of our people spotted a guy in a waiter's suit going into a room down the hall and sure enough it was Berton. So we've got him and Serge Boolenofsky in custody. Thanks to you and....," he looked questioningly at Amanda.
"Ahh, Mark, this is Amanda King. Amanda, Mark Rogers. She, ahh, we, ahh, work together - often."
"Mrs. King," Mark smiled his most engaging smile, "it's so nice to meet you. I've heard that you and Lee have been on some pretty interesting cases together."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. The intelligence community is kind of like a big family. We hear about the other members all the time and stories about you and Scarecrow have come up pretty often."
Amanda looked at Lee, who was intently studying the pattern of the carpet. "Well..... Umm, it's nice to meet you too Mr. Rogers," Amanda extended her hand.
Mark took her hand in his and held onto it - a bit too long, as far as Lee was concerned.
"Well, old buddy, I bet you have a million things to do - mopping up this operation, so Amanda and I will just get going and get out of your way." That said, Lee took Amanda's arm and pulled her out of Mark's grasp and across the lobby, towards the garage.
"Gosh, Lee, slow down a bit."
"We need to get back to The Agency and start our report on this. Billy might be just a little ticked off at us - well at me - for bringing you along. But the way it's turned out, maybe he won't stay mad. Anyway, I want to be the first to tell him the good news."
"OK, OK. Let's go. And Lee...." Amanda took his hand from her arm and held onto it.
"What?"
"Thanks for letting me tag along." She gave his hand a little squeeze.
"You got it." He smiled and squeezed her hand in return.
----------
"Look," Markovitch pointed excitedly, "it's Stetson and his partner. I have a bad feeling about this. Let's get out of here. Now!"
Prentoff agreed.
--------
Lee had pulled out of the parking garage and was driving down a side street, taking a short cut back to The Agency.
"Gosh Lee, look at this."'
"What?"
"This funny little hunk of stuff stuck to the door here. See? Right here."
Lee stopped the car. "Open the door so I can get a better look at what you're talking about."
She opened the door and he got a better look. "Ohh no. Amanda - get out of the car and start running - NOW."
Amanda did as she was told, getting out of the wagon and running for the front of the car, where Lee was waiting, his hand extended towards her. Grasping hands, they started to run towards the sidewalk on the driver's side. In a heartbeat, there was an explosion. Lee instinctively pushed Amanda to the ground and covered her body with his own. A moment later there was a crash of metal. Looking up they could see the passenger door of the wagon, burned and crumpled, laying in the street.
"Oh my gosh! That coulda been me. Or maybe both of us," Amanda said softly.
She turned back towards Lee and he put his arms around her and held her close.
A reassuring little hug - in the line of duty, of course - was probably very beneficial for a civilian auxiliary like Amanda. And it couldn't do the senior agent any harm either.
"Hey. We're OK," he said. "I think you saved both our b...behinds again."
"Oh, Lee. Look at my car. What am I gonna do? Since Mr. Melrose told me - *ordered* me to stay out of this investigation, he's not going to have The Agency pay for the damage."
"Don't worry about it." Lee stood up and helped Amanda to her feet. "I've got a friend who owns a body repair shop. He owes me a favor. We'll get him to fix it and I guarantee you - the price will be right."
"It'll still make my insurance rates go up."
"Naw. I'll pay for it."
"But..."
Lee interrupted. "After all, you went against Billy's orders so you could help me. It's the least I can do. You helped me solve the case, save the General, put the KGB's top guy in jail, you kept us from getting blown up. I think paying for the repairs is only fair." He smiled that special smile at her.
"All right," she looked down, blushing just a little. "If that's the way you want it."
"That is the way I want it."
--------------
TAG
Amanda pulled into the parking lot of Parker General Hospital. She realized that she had been driving on autopilot. Remembering the details of the Berton case brought back the fear she had felt for herself and Lee. She smiled. At least he was safe for the moment, upstairs in a hospital room and guarded by a fellow agent. She picked up the plant she had brought for him and hurried across the lot to the side entrance. She could hardly wait to see him.
end