They sat in the Q-Bueau, still just a little bit shaky from their near miss. It was actually two near misses, but only Lee knew for sure about the other one.
"Do you find it just a little coincidental that somebody tries to blow us to bits not thirty minutes after we finish questioning Dr. Singer?"
"Oh Lee, you don't really suspect that nice old man, do you? I mean, he's been in this country, working for our government for over forty years. Why would he all of a sudden turn traitor? It doesn't make any sense." Amanda plainly thought the idea of the kindly, silver haired Dr. Singer being a traitor was way off base. "Besides," she continued, "how would he have had the time to put a bomb in our car......and where would he *get* a bomb? That's not something you bring in to work with you everyday - in your lunch box, or something."
Lee rolled his eyes. The truth was, he didn't have an answer for her questions, but he wasn't ready to admit that just yet. "Amanda, you saw his file. He's got some relatives who live behind the Iron Curtain. The KGB could be using the doctor's family to intimidate him by threatening to harm them."
"Lee, I don't think he even knows those people. Probably most of them weren't even born when he left Europe. All he'd have to do is tell the KGB that he didn't know them, they don't mean anything to him and just go ahead and do whatever it is they threatened to do to them. Then the KGB wouldn't have any hold over him," she finished looking rather pleased with her analysis.
"Yeah, maybe he could say that but we don't know that he did say it. He may not be as good at thinking on his feet as you are."
"Oh, Lee, thank you. What a nice thing to say."
"Anyway," Lee went on, "he could have an accomplice, someone we don't know about yet."
"Look, I still say Dr. Singer didn't have time to plant a bomb - which he just would've had to have with him today and the same goes for some accomplice. Where would an accomplice get a bomb? What about Montmorcy? He wasn't around so we could question him."
"You heard, he went home earlier with a terrible headache."
"How convenient."
"A-man-da!"
"Well, we haven't been able to talk to him. How do we know what he's been doin' and who he knows? He could have an accomplice too, ya know."
"What about the evidence that Singer hangs out with a KGB agent?"
"What about it. I'm sure your friend Bart is honest and sincere and really wants to help you and the country, but what about this friend of his? Do you even know this person?"
"Ahh, no."
"Well, we can at least check on Montmorcy before we hang Dr. Singer. Could we maybe follow Dr. Montmorcy for a few days?"
"All right." Lee threw up his hands in defeat. "Tomorrow we'll follow Montmorcy. Let's go."
"Where?"
"I'm hungry. Let's go the *Sacher Bar* and get a bite to eat and maybe a little information."
Amanda smiled. "Terrific idea. I'm kinda hungry too."
Lee interviewed several of the employees, including a waiter and a bartender, both of whom confirmed Dr. Singer's story.
"OK Amanda, I guess you were right about Dr. Singer. So now we'll see if you're right about our friend Gabe."
----------------------
It had been four days and Dr. Montmorcy had done nothing suspicious. The Agency had not picked up any further transmissions regarding the *Genie Project*. Lee was about to give up. It was nearly closing time for the lab and they were waiting - one last time - for the doctor to leave work.
Montmorcy came out of the building and got in his car. He started driving, but in the opposite direction from his home.
"Aha, maybe we're going to get lucky." Lee kept a safe distance as they started down the highway.
Lee and Amanda followed Montmorcy to an old abandoned warehouse, which Lee knew to be owned by a company controlled by the KGB. Dr. Montmorcy parked his car and went to a side door of the building. He knocked and the door was opened by Ivan Prilov.
"Well, well, look who our friend Gabriel is meeting. Your instincts were right on *again*, Amanda. I don't know when I'm ever going to learn!"
Amanda smiled but thought it prudent to keep silent.
"OK, I'm going in. You call Billy for backup and then *stay* in the car. All right?"
"Oh, sure," Amanda replied, reaching for the car phone. "I'm callin' Billy right now."
After looking in the window and seeing the two men deep in conversation, Lee carefully tried the door. It was unlocked. Deciding he had the element of surprise on his side, he burst through the door. He had the drop on Prilov and Montmorcy.
"OK, gentlemen, raise your hands, You, Prilov, lose the pistol."
Prilov did as he was told and both men raised their hands above their heads.
The Russian was a little surprised to see Lee Stetson. He was still angry that his plan to kill the American agent had failed.
As Lee was about to go to the door and call for Amanda, he was unaware that another man, Prilov's KGB muscle, a very large individual named Brodsky, had just emerged from the adjacent room and was now standing behind him. Comrade Brodsky raised his gun, a heavy machine pistol, and hit Lee a tremendous blow. Lee dropped like a rock.
After making the call, Amanda stayed and waited and waited and waited. The minutes dragged by. Just when she was sure that the car's clock had stopped, she would check and find that her own wristwatch verified the snail-like movement of time. Finally, she could stand it no longer. 'Lee may be in trouble and he may need backup,' she thought.
Backup, for the moment, was her. She got out of the car and went to a window near the door Lee had entered. She could see Lee lying on the floor, obviously out cold. She could see three men. She recognized Montmorcy, of course, and also Prilov from his photo. She could not identify the third man.
As she stood there, considering her limited options, a hand touched her shoulder. She whirled around, totally surprised and frightened. There was Francine, with her finger on her lips. "Quiet. It's a good thing for you that I'm not KGB, or you'd probably be dead right now, Amanda," she whispered.
"You're right Francine. I am lucky." Looking around Amanda could see at least three teams of agents, and Billy. He and two others, Johnson and Bacon, stood by the door. On Billy's quiet count of three, they kicked in the door. At almost the exact same moment, Francine smashed the window with her revolver and pointed it at the three startled men in the room. It took only a few moments to cuff the suspects and take them away.
After trying unsuccessfully to rouse Lee, Billy called agents Johnson and Bacon.
"Carry him to your car and get him to a hospital. I'm afraid to wait for an ambulance. Get going!"
Amanda started to follow as they carried Lee out of the room and to the Agency sedan. Billy stopped her.
"You ride with us, Amanda," he said kindly. "There's no room in that car anyway. Don't worry, Lee will be fine. You know how hard headed he is."
'Yes, Sir," she said with a small smile.
----------
After the initial exam in the Emergency Room, Lee was admitted. Billy, Francine and Amanda sat down to wait. It seemed like hours had passed before a doctor came out and told them that waiting was pointless. He promised that he would contact Billy as soon as there was anything to report.
"Amanda, why don't you go on home. You heard what the doctor said. It could be hours."
"I know. I'll just wait a little bit longer and see if...."
"OK. We'll see you later.," Billy patted her hand reassuringly.
Billy and Francine walked down the corridor and towards the exit.
After a while, a nurse came out. "Mrs. King?"
"Yes," Amanda stood up in anticipation.
"Mrs. King, the doctor asked me to tell you again that you might as well go home. We may not know anything until tomorrow. They'll be running a series of tests."
"Shouldn't he be awake by now?" She asked in a trembling voice.
"Frankly, yes. But please," the nurse put a comforting hand on Amanda's arm, "try not to worry too much just yet. I've seen Mr. Stetson's chart. He's a pretty tough guy. He's come through worse situations. Now you go on home and get some rest. You can come back and see him tomorrow. OK?"
"OK. Thank you." Knowing that her family would be getting worried, she decided to go on home.
-----------
TAG
Amanda was sitting in her family room, worrying about Lee when the phone rang, causing her to jump about a foot.
"Hello."
"Hi, it's me..."
"Oh, Lee," she broke in, "I've been so worried. I stayed at the hospital as long as they'd let me but they finally kicked me out. They said they were going to run some tests. The way they talked, I didn't think you'd wake up until tomorrow."
As she finally paused for a breath, Lee managed to get another word in edgewise, "Amanda I'm going to be fine. Just a mild concussion. They don't know why I was out so long. The doctor said I could go home the day after tomorrow but I'm gonna see if maybe we can't get that moved up to tomorrow."
"Lee, why don't you do what the doctors want, just for a change," she said teasingly.
"Hey, I've been a very good patient, I'll have you know, very cooperative."
"Sure, you've been unconscious. How could you *not* be a good patient," she laughed.
"OK, OK. If they want me to stay an extra day, I'll do it. Just for you." His voice was soft. "Ah, Amanda....," he started, then, "how......are you doing?"
"I'm just fine...now. I mean, I wasn't the one who got hit on the head. Lee, umm, there's something I've been wanting to ask you, meaning to ask you...."
"What?"
"Well, that day at the park, before the car blew up, you said you felt like Connie Barnhill and I said I couldn't understand why because you two are nothing alike and you don't have anything in common."
"Yes," he hesitated, again, but only briefly, "except we *do* have something in common."
"Yeah, and what's that?"
Lee took a deep breath, "we're both in love with the same woman," he exhaled deeply. He'd finally said it and it was really quite painless. Quite the contrary, it left him feeling - euphoric.
There was dead silence on the other end of the line.
"Oh-oh, Amanda, the nurse just came in the room with a tray full of stuff and she's motioning to me to get off the phone. We, ahh, we'll talk about this tomorrow, OK?"
Amanda sat down heavily. Fortunately, one of the kitchen stools just happened to be in the right place at that moment. "Oh yeah, you can *bet* we'll talk about this tomorrow!"
"Good night, Amanda."
"Good night lo....Lee."
End
"Do you find it just a little coincidental that somebody tries to blow us to bits not thirty minutes after we finish questioning Dr. Singer?"
"Oh Lee, you don't really suspect that nice old man, do you? I mean, he's been in this country, working for our government for over forty years. Why would he all of a sudden turn traitor? It doesn't make any sense." Amanda plainly thought the idea of the kindly, silver haired Dr. Singer being a traitor was way off base. "Besides," she continued, "how would he have had the time to put a bomb in our car......and where would he *get* a bomb? That's not something you bring in to work with you everyday - in your lunch box, or something."
Lee rolled his eyes. The truth was, he didn't have an answer for her questions, but he wasn't ready to admit that just yet. "Amanda, you saw his file. He's got some relatives who live behind the Iron Curtain. The KGB could be using the doctor's family to intimidate him by threatening to harm them."
"Lee, I don't think he even knows those people. Probably most of them weren't even born when he left Europe. All he'd have to do is tell the KGB that he didn't know them, they don't mean anything to him and just go ahead and do whatever it is they threatened to do to them. Then the KGB wouldn't have any hold over him," she finished looking rather pleased with her analysis.
"Yeah, maybe he could say that but we don't know that he did say it. He may not be as good at thinking on his feet as you are."
"Oh, Lee, thank you. What a nice thing to say."
"Anyway," Lee went on, "he could have an accomplice, someone we don't know about yet."
"Look, I still say Dr. Singer didn't have time to plant a bomb - which he just would've had to have with him today and the same goes for some accomplice. Where would an accomplice get a bomb? What about Montmorcy? He wasn't around so we could question him."
"You heard, he went home earlier with a terrible headache."
"How convenient."
"A-man-da!"
"Well, we haven't been able to talk to him. How do we know what he's been doin' and who he knows? He could have an accomplice too, ya know."
"What about the evidence that Singer hangs out with a KGB agent?"
"What about it. I'm sure your friend Bart is honest and sincere and really wants to help you and the country, but what about this friend of his? Do you even know this person?"
"Ahh, no."
"Well, we can at least check on Montmorcy before we hang Dr. Singer. Could we maybe follow Dr. Montmorcy for a few days?"
"All right." Lee threw up his hands in defeat. "Tomorrow we'll follow Montmorcy. Let's go."
"Where?"
"I'm hungry. Let's go the *Sacher Bar* and get a bite to eat and maybe a little information."
Amanda smiled. "Terrific idea. I'm kinda hungry too."
Lee interviewed several of the employees, including a waiter and a bartender, both of whom confirmed Dr. Singer's story.
"OK Amanda, I guess you were right about Dr. Singer. So now we'll see if you're right about our friend Gabe."
----------------------
It had been four days and Dr. Montmorcy had done nothing suspicious. The Agency had not picked up any further transmissions regarding the *Genie Project*. Lee was about to give up. It was nearly closing time for the lab and they were waiting - one last time - for the doctor to leave work.
Montmorcy came out of the building and got in his car. He started driving, but in the opposite direction from his home.
"Aha, maybe we're going to get lucky." Lee kept a safe distance as they started down the highway.
Lee and Amanda followed Montmorcy to an old abandoned warehouse, which Lee knew to be owned by a company controlled by the KGB. Dr. Montmorcy parked his car and went to a side door of the building. He knocked and the door was opened by Ivan Prilov.
"Well, well, look who our friend Gabriel is meeting. Your instincts were right on *again*, Amanda. I don't know when I'm ever going to learn!"
Amanda smiled but thought it prudent to keep silent.
"OK, I'm going in. You call Billy for backup and then *stay* in the car. All right?"
"Oh, sure," Amanda replied, reaching for the car phone. "I'm callin' Billy right now."
After looking in the window and seeing the two men deep in conversation, Lee carefully tried the door. It was unlocked. Deciding he had the element of surprise on his side, he burst through the door. He had the drop on Prilov and Montmorcy.
"OK, gentlemen, raise your hands, You, Prilov, lose the pistol."
Prilov did as he was told and both men raised their hands above their heads.
The Russian was a little surprised to see Lee Stetson. He was still angry that his plan to kill the American agent had failed.
As Lee was about to go to the door and call for Amanda, he was unaware that another man, Prilov's KGB muscle, a very large individual named Brodsky, had just emerged from the adjacent room and was now standing behind him. Comrade Brodsky raised his gun, a heavy machine pistol, and hit Lee a tremendous blow. Lee dropped like a rock.
After making the call, Amanda stayed and waited and waited and waited. The minutes dragged by. Just when she was sure that the car's clock had stopped, she would check and find that her own wristwatch verified the snail-like movement of time. Finally, she could stand it no longer. 'Lee may be in trouble and he may need backup,' she thought.
Backup, for the moment, was her. She got out of the car and went to a window near the door Lee had entered. She could see Lee lying on the floor, obviously out cold. She could see three men. She recognized Montmorcy, of course, and also Prilov from his photo. She could not identify the third man.
As she stood there, considering her limited options, a hand touched her shoulder. She whirled around, totally surprised and frightened. There was Francine, with her finger on her lips. "Quiet. It's a good thing for you that I'm not KGB, or you'd probably be dead right now, Amanda," she whispered.
"You're right Francine. I am lucky." Looking around Amanda could see at least three teams of agents, and Billy. He and two others, Johnson and Bacon, stood by the door. On Billy's quiet count of three, they kicked in the door. At almost the exact same moment, Francine smashed the window with her revolver and pointed it at the three startled men in the room. It took only a few moments to cuff the suspects and take them away.
After trying unsuccessfully to rouse Lee, Billy called agents Johnson and Bacon.
"Carry him to your car and get him to a hospital. I'm afraid to wait for an ambulance. Get going!"
Amanda started to follow as they carried Lee out of the room and to the Agency sedan. Billy stopped her.
"You ride with us, Amanda," he said kindly. "There's no room in that car anyway. Don't worry, Lee will be fine. You know how hard headed he is."
'Yes, Sir," she said with a small smile.
----------
After the initial exam in the Emergency Room, Lee was admitted. Billy, Francine and Amanda sat down to wait. It seemed like hours had passed before a doctor came out and told them that waiting was pointless. He promised that he would contact Billy as soon as there was anything to report.
"Amanda, why don't you go on home. You heard what the doctor said. It could be hours."
"I know. I'll just wait a little bit longer and see if...."
"OK. We'll see you later.," Billy patted her hand reassuringly.
Billy and Francine walked down the corridor and towards the exit.
After a while, a nurse came out. "Mrs. King?"
"Yes," Amanda stood up in anticipation.
"Mrs. King, the doctor asked me to tell you again that you might as well go home. We may not know anything until tomorrow. They'll be running a series of tests."
"Shouldn't he be awake by now?" She asked in a trembling voice.
"Frankly, yes. But please," the nurse put a comforting hand on Amanda's arm, "try not to worry too much just yet. I've seen Mr. Stetson's chart. He's a pretty tough guy. He's come through worse situations. Now you go on home and get some rest. You can come back and see him tomorrow. OK?"
"OK. Thank you." Knowing that her family would be getting worried, she decided to go on home.
-----------
TAG
Amanda was sitting in her family room, worrying about Lee when the phone rang, causing her to jump about a foot.
"Hello."
"Hi, it's me..."
"Oh, Lee," she broke in, "I've been so worried. I stayed at the hospital as long as they'd let me but they finally kicked me out. They said they were going to run some tests. The way they talked, I didn't think you'd wake up until tomorrow."
As she finally paused for a breath, Lee managed to get another word in edgewise, "Amanda I'm going to be fine. Just a mild concussion. They don't know why I was out so long. The doctor said I could go home the day after tomorrow but I'm gonna see if maybe we can't get that moved up to tomorrow."
"Lee, why don't you do what the doctors want, just for a change," she said teasingly.
"Hey, I've been a very good patient, I'll have you know, very cooperative."
"Sure, you've been unconscious. How could you *not* be a good patient," she laughed.
"OK, OK. If they want me to stay an extra day, I'll do it. Just for you." His voice was soft. "Ah, Amanda....," he started, then, "how......are you doing?"
"I'm just fine...now. I mean, I wasn't the one who got hit on the head. Lee, umm, there's something I've been wanting to ask you, meaning to ask you...."
"What?"
"Well, that day at the park, before the car blew up, you said you felt like Connie Barnhill and I said I couldn't understand why because you two are nothing alike and you don't have anything in common."
"Yes," he hesitated, again, but only briefly, "except we *do* have something in common."
"Yeah, and what's that?"
Lee took a deep breath, "we're both in love with the same woman," he exhaled deeply. He'd finally said it and it was really quite painless. Quite the contrary, it left him feeling - euphoric.
There was dead silence on the other end of the line.
"Oh-oh, Amanda, the nurse just came in the room with a tray full of stuff and she's motioning to me to get off the phone. We, ahh, we'll talk about this tomorrow, OK?"
Amanda sat down heavily. Fortunately, one of the kitchen stools just happened to be in the right place at that moment. "Oh yeah, you can *bet* we'll talk about this tomorrow!"
"Good night, Amanda."
"Good night lo....Lee."
End