The Plan
Chapter 2
After her car was filled with gas and the set of glassware given to her, they had arranged to meet at Amanda's backyard later that night. The last thing Amanda said before she drove away was, "Just make sure you don't come too early."
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(Later that night)
As they stood in the backyard, Lee had just arrived and was about to tell Amanda why they had to break into the Smithsonian, when they both heard her mother calling from upstairs.
"Amaaanda!" Dotty's voice was loud and clear, "Where are you? The boys need help with their homework!"
Amanda turned her head in the direction of Dotty's voice. She knew that she had to get back in, for there would be no reason for her to be in the backyard past 8 pm.
She regrettably turned back to Lee.
"That's Mother," she stated the obvious, "I guess I better go in. I told you not to come too early."
Lee didn't want to admit to her that the reason he came early was he couldn't wait to see her again. The moonlight shimmered down on them as they ruefully realized they would not be able to talk tonight. It seemed that they always had time to say hello, but were frequently robbed of their goodbyes. Lee tried not to look disappointed.
"Yeah, sorry about arriving so early, I just couldn't wait to see you..." he quickly corrected himself, "...for, uh, the reveal of the plans, but I see now that my timing is off, " he said sheepishly, "Billy will inform you about the rest of the unlawful covert operation tomorrow at work."
She blinked once, "Unlawful covert operation?"
He liked how the moonlight skimmed over her face, softening it.
"Yeah, so don't forget to wear your cloak-and-daggertrenchcoat to the meeting," he teased, with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Amanda recalled what a novice she had been when she had shown up for their first night's rendezvous at the Jefferson Memorial, wrapped in a belted trenchcoat, so many months ago.
"Oh, well... I only wear that particular spy coat during 'legal' secret missions!" she sarcastically explained.
"Touche," he smiled, liking how at times she could be adorable, "Good night, Amanda."
She liked how she could see his dimples, even in the half-darkened moonlight.
"Have a good night, Lee," Amanda whispered, excitement showing in her eyes in anticipation of tomorrow.
Quickly turning, she headed towards the house. Amanda preferred not seeing him leave, but instead only heard some footsteps quietly fading away behind her. With her hand on the back doorknob, she finally decided to look back just once, towards the spot where Lee had last stood.
Of course, there wasn't a trace of the preeminent spy who frequently visited her in the darkness of the night.
With a regretful sigh, she went back inside the house. Quickly she went upstairs to deal with boys and homework, but later on, when she was alone in her bed, she would let herself drift off with images of spy missions, a certain agent and all the excitement this new covert operation promised.
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Lee was right.
This was definitely a covert operation, for when Amanda arrived at Billy Melrose's office the next morning, she noticed the blinds were already closed and Francine had locked the office door after Amanda had arrived, before sitting herself back down.
"Good morning, everyone!" Amanda said cheerfully, as she entered, before taking a seat.
Billy and Francine responded in kind. When Amanda turned to face Lee, her smile seemed to sparkle.
Lee had been casually sitting, waiting for the meeting to begin, but upon Amanda's arrival, his heartbeat seemed to reverberate in every part of his body, which surprised him. He had just seen her late last night, but she managed to look remarkably refreshed for someone who ran a busy household, in addition to working a dangerous job while never losing her upbeat demeanor.
Billy was the first to address her.
"I'm sure, Amanda, you must be wondering while we're meeting in such a cryptic manner."
"The thought had occurred to me, Sir," Amanda admitted respectfully, "but I assumed it had to do something with the Smithsonian?"
Billy showed surprised, "I see word gets around, despite my locking the door and closing the blinds," he stated sardonically.
"My, my," added a smirking Francine, "it's amazing how a housewife could gleam such classified information on her own. The only possible way that could happen is if she pilfered the files, or if perhaps she used her feminine wiles to get the information from someone already involved in the mission," she gave Lee an acerbic glance.
"Can it, Francine," Lee stated brusquely as he turned to Billy, "Go on, Billy, with your explanation."
"Don't mind that I do," Billy agreed, bringing the group back to the assignment on hand, "Although Scarecrow has already been advised of the situation, Francine and Amanda need to be brought up to speed on this mission. To put it as succinctly as possible, I have assigned Lee to break into the Smithsonian."
Francine looked surprised.
"Lee will be illegally breaking into the illustrious Smithsonian Museum?" she raised an eyebrow, "Wellll, I just might report Lee to law officials myself!"
Lee chose to ignore the comment, while Amanda showed concern when she addressed Billy.
"Sir, why is Lee breaking into the Smithsonian?"
"I'm sure you and Francine have heard of the 'Faberge Eggs'?" he rhetorically asked, "They were a limited number of elaborately jeweled eggs created by Peter Faberge for the Russian Tsars as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers between the years 1885 to 1916. About 50 of them were made, although only 42 have survived. One of them is known as the Fairy Tale Imperial Egg, given to Hans Christina Anderson, who had been occasionally summoned to tell stories to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Denmark when she were a child."
"I remember reading about that particular Egg when Philip studied Russian history in school," Amanda added, "the Fairy Tale Egg was arguably considered the most beautiful of the Imperial Eggs, enameled with gold and pearls all around, topped by a lavish diamond Imperial crown. And inside contained a miniature fairy tale book, covered from front to back with rose diamonds."
"That's the one I'm referring to," Billy nodded.
"So, Billy, how much is this egg worth?" Francine asked.
"Roughly 20 million dollars," estimated Billy, "and the price will increase even more since the Russian government is determined to retrieve all of the Imperial Eggs back from the various individuals or institutions who have housed them. And once they've gathered all The Imperial Eggs together in one collection, the value will skyrocket, making its value almost priceless."
"Makes sense the Russians would want their valuable Imperial Eggs back," Amanda asked, "so what is the problem, Sir? Is the U.S. refusing to give back the Imperial Fairy Tale Egg?"
"Not at all, Amanda," Billy explained, "as you are aware, the United States has had a very strained relationship with the Soviet Union. We are anxious to make amends with them, especially amid rumors circulating that some of their larger republics want government dissolution from Russia. So when the Russians requested the immediate return of their Fairy Tale Imperial Egg from the museum, we naturally wanted to comply, as a sign of good faith between the two tenuous nations."
Francine shrugged, "Then our government should just give it to them."
"If it were that easy," Lee continued, "although the Director of the Smithsonian has readily agreed to return it, the problem is that neither the U.S. President nor the Director is aware that the Fairy Tale Imperial Egg that is currently displayed in the museum is a fake! The real one had been stolen from the Smithsonian eight years ago, but the FBI never disclosed that fact but instead, had diligently elected to cover up the blunder ever since."
Amanda was stumped, "Why would the FBI do that?"
"It's a matter of pride, Amanda," Lee answered, "The FBI can't admit that the nation's most prestigious and secure museum was broken into, especially with the White House and the U.S Capitol merely a hop, skip and a jump distance away from FBI Headquarters. So after all these years, the FBI still has no lead in the case, so that's when they contacted us. And I came up with this plan."
"So the plan is to replace the fake Imperial Egg with the real one?" Amanda asked, "but do we know the location of the authentic one? Do we know who stole it?"
"Unfortunately, no, "Billy shook his head, "and that's where you three come in."
"You're kidding, right?" Francine asked, "you want us to first find who stole the Imperial Egg, despite the FBI being unsuccessful for eight years, and then afterwards, we have to break into the Smithsonian, of all places, to replace the fake one with the real one?"
"I never said it would be easy," Billy told a flabbergasted Francine.
"Excuse me, Sir," Amanda addressed him, "how are Francine and I involved in this?"
"That's up to how Lee wants to utilize you both since he's heading up this operation. This will be considered an unclassified top secret mission," Billy explained, giving her an encouraging smile, before his face turned serious again, "So much so in fact, that if any of you are caught and killed, the government and this Agency will disavow any knowledge of your actions."
Francine smirked, "Is this the part where the tape recorder self -destructs?"
Lee, Amanda and Billy turned to looked questionably at her.
That was not the reaction Francine had expected.
"You're kidding, right?" she asked as she put her hand on her hips, "That line is straight from the TV show, Mission Impossible!" When they still looked stumped, she cleared her throat and repeated the intro verbatim,"As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck, Jim. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds'."
"You know what she's talking about?" Billy asked, looking at Lee and Amanda.
Amanda shrugged her shoulders while Lee furrowed his brow.
"I don't know," he said, "but I'm curious...if there was a tape that self-destructed after revealing the mission, what if you hadn't gotten all the information you needed the first time? It would be too late then, because the tape would have already been destroyed, right?"
"What?" Francine asked, "and I truly mean it...what?"
Amanda added, "I'm personally not aware of that show, Francine, because I only watch what the boys and Mother watch, which are cowboy or dinosaur shows," she explained and then sensibly asked, "but if the show is called Mission Impossible, does that mean they fail each week on the show?"
"Forget I ever mentioned the show!" she threw her arms up and gave up by changing the subject, "Anyway...how much time do we have to locate the Fairy Tale Imperial Egg AND break into the most secure museum in the world?"
Billy looked serious, "Less than two weeks."
"Any chance we can have more time?" Francine immediately asked.
"No, so you need to work quickly, for time is of the utmost importance," Billy said, "The reason why is that approximately two weeks from now, Russian Ambassador Boris Kozlow will come to DC in his private plane to personally transport the Fairy Tale Egg back to Moscow."
"I'm not too worried about the time frame," Lee said confidently.
"Oh, just one more thing," Billy added.
"...but I AM worried about that one more thing you're about to mention," Lee added.
"It's just some small detail, really," Billy told him, "when Russian Ambassador Kozlow arrives, their government's antiquities expert will accompany him in order to inspect the Imperial Egg for its authenticity. If this particular Imperial Egg is discovered as a fraud, it will spark an international catastrophe, with the Russians possibly retaliating aggressively against us. Naturally, I'm counting on you three to not let that happen."
"So we're basically saving the two most powerful countries from an outbreak of war with one another," Francine stated sarcastically, "but really, no stress there!"
"Don't worry, I think I know what I need to do," Lee stood and looked at Amanda, "Come on, Amanda."
Amanda widened her eyes as she pointed to herself, "Me?"
Lee half smiled at her surprise, "Yes, you. I'm going to need you for the first part of this mission immediately. But don't worry, I'll try and keep your part to a minimum. After all, my...I mean the Agency'sfirst duty is to make sure to keep ALL our civilians safe."
She looked appreciatively at him, "Thank you for having confidence in me, Lee," she said gratefully.
"So let's get on it, shall we?" Lee asked, anxious to start the mission.
"Yes! Of course!" she enthused as she stood, "Goodbye, Sir...Francine," she politely said farewell as Lee escorted her out of the office.
Billy and Francine watched them until they had left the bullpen.
Francine folded her arms as she questioned her boss, "You ever get the feeling, Billy, that something is going on between those two?"
Billy sagely said, "I don't think it's any of our business, Francine."
"Still..." Francine thought, contemplatively, "Lee and Amanda seem ... total opposites."
"Let's put it this way, Francine," Billy opinioned, with a slight smile "if they were alike, then one of them would be deemed unnecessary, wouldn't they?"
"Hmmph!" Francine guffawed at his comment.
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