Chapter 4
Thanks so much for your reviews, you make writing SAMK stories so much fun. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
~o~
Amanda stared up at the stars, some of them dull specks in the inky black sky, one or two burned more fiercely. She needed a moment alone to collect her thoughts. Typical, the one night of the week Mother went to play bridge with the girls. She really could have done with some time to herself tonight. But for what, to spend the evening feeling sorry for herself. to cry herself to sleep over another failed relationship.
Philip came out to the garden and stood just behind her.
She wiped her eyes quickly and turned to face him.
"What is it sweetheart?"
"Mom there's someone looking at us from across the street. There's a man..." The little boy pulled slightly on her hand to make her come with him.
Amanda's heart gave a little leap. Perhaps it was Lee, maybe he needed to talk. She knew what advice she'd like to give him. She smiled to herself as she followed Philip to the front of the house and out to the porch.
"He's gone, he was right there by that fence," Jamie pointed to a picket fence across the street.
Amanda frowned. That wasn't like Lee. He wouldn't do something that would deliberately scare her boys. Perhaps she'd ring him and find out.
"Right come on you two, in the house."
"Aw but mom, there's no school tomorrow."
"And if you go to bed early you can get up all the earlier tomorrow and enjoy it," she said as she herded them into the house.
"With much groans both boys headed towards their bedroom."
"Mom, can we watch the A Team, Philip taped it yesterday."
"Yes you can watch The A Team, then straight to sleep."
As soon as she had the room to herself Amanda took up the phone and thumped out the well remembered number. She plonked down on the chair and swung her legs over the side of it. She smiled to herself as she noted the phone rang out. It must have been him. It was him definitely. Her smile grew broader.
~o~
She stood up as they brought him in. She had agreed to this mission for the dividend it would pay out, enough money to keep her comfortable for years. What she hadn't figured on was the agent Lee Stetson. He took her breath away.
Now escorted into the empty warehouse by her many associates, he was dressed in less formal attire. A grey sweater over a white shirt and faded jeans. He looked stunning. She wanted him. She ran her tongue over her dry lips as she took in his profile from head to foot.
As if he could sense her inappropriate scrutiny of him, he looked away putting up an invisible barrier between them.
Rodriguez noted the exchange between Margo and the prisoner. In a sudden fit of temper he moved forward and punched Lee full in the face. The move caught the agent by surprise and he hit the ground with force.
He lay there, swiping at the blood trickling from his nose, listening intently to the exchange between his two captors.
"Never hit his face. What is hard to understand?" she snapped.
"Well," he tried to argue. "You look at him."
"What are you talking about?"
"You look at him," he yelled.
He kicked Lee savagely in the back as he lay on the ground.
"You look at this man, you not professional."
She looked to the others.
"Sit him on a chair. Tie him up." She barked.
Lee watched as she gestured for Rodriguez to follow her. As he was hauled into a chair and his hands were brought behind him he watched the exchange in a little porter cabin just a little away from them. Although they brought the blind down the light was left on and he could see Rodriguez gesturing wildly. Rodriguez had a thing for her that was becoming obvious, Lee stored this information for later.
His hands were now tied and he tried to back away as one of the bigger henchmen took hold of his collar and brought a damp cloth to his face. He fought so much it took two of them to keep his head still.
"It's just to clean the blood off," one of them lied.
"Keep still."
He fought on but inevitably they managed to place the cloth over his mouth and nose.
"Just breathe evenly," they told him. "Don't fight it. It's not going to hurt you."
He couldn't hold his breath forever, not long after Lee began to feel the effects of the drug taking hold.
His features began to mellow as a warm euphoric feeling quickly spread through his whole body.
"Good stuff eh," the man smiled into his face,
His hispanic accent sounded like nothing Lee had ever heard. He could listen all day.
"He in better form now," the man smiled as the two approached.
Margo gently lifted his face and smiled down at him.
"That's better isn't it. We have a lot of ground to cover and we need your full cooperation. There is plenty more where that came from."
They spent the next two hours going through slides of the Tiffany Gallery, talking about the security measures as leaked by the employee. Despite himself and in his altered state Lee answered all their questions. He told them of the special fluid, it wasn't even given a name. If it was scraped carefully over any lock, the lock could be picked without setting off the alarms. He told them how to deactivate laser alarms and what to look for in a standard sealed glass cabinet. He just about told them everything they needed to know.
The others were happy with the way this meeting was progressing but Rodriguez scowled as he noted how Margo was hurrying things along as if she had other things in mind.
He looked over at Stetson. Gone was the shrewd guarded behaviour you'd expect from a man in captivity. He looked drunk, vulnerable. Rodriguez growled to himself. He'd like nothing better than to take pretty boy and drag him to a freezing lake and drop him in. Watch him try to swim in all his clothes and goofed out on drugs.
The meeting was over and the participants were heading back to their cars, all parked in another corner of the warehouse. Lee was still tied to the chair, the blood had formed a dried red mark just above his lip.
She crouched down to look into his eyes.
"I'll take you home now,"
She smiled, biting her bottom lip in anticipation.
He nodded to her meeting her gaze for just a moment.
She put a hand to his neck and leaned in for a kiss. He responded opening his mouth slightly as she put her lips to his. She took full advantage kissing him deeply, pushing her tongue in and invading his sweet mouth, savouring the taste of him as their lips moved together.
"I'm taking him home," Rodriguez yelled.
He had been talking with one of their other colleagues as the man got into his car and he had returned then just in time to see the kiss.
"I'll take him home," he growled, taking her arm and pushing her roughly away.
"Alright, alright."
"I'll see you tomorrow Mr Stetson," she said rather awkwardly.
"You stay away from him...slut!"
Rodriguez took a pen knife from his pocket and held it to Lee's face. But the drugged up agent just stared straight ahead.
With a growl of frustration then he reached behind the agent and cut the ropes holding his wrists together. Then he pulled him to his feet. Lee stumbled forward. Rodriguez signalled for his larger partner to come and help. Together they dragged Lee to the car and threw him onto the back seat. He just lay there unable to help himself. Rodriguez drove like a mad man through the empty streets ignoring his partners continued warnings about attracting attention.
Once outside Lee's apartment Rodriguez got out, opened the back door and pulled the man out by his legs. He slid out and his head came down on the concrete with a dull crack. The other man winced at the sound.
Before Rodriguez could do more the other man took hold of the agent hauled him up and began walking him towards the house. His head was bleeding but it looked to be a superficial wound. The man opened the door and literally pushed him in closing the door after him. Lee fell to his knees in the hall and then landed flat out on the carpet.
Outside Rodriguez was arguing with the other man. He wanted so much to finish it. Fuck the mission. Fuck the diamond and fuck that slut. He wanted to finish this suave bastard put a bullet between his ears. But the other man managed to placate him. Eventually he got back in the car and drove off.
~o~
Lee was in no fit shape. He had no idea how long he had been lying there but daylight was now streaming through the hall window shining directly in his eyes. He had to move. His head was pounding and his eyes couldn't seem to focus but still he managed to haul himself up from the blood stained carpet. He had a quick wash, changed clothes and took two painkillers with a cup of coffee before heading out. Once in the car he reached into the glove compartment and took out the first aid box. He put a band aid over the cut above his eye and told himself that he looked normal. He looked anything but. He had neglected to shave that morning and his hair had lost the groomed look it usually had. It hung over his forehead falling into his eyes.
~o~
"Rough night?" Amanda asked, somewhat tetchy as she typed out the second report linked to the Sharp's case.
Lee just nodded and headed over to the coffee machine. She went to get a cup for herself.
"I don't mind doing all the paperwork but would it be too much to ask that you bring some Danish pastries when you're late?"
She asked.
"I know, I forgot I'm sorry." He mumbled as he reached over to grab some sugar.
Amanda looked down.
She touched his sleeve and raised it slightly.
"You have a cigarette burn on your arm."
Lee quickly pulled down his sleeve.
"That's, that's not..."
"I saw that film in training Lee. The film on torture and abuse. That's the mark of a cigarette being ground into the skin. Jesus Christ Lee..."
"Keep your voice down," he growled.
He took a moment and then continued. "I was at a bar last night, things got kinda out of hand."
"Is that how you got the bump on your head, and the bruise to your jaw, you were at a bar?"
He nodded.
"I don't buy that for one second Lee. In all the time I've known you you've never shown such little regard for your position here. You've never turned up late for work and you've never drank the night before you were due to come in. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it Lee but it's just not you."
He took a moment, she could see his brain working trying to form a response.
"Lee talk to me, please!" She took his hands trying to make eye contact.
He couldn't answer. He pulled from her grasp and headed out towards the restroom.
Amanda looked to Billy, she could see him through the glass partition. He was in deep conversation with someone on the phone, he hadn't noticed the exchange.
Amanda frowned to herself. What was she going to say. Lee's new girlfriend was making him crazy. Was she really that jealous that she would report to Billy about his personal life. But deep down Amanda knew there was something more. There was a look in his eyes that disturbed her more than anything. If she didn't know Lee Stetson any better she would think that look was a look of fear.
