Ilyana Kasimira wondered, not for the first time, if this new posting was a promotion or a punishment. For the last three weeks, she had been the special project coordinator for the KGB in Washington. The three men she was responsible for managing were KGB legends. Their missions and methods were studied by trainees and their successes toasted at the Kremlin. The magnitude of their failures was still being concealed.

Doneck, Makarov, and Gregory had been cooped up in the Soviet Embassy for weeks, discussing and debating how they could correct their past failures. Doneck's plan not only hadn't killed Scarecrow but gained the West an antidote to PD-2. Makarov had been traded, but only after the Americans had captured him, his grand-daughter, and Rostov. Sonia Chenko and Rostov had both defected rather than being sent to the Gulag in Murmansk. Gregory had somehow managed to trade a painter for an American agent. In the folder before Ilyana, there were countless other failures that could be attributed to Scarecrow and his partner, the mysterious Mrs. King.

"She is a suburban housewife, nothing more." Makarov scoffed, convinced that no woman could possibly affect matters of such importance. Ilyana rolled her eyes in disgust at the pig-headed misogyny.

"A suburban housewife? That is somehow randomly paired with the Agency's top operative?" Doneck scoffed. "I have learnt that it was because if her that the PD-2 was detected. She was able to convince Scarecrow to seek medical assistance."

"Mrs. King does what she does very well." Gregory contributed, "Both times that I was defeated by them, it was the work of Mrs. King that tipped the scales. We can anticipate what Scarecrow will try to do but we have no means of guessing what Mrs. King will do."

"There is a way." Ilyana said softly. The three men continued to argue for a moment longer, debating whether or not Mrs. King was significant. "Enough! I have read a report that Scarecrow is prepared to do anything, including committing treason, to save Mrs. King. We will capture Mrs. King and give Scarecrow the choice: either he becomes a double agent or she will die." The three men sat in silence for a moment.

"How?"


Amanda glanced at her watch as she left the drugstore, on her way to collect Phillip and Jamie at their after school clubs. She was absolutely famished which was why she'd factored a side trip to The Queen of Tarts, a fabulous little bakery that Lee had discovered. She'd buy a small individual tart for now and one of their large pies for dessert. She'd quite happily do all of the groceries here but that would probably spark a rebellion.

Pulling up in front of the bakery, Amanda hurried inside. There were at least twenty different flavours of pie to choose from. It was bordering on cruelty to a pregnant woman to make her choose. Worse, the flavours changed every day. "Hi Mrs. Stetson!" The girl behind the counter greeted.

"Hi Camille." Amanda considered the choices. "Ooh, those look amazing!"

"Blackberry and custard. We also have some strawberry and basil one that people are raving about. Oh, and we're trying out new savoury flavours too. I have tomato and goat cheese or apple and bacon." Amanda groaned. Lee had threatened to do an intervention if she increased the daily pie rations. She supposed pie for supper and another for dessert was probably a bit unreasonable. "I'll have one of the mini apple and bacon tarts for now, but a family sized blackberry and custard please. Don't bother with anything beyond a napkin for the apple and bacon one, I'll have that now." Amanda said, delighted as Camille handed over the treat. Within a moment, Amanda was heading out of the shop with her purchase. Stowing the pie box in the backseat, she froze as she felt the unmistakable pressure of a gun barrel poke her back.

"We meet again, Mrs. King." A vaguely familiar voice murmured. Straightening up, she caught sight of Alexis Makarov in the side mirror. "I'm afraid you'll need to come with me." Grasping her arm, Alexis forced her into another vehicle. Looking at the driver, she realised it was none other than the Russian puppet-master, Gregory. A young woman sat in the front passenger seat.

"We meet at last, Mrs. King. Your reputation precedes you."


"What about Marcus?" Billy asked, watching Lee and Francine pour over the map Cap de Far. They had received news that the rebels in neighbouring Si-Loin were eying the deposits of Tantallum in the small country. Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of one of the MPs.

"Yes?" Billy asked impatiently.

"Sir, Mrs. Marsden is looking for Mr. Stetson. It seems a police officer is at the entrance with his sons."

"What?" Lee glanced at his watch. "Amanda was meant to pick them up hours ago!"

"Go." Billy ordered. Knowing that he could not use the closet elevator to go straight up to the Georgetown foyer, he made his way along the hall to the back elevator. As soon as the doors opened, he ran the length of the hallway and then casually strolled out onto the mezzanine. When the boys saw him, they raced up to launch themselves at him. Hugging them tightly, he rubbed their backs until they loosened their grips.

"Mom never came." Jamie whispered. "But I remembered where this is, so when Principal Davis called the police, we asked them to bring us here."

"You did the right thing." Lee assured him. "Come on, guys. I need to speak with the police officer so he can go back out." The boys each took one of Lee's hands, sticking close as they made their way down the flight of stairs. It reminded Lee of just how young they were. With Joe and Carrie in Estoccia for a business trip, and Dotty visiting her sister in Oregon, Lee was suddenly an only parent. Pulling the officer aside, Lee discreetly flashed his Agency badge at the officer. "What do you know?"

"Nothing, really. The school tried calling the parents and couldn't reach them. They called us when it got to be past a reasonable time. We sent a patrol around to the house. There are no vehicles and the lights were all out. When the school double checked the boys' contacts list, they found your name but the information was out of date. When the boys said you worked for IFF and were probably here, we realised that the situation might be much more complicated than a simple parental delay."

"I'm not sure yet, but it may be. We'll take it from here. Thank you." Lee saw the officer out the front door and turned to the boys. Forcing himself into agent mode, Lee considered the options. "Boys, do you mind sitting in my office for a few minutes while I get a few things sorted?"

"Can we come with you?" Lee looked to Mrs. Marsden for help. He'd never before considered just how small the IFF front building was. The boys would become suspicious if he left them in his office and then disappeared. As far as they knew, the building was the size of a standard townhouse. If disappeared and they went looking for him, they'd panic when it appeared he'd vanished too. He couldn't do that to them.

What would Amanda say when she learnt that he'd spilled the beans within five minutes of his first solo parenting adventure? On the other hand, it was unthinkable to just take the boys home and then wait until they were distracted before alerting the Agency. Shrugging, he decided that there was no real choice to be made.

"Okay guys, you can come with me. But… I need to tell you something first." Crouching down to their height, he made sure they were looking him in the eye. "Your mom and I don't really work at a film company. That's a good thing right now because I'm going to be able to get things done very quickly to find her. But it means that you guys are going to see things that are going to surprise you. I know this is going to seem very strange, but I want you to stick with me. And I want your promise, right here and right now, that you won't ever talk to anyone but me or your mom about what you're going to see here. Even your grandma doesn't know so until your mom and I get a chance to talk to her about it, you can't say anything. Got it?"

"Got it." The boys chimed.

"Now, promise me that you'll keep everything you see absolutely secret. It's very, very important."

"I don't know about Phillip, but I promise." Jamie said softly.

"What do you mean you don't know about me, wormbrain? Of course I promise."

"Oy!" Lee barked. "We don't have time for name calling or fighting, got it?" The two boys nodded. "Mrs. Marsden, can you please give the boys visitors' passes?"

"Of course, Mr. Stetson."