5
Scotch Thoughts
A Class Act
Lee came in through the front door and carelessly tossed his suit jacket onto the nearest piece of furniture. He poured himself a glass of scotch and basically threw himself into the couch. He was glad to have Station One over. At least the Agency powers that be wouldn't pick him as the "ringer" again for a while; he had done his duty… and beyond. Being the ringer for a bunch of recruits was bad enough, but being the target for some enemy assassin hadn't originally been in the job description this week. Oh hell, it was just as well anyway. At least they got Leonid Vardosk and his time hadn't been wasted at the training camp. Actually, what had really baffled him was that Vardosk and Pavlovich had mistaken Amanda for the ringer! Amanda?
She really is something, he thought, but what? He had been completely dependent upon her insights in Salzburg on their last case together and they were able to successfully locate Emily. But this time, she had completely bungled all of the training exercises at Station One, and yet, she had discovered the connection that exposed Peggy as the enemy. He paused his thoughts and took a big gulp of his scotch.
He really hadn't wanted to go to Station One and he definitely didn't want to go if Amanda was there. As much as he had admitted to himself that he was fond of working with her on occasion and that she was useful at times on a mission, he wasn't willing to have to be around a whole group of his coworkers and other recruits as well as Amanda King. He couldn't help it; when she was around, he was always focused on what she was doing and where she was. Well, he felt responsible for her, her safety and her training that was all. How could he be Scarecrow, the professional, when he had to always watch out for Amanda King, the housewife?
He took another gulp from the glass. He seemed to be having another heated conversation with himself tonight. One part of his brain was arguing very convincingly for how ridiculous it was to encourage Amanda to continue to pursue official training, but the other part couldn't help but acknowledge that she had quite a knack for contributing in some small, but necessary, way to help to solve his cases.
Amanda just got too carried away during a case to remain objective. She was so innocent and she hated guns. She was someone to protect and defend, not someone to place in the middle of the fray and expose to the kind of life he led as an operative. On the other hand, she had been the one to discover the key bit of evidence and put together the information each step of the way at Station One. Even though most of her discoveries had been just lucky breaks, they had been her lucky breaks and he had benefited from having her by his side. Maybe that is all it had been for her, just being in the right place at the right time.
Gripping his glass, he could easily remember the breathless and scared tone of her voice though, as she responded to Billy after the explosion of his tent the other night. Putting himself forward as the bait for an assassin was par for the course for him. Everyone else who worked with him on an assignment understood that. Exhaling loudly, he allowed that if Billy just gave her jobs that stayed in her skill range and didn't expose her to much danger, everyone would benefit. It was just important that she not get in over her head. It was important that he protect Amanda from the more dangerous parts of his job as an intelligence operative. Maybe now that she had experienced Station One she would be satisfied with the kind of work that they were able to do together.
There seemed to be no resolution for his internal argument. All he knew was that with Amanda by his side as he and Billy discussed their next step, he had felt a little less free to put himself forward to lure the assassins out. Somehow, his professional edge seemed diminished because he knew that she cared what would happen to him, because she had felt fear for him. How was he going to operate as an agent if he had to worry about Amanda's feelings all the time?
Lee swallowed the last of his drink and stared at the empty glass. He had had enough of thinking about Amanda King and her role with the Agency. What he really had wanted was the warmth of the sun in the French Riviera. Well, since he had missed that, maybe he would take Jillian up on her offer of a weekend in the Poconos. It might not be sand and sun and glamorous French women, but Jillian had her own charms and the mountains of Pennsylvania were beautiful this time of year. It would be worth it to get away from DC, the Agency and new recruits, and Amanda King. He really had taken on a lot of challenges this past year, and he deserved a vacation.
He picked himself up off the couch and went into his bedroom to get ready for bed. He was carrying a bit of satisfaction about the state of his work and the training of the new recruits, and he turned back the sheets and climbed into the bed. He would enjoy his little vacation, he decided, as his head hit the pillow. It didn't take long for him to drift off into a comfortable sleep. For some reason he was dreaming of himself standing beside his bed. He was holding a beautiful woman close to him; it felt good to have her close to him because he was comforting her. He didn't often associate that kind of feeling with holding a woman in his bedroom. From the edge of consciousness he recognized that the scene was even stranger because there was a scarecrow already occupying his bed.