A Deadly Visitor

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Chapter 14

Click!

Secretly ensconced in Koslov's rented room at the Russian Embassy, Lee gave a silent cheer as the safecracking device clicked again, indicating another number had been decoded. Two numbers down. Lee knew he needed to hear only one more click before the safe could be opened.

Already, Lee had placed the authentic Imperial Egg on the night stand table, ready to be exchanged with the fake one once the safe was opened.

He scramble off the bed to stand beside it and wait. That was the hard part. The waiting. He willed himself not to, but his mind had drifted to thoughts of Amanda. She certainly is a lot braver than he thought what a suburban housewife should be. She was game for anything as long as it would right the wrong.

His smile disappeared when...Wait...was that a creak of a door he just heard?

Years of doing secretive spy work had honed his senses to a fine bladed point. His heart started a slow pound. He could feel a presence and instinctively knew he was being watched. And it wasn't Amanda. She knew better than to sneak up on him when they were in the middle of a mission.

The air was so quiet he could almost hear his own breathing. And the hairs sticking straight up on the back of his neck told him someone was getting closer, despite the person's stealth-like approach. He could feel his adrenaline rushing throughout his body.

All the signs were telling him to be the attacker and not the attackee.

And he needed to be that person NOW.

With the element of surprise in his favor, Lee swiftly landed a roundhouse kick to the opponent's midsection. He was slightly taken aback when his foot landed on something tiny but tough. He heard a female groan and it gave him pause as he turned full around to face his opponent.

Geez Louise! He was shocked as he got a good look at her, Any other time, he would have dated her instead of fighting her!

By this time Monique had recovered. Her look was of contained anger as she managed to catch Lee with a perfectly placed kick to the rib cage, sending him flailing backwards.

Nope. She'd make a lousy date.

He was able to block the second kick and the game was on.

From the bathroom, Amanda was still pushing the snake cable down the drain when she suddenly halted her work. Her ears perked as she heard the noise coming from the bedroom. It wasn't the normal forcing-the-safe-open noise, either, it was...something being hit several times over and then some loud thumping noises...

Which meant one thing.

Lee was in trouble!

Quickly dropping the drain snake and wiping her hands on her worn overalls, she dashed out of the bathroom and arrived at the bedroom in no time. Her mouth dropped at what she saw.

Lee and a woman were now fully engaged in hand-to-hand combat, executing their fight modes in rapid, dizzying combinations.

At one point, Lee executed one of his lightning quick jabs to the woman's mouth, causing blood to ooze out. The operative snapped her head back and stepped back for a breather.

Then the operative licked the blood from her lips and slowly smiled.

Lee could only stare, rooted to his spot. He found the woman's reaction odd. And really creepy.

Then he spotted Amanda.

"Amanda, get out of here!" he ordered her, while never taking his eyes off the female assassin.

This gave Monique time to pull a switchblade from a sheath in her sleeve as she expertly switched it from one hand to the next. Her eyes lit up and she stepped towards Lee, holding her knife in a menacing manner.

"No!" Amanda yelled out.

She needed to do something.

Her natural instincts kicked in and because Amanda didn't know how to fight, she did the only thing she could do. She used her own body weight to stop the woman's forward momentum. Amanda threw herself at the foot of the operative, holding tight to the woman's ankle.

Monique looked down at the new invader with pure hatred in her eyes and it took her a split second to react.

"Imbecile!" Monique yelled out as she reached down and blindly made two slashing gestures at Amanda with her knife.

"Noooo!" Lee cried out, rushing forward.

Amanda had lifted her left forearm to shield herself from the blow, but the knife had done its damage. Both of the slashes had penetrated Amanda's lifted arm.

"Ahhhhhh!" The cuts caused Amanda to cry out in pain as she let go of Monique's leg.

"Amanda!" Lee could only see rage now as he lunged out at Monique.

But Monique was ready. She made stabbing motions towards Lee but he managed to sidestep the blade. Bringing his leg up, Lee landed a successful kick on the bottom rib of the woman's cage. With the air taken out of her, Lee had his opening. He punched Monique in the throat and grabbed her knife arm, yanking it down.

Monique lost her balance. Lee pinned her right arm behind her back, driving the assassin facedown towards the floor, knocking the knife out of her hand. But Monique would not give up. She reached down and grabbed Lee's ankles and yanked as hard as she could.

He fell.

Hard.

Lee struggled to get on his knees but Monique was faster. She charged at him from the back and wrapped her right arm around his neck in a chokehold. As Lee struggled, Monique grabbed her own right wrist with her left hand, locking Lee's neck under her armpit in her attempt to choke him to death.

Lee felt himself losing consciousness as his windpipe was being crushed.

Monique's next step was to fall backwards intentionally, using her momentum to bring Lee down and snap his neck. Lee felt himself being pulled in reverse and knew he only had seconds to live. He could already feel himself losing consciousness.

Must keep fighting...

As he continued to struggle, he heard a Thwack! sound.

With relief he found himself breathing, her grip had strangely began to loosen. Escaping her grip, he turned around and saw that Amanda had used a lamp to whack the woman on the back with it.

The assassin, however, was relentless.

Now facing him, she made a forward movement with her arms, intent on gripping his throat again, but Lee was ready. He grabbed onto the outer part of her arms to stop her and then made a sharp rocking movement backwards, hurling Monique's body forward over him while dropping himself hard on his back as she went sailing above him.

Monique fell headfirst onto the floor.

And when he turned around to face his opponent again, he could see the assassin's body had ended up sprawled on the ground like a forgotten ragged doll.

Now that it was thankfully over, Lee clasped his neck as he began coughing and gasping for air.

"Oh my gosh!" Amanda exclaimed, "Are you alright, Lee?"

Still coughing, he could only wave his hand to let her know he was fine.

Next Amanda turned her attention to the fallen body, " She's not moving!"

After recovering, Lee bent down to investigate.

The crumpled body of the woman remained still and her head was twisted at an unnatural angle. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, unblinking. But to make sure, Lee checked the pulse at the side of her neck.

Amanda swallowed hard, "Is she..."

"Yeah, she's dead," he responded in a monotone voice, not sounding the least bit sorry.

But Amanda looked distressed, "Ohhhh, do you mean to tell me that I was the cause of her being ki-"

He cut her off, "Amanda, we can't worry about who killed her, how she was killed or why she is dead. The important thing is that she can't harm us anymore...Now...will you please do me a favor and go over to the bed?" Lee instructed her.

What? Amanda looked shocked. He wanted her on the bed?

She looked tentative, "Lee, I'm sure this is NOT is the right time-"

Lee gave a frustrated grunt.

"Not like that, Amanda! I need you to go over to the bed and SIT so I can take a look at your injury!"

A look of understanding came to Amanda's face, "Ohhhh..."

She obediently went to sit at the edge of the bed. He came over, sat next to her and hovered over her left arm, carefully examining it.

"Does it look bad?" she asked.

He diagnosed, "Luckily she didn't cut you deep. Both cuts seem to be superficial wounds."

"Really?" Amanda asked, rather disappointed, "because it feels more like life-threatening thrusts to me!"

Lee smiled and took out a bandana he had in his back pocket, part of his plumber's 'costume'.

"What are you doing now?" Amanda asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? You're still bleeding from the wounds of your 'life-threatening thrusts'," Lee calmly told her, "so I plan to stop it."

Amanda appreciated his thoughtfulness.

"You need to keep your arm up," he instructed her, as he held onto her arm and then let go," I have to make sure the injured area is elevated before I can apply direct pressure to it."

Amanda nodded, holding her arm up, "I learned that, too. Once Philip's troop had gone hiking in the woods and one of the scouts had a bleeding scratch from the thick brush. We halted the hike and Philip applied his knowledge of first aid to stop the bleeding. He actually earned a badge for that."

"Well, it's a little more serious than a scratch from a rough bush," Lee commented, "but hopefully, I'll also earn a first-aid badge for my efforts! You don't need to worry, Amanda, I'll have you patched up in nothing flat!"

He gave her a comforting smile, which put his dimples on full display, making. Amanda's heart melt. She watched intently as he then took the bandana and pressed down directly on her wound.

He saw Amanda grimace, but she never complained.

A real trooper.

But he couldn't let up as he continued to apply firm pressure. Sweat formed on his upper lip as he realized that he was the cause of her pain, but he needed to stop the bleeding. Usually it took roughly 15 minutes before the bleeding would stop, but he knew he didn't have that much time, so he applied harder pressure, perhaps a little too much.

He saw her wince again, but she never cried out.

"Sorry," he apologized, "about hurting you."

"No... I'm fine," she insisted bravely as she took a deep breath in and out.

He wished he could just hold her in his arms and tell her she would never hurt again. But he couldn't guarantee that and besides, he had to treat her like any other field agent.

Click!

They heard the sound of the safecracking device as it located its final number.

Lee looked directly at Amanda.

"Amanda, I have to leave you for a sec," Lee explained as she listened carefully, "I need to quickly exchange the fake Imperial Egg for the real one. After all, that's why we're here, right? Do you think you can apply steady, direct pressure to your own wound? When I finish with the exchange, I'll wrap up your arm. Hopefully most of the bleeding will have stopped by then. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Amanda nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation.

"I'm to apply steady, direct pressure to my elevated arm while you make the exchange," she succinctly summarized, "then my wound will get wrapped up by you."

Lee gave her an encouraging smile.

No matter how stressful the situation, Amanda always remained calm and level-headed. Half the spies at the Agency couldn't do that. It was not something that could be trained; being smart and courageous under tremendous stress are qualities that come from within.

He nodded and went over to the safe.

Giving a quick prayer, he tugged at the handle of the safe. Immediately the safe's door opened and Lee made the exchange. He was just putting the picture back over the safe when Amanda called out.

"Lee!" she warned him, "I hear some yelling! People are knocking on the door!"

Sure enough, when Lee tweaked his ears, he could hear the sound of men's voices yelling at the front door.

He took a glance at the disheveled room, the blood stains, the lamp on the floor, the safecracking device, the fake Imperial Egg and most of all, the body of a dead woman. How would they explain all this to the Russian authorities?

In addition, they were also in the Russian Embassy under false identities. Billy had already informed them that the US government will also disclaim any involvement regarding the stolen Imperial Egg.

They were on their own and there was nowhere they could run or hide and time was running out.

But even with everything that was about to happen, Lee's top concern was Amanda's safety. He quickly went over to her. Using the bandana from her back pocket, he kept his blue bandana in place while he quickly but carefully wrapped her red bandana around her arm.

"Thank you," Amanda stated softly, after he tied the knot securely on her arm, "but shouldn't we be thinking about a plan on what to do about-"

BAM!

It was the sound of the front door bursting open and then they heard several hurried, running footsteps heading towards the bedroom where they were situated.

Soon an angry Major Markovic rushed in, with two Russian guards directly behind him, all of them with guns drawn.

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