Crossed Roads
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)
By Thomas Mc

Note: (For those that have already read this story.) There has been no significant change in the plot. All I have done is add some character interaction details. This resulted in the addition of this new chapter and several additions in the two subsequent chapters.

Part 20: Preparations

Saturday Afternoon

Joe had arrived shortly after the police had shown up and stayed at their command post until the action was over. Then he raced up to his office and called Cathy's apartment. After getting no answer he called Cathy's best friend Jenny. All Jenny could tell him was that she had no idea where Cathy was but she believed that she was safe for now.

Joe then called the police to get an update on the situation downstairs. After that he sat back at his desk and worried. He knew Cathy could take care of herself, and he had long suspected that she had someone that watched over her, like a kind of guardian angel, but she had never come up against anything like this before except possibly Gabriel's organization. And that had very nearly resulted in her death . . . twice.

About an hour later, his phone rang and he pounced on it hoping it would be Cathy. It was the police reporting on the final results of this morning's actions. He was relieved to learn that Cathy had not turned up among the injured. Then he hung up, swore to himself that Cathy was going to drive him to drink yet, and went back to his worrying.

~ o ~

Catherine and her four new friends went Above to the small shop of a helper that the enemy could not possibly know about. Catherine tried to get Joe at home but there was no answer then she called the D.A. office on the off chance that Joe might be there on a Saturday. Sure enough Joe was there.

"Cathy where are you? Were you involved in that little shootout we had downstairs this morning?"

I'm afraid so, Joe." She admitted, reluctantly; he would find out soon enough anyway. "Several of the assassins were waiting for me in front of the building this morning and started shooting as soon as I got out of the cab."

Joe became extremely agitated and cut loose with quite a few colorful phrases about her foolish penchant for trouble. Though not as long or as colorful as the time he had learned of Moreno's duplicity, it was still very impressive.

Finally his venting had run its course. "Cathy, where are you? Are you OK?"

"I'm OK, Joe . . . Ah, one of them grazed me," she admitted, "but it was only a minor scratch. Just barely enough to make for a good story later." She paused a moment. When she spoke again Joe could hear a slight tremor in her voice. "Joe, they were using Uzis. Was anybody else hurt?"

Joe paused a moment. He didn't want to add to her problems but she wouldn't appreciate it if he withheld anything from her. "There were over a dozen injuries among the bystanders, some of them pretty serious, but so far no fatalities have been reported."

"Oh, Joe that's terrible. I should never have tried to go there this morning." She gulped, the tremor in her voice more pronounced now. "I knew they were after me, I . . . I just didn't think . . ."

Joe interrupted. "Listen, I don't want you shouldering any responsibility for this mess. It was the fault of those monsters with the guns, not you. Do you hear me?" Joe demanded of her sternly. After a long silence he continued. "Do you hear me, Cathy. I mean it. This was not your responsibility." He insisted.

After another moment she replied. "OK, Joe. But it still bothers me." She paused again. "Joe, what happened after we escaped?"

"The police arrived just moments after you apparently disappeared. They cordoned off the whole area for a three block radius. Four of the assassins were killed in shootouts with the police. One was captured alive but unconscious. The police believe there were three others that have escaped." Joe paused again. "Cathy, there are at least three of those guys still out there looking for you. I beg you, please, stay out of sight 'til this thing is cleared up. We have no idea where those other three assassins are now. These people are deadly serious and I don't want you hurt."

"Don't worry, Joe. I definitely intend to stay out of sight, 'cause there are a lot more than just three of them out there looking for me. Right now I need your help to get the necessary warrants by Monday so we can take these #$%&*!#^%s out, once and for all." She responded with emphasis. All four of her companions stared at her in surprise at her colorful language.

After taking a moment to recover from Catherine's rather colorful remark, Joe responded. "OK, Cathy I'll take care of everything for you. What do you need?"

Catherine replied. "I'll call you back shortly with a list, but first I need to make a few other phone calls to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. This is going to be huge. There are over a dozen office buildings and dozens of individuals that all have to be taken at about the same time. I also have to contact the F.B.I. since this is their territory and Amanda needs to bring her agency in on it as well. I'll call you back with that list as soon as I can."

Joe nodded as he responded. "OK, Radcliffe, I'll be waiting. This is your show, but I expect you to let me in on it when the fun begins."

"You got it Joe . . . and thanks."

As soon as he got off the phone Joe got in touch with a judge he knew and asked him to stand by for a list of names and locations that he needed warrants for by tomorrow. He emphasized that this was both critical and a matter of national security. Then he called Rita and got her to come in to help him dig out the information they would need for the warrants. All the while he was alternating between praising Catherine for accomplishing the impossible, cursing her for always getting herself into so much danger and thanking God, and whoever it was that watched over her, that she was still alive.

Catherine next called James, an agent of the F.B.I. and a relatively new friend.

"Hello James. It's Catherine Chandler. Look I have a situation here in New York that the F.B.I would be very interested in and I need your help." She then gave him a quick rundown about the situation including their current lack of a safe location to run an operation from.

James thought for a minute then responded. "Cathy I know of an old safe house in the Bronx that we rarely use anymore." He told her where it was located and how to access the place. "You can use that as a base of operations for yourself and your friends."

"What about the F.B.I.? Surly they will want to be part of this . . . I hope."

He responded. "I'll contact the local F.B.I. office and arrange to have a task force of agents at the ready by tomorrow morning, and I'll have the person in charge meet you at the safe house tomorrow."

"Thanks, James. I really appreciate all your help."

Next she called Henderson of the New York Police Department. He had been a friend of her father since that time three years ago when she had been assaulted and disappeared for ten days. He had led the search for her and he and was someone she had come to trust as well. Henderson said he would have a police contingent ready to go by morning and he would personally meet her at the address she gave him for the safe house. He confided that he was looking forward to being involved in the joint operation with the F.B.I.

Finally Catherine called Joe back and gave him the list of locations and people. Joe told her that he already had a judge waiting for the list and promised her that he would be there in the morning with the appropriate warrants. She also gave him the list of a dozen phone numbers from the phones they had found in that office last night. Joe told her he would have Rita check them out.

Lee called Billy and gave him a complete report of what they had learned and what they were planning, omitting any details that involved Vincent and his community. Lee accounted for his injuries by telling Billy that the floor of an abandoned building had collapsed beneath him while he had been following Catherine. The tunnel people became Catherine's homeless contacts.

Billy responded. "Everything's set here. I already have a task force on standby and they will arrive in New York late this afternoon. I will personally meet you at the F.B.I. safe house in the morning." He chuckled then continued. "Dr. Smith will have a fit when he learns about Remington Steele being involved in this, but he will also be exceedingly pleased to have beaten out the C.I.A. in this investigation." He paused a moment. "You've done very well Scarecrow. Dr. Smith may grouse about bringing the F.B.I. into this, but I think it was the right decision."

Lee responded. "Thanks for the support Billy. Oh, by the way we found out yesterday that Amanda's mother has an identical twin sister who happens to be the mother of Remington Steele's wife. They're first cousins."

Billy laughed so hard he choked. After he explained to Francine what was so funny, Lee could hear her cracking up in the background for the rest of the conversation. Billy then got serious. "Lee, I want to warn you to keep a wary eye on that Chandler woman. The C.I.A. still has no idea how she pulled off the escape of Elliot Burch, and those pictures of the dead assassins were pretty gruesome."

"Don't worry, Billy. I'll be careful." Lee responded. He didn't mention that he already knew what had happened to them.

After hanging up, Lee told Catherine what Billy had said about her. "You know Billy is going to want to know everything about what happened here, and I haven't quite figured out what to tell him. I can't tell him about Vincent or his people but I need to come up with plausible sounding explanations."

Catherine thought a moment. "Everyone knows about the old steam and utility tunnels under New York. Most of our access to Below is through those utility tunnels and there have been enough news articles about the homeless that are often found in them. Tell him that I used those." She thought some more. "As for the attacks, there is a type of martial arts weapon, I've seen them before, that does the same type of damage as Vincent's claws. Just say that I had the help of a couple of martial arts experts and you never got their names."

Lee thought about it and nodded. "That ought to work, especially if I remind him of the Isaac Stubbs connection. You know you're pretty good at this. You would make an excellent agent."

"You know about Isaac?" She asked surprised.

"Of course. Last Spring you got yourself involved in one of the C.I.A's less reputable operations. While they were busy trying to cover up a bad situation, you stepped in and did what they should have been doing and thoroughly embarrassed them. They have a complete file on you." He paused at the horrified look on her face. "Don't worry. They have no idea about Vincent or his people. That's what irritates them the most. They can't figure out how you managed to take out that foreign hit squad and rescue Elliot Burch." He grinned. "And you can bet the farm that I will never tell them anything." He grinned at her. "It's too much fun watching them go nuts over it."

Catherine smiled at that.

Next, Remington called Mildred to let her know they were OK and to explain the situation. Mildred said she would contact a good friend at the I.R.S. and have him call Joe to see if he could be of any help. Remington also passed along the news about Laura's and Amanda's mothers. Mildred was fascinated by that information and told him that she was expecting to hear all the details as soon as they got back.

Later that afternoon Joe got a call from Mildred's friend at the I.R.S. He offered to help and was able to track down several of the names on Joe's list. He also promised to look into the financial records of all those on the list and see if there were any names that had been missed.

Catherine discussed the results of the various calls with the rest. Things were looking up and it appeared that they would be able to pull this off tomorrow rather than waiting until Monday like they had originally intended. Another round of calls were made and it was agreed that they would try to take the spy organization down tomorrow.

~ o ~

They went back down to the tunnels for the evening meal and to discuss strategies.

During their discussions the subject of the tunnel community's part in this came up. They all also agreed again to protect the secret of the tunnel community. Remington, Lee, Laura and Amanda all hinted that in exchange for their silence, they wanted permission to come back for a visit occasionally. Vincent told them that they would always be welcome. Father reluctantly agreed to all of them being accepted as helpers.

Paul asked Father for permission to remain below as a permanent resident. Even if tomorrow's operation was completely successful, there would still be plenty of people out there that would harbor ill will towards him. He had nothing left for him above and couldn't think of anything he would like better that spending the remainder of his life down here in these tunnels. He said that he had become rather fond of this place and its people. His request was granted.

Abigail said that she had also become very fond of the people down here and would like to be accepted as a helper. Father gave his nod. He suspected that she would probably be coming below fairly often anyway to visit a certain new resident.

They all spent the evening resting and preparing for tomorrows action. Remington, Paul and Lee ended up in Father's library discussing movie spies versus Paul and Lee's experiences of the real world. Amanda, Abigail and Laura spent the time in the dining chamber catching up on a lifetimes worth of family news.

Catherine and Vincent spent the evening in his chamber just enjoying each other's company. Catherine again fell asleep in his arms and he just held her and enjoyed watching her sleep until he finally drifted off as well.

Father spent the evening discussing the situation with Mary and worrying about the future of his little community. Vincent believed in these newcomers but he had trouble trusting anyone connected to the government. Mary reminded him that Catherine, as an Assistant District Attorney, essentially was the government and not only had she protected their secret but she had done a lot both for the community and especially for Vincent. He grumbled but accepted her assertion that he should trust Catherine and Vincent's judgment.

Just before retiring for the night, Father went by Vincent's chamber. He smiled to himself at the sight of Catherine and Vincent sound asleep together in Vincent's oversized chair. He quietly lowered the tapestry across Vincent's doorway and headed back to his own chamber. Since the day she had brought Vincent back from the abyss he had come, not only to accept her in Vincent's life but to actually welcome it.

~ x x x x x ~

Continued in Part 21

"Beauty and the Beast" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "Remington Steele" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network.

No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.

V.12.04.06