Chapter 25

"Amanda? Are you still with me?' Paul asked.

"Yes," she said weakly. "My head really hurts. Is there any water?"

Paul looked at her small form lying on the couch. Her breathing was slow but steady. Every once in a while, she would wince when she would try to move her head. Paul brushed back the hair from her face and gently squeezed her hand. "No, I'm afraid there's not."

"I'm really thirsty," she said in a hushed tone.

"We'll be out of here soon. Just hang on. Besides, I'm about to tell you how the Scarecrow was born. It was a few days later and we were back in the states. I was in my office when Harry came in to see me."

SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK

Paul was seated at his desk when Harry strolled into the office and shut the door behind him. With him, he carried a white orchid plant that he gently placed on the coffee table and had a seat on the couch.

"Is that a peace offering for insisting that I take Stetson with me?" Paul said sarcastically.

Harry laughed. "Do you need it to be? I thought you had a pretty damn successful mission! Got out the two East Germans AND took down Lukka, and from what I hear, Lee was a very big part of the success of it all. Am I wrong?"

Paul got up from his desk and walked across the room to Harry. He sat heavily into the arm chair opposite the couch. He sat for a moment and ran his hands through his hair and let them rest on his face. Harry looked at Paul with a small amount of concern. Suddenly, Paul removed his hands and popped his head up.

"Damn it, Harry, I hate when you are right! Stetson is a damn good agent, damn good. I couldn't believe it when he tricked Makenzie into admitting that she was Lukka! I worked with her for months and never once suspected her. He worked with her for a few days and figured it out."

Harry leaned back and once again chuckled. "See? I told you! Some of the best gut instincts I have ever seen, if not the best. I seem to remember you calling me shortly after you arrived in Germany and telling me that he was a nightmare, a brainless hippie I believe you called him."

"And don't forget arrogant as hell." Paul added as he also chuckled. "And can you believe that he actually cut his hair?"

"Did you have something to do with that?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. I had to yell at him within the first 15 minutes of the mission. I ended the lecture by telling him that he had better shape up if he wanted to be taken seriously and to get a damn hair cut!" Paul began to laugh thinking about that.

"And he did it!" Harry interjected. "Looks good, too! Will make him much more useable in the field. Gives him that James Bond type of look."

"Oh, God, Harry! Don't tell him that! His head is big enough!" Paul said.

Harry was silent for a moment and looked at Paul. His bright blue eyes sparkled as his thoughts formulated in his mind.

"So, are you going to follow through on our agreement?" Harry asked with a gentle tone but serious as a heart attack.

Paul took a beat and then answered. "You know, Harry. When you first brought up the idea of Stetson on my special ops team a few weeks ago, I thought you had completely lost your mind. I never in a million years thought that I would even consider him, but now.."

Paul became silent for a moment. Harry tried not to show any emotion on his face as he eagerly awaited Paul's answer.

"Now I have to say that I think he would be a very good fit for the special ops. I've got to make it clear to him that he can't go rogue again. If he does, I may just kill him myself. But, yeah…..I think he will be a very good addition to the team. He really is a good agent." Paul concluded.

Harry smiled. "Did you tell him that?"

Paul quickly answered, "Hell, no! He wouldn't be able to handle it. His ego would get in the way. It's better if for the time being he's still afraid of me."

"Not going to let him see the real you, huh? You want him to see you as the Wizard of Oz and not the man behind the curtain." Harry added.

Paul laughed at this. "Yes! Yes that is it exactly…exactly! It's better for him to see me as the all-knowing, all powerful Oz right now that he is afraid to piss off or disappoint."

"How is the rest of the team coming?" Harry inquired.

"Happily, I think I finally have found a good group of people. I think we will be a great special ops group." Paul said.

"Have you come up with a name for this group yet?" Harry wanted to know.

The lightbulb went on in Paul's mind and his face shone with excitement. "Yes, Harry. I think I just did."

"Well…." Harry said as he waited for the name.

"I'm not quite ready to reveal it just yet. Still kicking around a few last-minute ideas." Paul replied, his mind growing deeper in thought.

Harry stood up from the couch. "Well, very good then. I'm glad that you saw the brainless hippie in the same way that I saw him. He will be a good addition to your team. I will leave you to your thoughts, oh great and powerful, Oz!"

Harry gave a nod of the head and shut the door behind him.

"Thank you, Harry. You just gave me the last piece of the puzzle….a name." Paul said in a very satisfied tone.

~Two weeks later~

Lee stepped into a conference room in a part of the agency that he didn't even know existed until about 10 minutes ago. He didn't recognize any of the people in the room, save for one-Paul Barnes. A lump formed in his throat as he made eye contact with Paul. What was this room? Who were these people? Why was he there?

"Stetson, please take your seat and we can get started." Paul instructed Lee.

"I would like to take a moment to welcome you and congratulate you for being chosen to be on my special ops task force. You have been hand selected, by me, to be a member of this unit because you are seen as the best of the best. We will be doing TOP SECRET missions that will be much more dangerous than anything you have been involved with before. All information about these assignments are to be kept confidential, and I mean that with the strictest of meanings. Because what we will be doing will be so dangerous and so top secret, you will not refer to anyone by their actual names, but by their code names only. This group will be named 'The Oz Network, and you will refer to me as The Wizard."

Paul began to pass out folders to each of the people in the room. Lee began to wonder if he was called to this meeting in error. There is no way that Paul Barnes would have chosen him to be on his special ops team. Lee watched as he handed out the folders to the men across the table, to the woman with the brown hair that sat next to him….there was once folder left. Lee swallowed hard thinking that this was the moment that Paul realized that Lee wasn't supposed to be in this room. Then suddenly, with a "SLAP" the folder was tossed onto the table in front of him. Lee quickly opened the folder and saw his picture staring back at him. Beside the picture, written in big bold letters were the words "CODE NAME: SCARECROW". A huge smile spread across Lee's face. Paul smirked at him and began to walk away, whistling "If I Only Had a Brain".

Paul heard Amanda attempting to laugh as she heard the conclusion of the story. Her face winced in pain, but that didn't stop her from laughing.

"So….the brainless hippie, became the Scarecrow. Very clever, Mr. Wizard." Amanda said as she attempted to focus on Paul.

He smiled and said "well, once Harry compared me to the Wizard of Oz, it all just clicked. I thought the Oz Network was a great name for the group and that Scarecrow fit Lee so perfectly. When we first meet the scarecrow, we think that he is pretty dumb because he has no brain. But as we get to know him, we realize that he is actually the smartest one of them all, and that is Lee."

"yes, that is…" Amanda began.

Suddenly, they heard a great crashing on what they assumed was the door that was sealed behind them. It was unclear if someone was coming in or trying to bring down the building around them. Paul stood up and moved closer to the sounds. He looked around the room for something to use as a weapon. He grabbed a folding chair and made himself as flat as he could against the wall. The banging noises stopped but were soon followed by sounds against the door. Paul lifted the chair above his head and prepared to swing at the first thing he saw coming through the door. Slowly, the door opened. Paul began to swing but stopped abruptly when he heard. "Amanda? Amanda are you in there?"

Lee came through the door, gun drawn. Francine was close behind him.

"Scarecrow?" Paul said in a shocked tone. "Scarecrow, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Saving your ass! Where is Amanda?" Lee replied.

"She's over there on the couch. She's got a pretty bad concussion. Maybe a cracked skull, I'm not sure. You better get NEST here." Paul said. Francine looked at Lee and then nodded. She went back out to make the call to the NEST medical team. Lee rushed to the couch where he saw a very frail looking Amanda. Her neck and shoulder were stained with blood and he could see her hair was matted with more of it.

"Amanda? Amanda, can you hear me? It's ok, I'm here. We're going to get you out." Lee said as he gently brushed his thumb against her cheek.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. "Oh! It's you! The brainless hippie!" she said with a giggle.

Lee looked at Amanda, very confused. "Amanda, it's me….Lee." He stared at her for a moment and then addressed Paul. "How long has she been speaking gibberish like this?"

"She's not speaking gibberish. I was just telling her the story of how you got your code name." Paul stated. "I wanted to talk to her about something to keep her awake and that's what she wanted to know."

Lee looked at Paul astonished. "You told Amanda how I got my code name? I've asked you about 1,000 times and you refused to tell me! But you told Amanda?"

"Well, it's on a need to know only basis, and she, well…..needed to know." Paul said with a smirk.

Amanda squeezed Lee's hand refocusing his attention on her.

"Lee…." She began to speak, an obviously painful process in her condition.

"Shhhhh! Amanda don't try to speak. The medical team will be here soon." Lee said. He gestured to Paul to go find Francine and see where they were. He gave Paul a signal indicating that it was all clear up above. Paul left in search of answers.

"Lee," she began again, "I didn't like being on this mission without you. I really missed you. I'm glad you're back. How did you find me down here?"

"Well…gut instinct, mostly. I knew where you were and came and found you. I can't really explain it." He said.

She squeezed his hand again and said, "You don't need to."