14

Scotch Thoughts

The Artful Dodger

Lee walked through the door to his apartment and headed straight for the freezer. Opening it he retrieved the ice pack that he always had handy for things like this. Next he grabbed the bottle of pain relievers and headed into the living room. Removing his suit jacket and kicking off his shoes he let himself down onto his comfortable couch. He poured himself his glass of scotch and leaned back into the cushions while removing the tie bar, loosening the tie and collar and placed the ice pack on his sore jaw. Ahh, that was better, he thought. It was a good thing to finally relax. He had been on edge for a few weeks now and this last case had really irked him.

"I've seen your best, this time I want to see results" that is what General Morgan had charged them with at the beginning of the case. His words had rankled Lee. He was the best, damn it! But Lee had wanted to see results as well. It had driven him mad that America would be a sitting duck if all three sheets of the MAB system had been taken. He had needed to prove his professionalism in his job to the Army, and after the whole fiasco with Eva, he had especially needed to prove it to himself. Having the security system that he had designed questioned was the last straw and he had been riled.

He hadn't wanted to work with Amanda on this one. He had wanted to keep it professional. Another agent had been what he'd had in mind, but Amanda was the only one available. He had to admit it actually hadn't been too bad having her with him; even though he had been short tempered, she had been her usual gracious self. Her comments to him in the car about him being the best at what he does and knowing that she too thought it was important that they prove the Agency hadn't fouled up had been nice to hear. Lee had meant it when he had told her it was nice to have a vote of confidence now and then. It had been a while since he had received one. He realized Amanda had proven to be a great one for building up his confidence; she had never given him anything but support, even during the Eva debacle.

"What have you done for her?" a nagging voice in his head asked. He didn't like it that his thoughts had betrayed him and asked that question. He didn't want to answer it. But he tried to take a drink of the scotch and deal with it. His big fat lip got in the way of the sip and some of the liquid dribbled down his chin. He wiped it off with his sleeve and gathered his thoughts. He had gotten furious at her. Well, rightly so, she really needed to be more careful. If she was going to be on the dating scene she needed to learn a thing or two and not be so naïve. Maybe it was easier when she had been seeing Dan?…whatever his name was. Or maybe he was just going to have to keep a closer eye on her personal life. It really made him uneasy to think about Amanda out there being preyed upon by worthless lotharios, or worse yet someone using her because she was often with him.

But he had been too harsh on her, he knew it the moment all his angry words came tumbling out of his mouth. He hadn't meant to sound that angry. It was just that Amanda should never have been used and she should never have accepted a concubine ring! Amanda was pretty good at reading people, she should have been able to tell that Allan Squires was a scoundrel; she had figured Eva out… He stopped himself from following that line of thinking. He had been trying hard to leave that one behind him, it didn't help that Amanda had now had a somewhat similar experience. It had occurred to him too late that she might need some support too; in fact the thought finally hit him as he watched Amanda's face as she looked at the Dodger after letting the air out of his tires. That was when the Dodger's fist had hit his mouth too.

Taking her out for dinner had been the way Lee had decided to try to make it up to her. He wasn't sure why he had picked Le Trianon. Maybe having a meal there with him would give her better thoughts of the place; that was probably it. He realized that part of the reason he had taken her out was that he was playing with the idea that if he made sure she had more opportunities to be out in social settings, like dinner tonight, he could make sure that she was safe. It didn't seem like too bad an idea as long as she didn't think their outings were "dates." Lee knew that in reality this rationale was flawed. It wasn't fair to Amanda for him to think that way about her life and her choices. She was a grown and independent woman, and he knew that. But for some reason he felt more comfortable when he knew she was safe. Maybe the real reason after all was that he had needed to apologize for his angry outbursts during the case, and to his surprise, except for the fat lip, it had been a rather enjoyable evening.