TSK

Chapter Twenty – Part 1

6:00 AM

Billy growled as he listened to the recorded message on the other end of the line.

"Stetson, where the hell are you?"

Melrose hung up the phone. Did he even need to ask the question, he thought to himself. Lee wasn't working any late night assignments, he wasn't picking up his car phone and the apartment phone continued to go unanswered.

That left one place where the agent could be.

"4247 Maplewood Drive," Billy murmured as he picked up his coffee cup and took a quick sip of the beverage. "Why do I even ask? I should know better by now. He might as well just change his address and be done with it."

"Well, on to the next one. I'll give him and Amanda a little while longer."

He began dialing another number and then sat there, impatiently waiting for the owner to pick it up.

TSK

Chapter Twenty – Part 2

6:06 AM

Somewhere else in the DC metroplex, another telephone rang. And, when it didn't get picked up immediately, the caller called back until finally rewarded by an answer, though the voice sounded congested and miserable.

"Francine?"

"Yeah?"

"Let me guess, you're not feeling well."

"Frankly," Francine said as she ran her fingers under her nose and sniffled, "I feel like hell. Why are you calling me this early in the morning?

"Let's just say that I'm glad that I did."

"Well, I'm not," she paused to cough. "I'm going back to bed Billy. I don't care about lost data, I don't care about the Tyler Engineering check, and I just don't care."

"No!"

"No? I can't go back to bed?"

"No, you can't. Look, at least get dressed. I'm sending someone over for you right away."

"Billy," Francine whined. "I don't care about national security today. Come on, do I ever play hooky unless I'm really sick?"

"Francine, you're attendance is impeccable, I assure you," Billy sighed, then paused for a brief moment before telling her.

"I've issued a Magna Alpha alert, double red, all birds to the roost."

There was silence on her end for a few seconds.

"What!" she finally exclaimed before bursting into a coughing fit.

He waited patiently until she was done coughing before he continued.

"Just get dressed, please."

Francine let out a combination groan and shriek.

"The things I do for national security," she mumbled. "Fine, give me a few to take a shower and get dressed. Is the AC working yet?"

"On our floor, no," Billy answered her.

"Well, then I'm not dressing up," Francine told him. "And I might not even put on any makeup."

"You could come in you birthday suit and I wouldn't argue. Casual is fine, just be ready in half an hour."

With that, he hung up, leaving Francine to stare down at the receiver.

"It's going to be another day from hell," she croaked as she pulled herself up out of bed and made her way to the bathroom.

TSK

Chapter Twenty – Part 3

6:06 AM

Lee Stetson stood in front of the kitchen window, looking outside instead of inside. He'd lost count of the number of times that he had spied on Amanda's world from that particular vantage point over the years.

As he stood there, clad in nothing but a pair of jeans that he hadn't even bothered to zip, he observed and waited. He had gotten up a few moments ago and decided that coffee was going to be the first order of the day.

Despite the fact that Amanda's bed really was comfortable and that he had shared it with her, sleep had proved almost unobtainable. He couldn't fault Amanda, it wasn't her fault that she had gotten sick. But, her coughing and tossing had prevented Lee from slipping into any sort of a deep sleep.

There wasn't any doubt about it, he thought as he poured the hot liquid into his cup. Once she was up, she was headed straight into Kelford's office.

Lee put the glass coffeepot back into place on the burner, leaving enough of the beverage that if Amanda wanted a cup, she would have it.

And then, in the silence of Amanda's cheery kitchen, Lee Stetson sneezed.