Amanda wasn't surprised when Billy greeted her news with skepticism. Over the last two years she had approached her boss a half dozen times with "evidence" - admittedly sketchy - that Lee might be alive. Each time it had turned out to be nothing. The man could be forgiven if he didn't immediately leap with enthusiasm, especially after being woken from a sound sleep.

But Amanda knew she was going to him with something substantial this time. She had a witness who had overheard a phone conversation in which a Zakiri government official was offering Lee for sale, presumably to the KGB. The witness was part of the Barnstorm network, which meant that Lee considered her credible. Amanda figured that Billy had to consider her credible, too.

She ignored the drowsy doubt in his voice and recounted the phone call, doing her best to sound logical and professional - as if she were first and foremost an agent, and not Lee's wife (not that Billy knew they had married). Then she waited for his response.

It was a little underwhelming. After a lengthy pause, Billy said slowly, "You believe this woman."

"Yes."

"Was she able to give you any information about Lee's location?"

"She thought he was being held in Zakir."

"That's it? Somewhere in the country?"

Amanda felt her cheeks grow warm. She knew she should have pushed the Barnstorm contact harder to uncover a location. "Yes," she murmured.

Billy fell silent. The clock in the family room chimed once. One a.m., Saturday morning. Amanda had been home for an hour and a half and she'd learned about Lee forty-five minutes ago. A lot could happen in an hour. Maybe the Zakiri undersecretary of defense had closed the deal with the Russians. Maybe Lee was being loaded into an airplane for an unknown destination as she stood in her kitchen.

"Sir?" she prompted.

"Yes, Amanda?"

"Shouldn't we be doing something?"

There was another beat of silence before Billy replied, "Yes, of course. I'm sorry…I'm just trying to take this in. I want to believe it, Amanda - I really do."

"But you don't."

"I don't know. Two years is a long time. It makes me wonder why we're learning about this now."

That was fair. Amanda had wondered the same thing herself. "Lee needed time to recover from the bomb," she explained. "If he was badly hurt, it may have taken more than a year to get him back to a point where he could be," she closed her eyes and cringed as she said the word, "sold."

"Maybe." Billy paused. Then, in a firmer voice, he said, "We're going to assume this information is true and act accordingly. There's too much at stake not to. I think it's best if we follow Agency protocol for an operative held captive in an undisclosed location."

He sounded resolved. Relieved, Amanda said, "Yes, sir." Then she frowned. "Sir?"

"Yes?"

"What is Agency protocol for an operative held captive in an undisclosed location?"

There was a rustling sound. Amanda imagined Billy getting out of bed and beginning to pace. He often paced when he was thinking.

"We notify all agents in the region," he began, far more awake now. "They use their contacts and knowledge of the area to search for information. Hopefully, they find a location for where the agent is being held, as well as details on the captors. Once we get that, we develop an extraction plan."

Amanda pressed her lips together. Agency protocol sounded logical, but much too slow. Lee's Barnstorm contact had overheard the phone call three days ago. They were already late.

"Isn't there something else we can do?" she asked.

Billy exhaled. "It's protocol for a reason - which is that it has been shown to work. Did you have something else in mind, Amanda?"

To her surprise, he sounded hopeful, as if he thought she might have come up with something the Agency hadn't. Amanda was reminded that Billy cared about Lee, too. But the sad truth was, she didn't have a plan. She had rushed to call Billy, assuming he would…what? Send in agents with guns blazing? To where?

She tightened her grip on the phone, afraid she might cry from frustration. "Couldn't we put pressure on the undersecretary?" she blurted out. "He's the one offering Lee for sale. Couldn't we question him? Get him to tell us where Lee is being held?"

"How?" Billy said tersely. "The undersecretary is part of the Zakiri government. We can't just pull him in and interrogate him. We'd have an international incident." When Amanda made an exasperated snort, he added, "And if we did, we could also be jeopardizing Lee's safety. If the undersecretary is working with someone else, we'd be tipping them off."

He sounded as frustrated as she felt.

"How about the contacts we have in the KGB?" she offered in a more even tone. "Would they be able to tell us who the undersecretary is bargaining with?"

"Maybe," Billy replied, although he sounded doubtful. "But to be honest, Amanda, I think if one of our double agents in the KGB had heard about Lee, they would have told us already. This one is too big to say nothing about - it would be a feather in their cap."

He was right about that. Amanda started to pace, at least as far as the chord on the phone would allow her. There had to be something else they could do.

"What about the prince?" she said suddenly. "We have a good relationship with him. We saved his life when he came to Washington. Couldn't we ask him to help?"

Billy inhaled audibly. "I don't know that the relationship is so good these days," he replied. "It's been seven years since Rheza Khan came to Washington, and he hasn't been back to the U.S. since. We never did sign the oil deal we had hoped for."

"But, sir-"

"It's an avenue that can be pursued," Billy interrupted. "I agree that it's an option, Amanda. But we're going to have to be patient. It's probably going to take a day or two for us to even speak to Khan directly. We're going to have to work our way through his aides."

"Yes, sir." Amanda looked at the phone and was tempted to throw it across the kitchen. She didn't want to be patient, not when every instinct in her said they needed to move fast. Once the KGB had their hands on Lee, his days were likely numbered. They would extract as much information from him as they could and then he would be of no use to them.

"I know you're anxious and want to do more," Billy said, as if he could see her expression. "I am too, Amanda, believe me. But that makes this a time where we need to keep our heads - more than ever. We can't rush in blindly. It will be risky for Lee."

Amanda sighed. "Yes, I know that."

"I'm going to alert the agents in the region," Billy continued, "and get a call into the prince. Hopefully, we'll have news from one of those avenues shortly."

"Yes, sir." Amanda couldn't keep the disappointment out of her voice. Shortly was nebulous. It could mean a few days or a few weeks.

"Hang in there," Billy encouraged. "Lee's tough. If he's alive, he's been biding his time, thinking about ways to get out of there."

Amanda's spirits lifted because that was certainly true. Lee would spend every waking hour plotting ways to escape. But he wasn't a magician. He couldn't pass through concrete walls or locked doors.

"You'll let me know the second you hear something?" she asked Billy.

"Of course, Amanda. I'm heading into the Agency now. I hope to have good news for you soon."

And Billy ended the call.

Amanda closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples, as if she could push an idea for finding Lee into her brain. She couldn't disagree with Billy's plan, but she also knew that she needed to do something else. Something faster; something that she could do herself.

"Mom?"

She opened her eyes. She had forgotten that Jamie was in the family room, listening to every word.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Mr. Stetson is alive." It was a statement, not a question.

Amanda nodded. "That's what one of his informants says."

"And you were talking to your boss now about how to get him back."

She nodded again.

"What are you-"

Before Jamie could finish his question, the kitchen door opened and Philip walked in. He had a grin on his face, as if he had just finished laughing at a joke shared with friends. The grin faded when he saw Amanda and Jamie.

"You're both still up," he said.

"Wow, it's tough to get one by you," Jamie retorted, still unhappy at being left out of Philip's evening with his pals.

Philip merely shrugged. "It's after one," he said mildly. "I figured everyone would be asleep."

"And you would be able to sneak in," Amanda added lightly, hoping he didn't sense her tension. It had been tough enough explaining her real to job one son; she didn't want to have to explain it to another.

Philip smiled sheepishly. "Yeah - something like that."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, mister."

He shrugged again. "What's the reason for the late night bull session?"

Amanda and Jamie exchanged glances. There was a gleam in Jamie's eye.

"I fell asleep in front of the TV," he said, before Amanda could come up with her excuse. "Mom got home from her date a few minutes ago and woke me. We were about to go upstairs."

That was good, Amanda thought; simple and believable. It fit the circumstances. She was still in her evening clothes and Jamie was in his pajamas. She thought of the myriad times she had made excuses to cover her work with the Agency and didn't think she could do better. Like mother, like son.

But she didn't have time to bask in Jamie's ability to think on his feet. She had things she had to do now.

"I think it's time we all went to bed," she said, making a shooing motion at both sons. "We'll wake your grandmother if we keep talking like this."

Philip yawned and nodded, then headed for the stairs. Amanda started to follow, but Jamie put out a hand to stop her.

"What are you going to do about Mr. Stetson?" he whispered.

Amanda glanced up the stairs and saw Philip disappear around the corner. "The Agency has a plan," she whispered back. "You heard me discussing it with my boss."

"And you're not happy with it," Jamie countered. "I can tell. You want to do something else."

Amanda pressed her lips together and nodded. "I do," she admitted, "but at the moment, I'm not sure what that is. The Agency's plan makes sense, but it feels slow. I need to do something faster. I need to come up with Plan B."