Part 3

Lee took the elevator down to the Field Section floor and walked along the corridor to the Agency bullpen. He noticed some hushed whispering along with a few amused glances thrown his way and sat down at his desk with a sigh. The Agency grapevine was working overtime.

He'd barely had time to pull out a blank report form from the drawer when a shadow fell over his desk. Looking up, he saw James Hartley, one of the agents who had witnessed his argument with Amanda. With a poker face he held a folder out to Lee.

"I thought you might like to see this. It's the first pictures of a new secret weapon the Russians are developing."

Lee took the folder and eyed Hartley warily. The other man just stared back, his face emotionless. In hindsight, Lee realised that that alone should've given him a clue as to what was inside the folder. He flipped open the file and scowled as three colour photos of different handbags spilled out onto his desk.

"You see, the problem is that they come in different shapes and colours," Hartley told him with a grin. "This makes them hard to identify and I've witnessed the fact that in expert hands they can be very dangerous."

"Very funny, Hartley," Lee said sardonically. "You're a real comedian, you know that?" He placed the photos back into the folder. Ignoring the laughter coming from the rest of the bullpen, he unceremoniously dumped them into his waste bin. "Now if you don't mind, I've got some work to do." He looked pointedly at the young man then picked up a pen and turned his concentration back to his report.

Hartley chuckled and wisely moved away from Lee. He had been with the Agency a while and knew when not to push Scarecrow. He'd often thought that it should be in an Agency manual somewhere - it was definitely a piece of invaluable information for new recruits.

Lee had just written the first line of his report when another shadow fell over his desk. He slammed his pen down and looked up in annoyance. "What?" he snapped and then immediately looked apologetic. "Oh, sorry, Billy. I didn't realise it was you."

"Bit jumpy aren't we, Stetson?" his superior, William Melrose, replied with an arch of his eyebrow. "Anything wrong?"

"Oh, I'm just having one of those days," Lee sighed, running a hand tiredly through his hair.

The action brought the bandage-covered wound to Billy's attention. "What happened to your head?" he asked with a frown.

"You mean you haven't heard?" came an incredulous female voice from behind them. Billy turned to see his personal assistant, Francine Desmond, walking up . She smiled archly at Lee before adding, "He was knocked out by the infamous suburban hitwoman, Handbag Hannah, a.k.a. Amanda King."

"She didn't knock me out," Lee denied angrily. "She just caught me with a lucky blow, that's all. And I'll tell you, the way she swung that purse of hers around it wouldn't have surprised me if she took the rest of the room out as well."

"She hit you with her handbag?" Billy questioned incredulously. His face broke into a wide grin. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy reading your report about this, Scarecrow."

"Billy, please. She hid behind a door and I was the one unlucky enough to be coming through it at the time. That's all. End of report," Lee told him in disgust.

Billy chuckled. "Well, you've got to hand it to her; it was quick thinking."

"Quick thinking?!" Lee repeated in disbelief. "She shouldn't have been there in the first place."

"Now, Lee…" Billy began in a placating tone.

"Don't look now but, Amanda's coming," Francine broke in.

"What? Why is she here?" Lee asked, puzzled. He hadn't expected to see her again so soon after their argument at his apartment.

"She called me about an hour ago," Billy explained. "She said she needs to discuss something."

The three of them watched her walk up to the bullpen. Two of them grinned expectantly; the third sported a frown. Just as the guards opened the doors for Amanda to enter, Francine turned back to Lee and said, "I'd watch it if I were you, Scarecrow. It looks like she's armed."

Lee saw that Amanda was carrying her purse and scowled, causing Francine to smile even more before walking quickly away. Billy chuckled, then stepped forward gesturing towards his office. "Hello, Mrs. King. Let's go into my office shall we?"

Amanda returned his greeting and glanced worriedly at Lee before replying, "Certainly, Sir."

Lee watched Billy lead her away and looked back down at his report form. With a sigh he picked up his pen and began writing. Three sentences and ten minutes later, Lee gave up any pretence of working and stared at the drawn blinds of Billy's office. He couldn't help but feel a certain sense of dread the longer they stayed in there. He had an idea that it was something to do with the row they'd had earlier, and he just hoped that Amanda wasn't going to do anything rash before he'd had time to apologise.

Since she'd left his apartment so very quietly an hour and a half earlier, Lee had calmed down and thought things through. What stuck with him most was the look of

hurt and shock on Amanda's face. He hadn't meant to say the things he had quite so callously. He just wanted her to realise that what they did wasn't a game - it was very real, and obeying an order was often the difference between life and death.

Another reason for reacting the way he had was that he hadn't liked the feeling of fear that clutched his chest when he realised she'd been walking around the warehouse alone and unprotected. Anything could've happened to her if they hadn't had all of the gang in custody. It had scared him…badly.

That's why he'd pushed her away. The emotions he had experienced didn't sit well with him and the easiest way to be rid of them was to get rid of Amanda.

Of course, when she had walked out with such quiet dignity, the anger that had coursed through his body suddenly evaporated to leave a very nasty taste in his mouth. His initial reaction was to run after her but he stopped himself. This was what he had wanted all along, wasn't it?

'It's for the best, Stetson,' he told himself sternly. 'It's time you went back to being a one-man show. That's how you function best. All that wet nursing never was your style anyway.'

He smiled wryly. The self-reprimand had been a token last stand against his acceptance of having Amanda King firmly in his life. Even before he'd finished the thought, he knew he was lying to himself. He'd come to rely on Amanda and, he'd even go so far to say, he was beginning to trust her. It was hard for him to admit and even harder to believe when it pertained to a suburban housewife.

He glanced at his watch. Another ten minutes had ticked by. He was just about to stand up and get some coffee to give himself something to do when Billy's door suddenly opened. Amanda appeared, then walked straight through the bullpen and out of the doors without a backwards glance. Lee watched her retreating figure disappear around the corner and glanced back at his superior's office.

Billy stood in the doorway staring at him, a frown creasing his forehead. "In my office now, Stetson," he suddenly barked.

Lee stood up slowly and walked over. Billy held the door open and watched his best agent walk past him into his office. Before following Lee, Billy looked around at the rest of the bullpen and saw a number of curious eyes staring back.

"Have you people nothing to do?" he asked, sternly. "Because if not, I have a very warm assignment waiting for someone in Iceland."

All eyes dropped as people hurriedly made themselves look busy. After a final glance around the bullpen, Billy turned around and shut the door behind him.

END CHAPTER 3