Chapter 12
Billy paced the length of the bullpen restlessly. He'd had no word from his backup team since they left the helicopter and headed onto the Van Houssin estate. Mentally, he kicked himself again for pulling the backup team assigned to cover Windsor and Mrs. King. Not only would MI6 never forgive him for losing one of the their best agents, but he had no idea how he would explain what happened to Scarecrow if Amanda didn't make it out of this one. Billy had suspected for a long time that there was more going on between those two than they admitted, and the overheard conversation between Magician, Nighthawk and Leatherneck only supported that feeling. If Scarecrow was being that possessive . . .
"Mr. Melrose, Francine Desmond on line two," one of the telecommunicators called to him.
"Finally!" he said and ran for his office. Snatching up the phone, he barked, "Francine! What's going on? How is . . ."
"Take it easy, Billy," the calm voice on the other end replied, cutting off his questions. "Amanda and Windsor are a little worse for wear, but they'll both be fine. It's all over except for the clean up. Stockton's dead, Perkins is alive but a long way from functional, and Abernathy's not giving anyone any trouble."
"What about the Van Houssins and the other party guests?"
"No one was hurt, thanks to Windsor. Abernathy had hidden about six other hired goons among the wait staff, but they weren't particularly bright. William was able to spot and pick them off pretty quickly. Then he went after Stockton and Abernathy. By that time we'd gotten there and Nighthawk, Magician and Aman – I mean, Phoenix – went after him."
"You let Amanda King go with you? I told you I wanted her out of there!"
There was a long pause and when Francine finally replied, there was no mistaking the sound of quiet respect in her voice. "No, Billy, we didn't let Amanda King go. We went in as a team and Phoenix is part of that team. She'd earned the right. Before we ever got there, she took out Perkins single-handedly and then managed to get Veronica Van Houssin out of that house with Stockton and Abernathy right on their heels. If she hadn't managed that, things would have turned out a lot differently."
Melrose was quiet, thinking again about Amanda King's fury over Scarecrow's attempts to force her out of the line of fire and the message she'd sent him earlier that night. We're all guilty of it, he realized with chagrin. She arouses the protective instincts in everyone around her. We all keep saying that she's really good, and yet when things get tough we expect her to run and hide. It's not just Scarecrow she's angry at . . . it's all of us.
"You're right," he agreed quietly. "We've got to quit selling her short."
Francine snorted. "You should hear Veronica Van Houssin. She thinks Amanda's Wonder Woman, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Joan of Arc all rolled into one."
Billy laughed. "What about the rest?"
"Magician was right about Abernathy. He wanted no part of getting his hands dirty. The minute anyone got near him, he gave himself up. Stockton fought. Barricaded himself in the office upstairs where Amanda left Perkins. In the end, Nighthawk had to shoot him. I guess even Amanda was shooting at him before it was all over!"
"I thought she wasn't armed."
"She took Perkins' gun."
"Good for her! What about injuries?"
"Windsor took one in the shoulder. Stockton got him right at the end of things. Mrs. Van Houssin got smacked around some and her husband may have a concussion, but those were the only injuries to anyone at the party. Oh, and Amanda lost some skin off the palm of her left hand. That was it. We were really lucky."
"Skin off her hand?" Billy asked incredulously.
He could almost hear Francine grimace. "Peeled it off on a frozen metal rack while she was trying to escape from Stockton with Mrs. Van Houssin."
Billy just shook his head. "Lucky is right."
"Yes. We're sending all of the guests home now and Windsor and the Van Houssins have been sent to a nearby hospital by ambulance. Paramedics treated Phoenix and let her go and she's already on her way back to the Agency with Abernathy. Insisted on bringing him in herself. Leatherneck's with her. What do you want the rest of us to do once we finish here?"
"Where's Perkins?"
"On his way to the maximum security wing at Bethesda. I didn't want to send him anywhere local."
"Okay, once you finish there, you can call it a night. Wrap up meeting will be in the Agency conference room at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning with written reports to me by noon."
"Will do. See you then, Billy."
"Night, Francine."
Billy dropped the receiver back onto the phone and leaned back with a sigh. It was over. And they hadn't lost anyone. Thank God. He glanced at the clock . . . a little after one. It had been a long day. He started to lever himself up out of the chair, intending to go home, but then paused. No, maybe he'd wait a little longer and talk to Amanda when she got here with Abernathy. She'd done a hell of a job and deserved to hear it. Billy smiled, settling back into the chair again. Glancing at the clock, another thought struck him. Maybe her mentor would like to know how well she'd done, too.
