Chapter 2: Found and Lost
Lee and Amanda finally settled into their seats on the 747 bound for
Tel Aviv. Their ultimate destination...Jerusalem. All Francine had had
time to tell Lee was that Harry Thornton had wound up as a pawn in
Anderson's play of passion.
Lee called Francine from the plane's cell phone.
"Francine?"
"Lee? Our connection isn't so good..."
"We're still on the runway Francine..." Lee glanced at Amanda and
rollled his eyes. "So what else can you tell us about our mission?"
"Well, first off, Anderson has turned himself in..."
"Anderson? You're not talking about Doogie?" Lee and Doogie had been
recruited for the Agency at the same time and had been young hotshots
trained together by none other than Harry Thornton.
Francine didn't want to tell Lee about the fall of a man
he had always admired. "Yes, the one and only. Lee, Anderson wasn't
burned out, he was duped. He brought himself in to the Israeli authorities
today and confessed that he traded Harry to a pro-Taliban cell in order to
free some woman he was involved with. Turns out she was part of their scheme
all along."
Lee asked, "Why Harry?"
Francine continuted, "This group is under the impression that Harry holds
the key to some special vault under the Dome of the Rock. You know it's been
rumored for years that a few small nuclear warheads were concealed in a cave
under the Dome in the 1950's."
"Yeah, I've heard of that."
"Harry happens to be the only living member of the Tripartite, an
undercover group formed in 1950 by the Western Allies to assist Israel in
building it's arms despite the treaty by the same name. These al-Qaida
sympathizers are under the mistaken idea that Harry knows where the
vault is and will help them obtain these weapons of mass desctruction."
"Harry will never help them Francine!"
Francine continued, "I know Lee. Harry's good enough to stall them for a
few days but... we need you to find and rescue him. And find Christina. She
must be hiding out somewhere in Jerusalem. There's been no contact with her
since she first alerted the Agency that her husband was missing."
Lee looked over at Amanda and wondered how Christina must be handling a
time like this. Because of Amanda, he finally knew how it felt to love. He
had seen how Christina loved Harry.
"Anyway Lee, Anderson is in protective custody now. He should be quite
co-operative. You'll be interrogating him first thing when you arrive in
Jerusalem."
After they said their goodbyes, Lee put the cell phone back in it's
holster in the seatback in front of him. He just couldn't understand it.
Harry had treated them like sons. Doogie was only a year or two older than
Lee and Lee had always thought of him like an older brother.
Now to hear that Doogie had literally sold their mentor out. "It just can't
be..."
Amanda looked up into her husband's face. A look of pain and dismay
flashed in his eyes. 'He's been through so much hurt in his life',
Amanda thought as she reached over and took Lee's arm. She
was so glad they had been teamed up for this mission. Lee was going to
need her.
Lee felt his wife's gentle fingers encircle his own. He was so thankful
to have Amanda by his side. He grabbed her hand, kissed her fingertips,
and was about to lean over to gaze into her compassionate brown eyes when
he heard....
"Lee baby!"
Lee's head shot up and his eyes widened when he saw a familiar body,
uh, woman approach. He had met her on a previous trip overseas. Not wanting
any further interaction, Lee looked down at... nothing. He began to study
the fabric of his pants as the unwelcome voice came closer.
"Hi there Lee baby!"
Amanda decided not to look over at her husband's red face. Instead she
stared straight ahead. It was difficult for her not to notice the approaching
woman. She was a young, buxom, auburn haired stewardess from first class.
The woman walked up toward Lee and totally ignored Amanda. In fact, she
bent over Amanda to lean in closer to Lee. Amanda was forced to take a
really close look at the tart's name tag. 'Missi' was her name.
'Red hair!' Amanda fumed. "Couldn't be more than half my age," she uttered
under her breath.
"Ah, a-huh" Lee said as he forced a smile and glanced past Missi's
tresses. He couldn't quite see his wife through all the Clairol.
"Uh Missi! I'd, uh, like you to meet my *wife*. Amanda?"
Finally Melissa, or Missi as her friends called her, moved to appraise
the woman Lee called his wife. "Hmph! How domestic!" She scoffed as she
flounced back down the aisle toward first class.
"Pippi!" slipped out under Amanda's breath.
Lee glanced over at his wife. 'Should I say something?' he
wondered. He saw Amanda tilt her head and take great interest in the
airline's magazine. It was dated 2001. He noticed she wasn't smiling.
"Um Amanda?" Lee leaned over to try to catch his wife's attention.
Amanda turned her head away from Lee and flicked the magazine as if to read
it better.
"Uh, she was nothing, really..."
"Hmm?" Amanda feigned disinterest and didn't once look up from her
magazine.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Lee sat staring at his wife's
down turned face.
Amanda could feel her husband staring at her. 'No! no way! I'm not
giving in!' she thought. But Lee just kept staring.
"Amanda?"
She finally looked up from her magazine but not toward Lee.
"Did anyone ever tell you, you have a cute..."
"Don't even go there buster!" Amanda replied with a sideways glance at
her husband. "Flattery will get you...no where!"
Lee gulped as he sat back in his seat. This was gonna be a loooooong
plane ride!
***
Once they arrived in Tel Aviv and rented a car, Lee drove them to the
American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. They checked in and Amanda had to
admit she was impressed. The place had character. It had once been a
palace for a Turkish Pasha.
As soon as Lee and Amanda settled in their room and freshened up, they
took off for the US Embassy. That's where Anderson was being held.
"Amanda, we may need to play good cop, bad cop. Just depends on how loose
Doogie's lips will be."
Amanda nodded as Lee guided his wife into the interrogation room.
Anderson sat there, looking dejected. From the smoke filled room, Lee
guessed the guy had already smoked about two packs since breakfast.
That was only an hour ago. Lee recalled that they had been
the only two in their class that didn't smoke.
"Doogie?" Lee barely recognized his old friend. He looked like hell.
Anderson slowly turned his blood shot eyes toward Lee. He couldn't
believe it. "Lee?"
Both men stood together and embraced.
Doogie marveled, "Lee, it's been so long!"
"Yeah. Doog, seems like you're in a lot of trouble." Lee was getting
angry now, "Selling out Harry? What were you thinking man?"
Reunion time was over.
Anderson slumped back down in his wooden chair and lit another
cigarette.
"Umm! Hehm!" Amanda attempted unsuccessfully to stifle a cough.
"Who's the broad?" Anderson quipped as he nodded toward Amanda.
Lee put both hands on the table and leaned over Doogie. "That *broad*
is *my wife*!"
You could have knocked Doogie over with a feather. "Lee married? Now I
know I've seen everything!"
"Let's cut the chit chat Doog! Now tell me what's goin' on here!"
Anderson told Lee all about Sherina, the lover that had duped him. "I
was flatterd Lee. Sherina was young, vivacious. It was so humiliating.
Once I had secured her 'release' by bringing Harry to her captors, she just
laughed and mocked me. She asked me how I could think she seriously cared
about me..." Anderson broke down in pitiful sobs.
"C'mon man! The girl was half your age!" Lee fumed.
Amanda shot her husband a *look*.
Lee glanced at his wife and raised his brow like 'What? I didn't say
anything?'
Amanda rolled her eyes, 'Oh Puhlease!'
"Lee, I was smitten. I didn't know it was a trap to catch Harry. I had
never heard of the Tripartite or of nuclear warheads hidden under the
Dome. Anyways, I wasn't thinkin' straight. Sherina had me
spellbound. If you had seen or heard the way they were torturing
her..."
"Pretended to torture her!" Lee corrected.
"Yeah, well...You know we've always had a close relationship with Harry.
So when they said they'd release Sherina for Harry...I just lost it. I
didn't want her to die and I figured Harry was so old and he
had lived a good life it wouldn't matter if they had him. Of course Harry
came without hesitation when I called under false pretenses..."
"Doog! You make me sick! Selling out Harry for some fling!"
"I didn't know she was a fling! Lee, I'm...I'm still in love with
her."
Lee threw up his hands in exasperation. "Where's Harry now?"
Doogie looked up at his old friend and swallowed hard. He
noted that life was being kind to Stetson now. He looked good, had a
beautiful wife.
"Doog!"
"I don't know *where* he is Lee. But, I'm determined to help you. This
is the place where I dropped Harry off for the 'trade'." Doogie
drew out a crude map of Old Jerusalem and gave Lee all the information
he could.
***
Lee ran his hand through his hair as he watched the guard escort Doogie
Anderson back to his cell. He was glad the interrogation was over. He took
Amanda's hand as they left the US Embassy and headed back to their hotel on
foot.
As they walked, Lee pulled out an old photo of Christina to show Amanda.
"This is the lady we've got to find next. It's dated but it's a good
picture of Harry's wife."
Amanda nodded. The woman was beautiful.
Lee looked up from the picture and glanced around as they continued down the
street. He spotted several undercover Israeli agents mingling in with the
crowd on the street. Despite the pervading tensions, many pilgrims had made
the journey to the Holy City. Walking traffic was shoulder to shoulder.
Lee was impressed. The Israeli government seemed prepared for any sudden
attack.
His attention turned to Amanda as they approached a crosswalk. Lee slipped
his hand to the small of his wife's back to guide her across the street as
they bustled along with several mothers and their children.
Amanda smiled at Lee's touch. The gentle pressure on her back was reassuring
because she knew she was always safe with Lee.
As they reached the other side of the street, Lee heard a scuffle break
out behind them.
"Get out of my way!" Someone yelled.
Lee was in agent mode now. He turned his head while reaching to
unholster his gun. Before he could make another move, a crowd of people
pushed Amanda away from his side and obscured her from his
view. Lee turned to yell for his wife when a solid punch to his kidneys
left him doubled over. As Lee fell to his knees, he saw a fist heading for
his face.
Blackout.
Amanda struggled to scramble through the crowd, back to her husband's
side. The ebb of the crowd pushed her farther and farther down the
street. "Lee!" she yelled with concern in her voice. "Lee!"
Even though Lee was a tall man, Amanda couldn't see his head over the crowd.
She was starting to worry. "Lee!"
Suddenly a cool, soft hand grabbed her from behind and pulled her into
the doorway of a small cafe.
"Oh!" Amanda was shocked. She was face to face with Christina Thornton.
tbc
Lee and Amanda finally settled into their seats on the 747 bound for
Tel Aviv. Their ultimate destination...Jerusalem. All Francine had had
time to tell Lee was that Harry Thornton had wound up as a pawn in
Anderson's play of passion.
Lee called Francine from the plane's cell phone.
"Francine?"
"Lee? Our connection isn't so good..."
"We're still on the runway Francine..." Lee glanced at Amanda and
rollled his eyes. "So what else can you tell us about our mission?"
"Well, first off, Anderson has turned himself in..."
"Anderson? You're not talking about Doogie?" Lee and Doogie had been
recruited for the Agency at the same time and had been young hotshots
trained together by none other than Harry Thornton.
Francine didn't want to tell Lee about the fall of a man
he had always admired. "Yes, the one and only. Lee, Anderson wasn't
burned out, he was duped. He brought himself in to the Israeli authorities
today and confessed that he traded Harry to a pro-Taliban cell in order to
free some woman he was involved with. Turns out she was part of their scheme
all along."
Lee asked, "Why Harry?"
Francine continuted, "This group is under the impression that Harry holds
the key to some special vault under the Dome of the Rock. You know it's been
rumored for years that a few small nuclear warheads were concealed in a cave
under the Dome in the 1950's."
"Yeah, I've heard of that."
"Harry happens to be the only living member of the Tripartite, an
undercover group formed in 1950 by the Western Allies to assist Israel in
building it's arms despite the treaty by the same name. These al-Qaida
sympathizers are under the mistaken idea that Harry knows where the
vault is and will help them obtain these weapons of mass desctruction."
"Harry will never help them Francine!"
Francine continued, "I know Lee. Harry's good enough to stall them for a
few days but... we need you to find and rescue him. And find Christina. She
must be hiding out somewhere in Jerusalem. There's been no contact with her
since she first alerted the Agency that her husband was missing."
Lee looked over at Amanda and wondered how Christina must be handling a
time like this. Because of Amanda, he finally knew how it felt to love. He
had seen how Christina loved Harry.
"Anyway Lee, Anderson is in protective custody now. He should be quite
co-operative. You'll be interrogating him first thing when you arrive in
Jerusalem."
After they said their goodbyes, Lee put the cell phone back in it's
holster in the seatback in front of him. He just couldn't understand it.
Harry had treated them like sons. Doogie was only a year or two older than
Lee and Lee had always thought of him like an older brother.
Now to hear that Doogie had literally sold their mentor out. "It just can't
be..."
Amanda looked up into her husband's face. A look of pain and dismay
flashed in his eyes. 'He's been through so much hurt in his life',
Amanda thought as she reached over and took Lee's arm. She
was so glad they had been teamed up for this mission. Lee was going to
need her.
Lee felt his wife's gentle fingers encircle his own. He was so thankful
to have Amanda by his side. He grabbed her hand, kissed her fingertips,
and was about to lean over to gaze into her compassionate brown eyes when
he heard....
"Lee baby!"
Lee's head shot up and his eyes widened when he saw a familiar body,
uh, woman approach. He had met her on a previous trip overseas. Not wanting
any further interaction, Lee looked down at... nothing. He began to study
the fabric of his pants as the unwelcome voice came closer.
"Hi there Lee baby!"
Amanda decided not to look over at her husband's red face. Instead she
stared straight ahead. It was difficult for her not to notice the approaching
woman. She was a young, buxom, auburn haired stewardess from first class.
The woman walked up toward Lee and totally ignored Amanda. In fact, she
bent over Amanda to lean in closer to Lee. Amanda was forced to take a
really close look at the tart's name tag. 'Missi' was her name.
'Red hair!' Amanda fumed. "Couldn't be more than half my age," she uttered
under her breath.
"Ah, a-huh" Lee said as he forced a smile and glanced past Missi's
tresses. He couldn't quite see his wife through all the Clairol.
"Uh Missi! I'd, uh, like you to meet my *wife*. Amanda?"
Finally Melissa, or Missi as her friends called her, moved to appraise
the woman Lee called his wife. "Hmph! How domestic!" She scoffed as she
flounced back down the aisle toward first class.
"Pippi!" slipped out under Amanda's breath.
Lee glanced over at his wife. 'Should I say something?' he
wondered. He saw Amanda tilt her head and take great interest in the
airline's magazine. It was dated 2001. He noticed she wasn't smiling.
"Um Amanda?" Lee leaned over to try to catch his wife's attention.
Amanda turned her head away from Lee and flicked the magazine as if to read
it better.
"Uh, she was nothing, really..."
"Hmm?" Amanda feigned disinterest and didn't once look up from her
magazine.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Lee sat staring at his wife's
down turned face.
Amanda could feel her husband staring at her. 'No! no way! I'm not
giving in!' she thought. But Lee just kept staring.
"Amanda?"
She finally looked up from her magazine but not toward Lee.
"Did anyone ever tell you, you have a cute..."
"Don't even go there buster!" Amanda replied with a sideways glance at
her husband. "Flattery will get you...no where!"
Lee gulped as he sat back in his seat. This was gonna be a loooooong
plane ride!
***
Once they arrived in Tel Aviv and rented a car, Lee drove them to the
American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. They checked in and Amanda had to
admit she was impressed. The place had character. It had once been a
palace for a Turkish Pasha.
As soon as Lee and Amanda settled in their room and freshened up, they
took off for the US Embassy. That's where Anderson was being held.
"Amanda, we may need to play good cop, bad cop. Just depends on how loose
Doogie's lips will be."
Amanda nodded as Lee guided his wife into the interrogation room.
Anderson sat there, looking dejected. From the smoke filled room, Lee
guessed the guy had already smoked about two packs since breakfast.
That was only an hour ago. Lee recalled that they had been
the only two in their class that didn't smoke.
"Doogie?" Lee barely recognized his old friend. He looked like hell.
Anderson slowly turned his blood shot eyes toward Lee. He couldn't
believe it. "Lee?"
Both men stood together and embraced.
Doogie marveled, "Lee, it's been so long!"
"Yeah. Doog, seems like you're in a lot of trouble." Lee was getting
angry now, "Selling out Harry? What were you thinking man?"
Reunion time was over.
Anderson slumped back down in his wooden chair and lit another
cigarette.
"Umm! Hehm!" Amanda attempted unsuccessfully to stifle a cough.
"Who's the broad?" Anderson quipped as he nodded toward Amanda.
Lee put both hands on the table and leaned over Doogie. "That *broad*
is *my wife*!"
You could have knocked Doogie over with a feather. "Lee married? Now I
know I've seen everything!"
"Let's cut the chit chat Doog! Now tell me what's goin' on here!"
Anderson told Lee all about Sherina, the lover that had duped him. "I
was flatterd Lee. Sherina was young, vivacious. It was so humiliating.
Once I had secured her 'release' by bringing Harry to her captors, she just
laughed and mocked me. She asked me how I could think she seriously cared
about me..." Anderson broke down in pitiful sobs.
"C'mon man! The girl was half your age!" Lee fumed.
Amanda shot her husband a *look*.
Lee glanced at his wife and raised his brow like 'What? I didn't say
anything?'
Amanda rolled her eyes, 'Oh Puhlease!'
"Lee, I was smitten. I didn't know it was a trap to catch Harry. I had
never heard of the Tripartite or of nuclear warheads hidden under the
Dome. Anyways, I wasn't thinkin' straight. Sherina had me
spellbound. If you had seen or heard the way they were torturing
her..."
"Pretended to torture her!" Lee corrected.
"Yeah, well...You know we've always had a close relationship with Harry.
So when they said they'd release Sherina for Harry...I just lost it. I
didn't want her to die and I figured Harry was so old and he
had lived a good life it wouldn't matter if they had him. Of course Harry
came without hesitation when I called under false pretenses..."
"Doog! You make me sick! Selling out Harry for some fling!"
"I didn't know she was a fling! Lee, I'm...I'm still in love with
her."
Lee threw up his hands in exasperation. "Where's Harry now?"
Doogie looked up at his old friend and swallowed hard. He
noted that life was being kind to Stetson now. He looked good, had a
beautiful wife.
"Doog!"
"I don't know *where* he is Lee. But, I'm determined to help you. This
is the place where I dropped Harry off for the 'trade'." Doogie
drew out a crude map of Old Jerusalem and gave Lee all the information
he could.
***
Lee ran his hand through his hair as he watched the guard escort Doogie
Anderson back to his cell. He was glad the interrogation was over. He took
Amanda's hand as they left the US Embassy and headed back to their hotel on
foot.
As they walked, Lee pulled out an old photo of Christina to show Amanda.
"This is the lady we've got to find next. It's dated but it's a good
picture of Harry's wife."
Amanda nodded. The woman was beautiful.
Lee looked up from the picture and glanced around as they continued down the
street. He spotted several undercover Israeli agents mingling in with the
crowd on the street. Despite the pervading tensions, many pilgrims had made
the journey to the Holy City. Walking traffic was shoulder to shoulder.
Lee was impressed. The Israeli government seemed prepared for any sudden
attack.
His attention turned to Amanda as they approached a crosswalk. Lee slipped
his hand to the small of his wife's back to guide her across the street as
they bustled along with several mothers and their children.
Amanda smiled at Lee's touch. The gentle pressure on her back was reassuring
because she knew she was always safe with Lee.
As they reached the other side of the street, Lee heard a scuffle break
out behind them.
"Get out of my way!" Someone yelled.
Lee was in agent mode now. He turned his head while reaching to
unholster his gun. Before he could make another move, a crowd of people
pushed Amanda away from his side and obscured her from his
view. Lee turned to yell for his wife when a solid punch to his kidneys
left him doubled over. As Lee fell to his knees, he saw a fist heading for
his face.
Blackout.
Amanda struggled to scramble through the crowd, back to her husband's
side. The ebb of the crowd pushed her farther and farther down the
street. "Lee!" she yelled with concern in her voice. "Lee!"
Even though Lee was a tall man, Amanda couldn't see his head over the crowd.
She was starting to worry. "Lee!"
Suddenly a cool, soft hand grabbed her from behind and pulled her into
the doorway of a small cafe.
"Oh!" Amanda was shocked. She was face to face with Christina Thornton.
tbc