It was going on ten o'clock on Wednesday evening and Frank Duffy was bored. Surveillance was boring. Either that or frightening, if something did happen. 'But,' he told himself, 'Mrs. King is such a nice person. Looking after her and family is worth a little boredom.'
As the agents watched the brightly lit houses, several parties seemed to be in full swing. They were taking down license plate numbers of all the cars that were parked or driving through the block. So far they had about thirty that would have to be checked out. The King house was dark. Everyone seemed to be asleep. Frank had gone around to the back yard and all the lights were out in the kitchen too.
"Hey Frank," Mike Martin, Frank's partner for this case, poked his arm. "See that white sedan cruising by? That's the second, or maybe the third time, he's been by."
"Did you get the plate number?
"You bet."
"Did you get a good look at him?"
"No. There were two men in the car. The driver was wearing a baseball cap. That's about all I could see through those damn tinted windows. I thought those things were illegal!"
"Well, don't worry. We'll find out who owns the car and if he had any business being here."
---------
Thoroughly rested and refreshed after her days camping in the woods, Amanda walked towards the IFF building with a spring in her step. She entered the Georgetown foyer and greeted Mrs. Marsten. "Good morning. I believe the word for today is *stopwatch*."
"Very good, Mrs. King." The older woman smiled and handed Amanda her badge. "By the way, Mr. Melrose left word that he wanted to see you as soon as you came in."
"Thank you." She got in the closet elevator and started down to the lower level. She had a vague feeling of uneasiness. Her brow was slightly creased - 'I'm just being silly,' she thought.
Arriving at the door of Billy's office, she knocked softly and smiled brightly. Billy motioned her to come in.
"Good morning Sir."
"Morning Amanda. How was your trip?"
"Oh, it was just wonderful. We had an absolutely..........."
Billy raised his hand to stop what could have been a very long and detailed description of her family's outing. He paused, trying to think of the best way to put this - some words that would soften the blow. There wasn't any good way to deliver such bad news. "Mrs. King, Amanda, I have some...disturbing news." He stopped and took a deep breath. "Lee is missing. No one has seen or heard from him, since Friday night."
"Oh, my gosh." Her voice was shaking so, she could barely say the words, ask the next question. "Sir, do you know - is Lee.........is Lee still alive?"
"We have no reason to think he isn't. His car was found abandoned off Highway One in Virginia. There was no sign of violence in the car and...there were no clues, no prints. Nothing has turned up so far. No ransom demands have been made. We think he was kidnapped by somebody, probably some foreign agents, who want information. Now, you know Lee is a pretty tough nut to crack. They probably haven't got anything out of him yet, so they may be looking for an edge. Amanda, there's a chance they may be looking for you."
"What? Why? Am I......is my family in danger?" Amanda asked fearfully.
"We've been watching your house since you got back. Look, I don't think they would want your family, your mother or your boys. After all, they don't know if Lee had any kind of relationship with them. But they must have seen you two together. They would assume that you're partners and so...."
"And so they might want to kidnap me too," she finished for him.
"Yes."
----------------
"Amanda, dear," Dotty called up the stairs. "Joe telephoned earlier. He's coming by this evening. My friend Mr. Davis will be here too. I thought we could have a little cold supper and play some old records and just relax and enjoy ourselves. You've been looking a little anxious ever since you came home from work."
"Yes, mother. I mean, no mother. I'm not anxious. Having Joe and Mr. Davis over will be fine," Amanda called down from her bedroom. 'Great,' she thought, 'all I can do, all I *want* to do, is think about Lee and now I've got to play hostess and pretend that everything is OK.'
--------
It was Thursday night, about nine-thirty PM. Frank and Mike had been making the usual small talk for what seemed like hours. Tonight it was the King house that was lit up. Two men were in the house. One of them Frank knew was Joe King, Mrs. King's former husband. The other, an older man, was probably a friend of Mrs. King's mother. Soft music and laughter could be heard from time to time.
"Look, Frank, there's that same white sedan I saw last night."
"Yeah," Frank looked at the license plate of the car as it slowly moved past 4247 Maplewood Drive. He checked a piece of paper attached to a clipboard, which had been laying on the dash. "Well, well. The car is registered to one Harry Saunders - a con - lives in a hotel for transients. Our people checked and nobody's seen him for about a week. He isn't due to check in with his parole officer until the end of the month, so no one was worried about him."
"Should we follow him?" Mike asked.
"No. Our job is to watch Mrs. King and her family. I wish we could have somebody follow them, but they'll be long gone before any of our guys could get here. Damn!" Frank hit the steering wheel in frustration.
"Take it easy, Frank. For all we know that car is a decoy - somebody tryin' to pull us off Mrs. King's house."
"You're right. It could be a decoy," Frank agreed.
------------
Dr. Mumford was furious. He glared as his two bumbling associates. "Well, now what? You didn't get the King woman last night and now, again tonight, you come back empty handed!"
"Look, doc," Roger began, "ahh, we...well..."
Harry took over. "The first night the whole block was lit up like a Christmas tree. There must've been ten parties goin' on. People walkin' around. There was no way we could get to her without bein' seen. Last night, she had company. A couple guys were there and they stayed until pretty late. We're gonna try again tonight."
"You had better do more than just *try*," Mumford said venomously. "You had better *succeed* this time."
Roger gulped and Harry nodded his head - affirmatively.
---------
It was Friday night. Lee had been missing for a week. Frank and Mike were sitting in their unobtrusive Agency car, when the same white sedan drove by. This time the car parked just a little beyond the driveway of the King house. Two men got out and headed down the drive towards the back of the house. Instantly, Frank was on the radio to Billy who was waiting at IFF. He had a hunch tonight would be the night.
"Billy, two guys are going towards the back of the house. I think this is it. They are going to try and grab Mrs. King."
Billy made the hardest decision he had ever made. "Let 'em take her."
"WHAT?"
"You heard me. Can you get a homing device on their car?"
"You bet. The minute you said *let them take her*, Mike grabbed the homer from the glovebox and was out of here and headed for their car. He's attaching it now. OK. He's on his way back. Here they come Billy, and they've got Amanda!"
"Whatever you do, Frank, *don't* lose them. Have Mike keep us informed of your route. I've got five teams and a helicopter standing by. We're on our way now."
"Good. Mike's taking over."
"They are starting off," Mr. Melrose, Mike said. "They're heading down Maplewood...."
--------------------
An hour later...."OK, Mr. Melrose, they're turning off Mountainview and pulling onto Orchard St. Now they've turned into a driveway.....it's number 67. Frank's driving by the house slowly......I can see the two guys. They've got Mrs. King and they're walking her into the side door of the house."
"Stay put," Billy commanded. "We don't want to do anything to endanger Lee and Amanda. We'll be with you in just a few minutes."
--------
Harry and Roger shoved a now conscious but confused Amanda King into a semi darkened room. When her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she could make out a figure lying on narrow bed. He was asleep or unconscious. It was Lee.
"Oh my gosh," she rushed over and sat on the edge of the bed, beside him, running her hand over his head, through his hair, touching the back of her hand to his forehead. "Lee, Lee, you've got to wake up and sit up."
The only answer was a small groan. She moved down towards the end of the bed and began trying to untie the knot in the rope that bound his ankles. It didn't take very long and she had it undone. She shoved his legs off the side of the bed so that his feet were on the floor. Then she moved back to where she could get her arm under his shoulder and arm and, pushing with all her strength, she managed to get him into a sitting position. Lee opened his eyes and blinked several times, trying to get his bearings.
"Amanda," he said groggily. "Is it really you? You're here. What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
"Lee, quiet. Just a minute. Here, turn a little bit so I can get at your wrists and untie you."
He did as he was told and in a few minutes she had his hands free. He immediately put his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace so tight that she could hardly breath.
It was wonderful but, "Lee, please, I can't breath!"
"Amanda, it's really you. Are you all right?" He held on to her, wanting to assure himself that this was real - that she was real.
"Yes, I'm OK, but I'll be better if you'd stop squashing me."
Lee loosened his grip and moved one hand behind her neck and took one of her hands in his other hand. "I was so worried. I kept seeing us together and, well, I realized that I was just dreaming about some of the cases we'd worked on together, but then... I could hear your voice, or what sounded like your voice calling for help, but somehow I knew it wasn't really you. It was someone trying to sound like you."
He looked at her for a long moment and then hugging her once more, he let her go and moved away from her a bit. "So, what are you doing here? Do you know where we are? Where's Billy?"
"I don't know where we are. I was knocked out with something - chloroform I guess, so I don't know how far we drove. As far as Billy is concerned - he's probably at home, in bed, asleep at this hour. What're they gonna do with us?"
"Well, I guess whatever drug or drugs they used on me didn't work so..." Lee left the horrifying thought unspoken. 'So they brought Amanda here to break me, to get to me through her.'
"So...., oh my gosh...." Realization had dawned on her. Her eyes widened with fright.
"Amanda, I'll get you out of this," he said, rising unsteadily to his feet.
"Lee, you can hardly stand up. You're in no shape to get *me* or *us* out of anything."
"Just give me a minute." He tried to flex his arm and shoulder muscles and move his legs a bit. "I just need to get the circulation back and I'll be OK."
Just then the door opened and three men were visible. The doctor, Roger and Harry, who was armed, entered the room. All three of them glared menacingly at Amanda.
Lee looked at Amanda, who looked as though she were about to faint.
"All right you guys," Lee started, "just let her go and I'll tell you whatever it is you want to know."
"No deal, Stetson," Dr. Mumford replied coolly. "The lady stays until we get what we want."
"Which is?"
"Start with Agency computer access codes. That's something we can check right away so we'll know if you're really cooperating."
"I only know the few codes I need to get into case files...," Lee began.
At that apparent evasion, Dr. Mumford nodded to Roger who moved over to Amanda. He grabbed her left arm and yanked it up behind her back. She moaned in pain.
"Stop it you...." Recognizing him as the *football player* who had grabbed him outside his apartment, Lee jumped at Roger and, even though the latter was a good four inches taller and thirty pounds heavier, he managed to knock the bigger man to floor. Harry quickly moved forward and, using the butt of his revolver, knocked Lee unconscious. Roger crawled out from under Lee's inert frame and went to stand by his cohorts. Amanda knelt down and took Lee's hand in hers.
"Damn it!" Mumford exclaimed, "now we have to wait until he comes to...."
A voice at the door said with authority, "No you don't."
Amanda looked up, "Oh, Sir!"
The doctor and his henchmen spun around and were greeted with the sight of Billy Melrose, flanked by at least four more agents, all pointing very large guns at them. Harry dropped his revolver. All three raised their hands above their heads.
Lee groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He looked around the room, his eyes focusing on his old friend and boss. "Billy, what kept you?"
"You forgot to drop a trail of bread crumbs for us to follow, Scarecrow."
"Oh," he got to his feet, with Amanda's help, "my fault."
Relief and happiness were evident in Billy's expression as he watched his team of agents take the doctor and his associates out of the room. "You look a little the worse for wear, Lee. We'll have Dr. McJohn standing by to check you over as soon as we get back to the office."
"Billy, I'm fine. All I needs is ....."
"All you need," Billy cut off his protest, "is a thorough exam to find out what they gave you and if it has any long term consequences. Mrs. King, you ride back with him and make sure he goes directly to the infirmary."
Smiling broadly and holding Lee's arm, Amanda replied, "I'll see to it sir. Happy to do that."
Lee mumbled something under his breath.
"What did you say, Scarecrow?" Billy asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"I said," he started in an irritated tone - which instantly softened as he looked from Billy to Amanda - "I said.... thanks a lot you guys."
--------------------
TAG
Amanda was sitting on the couch in her family room, still thinking about the events of the last twenty-four hours, when a light tapping on the back door interrupted her reverie. Getting up and walking to the door, a smile formed as she saw that it was the person she expected - the one she most wanted to see. She opened the door and stepped outside.
"Hi," she said softly.
"Hi. I just came by to see how you were doing," concern evident in his expression and tone of voice. "These kinds of things can give you the shakes hours after they're over."
"*These kinds of things*? You mean bein' dragged out of my own house and taken by some really bad men to some place I didn't know?"
"That's pretty much what I meant, yes."
"Yeah, I had the shakes. Fortunately, mother bought the story about my being kidnapped by mistake, and she was pretty understanding about why I was having the shakes. I mean...."
"Well, I'm glad she was there for you," Lee said with a smile.
"Yeah. Umm, listen, Lee, ahh I - I wanted to ask you. Umm, would you have given those guys your codes.... I mean - told them what they wanted to know if...." She didn't finish the question.
"I...well..." He looked down and away from Amanda.
"Oh, never mind. I probably don't want to know and you probably don't want to tell." She waved her hand as if to say - it's no big deal.
"Amanda - you're right. I'd just as soon not talk about it. Hey, I don't want to keep you. I bet you'd like to get a good nights sleep after last night and today." He took both her hands in his. "Good night, Amanda. Sleep well." Giving her hands a little squeeze he released them.
"Thanks Lee. You too." She turned and walked back into the house thinking, 'If Billy hadn't showed up to rescue us, I bet he'd have told them *something*.....'
As Lee turned and starting to walk through the yard and back to his car, he thought, 'If Billy hadn't showed up and rescued us, I probably would have told them *everything*.....'
end
As the agents watched the brightly lit houses, several parties seemed to be in full swing. They were taking down license plate numbers of all the cars that were parked or driving through the block. So far they had about thirty that would have to be checked out. The King house was dark. Everyone seemed to be asleep. Frank had gone around to the back yard and all the lights were out in the kitchen too.
"Hey Frank," Mike Martin, Frank's partner for this case, poked his arm. "See that white sedan cruising by? That's the second, or maybe the third time, he's been by."
"Did you get the plate number?
"You bet."
"Did you get a good look at him?"
"No. There were two men in the car. The driver was wearing a baseball cap. That's about all I could see through those damn tinted windows. I thought those things were illegal!"
"Well, don't worry. We'll find out who owns the car and if he had any business being here."
---------
Thoroughly rested and refreshed after her days camping in the woods, Amanda walked towards the IFF building with a spring in her step. She entered the Georgetown foyer and greeted Mrs. Marsten. "Good morning. I believe the word for today is *stopwatch*."
"Very good, Mrs. King." The older woman smiled and handed Amanda her badge. "By the way, Mr. Melrose left word that he wanted to see you as soon as you came in."
"Thank you." She got in the closet elevator and started down to the lower level. She had a vague feeling of uneasiness. Her brow was slightly creased - 'I'm just being silly,' she thought.
Arriving at the door of Billy's office, she knocked softly and smiled brightly. Billy motioned her to come in.
"Good morning Sir."
"Morning Amanda. How was your trip?"
"Oh, it was just wonderful. We had an absolutely..........."
Billy raised his hand to stop what could have been a very long and detailed description of her family's outing. He paused, trying to think of the best way to put this - some words that would soften the blow. There wasn't any good way to deliver such bad news. "Mrs. King, Amanda, I have some...disturbing news." He stopped and took a deep breath. "Lee is missing. No one has seen or heard from him, since Friday night."
"Oh, my gosh." Her voice was shaking so, she could barely say the words, ask the next question. "Sir, do you know - is Lee.........is Lee still alive?"
"We have no reason to think he isn't. His car was found abandoned off Highway One in Virginia. There was no sign of violence in the car and...there were no clues, no prints. Nothing has turned up so far. No ransom demands have been made. We think he was kidnapped by somebody, probably some foreign agents, who want information. Now, you know Lee is a pretty tough nut to crack. They probably haven't got anything out of him yet, so they may be looking for an edge. Amanda, there's a chance they may be looking for you."
"What? Why? Am I......is my family in danger?" Amanda asked fearfully.
"We've been watching your house since you got back. Look, I don't think they would want your family, your mother or your boys. After all, they don't know if Lee had any kind of relationship with them. But they must have seen you two together. They would assume that you're partners and so...."
"And so they might want to kidnap me too," she finished for him.
"Yes."
----------------
"Amanda, dear," Dotty called up the stairs. "Joe telephoned earlier. He's coming by this evening. My friend Mr. Davis will be here too. I thought we could have a little cold supper and play some old records and just relax and enjoy ourselves. You've been looking a little anxious ever since you came home from work."
"Yes, mother. I mean, no mother. I'm not anxious. Having Joe and Mr. Davis over will be fine," Amanda called down from her bedroom. 'Great,' she thought, 'all I can do, all I *want* to do, is think about Lee and now I've got to play hostess and pretend that everything is OK.'
--------
It was Thursday night, about nine-thirty PM. Frank and Mike had been making the usual small talk for what seemed like hours. Tonight it was the King house that was lit up. Two men were in the house. One of them Frank knew was Joe King, Mrs. King's former husband. The other, an older man, was probably a friend of Mrs. King's mother. Soft music and laughter could be heard from time to time.
"Look, Frank, there's that same white sedan I saw last night."
"Yeah," Frank looked at the license plate of the car as it slowly moved past 4247 Maplewood Drive. He checked a piece of paper attached to a clipboard, which had been laying on the dash. "Well, well. The car is registered to one Harry Saunders - a con - lives in a hotel for transients. Our people checked and nobody's seen him for about a week. He isn't due to check in with his parole officer until the end of the month, so no one was worried about him."
"Should we follow him?" Mike asked.
"No. Our job is to watch Mrs. King and her family. I wish we could have somebody follow them, but they'll be long gone before any of our guys could get here. Damn!" Frank hit the steering wheel in frustration.
"Take it easy, Frank. For all we know that car is a decoy - somebody tryin' to pull us off Mrs. King's house."
"You're right. It could be a decoy," Frank agreed.
------------
Dr. Mumford was furious. He glared as his two bumbling associates. "Well, now what? You didn't get the King woman last night and now, again tonight, you come back empty handed!"
"Look, doc," Roger began, "ahh, we...well..."
Harry took over. "The first night the whole block was lit up like a Christmas tree. There must've been ten parties goin' on. People walkin' around. There was no way we could get to her without bein' seen. Last night, she had company. A couple guys were there and they stayed until pretty late. We're gonna try again tonight."
"You had better do more than just *try*," Mumford said venomously. "You had better *succeed* this time."
Roger gulped and Harry nodded his head - affirmatively.
---------
It was Friday night. Lee had been missing for a week. Frank and Mike were sitting in their unobtrusive Agency car, when the same white sedan drove by. This time the car parked just a little beyond the driveway of the King house. Two men got out and headed down the drive towards the back of the house. Instantly, Frank was on the radio to Billy who was waiting at IFF. He had a hunch tonight would be the night.
"Billy, two guys are going towards the back of the house. I think this is it. They are going to try and grab Mrs. King."
Billy made the hardest decision he had ever made. "Let 'em take her."
"WHAT?"
"You heard me. Can you get a homing device on their car?"
"You bet. The minute you said *let them take her*, Mike grabbed the homer from the glovebox and was out of here and headed for their car. He's attaching it now. OK. He's on his way back. Here they come Billy, and they've got Amanda!"
"Whatever you do, Frank, *don't* lose them. Have Mike keep us informed of your route. I've got five teams and a helicopter standing by. We're on our way now."
"Good. Mike's taking over."
"They are starting off," Mr. Melrose, Mike said. "They're heading down Maplewood...."
--------------------
An hour later...."OK, Mr. Melrose, they're turning off Mountainview and pulling onto Orchard St. Now they've turned into a driveway.....it's number 67. Frank's driving by the house slowly......I can see the two guys. They've got Mrs. King and they're walking her into the side door of the house."
"Stay put," Billy commanded. "We don't want to do anything to endanger Lee and Amanda. We'll be with you in just a few minutes."
--------
Harry and Roger shoved a now conscious but confused Amanda King into a semi darkened room. When her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she could make out a figure lying on narrow bed. He was asleep or unconscious. It was Lee.
"Oh my gosh," she rushed over and sat on the edge of the bed, beside him, running her hand over his head, through his hair, touching the back of her hand to his forehead. "Lee, Lee, you've got to wake up and sit up."
The only answer was a small groan. She moved down towards the end of the bed and began trying to untie the knot in the rope that bound his ankles. It didn't take very long and she had it undone. She shoved his legs off the side of the bed so that his feet were on the floor. Then she moved back to where she could get her arm under his shoulder and arm and, pushing with all her strength, she managed to get him into a sitting position. Lee opened his eyes and blinked several times, trying to get his bearings.
"Amanda," he said groggily. "Is it really you? You're here. What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
"Lee, quiet. Just a minute. Here, turn a little bit so I can get at your wrists and untie you."
He did as he was told and in a few minutes she had his hands free. He immediately put his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace so tight that she could hardly breath.
It was wonderful but, "Lee, please, I can't breath!"
"Amanda, it's really you. Are you all right?" He held on to her, wanting to assure himself that this was real - that she was real.
"Yes, I'm OK, but I'll be better if you'd stop squashing me."
Lee loosened his grip and moved one hand behind her neck and took one of her hands in his other hand. "I was so worried. I kept seeing us together and, well, I realized that I was just dreaming about some of the cases we'd worked on together, but then... I could hear your voice, or what sounded like your voice calling for help, but somehow I knew it wasn't really you. It was someone trying to sound like you."
He looked at her for a long moment and then hugging her once more, he let her go and moved away from her a bit. "So, what are you doing here? Do you know where we are? Where's Billy?"
"I don't know where we are. I was knocked out with something - chloroform I guess, so I don't know how far we drove. As far as Billy is concerned - he's probably at home, in bed, asleep at this hour. What're they gonna do with us?"
"Well, I guess whatever drug or drugs they used on me didn't work so..." Lee left the horrifying thought unspoken. 'So they brought Amanda here to break me, to get to me through her.'
"So...., oh my gosh...." Realization had dawned on her. Her eyes widened with fright.
"Amanda, I'll get you out of this," he said, rising unsteadily to his feet.
"Lee, you can hardly stand up. You're in no shape to get *me* or *us* out of anything."
"Just give me a minute." He tried to flex his arm and shoulder muscles and move his legs a bit. "I just need to get the circulation back and I'll be OK."
Just then the door opened and three men were visible. The doctor, Roger and Harry, who was armed, entered the room. All three of them glared menacingly at Amanda.
Lee looked at Amanda, who looked as though she were about to faint.
"All right you guys," Lee started, "just let her go and I'll tell you whatever it is you want to know."
"No deal, Stetson," Dr. Mumford replied coolly. "The lady stays until we get what we want."
"Which is?"
"Start with Agency computer access codes. That's something we can check right away so we'll know if you're really cooperating."
"I only know the few codes I need to get into case files...," Lee began.
At that apparent evasion, Dr. Mumford nodded to Roger who moved over to Amanda. He grabbed her left arm and yanked it up behind her back. She moaned in pain.
"Stop it you...." Recognizing him as the *football player* who had grabbed him outside his apartment, Lee jumped at Roger and, even though the latter was a good four inches taller and thirty pounds heavier, he managed to knock the bigger man to floor. Harry quickly moved forward and, using the butt of his revolver, knocked Lee unconscious. Roger crawled out from under Lee's inert frame and went to stand by his cohorts. Amanda knelt down and took Lee's hand in hers.
"Damn it!" Mumford exclaimed, "now we have to wait until he comes to...."
A voice at the door said with authority, "No you don't."
Amanda looked up, "Oh, Sir!"
The doctor and his henchmen spun around and were greeted with the sight of Billy Melrose, flanked by at least four more agents, all pointing very large guns at them. Harry dropped his revolver. All three raised their hands above their heads.
Lee groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He looked around the room, his eyes focusing on his old friend and boss. "Billy, what kept you?"
"You forgot to drop a trail of bread crumbs for us to follow, Scarecrow."
"Oh," he got to his feet, with Amanda's help, "my fault."
Relief and happiness were evident in Billy's expression as he watched his team of agents take the doctor and his associates out of the room. "You look a little the worse for wear, Lee. We'll have Dr. McJohn standing by to check you over as soon as we get back to the office."
"Billy, I'm fine. All I needs is ....."
"All you need," Billy cut off his protest, "is a thorough exam to find out what they gave you and if it has any long term consequences. Mrs. King, you ride back with him and make sure he goes directly to the infirmary."
Smiling broadly and holding Lee's arm, Amanda replied, "I'll see to it sir. Happy to do that."
Lee mumbled something under his breath.
"What did you say, Scarecrow?" Billy asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"I said," he started in an irritated tone - which instantly softened as he looked from Billy to Amanda - "I said.... thanks a lot you guys."
--------------------
TAG
Amanda was sitting on the couch in her family room, still thinking about the events of the last twenty-four hours, when a light tapping on the back door interrupted her reverie. Getting up and walking to the door, a smile formed as she saw that it was the person she expected - the one she most wanted to see. She opened the door and stepped outside.
"Hi," she said softly.
"Hi. I just came by to see how you were doing," concern evident in his expression and tone of voice. "These kinds of things can give you the shakes hours after they're over."
"*These kinds of things*? You mean bein' dragged out of my own house and taken by some really bad men to some place I didn't know?"
"That's pretty much what I meant, yes."
"Yeah, I had the shakes. Fortunately, mother bought the story about my being kidnapped by mistake, and she was pretty understanding about why I was having the shakes. I mean...."
"Well, I'm glad she was there for you," Lee said with a smile.
"Yeah. Umm, listen, Lee, ahh I - I wanted to ask you. Umm, would you have given those guys your codes.... I mean - told them what they wanted to know if...." She didn't finish the question.
"I...well..." He looked down and away from Amanda.
"Oh, never mind. I probably don't want to know and you probably don't want to tell." She waved her hand as if to say - it's no big deal.
"Amanda - you're right. I'd just as soon not talk about it. Hey, I don't want to keep you. I bet you'd like to get a good nights sleep after last night and today." He took both her hands in his. "Good night, Amanda. Sleep well." Giving her hands a little squeeze he released them.
"Thanks Lee. You too." She turned and walked back into the house thinking, 'If Billy hadn't showed up to rescue us, I bet he'd have told them *something*.....'
As Lee turned and starting to walk through the yard and back to his car, he thought, 'If Billy hadn't showed up and rescued us, I probably would have told them *everything*.....'
end