Part 5

Washington, D.C., The Agency

October 23, 1998

Amanda looked up from the laptop screen she had been staring at for hours, and sighed. Immediately, Lee was at her side. He placed an arm around her and asked, "Getting tired?"

Stifling a yawn, Amanda replied, "Yeah. My eyes don't seem to want to focus anymore."

Lee said, "Let me take you home. You need to get some rest."

Amanda glanced at the other two agents in Lee's office and said, "Lee, I can't leave. Francine and Beaman have been working as hard as we have. I can't go home and have them do all the work."

"Amanda, they're doing their jobs. They'll understand if you go home and rest."

"They're doing more than their jobs, Lee and you know it. They're looking for our son. That's my job, too."

"I know, I know. But you have Jenny to think about as well."

"Lee, mother's taking good care of Jenny. And, I can't go home while Jamie's still missing."

"You won't do anybody any good if you're exhausted, Amanda."

"Lee, I'm not going home and that's final!"

Lee sighed and gave up. He knew that once Amanda made up her mind, she couldn't be swayed. They both went back to their laptops and continued their search.

They had decided to break up the workload to look for clues to Jamie's kidnaping. Beaman's assignment was to check the Agency e-mail server looking for any suspicious e-mails going to or from the Agency between the time of the terrorist cell arrest and Jamie's kidnaping. Francine was doing a check of the Agency phone logs for the same period. Lee and Amanda were tracing all Internet traffic and web sites visited on Agency computers.

They had been hard at work for nearly thirty-six hours with only a few short rest and meal breaks. In all that time they had found nothing suspicious. Lee ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "We're getting nowhere fast. We assumed the mole was in the Agency at least some of the times he contacted the kidnapers. I think that might be a faulty assumption. It's a lot more probable that he was too smart to do that and made all his contact elsewhere. He would have known we could trace anything he did here."

Though they didn't want to admit defeat, the other three agents realized Lee was probably right. They had wasted nearly two days in a fruitless search. After a few quiet minutes, Amanda broke the silence, "Lee, what if we can force the mole to make contact with the kidnapers while he's here at the Agency?"

Lee looked intrigued, "How would you suggest we do that?"

"Well, I was thinking that if the mole thought we had already discovered Jamie's whereabouts, he would have to contact them quickly to warn them. But, we could make sure that none of the warnings get through."

Lee thought about the possibility for a short time before agreeing, "You know, that just might work. We can capture all phone calls going through the switchboard and direct them to this office."

Beaman added, "I could also rig the e-mail server so that no out-going mail could be sent, but instead be forwarded to my terminal."

Francine said, "And, we don't have to worry about cell phones, because no cellular signal can penetrate the Agency."

"All right," Amanda said, "lets do some planning."

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The word spread quickly through the Agency that the terrorist base had been found and a rescue attempt was imminent. It wasn't long before the mole made his move. Beaman, who was monitoring the e-mail server announced, "I think we've got him."

"Who is it?" Lee asked.

"Ray Padouk in data."

Amanda looked him up in the employee data base, "Lee, he's been working here a little over a year. How did he get through the screening process?"

"You can bet that's the first thing I'm going to find out after we get Jamie back. Right now, we need to get him down here. He's got a few questions to answer."

Ray was uncooperative to say the least. It took three injections of the Veritas drug before they had the answers they needed. Jamie was being held in a warehouse on the Potomac. Lee called T.P. to get a copy of the building's blueprint, and the team went over it carefully to find some way to get in without being seen.

"Lee, look here," Amanda said as she studied the blueprint. "There appears to be river access to this room through a trap door. That might be the best way to get in."

Lee looked it over and agreed. "OK, we'll approach by way of the river. I think it best if the infiltration team is small, so that it's less likely we'll be spotted." Turning to Amanda he said, "I think it should be the two of us." Seeing her nod in agreement, he turned then to Francine and Beaman and continued, "You two remain outside, in communication range, and if we need back-up you'll be available." After a trip to see Leatherneck for supplies, the group was ready and Operation Payback was set.