Chapter 3 - TOO CLOSE TO HOME
**Arlington Junior High
Thursday Afternoon - 3:05PM**
"Hey, King! King!"
Jamie stopped short of swinging his leg over his bike and looked toward the group of kids coming toward him.
"What's up, Matt?"
"We're heading over to the park to play some basketball. You wanna come?"
Jamie shrugged. He had started playing ball more and more with Lee and Phillip, but still didn't feel very confident about his game. He was always afraid his glasses were going to fall off or something. But Matt was one of the cool kids, and Jamie was surprised someone like Matt would ask him to play.
"I guess so. My house is on the way, so I'll just drop my books off. I don't think my grandma will care. I just gotta let her know."
As they talked, Brittany Sylvan walked by and she looked in Jamie's direction. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and waved her fingers at him. "Hi Jamie!"
He raised his hand in a dumbfounded wave.
"So, you coming or what?" Matt asked again.
"Yah. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes."
The other guys walked away, bouncing a ball between them. Jamie pushed his glasses up on his nose and straddled his bike. Even after several months, he felt weird riding his bike home all alone. Phillip was at the high school now. He peddled his bike down to the sidewalk in front of the school and headed home.
As he passed, the passenger door of a dark blue van opened and Jamie had to swerve to avoid running right into it. His front tire wobbled and he toppled into the grass.
"Woa!" said the man who stepped out of the van. "Sorry about that! I didn't see you coming."
Jamie stood up and dusted himself off, shifting his backpack into a more comfortable position. "I'm okay," he said. "I went in the grass."
The man stepped forward and picked up Jamie's bike. He looked down at Jamie and furrowed his brow. "Hey, aren't you Jamie King?"
Jamie wrinkled his nose, adjusting the position of his glasses. "Yah. Do I know you?"
"No, but I know your mom. Amanda, right?"
"Yah. Do you work with her or something?"
"Something. I know your step-father, too."
Jamie looked back from his bike to the man. "I don't have a step-father."
"Sure, you do. Lee. Lee Stetson."
He shook his head. "My mom and Lee aren't married."
The man's once friendly face suddenly changed. His smile disappeared and his eyes darkened. "Well, Jamie, I guess there are a few things you don't know about them. Things I plan on educating you on."
He lunged at Jamie, who tried to dodge his move, but he grabbed Jamie's arm. Jamie winced painfully.
"Let me go!" he screamed.
"Oh, I will, Jamie. As soon as you hear everything I have to tell you."
The side door of the van opened and Jamie was tossed inside. He flung himself around and lunged at the opening, but it slammed shut before he could. Another set of hands grabbed him and yanked him back.
"Mom! Mom!"
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**Agency Bullpen
Thursday afternoon - 4:00 PM**
Lee and Francine sat in Billy Melrose's office across from their section chief. All three had open folders in their hands, going over recently discovered information.
"Mancini's man wouldn't give us any more than a shipment is going out soon?" Lee said, his eyes scanning the affidavit of the stooges statement.
"Yah," Francine said, rolling her overly lined eyes. "And that was after our **best** interrogation tactics."
"Damn!" Lee cursed. "This gives us nothing!"
"Scarecrow, we've been nearly three years trying to sack this guy. It's not going to just fall into our lap."
"After three years, Billy, I'm not expecting it to suddenly fall into our laps but it'd be a damn nice change of pace to get somewhere." Lee restrained himself enough to keep his voice just short of a shout.
His frustration was at the boiling point this week. Between the death of Janice Bigelow and the fingers being pointed at Lee, the internal investigation and the suspension Billy barely avoided with Dr. Smyth, the rumors he now knew to be circulating, and the frustration of going nowhere on the Mancini case, coupled with Lee's magnified need to spend more time with his wife, had him at snapping level.
"What's the matter, Scarecrow? Not enough women to fill your free time?"
Lee shot her a venomous look.
"That's enough, Francine!" Billy snapped.
"Sorry," she said with a huff.
"No, I'm sorry," Lee apologized and leaned back in his chair. "It's just been -"
The door to Billy's office burst open and all three agents leaped to their feet. Lee's heart immediately sank into his gut when he saw his wife, panic and terror as evident on her face as her brown eyes, standing in the doorway. She was trembling.
"Amanda?" Lee nearly leaped over his chair to reach her. As soon as his hands closed around her arms, he felt her legs give way and his hold on her was the only thing that kept her standing. "Amanda, what's wrong?"
She gripped the front of his jacket and he watched as she desperately tried to form words.
"Amanda!" Billy snapped.
Their section chief's voice seemed to shock her out of the terrifying haze she was in. She finally managed to form words, and Lee held his breath as she tried to speak.
"Jamie," she whispered.
"Jamie? What about Jamie? Is he hurt?"
She shook her head and swallowed hard. "Gone. He's gone."
Everything disappeared but Amanda, and Lee's heart froze between beats - a pain seizing his chest. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"
"He never came home from school. The principal of the school called. They found his bike near the school, and one of his friends said they saw - they saw --," She fought to speak, but her words were coming in short burst and she hyperventilated.
Lee held her face in his hands, making her lock gazes with him. "Amanda, please. Tell me what they saw." Panic wrapped around him and his blood ran cold.
"They saw someone grab Jamie and force him in a van. They ran inside and found Principal Harwick immediately, but the van was already gone. Oh, Lee."
"Francine, call the school and get any and all information this Principal Harwick can give us. Find out the names of the kids who saw them take Jamie." Billy continued to list off jobs for Francine, who nodded and took off out of the office.
Lee led Amanda to the couch in the back of Billy's office and sank down onto the leather upholstery beside her. He did his best to try and calm her, but his own emotions were tumbling beneath the surface like the sea during a hurricane.
"Where is Dotty and Phillip?" Lee asked, fighting to keep his voice steady for his wife.
"At home. They're waiting there in case Jamie somehow comes home, or if I hear anything. Lee, what are we going to do? I'm scared."
Lee touched her cheek and squeezed her hand. "I know. I'm scared, too."
Billy sat down in a chair adjacent to them, his hands clasped together and dangling between his knees. "We'll do anything we can, Amanda, to find your son."
**Our son**, Lee thought, clenching his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. **We'll do anything to find our son.**
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**Outside the Agency
Same time**
Anthony Mancini leaned over and spoke close to Jamie King's face, seeing the fear and anger in the young teenager's face. The boy's lip was split and his hair stood on end where Jimmy had yanked him to his feet with a fist full. His broken glasses were clenched in shaking hands. Tears streaked his face, and his lips were drawn tight.
"You remember everything I told you, Jamie boy. Now, I never intended to hurt you, but you shouldn't have tried to get away like you did. I told you I wasn't going to hurt you."
"Let me go!" Jamie screamed.
Mancini admired the boy's spunk. "Of course, Jamie. I told you I would. Do you think I've lied to you?"
"Yes!"
"I assure you, my boy, I haven't. Everything I told you is true. And everything that has happened to you is because of what your mother and Lee Stetson are doing to me. You remember that. Don't you forget it."
He reached out to touch the boy's arm, but Jamie King shrank away. Mancini smiled.
"I'm going to let you leave right now, in fact. As soon as you get out, you're going to see the building where your mom works. Go right inside. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you."
He reached behind him and grabbed the handle to the van door. Once it was open, he glanced around quickly, and shoved Jamie out of the vehicle. The son of his greatest adversaries landed on his hands and knees on the concrete sidewalk.
"Go!" he shouted to the driver of the van as he slammed the door shut.
Jamie sucked air in through clenched teeth, the pain in his knees and palms bringing hot tears to his eyes. He forced them down and stumbled to his feet. The man hadn't lied. In front of him was the brick building where he knew his mother worked, with the sign out front that read International Federal Films.
What that man had told him was beyond belief. He couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. If he believed it, it meant knowing his mother had lied to him for years. Jamie didn't want to accept that. But he had to know.
Taking slow, deliberate steps toward the front entry. His lip hurt, and when he winced, he felt it split again and blood warmed his cheek. But he didn't care. He paused at the door, his hand on the knob, before turning it and walking inside.
The only person he saw in the foyer was an older woman sitting at a large desk. She looked up, and surprise and concern immediately changed her expression.
"Dear God!" she exclaimed as she started to stand.
"I want my mom," he said as he stumbled toward her desk.
She said something, but Jamie didn't register it. His head hurt, and he couldn't see very clearly without his glasses.
"I want my mom!" he shouted. "Amanda King! I want my mom!"
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**Billy Melrose's office**
Amanda's stomach clenched and twisted with the fear and anxiety that tore her apart. Lee held her against his chest, his hand stroking her hair, but she heard the irratic pounding of his heart against her cheek. She knew he was as terrified as she was.
Francine came through the door and Amanda looked up. She knew by the look on the woman's face, she had no good news.
"I spoke with the principal," she said more to Billy than Amanda and Lee, but Amanda listened with rapt attention. "There wasn't much they could tell me. Blue, older van. No windows. Nothing on the sides. The kids didn't get any license plate - not even a partial."
Hot tears came to Amanda's eyes and her heart seized in her chest. She fought to take a breath.
"Lee," was all she could manage to say. Over and over again. "Lee. Lee."
There was a commotion outside and Billy stood to move to the door. He opened it as one of the MP's posted at the door ran up to him.
"Sir, they just brought a young boy down from the Georgetown Foyer. He's asking for Mrs. King."
"Jamie?" Amanda leaped to her feet, Lee moving with her and taking her hand. His grip was almost painful.
"I didn't catch his name, Mrs. King. But he says you're his mother."
Amanda shoved past all of them and ran through the bullpen. As she reached the hall, Dr. Kelfer was coming by pushing a gurney. She saw her youngest son's face, swollen and bloody, and Amanda nearly collapsed again.
"Jamie!" she called and ran to his side.
Jamie turned toward her, their eyes met for a moment, then he frowned and turned away. Amanda's breath was stolen from her lungs.
"Is he alright, Dr. Kelfer?" she heard Lee ask as the doctor's assistants moved the gurney down toward the infirmary.
Dr. Kelfer stopped at turned back to them. "I think he'll be fine, Mrs. King. It seems to be mostly some minor abrasions and bruises. I'm just taking him to the infirmary for a check up."
Amanda nodded, not able to speak. The doctor turned and headed back down the hall. Lee pressed his hand against her back and they followed, Billy and Francine bringing up the rear. They stopped outside the infirmary when Dr. Kelfer shut the door and halted their entrance. Amanda pressed her fingertips against the door, willing Jamie to feel her presence.
"I have to call Mother," she whispered.
Lee wrapped his arms around her from behind, and Amanda let her head fall back against his chest. His embrace kept her from exploding into a thousand frantic fragments, and his soft whisper near her ear soothed her pounding heart.
"He's okay," Lee whispered. "Our son is okay."
"Who did this to him?" she asked, knowing Lee didn't have the answers any more than she did, but needed to voice them all the same. "Why would they hurt him? And why did they bring him here? Why wouldn't he look at me?"
"We'll find out, Amanda. We'll find out."
After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened again and Dr. Kelfer motioned them inside. Jamie sat on the side of the examination table, bandages on his knuckles and his forehead. His lip still looked swollen, but he dabbed at it with an ice pack. Amanda rushed to him and tried to touch his face, but Jamie pulled away.
"Sweetheart, are you okay?" she asked.
He didn't answer but tossed a scathing glance between her and Lee, who stood behind her. Amanda looked over her shoulder at her husband, shrugged slightly at his confused expression, and looked back to her son.
"Jamie. Can you tell us what happened?" Lee asked.
The glare Jamie shot at Lee was twice as angry as the one he gave his mother.
"You. You're what happened," Jamie said in a frighteningly low voice. "Scarecrow."
Amanda gasped and sensed the tensing of Lee's body.
"I guess he wasn't lying. You're a spy. And you made my mother a spy."
"Jamie, sweetheart, who told you this?"
"Does it really matter?"
"Yes, Jamie, it does matter. Because whoever took you, and hurt you, and if they think they know things that can be used to hurt you and -"
"Shut up!" Jamie shouted, cutting Lee off.
"James King!" Amanda reprimanded.
"No, Amanda, it's all right," Lee said. "Jamie, we'll talk this all out, I promise you. But right now we need to know who did this."
"He didn't tell me his name."
"What did he look like?"
"Black hair, green eyes," Jamie said with resignation. "Tall. Almost as tall as you. Old."
"Old? Like sixties old?"
"No, like you old."
Lee cleared his throat and glanced at Amanda. Jamie certainly was getting his digs in. But apparently, he felt justified. Amanda's heart pounded at a furious pace, and a cold sweat had washed over her since Jamie called Lee by his code name. Just how much did he know? In the same moment, Amanda realized it didn't matter how much he did or didn't know. They would have to answer whatever questions he had now. He knew too much already, had gone through too much already, not to deserve at least that.
Lee brushed his hand down her spine before going to the door and opening it. He called Francine over, who still stood outside in the hall, and whispered something to her. What he asked, Amanda couldn't hear. She curled her fingers on the top of the examining table and took a deep breath to calm her raging nerves. When she looked back at her son, the expression on his face was softer, almost sad.
"I'm sorry, Sweetheart," she said.
Jamie looked away, but his face wasn't as incriminating as when they first walked in. Lee shut the door again and came back to them. In his hand he held a folder.
"I need you to do something for me, Champ. Is this the man who took you?" Lee opened the folder and handed it to Jamie.
Jamie stared at the picture inside and slowly nodded. "Yes. This is him."
Amanda watched her husband and saw the tension immediately strain his expression. The muscle along his jaw leaped as the unseen fury took him over. She knew that look all too well.
"Who is it, Lee?"
Lee took the folder from Jamie and handed it to her. She stared down at the picture and caught her breath. "Anthony Mancini."
"This time he's gone too damn far!" Lee snapped. "First you, now Jamie. He's going to pay if I have to wring justice out of him with my own two hands!"
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**Billy's Office
Two hours later**
Lee sat on the corner of Billy's desk, wringing his hands in his lap, and watched Amanda and Jamie where they sat on Billy's couch. Amanda stroked Jamie's hair, but even though he allowed her the contact, Jamie's expression did little to hide the anger that lie beneath.
Billy came in with a quick glance from Lee to Amanda. "We've called your mother, Amanda. She is aware Jamie is fine, and you are with him. I let her know you will be home as soon as you can."
Amanda nodded. "Thank you, sir." Her voice was husky and cracked when she spoke, the way it always did when she was doing her damndest to hold in her emotions.
"You're a spy too, right?" Jamie said, his first words in over half an hour.
Billy glanced at Lee and cleared his throat. "I guess you could say that. I'm your mother's section chief. It's kind of like a supervisor."
Jamie looked at Lee. "I thought you were her supervisor."
Lee sighed. This was not a conversation he planned on having. Especially not now. And especially not this week. But it seemed to be par for the course. Just another log on his fire. Another day in his week from hell.
"Your mother and I are partners. I'm the -," he nearly choked on the words, never imagining he would be explaining this to Jamie. "I'm the senior agent."
"So, what happens now? I'm supposed to keep this a secret from Grandma and Phillip? And Dad?"
Amanda looked to him, and in her brown eyes he saw everything he needed to know. It wasn't the way they wanted it. It wasn't the best way. But they had to come clean. They had to tell their family the truth. At least this part of the truth. They would have to decide later when to reveal everything. His wife nodded once, letting him know she knew what he was thinking.
"No, Sweetheart. We won't ask you to keep a secret like this. We'll tell your grandmother and brother everything, too. It's time it all was out in the open. But I want you to know, Jamie, we didn't tell you because we wanted to protect you."
Jamie shifted on the couch, his movement making the leather squeak. He looked at his mother and then to Lee. "So, tell me."
"Tell you what, Sweetheart?"
"Tell me how it happened? How did you become a spy? Did you apply or something?"
Lee and Amanda exchanged glances, and her small smile warmed Lee's heart. "That's a very interesting story, Champ. You see, almost six years ago I was being chased by some guys who wanted what I had pretty badly. In a desperate attempt, I grabbed the arm of this beautiful woman who was waiting for the train and asked her to help me."
"You, Mom?" Amanda nodded, her gaze holding Lee's. "And you helped him?"
"I had to. My country needed me."
Lee almost laughed. That was the line he always used on her, those first few months, to convince her - and himself - to help him **just one more time**. Eventually, he didn't need excuses. She helped willingly. And he willingly asked.
"Things just went from there, Jamie. Your mom worked on more and more cases with me. She took on more and more training. And about eighteen months ago she was made a full-fledged agent."
"There's more than that, Sweetheart, and we'll answer all your questions, but I think we should wait until we can talk to your grandmother and brother. They'll have questions, too."
Jamie smiled and nodded, and Lee wondered if he wasn't perhaps warning up to the thought of having an international intelligence operative for a mother. Lee always hated the word spy. Then a different expression crossed Jamie's face, as if remembering something.
"The man that grabbed me said something else to me. He said -." Before Jamie could finish, there was a knock on Billy's door.
"Come on in, Francine," Billy said.
Francine opened the door, a strange expression on her face. Her eyes seemed wider than usual, and the glance she shot at Lee was cryptic at best. That could only mean one thing. More news he didn't want to hear.
"Billy, I just found this on my desk. I thought you should see it," she whispered, but loud enough that Lee could hear. "It's the results of Amanda's routine background check."
Amanda must have heard, because she sat forward. "What is it?"
Billy opened the letter size envelope and took out the contents. Lee stood off the edge of the desk as a dark frown took over his boss's face.
"What is it, Billy?" he asked.
Billy didn't look in his direction. "Tell me you correlated this with their cases at the time."
Francine nodded and glanced at Lee. "I did, Billy." She shook her head. "It's not from a case. By what I can tell, it's real." Her usual sarcastic tone was gone, and dread dragged her voice down. "There's documentation from legal that says they confirmed the authenticity."
When Billy looked back at them, Lee could almost see flames shooting from his eyes and smoke from his ears. "Damn it, Billy! What is it?"
"Amanda, I think your son should step outside while we discuss this. Francine, can you take Jamie down to the cafeteria and get him something to eat?"
Amanda stood with her son and kissed his head before he walked out with Francine. Her eyes were wide and rounded as the door closed behind him and she looked back to Lee, her hands folded together in front of her.
"What this time? Billy, if something is just now showing up in Amanda's background check, and it's not good, you know the routine. It's not the first time someone has planted information to make one of us look bad."
Billy's lips were set in a tight line. "You damn well better hope so, Scarecrow. Because if you don't have a damn good explanation for this, it could be BOTH your careers."
Amanda stepped to his side. "Please. Sir. What is it?"
Billy held up the document he had been handed. Lee didn't see the fine print from where he stood, but the fancy calligraphy across the top told him everything he needed to know.
**Certificate of Marriage.**
Amanda gasped. "Oh my gosh."
The series of words running through Lee's mind were a great deal harsher than his wife's eloquent 'oh my gosh'. He let a few slip out and raked his fingers through his hair.
"Can I assume from your mutual reactions this is not a fake?"
Lee and Amanda exchanged looks. "I'm sorry," Lee mouthed to her. This was all wrong. All so wrong. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. He promised her so much more.
"Scarecrow!" Billy snapped.
"No, Billy, it's not a fake."
"We're sorry, sir."
"Frankly, Amanda, I don't want to **hear** sorry right now!" Billy shouted.
Lee raised his hand. "Hey, back off alittle, Billy. Amanda has been through hell today. She doesn't need you shouting at her."
"Fine! I'll shout at you, Scarecrow! Damn it, man! What the hell were you thinking? You're the senior agent here. You know better than to pull garbage like this. Why the hell did you hide this? Don't you think this is something that I, as your section chief, should have known?"
"Why, Billy? So it could get up to Smythe and he could break us up? We're a team, Billy. We're partners. Both on the job and off. Neither of us wanted that to change."
Amanda laced her fingers through his, loosening the tight fist he had clenched at his side. His chest heaved with the effort of arguing with Billy yet keeping his frustration at bay.
"Dr. Smythe is going to have a field day with this," Billy snapped back, slamming the document down on the desk. "Especially after the murder last week. Do you have any idea how bad this looks? Maybe, MAYBE if I knew this ahead of time, I could have convinced him to keep you together. But now." Billy shook his head, his voice suddenly dropping. "I mean it, Lee. You two will be lucky to come out with your jobs."
Lee dropped into a nearby chair and rested his head in his hands. Amanda stood beside him, her hand on his back.
"What do we do now, sir?"
Billy sighed and Lee looked up to see him shaking his head. "I don't know, Amanda. I just don't know. Smythe will see this tomorrow morning, no doubt. Until then, I guess the only thing you can do is go home and talk to your family."
With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Lee stood. Amanda took his hand again.
"Ok, Billy," he said. He wanted to just get out and find some way to piece together the suddenly shattered pieces of their lives, but knew Billy deserved better than that. Lee stepped to his section chief and friend and sighed. "Billy, we didn't want you to find out this way. But at the time we just didn't see an alternative. It was a bad situation. The only good part of it being that we finally figured out how much we needed each other."
Billy nodded and reached for Lee's hand, shaking it. "You know this is what I wanted for you two. You're good for each other. I knew that from the beginning. They didn't make me Section Chief -."
"-For nothing," Lee finished with a wry chuckle. "Thanks, Billy."
He reached again for Amanda's hand, but she was no longer at his side. Lee turned and looked over his shoulder. His wife stood at Billy's desk, the document in her hands, and her eyes skimmed it. Her mouth hung open, and as he watched, her head shot up and their eyes met.
"Amanda?"
She shook her head and held the paper out to him. "It's not . . well, it's not . . . **ours**."
"What?" Lee took the paper from her, and now that he held it in his hands and could read it in detail, he saw what she meant. Rage immediately hit him and he slammed his hand against the license. "Damn it!"
"What is it, Scarecrow?"
"We've been set up. Again. This isn't our marriage license."
"What are you talking about? You just admitted you got married six months ago."
Lee shook his head, his lips pulling tight over his teeth. "No, Billy. We admitted we're married, but not six months ago. I didn't see the date when you held it up. This says we were married in Arlington six months ago."
"Yes. So?"
Lee looked at his wife, who shrugged one shoulder and shook her head. They had dug their hole. What was another foot deeper?
"Billy, we were married two years ago February 13th. And we were married in Marion, not Arlington."
"Then this -."
Lee threw the forged document across the room where it fluttered to the floor near the couch. "This is a forgery. Someone **was** trying to set us up, except this time they came too damn close to the truth!"
**Arlington Junior High
Thursday Afternoon - 3:05PM**
"Hey, King! King!"
Jamie stopped short of swinging his leg over his bike and looked toward the group of kids coming toward him.
"What's up, Matt?"
"We're heading over to the park to play some basketball. You wanna come?"
Jamie shrugged. He had started playing ball more and more with Lee and Phillip, but still didn't feel very confident about his game. He was always afraid his glasses were going to fall off or something. But Matt was one of the cool kids, and Jamie was surprised someone like Matt would ask him to play.
"I guess so. My house is on the way, so I'll just drop my books off. I don't think my grandma will care. I just gotta let her know."
As they talked, Brittany Sylvan walked by and she looked in Jamie's direction. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and waved her fingers at him. "Hi Jamie!"
He raised his hand in a dumbfounded wave.
"So, you coming or what?" Matt asked again.
"Yah. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes."
The other guys walked away, bouncing a ball between them. Jamie pushed his glasses up on his nose and straddled his bike. Even after several months, he felt weird riding his bike home all alone. Phillip was at the high school now. He peddled his bike down to the sidewalk in front of the school and headed home.
As he passed, the passenger door of a dark blue van opened and Jamie had to swerve to avoid running right into it. His front tire wobbled and he toppled into the grass.
"Woa!" said the man who stepped out of the van. "Sorry about that! I didn't see you coming."
Jamie stood up and dusted himself off, shifting his backpack into a more comfortable position. "I'm okay," he said. "I went in the grass."
The man stepped forward and picked up Jamie's bike. He looked down at Jamie and furrowed his brow. "Hey, aren't you Jamie King?"
Jamie wrinkled his nose, adjusting the position of his glasses. "Yah. Do I know you?"
"No, but I know your mom. Amanda, right?"
"Yah. Do you work with her or something?"
"Something. I know your step-father, too."
Jamie looked back from his bike to the man. "I don't have a step-father."
"Sure, you do. Lee. Lee Stetson."
He shook his head. "My mom and Lee aren't married."
The man's once friendly face suddenly changed. His smile disappeared and his eyes darkened. "Well, Jamie, I guess there are a few things you don't know about them. Things I plan on educating you on."
He lunged at Jamie, who tried to dodge his move, but he grabbed Jamie's arm. Jamie winced painfully.
"Let me go!" he screamed.
"Oh, I will, Jamie. As soon as you hear everything I have to tell you."
The side door of the van opened and Jamie was tossed inside. He flung himself around and lunged at the opening, but it slammed shut before he could. Another set of hands grabbed him and yanked him back.
"Mom! Mom!"
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**Agency Bullpen
Thursday afternoon - 4:00 PM**
Lee and Francine sat in Billy Melrose's office across from their section chief. All three had open folders in their hands, going over recently discovered information.
"Mancini's man wouldn't give us any more than a shipment is going out soon?" Lee said, his eyes scanning the affidavit of the stooges statement.
"Yah," Francine said, rolling her overly lined eyes. "And that was after our **best** interrogation tactics."
"Damn!" Lee cursed. "This gives us nothing!"
"Scarecrow, we've been nearly three years trying to sack this guy. It's not going to just fall into our lap."
"After three years, Billy, I'm not expecting it to suddenly fall into our laps but it'd be a damn nice change of pace to get somewhere." Lee restrained himself enough to keep his voice just short of a shout.
His frustration was at the boiling point this week. Between the death of Janice Bigelow and the fingers being pointed at Lee, the internal investigation and the suspension Billy barely avoided with Dr. Smyth, the rumors he now knew to be circulating, and the frustration of going nowhere on the Mancini case, coupled with Lee's magnified need to spend more time with his wife, had him at snapping level.
"What's the matter, Scarecrow? Not enough women to fill your free time?"
Lee shot her a venomous look.
"That's enough, Francine!" Billy snapped.
"Sorry," she said with a huff.
"No, I'm sorry," Lee apologized and leaned back in his chair. "It's just been -"
The door to Billy's office burst open and all three agents leaped to their feet. Lee's heart immediately sank into his gut when he saw his wife, panic and terror as evident on her face as her brown eyes, standing in the doorway. She was trembling.
"Amanda?" Lee nearly leaped over his chair to reach her. As soon as his hands closed around her arms, he felt her legs give way and his hold on her was the only thing that kept her standing. "Amanda, what's wrong?"
She gripped the front of his jacket and he watched as she desperately tried to form words.
"Amanda!" Billy snapped.
Their section chief's voice seemed to shock her out of the terrifying haze she was in. She finally managed to form words, and Lee held his breath as she tried to speak.
"Jamie," she whispered.
"Jamie? What about Jamie? Is he hurt?"
She shook her head and swallowed hard. "Gone. He's gone."
Everything disappeared but Amanda, and Lee's heart froze between beats - a pain seizing his chest. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"
"He never came home from school. The principal of the school called. They found his bike near the school, and one of his friends said they saw - they saw --," She fought to speak, but her words were coming in short burst and she hyperventilated.
Lee held her face in his hands, making her lock gazes with him. "Amanda, please. Tell me what they saw." Panic wrapped around him and his blood ran cold.
"They saw someone grab Jamie and force him in a van. They ran inside and found Principal Harwick immediately, but the van was already gone. Oh, Lee."
"Francine, call the school and get any and all information this Principal Harwick can give us. Find out the names of the kids who saw them take Jamie." Billy continued to list off jobs for Francine, who nodded and took off out of the office.
Lee led Amanda to the couch in the back of Billy's office and sank down onto the leather upholstery beside her. He did his best to try and calm her, but his own emotions were tumbling beneath the surface like the sea during a hurricane.
"Where is Dotty and Phillip?" Lee asked, fighting to keep his voice steady for his wife.
"At home. They're waiting there in case Jamie somehow comes home, or if I hear anything. Lee, what are we going to do? I'm scared."
Lee touched her cheek and squeezed her hand. "I know. I'm scared, too."
Billy sat down in a chair adjacent to them, his hands clasped together and dangling between his knees. "We'll do anything we can, Amanda, to find your son."
**Our son**, Lee thought, clenching his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. **We'll do anything to find our son.**
SMK ~~~ SMK ~~~ SMK ~~~ SMK
**Outside the Agency
Same time**
Anthony Mancini leaned over and spoke close to Jamie King's face, seeing the fear and anger in the young teenager's face. The boy's lip was split and his hair stood on end where Jimmy had yanked him to his feet with a fist full. His broken glasses were clenched in shaking hands. Tears streaked his face, and his lips were drawn tight.
"You remember everything I told you, Jamie boy. Now, I never intended to hurt you, but you shouldn't have tried to get away like you did. I told you I wasn't going to hurt you."
"Let me go!" Jamie screamed.
Mancini admired the boy's spunk. "Of course, Jamie. I told you I would. Do you think I've lied to you?"
"Yes!"
"I assure you, my boy, I haven't. Everything I told you is true. And everything that has happened to you is because of what your mother and Lee Stetson are doing to me. You remember that. Don't you forget it."
He reached out to touch the boy's arm, but Jamie King shrank away. Mancini smiled.
"I'm going to let you leave right now, in fact. As soon as you get out, you're going to see the building where your mom works. Go right inside. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you."
He reached behind him and grabbed the handle to the van door. Once it was open, he glanced around quickly, and shoved Jamie out of the vehicle. The son of his greatest adversaries landed on his hands and knees on the concrete sidewalk.
"Go!" he shouted to the driver of the van as he slammed the door shut.
Jamie sucked air in through clenched teeth, the pain in his knees and palms bringing hot tears to his eyes. He forced them down and stumbled to his feet. The man hadn't lied. In front of him was the brick building where he knew his mother worked, with the sign out front that read International Federal Films.
What that man had told him was beyond belief. He couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. If he believed it, it meant knowing his mother had lied to him for years. Jamie didn't want to accept that. But he had to know.
Taking slow, deliberate steps toward the front entry. His lip hurt, and when he winced, he felt it split again and blood warmed his cheek. But he didn't care. He paused at the door, his hand on the knob, before turning it and walking inside.
The only person he saw in the foyer was an older woman sitting at a large desk. She looked up, and surprise and concern immediately changed her expression.
"Dear God!" she exclaimed as she started to stand.
"I want my mom," he said as he stumbled toward her desk.
She said something, but Jamie didn't register it. His head hurt, and he couldn't see very clearly without his glasses.
"I want my mom!" he shouted. "Amanda King! I want my mom!"
SMK ~~~ SMK ~~~ SMK ~~~ SMK
**Billy Melrose's office**
Amanda's stomach clenched and twisted with the fear and anxiety that tore her apart. Lee held her against his chest, his hand stroking her hair, but she heard the irratic pounding of his heart against her cheek. She knew he was as terrified as she was.
Francine came through the door and Amanda looked up. She knew by the look on the woman's face, she had no good news.
"I spoke with the principal," she said more to Billy than Amanda and Lee, but Amanda listened with rapt attention. "There wasn't much they could tell me. Blue, older van. No windows. Nothing on the sides. The kids didn't get any license plate - not even a partial."
Hot tears came to Amanda's eyes and her heart seized in her chest. She fought to take a breath.
"Lee," was all she could manage to say. Over and over again. "Lee. Lee."
There was a commotion outside and Billy stood to move to the door. He opened it as one of the MP's posted at the door ran up to him.
"Sir, they just brought a young boy down from the Georgetown Foyer. He's asking for Mrs. King."
"Jamie?" Amanda leaped to her feet, Lee moving with her and taking her hand. His grip was almost painful.
"I didn't catch his name, Mrs. King. But he says you're his mother."
Amanda shoved past all of them and ran through the bullpen. As she reached the hall, Dr. Kelfer was coming by pushing a gurney. She saw her youngest son's face, swollen and bloody, and Amanda nearly collapsed again.
"Jamie!" she called and ran to his side.
Jamie turned toward her, their eyes met for a moment, then he frowned and turned away. Amanda's breath was stolen from her lungs.
"Is he alright, Dr. Kelfer?" she heard Lee ask as the doctor's assistants moved the gurney down toward the infirmary.
Dr. Kelfer stopped at turned back to them. "I think he'll be fine, Mrs. King. It seems to be mostly some minor abrasions and bruises. I'm just taking him to the infirmary for a check up."
Amanda nodded, not able to speak. The doctor turned and headed back down the hall. Lee pressed his hand against her back and they followed, Billy and Francine bringing up the rear. They stopped outside the infirmary when Dr. Kelfer shut the door and halted their entrance. Amanda pressed her fingertips against the door, willing Jamie to feel her presence.
"I have to call Mother," she whispered.
Lee wrapped his arms around her from behind, and Amanda let her head fall back against his chest. His embrace kept her from exploding into a thousand frantic fragments, and his soft whisper near her ear soothed her pounding heart.
"He's okay," Lee whispered. "Our son is okay."
"Who did this to him?" she asked, knowing Lee didn't have the answers any more than she did, but needed to voice them all the same. "Why would they hurt him? And why did they bring him here? Why wouldn't he look at me?"
"We'll find out, Amanda. We'll find out."
After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened again and Dr. Kelfer motioned them inside. Jamie sat on the side of the examination table, bandages on his knuckles and his forehead. His lip still looked swollen, but he dabbed at it with an ice pack. Amanda rushed to him and tried to touch his face, but Jamie pulled away.
"Sweetheart, are you okay?" she asked.
He didn't answer but tossed a scathing glance between her and Lee, who stood behind her. Amanda looked over her shoulder at her husband, shrugged slightly at his confused expression, and looked back to her son.
"Jamie. Can you tell us what happened?" Lee asked.
The glare Jamie shot at Lee was twice as angry as the one he gave his mother.
"You. You're what happened," Jamie said in a frighteningly low voice. "Scarecrow."
Amanda gasped and sensed the tensing of Lee's body.
"I guess he wasn't lying. You're a spy. And you made my mother a spy."
"Jamie, sweetheart, who told you this?"
"Does it really matter?"
"Yes, Jamie, it does matter. Because whoever took you, and hurt you, and if they think they know things that can be used to hurt you and -"
"Shut up!" Jamie shouted, cutting Lee off.
"James King!" Amanda reprimanded.
"No, Amanda, it's all right," Lee said. "Jamie, we'll talk this all out, I promise you. But right now we need to know who did this."
"He didn't tell me his name."
"What did he look like?"
"Black hair, green eyes," Jamie said with resignation. "Tall. Almost as tall as you. Old."
"Old? Like sixties old?"
"No, like you old."
Lee cleared his throat and glanced at Amanda. Jamie certainly was getting his digs in. But apparently, he felt justified. Amanda's heart pounded at a furious pace, and a cold sweat had washed over her since Jamie called Lee by his code name. Just how much did he know? In the same moment, Amanda realized it didn't matter how much he did or didn't know. They would have to answer whatever questions he had now. He knew too much already, had gone through too much already, not to deserve at least that.
Lee brushed his hand down her spine before going to the door and opening it. He called Francine over, who still stood outside in the hall, and whispered something to her. What he asked, Amanda couldn't hear. She curled her fingers on the top of the examining table and took a deep breath to calm her raging nerves. When she looked back at her son, the expression on his face was softer, almost sad.
"I'm sorry, Sweetheart," she said.
Jamie looked away, but his face wasn't as incriminating as when they first walked in. Lee shut the door again and came back to them. In his hand he held a folder.
"I need you to do something for me, Champ. Is this the man who took you?" Lee opened the folder and handed it to Jamie.
Jamie stared at the picture inside and slowly nodded. "Yes. This is him."
Amanda watched her husband and saw the tension immediately strain his expression. The muscle along his jaw leaped as the unseen fury took him over. She knew that look all too well.
"Who is it, Lee?"
Lee took the folder from Jamie and handed it to her. She stared down at the picture and caught her breath. "Anthony Mancini."
"This time he's gone too damn far!" Lee snapped. "First you, now Jamie. He's going to pay if I have to wring justice out of him with my own two hands!"
SMK ~~~ SMK ~~~ SMK ~~~ SMK
**Billy's Office
Two hours later**
Lee sat on the corner of Billy's desk, wringing his hands in his lap, and watched Amanda and Jamie where they sat on Billy's couch. Amanda stroked Jamie's hair, but even though he allowed her the contact, Jamie's expression did little to hide the anger that lie beneath.
Billy came in with a quick glance from Lee to Amanda. "We've called your mother, Amanda. She is aware Jamie is fine, and you are with him. I let her know you will be home as soon as you can."
Amanda nodded. "Thank you, sir." Her voice was husky and cracked when she spoke, the way it always did when she was doing her damndest to hold in her emotions.
"You're a spy too, right?" Jamie said, his first words in over half an hour.
Billy glanced at Lee and cleared his throat. "I guess you could say that. I'm your mother's section chief. It's kind of like a supervisor."
Jamie looked at Lee. "I thought you were her supervisor."
Lee sighed. This was not a conversation he planned on having. Especially not now. And especially not this week. But it seemed to be par for the course. Just another log on his fire. Another day in his week from hell.
"Your mother and I are partners. I'm the -," he nearly choked on the words, never imagining he would be explaining this to Jamie. "I'm the senior agent."
"So, what happens now? I'm supposed to keep this a secret from Grandma and Phillip? And Dad?"
Amanda looked to him, and in her brown eyes he saw everything he needed to know. It wasn't the way they wanted it. It wasn't the best way. But they had to come clean. They had to tell their family the truth. At least this part of the truth. They would have to decide later when to reveal everything. His wife nodded once, letting him know she knew what he was thinking.
"No, Sweetheart. We won't ask you to keep a secret like this. We'll tell your grandmother and brother everything, too. It's time it all was out in the open. But I want you to know, Jamie, we didn't tell you because we wanted to protect you."
Jamie shifted on the couch, his movement making the leather squeak. He looked at his mother and then to Lee. "So, tell me."
"Tell you what, Sweetheart?"
"Tell me how it happened? How did you become a spy? Did you apply or something?"
Lee and Amanda exchanged glances, and her small smile warmed Lee's heart. "That's a very interesting story, Champ. You see, almost six years ago I was being chased by some guys who wanted what I had pretty badly. In a desperate attempt, I grabbed the arm of this beautiful woman who was waiting for the train and asked her to help me."
"You, Mom?" Amanda nodded, her gaze holding Lee's. "And you helped him?"
"I had to. My country needed me."
Lee almost laughed. That was the line he always used on her, those first few months, to convince her - and himself - to help him **just one more time**. Eventually, he didn't need excuses. She helped willingly. And he willingly asked.
"Things just went from there, Jamie. Your mom worked on more and more cases with me. She took on more and more training. And about eighteen months ago she was made a full-fledged agent."
"There's more than that, Sweetheart, and we'll answer all your questions, but I think we should wait until we can talk to your grandmother and brother. They'll have questions, too."
Jamie smiled and nodded, and Lee wondered if he wasn't perhaps warning up to the thought of having an international intelligence operative for a mother. Lee always hated the word spy. Then a different expression crossed Jamie's face, as if remembering something.
"The man that grabbed me said something else to me. He said -." Before Jamie could finish, there was a knock on Billy's door.
"Come on in, Francine," Billy said.
Francine opened the door, a strange expression on her face. Her eyes seemed wider than usual, and the glance she shot at Lee was cryptic at best. That could only mean one thing. More news he didn't want to hear.
"Billy, I just found this on my desk. I thought you should see it," she whispered, but loud enough that Lee could hear. "It's the results of Amanda's routine background check."
Amanda must have heard, because she sat forward. "What is it?"
Billy opened the letter size envelope and took out the contents. Lee stood off the edge of the desk as a dark frown took over his boss's face.
"What is it, Billy?" he asked.
Billy didn't look in his direction. "Tell me you correlated this with their cases at the time."
Francine nodded and glanced at Lee. "I did, Billy." She shook her head. "It's not from a case. By what I can tell, it's real." Her usual sarcastic tone was gone, and dread dragged her voice down. "There's documentation from legal that says they confirmed the authenticity."
When Billy looked back at them, Lee could almost see flames shooting from his eyes and smoke from his ears. "Damn it, Billy! What is it?"
"Amanda, I think your son should step outside while we discuss this. Francine, can you take Jamie down to the cafeteria and get him something to eat?"
Amanda stood with her son and kissed his head before he walked out with Francine. Her eyes were wide and rounded as the door closed behind him and she looked back to Lee, her hands folded together in front of her.
"What this time? Billy, if something is just now showing up in Amanda's background check, and it's not good, you know the routine. It's not the first time someone has planted information to make one of us look bad."
Billy's lips were set in a tight line. "You damn well better hope so, Scarecrow. Because if you don't have a damn good explanation for this, it could be BOTH your careers."
Amanda stepped to his side. "Please. Sir. What is it?"
Billy held up the document he had been handed. Lee didn't see the fine print from where he stood, but the fancy calligraphy across the top told him everything he needed to know.
**Certificate of Marriage.**
Amanda gasped. "Oh my gosh."
The series of words running through Lee's mind were a great deal harsher than his wife's eloquent 'oh my gosh'. He let a few slip out and raked his fingers through his hair.
"Can I assume from your mutual reactions this is not a fake?"
Lee and Amanda exchanged looks. "I'm sorry," Lee mouthed to her. This was all wrong. All so wrong. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. He promised her so much more.
"Scarecrow!" Billy snapped.
"No, Billy, it's not a fake."
"We're sorry, sir."
"Frankly, Amanda, I don't want to **hear** sorry right now!" Billy shouted.
Lee raised his hand. "Hey, back off alittle, Billy. Amanda has been through hell today. She doesn't need you shouting at her."
"Fine! I'll shout at you, Scarecrow! Damn it, man! What the hell were you thinking? You're the senior agent here. You know better than to pull garbage like this. Why the hell did you hide this? Don't you think this is something that I, as your section chief, should have known?"
"Why, Billy? So it could get up to Smythe and he could break us up? We're a team, Billy. We're partners. Both on the job and off. Neither of us wanted that to change."
Amanda laced her fingers through his, loosening the tight fist he had clenched at his side. His chest heaved with the effort of arguing with Billy yet keeping his frustration at bay.
"Dr. Smythe is going to have a field day with this," Billy snapped back, slamming the document down on the desk. "Especially after the murder last week. Do you have any idea how bad this looks? Maybe, MAYBE if I knew this ahead of time, I could have convinced him to keep you together. But now." Billy shook his head, his voice suddenly dropping. "I mean it, Lee. You two will be lucky to come out with your jobs."
Lee dropped into a nearby chair and rested his head in his hands. Amanda stood beside him, her hand on his back.
"What do we do now, sir?"
Billy sighed and Lee looked up to see him shaking his head. "I don't know, Amanda. I just don't know. Smythe will see this tomorrow morning, no doubt. Until then, I guess the only thing you can do is go home and talk to your family."
With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Lee stood. Amanda took his hand again.
"Ok, Billy," he said. He wanted to just get out and find some way to piece together the suddenly shattered pieces of their lives, but knew Billy deserved better than that. Lee stepped to his section chief and friend and sighed. "Billy, we didn't want you to find out this way. But at the time we just didn't see an alternative. It was a bad situation. The only good part of it being that we finally figured out how much we needed each other."
Billy nodded and reached for Lee's hand, shaking it. "You know this is what I wanted for you two. You're good for each other. I knew that from the beginning. They didn't make me Section Chief -."
"-For nothing," Lee finished with a wry chuckle. "Thanks, Billy."
He reached again for Amanda's hand, but she was no longer at his side. Lee turned and looked over his shoulder. His wife stood at Billy's desk, the document in her hands, and her eyes skimmed it. Her mouth hung open, and as he watched, her head shot up and their eyes met.
"Amanda?"
She shook her head and held the paper out to him. "It's not . . well, it's not . . . **ours**."
"What?" Lee took the paper from her, and now that he held it in his hands and could read it in detail, he saw what she meant. Rage immediately hit him and he slammed his hand against the license. "Damn it!"
"What is it, Scarecrow?"
"We've been set up. Again. This isn't our marriage license."
"What are you talking about? You just admitted you got married six months ago."
Lee shook his head, his lips pulling tight over his teeth. "No, Billy. We admitted we're married, but not six months ago. I didn't see the date when you held it up. This says we were married in Arlington six months ago."
"Yes. So?"
Lee looked at his wife, who shrugged one shoulder and shook her head. They had dug their hole. What was another foot deeper?
"Billy, we were married two years ago February 13th. And we were married in Marion, not Arlington."
"Then this -."
Lee threw the forged document across the room where it fluttered to the floor near the couch. "This is a forgery. Someone **was** trying to set us up, except this time they came too damn close to the truth!"