Frank, Nancy and Joe stood across the United States embassy in Bogota, Colombia planning how they were supposed to get in and get the information they needed. "Here's what we'll do," Frank instructed as the sidewalk crowds passed them by, "Joe, you stay out here and keep lookout, see if anyone is following us. Nancy, you'll go in with me. Sound all right?"
"What if I see a cute girl?" Joe asked in a joking voice.
"Very funny Joe," Nancy said. "What do we do once we're in?"
"Get in and talk to the station chief." Frank replied.
"How do you know they call them station chiefs?" Joe said.
"We don't, it's a good guess though so we'll do it." Nancy said in support of Frank
"Great, but what if they send you off?" Joe asked.
"We'll flash our CIA cards. Fairchild said that anyone high enough to override those ID's would know about the Network anyway. I don't think a measly station chief is that high. We'll cow him and hope he knows something." Frank explained.
"What if it's a she?" Joe asked. "You might need my manly charm."
"Lay off," Nancy told Joe, "you're standing guard and we'll worry about what happens inside. You worry about what happens out here."
Joe rolled his eyes, "Whatever."
"Okay, I think we're ready." Frank said nervously.
Frank and Nancy looked both ways and crossed the street. The embassy gates were open and they walked past two marines guarding them Acting like they had every right to be there the pair professionally walked into the front door and up to the desk.
"Where can we find the CIA station-chief?" Frank asked in a normal tone.
"Why would two teens want to see the CIA station-chief?" the guard asked.
Nancy pulled out her CIA identification that she had unpacked when they had checked into their hotel, and showed it to the guard. "Why don't you let the CIA worry about that?" she said in a cool voice.
The guard's eyes bulged. "Yes ma'am. No offense intended at all. Have to be careful these days after all. Down the hall, last office on the right. Just ask Miss Brown to show let you in to his office. She's the secretary."
Nancy smiled sweetly. "Thank you."
Frank and Nancy strode down the hall and into the last door on the right. They entered the office closing the door behind them. Miss Brown, as the nameplate on her desk pronounced her, was sitting in front of a computer and intently studying the screen.
"Um, excuse us." Frank said politely.
Miss Brown looked up from her desk and smiled. "How may I help you?"
"We need to get in to see the station chief here, what was his name again?" Nancy replied.
"Davis, Mark Davis," Miss Brown answered smoothly. "I'm afraid he's busy this afternoon. Perhaps if you scheduled an appointment."
Nancy pulled out her CIA identification for the second time and showed it to the secretary. "It's important."
Miss Brown looked like she about to die of shock. "Sorry ma'am, go right in."
Nancy smiled sweetly as she had gotten used to doing. "Thank you."
The pair entered to find a rather average man sitting at a fairly empty desk. He didn't look busy at all. "What?" he asked rudely.
Nancy who had kept her ID out showed it to him and he sat up.
"How may I help you?" Mr. Davis greeted them, much more cordially as he gestured for them to sit down.
Frank spoke as he and Nancy sat down in the chairs in front of Davis's desk. "You can help us by getting us the lowdown on the locals here. We need to know about local drug lords that may have connections within the U.S. or connections to arms-dealing. We need to know their hang-outs, where we can meet them, and their hideouts."
Mr. Davis frowned suspiciously. "Drug lords with arms dealings?"
"That's what he said wasn't it?" Nancy asked.
Mr. Davis nodded. "Sir, ma'am, this is Colombia. Drug lords don't deal in arms and you'd be hard pressed to not find one with connections in the U.S."
"Oh?" Nancy said as she arched her eyebrow cooly.
"What about their hideouts and hangouts in town?" Frank inquired.
Mr. Davis spread his hands. "I can't help you there either. My men have been hard-pressed due to current events, not only that I am understaffed. The drug lords aren't as obvious as you might think, sir, ma'am."
Frank frowned unhappily. "Current events have not been current events forever. You must know something!"
Just then the door opened and the secretary, Miss Brown strode in with a file. "This just came in from headquarters sir." She handed the file to Mr. Davis.
Mr. Davis took it and scanned it before setting it down. "Thank you Miss Brown." She left the office, Frank noted that she neglected to close the door.
"Again," Nancy said, "is there anything you know? Anything that could help us. Whereabouts, names, hangouts, dealings, connections?"
"I'm afraid not ma'am." Mr. Davis replied with a oily smile, "The CIA doesn't know much about drug-lords these days."
Frank and Nancy left the station-chief with instructions to contact them at their hotel if anything came up. He saw them off with another oily smile.
"I bet he knew something!" Nancy fumed as they left the office. Miss Brown was not at her desk.
Frank nodded. "Why wouldn't he tell us though?"
"Probably just trying to be a pain in the rear end." Nancy scowled.
Just as they prepared to leave the embassy Miss Brown intercepted them. She looked both ways to make sure no one was looking. "Look, sir, ma'am, whoever you are. I'm Davis's secretary and I don't like how things are going. Do you know why we're understaffed? It's because our agents keep having accidents. There's a leak. There must be!"
Nancy nodded, "Go on."
"I couldn't help overhearing your conversation." Miss Brown handed a file to Nancy as she spoke quickly. "This is everything you needed. I don't know why Davis wouldn't give it to you. Our one agent, 'Edward' has been forwarding report after report about a drug dealer involved with arms dealing. His reports are ignored by Davis. Edward also has numerous accidents that he barely survives. I can't prove it but I think Davis needs to be looked into. You didn't hear it from me either. Got that?"
Frank and Nancy nodded. "Don't worry, we'll see that something is done about this."
Miss Brown nodded and scurried off back towards Davis's office.
"That was odd." Nancy commented.
"I'd say so." Frank replied.
**********
Andrew S. Fairchild thumbed through his personal correspondence. The press was still camping out at the mansion and the police still were at a loss. Good thing I have the Network, Fairchild thought.
Fairchild smiled with amusement as he recalled his little interview with Miss Carlton. It turned out that she was indeed a reporter from the River Heights Chronicle. He hoped that he had scared her enough to leave Nancy alone. She had served a very useful purpose as well. She was over dramatic and a few words said here and there had gotten her to write a story that would surely confuse anybody with brains.
The door opened and Amanda walked in. It seemed that she had been there for him a lot of late. "Anything interesting happening in the world?" he asked as she laid a tray with two plate and two cups down and sat down across from him.
"Other than your daughter's kidnapping?" Amanda asked taking one of the plates and glasses.
"Who doesn't know about Elayne's kidnapping? I'll wager that the press thinks they know more about her than I do."
"You wouldn't be far off," Amanda replied dryly. She had bothered to read the morning newspaper. "Soon the tabloids will be screaming that Elayne ran away with the family fortune to spend it on gorillas and live in the wild."
"If that's the best they can do the tabloids are in trouble," Fairchild chuckled. "Don't worry, Elayne will be all right soon. I have the best people on it. Better than me even."
"It's not her I'm worried about?" Amanda said boldly.
"Who are you worried about?" Fairchild asked setting down the mail and taking his plate and glass. "The gorillas?"
"You." Amanda replied. "You always seem to cover up your emotions. I'm worried that you're taking this too hard and it'll be too late before you'll admit you need help."
"Why would you worry about me? I'm sure Elayne would let you stay here for the rest of your life, whether or not I got sent to the psychiatric ward or not."
"Because I love you." Amanda said firmly as she set down her glass after taking a sip of water.
Andrew Fairchild stared at the young woman in her early twenties who sat across from him as if she had declared that she was a convict. "What?"
"Didn't you hear me? I said I love you."
Fairchild's mouth moved but no sound came out. "That's ridiculous." he finally got out.
Amanda stood up, walked around the desk, pulled Fairchild out of his chair and kissed him. Hard. "I said I love you."
Fairchild gulped. "I believe you did."
Amanda was interrupted as the door opened and the Gray Man strode in. She quickly stepped away from Andrew and turned to face Mr. Gray.
"Hello Arthur," Mr. Fairchild said casually as he picked up his drink and drained it halfway. "How fares the world?"
"Badly," Arthur responded shortly.
"What's wrong now?" Fairchild asked resignedly.
"Someone has been sending letter filled with an un-identified poisonous substance to D.C.. Half the bureaucracy is either dead or incapacitated. Another fifteen percent is expected to fall victim to this."
Andrew S. Fairchild dropped his glass and it shattered on his desk.
*******
"This stuff is great!" Joe exclaimed as he, Nancy, and Frank pored over the file that Miss Brown had given them.
Frank nodded. "We don't even really need to check out any of the clubs. We could just walk onto one of these guy's haciendas and bust Elayne out."
"Look at this one," Nancy pointed out. "Drugs, arms, connections in the U.S. and a heavy increase in action these last few month."
"What's his name?" Frank asked.
"Juarez Santiago." Nancy answered as she continued to scan over his dossier.
"Do you think he's the one?" Joe asked eagerly.
"It's possible," Nancy replied. "There's one other possibility though."
"Who?" Frank said.
"A fellow by the name of Carlos Raphael."
"Same dealings?" Frank asked.
Nancy nodded. "Basically. Santiago has connections in Florida and the southeast. Raphael has connections in California and the west coast."
"Great.," Joe said, "we have to find out which one it probably is."
"There's one good thing," Nancy pointed out. "They both hang out at the same club."
"What club is that?" Frank asked.
"The Mango Tree." Nancy replied.
Joe scoffed, "That's a lame name!"
Nancy shrugged. "It's all we have for a lead. We'll have to try it."
"We'll go tonight, act like we're rich Americans with 'connections." Frank said. "We'll meet these guys and see if we can get them to let something slip accidentally."
"Sounds good to me." Nancy said.
Joe nodded as well.
********
Amanda carefully listened at Andrew's door. She'd made him go and get some sleep. He hadn't slept since Elayne had been kidnapped and she was worried that he would work himself to death. He was tossing and turning, he was breathing heavily. A lot of good the sleep was doing him. He was better off awake. Amanda held back her tears and walked down the hall to her own room.
~~~~~~~~
Andrew S. Fairchild bolted upright in his bed. He had been more startled at the events in D.C. rather than the repercussions when Arthur had brought the bad news. He hadn't understood why though, at first. He knew now though. He knew what was happening.
Phillip.