Chapter Three
" Can we discuss this?" Amanda managed to squeak out as they hoisted themselves over the ledge of the hotel balcony.
"Yeah sure later!" Lee said as they both jumped. Amanda held her eyes shut as they both landed in the pool. Amanda held her breath as she splashed into the water and she felt Lee pulling her hand. She opened her eyes and he was climbing out on the side. He reached down and pulled her out in one tug. She was soaked. They both ran out of the pool area and straight to Lee's Vette that was parked out front.
She got in and Lee took off. She looked down at her soggy clothes and in a whisper she said "I am sorry about your car, Lee."
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I don't care about the car, Amanda. I care about you. Are you okay?"
Amanda smiled at him and nodded. "I'm fine Lee. It's not like I haven't jumped off buildings before. The things you make me do sometimes…." She laughed and squeezed his hand back.
"When did you jump off a building?"
Amanda looked at him and laughed. "Oh Lee…don't you remember? When we were in Austria looking for Emily. We jumped into the lake by that castle. We were soaking wet then too!"
Lee laughed "I had forgotten that. We sure have been on some adventures, haven't we?"
"Yes….we certainly have."
"You don't regret any of them….do you?" It was almost a whisper. He was focused on driving...almost afraid to look at her or hear her answer.
Feeling bold again, knowing that Lee needed another push…Amanda reached over and put her hand on his cheek. "I don't regret one moment of my time with you, Lee Stetson. Never doubt that."
Lee beamed at her and reached up and took the hand that was on his face. He kissed her palm and said "Same here, Amanda. I mean it."
She got out of the car and ran into the house. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She took a deep breath and smiled. She knew at that moment he really did feel the same about her. She was glad her mother was out with her garden club and the boys were hanging out with Joe after school as she ran up the stairs to change. She really had no excuse for her wet clothes.
She quickly stripped out of the soggy clothes and dried herself off. She rummaged in her closet for a skirt and sweater set and decided upon a khaki skirt and pale pink sweater set. She did the best she could with her hair and dried it as fast as she could. She didn't want to make Lee wait any more than he had to.
After finishing, she went to the kitchen and wrote her mother a note about having to work late. She really didn't know how long she would be so telling her mother she would be late would be better. She put her keys in her skirt pocket and went out of the door. She said hello to the two little girls that lived down the street. They were sweet girls…a little younger than her boys. She glanced and saw the limousine. There was a young man holding a map.
"Excuse me Miss…Could you tell me how to get to Baldwin Park?"
"Oh you took a wrong turn…" She looked down and he had a gun pointed right at her. Of course he has a gun. Why did I think we could get away so easily? Oh Lee…where are you?
"Don't make a sound…or you're dead." He growled at her. She glanced over at the silver sports car but didn't see Lee. The driver put her in handcuffs….in front of her instead of behind her back. He opened the door and Amanda got in. Lee was handcuffed and out cold. She tried to sit him up a bit and checked to see if he was okay. He was breathing but not moving.
Whatever this guy gave him must have been really strong! Oh Lee…please wake up! She thought to herself.
Lee started waking up and moving around. Amanda sighed as she heard Lee murmur "My Amanda" . She tried to hide her smile as she leaned over and brushed his hair.
"Lee…Lee."
Lee forced himself to open his eyes. She could tell he was trying to figure out what happened.
"Oh thank goodness! I thought you'd never wake up."
Amanda tried to get him to sit up. "Can you sit up?" She asked. Lee tried to shake whatever he was given. "He hit me with a hypo…something real potent." He looked around. They were in a limo. " It's night. Where are we?"
"I don't know. I think we are headed towards the Blue Ridge."
He tried to sit up. "We better get outta here before we reach the Atlantic."
She nodded. "Yeah. Do you have a half rake?"
He looked at her "A lock pick? In the double diamond of my collar stay." Amanda immediately reached over and started playing with his collar. "Oh it isn't going to do any good, Amanda. These things are so tight… I think my hands are dead"
She got the half rake out and started on her handcuffs. "We're lucky we got the seven percent of the bad guys that don't always cuff you behind your back!"
The handcuffs on her small wrists clicked and Lee looked at her in amazement. "Hey. Leatherneck's going to move you all the way up to safecracking."
She moved behind him and started working on his handcuffs. She tried to focus on getting Lee out of the handcuffs rather than his cologne. She laughed at his comment "Yeah, what's he going to do to you?"
He sighed "I'd settle for Grand Theft Auto." She felt the cuffs loosen. He pulled one arm out and then the other. Amanda started working on the other wrist and Lee looked around to see how they were going to get out of the limo.
"This thing's locked from the driver's seat." He leaned over and looked through the bar and he only found a wine opener. He looked over at Amanda and said "This will have to do."
She looked at him with a blank stare and said "This is a car not a bottle of wine."
He chuckled and got to work on prying the door open. She kept a lookout making sure the driver never looked back at them.
Lee was able to pull the door panel off and tried not to make too much noise. Amanda watched in awe as Lee took the door apart. She smiled to herself as she thought of him always trying to protect her.
Lee pulled the last piece of the door off as the car started slowing down. Lee made eye contact with Amanda. She knew they were going to have to jump out of the car. Her thoughts traveled back to the case in San Angelo when she jumped out of a moving car in her wedding dress. That's when you thought you were marrying Lee…I was his bride. Of course he didn't tell me that we weren't really ever married until after we got home! She noticed he was grinning at her as the car came to almost a crawl and she scooted in front of him and jumped out. He followed and rolled himself over her. He whispered "Are you okay?" She nodded and he helped her to stand.
He put his finger to his mouth to signal for her to keep quiet as the car rolled to a stop. The driver got out and opened the back door. Lee went for it at that moment. The fight started. Lee got some good punches in but the driver pulled out a stick and gave Lee's arm a good whack. Lee fell onto the limo. At this point Amanda knew she had to help Lee. She pulled at a branch and went running up towards them. WHAT am I doing? I am completely crazy but I need to help my partner right now! She thought as she waved the big branch in the driver's face. It distracted him long enough for Lee to get the upper hand. Lee went for it and just kept punching the guy. He finally knocked the guy out and he fell to the ground.
Lee leaned up against the limo and Amanda came running over to him. She slipped her arm around him and she touched his arm.
"OW!" Was the only thing he could say. "Sorry…" She whispered.
Lee looked at her and they both smiled at one another. Amanda wrapped her arms around Lee and they hugged. Amanda felt she could stay in his arms forever.
"Hey…thanks. That branch was a good move. I know I keep telling you this but you really are getting pretty good. Thanks partner!"
She smiled and they hugged again. She relaxed in his arms and for a brief moment she felt like they were the luckiest two people on the face of the earth.
