Chapter 7 Wedding Games

When Francine woke that morning, she was cuddling a pillow and she heard whistling coming from the bathroom. This told her Efraim was up and showered and that he had answers to the problems that had plagued him the night before. She smiled, comforted by the fact that she understood him so well.

The bathroom door swung open and Efraim came out, the towel draped around his hips was precariously close to falling off. He saw that she was awake and his face lit up as he smiled at her.

"Good morning, beautiful!" He sat on the edge of the bed and kissed her, tweaking her nose as he stood up. Francine grabbed the towel, pulling it away as he walked away from the bed. He grinned at her and continued to get dressed.

Francine could see that the rest of their suitcases had been delivered from the embassy. She was thankful she would have clean clothes to put on. She threw back the sheet and got out of bed to head to the shower.

As she was closing the bathroom door, she caught a glimpse of Efraim's face. She stuck her head out of the door. "What's the matter, B?"

He shook his head and turned beet red. "I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind walking that way again? That nice little wiggle you have does things for me." He grinned at her.

She opened the door all the way and sauntered over to him, watching his face the entire way. He swallowed hard and she smiled as she stopped in front of him. She rested her arms on his shoulders, molding herself to him. She licked her lips and looked up at him from under her lashes. "If you like that 'little wiggle', you should see the rest of my repertoire!" She kissed him, turned and walked back to the bathroom, looking over her shoulder and smiling at the look on his face. She closed the bathroom door and laughed.

All five agents sat in the dining room of the suite, eating breakfast and drinking coffee. Francine got up and picked up the coffee pot, filling Efraim's then everyone's cup before sitting down and filling her own. Amanda kicked Lee under the table before anyone else noticed the stunned look on his face as he watched Francine fill the cups. Lee shot Amanda a sheepish look and shook his head.

Efraim laid out his plan for calling Quigley. "Just straight forward, I'm going to call him and be as casual as I can."

"Don't let him rile you, Beaman, he'll try." Lee said

"Yeah, I know. But that's the key, me staying as calm as possible. We'll have to just see where he takes us and finalize plans from there. Are we ready?"

"I have the signal tracer ready, we should be able to get a location on Quigley within 1 mile of his location." Francine assured them.

"The recorder is ready Efraim."

"Thanks Amanda. I'm hoping to get into the field after this and get some idea of the area we'll be dealing with. I'm sure he has some kind of security around the site, we'll have to take care of that."

Dave nodded. "I'm ready to move. This guy has become a royal pain in the ah, er, backside, and I'm ready to put this to bed and go home."

Lee nodded and looked at Efraim. "It's up to you now, Beaman. You ready?"

"Yeah, let's get this off the ground." Efraim pushed back his chair and stood up. He pulled Francine's chair back for her and gave her his hand. She followed him to the desk where she attached a few lines to the telephone for the signal trace. She hopped on the edge of the desk and Efraim sat down in the chair, pushed back and put his feet up on the desk. He smiled and winked at her, Francine smiled in return, put on a set of earphones and pushed the button on the recorder. Efraim dialed the number they had gotten from Tucker the night before.

The phone continued to ring, Efraim was ready to hang up and try later when it answered.

"It's about time you called, Tucker."

Efraim recognized Quigley's voice right away. He had expected a rush of adrenaline and was surprised by the dead calm that came over him.

"Harry Quigley, John Beaman here. How ya doin' doc?" Silence greeted him on the other end, and Efraim raised an eyebrow at Francine who nodded that the connection was still active. "Long time no see, at least not face to face since I had you thrown out of Georgetown."

"And to think I had thought I had the pleasure of seeing you finally get what you deserved the other day, John. Such a disappointment, but, you always have been, haven't you?"

Efraim laughed. "You're going to have to do much better than that, doc, if you want to get a rise out of me. I'm no longer 30 years old and I wasn't impressed with you when I was. But let's talk about how you've been. When did you decide to become a traitor to your country? What made you decide you would prefer the infamy of an attempt on the life of the President of the United States to the satisfaction of knowing your work had protected your nation? When did you think you could pass off another lame piece of research and not have me figure out what you were doing? I had your number within hours of your supposed kidnapping."

"Kudos John, I see you have learned well. Tell me. Is your lovely wife to be with you? Will she shed a tear watching you die, or should I kill her before your eyes. And John, as beautiful as she is, why on earth would you choose to marry a woman with a less than stellar personal track record?"

Francine's eyes grew large at the insult and she quickly looked at Efraim. His eyes were bleak, nearly lifeless with anger. He looked at her and winked, taking her hand in his and giving it a quick squeeze.

"Ah, doc, reduced to personal insults. The great Quigley now fallen. So doc, tell me, shall I meet you at Vidraru, give you your shot at me? Or will you back out of that, too cowardly to do your own dirty work. By the way, Kent will need a floral arrangement for his funeral. Tucker and Miller, as well as Porter, could use a recommendation for a good lawyer. So, look doc, I've gotta run, but let's get together, have a chat for old times sake. I'll meet you tomorrow morning at Vidraru and give you that shot at me. I'd like to see this laser you say you have. Personally, I doubt you have it, you aren't capable of the leap in technology needed to build the Dark Horse. But you can show me what you've got so far and maybe I can put you straight. What da ya say?"

Efraim laughed at the insults and swearing he heard on the other end of the phone. He hung up, knowing that his laughter would be the final insult for Quigley. He looked at Francine and smiled at her, pulling the cords to the headset.

"You okay, hon?" Efraim pulled his feet off of the desk, leaning forward to take both of her hands in his. Lee patted him on the back and looked at Francine, giving her a quick hug. Francine nodded and gave Efraim and Lee an half-hearted smile.

Lee gave Efraim a look, "I want to go to the embassy and give Tucker and Miller one last go round before we head to Vidraru. I think it would be better if I did that, give you a chance to get ready here. I'll get back as soon as possible and we'll head out."

"No problem Lee, we'll be ready." Efraim watched Lee and Geiger leave. Amanda busied herself with the computer and the phone trace in the other room.

"Francine, look at me." Efraim lifted her chin and looked into the blue eyes he loved, "I don't think that of you. I know better. You know that I know better. Don't let this get to you."

She sighed, "How did he put it; 'a less than stellar woman'?"

"All that matters is what we think. I know it's not true and you know it isn't true. Isn't that all that matters? What we know to be true? We know that the people who love you and are your friends would never think such things of you? As for me, I think you now how I feel."

She leaned over and kissed him. "Let's go get him. I just hope I get the opportunity to shoot him."

"That's my girl! But get in line, I want a shot as well." He hugged her tightly, closing his eyes and letting the comfort of her arms sooth his own hot temper.

Amanda's voice brought them apart. "It looks like he's at the dam, Efraim. The trace has him located by the reservoir, a bit northeast of Poenari."

"Could he be using a boat?" Francine asked. "Although I don't see the advantage."

Efraim nodded his head at Francine's assessment. "You're right, there's no practical advantage to him using a boat. I doubt that it would provide a stable platform for the laser. The power house itself is 100 feet down in the tunnels of the dam, and the entrance down to those tunnels is 100 feet from the steps that climb to Poenari. Give Lee a quick call and see if he can get any information from Tucker and Miller about a boat. It can' hurt to ask."

Amanda nodded and made the call to Lee. Efraim and Francine looked over the map of the area, and Efraim pulled up the 3D map in his laptop.

"Efraim, could he blow the dam?" Francine watched as Efraim thought about that.

"It's a possibility. We'll have to check that he hasn't set any explosives."

"What about using the laser, or sending the current back through to the power plant itself?"

"Well, that would do it. You blow that power plant, that dam will crumble. I don't even want to think about how the dam was built under communist rule," He rubbed his eyes and forehead. "Damn, this thing just gets more convoluted the further along we go."

"I'll ask Lee to see if he can find anything about explosives that could be used for the dam." Amanda called out to them as she talked to Lee on his cellular telephone. "He said to stop making things difficult."

"Gee, we'll do that," came Francine's sarcastic reply. "I think our best bet is he'll send a power surge to overload the generators. It's easy enough to do if you know how."

"I agree. Won't hurt to know if he does have explosives, but they may be secondary. We're going to have to make sure he doesn't overload the grid."

"We have to get in there and look around." Francine shrugged. "Do you think we could possibly run into him out there?"

"Now there's a pleasant thought," Efraim looked at the display of his laptop, keying up the information he had decoded in Quigley's original work. He pulled up a chair, sat down and started to re-read his notes and the data.

"Hon, could you get me a pencil and some paper, please? I need to go over some numbers here."

Francine found a legal notebook and some pencils and gave them to Efraim. He had just grunted as she handed them to him, and she gave him a rueful smile. Sometimes, he's just too much! She shrugged when Amanda looked at Efraim and gave Francine a questioning look. Amanda should have known as well as anyone else that Efraim would explain what he was thinking when he had it all figured out.

Francine and Amanda packed away the recording and tracing equipment. They could hear Efraim talking to himself about indicators and integers.

"Amanda? Could I ask you a question?"

"Sure Francine. What is it?"

"It used to drive me crazy when Efraim got like this, now, I find it endearing."

"And you wonder why?"

"No, I pretty much know why. Anything Efraim does seems to be okay with me. But, I worry if I'll lose that perspective and find it annoying again."

"Why would you?"

Francine walked to the table and sat down. She picked up the china cup she had drunk her morning coffee from and fingered the delicate design. "Why wouldn't I? Won't being in love lose its novelty?"

Amanda sat next to Francine, biting her lip as she thought. "Francine, there will be things in the future that Efraim will do that will drive you crazy. There are things about Lee that drive me up the wall. But I love him and in the long run those things that are annoying aren't important. And they are part of what makes Lee who he is. So, I choose to overlook the annoying habits and love the whole man. Does that make any sense?"

Francine slowly nodded her head. She glanced over at Efraim who was writing on the legal tablet and scrolling through his data on the laptop, all the while quietly talking to himself. She felt herself smile; she looked up at Amanda and nodded. "Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying."

"I'm sure there are things about you that Efraim chooses to overlook."

Francine eyebrows rose as she gave Amanda a surprised look. "Do you think that's a possibility?"

Amanda laughed, patting Francine on the arm. "I'm sure of it, Francine. Just absolutely positive!"

"You don't have to sound so delighted," Francine frowned at her friend.

"Francine, the two of you are a delightful couple, and you both are so much in love with one another it just makes me happy to see it. But you are still who you are, and Efraim is still who he is; but the love you each have for one another has 'softened' some of those harder edges."

"I think I'm going to leave it at that. Thanks Amanda, for listening."

"My pleasure. What do you say we get this table cleared and make sure we're ready to travel?"

Francine nodded her agreement and began to help Amanda clear the cups and saucers from the table. She kept glancing over at Efraim, still buried deep in his calculations. She watched as he stopped, sat back in the chair, tracing his finger down the computer screen with one hand and matching the movement with the pencil on the writing pad. She saw him grin and twirl the pencil in his hand. Whatever he had been looking for, he had found.

Without thinking, Francine walked over to Efraim, putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down on his lap. He kissed her and smiled at her, waiting for her to ask him what he had found.

Francine laughed. "Okay, I'll ask--Efraim?"

"Yes, my love."

"What did you find that has you so excited?"

"Well, I think I've found passwords."

"As in turn on and shut off passwords?"

"Yep!"

"Are you sure?"

"It's in the sequencing; they repeat at the activation and shut down. So yes, I'm positive they're his passwords."

Amanda had come over to listen to the conversation. "That's good news."

"It's very good news, Amanda. It means we should be able to shut down the laser when we find it. If I can get to his computer on the site, I can lock him out or change the password."

"B, can you do it remotely?"

Efraim shook his head. "I don't think so, Franny. I'd have to see it first; he may not have it connected to any type of network. No way in, unless. . ." His voice trailed off as he followed a train of thought. Both Francine and Amanda watched him, waiting.

"I need the television remote control." He put Francine on her feet, jumped up and ran into the sitting room, looking for the television remote.

"The remote control?" Amanda and Francine both asked. They looked at one another and shrugged.

Francine shook her head. "I don't think that will work, even if you modify it."

"Why not?" He yelled back, his voice muffled as he looked under the couch and cushions.

"Well, I don't know why not. I just don't think it would work."

"Have to start thinking outside the box, Francine. Here it is!" Efraim ran back into the study, a big grin on his face as he brandished the remote control. Amanda sat down to watch, while Francine stood beside Efraim, with arms crossed over her chest, her foot tapping and head tilted to the side. Amanda had seen this pose before, and it usually preceded a verbal explosion on Francine's part.

"Efraim, we don't have time for you to play with something that may not work."

"Sure we do, Francine. It'll only take a few minutes to modify this. Infrared technology is basically the same all the way around. I should be able to send a sequence of numbers, say the passwords, and shut down the laser. That's all a remote does anyway, is send a series of numbers to control a switch."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then we have to get to the laser and physically shut it down. Francine that was always the plan; to physically shut the laser down. If we can buy a few more minutes with this, what's the harm?"

"What if we lose a few minutes, it could be too late."

Efraim stopped and laid the pieces of the remote on the table. He stood up and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, we won't let that happen, okay? Quigley is going to be focused on me, that should give you time to get to the laser and shut it down."

"You're really just going to waltz in there and talk with that madman?"

"I have to buy you, Lee and Geiger time to get to the laser."

She nodded, a determined look fixing on her features. Francine looked at Amanda, a small smile coming to her lips. Amanda raised an eyebrow at her and Francine just shook her head. Efraim however, wasn't having any of it.

"Francine Catherine Caroline Desmond. I know that look. Don't think you can go running your own ops with this."

Francine raised wide eyes to Efraim, blinking her eyelashes at him as she ran the side of her hand down his face, resting it on his chest.

"Fran-cine. . ."

"Oh, all right. My goodness Efraim, you'd think I was trying to rob a bank."

"No, not rob a bank, just trying to get close enough to a madman who is in possession of a battlefield laser."

"We'll talk," she patted Efraim on the cheek, smiled at Amanda who grinned back at her, and got up and started to put things together.

Efraim gave her a stern look, knowing it wasn't working. He mumbled under his breath and started working on the remote control.

Amanda followed Francine out of the room. "Francine, I don't think it's a good idea to get in the line of fire with this. You'll distract Efraim."

"He needs my help, whether he admits it or not. And I'm not going to be made to sit in the bushes while some mad scientist takes pot shots at my fiancé."

"But Francine. . ."

"What would you do, Amanda? No! Don't tell me, because I know what you would do. How many times have I heard Lee tell you to stay in the car?" At Amanda's frown, Francine rushed on. "See? You don't like to be told to stay in the car, and I will not sit on the sidelines. He can learn to deal with the fact that his wife is a federal agent, and he can learn now."

"I know, but I don't think hitting him over the head with it is really the way to handle Efraim. He's usually pretty open to the straight forward approach, you know that Francine."

With a short shrug of her shoulders, Francine frowned. "Okay, I'll try to be gentle."

Amanda laughed outright at Francine's announcement. "I'll be looking forward to watching that!"

With a roll of her eyes, Francine started in on the gear they'd need for the upcoming operation.

Amanda and Francine had the gear ready to go by the time Lee and Geiger returned to the hotel. Efraim had made what modifications he could to the television remote. He had contacted Leatherneck for information on the type of computer Quigley had used in his research, hoping to hone in on the signal.

Efraim had been quiet during that time, Francine had come in to check on him and found him cleaning his gun and the M9 Beretta 9mm that Amanda had given them at the embassy.

"Not taking any chances?"

Efraim looked up, shook his head no and went back to cleaning the weapon.

"Lee's back."

Efraim nodded without looking up. Francine turned and walked back to the main sitting room. She sat down on the couch and listened to what Lee had to say. Efraim came in shortly after, sitting next to Francine, taking her hand in his, and sitting quietly.

"Tucker and Miller don't know about a boat and swear there are no explosives. They have no reason to lie, but. The signal was probably on the road up to Poenari. I think we're going to have to assume if he's going to blow the dam, he's going to do it by sending an overload through the power grid."

"I suggest we head out there and see what we can find." Lee said, folding up maps and stuffing them into his jacket. "Amanda, Francine, the two of you can wait in the car."

Amanda's eyes narrowed as she looked at her husband, but was cut off from making a comment by Francine who was in full steam over Lee's pronouncement.

"Don't start that with me, Lee. You won't like the outcome."

Lee sighed and shot Efraim a you deal with her look. Efraim just shrugged. Lee was on his own in this matter as far as he was concerned.

Collecting their gear as they left the suite and headed to the parking lot, Lee closed and locked the door behind them. Walking slowly to the elevator, he muttered to himself.

"I should have been a stock broker."