AN: Sorry, yet again, for the length of time it took me to post. You'll just have to believe me that this time, I actually wrote this right after I finished the last chapter. But I was on a plane at the time, and I've spent limited time on-line since then so I didn't have a chance to post it. Things continue to be very busy here, so I don't know that I can promise a fast update, but I do believe we are down to only two more chapters, so we're nearing the finish line. Thanks for continuing to stick it out with me.

Chapter 18: Moving Towards the Sunlight

August 20, 1986 9:11am

From fairly far away, Amanda heard a door slam and immediately stopped. She was inches from the end of the air duct and could see sunlight spilling in. But if Cobra was back, she needed to be quiet. She could only hope he would not follow her through and if she was patient she'd have time to finish her escape.

That was her plan until she heard the angry voice clearly coming from the room below, "Where is she? I want to see her!" he demanded.

Cobra laughed, and replied, "I do not think you are in any position to make demands on me, Mr. Stetson." Glancing around, he added in a more menacing tone, "I'm not sure where she is, but when I find her, she'll be sorry she left."

Amanda heard a soft thud, a few seconds of silence, and then the door close again. She continued crouching where she was, not sure what to do. Was Lee locked in the basement? Where had Cobra gone? If she went back, would they both be caught? Was she better off going to find help? She took one look at her broken leg and realized it would be slow going to say the least. But would Lee even be able to fit through the air duct? The fit hadn't been as tight as she had feared, but that didn't mean Lee would fit through.

It was all of thirty seconds of indecision, before Amanda knew she just wasn't that capable of thinking like an agent. Regardless of the consequences, she couldn't leave Lee locked in the basement, she'd need to head back.

August 20, 1986 11:32am

Lee continued to look around not sure what to do. He had heard the sounds of Cobra leaving hours ago, certainly he was going to look for Amanda. He had to stifle the small smile that formed as he realized that she had escaped. She was really something.

Looking around the basement, he noticed the small air duct. But how would she have gotten up there? Looking at his own bounds he wondered if she'd even been able to get out of her ropes. But then, she'd been held here for several days, she would have found a way, he thought, as he managed to untie his own. He suspected though, that Amanda's had been better tied. Cobra had been distracted when securing Lee to the pipe, probably wondering where Amanda had gone off to.

He froze when he heard the scraping sound and moved his hands behind him and out of view. If that was Cobra, he wanted a few moments before the man realized he was free from his binds.

"Lee?" the voice whispered, and after a minute of confusion, he looked up towards the air duct.

"Amanda?" he whispered back.

"Oh, Lee. What are you doing here?" she asked concern clear in her voice, while Lee took stock of her bruised face and winced.

"Trying to save you," he said with a sardonic grin. "What are you doing up there?"

She chuckled lightly, "I was trying to get out until I heard your voice and came back to save you!" She paused for a moment before asking, "Do you think you can get up here and through this? I'm not sure I'll make it down alright and I don't know if there's another way out."

"How did you get up there in the first place?" Lee asked as Amanda pointed to the pipe below her.

"I pulled myself up from there. If you can move a little to the left of where you are, there's a rough patch of pipe to shred the ropes on."

For a split second, Lee paused, remembering Billy's words. 'You know how good she is, Lee. She was born to be an agent. And this is her chance to prove it.' She certainly was doing that.

With a sly grin, he pulled his hands up to show her he was already free and moved over to the pipe. Grasping his arms around it tightly he hoisted himself up. As he approached the opening to the air duct, Amanda backed away slightly. "If you can get through the opening, it's a bit wider once inside."

It was a tight fit, but with a little bit of maneuvering, and some tugging from Amanda, he made it through and found that she was right, once inside he had a bit more room to move.

Amanda scrambled around and began heading towards the exit again. They moved in silence for five minutes or so before Lee's voice came to her, sounding choked, "How are you?"

Amanda looked back and grinned, "I'm fine, Lee. Really."

A flash of annoyance crossed his face, before he replied. "Don't lie to me, Amanda King. I can see that your leg is broken, your face and legs and bruised, and I haven't even gotten a good look at you yet. You are clearly not fine!"

Amanda paused in her crawling. "Yes, I am," she said, her voice tight. "If I think about anything else right now, we won't get out of here." When she glanced back at him again, he could see the small tear make its way down her face and decided to drop it. She may be right – focusing on her injuries was not the way to go right now.

As they neared the exit, Lee placed a hand on the leg dragging behind her. She flinched, but stopped. "We should wait here." Lee said, "Cobra was looking for you. Wait until nightfall before we leave."

Amanda nodded and Lee moved to crouch against the wall of the air duct. He opened his arms and Amanda moved toward him, leaning her back against his chest. He looked over her shoulder to do the inventory he'd wanted to do since seeing the broken leg.

Taking in the bruises covering her torso, he flinched. "Are you okay?" he asked again, his voice compassionate.

"Yeah," she said softly, letting herself melt into him until tears began falling down her face. Lee went to take her hand and saw the needle marks on her arms.

"How often?" he choked out, past the lump in his throught, "How often did he drug you? Hit you?"

Amanda turned around and buried her head in his chest. "In the mornings," she mumbled. "Every morning" she whispered as an after thought.

Lee tilted her chin up, looking her in the eyes and willing her to tell him the whole truth, and she added, "He didn't drug me in the afternoons, only in the mornings. In the afternoon, he would ask me for names and places, but it was never clear for what. The beatings never seemed so bad then as they did when I woke up from the morning session." Her words were clear, but tears continued down her cheeks. In a whisper, she choked out, "I was so scared, Lee."

He tightened his grip on her and making soothing noises, whispered back, "So was I, Amanda. So was I."

August 20, 1986 1:26pm

"Lee? Amanda?" came the voice from below. Lee and Amanda looked at each other. All had been quiet for the last hour or so. They had stopped talking and Amanda had drifted off to sleep, leaning against Lee.

Lee smiled and shouted back, "We're in the air duct, Francine. Nearly at the end."

Silence was his only answer and he frowned until he heard Billy call out, "Just give us a minute." Seconds later, Francine's face appeared at the end of the air duct.

"Come on, I'll help you out." She reached out her hand and Amanda grasped it moving towards the opening.

Lee's soft voice came from behind her, "Be careful, Francine. Amanda's left leg is broken."

Between Francine and Billy they were able to lift Amanda to the ground with minimum impact to her broken leg and a few moments later, after again maneuvering through a space he was slightly too big for, Lee was standing beside her.

He took in his surroundings and the agency team around him. "Guess I'm glad I called for back-up, this time?" he said with a grin.

"For a change!" Billy replied, then continued, "Dennings picked up Cobra in the forest looking for Amanda. At seeing the group of us, he immediately panicked and named all manner of names. It's amazing how quickly he broke." Glancing at Amanda and taking in her numerous bruises, "Or how well you did, Amanda. Many trained agents would have cracked much sooner than this, Amanda, and not been able to wait for help to arrive."

Lee laughed outright, getting curious glances from Francine and Billy. "Wait for what, Billy? She didn't wait. She was nearly out of the air duct when I got here. She only came back to save me!" Lee had a hard time keeping the immense pride out of his voice.

Francine whistled, "How is it even when they're not trained, you always get the best partners?" her words were directed at Lee, but she was looking at Amanda. Early on, she had resented Amanda's easy entrance to the agency, but after one batch of triple chocolate cookies, she found she had a soft spot for the suburbanite. She still gave Amanda a hard time, but it was difficult not to respect her now.

Amanda was leaning against a tree trunk, her broken leg in front of her and didn't seem at all affected by the praises she was getting. "Mother?" she directed the question at Lee. "Jamie? Philip?"

With an embarrassed glance at the ground Lee said, "We told them everything – how you were taken, where we work, and how great you were so we knew you'd get out," he added with a gentle smile. "They took it like champs. Really."

At that moment, two agents came over to Amanda with a makeshift gurney. "We need to take Mrs. King back to the agency." Agent Morrison said, looking at Lee and Billy as he reached down and lifted her into his arms.

Lee immediately moved over towards her, "I'll go with you."

Billy smiled at the hot headed agent, amazed at the difference it made to have Amanda there before signaling to Francine that they should head back, too.

To Be Continued…