FLASHBACK... by Robin
WARNING! Please note this fic is rated "R" and/or "NC17" for adult themes. At times the material will be graphic and violent. Both the language and suggestive actions in this story may not be suitable for some readers. This story deals with challenging adult subject matter.
For the rest of this fic and my other SMK Fanfic stories you can Google: IFF Film Library. It's on an Angelfire site. Or go to: .com(slash)tv(slash)smkfanfic(slash)
This story was written years ago.
The Agency: Monday Morning
The rainy Monday morning only accentuated Billy Melrose's foul mood and Francine wanted nothing more than to dodge his fury. However, she was frantically trying to keep pace with him as he bellowed orders at her to find the absent agents from his morning briefing while he stomped back to his office.
The violent spring storm that started over the weekend continued dumping copious amounts of rain in the suburbs and the usual areas in DC and the surrounding neighborhoods were flooded. There had been numerous car accidents and power outages. Several agents were late or had missed his Monday morning briefing entirely. Lee and Amanda were among them.
"Francine, I'm giving you ten minutes to find out where the hell Lee and Amanda are! I don't want any excuses," he roared furiously throwing his files onto his desk and slamming his door.
"Yes, sir," Francine answered in despair staring at the solid door which was now only inches from her nose. Rushing towards her own desk, she picked up the phone and started dialing the Stetson household. The answering machine clicked on so she hung up. Her fingers rummaged through her Rolodex locating Lee's cell phone number and dialed that. The phone rang and rang, but neither Lee or Amanda answered.
"Maybe they're up in the Q Bureau?" she surmised as she dialed the internal extension, but nobody answered that line either. Stymied, but not ready to give up and be the next person to endure Billy's wrath she called Mrs. Marston.
"IFF," Mrs. Marston answered.
"It's Desmond here. Has Scarecrow or Amanda checked in this morning?" Francine asked in an annoyed voice.
"No, I haven't seen or heard from either of them."
"When they do get in, have them call me immediately."
Frustrated by her lack of progress, she hung up the phone. "Has anyone heard from Scarecrow or Amanda?" she grumbled out loud to the occupants of the bullpen.
Agent Kendrick walked over to her desk. "Maybe they're down at the county impound yard. I noticed on the police blotter that Amanda's car was towed there earlier this morning."
"Did it break down?" Francine surmised with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not sure. I remember seeing her name listed as the owner. I didn't think anything of it because of the weather. You'd have to check the incident report for specifics."
"Thanks," she nodded and began tapping onto her computer keyboard to pull up a report. After studying the report for a few seconds, she picked up the phone and made a call. She was still on the phone when her supervisor's door flew open. Ducking down in the chair hoping Billy was hunting for someone else she kept pressing the person on the phone for answers.
"Francine!" Billy bellowed from his office door. "Is that Scarecrow?"
Glancing up from her phone call, and flashing a weak smile she covered the mouthpiece. "No, but I'll brief you in a moment."
Billy turned and stalked back into his office slamming the door again. Jotting down some notes quickly, she spoke on the phone a few minutes longer before hanging up. Staring at her notes and sighing in frustration, she stood up and knocked on Billy's office door then entered.
"Where are they?" he demanded.
"I still haven't tracked them down but apparently they were in a car accident. I just got off the phone with the tow truck driver who pulled their car out of the trees down in Fairfax County. It was pretty banged up, but the car was unoccupied."
"Fairfax County? That's not on their way to the office," Billy commented. "When did the accident happen?"
"I don't know."
"Who called it in?"
"Another motorist who had car trouble early this morning. It could have been there for a while. With this weather, who knows?"
"Call the hospitals - see if they've been admitted and have somebody drive over to their house; see if they're home. Maybe their phone's out of order or their power is out."
"I'm on it," she answered, but she was starting to get a funny feeling in her stomach that something was wrong and she was pretty sure Billy was thinking the same thing.
"And, Francine, keep me informed."
Another hour flew by. Francine hung up the phone again, frustrated and increasingly worried. Despite her best efforts this morning, she had more questions than she did answers. She knew one thing, Scarecrow and Amanda were missing. Gathering her notes and a time line she'd pieced together she hurried back to Billy's office.
"What do you have?" Billy asked when he hung up the phone.
"I've checked all the hospitals but nobody fitting their descriptions has been admitted or had been treated. Likewise with the morgues - luckily, no John or Jane Doe's there either, but that's it for the good news. Kendrick drove over to the house. Lee's Corvette was in the garage, but nobody else was there." "The boys should be at school," Billy pointed out.
Francine nodded. "Yes, I checked Amanda's calendar on her desk in the Q Bureau. Her ex had the kids this weekend and her mother's out of town until this afternoon. I gave Joe King a call. He picked them up on Saturday and dropped them off at school this morning. I ran a check on Lee and Amanda's credit cards. They haven't been used since Saturday night. Lee signed for dinner at 'Chez Louis'."
"Are we sure it was his signature?"
"I had the manager fax me over a copy of the receipt. I've seen enough of Lee's expense reports to know it was definitely his chicken scratch. That might explain why the car was found in Fairfax County. It's on the way back from the restaurant," Francine explained.
"So nobody's seen them since Saturday night? How come the car wasn't found sooner?" he exclaimed loudly.
Francine swallowed hard. She knew that meant trouble. "I guess because of the weather. It's lucky that they found it this soon."
"Where's their car? Still at the impound yard?"
"Yes."
"Have it towed over here. I want the lab boys to check it out. I want to know what happened and I want to know now!"
"That's already being done. The car will be here before noon." Francine had tried to cover every angle and although she was on top of things she still felt as if she wasn't doing enough to find them.
"Good! Everyone else is accounted for, right?"
"Yes, Maguire and Olsen had fender benders this morning, Rodriquez had no power at home and the alarm clock didn't go off; he got here a few minutes ago. Dunn drove through a flooded street and his car died on him. He called in, but is still waiting to be towed."
Billy shook his head. "All right then, we can focus on Scarecrow and Amanda. I want answers and I wanted them yesterday. Have Kendrick grab one of the boys from the lab and inspect the crash site. See if they can come up with anything."
"You really think the rain hasn't washed away any evidence?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Let's just say I'm hopeful something might still be there. Tow truck drivers aren't looking for clues in a disappearance. To them it's just another vehicle. I'm ordering a 'Delta Alert' for all field agents until we figure out what's going on."
With the Delta Alert issued and still no word from either Lee or Amanda Stetson the mood in the Agency was tense. Word had spread quickly from one department to another about their disappearance. Francine kept digging deeper and deeper into what might have happened to them. Looking up from her desk a soaked Agent Kendricks was holding out pictures of the scene.
Francine thumbed through the pictures before commenting. "Not much to go on."
"With all the rain and wind we've had we're lucky they found the car. Have you heard anything from forensics yet?"
"No, but they're still working on it. I saw the car, the damage wasn't that extensive. The front end was smashed and the window was cracked. There was a little blood inside the car, but nothing that would suggest they didn't survive the accident."
"You checked the hospitals yet?"
"Of course!" she snapped, rolling her eyes. "I did that hours ago."
"If there's anything else I can do to help, let me know. I'm going to get out of these wet clothes before I catch pneumonia."
"Thanks, Kendricks," she nodded as she watched him exit the bullpen.
She thumbed through the pictures again, wishing she could pick up on something - anything. There had to be a clue. She was more than frustrated by their lack of progress. Minutes later her phone rang. She grabbed it immediately.
"Desmond… No, that's ridiculous!" she argued with the caller. "It must be a mistake. Run it again… You already have? But that's impossible… No, I haven't checked yet, but he should be… All right. Fax me up the results now. I'll be waiting."
Staring at the facsimile machine across the room, her fingers flew across her computer keyboard in search of corroborating information. The ringing from the fax drew her attention away from the keyboard. Crossing the room urgently she pulled the pages off the machine as they came out. Rushing back to her desk she studied the information carefully. Her hands were trembling as her fingers searched for the letters on her computer keyboard. Engrossed in what she was doing Francine didn't hear her supervisor calling her.
"Francine!" Billy called to her again. "Is there a problem?"
Glancing up at her supervisor with a pale face she opened her mouth but there were no words to express her trepidation.
"Francine, what's wrong?" Billy pried.
Handing the fax over to her supervisor she finally found her voice. "The lab called a couple of minutes ago. They pulled some prints off the passenger door."
"Did they get a match?" he pressed in a low voice.
"Uh huh," she nodded in disbelief knowing that her supervisor wasn't going to like the answer. "They match Addi Birol…"
End Part One
The remainder of the story is on my Angelfire, IFF Film Library website.