June 2, 1987
6:45am
Lee quickly shut and locked the door to the Q-Bureau. He sat in his chair and laid out this morning's intel on the desk before him. Since he returned to the agency 3 months ago, this had become his routine-make his way around the building before most people arrived and snoop for information. Most days he didn't get much of anything. Today looked promising but he wouldn't know until he sorted through his findings.
He still wasn't used to being here without her. Lee refused to let anyone remove Amanda's desk from the office. Having it there made it seem like she was just running an errand and would be right back. That gave him some comfort.
"Come on! There's got to be something here!" Lee said as he read through the morning pages growing more frustrated with each sentence. Then something jumped out at him, the word KARBALA. His heart began racing as he desperately scanned the document.
Talk of KARBALA regrouping in Saudi Arabia. Little info at this time. Name Birol has been mentioned multiple times. More info to come…..
"There you are you son of a bitch!" Lee said through gritted teeth. "And I'm coming after you."
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
Later that day: 12:37pm
"Damn" Billy said as he angrily slammed down the phone on his desk.
"What it is?" Francine asked.
Billy leaned back in his chair and let out a heavy sigh. He stared over at Francine.
"What, Billy? What's the matter?"
"That was Dr. Smyth. There's been some chatter about Birol. He thinks it's credible."
Francine's eyes grew wide.
"Well, that's great news, isn't it?" she asked.
"Normally, I would say yes and it's about time. But Dr. Smyth has ordered a hands off on this one."
"What? How can he do that? We've been searching for him for the last 6 months!"
"You think I don't know that, Francine?" Billy said raising his voice. He immediately regretted his outburst. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just so damned frustrated with this whole thing."
"Why is it hands off?"
"Because he's supposedly smack dab in the middle of all the turmoil going on in the Middle East. We are NOT to get involved. Orders from the President himself."
Francine nodded in acknowledgement and leaned back in her chair.
Bill stood up from his chair and began pacing around the office. As he looked out his office window, he watched Lee enter the bullpen and march directly to Mike Olson's desk looking for today's midday intel updates. There was no doubt in Billy's mind that Lee looked like a man on a mission.
"Billy, Lee's going to lose his mind. You try and tell him that he can't go after Birol…who knows what he'll do."
"And that is exactly why he can't find out. He's reckless as it is. He treats each mission as if he doesn't care if he comes back alive. Look at him out there…"
Francine looked out into the bullpen to see Lee standing over the printer waiting to read the latest intel on the happenings around the world. Francine's heart ached for Lee. He has not been the same since Amanda died. He was almost unrecognizable. The once clean-shaven, well-groomed Lee had let his beard and hair grow. Haircuts were now whenever he got around to it instead of the monthly appointment with his barber. The two watched Lee running his hand through his unkempt hair in frustration as he threw down the notebook containing today's updates.
"Every day, the same thing. He reads the bulletins, notifications, calls every department in the agency to see if there has been any sign of Birol."
"He's going to find out. And when he does, there is NOTHING you can do to stop him. Nothing at all."
"I know" Billy said in a much softer tone. "And if it wouldn't be a suicide mission, I don't think I would try."
"So, what are we going to do?"
"Dr. Smyth has gotten the intel buried for now. I'm going to send Lee out of town for a few days, and hopefully we will have a better handle on this before he comes back."
Francine made a "huh" noise in her throat.
"Good luck with that! If he even gets a hint of this information…."
"I know, Francine. I know. But it will be for his own protection. If he goes after Birol now….well you and I both know that he won't be coming back."
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
7:27pm that evening
Lee forcefully shut the front door to his apartment and tossed the keys onto the table. Before sitting on the couch, he poured himself a nice stiff drink. He had spent the day looking under every proverbial rock, calling in every favor, even picking the locks of desks that might contain more information on Birol. He came up with nothing. And to add to his frustration, Billy now wants to send him to South Carolina for 3 days. He told him no that he wouldn't go. Billy pushed back and said that he had no choice. His task for the evening was to come up with an excuse as to why he couldn't go. This was a crucial time and Lee couldn't be away from the agency.
Lee took a big swig of his drink and let out a heavy sigh. He scratched his beard and ran his hand through his hair as he contemplated his next move. Just then the phone rang. Anticipating it to be Billy, Lee answered sternly.
"Yeah, hello…"
There was a moment of silence on the line before a familiar voice said "Lee? Did I catch you at a bad time?"
Lee immediately recognized Dotty's voice.
"Oh, hi…..no. Sorry. I thought you were going to be someone else."
"Oh, I see…I haven't heard from you in a while so I thought I would call and see how you are doing."
Lee smiled at bit at her concern. He had gone to visit Dotty and the boys a few more times since his initial dinner with them, but he thought it would be best that he kept his distance….until he got the Birol issue sorted out.
"I'm doing fine" Lee said unconvincingly.
"Fine, huh? Hmmm. Now why do I find that hard to believe? I haven't heard from you, and I was worried."
"Dotty, you don't need to worry about me. I really am doing ok. Trying to take it one day at a time…still waiting for that day when it shifts into becoming easier."
"I know. Me too."
"How are you and the boys? Everything ok?"
"Oh yes. Jamie likes your friend, T.P. is it? He has been very kind to him and has really taken Jamie under his wing. Jamie really looks forward to working with him each week. Thank you for setting that up."
"T.P. is a great human. I'm glad that Jamie is enjoying working with him. As I told Jamie, T.P. really had a special place in his heart for Amanda. I know that he is very happy to work with Jamie. When does the science camp start?"
"In a few weeks. You're sure you didn't pull any strings to get him in? He's just so excited!"
Lee shook his head as he spoke.
"Nope, I didn't and as I told you, I was prepared to, but when I spoke to the person running the camp, he said that Jamie had already been accepted. He got in strictly on his own merits…...And I hope Jamie told that to his teacher!"
Dotty laughed. "Actually, he did! His teacher was very happy for him…... Thank you for encouraging him, Lee. Joe and I are very grateful to you."
"Joe? Joe is grateful to me?" Lee said skeptically.
"Very." Dotty said.
"I would have thought that he blamed me for Amanda's….."
"Of course, he doesn't. He knows Amanda and her stubbornness. No one could make her do anything that she didn't want to do."
Dotty was silent for a moment.
"Lee? I have never heard you say that Amanda died."
Every muscle in Lee's body tensed at this statement.
"Well….I…" he said angrily.
"Lee, I think it is important for you to say it. You said that she went away, or that she is no longer here….but you never say that she died."
Lee felt that all too familiar lump in his throat. Dotty could hear him trying to clear his throat before he spoke.
"I can't" he said finally. "I can't say it."
"I'm not trying to push you, Lee but I think it might be a step in helping you to heal and turn that corner of this getting easier."
They were both silent for a long moment.
"I'm not ready" he finally said.
"It's ok. When you are, I'm here for you, Lee darling. I hope you know that."
"I do" he said flatly as he continued to push down the lump.
There was another moment of silence between them both.
"Oh! Heavens! I almost forgot the other reason that I called!" she said excitedly.
Lee perked up a bit in anticipation.
"I got something very interesting in the mail today" she said in a tone that he often heard Amanda use when she was trying to get some information out of him.
"Oh?"
"Yes! I got a bill from Philip's summer soccer camp today. I was expecting it because the final payment is due since he leaves in 3 weeks. But, when I opened it, it said PAID IN FULL. I called Joe and he didn't know anything about it, and I know I certainly didn't pay it yet…You paid for his camp, didn't you, Lee?"
Lee inhaled sharply and then said "Yes, I did."
"Lee, that was so sweet of you but…"
Lee cut her off.
"No….no buts. If things had gone the way that they should have, Philip would have probably been my stepson by now and I would be paying for his camp. I saw no reason that it should be any different. I wanted to do it. I am very glad that I was able to do it."
Dotty let out what Lee interpreted to be a happy sigh.
"Thank you. And when I tell Philip, he will thank you, too."
"You don't need to tell him."
"Yes, I do. He needs to know that there are people in this world that still love him…and he needs to know how to show thanks when someone does something nice for him. I will have him give you a call tomorrow."
"Uh…I might not be here tomorrow. I am…I have to go out of town for work."
"Are you going on a mission?" Dotty excitedly whispered into the phone.
"Yes, but that is all I can say about that. I will give Philip a call when I get back."
"You will be careful, won't you?"
Lee smiled into the phone.
"Yes. I will be careful. I promise."
"Ok, dear. Well, I will let you get ready for your trip, and I look forward to hearing about it when you get back. Have a good night."
"Thank you. Good night."
Lee hung up the phone. His chats with Dotty always lifted his spirits and made him wonder if Amanda shouldn't have told her about being a spy a long time ago.
Lee drank the last of his drink and stood up to refill his glass when there came a knock on the door. This was sure to be Billy wanting to brief him on his South Carolina trip. He was just going to have to put his foot down and tell Billy he was absolutely NOT going. Lee briskly walked to the door and yanked it open, only to find….
"Dr. Smyth!"
"And a fine how do you do to you, too, Stetson" he said as he pushed his way into the apartment.
Lee slowly closed the door and watched Dr. Smyth walk into his living room.
"Can I offer you a drink?"
"No time. You have exactly 10 minutes to pack a bag and grab your travel papers."
"Woah…..wait a minute. I'm not going anywhere. The South Carolina trip can wait."
"You are going somewhere, but it's not to South Carolina."
Lee looked at him in a most confused way.
"Then where the hell am I going?"
Dr. Smyth looked at him as he took a long drag on his cigarette and allowed the smoke to billow out of his mouth.
"To get Birol," he finally said.
Lee's eyes widened and he almost dropped the glass he was still holding.
"Birol?"
"We've gotten word that Birol has surfaced in Saudi Arabia. You have about 36 hours to get there and take care of him. Our sources tell us they can guarantee that he will be there for the next 36 hours, beyond that…..no guarantees."
"Why didn't Billy tell me about any of this?"
"Because he was told not to."
Lee got suddenly angry.
"By who?" he said pointedly.
"By me" Dr. Smyth replied. "And I was told that this was to be a hands-off situation by the president. So, you see, this whole thing, needs to stay just between you and me. You now have 8 minutes. Better get packing."
"Wait a minute! You're telling me that you are going against presidential orders and sending me out to get Birol?"
"Partially true, Scarecrow. By telling you, I am going against presidential orders. But I am not sending you anywhere. I am simply opening the cage door and letting you choose if you want to fly out or not. And understand, if you do take wing, you are on your own. You will have no agency back-up or help. It will just be you and Birol."
Lee nodded intently as he took in this scenario.
"And…...you probably won't make it back alive. It's a hornet's nest over there and you will be jumping right in the middle with a baseball bat."
"But why…."
"7 minutes…..tick-tock, Scarecrow….This is probably your only chance to get Birol. I was fond of Mrs. King. She didn't deserve what she got. 6 minutes."
"Are you being legit with all of this?"
"Completely. Pack a bag and we can talk more in the car to the airport. I have a dossier for you containing everything we have as to his where abouts."
"Why are you doing all of this? I've never known you to break any rules of any kind, let alone a presidential order."
Dr. Smyth stared at Lee while taking a long drag on his cigarette. "5 minutes left" he was all he said.
Lee looked at Dr. Smyth and nodded. He ran to his room and frantically began to throw clothes and his travel papers in a suitcase. He looked at the picture of Amanda on his nightstand, the one that Dotty had given to him. He picked it up, slid the picture out of its frame, and tucked it into his pocket.
"This will all be over soon, Amanda. I'm finally going to make Birol pay."
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
The night was hot…perhaps the hottest that it had been in the 4 months since Lee arrived in the middle east looking for Birol. And it was fitting that it was sweltering as it was, because tonight was the night Lee was going to send Birol straight to hell, or die trying. It had been a long and hard road tracking down Birol in this unfamiliar country where he had no help and no one to turn to, but Lee had not given up. He was finally given a break and found Addi Birol. Lee was finally going to make him pay for what he did to Amanda.
The moon was waning and provided very little light. This was good. Lee slipped into the camp without being noticed and now waited for the perfect time to make his move. Birol could be seen in the distance talking to two other men. Lee moved in closer and made his way behind the tent that he had observed Birol coming in and out of for the last few hours. It was very late and most of the camp had turned in for the night. Lee checked his weapons, making sure he had enough ammunition. He popped out the clip and smiled when he saw that it was full. He was anticipating getting close enough to Birol that only one bullet would be necessary. He snapped the clip back into place and cocked the gun putting a bullet in the chamber. A trickle of sweat began to run down the sides of Lee's face and into his thick beard that now grew on his face. He was barely recognizable as the Lee Stetson, American agent that had existed a year ago-an unintended disguise. Lee was hoping to use this to his advantage. Birol wouldn't recognize him immediately and that would hopefully give Lee the precious seconds of surprise should he need it. Lee tucked the gun into the waist of his pants then removed a large knife from its holster and cut a long, vertical slit into the back wall of the canvas tent. Lee slipped inside and chose the spot where he would wait for Birol.
Birol bid the guards outside his tent good night as he entered his chamber. Lee watched him for a moment. He could feel the heat of fury rising within his body and his heart pounded so loudly in his ears, he was sure the sound would give away his hiding spot.. When he could no longer wait, Lee sprung from the shadows and brought the unsuspecting Birol down the ground with little effort. As to not alert the guards outside, Lee bent down and spoke very closely and quietly to Birol's face while jamming his gun firmly into the underside of his chin.
Lee held Birol's shirt firmly in one hand and held the gun on him with the other. His eyes were wild as he stared at the man that took everything from him. He knew he should kill Birol immediately, but Lee wanted him to know who it was that would be claiming his life and why. From the look on Birol's face, he had no idea who his intruder was.
"Make one sound and I will kill you without hesitation" Lee said through gritted teeth. "Understand?"
Birol nodded as he looked at Lee's face.
"I've waited a long, long time for this Birol." Lee said with even more venom to his voice. "You don't recognize me, do you?"
Birol opened his mouth to speak. This made Lee jam his gun harder into the soft underside of Birol's chin.
"Uh, uh….I said NO speaking…Before I kill you, and make no mistake, I am going to kill you, you're going to tell me what you did with her. What you did with Amanda King."
Birol's eye grew wide, and Lee could see that he now recognized who he was underneath the long hair and thick beard. Birol began to smile, and the smile soon grew into laughter. This enraged Lee more than he thought possible. Lee pulled back his hand and punched Birol in the head with the butt of his gun. Birol stopped laughing for a moment to assess the blow he just received. He then looked up at Lee and began to smile again. Lee pulled them both to their feet and slammed Birol into the steel cabinet in the corner of the room. He placed the gun against Birol's temple and had his finger on the trigger.
"What did you do with her body?"
Birol once again laughed as he stared at Lee with those dark, almost black eyes. Lee knew that getting the answers out of him wasn't going to be easy.
"I did nothing with her body, Scarecrow," Birol said with a flippant tone.
"You have about 10 seconds to live, Birol. Now tell me what you did with her body after you killed her!"
Lee's fury had reached white hot proportions. He hoped that he could control himself long enough to get the answers he wanted before he shot him. Birol could tell that Stetson meant business.
"I did nothing with her body because… I didn't kill her."
Lee's stomach dropped into his feet at this statement. He was insane with rage towards Birol. He knew this was his one and only chance to get the truth from him, and now Birol was playing with Lee's emotions.
"Liar!" Lee shouted as he once again slammed Birol's head into the hard steel behind him. "I saw the pictures! We saw the house where she bled out! What did you do with her?"
"No…No! You saw Nightcrawler dressed as Amanda King. It was HER body you saw. I did kill Mara, your source…..but I did not kill Amanda. Was all the information that Mara gave you worth the life of Amanda? If you had just left me alone, she would still be with you."
Birol's words hit Lee in the gut like a mac truck. Could this be possible? Was Amanda really still alive? Was she here in this camp? Birol began to laugh again as he saw the confusion spread like wildfire across Lee's face.
"Really, Scarecrow. I thought someone with your reputation for figuring out difficult cases would have figured out that Amanda wasn't really dead."
"WHERE…IS…SHE?" Lee said through gritted teeth.
"Last I knew….she was still in Washington" Birol said very coolly.
Lee was more confused than ever.
"In Washington? What the hell are you talking about?"
Lee tightened his grip on Birol and stood eye to eye with him. He once again pressed the muzzle of his gun into the underside of Birol's chin.
"She was worth a lot of money. I couldn't pass up the fee that her new…..owner…. was willing to pay, so I sold her to him. Last I knew, they were still in Washington. He has been enjoying watching you suffer as much as he has enjoyed owning Amanda King."
Birol's tone was so cold and pointed. Lee began hitting him over and over again and smashing his head into the steal cabinet.
"WHO HAS HER?" Lee screamed forgetting that there were guards outside.
Suddenly, two men burst into Birol's tent and fired at Lee. He pulled Birol in front of him as a shield and fired at the men, hitting, and killing both instantly. Lee looked back at Birol who had crumpled to the ground. He had been hit in the neck and was gushing blood. Lee knew Birol would be dead in moments.
Birol began to stare at the ceiling as he grabbed for throat.
"WHO HAS HER?" Lee screamed.
Birol tried to speak but couldn't phonate above a whisper. Lee leaned down to the dying man and asked the question again.
"Who did you sell her to, you son of a bitch?"
Birol smiled and whispered something to Lee, began to laugh and then slipped away…dead.
Lee looked upon Birol in horror. Two more men burst into the tent. They surveyed the scene with the two dead guards, Birol on the ground in a pool of his own blood and Lee Stetson standing over them. Lee fired his gun at them both as he bolted through the slit in the tent that he had cut earlier. He ran as fast as he could away from the men firing at him, but he was not fast enough. Lee felt the bullet rip through his back just below his right shoulder. He sprawled on the ground, face first. He could barely breathe, and the pain was like a white-hot fire burning within.
"Amanda…" he said as his vision turned black and he lost consciousness.
