Chapter Four

Billy wasn't wrong about Lee's reaction to the events that had unfolded while he was chasing terrorists in Venezuela. That assignment had resulted in Lee's being shot at, though fortunately not hit, before he took out the leader of the Ruta Illuminada and saw the rest of the ringleaders arrested by the Venezuelan military. He came back to D.C. on Saturday, November, 19th, having flown from Caracas to Mexico City, from Mexico City to Dallas-Fort Worth, and from Carswell Air Force Base near Fort Worth to Andrews. When he finally got home, he was tired, he hadn't shaved in several days, and he was very, very grumpy. He stopped by the Agency on his way to his apartment and it was then that Billy told him what had happened to Cal Brown.

"I'd sent Amanda to the market to make the drop," Billy said, hoping that Lee wouldn't be paying attention.

"You sent Amanda? Alone?"

"It was a simple courier assignment, Lee."

"A simple assignment that got Jack Gray killed," Lee said, giving the man Amanda knew as "Cal Brown' his real name. "And it's only by sheer luck that Amanda wasn't there. Why Amanda?"

"Who else do we have that can walk into a supermarket in Arlington with a can of coffee that she says is expired and make it look perfectly normal? She even had a grocery bag and a receipt to make the whole thing look authentic."

"Receipt? Why did she need a receipt?"

"They don't take returns without a receipt, Scarecrow, as you'd know if you'd even tried to return something."

"Did you know?"

"Well, no, but I do now. This is why Amanda is so valuable, Lee; she can do things that nobody else can."

"Last week, that creep Hollander injected her with 10ccs of muscarine. This week, she narrowly avoided getting shot just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is that what she can do that nobody else can?"

"I should point out that you were the one who recruited her for the Delano operation."
"Yes, yes, I was, and when she was lying there in that ambulance, I could have kicked myself from here to Mount Vernon. I didn't do a very good job of protecting her then, I freely admit it. It would serve us both right if she told us to take this job and shove it, in so many words."

"Yes, but even after she found out what had happened to the man she knew as Cal Brown, mild-mannered supermarket manager and Little League coach, she didn't do that. Amanda is … unique."

"That is very true. All right, then, I'm going to go home, clean up, pour myself a drink - or two- or three, and then sleep for about twenty-four hours."

"Well, don't forget to come to work on Monday; we've got a chance to nab Rostov, and I need you on the case."

"I'll be here."

"Are you going over to see Amanda?"

"Are you kidding, looking like this? One of her neighbors would probably call the cops on me, saying that I looked like I was casing the neighborhood."

"In a classic Porsche?"

"I could be an upscale burglar with terrible hygiene habits."

"Oh, go away," Billy said, 'shooing' Lee out of his office.

"Gladly."

As soon as he was gone, Billy made a call.

"Amanda, Lee is back. He's all right, just tired and dirty, so he's going home to rest, but he's back. I thought you'd want to know."

"Thank you, Mr. Melrose. I'm glad he's all right, wherever he was."

"Yes. Have a good weekend, Amanda. I have no further assignments for you, so you'll have Thanksgiving week to enjoy time with your family."

"Thank you, sir. Have a good Thanksgiving."

"The same to you."

At his apartment not far from the Agency, Lee finished the Chinese takeout he'd bought on the way home and headed for the shower and bed, in that order, but before he did, he cracked open his fortune cookie. This one said, "A true friend can be trusted with all your secrets."

"Friendship again? What is this, some kind of cosmic message?" Lee mused. "Why don't I ever get one that says, 'You will win a million dollars'? Well, I'm not ready to trust anybody with all my secrets, Cookie."

He put the fortune in his wallet next to the other one about friends and headed for the shower.