The Need to Know...

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Chapter 10

In order to stop Lee from tearing down the entire Agency to get the answers, Billy had no choice but to begin briefing Lee on 'Operation: Spy and Seek'.

Lee's eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger the more involved the story became.

"Wait...stop, right there, Billy..." he interrupted Billy, for the upteenth time, "Are you telling me...that you sent Amanda ALONE to a FOREIGN COUNTRY?!"

Francine intercepted the answer, "Actually, Lee, she may have been in a foreign country, but our dear Amanda was NOT alone! No indeed! She had been partnered with one of FIA's best agents, Rex Ramos."

Lee jumped out of his seat, "Rex Ramos! THAT guy? He's an outright HACK AGENT!"

Billy looked accusingly at Lee, "You don't even know the guy!"

Lee narrowed his eyes, "How do YOU know?"

"Well, do you?" Billy challenged.

"No, but his name sounds incompetent, if I've ever heard an incompetent name!"

"Rexy Ramos..." Francine repeated, with almost a sigh on her lips, "... sounds more like a Mexican porn star..."

"Not helping, Francine," Billy quietly responded back, as he heaved a frustrated sigh before addressing Lee again, "For your information, Lee, Agent Rex Ramos has a stellar reputation at the FIA!"

"Yeah, I bet he has a reputation alright!" Lee snapped and then turned towards Francine, "...and don't you DARE say anything about a pot, a kettle, and the color black!"

"Kettle? Pot? You know as well as I do, Lee, that I will have nothing to do with cookware," Francine casually responded.

"Damn! What a mess!" Lee abruptly got out of his seat and began pacing instead. Then he stopped, "Okay...so I don't know this Ramos guy, and even if he were the best agent in the world, which he isn't, how could you send Amanda over to Mexico, of all places?"

Francine asked, "What's wrong with Mexico?"

Lee looked flabbergasted, "What's wrong with Mexico? What's wrong with Mexico, you say? Why it's...it's... TOO FAR AWAY!"

Then he began pacing again as he mumbled under his breath, "I can't believe Amanda's THAT far away!"

"From you?" Francine innocently asked and slightly backed off when she saw the anger boiling in Lee's eyes.

"...No, not from me! Too far away from the Agency! From our resources!" he exclaimed, obviously lying, "It'll be hard for m-...I mean, for us to get to her! Billy, why the hell did you pick Amanda for that kind of a mission?"

"Ohhhh, I don't know..." Billy sarcastically stated, tired of Lee drilling him, "maybe it's because she can think faster on her feet than most agents I know...or...maybe she's proven herself in getting some of my best agents out of trouble... or hmmmm... maybe it's because she been successful with three missions in a row...or how about, maybe it's because..."

"-okay, I get it!" Lee interrupted, rubbing the back of his neck, "she...can... get things done!"

Francine piped in, "So I suppose you're no longer mad at her?"

Lee scowled, "Mad at her? When was I mad at her?"

"About the botched bank robbery," Francine reminded him, "Don't tell me that you've already forgotten all about 'Mayhem Stetson'! The whole office heard how you never wanted to be partnered with her again!"

To Lee, the whole bank robbery debacle seemed a lifetime ago.

"I...wasn't mad at her," he now insisted, "I was...just... frustrated!"

Francine snarked, "I never knew frustration could be so loud!"

He tried to defend himself, "Look, I only insisted on wanting to work alone at that time because I LIKE working alone! You know that about me!" he emphasized, "but that doesn't mean I don't care about Amanda's welfare! I need to know that she's alright over there! Have you heard from her yet? Has she reported in?"

And again he watched as Billy and Francine exchanged glances.

Lee's tone sounded threatening, "Billlllly…."

Billy took a deep breath.

"Yes, she has made her contact with us," he calmly admitted.

Lee sounded impatient, "-And?"

"And...the ID of the first informant didn't go as smoothly as we had anticipated."

Lee grunted, "I should have known! What did she do now?"

"SHE didn't do anything wrong!" Billy defended her, "She followed protocol perfectly. But immediately after Mrs. King made the identification, the informant was found, uh... " he struggled with the word.

"What?" Lee impatiently asked, "...to be incompetent? Beaten up?"

"...murdered." Billy admitted, and then cringed at Lee's reaction.

"I KNEW IT!" Lee seemed beside himself, "Dammit, Billy! Amanda IS in trouble..."

RING! RING!

All three turned their heads at the ringing of Billy's secured phone.

"I better get that," he stated, knowing it only rang in emergencies. Billy picked it up, "Melrose. Secured. Go ahead."

Lee angrily sat back down again as Billy listened to the other person on the line, "...That's not good. Where? When?(Pause) No, impossible to abort. (pause) That's right. (pause) No, no, I-...okay, as soon as contact is made... fine..Good-bye, Adios."

He hung up, looking a bit distressed as he stared at the phone.

Francine looked concerned, "Billy? What's wrong?"

"That was the Director of the Mexican FIA," he stated with a down-turned mouth, "Two days ago, they discovered a male body in an abandoned well. The body has now been officially identified as belonging to an Agent Rex Ramos."

"Agent Rex Ramos?" Francine looked confused, "Isn't that the name of Amanda's partner in Mexico?"

"Not partner!" Lee growled out a correction.

"Oh myyy, I sit corrected," Francine dryly stated, "alright, I'll try again. Is that the same Rex Ramos who Amanda has spent the entire time with since she's been in Mexico, although he has never, ever been her partner?"

"The name's definitely the same," Billy verified, in deep thought, "...and if that body had been discovered two days ago then Mrs. King..."

"...is NOT traveling with the real Rex Ramos!" Lee yelled out as he jumped out of his seat again. Rage was written all over his face, "I cannot BELIEVE it! She's traveling with an impostor, a killer!" He quickly looked over at Francine, "Francine! Get me on the next flight out to Mexico City!"

"Hold your horses, Lone Ranger!" she warned him, "Number one, you have no idea where to find her and number two, and more importantly, I am NOT your secretary!"

Lee sounded irritated, "NOW you decide to make sense?"

Francine shrugged and then randomly stated, "And sometimes when I close my eyes, I can't see."

Lee ignored her comment, "There HAS to be a way to find Amanda!"

"We can work with the Mexican police to locate her," Francine suggested, now trying to be helpful, "after all, how many cookie-baking American housewives could there be over there?"

Lee had calmed down enough so his agent mind could now focused on what needed to be done.

"Yeah, get the help of law enforcement, that's good..." he stated, his mind going a mile a minute, "and we can also get the entire force of the FIA to go searching for her. Surely they can spare the manpower on such an important international situation."

"-and maybe we can utilize one of their helicopters!" Francine brainstormed as Lee enthusiastically nodded.

"-OR..." Billy suddenly interjected, "-maybe we can find Amanda through her tracker."

Francine and Lee both turned at the same time and said in unison, "WHAT?"

Billy seemed pleased with their reaction, "All you two ever think about are your own contributions on these missions. But maybe, just maybe, you need to give credit to your superior as well! After all, I'M the one who's usually on top of things!"

Billy had Lee's total attention now.

"Amanda has a tracker on her?" he composedly asked.

"Of course she does!" Billy responded, "Amanda's important to all of us, Lee! Not just you!"

Lee then respectfully asked, "So what's the plan?"

"That's better!" Billy acknowledged. Then sounding like a football coach, he stated, "So Lee, you need to visit the tech boys and have them give you a readout from Amanda's tracker as to her whereabouts. Francine, get me the Pentagon. I have connections there and I might be able to secure a private jet for this type of emergency. And, Lee, once you pinpoint Amanda's location, I give you permission to go home and pack. Francine, upon notification regarding the availability of the jet, you will help to get Lee on it ASAP! And if all goes well, wheels can be up in about an hour!"

Amused, Billy watched Lee and Francine's overwhelmed reaction.

"So why are you two still standing here?" Billy rhetorically asked, and then made a 'shooing' motion, "Go, GO! We've got a special agent to save!"

#

Cock-a-doodle-do!

Back in the Mexican city of Tamasina, a rooster crowed underneath Amanda's window, signaling dawn.

She awoke with a start. Although it was early, Amanda figured the four hours of sleep she got would have to do. By 6:45 am, she was completely dressed and so she opened the door and silently snuck down the corridor of the motel.

Looking about, she then hastily opened the exit door of the motel.

It was a brisk ten-minute walk to El Pujol. She was determined to warn Paco, the busboy, that he could be in danger. Upon arrival, she gave three hard knocks on the door of the restaurant. She heard footsteps approaching.

"¡Ir lejo estamos cerrados!" a voice from the other side of the door yelled out.

"Señor, por favor, you need to open the door!" Amanda pleaded to the voice in the restaurant.

There was a pause as the voice tried to figure out the words in English.

"Go away! We closed!"

"But this is VERY important!" Amanda shouted back, "I MUST speak with Paco Ramirez! PLEASE! It's an emergency! Emergencia!"

The door opened and a very angry, white-haired man stared down at Amanda.

"You tell me name Paco! Tell me emergencia!" he demanded with hostile eyes.

Amanda sounded desperate, "Please, I am a friend of Paco Ramirez! Soy Amiga. I really am! Please, Sir, he may be in danger!" when he looked confused at the word 'danger', she added, "Uh...muy, muy problema!"

Her heart dropped to her knees when she saw the man's face suddenly saddened. Then his head drooped sorrowfully to look down on the ground while he shook his head.

Oh!My!Gosh! Something terrible must have already happened to Paco!

"What is it?" Amanda impatiently insisted, moving her head in an attempt to catch his eye, "Sir? Please! Sir? Paco! Emergencia! Where is Paco Ramirez?"

At last he looked up to stare straight at her. And that's when Amanda noticed his watery eyes.

"Lo siento, Señorita. I sorry, Miss," he apologized in broken English, "Sad for Paco. You too late."

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