"What on earth is going on? And why are your hands tied?" Amanda asked a beat after the door to the Q Bureau flew open and Francine stalked in.
"No time to explain. On a mission," Francine ground out in reply.
Amanda put down her sandwich and the file she'd been reviewing and sat back to watch Francine move around the room using her fingertips – the only part of her hands she could move - to open cupboards, flicking aside papers and muttering angrily the whole time. Amanda had to hide a grin – she looked exactly like an enraged praying mantis.
Now using her elbows, Francine pushed things around on the small table they had near the bar fridge. Her expression brightened momentarily as she pounced, then she turned to Amanda with a scowl, holding up the piece of cutlery between her palms like some kind of temple offering.
"A butter knife? Really? We're trained in deadly weapons! You couldn't have something useful like a carving knife?"
Amanda started to laugh. "Lee makes the occasional sandwich up here, Francine, he's not serving Thanksgiving dinner!"
Francine's scowl deepened. She dropped the dull knife with a clatter and moved on, Amanda watching in fascination. When she started opening the drawers on Lee's desk though, Amanda felt she had to intervene.
"Okay, what are you hoping to find in there?" she asked, getting to her feet and moving across the room.
"Something to help me get out of these ropes obviously!" Francine snapped at her.
"And again, the obvious question: why are you tied up?" Amanda asked as she began closing the drawers in Francine's wake.
"I have a bet with Scarecrow."
"Of course. I should have guessed."
In some weird throwback to high school, Lee and Francine had been making bets all week, trying to one up each other over everything from marksmanship to who could get the first "Good work" out of Billy every day. It was childish but amusing. Lee had won the last round, hotwiring one of the cars in the motor pool faster than Francine, but only by a few seconds.
"Lee says he once got out of a situation like this in fifteen minutes and he doubted I could do better."
Amanda raised an eyebrow. "Well, of course, you can do better than that," she replied.
"Well, he said he had his hands behind his back, so he's challenged me to do it in half that time."
"So why are you in here?"
"We agreed to limit it to this room and anything I found in here, I could use, but I bet he thought of that ahead of time and cleared out anything useful." Francine growled in frustration. "How does he not have a letter opener or something?"
"He doesn't need one because the security regulations mean the mailroom opens everything that comes into the Agency before we get it," Amanda reminded her. "Why aren't you just trying to undo it with your teeth?"
"I did try that," Francine admitted, "but Lee's tied it so the knot is facing away from me and every time I try to tug at it from this angle, it just tightens more."
"Let me have a look."
Francine thrust her hands in front of her and Amanda perused the knot carefully.
"Oh yes," she said, a small smile quirking up the corner of her mouth. "I see your problem. He's used a Killick hitch."
"You recognize it?" Francine twisted her hands to stare at the knot. "So how do I get out of it?"
Amanda shrugged lightly. "It's a pretty tricky one. You should probably stop wasting time and get back to looking."
Francine huffed and began her search again as Amanda stood watching. "I thought you'd be able to help!"
"You did? How come?"
Francine rolled her eyes at her but kept hunting. "I've been in the field with you. I've read Lee's reports. You always seem to come up with crazy out-of-the-box idea that saves the day."
"Crazy?" Amanda echoed. "I don't think I'd describe them as crazy, although maybe I've been lucky sometimes."
"You're more than lucky," said Francine, shifting books around on the shelves to see if there was anything useful hidden there. "You have a knack."
Amanda gave a small laugh. "Why Francine, that almost sounded like a compliment!"
"It was, almost," she agreed. "But it's true – you do. You see things differently from the rest of us. Lee's always complaining about how you come at something by some circuitous route and arrive at a conclusion he should have seen a mile off."
"Almost sounds like a compliment, doesn't quite make it," Amanda murmured to herself.
Francine paused and mentally reviewed what she'd just said. "Okay, he used to complain about how you rambled your way to stuff, but now he's the first to say that your skills are unique."
"Better," Amanda conceded with a smile. "But I don't think anything I do is that unique, Francine. I just think about how things work and see if it fits a situation. It's not a trick – it's just a different kind of experience."
"Well, none of it is any kind of experience I have," fumed Francine. "And none of your little household tips are going to get me out of this!" She held up her hands with a glare. She disappeared into the vault, while Amanda prayed that her hunt didn't disturb too much of the filing left to do.
"You know, Francine," she called out, "Maybe if you just stop and take a breath and think like a normal person, you could figure out a way."
A furious-looking Francine stormed out of the vault, blowing the hair out of her eyes. "Really? You have some little Woodchuck Scout fairy tale that magically undoes ropes? Some housewife cleaning solution that will make them slide off? Maybe a cheerleader chant that will inspire my escape?"
"None of those things," countered Amanda. She took Francine's hands in hers and held them up at eye level in between them. "Now look, I know you are a highly intelligent, highly trained agent, who can defend yourself in hand-to-hand combat or cocktail party sarcasm, but have you ever thought that maybe – just maybe – you sometimes overlook a simple solution in your search for a clever one?"
"What do you mean?" Francine asked. "I'm running out of time to beat the clock here, Amanda. Can you just cut to the chase?"
"You're tied up. You can use anything you found in this room to help you get the knot undone. Anything at all," said Amanda. "Do you see what I'm saying?"
"No!" Francine shouted. "If I could see that, I wouldn't still be tied up!"
Amanda shook her head with a rueful smile. "Well, do you know what the Junior Trailblazer handbook says about this knot?'
Francine made an exasperated noise. "Do you honestly think I would know?"
Amanda cut her off. "The Killick hitch knot, when properly executed, can be quickly untied."
"Well that's great but how does that help me?" Francine's eyes widened as Amanda gave the loop of the knot a sharp tug and the ropes immediately loosened. "Amanda! That's cheating!" she wailed.
"Is it?" Amanda asked, pulling the ropes off her wrists. "Lee said you could use anything in the room to help you. I'm in the room. I could help you. If you'd thought that through five minutes ago, you'd already be back downstairs collecting your prize by now. And I bet he knew that and he's down there laughing at you right now."
Francine's mouth dropped open as she stared at Amanda, her eyes dropping for a moment to her liberated wrists and then back up again.
"But in the spirit of playing fair, I should probably also tell you, he lied to you about the fifteen minutes. He spent a whole afternoon in Mrs. Welch's basement tied up with that knot and never got out of it until I untied him just like this – why else do you think I ended up flying that helicopter all on my own?"
Francine's jaw now clicked shut as the full impact of Amanda's words hit her.
"That ba—"
"Go!" said Amanda pointing at the door. "You're still wasting time!"
"Thank you!" exclaimed Francine as she ran for the door. "I owe you chocolate!"
Amanda shook her head as she settled back down on the couch with her sandwich. "Honestly, how can such smart people be so dumb?" she chuckled.