"Mr. Stetson! I've already told you; the doctors are working on Mrs. King and will brief you when they can," the petite nurse behind the counter responded hotly.
Lee felt Billy tug on his right elbow and pull him back toward the waiting area. The woman's no-nonsense attitude only served to agitate him more. "Sit down, Lee. The doctors will be out as soon as they can. Let them help her."
Lee did as he was ordered. Staring blankly at the laminate floor, he tried to determine what she could have been working on that would have put her in the way of a bomb. "She was only working on a defection," he whispered.
He was startled when the man to his left replied, "She was, and her training classes. This makes no sense, Man." Billy stood, "I'm going to call the Agency and see if they've gotten a preliminary report from the police yet," then moved toward the bank of payphones along the wall.
Lee sat numbly in the plastic chair. "What have you stumbled into now, Amanda King?" He couldn't help but smirk at her uncanny way of getting into trouble. She was like a magnet to it.
It felt like hours had passed to Lee, but it was more like 45-minutes before they were greeted by Dr. Liebowitz, a short, stocky older gentleman with grey hair and glasses. "Mr. Melrose, I'm Dr. Liebowitz. Your agent came in with a severe concussion, some internal bleeding, multiple lacerations, but we're still examining her to ascertain the full extent of the blast."
The older man's cursory rundown of his partner's injuries made Lee physically ill. Swallowing down the bile that rose in his throat, he turned from the other men and paced nearby, but kept within hearing distance, not wanting to miss some vital information about Amanda's condition. He raked his hand through his hair and stopped cold when he heard the doctor explain that they were taking Amanda up to surgery. They would be doing exploratory surgery to determine the source of her internal bleeding. He returned to them in time to see Billy shake the doctor's hand.
Lee called out to the man just before he went through the secured emergency room doors, "Hey, Doc? Take good care of her . . . please?" His voice quivered and the other man simply nodded before pushing through the doors.
A while later, Billy returned to Lee's side. "I called Amanda's mother. The police had just gotten there. She's on her way now."
Lee nodded. "Thanks, Billy."
"I spoke to the Arlington Chief of Police, they don't have much, but what they do have they've sent over. I told him we'd be taking over from here. Francine's already on her way to the scene. I assumed you'd want to be here."
He nodded again.
"She's going to be okay, Lee."
Lee turned and looked into the eyes of his supervisor woefully, "She has to, Billy."
The older man squeezed his agent's shoulder in reassurance.
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"I don't understand, Officer. Why would anyone want to hurt my daughter?"
The man glanced nonchalantly over to Lee, who was hidden behind a planter across the room and pretending to be reading a newspaper. "That's what we're investigating now, Mrs. West." He moved them over toward the row of chairs in the middle of the room so that she wouldn't see the senior agent but he could overhear the conversation, as he'd been instructed by a very upset Scarecrow before the older woman had arrived. "Now, did Mrs. King mention seeing anyone suspicious?" His pencil was hovering over the small pad of paper held in his other hand.
"No, as I've already told you. We had just finished dinner when her youngest son, Jamie remembered he'd forgotten his baseball glove at the ball diamond. You know, he's normally not so forgetful, his memory is sharp as a tack," she leaned in conspiratorially, "He gets it from me."
"Uh, Mrs. West –"
"Right, anyway . . . Amanda had run up to the ballfield to grab Jamie's glove and then was coming right back home. We were all going to watch the movie of the week together since the boys don't have school."
"And have you seen anyone suspicious hanging around the neighborhood, Mrs. West? Anyone that didn't seem to belong?"
"No, of course not. I would have reported them to the police, well to you, right away."
"Of course, Ma'am," the young man nodded and scribbled something on his pad.
"What exactly happened to my daughter, Officer . . ." she read the young man's badge, "Higgins?"
"All we know is that Mrs. King's car blew up," the young rookie nearly jumped out of his seat at the loud cough and commotion coming from the other side of the planter and rushed to correct himself. "I mean, we don't know much of anything, Ma'am. Just that Mrs. King was hurt in some type of . . ." the man glanced around the room and hesitantly finished "explosion." He winced when he heard the distinct sound of a newspaper being crumpled in frustration over the sound of the older woman's gasp. "Those are all the questions we have for now. Thank you for your time, Mrs. West," he rushed before quickly leaving the room.
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Lee waited several minutes after Dotty had left Amanda's room before nodding to the agent on guard, and slipping in to watch her sleep. For a moment, he was able to push what had transpired to bring them to this point out of his mind.
He glanced toward the door to ensure the coast was still clear, and then moved forward and quietly lifted the clipboard attached to the end of her bed. With it secured under his arm, he moved toward her, and placed it in the chair next to the bed, careful not to disturb her slumber. He reached out to her, brushing the hair off her forehead and then leaned down pressing his lips gently to her temple. He picked up the chart and sat down. In the dim light he could see dark circles under her eyes and was reminded how serious her injuries were. He reached out and took her limp hand, holding it in his much larger one before slipping his other hand into his jacket pocket for his small flashlight. Sadly, he read her chart, grimacing as he read the long list of injuries. While he was no doctor, he had been injured enough to know that none of injuries listed were life threatening and let out a small sigh of relief at that realization before focusing on the woman lying in the bed beside him.
Her delicate features and friendly demeanor would lead one to believe she was helpless. She was anything but. He'd seen her take on men twice her size with nothing but a can of hairspray and her wits. She could out-argue him without even trying. She was smart, beautiful, brave, and tough. She was the complete opposite of what he thought he had wanted and yet she was everything he needed.
Why hadn't she told him about her past? Was it so easy for her to lie to him? He ran his thumb over the back of her hand, watching the rise and fall of her chest. How hadn't he known about the Fledgling project? Surely, he would have run across it in all his years as an agent. 'It's the best kept secret right now. You'd think it was the God damn Manhattan Project or something,' he'd told Billy.
'The Manhattan Project.' He and Amanda had watched it over at his place a few weeks back. Had it only been that long? It felt like years now.
"Wow, fresh-popped popcorn too? What can't you do, Stetson?" she joked as she plopped down onto the couch and snatched the bowl away from him with a giggle.
"Oh, my dear Mrs. King, you'll just have to find that out on your own. But I warn you, it could take a long time." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him before reaching into the bowl for a handful of popcorn. Just then the opening credits began to scroll across the screen and she snuggled closer to him. "So, you've really never seen this movie?"
"Nope, but I'm looking forward to it," she replied as she took in a mouthful of the salty treat. One popped kernel fell onto her chest between her modest cleavage.
Lee leaned down and with his hand on her back, pressed her chest toward his mouth. His tongue snaked out and took the wayward kernel into his mouth and released her, but not before licking the small patch of her exposed chest.
She continued to watch the screen in front of them intently, seemingly unaffected by his actions so he returned to watching the film. Then reaching in for another handful of popcorn he glanced over to her and couldn't contain his laughter at seeing the pile of popcorn now in the spot he'd just cleaned off of her chest.
The dirty laugh that erupted from her was sexy as hell. "Very funny," he laughed along with her. He wanted to turn off the movie and drag her into his bedroom and make love to her for the rest of the night. But it was too soon into their relationship for that. Instead, he settled for a few kisses and light petting before they returned their focus to the movie. When it was over, they had silently picked up their dishes and carried them into the kitchen.
Amanda broke the silence as he loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. "Lee, do you think the doctor in the movie was wrong keeping what he was doing a secret from his girlfriend?"
He looked up from his task and quipped, "It was his girlfriend's son that did him in."
"Come on. I'm serious."
"Well, the government doesn't care if your relationship is at risk because of the lies you may have to tell your significant other, Amanda."
Her eyes widened in apparent surprise of his answer and he continued, "As agents or in this case, the doctor, took an oath to keep the secrets of the U.S. government. It's all about the nation's security." He closed the dishwasher door and threw the towel over his shoulder. "Unfortunately, it comes with working for the government. I share as much as I can with you, but if it's 'need to know,' I'm afraid you'll just have to trust me that I'm doing my job."
He watched her shoulders fall. Was that disappointment because she couldn't know everything he was working on? He included her every chance he could. 'She knows the score,' he reminded himself.
Lee sat up straighter in the dark room. She hadn't been disappointed that she couldn't know what HE was working on. She had been relieved that he'd understood that taking an oath meant that a secret truly was a secret. He glanced over to her, and let out a sigh of relief to see she was still asleep, but it was short lived when he realized how keeping this from him had been eating her up inside. She was keeping her promise to the government and he'd been punishing her for it. He rubbed his face with his hand before running it roughly through his hair. "But she lied to me," he whispered harshly.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and jumped. It was that rookie Higgins that had botched the Class C interrogation with Amanda's mother earlier. "Scarecrow, I have that preliminary report you wanted," he said none too quietly.
Lee scowled and jabbed his finger toward the door before following the younger man out of the room.
They moved over to the waiting room away from the nurses' station and Higgins sat down only to stand back up when he realized Lee wasn't joining him. Exasperated, Lee held out his hand, "Well?" At the other man's arched brow, he added, "The report, Higgins! Where is it?" he growled.
"Oh right!" He reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out the papers and handed them over to Lee. "It was definitely a bomb. The lab said it had the same signature of a bomb from the early 70's. The . . . um . . . the storm—"
"The Weathermen," Lee cringed as he read the report. He walked over to the windows and looked unseeingly into the inky darkness. "I led them right to her."
"Sir?" the young agent was staring at him in confusion.
"That's all for tonight, Higgins," he walked him toward the exit.
"I'm really sorry about earlier with Mrs. West. That was my first real Class C interrogation and I guess I got a little nervous," he fumbled. "I'll work—"
"Don't worry about it, Kid. Get out of here before one of the nurses kicks us out."
Lee waited until the nurse had completed rounds before slipping back into Amanda's room and sat vigil. He made a mental note to remind the rookie guard sitting outside her room how important his job was and that if he let anything happen to her, he'd have Scarecrow to answer to.