Saving the Prime Minister
This is a longer chapter as it completes their assignment.
Everyone meets for dinner and discusses the peace summit. Francine who went and saw the Japanese couple there, Marco Russo and Tom Davies were in attendance. She didn't see the others, but there were several other meetings taking place, so they could have gone there. No one talked about any reported deaths or arrests. They partake in the cultural cuisine and discuss their day. Lee can communicate with the Japanese couple, but they also speak English. The Italian couple knows English and teaches some phrases to Amanda. They agree to meet in the morning to find ways to bring more countries to agreement on peace within the countries.
Francine, Lee and Amanda head back to the hotel. It's not that late, so they don't have to worry about any possible curfews. Lee reaches out for Amanda's hand, but she pulls away. Public Displays of Affection is illegal in Dubai, though for married couple and especially Westerner's it is more relaxed, but they don't' want to draw attention and kissing in public is a big no-no. Under his breath, "Lee says, I cannot wait until we get home.
They reach the hotel without incident. Once they reach their rooms, Lee again checks for bugs. He finds two and disposes of them. This concerns him as now someone is on to them. It could be one of several agents or attendees, but Lee thinks it could be someone they travelled with as they are the only ones who really know what they are doing there. Before heading off to bed they compare notes and agree Francine will do some recon and Lee and Amanda will check out the various attendees at the summit. Lee and Amanda go to bed with Amanda resting her head on Lee's shoulder and since they are alone, they hold hands and falls asleep.
Morning arrives and everyone meets for breakfast. All but Francine heads to the summit. Francine scopes the area and doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. She finds a place for lunch. She walks around again and spies the Japanese couple walking around. They don't notice her and seem unaware of their surroundings or that they are being watched. She hears a noise and hides inside a shop, looking out of the window. She quickly hears two pops and sees a figure running away. She tells the shopkeeper to call the police and runs off in the direction of the figure. Unable to catch up to him/her, she heads back to the summit and finds Lee and Amanda. She fills them in. The suspect list is narrowing.
As they start to go back to one of the meetings, the chief of police arrives and pulls aside Lee, Amanda and Francine and asks them to come to the station. He scolds them saying he could have them deported. Since they have come to town there have been two arrests and three deaths, and they all lead to the three of you. This is one of the safest places in the world and this summit is supposed to be about peace.
Lee decides to trust the man and tells him there is a threat against the Prime Minister and they are trying to find out who that person or persons are. Two of their own are dead and there are four more suspects still unaccounted for. After a debrief and calling the United States to get confirmation from Billy and Amanda, the chief says they are free to go for the time being, but to keep the department informed in their investigation.
Lee, Amanda and Francine leave and head towards the nearest restaurant. They order dinner and discuss how bad Francine feels she was unable to help Kaito and Kana and not see the person who killed them.
"Francine", Amanda says, "you couldn't know. There was a possibility they could have been following you or thought you were suspicious of them and you had plans to eliminate them. You needed to protect yourself first".
"Amanda's right", Lee agrees. "No one could know what side they were on based on what you saw. We do have to be cautious as someone else on our teams could be a traitor. Remember what Blue Leader said, "trust no one", Lee quotes. "Our Japanese agents are dead, but one of the others could be involved".
Amanda says, "Don't forget, our rooms were bugged, someone already knows we could be agents. They may have passed on information about us to anyone of the remaining terrorists".
Francine takes out a notepad and says, "Okay, who knows about us? Tom, Ellen, Jill, Marco and Sophia. The sheriff and anyone in his department. Who else?"
Amanda adds, "there is still one photo we haven't been able to identify. One threat is dead, two arrested and from what Billy said they are being extradited back to the states. So that means there are three others and we don't know what they look like".
Lee says, "before curfew starts, I want to go to the plane and see if Billy or Emily have anything new for us".
They get a taxi to the plane and show their badges and provide the code word to the two agents guarding it. They board the plane and call in and give a sit-rep to their bosses that they couldn't do in front of the police chief. Billy says, "we think one of them may be working at the summit looking at entry passes and could have recognized any one of you or passed on your identities to their partners".
After hanging up, a voice from behind them says, "it looks like you boss knows more than you do. Turn around slowly and remember, all your guns except for this one is locked up", one of the agents they checked in with says.
Everyone turns around, hands up and Lee asks, "where is your partner? Still guarding the plane?"
"You mean my clueless partner? He's currently knocked out. After killing all of you, I will shoot myself in the arm and then kill him claiming I was trying to stop him; but alas I was too late. He will be blamed for your deaths and I will be the hero. They will close the case, leaving the Prime Minister open for an assassination". He chuckles, "the perfect patsy. Who should I kill first? I have it on good authority Mr. and Mrs. Jones, or whatever your names are, you are not just playing a cover. You really are married".
Lee says, "you are insane. You won't get away with this".
He laughs, "yes I probably am a little insane, you have to be to work with the people I work for, but the money makes up for it. But I am going to get away with this. So, which one of you wants to watch while I kill the one you love?" He is swerving the gun back and forth resting on Amanda and then Lee and back to Amanda. He takes aim and Lee steps in front of her and two shots rings out.
"Nooo", cries Amanda, but then sees Lee is fine and the man with the gun is dead. The other agent woke up with a bump to his head, but hearing the commotion, climbs up the stairs and kills his partner before Lee or Amanda dies.
Lee turns around and grabs Amanda and holds her tight. "Are you okay?" he asks. "Are you okay Francine?"
"I think we all can breathe a little easier, thanks to this guy", Francine says. "What is your name?"
"Jim, mamm" he says. "I know the drill. You have to detain me, call your bosses as I could be a back-up plan".
"Jim?", Amanda asks. "You can hand over your gun to Mr. Jones, but for now we are going to trust you. Maintain your cover, because one or more of the other passengers on this trip could be 'the back-up plan'. Your partner tried to kill you, but you shot back in self-defense. We weren't here when that happened. But arrived later and that is when you turned your gun over to us. Are we clear?" Amanda asks.
Jim replies, "yes mamm".
Everyone works to arrange things to set the stage to corroborate their story. They call the chief and tell them someone has been killed in self-defense and the Prime Minister is still at risk. As they wait for him to arrive they call the hotel to inform their fellow agents what happened and they should join them when the police arrives. While they wait, they call Billy and Emily back and tell them what happened.
Francine refers to her notes again and says, "unless you are aware of more terrorists, we have narrowed the field down to three. One we have a picture of and the other two we don't. Have you heard there may be more?"
Emily interjects, "nothing yet, but we will keep you informed if we learn anything new. We are doing a back ground check on that sheriff and his department, so don't bring him too much into the loop".
Billy says, "we are doing another background check on Jim, but no red flags yet. Unfortunately, we found out too late a rather large deposit was made in Mike's account; the man who tried to kill you. We will sign off for now and you wait for everyone else to show up".
After the police chief, the Davies, Russo's and Jill arrive, they explain the cover story they agreed on. The chief shakes his head and says, "I wish I could get all of you to leave, but until we know the Prime Minister is safe, no one is going anywhere" He is set to give a speech at the conclusion of tomorrow's summit.
Ellen says, "everyone is dropping like flies".
Tom chastises her saying, "Ellen, that is not funny. Any one of us could be next".
Everyone heads back to the hotel and their rooms. Lee again checks for bugs but doesn't find any. They hope they can find the rest by tomorrow as they will need to find another way to protect him if they don't.
Morning arrives and Francine knocks on Lee & Amanda's room, "are you decent?" she calls out.
Lee has his arm draped over Amanda and looks up and says, "we will be out shortly".
They get dressed quickly and head down for breakfast, meeting up with the other agents. Everyone heads for the summit. They each pick an event and divide and conquer. There is added security for the final day and the Police Chief is in attendance.
Francine scours the room and recognizes a man in a tweed jacket heading for the door. He matches the last person in the photos they were shown. She follows behind and grabs his elbow, twisting it behind his back. She marches him to the nearest security officer and tells him to notify his boss. She catches up with Lee and Amanda and says "we got him. Now all we need is to find the last two". They see the man in cuffs, driven away by a member of the police force.
There are two hours to go before the Prime Minister is scheduled to make an appearance and discuss the achievements made in brokering peace between all countries this past week. Lee places himself near the PM and Amanda off to the left and Francine to the right. Marco and Sophia are in the middle of the room and Tom and Ellen are in the back while Jill is near the side door. Amanda and Francine keep searching the large room looking for anyone who seems out of place. Francine notices Tom and Ellen deep in discussion. She makes a mental note to keep an eye on them. Amanda's phone rings and she answers.
"Yes Emily", Amanda answers. "You found out what? Back up is on the way? No, I will make sure Lee knows. We have a code in place". Amanda signals to Lee to get the PM out of the room. She then motions to Francine to join her to her side of the room. "Francine, we know who the head of the operation is, Lee is quietly escorting the PM off the stage. We need to wait to see if contact happens with the assassin. Billy and Emily want us to take them down together".
Francine says, "but we don't have our guns".
"No", Amanda replies, "but we have each other. We have trained together, and I think with our combat skills can take down anyone, even if they have a gun or something else.
They wait and Amanda catches a drop, the Chief of Police passing off a weapon to someone they least expected. Amanda nudges Francine and says, "did you see that? We have to act now".
Francine shoves Amanda towards Jill and she falls to the ground. The gun is thrown from her hands and Francine quickly picks it up and holds it on Jill. Amanda grabs her arms and from her bag puts on restraints from the lanyard on her entry pass. She looks to Francine and nods towards the door where the Chief is heading off to.
Francine calls out to Marco and Sophia to help her get the Chief. They grab him before he reaches the door and two Interpol officers greet them and one hauls the Dubai Chief of Police away in handcuffs. Another one meets Amanda who is holding Jill, the assistant to Tom and Ellen. They take her away too.
Lee comes back out with the PM and he makes a speech uniting everyone.
They head back to the hotel and pack their belongings and get a ride to the plane. They meet up with Tom and Ellen and say goodbye to their new Italian friends. They board the plane thank Jim for his help. After the plane takes off Ellen and Tom call their bosses while Lee, Amanda and Francine calls Billy and Emily. They file their report and are told once they arrive home, they will need to be debriefed in the morning and then everyone has the next week off.
The plane takes off and Tom and Ellen apologize saying they never suspected Jill, but everyone is glad things turned out the way it was supposed to. Once they have left Dubai airspace, they pop open a bottle of champagne and toast.
Billy phones in and says after questioning the police chief and the man in the tweed jacket, it was Jill who orchestrated everything. They have informed Tom and Ellen's bosses and they will get the full debrief when they get home, but everyone is turning on each other and Blue Leader is turning the rest of the files to another department to track down the source of the money.
Lee then orders a scotch and Amanda a white wine and they head to the back of the plane.
Amanda asks, "Mr. Jones? Can we go back to being Mr. and Mrs. Stetson again?
"Soon darling, soon. But I think it's time we relieve ourselves of these knock off rings. They don't look good on your lovely finger", Lee says as he removes Amanda's rings and she takes off the cheap band on his finger.
They finish their drinks; she kisses him and tastes the scotch from his lips. They recline their seats, holding hands and fall asleep for most of the ride home.