After the Bombing
Lee helps Amanda up and again asks "are you sure you are okay?"
"A little shaken, bruised, but I'll survive unlike everyone in that church including Tom and Ellen. Are you okay?" Amanda asks.
"Yes", Lee says, "but we need to call 911. We can't leave the scene. Who knows what kind of cameras or cell phones people may have? Do you have your authentic ID, no covers? No badges at least for now? We don't know what actually happened, so we need to corporate with the local LEO's.".
Amanda makes the call and Lee runs to a convenience store for a couple of bottles of water as several people congregate watching the flames. Lee returns and helps Amanda back to the ground. He has his arms around her, holding her tight. She is shaken up. She rests her head on his shoulder. She asks, "could we have been targets, along with Tom and Ellen? There were probably other agents there too. It could be a hit on members of the Agency community. Who else knew we were coming?" She stops talking when she hears the sirens.
As the firefighters work fervently to douse the flames, a police officer heads their way. He asks, "are you the ones who called this in?" Lee nods. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Lee responds, "my wife and I were attending a wedding of some friends. We were running late; as we walked towards the church, it exploded, knocking us on our asses, once we got over the shock, we called you."
The officer asks, "is there any reason you think this could be a terrorist attack?" Lee and Amanda shake their heads no. "What are, sorry, what were the names of the bride and groom?"
"Lee replies Tom and Ellen," he falters, trying to remember if they knew their real last names or if they were on the invitation.
Amanda answers for him. She grabs his hand and says, "Walker, Tom, and Ellen, sorry I'm shaken up. I'm Fuzzy on Ellen's last name".
"No worries", the officer says. "I'm sure we can find out that information. It may take a while to confirm the identities of all the bodies so we will be in touch. Do you have any ID's on you? Do you know of any reason to believe you were a target? Why were you running late?"
"We overslept, Officer", Lee says, as he and Amanda turn over their drivers' licenses.
After looking at their ID's he writes their names down and returns them to Lee. "DC, that's a long way to come for a wedding", the officer says. "How did you know the bride and groom?"
Looking at the name on the officer's shirt, Lee replies, "Officer Johnson, sir, we met them on a plane to Denver a couple of years ago. We hit it off and went out to dinner. They had plans to go skiing and invited us along. We spent the weekend skiing and sightseeing. We kept in touch off and on and they sent us an invitation to their wedding".
Officer Johnson asks, "do you know how many people could be in there? Are you planning on staying a few more days?"
Amanda replies and starts crying and shaking, "at least a hundred guests. Ellen told us last night. We were planning on leaving tomorrow, but we can call our bosses if you need us for more info."
"No, that's okay. We have your information, but before you leave town, I'd like you to come to the station and sign the report. You may need to give us details of last night. Here is my card. I am sorry for your loss." Officer Johnson says and then leaves.
"Amanda, are you okay?" Lee asks. "You were starting to lose it a few minutes ago".
"No, I am better. I didn't want him asking any more questions, so I started crying hoping he would let us leave. We don't know if it was an Agency hit. We need to call Billy as soon as we get back to the hotel."
As soon as they make it back, Lee calls Billy. He fills him in on what happened and wants to know if he's heard anything about Agency hits.
Billy responds, "I am so sorry about Tom and Ellen and you were right to corporate with the local LEO's. You have nothing to hide. You are using your real names and came up with a plausible reason why you knew them. It's unlikely they will check, but just in case we will provide any documents you need. I didn't think to bring this up as until we found out about Tom and Ellen it didn't occur to us this could be a pattern, but this could very well have something to do with the Agency. The Italian agents you were with when you were in Dubai were in a car accident last week. We didn't think much of it until Tom and Ellen. Do you think you have been comprised in any way?"
Amanda is listening in on the conversation and says, "I'm always careful when I leave the house and when I come home to make sure I'm not being followed, but once we are at work it's hard to tell. Someone may be leaking information or maybe Jill has contacts from the outside. Since she worked the them, she knew Tom and Ellen's last name; but she doesn't know ours. She could have had someone follow Marco and Sophia, but we haven't had any interactions with them once they left the plane. Is Francine in any danger?"
Billy says, "we don't know. We have agents following her and will watch her house, but there are so many variables. Do you want an escort when you get home?"
Lee says, "No. It's too risky. We live in an upscale neighborhood. The neighbors would question any strange vans or cars parked for long periods of time. We have a state-of-the-art security system and even a panic room if necessary."
"We do?" Amanda asks. "I never knew that".
Billy interrupts, "that is beside the point. Someone may have been watching you ever since you left the plane. Amanda, you said you had a bad feeling at the auction and one of the bidders got away. They could have seen you and surveilled you."
Lee asks, "what about Jill? Aren't all her correspondences monitored and checked for codes or encryptions?"
Billy says, "we have copies of all her letters and Francine is reviewing them as we speak. Brian has some experience in code-breaking and he is helping her too; however, any conversations with her lawyers are privileged. We are doing a background check on them as well. Just be careful. You were very lucky you overslept and weren't in the church when that happened. Make your report with the officers and I'll have a car waiting for you at the airport tomorrow."
Lee hangs up the phone and holds Amanda again. He says we need to be extra careful. Someone could be after us, but I'm also worried about Philip and Jamie too. What can we do to protect them?"
"I don't know", Amanda replies. "We'll figure that out later, but we really need to shower. We smell like a smokestack and we have soot all over ourselves."
Lee lets Amanda shower first as he makes mental notes of the dangers they may be facing.
After about 20 minutes of washing her hair three times, washing her body twice and scrubbing her face raw, she steps out of the shower and dries herself. She says, "you may want to wait 30 minutes as I used a lot of hot water. Lee comes up behind her and takes a towel and dries her hair and helps her into her underwear and a t-shirt. He walks her to bed. Exhausted she finally loses her composure and starts sobbing. "That could have been us. Philip and Jamie could have lost both their parents today".
"Lee brushes her hair aside and says, "get some sleep. I'm going to take a shower and get cleaned up too. I think a nap will be good for us." He carefully kisses her forehead as to not get any grime on her. He gets in the shower and cleans up too. He dries himself with a towel and unlike Amanda, he didn't do a good job of cleaning as he wipes off some soot on the towel. He puts on some boxers and a t-shirt and joins Amanda in bed, careful not to wake her, but holds her close and falls asleep himself.
A couple of hours later Amanda wakes up and puts on a pair of jeans. She brushed her hair and gets two tiny bottles of scotch from the mini bar. She pours them in two glasses. She heads to the bed and kisses Lee awake. "I have a glass of scotch for you, but then we are going out for dinner. I'm starved", she says. She sighs and downs her scotch. She keeps thinking it could have been them.
Lee gets dressed and slowly drink his scotch, watching his wife in agony. He knows what she is thinking, but also knows there is nothing he can say to make her feel better. "Amanda", he says. I think the hotel has a nice restaurant, neither of us feels like driving, so why don't we have dinner downstairs?" Amanda nods and she puts on some sneakers and Lee takes her hand and they find the restaurant and order some appetizers and a salad. Still hungry, she orders a burger.
They head back to their rooms in silence and get ready for bed. Lee holds her close and says, "we will feel better once we get home and hug our kids. She nods and goes back to sleep.
The next morning, they pack and take an Uber to the police station. They find Officer Johnson and they complete and sign the report. He says, "I have a couple more questions before I let you go home to DC. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you were out the other night? Anyone following you?"
Amanda says, "no, we were having a good time and unfortunately we weren't paying attention".
"That's okay. I understand", Officer Johnson says. "We checked your friend's car and found this silver platter. Does this have any meaning? We will always have D, love L and A? is it Lee and Amanda? What does the D stand for?"
Amanda replies, "it was a gift from us. There wasn't enough space to engrave everything. The D stands for Denver where we met, and the L&A are our names". She didn't want to tell him it was in code for Dubai and if anyone saw the plate, they wouldn't know who "L & A" are.
"That clears that up, but there are two more things. I don't think it pertains to our case and I think you would want to have it. It appears to be a gift to L&A. Lee; in the car we found some boxes addressed to both of you. Your box contains gold cufflinks. It has your name engraved on them. Amanda, your box has a pair of gold earrings. We don't need them for evidence, so please take them. If you are headed to the airport, we can get someone to drive you. It's not that far, so it won't be any trouble".
Lee and Amanda thank him, and they get their ride to the airport. They go through security and get some breakfast before they take the long flight home. A car is waiting for them and Lee gives it the once over and verifies the code word before letting Amanda get in the car. As they drive through the streets Lee keeps looking behind him to see if they are being followed. He notices Amanda is doing the same.
As the car turns into their neighborhood, Lee asks the driver to make a few turns and go down different streets before instructing him to turn into their driveway. They thank the driver and Lee takes their bags as Amanda punches in the alarm code. They take their bags upstairs, stopping to check on the boys and make sure they are safe and asleep. There is a light on in her mothers' room and Amanda knocks.
"Yes", her mother says.
Amanda pokes her head into the room and says, "we wanted you to know we are home. Thank you for staying with the boys. We are probably going to sleep in, but I'll stop by for a visit next week". Amanda gives her a kiss and then closes the door.
They continue upstairs and Lee drops the bags on the floor. The get ready for bed and then quietly and gently make love to each other. Amanda says, "I needed that. Thank you, sweetheart,". She rolls to her side and takes Lees arms to wrap around her.
"I love you Amanda", Lee says and kisses her neck.
"I love you too", Amanda replies.