Jaime was called into Senior Beaman's office the next morning.
"Jaime, I've asked to have an agent assist in a bit of delicate matter." Ephraim began. "We have a high profile agent whose been called out to work a case. He and his family were going on vacation and his family is going to continue without him. But, he's worried they might get into trouble navigating to the secluded cabin. He wants someone to accompany them."
"And you want me to be that person?" Jaime asked.
"Yes," Beaman continued, "you have extensive experience camping and in the outdoors. They are going to very remote area deep in the woods. Here, you will find everything you need in this packet. You'll meet them tomorrow but your flight for Fort Smith, Arkansas leaves in about four hours. He did say that the area they are visiting is really nice."
On his way home, Jaime called his mom. He smiled when his mom answered the phone IFF.
"Hi mom. I'm glad I reached you instead of your voice mail. I worked late on a case yesterday, how did things go at work?"
"Well, I still have a job. Can you do lunch? I'd love to talk about it."
"Is that Jaime?" Lee asked. Lee hung his head a bit. He wondered how he'd resisted the urge to take the phone from Amanda and talk to his son all these years. He locked the door to the Q Bureau and put his ear to the phone. He just wanted to hear his son's voice.
"I wish I could. The other reason I called is that I'm headed to Fort Smith on assignment. I'm gonna have to hurry just to catch the flight. I'm not sure yet how long I'm going to be gone."
"Ok. We'll do lunch or something when you get back."
"Mom? Can you? Well, um."
"Yes, I'll speak to him."
"Thanks! Tell everyone I love them and will miss them," Jaime said emphasizing the "everyone" which made Lee smile.
"You know you take all our love with you. Bye Jaime."
"Bye Mom, I'll talk to you soon."
Lee looked at his wife smiling as he walked over to unlock the door. "Is your son going out of town again?" Lee asked.
"Yup, good thing too, with the way this case Francine gave us this morning is going, it doesn't look like I'm going to be getting much time at home."
"The trail does seem to be leading us to Dallas, doesn't it?"
Lee and Amanda had been researching their new case for another hour when Francine knocked on the door.
"How is it going? Are you going to be able to solve the case here? or will you have to make a trip to Dallas like I was afraid of?" Francine asked.
"It looks like Dallas to me, what about you Lee? Do you see anything that would keep us from having to make the trip?" Amanda really didn't want to go out of town right now. She wanted to stay close to home so that she could keep an eye on how Phillip was doing and catch up on those Mother-Daughter talks she'd missed out on.
"I'm afraid it looks like Dallas to me too." Lee replied.
"Ok, pack your bags. I'll try to get you all a flight that leaves at a decent hour tomorrow morning. I'm going to keep digging around here. Call me when you land and I'll give you an update."
Lee and Amanda spent the afternoon grasping at straws looking for anything that would help them solve this case. There just didn't seem to be anything on the Shrouded Sabbatical group or what they had planned. In their line of work, that spelled trouble. Finally, they decided they weren't going to get any more information that evening. As much as they hated to part, they decided to head home so that they could pack and get ready for their trip.
"Oh Amanda! You won't believe this. I never win anything! Would you believe it! A vacation. I won a vacation. Amanda, do you think you could get some days off from work? We could get away and catch up." Amanda hadn't even gotten through the door before her mother anxiously and excitedly greeted her.
"Slow down mom. If I got all that, you won a trip and you want me to go with you, right? When is it?"
"The plane leaves tomorrow- it's all in the itinerary. I'll go get it."
"Oh, mom, drats, I've got to go scouting locations tomorrow in Dallas." Amanda said with a half-smile. She laughed as she caught herself saying "scouting location" and the half-cocked look her mother gave her. But, she hated that she couldn't go spend some quality time with her mom.
"Oh dear, well, I wonder if Phillip and Jaime would like to take the trip. They do love Indian artifacts."
"I'm afraid it may have to be you and Phillip. Jaime's out of town. Where are you going anyway?"
"It's a trip to Oklahoma. I'm not even sure where all the locations this trip mentions even are. I'm not too familiar with Oklahoma, but it sounds so interesting. There's so much history there. I just never knew there was so much to do. Oh, and the scenery, it's just gorgeous."
Amanda smiled. "Let me put my stuff down, get packed for my own trip, and then I want you to tell me more!"
"Ok, I'll call Phillip. I sure am glad he's off right now. He'll love this- he loves surprise adventures."
