Chapter 18 – Checking Out the Falls

"Just remember that I told you to stay at the house." Lee said as he and Amanda set out for the falls later on. Amanda had not given up on being allowed to come with Lee. In the end, he couldn't argue her logic when she pointed out that their cover would give them a reason to be at the falls but also that she really could keep an eye out while he was searching. Lee had not been happy with giving in to her though as he really did feel it was much too dangerous for her to be there. They had told Bubba that they wanted to spend an evening in town and he winked and said he understood while handing Lee the keys to one of the Farm's vans. Lee had given Bubba an award winning smile and thanked him for his kindness. Bubba's response back was "I know what it is like to be in love, my friend."

As Lee and Amanda neared the falls, Lee decided that if Amanda was going to be along, he was going to set some ground rules.

"Now listen Amanda, I want you to stay in the van."

"What? Oh come on Lee. No one is going to buy our cover if I'm in the van while you are out at the falls somewhere. No, I think I should stay near you. I can look around too. If anyone approaches us, I can get their attention which will allow you time to do your work. I'm going and that's final."

Lee sighed and decided he was really tired of arguing with her so he gave in. "Okay, let's go Stay close though and listen to me."

They made their way to the falls with Lee in the lead while holding onto Amanda's hand. The water was very loud as they got closer to the falls and soon it was hard to hear each other so they just walked and didn't talk. They gradually made their way up the well-worn natural staircase that allowed people to climb up to the top of the falls. As they reached the top, Amanda couldn't help but look down and see how steep and dangerous the falls truly were. If someone fell from there, they would likely not be coming back. She held onto Lee's hand a little tighter as they crossed the bridge over the falls together. Once they were on the other side, Lee began looking for the path that would lead them to the Appalachian Trail. It didn't take long to find it since he knew it existed but the trail had become overgrown with young saplings and other small bushes which covered up the entrance. He immediately noticed that there were footprints leading into the trail. He decided not to tell Amanda since it would only worry her and it was too late for her to go back to the van now. He pulled back the growth and motioned for Amanda to go in first. They had broken contact for him to do that but as soon as he had entered the trail himself, Amanda reached for his hand again. They soon found that the trail was a steep, winding path that continued uphill. They both kept on alert and watched both sides of the path to make sure they didn't miss anything. Suddenly out of nowhere a bunny jumped out at them and Amanda let out a tiny yell and jumped. Lee looked at her and motioned for her to be quiet. They continued up the path and found that at the top, there was a fork. Lee looked at the ground trying to see if there were any tracks but the ground was very hard packed so he couldn't easily see any signs of anyone traveling on either path. Amanda' instincts told her to keep closest to the falls though so she motioned that she thought they should take the left fork. Lee shrugged and led her to the left fork. They had walked a few hundred feet when suddenly they heard voices. Lee quickly pulled Amanda down into the bushes with him.

Two men were walking back down the trail. It didn't take long for Lee to recognize them as the two ranch hands that he had heard talking outside the barn earlier. Before they reached where Lee and Amanda were hiding, they stopped to rest. Both men were covered in sweat.

"Okay Sam, I think we have done everything we need to do here. Let's go get the van and head to the pick up spot. The sooner we pick him up and bring him back here, the sooner we can get paid."

"I'm all for that Rusty. Who is this guy anyway?"

"I'm not sure, Stewart just pays me to do a job, I don't ask any questions."

"So you have done this before?"

"Yeah, a few times. You can't beat making $3,000 just for picking some dude up and bringing him back here."

"It can't be legal though. I mean, why would anyone pay us that kind of money if it was legal?"

"Look Sam, don't make me regret that I brought you in on this deal. You have done nothing but complain about how bad your luck is and how broke you are so I was trying to help you out. People disappear all the time out in these parts. I would hate for you to be one of them."

"Did you just threaten me Rusty?"

Amanda glanced at Lee to see his reaction to all of this and found him staring at her. He could tell that she was nervous with this conversation and he wanted to try to comfort her as best he could. He squeezed her hand and she nodded her appreciation.

"Nah, I don't threaten, I act. Just do the job we were hired to do Sam. We don't need to know who this guy is. He could be Andropov for all I care, as long as I get paid."

"Wow, so you would commit treason against our country? Is that what we are doing? Is this some sort of Russian that we are picking up?"

"You really do ask too many questions Sam." Suddenly there was a loud clunk and they heard a body hit the ground.

Rusty quietly said out loud "Guess the falls gets to claim another victim tonight. Too bad, I wanted to help you out. You just couldn't be smart enough to do the job and shut up though."

They heard Rusty grunt a little as he picked up Sam and proceeded to carry him down the path. Lee sat wondering what he should do. He didn't want Rusty to kill Sam but if he gave himself away to stop him, then the whole case was blown. If he knocked Rusty out, he would miss his pickup appointment and that could jeopardize the whole operation because someone would question why he wasn't there. As Lee was thinking, he didn't notice that Amanda had slipped her hand from his and disappeared. Since they were below the area where Rusty and Sam had stopped to talk, Amanda had quietly snuck out of their hiding spot and quickly ran back down the trail. She didn't stop until she reached the entrance to the Trail. She began to look around for something that she could use to divert Rusty's attention.

Lee suddenly realized that Amanda was missing. He couldn't believe she would do something so stupid. What was he going to do now? All he could do was to follow Rusty back down the trail and try to find an opportunity to stop this whole mess from getting worse. That's when he heard her. He froze and couldn't believe his ears but it really was her.

"HELLO? Is anyone around here? I sprained my foot and I could really use a hand here. I thought I heard voices, is anyone there or are you one of the ghosts? HELLOOOOO?"

Lee raked his hand through his hair as he listened to her. There was no way this was going to work. She was going to get herself killed. How was he going to stop this?

Suddenly he heard Rusty's big booming voice say "Well little lady, what are you doing way up here at this time of night?"

"Oh, thank goodness, I did hear a voice. You see my boyfriend loves to do what he calls tough love with me. He thinks that I need to be tougher so he sets me up doing things that normal people would never do. Since he hosts one of the ghost walks and claims he hears ghosts out here, he challenged me to come out and see for myself. I told him that it was too late at night to do that but he insisted because you know how you men are, you always have to be in control. Well if I didn't come out and do this, I would never hear the end of it cause he loves to brag about how much braver he is than me. I didn't know he wasn't coming with me though. He's waiting back at the car. So anyway, I was doing just fine until I came over the bridge and then as I was walking about I slipped on a stupid rock and fell down. When I went to stand back up, wouldn't you know it, that rock was where my ankle landed and now it is sprained. Sprained I tell you. What are the chances of that happening? So meanwhile, I'm up here while my boyfriend is back at the base of the falls listening to music and has no idea that I'm hurt so I thought I was going to be up here all night but then I heard voices, at least I think there were voices but there was at least yours and here you are. Can you help me?

Rusty just stared at Amanda as she uttered all of that without taking a breath. "How do you do that?" He asked.

"Do what?" Amanda answered?

"Say all of that without breathing?"

Amanda smiled and said "Oh I breathed, you just didn't see me. Can you help me?" Amanda could see that Lee had emerged from the trail and hid behind a bush so he could keep an eye on things.

Rusty nervously looked back at the trail and then reluctantly said "Okay little lady, I'll help you back to your vehicle but then you need to stay out of here. This place is not safe. Those ghost stories are true, strange things happen up here."

Rusty picked Amanda up and began carrying her towards the bridge so he could bring her back down falls.

Meanwhile, Lee quickly rushed backup the trail and picked up Sam and carried him off to the side. He was just coming to so Lee motioned for him to be quiet. Sam nodded. Lee said "Rusty was going to kill you. My girlfriend has diverted his attention but we need to get you safely out of here because he will be back. Can you walk?"

Sam nodded. "Good" Lee said. "I want you to sneak down behind all of us and meet us in the parking lot for the falls after Rusty returns to the falls to look for you. Will you do that?"

Sam nodded and said "Thanks man, I owe you one."

Lee said "We will discuss that later. Just stay out of sight, okay?"

Sam nodded again. Lee quickly rushed to catch up to where Rusty was carrying Amanda and saw that they had made it over the bridge and were about halfway down the falls. There was a little side trail on the right and Lee dived into it hoping it wouldn't lead him off too far from the farm's van. Lee hurried as quickly as he could down the trail, trying to make as little noise as possible but as he walked, he noticed that Amanda had kept up a steady talk. He shook his head again in wonderment that she seemed to do so good without any real training since she was making sure Rusty paid attention to her and wouldn't notice any noise Lee was making. Lee reached the van and quickly jumped into it while putting the key into the ignition and turning up the radio.

Not even 3 minutes later, there was a heavy knock on his window and he looked out to see Rusty still holding Amanda. "Open up the door" Rusty said.

Lee opened the door and said "What are you doing with my girlfriend?" Rusty put Amanda down gently and she hobbled over the van and held onto it for support, playing her role well.

"Your girlfriend got hurt on the trail since you stupidly sent her up in the dark where she could have gotten killed. Man, you are dumb or something. Why would you send a beautiful woman like this by herself in the dark in a place that is so unsafe?"

"Hey, don't call me dumb! Me and the lady have a special kind of relationship. I happen to like seeing what she is made of. It excites me."

"You are a sick man" Rusty said. Turning to Amanda he said "You should really get rid of this loser ma'am. You can do much better than him. Remember what I said and stay away from here, especially at night. Now get back to the farm."

Rusty turned and headed back towards the falls. Amanda limped into the van and Lee started up the van and drove as if to leave. Once he was sure Rusty was out of sight and couldn't see the van anymore, he pulled over to the side and got out.

"Sam, are you here?"

"Yes, is it safe?"

"Come on, get in the back." Lee opened the back and Sam jumped inside. Lee quickly headed the van back towards the town.

As they drove Sam said "I just want to thank you guys for saving my life back there. It was really lucky that you just happened to be at the falls."

Lee pulled over and looked at Sam and said "Son, you are in a lot of trouble. We work for the agency and you are under arrest for attempting to commit treason."

Sam broke out in a smile and said "You are agency people? Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself, I'm Sargent Sam Leeland. I had no idea that the agency was on to this place. We have been trying to bust them for years."

"Do you have proof for who you are?" Lee asked.

"Well why don't we drove over to the State Police Barracks and I'm sure some of my buddies can vouch for me. Will they miss you at the farm though?"

"No, they think we are out on a romantic date in town. Let's go"

Lee drove to the State Police Barracks and quickly discovered that Sam was indeed who he said he was. They went into an interrogation room for privacy so they could all talk.

Sam said "This place has been a hot spot for a while now. It all started back when Henry Clegg was killed on the trail. He came out mumbling something about a raven. Henry worked for the CIA but according to them, he was not here on official business. He apparently had decided to look into things on his own and paid the price. Since there was no real evidence of any wrong doing, the case was closed and Henry was buried and forgotten. Falls Village then stayed off everyone's radar for a long time I think but lately there have just been too many accidents at the falls so people are questioning things again. I guess I almost was the next one."

Lee asked "Why were you up there alone? You should know that you would need someone to back you up with these men since they are so dangerous."

Amanda cleared her throat and then gave Lee a tiny smile which he noted and gave her a scolding look back.

"I'm just glad you folks came along when you did. When Rusty told me that he had a job to do, he didn't give me any warning to get help. He told me this afternoon and then less than an hour later we had to leave to go pick up a bunch of stuff from town."

"What kind of stuff?"

"From the looks of things, it was suitcases full of clothing and things you would expect to pack if you were going on a trip." There was a lot of it and we then had to take all that stuff and carry it up the falls and then up the trail and we stow it into a cave that is just a short way past where he clobbered me. It was a lot of work but he couldn't stop talking about how it would be all worth it when he got paid."

"Any idea who he is picking up this time?"

"He wouldn't tell me. Word has it that it is going to be Nico Orlov. Have you ever heard of him?"

Lee nodded and said "yes, he is bad news. We have to stop him for being set loose in the country."

"I agree" replied Sam.

Amanda sat listening to all of this and finally said "So meanwhile, Rusty went to the pick up by himself. Any idea what happens after he picks up his man?"

Sam said "What he told me was that he would bring him back to the falls where he would spend tonight. I'm guessing it gives him time to disguise himself and rest from his travels and then Rusty said that there is a room reserved in the Inn for him so we would need to go pick him up and bring him there. After that, I guess he just begins to blend in and then disappears. We have to stop him before that happens."

"Do we know who is involved with all of this?" Lee asked.

"Not completely. We know Stewart is the middle man. He sets everything up with Rusty. We still are unsure who the big boss is though. I have heard that Dan's Barbershop used to be the place to go for assignments but since poor Dan died, it has been harder for them to communicate."

Amanda gasped at the mention of Sara's husband. "Do you think Dan was involved?"

Sam smiled at Amanda and said "You would have had to know Dan. He had a heart of gold and always wanted to help everyone. I'm sure they told him some sort of story to make him think he was helping people and he had no idea what he was actually doing. His death always seemed a little odd to the townsfolk since Dan was so healthy. No one quite could believe that he would have such a violent heart attack and be dead just hours later."

"Oh wow, do you think someone killed him?" Amanda asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all." Sam replied.

Lee had sat and listened to all of this while trying to figure out where to go from here. Sam could tell he was thinking so he asked him if he thought they could lay a trap for them.

"I think that is the only way to handle this. For right now, you need to lay low though. Rusty will be looking for you and he won't be happy when he finds you." Lee replied.

Amanda reminded them that they needed to get back because she would be expected to work in a few hours and she needed to get some sleep. The men both agreed. Since Lee would be doing the Ghost Walk at night, Sargent Leeland suggested that Lee find a way to contact him and they could arrange a meet. Sam would be disguised so no on would recognize him.

They looked around to make sure they weren't being watched and then quickly exited the Police Station and headed for the Farm's van. Amanda found herself yawning the whole way back to the farm.

They walked up together to their rooms and said goodnight to each other as they parted. As Lee got undressed and climbed into bed, he couldn't help but think that it was good that Amanda had not only insisted on coming to the falls with him but then refused to stay in the van. He wondered if things would have gone as smoothly if she hadn't been there but mostly he found himself amazed at her bravery. Other than Francine who was a trained agent, he had never seen any woman have such guts. He smiled as he got comfortable under the covers and couldn't help but be a little thankful that she was that brave.

TBC