The Bomb 7
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"What do ya got, Rhonda?" Lee asked as he leaned against his car, scanning the area around him.
Rhonda, gas station attendant and informant extraordinaire, pumped gas into his car while she spoke, her brown eyes scanning the area around them as well. She had a good thing going, where she currently was, and she wanted to keep it that way. "Well, as you already know, the meeting at that house was a set up. Only your partner wasn't supposed to get hit, you were."
"Yeah, I knew that." Lee answered with more than a hint of anger in his voice as he remembered Amanda lying in that hospital bed. "And I know the words out that I didn't buy it. But what I don't know, is who was behind that bomb and why. You got any ideas?"
Rhonda finished pumping the gas and carefully put up the nozzle, pushing curly brown hair out of her face. "Check your oil, Mister?" She asked loudly as a man passed a little too close to them.
Although Lee really didn't like anyone, even Rhonda, near his engine, he nodded. "Yeah, I'll pop the hood."
Once he'd pulled the latch, Rhonda raised the hood and leaned in under it. Lee took another look around then moved over closer to her. "Well?" He prompted her.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I know who it wasn't." She answered cryptically. "It wasn't the Russians or the Libyans or any of the other major players out there. There were two of em here this morning and they were as clueless as anybody else."
"So basically you got me out here for nothing?" Lee looked askance at her.
Rhonda glanced up at him with an arched brow. "Have I ever called you for nothing?" She asked.
Lee took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Rhonda. Just a little on edge, I guess. So, if it wasn't the normal set of suspects, who was it?"
Rhonda shrugged as she replaced the oil dipstick and checked the other fluids. "I don't know. But I do know that Max Regal was in here this morning. You remember him?"
Lee nodded with a look of disgust. "Former agent. He wasn't even good enough to be a bad guy."
Rhonda snickered as she nodded. "Yep, that's him. Well, anyway. I heard him talking on the payphone over there. I couldn't hear too much, but I distinctly heard your name and that of your partner's. And I also noted the tone of his voice. He seemed to be angry. Said something about, doing the job right."
Lee was quiet for a moment. Regal had been an agent, until Lee brought him down. He'd been trying to steal information to put on the market. Only he wasn't able to get anything and the contact, he thought he had in the KGB, turned out to be another American agent. Because the damage, he'd done, had been minimal, he'd only spent a year behind bars. Apparently he was out now and just might have something to do with the bombing.
Finally finished under his hood, Rhonda wiped her hands on a dirty rag then closed the hood of his car. "You might want to have that oil changed, Mister." She said with a slight nod to her left. "It's awful dirty. Doesn't look like you took too good a care of it."
Lee nonchalantly turned his head and noticed a tan four door sedan, with smoked windows, idling against the curb. "Oil changed?" Lee raised his voice in faux anger, turning his back to the car. "Look lady, there's nothing wrong with my oil. Maybe you ought to keep to pumping gas and let a man do the hard stuff. Huh?"
Rhonda gave him a look of wry amusement. "You're pretty good." She whispered as she raised her voice to make sure everyone heard. "Geeze, man. Calm down. I didn't say I would change the oil. I wouldn't help you for any reason. I just said your oil needed changed."
"Yeah, well, I don't believe you." Lee yelled, then whispered. "How are we doing?"
"It's still there." She whispered before poking her finger in his chest and pushing him away. "Yeah? Well, too bad. Look Mister, why don't you just get out of here, huh? We don't need business from people like you."
"That suits me just fine." Lee yelled, giving Rhonda a wink, as he stomped around to the driver's side and got in his car, slamming the door. "There are lots better places to go, besides here, for my car." Jamming the car into gear, he made sure to lay plenty of rubber as he screeched away from the station.
For several seconds the tan car sat where it was, before finally starting and pulling away from the curb and taking off in the same direction Lee had gone. Rhonda shook her head, saying a silent prayer for her friend and went back to work.
Lee checked his rear view mirror and saw with satisfaction that the sedan was, as he expected, following him. "Good." He said out loud. "Let's just find out who you are." Accelerating, he smoothly pulled way ahead of the more sluggish family car and rocketed down the street, careening around a corner.
Checking his mirror again and satisfied that he was, for the moment, out of sight, he swiftly pulled past a small garage and backed into its shadows. He only had to wait a couple of moments before the tan Buick passed his hiding spot. Giving it another moment, Lee pulled out and this time, he was following the sedan. Only something didn't feel right.
Lee's instincts as an agent were well-honed. He could smell a trap from a mile away and right now his nose was telling him that he was headed right for a big one. Though he wanted to know who was in the car and what they had to do with anything, he decided to, for once, play it safe.
Making note of the license tag, he turned left at the next stop light and made a quick exit, noting that as soon as he did so, the Buick hit its breaks. But no one knew the city of DC like Lee and he had placed a considerable amount of distance between him and the sedan before it could get turned around.
Something didn't feel right to Lee, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what that was. However, he was determined to find out one way or another. Making an0ther couple of turns, he headed for the Agency to get the tag number run and check on one former agent by the name of Regal.
TBC