The Bomb 9

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Amanda came to on a small cot, in a small cinderblock room, with a small window near the top of the wall and a large metal door across from it. Her head was pounding and her side was killing her. Wrapping an arm tightly around her side, she pushed herself to her feet and stepped carefully over to the door. As expected, it was locked. The window was too high for her to look out of and she doubted she'd see much if she were able to get up to it.

"Hello?" She raised her voice to yell, but cut it off immediately when it made her head throb all that much more, making her suddenly nauseous.

Sitting back down on the cot, she massaged her temple wearily, trying to remember what happened and how she got there.

She remembered Francine making her take a cup of tea and telling her to lie down on Lee's bed to rest. She knew she must've gone to sleep, because the next thing she remembered, was some noise in the living room and trying to get up to check on it.

Only she hadn't been able to manage it, before a man came into the room and towards her. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she remembered the man had a mask on and that he had rushed to her side and pushed her back on the bed, pressing a cloth to her nose and mouth. She realized he must've given her something to knock her out.

Why he did it or who he was and where she was, was anyone's guess. Taking another deep breath, she raised her head and tried again.

"Hello?"

Her second cry was rewarded with a scraping of the lock and the door opening. Three men immediately stepped in. All three had masks on. "Who are you?" She asked tremulously. "What do you want?"

"Oh, come now, Mrs. King." The voice was cultivated and heavily accented with a high pitched sneer. "I'm certain you have an inkling of what we want." He took a step closer and she shrank back as far as she could. "You are simply a means to obtain the attention of one Mr. Lee Stetson. Once he learns that we have you, he will do as we want."

"And what do you want?" Amanda asked, swallowing hard, not certain she wanted to know.

"His head." The man chuckled as he backed out of the room, followed by the two men with him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lee and Billy paced outside of the hospital room while the NEST team worked on Francine. She hadn't been shot, fortunately, and it didn't look like they'd hurt her in any other way, but the doctors were being very thorough to insure that she was fine. An Agency team was at Lee's apartment going over it but so far, no one had reported in with any findings from there. All they could do was pace and wait.

Finally the door cracked open and Dr. Scardelli came out to them. "How is she?" Billy asked, purposely stepping in front of Lee to keep him from tackling the doctor before she could speak.

"She's fine, or at least she will be. Looks like she was chloroformed. She's a little nauseous and woozy right now, but she'll be alright."

"Can I see her?" Billy asked, placing an emphasis on the word 'I'.

The doctor nodded. "Sure. As a matter of fact, you can take her home. There's no need to keep her. The chloroform is just about out of her system."

Billy nodded and started towards the door, Lee right behind him. "No, Lee." Billy shook his head. "I don't want you going in there and giving her a Class A interrogation. I'll talk to her. You stay here."

"Billy…" He started to protest but saw the warning look in his boss's eyes. "I promise, not one question." He sighed deeply.

Francine looked up when the two men walked in with a chagrined look on her face. "Billy, Lee, I'm sorry." She said before they could even make it to her side. "Amanda was my responsibility and I…"

"Francine, we don't need apologies, right now. We need to know what happened." Lee snapped at her, earning him a scowl from Billy. Running a hand agitatedly through his hair, he turned and walked back over to the door. "I'm sorry." He muttered.

Billy watched him for a second then turned back to the apologetic employee in the hospital bed. "Tell us what happened."

Francine took a deep breath as she recalled the events just prior to her losing consciousness. "Well, Amanda was lying down in Lee's room and I was sitting in the living room waiting for Lee to come back, and he was late." She immediately regretted saying that when she saw the slump of Lee's shoulders.

"Well, anyway, I heard someone at the door and I thought it was Lee so I started towards it, expecting him to unlock it and come in. Only he didn't. No one came in but I knew someone was out there, I heard it. So I went up to the peephole in the door and looked out. But I couldn't see anyone. The hallway looked empty."

"But you're sure you heard someone?" Billy asked.

Francine gave him a cross between a shrug and a nod. "I thought so. Anyway, when I didn't see anyone, I grabbed my gun and returned to the door, looking out again. I looked out there for quite a while but I still didn't see anything or anyone. Finally I decided it was my imagination and I turned back just as the door flew open and three men came in."

"Three men?' Billy questioned. "Do you know who they were? Can you describe them?"

Francine shook her head regretfully. "They were all three dressed in black and had masks on." She looked over at Lee. "I did everything I could. I have no idea how they got in or who they were but I would've stopped them if I could. You've got to believe me." She raised troubled blue eyes to Lee.

Lee nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, I know, Francine. And it's not your fault, it's mine. I was supposed to be there with her, protecting her, not you."

Billy could see what this line of thought was doing to Lee, as well as Francine, and he knew he had to redirect his attention if they were to ever stand a chance of getting Amanda back. "Alright," he said firmly. "If everyone is through with their own personal pity parties, what do you say we get to work and find Amanda?"

TBC