The Bomb 10

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(The Next Day)

Amanda sat morosely on the small cot, leaning her back against the wall. Although not one to take pain pills, she thought she'd give just about anything right then for one. The pain in her side, though still present and accounted for, had diminished some. But her head was killing her and her swollen left arm was pretty close to useless.

"That's what I get for thinking I was smart as Francine or Lee." She muttered to herself, while she valiantly tried to keep from crying at her plight and the pain, ruefully thinking of what had brought it about.

She'd sat in the small little room for several hours alone except for a small fly that had somehow found its way in to her and kept itself occupied with buzzing around the room and occasionally alighting on Amanda's leg, before zooming off again. "You're as trapped as I am." Amanda had said to the insect, which paid her little heed as it continued to flit around the room.

It was while she was watching the fly that one of the men returned to the room. "Get up." He ordered.

Reluctantly, Amanda stood up but she refused to take a step towards him. "What are you going to do with me?" She asked over the lump in her throat, trying not to show any fear.

"Come with me." The man's voice was monotone, with no inflection in it, but it still carried the hint of a threat in it.

Seeing no real choice, Amanda stepped forward as he got behind her and pushed, propelling her towards the exit. As she approached the open metal door, Amanda suddenly seized upon an idea of how to get away. Taking a quick step through, she grabbed the door and threw it back, banging it hard into the man behind her. Without looking to see what it might have done to him, she ran.

But her escape was short lived. The hallway in front of her little room was short and turned only one way into another hall. She had no sooner rounded the corner, when a hand reached out and grabbed her left arm. Without hesitation, the man slammed a fist into Amanda's cheek and twisted her arm up behind her, bringing it up higher, that it would go on its own. She heard a snap just before the darkness descended on her.

When she was next aware of herself and her surroundings, she found herself back in the same little room, lying on the same little cot, in pain and even more afraid. Whatever they had planned for her, when they took her from the room, they'd either did it while she was unconscious, or they planned on coming back and trying again. Both thoughts terrified her.

"Oh, Lee." She whispered softly. "I sure wish you'd come and get me."

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Lee sat straight up and looked blankly around the room. He was sure he'd just heard Amanda's voice calling for him. He'd heard it just clear as anything asking him to come and get her. But looking around, he realized it must've been a dream. He was in the Q Bureau and he was alone. Apparently he'd fallen asleep while going through endless amounts of information that, so far, was leading him nowhere.

He and Billy and Francine, when she was released from the hospital, had spent the rest of the day and most of the night combing the haystack of DC for a small brunette needle and had come up dry, time and again.

They had found Alton Weight, but little could be learned from him as he'd been found floating face down in the Potomac. A check of his phone records and all the mail in his apartment led to nothing but a tenuous link to Ajax Manufacturing, when he'd applied for a job there and received a letter of rejection.

After examining the lock on Lee's apartment door, it was discovered that it hadn't been tampered with or picked. Whoever had opened it; had done so with a key. When questioned, Floyd Feller, the doorman, admitted that while he'd been away from his desk, he'd left his master key on its peg at his desk. He'd forgotten to secure it before he left his desk.

There were no fingerprints or eye witnesses to Amanda's kidnapping and though Mr. Feller had been shown tons of mug shots, he had been unable to identify a single one of the men who'd come that day to see Mrs. Hudgins, who hadn't even been there at the time.

Lee's apartment building, though in a good part of town and usually very secure, had no cameras trained on the lobby or hallways and so there was no video surveillance to go over. It seemed that three men had come in, attacked one woman and kidnapped another and absolutely no one saw or heard a thing.

They had checked on Regal's whereabouts at the time of the abduction and he was right where he was supposed to be, at work in a small cubicle filing invoices. Several witnesses swore he'd been there most of the day, except for lunch. But he had an alibi for that time as well, as he'd eaten in the company cafeteria, seen by many other employees.

They had even run a thorough check on Ajax Manufacturing but had come up dry there as well. If the company, or its owner, had any nefarious dealings with anyone, it was well hidden and would be hard to link with the bombing at the house.

They had run into dead ends all along the way and the only thing they knew for certain was that they knew nothing. Well, almost nothing. Proof or no, Lee knew Regal had something to do with this. He just had to find a way to get to him. Somehow he had to get a hold of Regal and make him talk. Even if he had to beat it out of him, he had to know where Amanda was.

Standing up, he stretched his tired and stiffened muscles and grabbed his jacket. Sitting there in his office wasn't going to accomplish anything. He had to be on the move, he needed to act and he had a horrifying feeling that he needed to act soon. Somehow, he knew, Amanda needed him, and he wasn't about to let her down if he could help it.

Locking the vault and taking one last look around the office, Lee had just reached the door, when Francine burst in. "Lee, you'd better see this."

TBC