The Bomb 13

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As Lee launched himself in to the room, he tucked himself into a ball and rolled past the men who, for a just a second, were too stunned to do anything. But all too quickly they recovered and both men reached for guns.

Lee shot the one on his left, without hesitation, as the villain had brought a gun to bear on the agent's head. The other made a try for his weapon, which he'd stupidly left lying on a desk, but Lee was too quick. Springing back to his feet, Lee landed two swift, hard punches to the man's jaw before whirling around and kicking the man's legs out from under him.

Taking just a moment to catch his breath, Lee stepped over to the first kidnapper and checked his pulse. Finding nothing but a key in the man's hand, which he grabbed, he quickly checked the second one. He was alive, but would be out for a while. That suited Lee just fine.

His first impulse right then was to find Amanda, but he needed to make sure there was no one else in the building. He wouldn't be able to deal with any more bad guys if he had an injured woman in his arms. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small black box, pulled up the antenna and punched a couple of buttons.

"Billy." He whispered into the box. "I've got two of them. I'm going to check out the rest of the building. Give me a couple of minutes then come in."

"Will do, Scarecrow." He heard Billy respond.

Replacing the box into his pocket, Lee quickly checked out the other rooms in the building, before returning to the back rooms. He was confident there was no one else. Taking a deep breath, he ran down the hallway to where he figured Amanda could be found.

His heart was racing as he imagined what kind of shape she could be in. They'd hurt her, he remembered one of those men saying. But how badly was she hurt? "Oh, God." He prayed silently as he ran. "Please."

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Amanda sat up carefully on the side of the cot, so as not to jar her arm or ribs. One of the men had returned after she'd come to and left her a tray, with a pitcher of water and a glass. Nothing more. She'd once again asked what they intended to do with her, but her pleas had been ignored. The masked fiend had simply sat down the tray and quietly left.

Slowly pouring herself a glass of the water, she took a long drink before setting the glass back down. She kept going over her situation, trying to find a way out but so far, she'd come up blank. The door was solid metal and the window was up high and too small to get through, even if she'd been physically able to attempt it. And she knew she was nowhere near able to try that.

Briefly she thought about breaking the water glass and using the broken glass as a weapon, but how? She only had one usable arm and though taller than most women, she was by far a lot smaller than the men who currently surrounded her.

As she sat there, she thought she heard noises coming from somewhere in the building, but they were muffled by the thick walls and heavy door of her jail. "Could it be…?" She thought hopefully, but just as quickly squelched that hope. She knew if she were to survive she'd need to be realistic and not daydream of a rescue from Lee.

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As he pleaded with God for his Amanda, Lee realized that he had finally reached the point to where he could admit to himself that he cared about her. And that thought was staggering enough. But the thought of something happening to her, before he could reach the point of telling her was crippling.

Reaching the end of the hallway, he inserted the key into the lock of the metal door to his right and turned the handle. The room was empty. Stepping back out, he crossed the hallway and tried again.

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Amanda thought once again of trying for some sort of escape, but she'd reached the conclusion now, that it was probably impossible. Whatever these men were going to do to her, she was not going to be able to stop them. Her mind centered on her mother and her little boys. "Oh how I wish I could see them again." She whispered to herself. She wondered how her boys would deal with her death, for she was certain that was what was going to happen. They would most likely go to live with their father and though Joe was a good man, she wasn't sure how that would work. Didn't matter, she wouldn't be alive to stop it. She also thought about Lee, the tall, handsome man who'd stolen her heart. Would he miss her? "Lord!" she silently prayed. "I wish I could see him again. I wish I could stop this."

Idly she thought about one of her idols as a girl growing up. Although her favorite western had been Maverick, she had always kind of idolized the courageous, red headed Kitty Russell on Gunsmoke. "Wonder what Miss Kitty would do?" She said out loud without realizing it.

"Well, I'm not sure what Miss Kitty would do." Lee said from the doorway. "But you're going to get out of here."

Amanda's head jerked up and she looked in shock at the image of Lee Stetson standing at the door, a gentle smile on his face. "Lee?" She swallowed hard, blinking furiously, not sure she could believe her eyes. "Lee?" She asked again.

Lee swiftly crossed the room and bent down to help her to her feet. "It's me, Amanda. I'm gonna take you out of here. You think you can walk?"

Rapidly Amanda nodded her head, unable to speak for the moment at the sight of Lee being there, coming to her rescue, as he had so many times before, as she had prayed he would.

"Good," he said wrapping an arm around her waist. "Let's go."

Amanda nodded again and took a step but her strength failed her just then and she started to sink.

Swiftly, Lee wrapped his arms around her and swept her up. "Its okay, Amanda." He said gently as he carried her out of the room and down the hall. "You're safe now. It's all going to be okay."

TBC