The Bomb 14

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When Lee got Amanda back to the room by the back door, he carefully sat her on a chair by the desk and reached for the black box in his pocket to call Billy. "Billy." He smiled down at her. "Come on in."

Amanda had gasped when she saw the two men sprawled out onto the floor, but she shrieked when she saw one of them begin to get up behind Lee. "Lee!" She screamed as she grabbed the first thing she could find, a ceramic coffee mug and threw it at the man.

Lee heard her cry and looked up just in time to see her fling the mug in his direction. Ducking out of the way, he whirled around behind him when he heard a groan and saw the man, he thought was still unconscious, sink back to the floor, the imprint of the coffee mug on his forehead.

Swallowing hard, he looked over at Amanda in amazement. "Even hurt, you've got my back." He said with awe in his voice as the sound reached them of squealing brakes and slamming doors.

Within minutes the place was swarming with agents and an ambulance crew who refused to let Amanda even attempt to move until they had her strapped to a gurney.

Lee's mind was in a swirl as he stood there trying to answer Billy's questions. He didn't want to answer questions. He wanted to stay with Amanda. But as he watched them wheel her out towards the door and the waiting ambulance, he stayed where he was. He felt he had an even bigger responsibility to take care of first.

Stopping them at the door, Lee took Amanda's right hand. 'You hang in there, huh? I've got something, I've got to do and then I'll come straight to the hospital. I promise."

Amanda tugged tightly on Lee's hand, pleadingly. "Lee, please don't…"

"It'll be alright, Amanda." He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about a thing."

Amanda wanted to continue to protest but reluctantly released his hand as she was transported outside. She knew she was neither physically or emotionally capable right then of dissuading him or going with him.

Billy watched the two for a moment before stepping up next to Lee. Since we've got Amanda back now, I'll call in a strike on the factory. No need for you to go."

Lee raised angry eyes to his boss and friend. "No need? They almost killed her, Billy. I'd say there's a pretty big need for me to take care of this, for me to take care of Max Regal for good."

"You try that, Scarecrow, and I'll have you scooched in a heartbeat." Billy practically roared. "I've told you this before and I will say it again. I will not have you going out there on some sort of personal vendetta. You either do this by the book or you go home."

"Billy…," Lee raked his hand through his hair, pacing away then coming back. "I haveto do this. Please. It's me Regal was trying to get at and it's me he's expecting."

"Not anymore." Francine said as she stepped up beside the two men glaring at each other.

"What?" Billy turned towards her.

"Mr. Nothing Can Keep Me Down over there," she pointed to the man that both Lee and Amanda had knocked out, "says that if he and his dead partner don't show up at that factory by eleven with Amanda, his boss will take off. He said he didn't expect you to find her but he's not going to take any chances."

"Well, that won't help him." Billy shrugged. "We know who he is and we now have one of his men to testify against him so even if he runs, it'll be a simple matter of picking Max Regal up at home or work."

"Not really." Francine looked at both of them with a look of worry.

"What does that mean?" Lee asked gruffly.

"I showed him a picture of Max Regal and he said that's not his boss, is what that means." Francine t0ld him. "He said he only saw the man once but he knows it's not Max."

"Well, than who…?" Lee and Billy both started to ask as Francine waved them off.

"I don't know but I know how to find out." She looked at Lee. "No matter what you say, I feel like I bungled it when I let those men come in and take her. So I feel like I need to do something to help fix this. I have an idea I think will work, if you'll go along with it."

"What do you have in mind, Francine?" Billy asked.

"Simple." Francine brightened a little. "I go in Amanda's place. I still have that brunette wig in the trunk of my car and I can get clothes like Amanda was wearing. You two can dress like those two goons and take me there. We've already got our team in place out there, so there shouldn't be too much danger in the catching of whoever is behind this."

Billy looked at his agent with a fond smile. Until Amanda had come on the scene, he'd always thought there couldn't possibly be a better female agent than Francine Desmond. And he still counted her as ranking right up there.

Turning to Lee, he studied him for a moment. He could see the emotions working their way through him and knew how badly he wanted to get the man who'd hurt Amanda King and tear him from limb to limb. But he needed to know that Lee would be able to do this without killing the man or getting himself or someone else killed.

Lee understood Billy's hesitation. Taking a deep breath, he met him eye to eye. "I can't promise, I won't try to beat him to a pulp, when I get a hold of him." He said truthfully. "But I promise, I won't kill him and when you step in, I'll stop. But you can't hold me out of this, Billy. You can't."

Billy nodded and favored both his agents with a smile. "Let's go get the bad guy, shall we?"

TBC