CHAPTER 2

Amanda King tried to focus on the expense reports in front of her, but she couldn't stop thinking about the crazy conversation she just had with Conrad Walter Barnhill. He sounded scared out of his mind, barely able to convey his thoughts. She repeatedly asked him if anything was wrong, but he spoke to her for only a few seconds, saying that he had to meet with her.

With her thoughts still on Conrad, Amanda leaned over and scratched her left ankle. It had ached all morning. The day before, a remote control truck lay waiting for her in the center of her living room. She tripped on the truck and twisted her ankle beneath her.

She didn't think anything of it, but when she woke up in the morning, her ankle felt like it was on fire. So, she carefully wrapped it up with an ace bandage and gingerly made her way to work.

Amanda reached her fingers under the bandage and stretched them as far as she could in another attempt to reach the unreachable itch. She was hunched over at her desk when Lee Stetson walked into the bullpen.

Lee found Amanda immediately upon entering the bullpen. A smile stretched its way across his face as soon as he saw her. Striding across the bullpen, he made his way to her desk.

Several of the girls from the steno pool gave Lee their own dashing smiles. Lee grinned back at them, but he didn't even slow down, his attention completely focused on Amanda. His handsome smile turned into a formidable frown the instant he noticed the bandage on Amanda's ankle.

"What... what happened to you?" Lee demanded, pointing to her foot.

Even before Amanda could respond, Lee's mind began churning out possible answers. A surge of anger ripped through him as the thought of somebody hurting her flashed through his brain.

"Good morning, Lee!" Amanda greeted cheerily.

Even though Lee was frowning even more now than before, Amanda continued to smile. Just seeing him made her feel brighter and happier.

"What happened to your foot?" Lee repeated, his eyes intense. "Are you all right?" He ran his hand through his hair as he quickly looked her up and down to see if she had any other injuries.

Amanda put her hand up and waved it back and forth. "Oh, this?" She pointed at her foot and shook her head. "It's nothing, Lee. I'm fine. I hurt my ankle a little bit while running to get some chocolate chip cookies out of the oven yesterday. I thought that they were going to burn, and so I tried to get to them in time. But I fell on a toy truck in the living room. I think that the boys..."

"Did you go to a doctor?" Lee interrupted. He knelt beside her and gently held her foot in his hands. His frown deepened when he saw the purple colors around the edges of the bandage. He gently lifted her foot up and down to check the extent of her injury.

"Oh no, Lee," Amanda responded, watching Lee work on her ankle. "Rice."

Lee looked up at her. "Huh?" he asked, shaking his head. "Are you... are you hungry?"

"No, Lee," Amanda replied, her eyes bright. "Rice. R-I-C-E. I once had to take Phillip's class on a field trip to the health museum, and we learned ways to deal with bumps and bruises. One of the best things to do when you sprain your ankle is R-I-C-E." She stuck out a finger with each letter. "It stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation." She gave Lee a smile and shrugged her shoulders. "I wrapped my ankle in a bandage to give it some compression."

Lee was still gently moving her foot in different directions. "Maybe our agents should visit the local health museum," he said with a grin as he looked up at her.

After a few more moments of moving her foot around, Lee let go and stood up. "It doesn't look like it's broken, Amanda. You should still see a doctor just to make sure everything's okay." He let out a deep breath, his lips pierced together in concern. "We have some good doctors here at the Agency. I can arrange to have them take a look at you."

Amanda shook her head and smiled. "No, Lee," she replied, waving her hand back and forth. "Thanks all the same, but I'm... I'm fine. It's just a little sprain, and I'll be as good as new in no time."

Lee's frown deepened yet again. What happened if she had a fracture? It wouldn't hurt for her to see a doctor and make sure that everything was okay. He made a mental note to himself to have Billy schedule a stat physical for Amanda. The ten o'clock appointment with the agent with the punctured lung and fractured ribs would just have to reschedule.

Amanda could see that Lee wasn't happy with her answer, and so she relented. "I don't need a doctor, Lee, but if you want me to see one, I'll go this afternoon. I'd be happy to do it for you." She smiled at Lee, and he returned her smile with one of his own.

"Yeah," Lee nodded, gently placing his hand on top of hers. "I'd like that."

Amanda looked down at Lee's hand tenderly holding her own, and she felt a warmth spread within her. "Thanks, Lee," she responded, her voice soft.

Lee looked into her brown eyes, and he found himself wondering at how beautiful they were. Realizing that his fingers were stroking Amanda's hand, he quickly pulled his hand away. What am I doing? "Well, uh..." He stood up and cleared his throat. "I... uh... would like that. It's important to have you able to move around if Billy gave us an assignment in the field."

Lee looked away, but when he looked back at Amanda, he again found himself lost in the depth of her eyes.

Lee cherished Amanda's friendship deeply, and he was more than alarmed to find himself getting so lost in her eyes, her smile, even her simplest touch. He felt attracted to her, surely, but she wasn't just another woman to him. This was Amanda, and he didn't want to do anything to hurt their friendship.

Amanda still looked at her hand, her heart warm with the feel of Lee's touch moments before.

"Are you, uh.. are you sure that you don't want to see the doctor this morning?" Lee's voice broke into her thoughts. I can totally bump that ten o'clock.

Amanda let out a breath she'd been holding and nodded. "Oh, yes, Lee," Amanda responded, focusing on Lee's words. "It can't be this morning. I have to meet a friend for lunch today. It was the strangest thing. I haven't heard from him in the longest time, and then out of the blue, he called me yesterday and said that he had to meet me." She shrugged her shoulders, reaching down to scratch her ankle again. "He didn't want to talk about it over the phone, but he said that it's really important."

Lee scowled. He didn't like Amanda meeting somebody for lunch, and he definitely didn't like that it was a "he". On top of all that, she hurt her ankle and still had to meet this person for lunch. Who did this guy think he was? Making Amanda meet him with a busted ankle! Lee fantasized about busting the ankle of this "he". No. He fantasized about busting BOTH ankles.

"No, Amanda," Lee shook his head. "You're not going anywhere. Just look at you." He pointed at her ankle. "How can you meet this so-called friend of yours for lunch when you can hardly walk? And what kind of friend is this person? Forcing you to lunch when you should rest your ankle!" Lee's vein started to pop out of his neck.

"Lee," Amanda soothed. "He said it was really important. You know him too. You met him on that case with the Mongoose. Remember the Agency flew me overseas so that I could identify him?"

Lee closed his eyes, a feeling of dread entering into the pit of his gut. "Amanda," Lee muttered, shaking his head. "Tell me, tell me it's not..." He let out a deep breath. "Conrad... Walter... Barnhill."

"Well," Amanda replied, biting her lower lip. "I don't want to lie to you, but you're asking me to lie to you. So, if you don't want me to tell you that it's somebody when it is actually that somebody, then I really am not too sure what I should be telling you." Amanda looked at Lee, the vein in his neck now pulsating rapidly.

Lee opened his eyes and grimaced. "It's Conrad Walter Barnhill. Isn't it."

Amanda's face brightened. "Yes, Lee," she replied, smiling with excitement. "I'm meeting Connie today. You're right!"

Lee's scowl deepened the instant Amanda used Conrad's nickname.

"Correction," Lee said, looking straight into Amanda's eyes. "I'm coming with you."

TBC