TSK
Chapter Twenty-three
Lee had gone down to the kitchen to have another cup of coffee while Amanda took a shower. He had just poured another cup when the phone rang.
"Hello."
"Billy?"
"Last I checked," Melrose answered him. "I tried to call you at home but when you didn't pick up or return my calls, I figured I could reach you here."
"So you decided to call me at Amanda's before seven?"
"Like I said, you obviously weren't sleeping at your apartment," Billy replied. "Lee, there's a situation, I need both of you in here, ASAP."
"Whoa, hold up Billy. The only place Amanda's going today is the doctor's office."
"What?" Billy's question was sharp.
"Yeah, she wasn't feeling too good yesterday afternoon, probably why she was so grumpy. She was up in the middle of the night taking cold medicine. I tried to tell her that it was more than just allergies, but she wouldn't listen."
"Damn!" Billy growled.
"What?" Lee asked.
"Look, you get her in here and you get her in now. And don't stop anywhere along the way."
"Billy, what's going on?"
"I'll brief you when you get here. Just get a move on. Oh, is there anybody else at home?"
"Well, I'm here, what do you think?" Lee asked him slightly sarcastically.
"I take it that's a negative?"
"Yeah, they're all out of town."
"Good," Billy's sigh of relief was audible enough that Lee heard it over the telephone line. That alone threw up warning flags, as if Lee wasn't already beginning to see them.
"Billy, what's going down?"
"Magna Alpha, double red, all birds to roost, ASAP."
Lee was about to reply when he heard a click and then the dial tone. For several moments he simply stood there, staring at the phone in his hand. He knew what all the codes stood for, but he'd never heard them all used together. He, like every other intelligence operative, had hoped he never would.
By the time Lee had recovered and gone upstairs, Amanda was just coming out of the shower. She made a straight line right for the bed, collapsing back down upon it.
"Come on sweetheart, we've got to get going or Billy will be sending out the troops," he told her.
"I want to go back to bed," she whined.
"I know, but you've got an appointment with Kelford and there's something big going down and we both need to be there."
Amanda sighed as she struggled to pull herself up.
"So much for being Mr. and Mrs. Stetson for a few days."
Lee sat down beside her on the bed.
"I will make it up to you, I promise."
Amanda wrapped her arms around her husband and for a few seconds, Lee allowed her the comfort of his embrace.
"I love you," she told him.
"I love you too and as much I enjoy looking at you wearing nothing but that towel, you need to get dressed."
"Yeah," she answered him.