CHAPTER 29
PART 1
Lee Stetson practically raced down the corridors of the Agency, intent on making his way to the bullpen as quickly as possible. By now, the earlier dilemmas of the week had faded away, replaced by the current situation that was not even remotely what he wanted to be seeing. He didn't like it and he wanted answers. But, most of all, he wanted a resolution. A resolution that he was determined to do whatever it took to obtain.
He pushed through the people milling about the bullpen, and, when he reached Billy's office door, he didn't even bother to knock. The Scarecrow simply plowed through it, a man on a mission, a mission that meant everything in the world to him.
What Lee saw was not encouraging.
PART 2
Joe King had taken a seat along the banks of the lake, a bottle of ice tea from the cooler in one hand and a legal journal in the other. The morning sun had already warmed up the air and a nice breeze blew off the peaceful water. It was, in his opinion, a picture perfect day.
The boys were splashing about in the water, apparently having a blast and he laughed at their antics, watching them dive and jump, splash and laugh as they each tried to outdo the other with their crazy stunts.
As he watched his sons play, for some odd reason his mind drifted back in time, to another summer evening here at the lake. He and Amanda had driven up from Virginia, originally to spend the week with an old friend of his. Mark's parents had had the cottage for many years here at the lake and Mark had invited them up to celebrate the end of another college semester.
Joe could easily recall Mark's suggestive comments, that the lake was the perfect place to bring his new fiancee to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and to just relax. Then, at the last moment, Mark's then fiancee had had a family emergency and Joe and Amanda had ended up having the cabin totally to themselves, alone with no interruptions.
Not something that Dotty West would have approved of, Joe chuckled. In fact, if his then somewhat shy Amanda had known how it was going to turn out, she probably wouldn't have come either.
They had been insanely and totally head-over-heels in love back then and yet, things had turned out so vastly different from what either of them would have ever expected. Back then, Joe wouldn't have ever been able to imagine not spending the rest of his life with Amanda.
While they'd had the illusion, the house with the white picket fence and two children, their marriage had slowly crumbled while he was a world away, on a different continent. While he had chased his dreams and goals, hers had slowly withered beneath the demands of raising two children and keeping things solid on the home front.
And, yet now, he was just weeks away from getting married a second time and Amanda, well Amanda had never seemed happier. She was already remarried, albeit secretly, except to a few select individuals and she was the one making a difference while he had finally chosen to remain stateside.
It had taken them both a long time to come to terms with their divorce and yet, now, Joe found that he couldn't be happier for her. And, watching their two sons frolic in the water, he acknowledged that both of them had finally moved on, that both had finally reached a point in their lives where they had nearly everything that they needed.
He sipped his tea as he watched the boys with a careful eye, even though both were very good swimmers. Then, he smiled as he wondered what their reactions would be if they knew even half of the things that their mother was involved in when it came to her very private and very secret double life.
Would they be as worried as he had been, initially? Would they be shocked?
On that beautiful summer night, way back then, if someone would have come up to him and told him that the woman he had held in his arms and made love to so sweetly, several years down the road, would not only be married to a Federal agent, she would be one as well, Joe King would have thought them thoroughly insane.
To be sure, once he'd gotten over the initial shock, Joe still had his worries. But, surprisingly, he had also come to be very proud of his ex-wife. She obviously loved what she was doing, she was very obviously in love with Lee, and she was making a difference.
And, in a funny roundabout way, Joe realized that they both were exactly where they needed to be at this time in their lives. No longer husband and wife, but friends, very good friends who just happened to share two of the most important things in their world, their sons.
Who, at the moment, seemed to be intent on dunking each other in the calm waters of the lake.
With a laugh, Joe placed his drink and journal down. Then he stood up.
Wearing a grin on his face, Joe figured that it was time to show the boys that their old man could still be a threat in the waters.