I've grouped the following set of chapters together, since they are short. And, since it was time for a little levity in the situation, I've chosen the following trio to be my victims, LOL.
Seriously though, they will have some dire straights to deal with later on. For now though, enjoy the moment, or the visual.
Oh, if you are a Beaman fan, my deepest condolensces are extended, but I simply could not resist.
CHAPTER 55
He had no more than opened the door to his house when the loud shrilling of the telephone began. Stashing his fishing poles against the wall, he leaped over his duffel bag and made his way to the kitchen counter where the phone sat.
"What!"
"What!"
"How the?"
This was all followed by a litany of muffled expletives that weren't necessarily meant for the ears of the caller to actually hear.
"Let me grab something to write on," he interrupted the voice on the other end. He fumbled for the small light that was somewhere on the counter, finally found it, and began looking for a working pen and scrap of paper actually large enough to write on.
"Okay, now go over that one more time," he instructed voice.
Finally, he had it all jotted down, legible as well so that he could read it later.
"Now, who am I going after?"
After the voice on the other end hung up, Leatherneck stood there, in total disbelief and shock.
"Holy shit, go away fishing for a week and the entire universe turns inside out," he said as he hung up the phone.
CHAPTER 56Leatherneck slid his black Bronco up against the sidewalk in front of the Georgetown entrance of the Agency and keyed the ignition off. At this time of night, the building was dark except for the low glow of some lights that would be coming from Marsten's little foyer.
With the motor no longer running, he was feeling the stifling heat that covered the DC area and he'd only been sitting there for a few moments.
"We need some rain," he grumbled as he picked up his thermos of coffee and chugged back some of the warm beverage. He had just picked up his Kit-Kat bar when the door opened and he saw that crazy dame Claudia begin to come out. She was carrying several bags that he assumed were medical related but that wasn't what frightened him.
"Good Lord," he exclaimed, "what is she wearing?"
CHAPTER 57Leatherneck quickly hopped out of his vehicle and went to meet the good doctor, his eyes still wide in disbelief.
"Uhm, Doc," he began. "Where are you going?"
"With you," she told him. "We're going after Amanda's sons."
"Yeah," Leatherneck said.
Just then another vehicle pulled up in front of the Agency, a Buick that Leatherneck quickly recognized.
"Good Lord and mother mercy," he grumbled. "I've been teamed with the geek squad."
Beaman slid out of his sedan and once again, poor Leatherneck was astounded at the fashion choice. Did these city people not know anything about how to dress properly for an in the field of assignment.
Hoisting Claudia's bags upward, he made his way to the back of the Bronco, mumbling with each step about writing Billy a memo.
CHAPTER 58Hoisting Claudia's bags upward, he made his way to the back of the Bronco, mumbling with each step about writing Billy a memo. Then Leatherneck opened up the tailgate and put the cargo in.
Claudia and Beaman stood there on the sidewalk, waiting patiently for him and leaving Leatherneck to wonder how either of them had survived in this business for as long as they had.
Beaman was attired in a pair of dark blue jeans, the bottoms of the pants tucked down inside a pair of faded cowboy boots. If that wasn't bad enough, the jeans looked to be about two sizes too big and were cinched with a wide belt that left a lot to be desired as far as aesthetic appeal.
The shirt, and then there was the little squirrel's shirt. A hideous array of bright orange and blue and tropical green birds adorned the agent that Leatherneck had long ago dubbed the squirrel. And then, then to top it all off, he was wearing one of those odd little hats. Anyone would know the type, just picture Gilligan from that wacky television show.
And he was carrying some sort of bag, an odd mustard yellow color that made Leatherneck cringe.
But that wasn't the worst part of the nightmare, oh no.
It was the woman standing beside the squirrel, the crazy dame who was actually a physician.
Leatherneck took a few moments to once again survey her and then, if he would have been Catholic, he would have been crossing himself and chanting those hail Mary thingamabobs. He really hoped that Amanda's sons and ex-husband weren't in need of the cavalry, because, from the looks of it, if this was all that was left of the good guys, the free world was in serious doo-doo.
CHAPTER 59To Leatherneck's eyes, the woman standing on the sidewalk beneath the illumination from the streetlights, was very far removed the vision that he had of your average medicine man, or woman, as the case might be.
The good doctor was attired in some sort of khaki jumpsuit. That wasn't the bad part of the nightmare. Heck, he might have even been able to deal with the navy blue hiking boots that peeked out from beneath the hem of the pants. But it was the hat and the neck scarf that were blinding him.
Her hat was one of those safari types, adorned with a silk scarf that trailed halfway down her back. And the scarf, Lord have mercy, it was the most fluorescent hideous shade of orange that he had ever seen. He wasn't even sure how that color combination had been achieved and he was, if he did say so himself, pretty good at mixing paints to obtain just the desired color for any vehicle that found its way into the Agency garage.
What really bothered him was how on earth had not one, but two scarves with the same shocking color been acquired, for she wore the matching twin around her neck, the long ends trailing down the open expanse of skin courtesy of the fact that she had barely pulled the zipper up past her bellybutton.
It was Claudia's voice that broke through his fashion and color analysis and he brought his eyes back into focus to find her fumbling in the green adorned with white posies bag that hung from her shoulder.
"Before we go anywhere, I need to give you boys your first dose of the antibiotic. Purely precautionary, you understand, but it wouldn't do to have either of you become ill on this journey.
She was already pulling a hypodermic out of the bag when a flash of headlights down the street caught Leatherneck's eyes.
"Hey, uhm, Doc? How bout we leave that to inside the vehicle? I don't think we've got time to explain to the metro coppers why we're standing out here on the sidewalk, in the middle of the night, with needles."
"Oh," Claudia said. "I suppose you're right. A woman standing on a street corner with two men. You're absolutely right, it wouldn't look very good for the Agency."
With that, she replaced the hypodermic back into her bag and walked to the awaiting Bronco.
"Well, boys, what are we waiting for? Let's hit the dirty road."
"That's dirt road, Doc, dirt road," Leatherneck corrected her as he walked around the front of his vehicle.
Claudia climbed up into the back seat and Beaman got in the passenger seat. He looked anxiously at Leatherneck.
"Did you bring any coffee?"
"A good scout is always prepared, there's a thermos for each of you. Taste pleasers are in the brown bag beside the Doc."
"Thank goodness," Beaman mumbled.