"Good Morning, Mrs. Marston," Amanda said cheerfully as they closed the door to the Georgetown entrance.
"Good Morning, Mrs. King, Mr. Stetson. Only a few more days until the big day!" Mrs. Marston replied cheerfully. "Password, please."
Lee snickered before replying, "Wedding Bells. Billy's idea of a joke I'm sure."
Mrs. Marston handed Lee and Amanda their badges and said, "Not his idea. Actually, it was mine."
Amanda laughed loudly as she clipped her badge onto her blouse. "Leave it to you, Mrs. Marston," she smiled as she held Lee's hand and they crossed the room to the elevator. They arrived at Billy's office door at exactly eight fifty-eight. Knocking twice, Lee waiting for Billy's booming voice to allow them entrance. When it didn't come right away, Lee knocked again and waited. After hearing no reply, Lee looked around the bullpen and asked Mary, "Have you seen Billy?"
"Mr. Melrose stepped out about five minutes ago with Dr. Smyth. They were headed in the direction of the conference rooms," Mary replied.
"And Francine?" Lee questioned.
"Following right along behind them. Dr. Smyth was muttering something about losing control, whatever that means," Mary shook her head. Lee was about to ask her another question, but the phone on her desk started ringing.
Lee looked at Amanda nervously and grabbed her hand as they quickly walked toward the conference room. They could hear Billy's voice before they turned the corner. "I will NOT give them an assignment like that. Not this week." Lee took one look at Amanda and closed the gap to the door in seconds. He didn't bother to knock, he just threw the door open and stared at Billy and Dr. Smyth standing toe to toe, Francine steps away looking concerned.
"Am I or am I not, still your superior, William?" Dr. Smyth asked dryly.
"Last I checked your security clearance was the same as mine," Billy folded his arms across his chest and glared at Dr. Smyth.
"Ah, yes, the children have arrived at last," Dr. Smyth noticed Lee and Amanda standing in the doorway.
Lee looked at the two men and asked, "What the hell is going on? I could hear you two all the way down the hall."
Francine pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, in an attempt to get Lee to stop talking, but Dr. Smyth didn't notice her behind him. "I have an assignment for the two of you," he stated.
"And I said NO, I already have assignments for both of you this week," Billy stated firmly.
"But the assignment I have needs a special touch that I'm sure only Scarecrow and Mrs. King can give," Dr. Smyth insisted.
"Sir, may I?" Francine tried to insert herself, but Dr. Smyth immediately answered, "No, Miss Desmond, you may not. I'm not here to play games on the playground. They'll be on a plane in three hours heading to Munich."
"What? Sir, you can't be serious," Amanda exclaimed. She looked nervously at Lee whose jaw was now clenched tightly.
"Billy, come on, you can't do this," Lee shouted.
Billy looked firmly at Dr. Smyth then sympathetically at Lee, "I'm not doing this, and neither is he! I'll call in every favor I have right up to the White House if I have to. Scarecrow and Mrs. King will NOT be leaving DC!"
Dr. Smyth narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips as he stared at Billy until he raised one eyebrow and stepped back. "Fine, if that's how you feel. I'll find someone else, however, it will go down in the report that they refused the assignment. Plain and simple," Dr. Smyth snapped as he stormed to the door.
As he swung the door open, Billy stated loudly, "If I see their names on ANY report, I will file charges of harassment on both Lee and Amanda's behalf. Do I make myself clear?" He leaned both hands on the conference table, leveling his gaze at Dr. Smyth now standing in the doorway. Without another word, Dr. Smyth walked slowly out of the conference room and down the hall.
Lee looked at Billy, whose head was now hanging, his shoulders hunched. "Billy? What was that all about?" he asked.
Billy raised his head, pushed back and stood. He ran his hand down his face before replying, "Dr. Smyth wanted you and Amanda to run to Munich to pick up a defector set to arrive tomorrow afternoon in Karlsfeld."
"Karlsfeld? Are you kidding me? That place has been a hotbed of activity since World War II," Lee said incredulously.
"Karlsfeld? Isn't that the location of the subcamp of the Dachau Concentration Camp?" Amanda asked nervously. "I remember that from Jamie's project he was working on last year."
"It was. It was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory, but once Dachau was liberated in 1945, it was used as a US military base during the occupation. It was finally closed in 1960," Francine explained.
"And the last place you and Lee will be traveling to this week," Billy smiled. "Besides, I have another assignment for each of you."
"But, Sir, isn't Dr. Smyth going to be-" Amanda began to ask, but Billy cut her off with a loud laugh.
"I don't care what Dr. Smyth thinks. This week is all about you and Lee getting ready for your wedding and I will be doing everything in my power to make sure nothing disrupts that," Billy smiled as he handed Amanda a file folder. "Amanda, you will be working with Beamon all week. He's teaching a class in Casual Surveillance and who better to help out with that one than you? The one person who is the least obvious, but has some of the best natural skills we've ever seen."
Amanda opened the folder and read the page in front of her, "Well, thank you, Sir. That's a pretty big compliment coming from you."
"Yeah, thanks, Billy. That keeps Amanda's afternoon's open for all the last-minute running around," Lee thanked him.
"Well, good. I hope you'll like your assignment just as much. Starting tomorrow morning you will be the instructor for Dodge City at Station One this week. You will teach the new recruits every trick you know. And I'll even sweeten the pot for you. If one, just one, recruit comes close to beating your score, I'll give you an extra week's vacation," Billy smiled wider than before.
Lee smirked, folded his arms and leaned back against the window behind him. "So just one? And I get an extra week's vacation? What about Amanda? Any perks for her?" Lee teased.
Billy laughed louder than before and thought for a moment before he replied, "Tell you what, if Amanda can outsmart Beamon's surveillance techniques, I'll give her an extra week too."
Amanda's eyebrows immediately shot up as she asked, "Sir, how am I going to do that?"
"It's easy. Beamon has to set up a simulation in surveillance. If you can beat him at his own game, you win," Francine explained. "It's common practice. Outsmart the teacher."
"Or draw out the fox. I remember that class. Only it wasn't Beamon teaching it at the time. It was Old Man Stevens. Remember him, Billy? He used to wear those plaid sweater vests and smelled like garlic all the time," Lee laughed. "I kinda miss him, you know. He was a pretty good guy."
"Old Man Stevens…I haven't heard him mentioned in a long time. He managed to outsmart you, Scarecrow," Billy couldn't help but continue to smile.
Lee laughed again, shaking his head as he recalled, "Yeah, I almost had him too, until he tricked me with that hat in the window."
"You too? He did the same thing to me!" Francine exclaimed. "That must have been his trademark move."
"Yeah, I think it was. Do we know what happened to him after he retired?" Lee asked curiously.
"I think he moved to Florida to pursue bartending in the Keys," Billy informed them.
"Well, he couldn't have picked a nicer place to do it. I heard it's beautiful there all year round," Amanda said. She glanced at her watch and turned to face Lee. "Lee, if we're going to meet with Acquisitions at eleven we need to get the rest of that paperwork upstairs."
Lee checked his own watch and nodded in agreement. "Billy, you don't mind if we…" he trailed off as he gestured to the door.
"No, go. You don't want to be late. Oh, when you're done with that, I'd love to hear how your weekend went," Billy said. He stood, straightened his tie and held the door open as everyone left the conference room.
"Francine, will you have time to go over a few things for the wedding this afternoon? I think I need help with the seating chart," Amanda admitted.
Francine looked down at the files in her arm, but looked up again with a smile and replied, "Sure. Let me just file these reports and we can meet for lunch. Let's say around two?"
Amanda looked at Lee expectantly and when he nodded, she replied, "Two sounds great. We could get a couple of sandwiches from the deli down the street, then work on it in the Q Bureau. Lunch is even on me."
"Throw in a couple of chocolate brownies and you have yourself a deal!" Francine laughed.
"I'll see you at two," Amanda laughed with her. "Ready, Lee?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Lee exhaled. He was nervous about the purchase and sales process and wanted it over as quickly as possible.