Co-Authored by Tracey Arcieri and Karen LaManna
Chapter 4
"Mr. Melrose, sir?" a petite woman with a dark brown pixie cut opened his office door.
"Yes, Shirley, what is it? I'm on my way out," Billy replied as he pulled his jacket on.
"This envelope was delivered for you. Security checked it already. Initial scan comes back clean," Shirley replied as she handed him a plain brown enlarged envelope with the words "IFF William Melrose" hand printed clearly across the front.
"Billy are you ready? I have a car waiting out front for us," Francine interrupted as she pushed the door open to his office.
"Thank you, Shirley, I'll take it from here," he stated politely. Billy took the envelope and immediately tossed it on his desk.
"What's that?" Francine asked pointing to the envelope as Billy moved around to the front of his desk, straightening his jacket as he did.
"Shirley just brought it in. I have no idea. It's nothing I'm sure," Billy stated before adding, "we should get going. I told Amanda we would be there in twenty."
Francine narrowed her eyes at the envelope. She couldn't help think it was suspicious, no return address, no postage even. "Who delivered it? Billy, this could be important. What if Amanda's right and someone does have Lee? This could possibly be a clue?" she reasoned.
Pursing his lips, Billy used the letter opener on his desk to slice one side of the envelope open. He shook the contents out onto the desk. Staring back at him was a single Polaroid picture of Lee, unconscious on a cot. Without touching the image, he used the letter opener to flip the picture over. Written on the back were the words "Koslov trade".
"Koslov? Someone wants to trade Lee for Koslov?" Francine tried to hide the panic in her voice.
"Apparently, but right now I need to get this to forensics and we need to get to Amanda," Billy declared as he picked up the phone. In less than five minutes, the picture and envelope were picked up by a forensics agent to check for any fingerprints and Francine and Billy were rushing toward the awaiting sedan Francine had secured for them.
Billy drove well over the speed limit, ignoring the posted signs, toward the store where Amanda was waiting for them. He pulled into the dirt parking lot with a cloud of dust kicking up behind his tires as Amanda paced back and forth by her car.
"Sir, I was afraid you got lost. I feel like I've been waiting for hours," she explained as she rushed over to the car.
"No, we've had a development. A photograph of Lee was delivered just after you called. Someone wants to trade him for Koslov," Billy stated. "Now, let's not waste any more time. Can you show us where you found his car?"
Amanda just nodded as she turned and climbed into her station wagon. She pulled out of the parking lot and turned right, while Billy followed close behind. They covered the distance in just a few minutes, Amanda jumped out of her car as soon as she stopped. She pointed to the area she uncovered, "There! I found Lee's car there, but I didn't touch anything just like they taught us. I waited for you to get here," she explained with a nod, her voice shaking.
Billy motioned to Francine who immediately picked up the portable phone they had brought, and she called in a forensics team with a tow truck. Instead of sitting back and waiting, Billy stated, "Let's look around, see if we see anything unusual. Call out if you do but don't touch anything. We'll leave that to the team when they get here."
They looked around slowly. Amanda jumped when she heard Francine call out, "I see a syringe, near the front end of the car."
"That would explain why it doesn't look like he struggled," Billy stated. They completed their search just as the trucks pulled up. Billy barked out orders and the systematic photographing and searching began. Lee's car was dusted for fingerprints across the hood before it was loaded onto the tow truck. The syringe was bagged, labeled and rushed back to the agency labs for testing on any remaining substance. "While they finish up, we need to head back to the Agency and see what we can get on Koslov. We need to figure out who might want him and who might have Scarecrow," Billy commanded.
"Yes, sir!" Amanda replied, as she climbed into her car and followed Billy and Francine back to the Agency.
No one paid attention to the van that drove slowly past the forensics team an hour later. "Should we tell Gregory?" Ivan asked Dimitri nervously.
"Tell him what? They found the car, that's it. What else do they know? Nothing!" Dimitri spat as he continued to drive to the house where Gregory was waiting impatiently.
"Did you deliver the package?" he demanded.
"Da, dropped it off at IFF just like you instructed. Ivan wore a delivery man hat and sunglasses, and he also kept his head down so the cameras wouldn't get a good picture," Dimitri explained.
"Good, good. Now I just need to contact Mr. Melrose and set up our trade," Gregory said as he unbuttoned his suit coat. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a gold pocket watch. He checked the time and dismissed Dimitri and Ivan again when he handed Dimitri an envelope and stated, "Gentlemen, payment as we discussed."
Dimitri took the envelope and walked out, Ivan just steps behind him. Gregory lifted the phone receiver and dialed the main line for IFF. "William Melrose, please. Just tell him it's Gregory, he'll take the call." Gregory waited quietly.
"Gregory! What rock have your crawled out from under?" Billy asked as he answered the phone. Amanda and Francine were sitting in his office when the switchboard informed him of the call. Amanda was holding the photograph studying every detail when the phone rang. Francine immediately started recording the call while a trace was activated.
"No rocks, Melrose, this is just another part of the game," Gregory replied. He paused before he continued, "No time to waste, I'll get straight to the point. You have someone I want, I have someone you want. It's a simple trade, only this time no games." Gregory moved toward the open window as he spoke. From a distance he could hear the church bells as they chimed and just outside his window the high-pitched piercing call of a bird that irritated him. Gregory slammed the window close as he waited for Billy's response.
"Gregory, I'm not sure I understand," Billy stated slowly, hoping he could drag the conversation out to give the trace enough time to find out where Gregory was calling from.
"Stetson for Koslov, Friday. I'll send you details of the location later," Gregory informed him before he hung up the phone without waiting for a response.
Billy looked up at Francine. "Well?" he asked expectantly.
Francine shook her head as she depressed the stop button on the recorder, "Not even close. Gregory knew we were trying to trace him. He knows how it works. But now, we know who has Lee."
"Sir why would Gregory want Lee?" Amanda asked, her eyebrows raised high.
"He wants to trade Lee for Koslov, the KGB agent we picked up three weeks ago," Billy stated as he sat back in his chair exhaling.
Francine hit rewind on the cassette tape. When it clicked she depressed play, Gregory's voice filled the room. The trio listened to the conversation intently, while Billy brought his hands together as he concentrated on the voices. "Without a trace, we'll have to wait until Gregory contacts us again with the location information," Francine groused.
"Sir, can you play that again?" Amanda asked.
Francine glared at her. "Amanda, what do you think you can possibly come up with? Gregory knew we would try to trace the call. He said what he needed to, nothing more, nothing less" she snapped.
"Francine, I think I heard something. Something in the background sounds familiar. Please, can you play it again?" Amanda begged.
"Really, Amanda, this is ridiculous. We're wasting time here," Francine groaned.
"Sir, please? I know I heard something. Maybe it's a clue where Lee might be?" Amanda turned to Billy.
Billy studied Amanda's face before he made a decision. He trusted Amanda's intuition just as much as he trusted Francine's training. Touching his steepled fingers to his lips he commanded, "Play it again."