Chapter 23
As they waited for the ambulance, Lee called Billy, ignoring the protocol they had set up. "Billy, it's me. Listen, we have a situation. We found Lauren, drugged. We're waiting for the ambulance now. I'm going to need you to contact the local office. I've got another subject here that's I'm going to need to question. I don't know how he's tied to all of this but I'm going to find out."
Billy listened, jotting down notes as Lee spoke. "I'll take care of that now. Scarecrow, is Lauren going to be all right?"
"I don't know, Billy. I don't know what they injected her with so until we do, we're just gonna have to keep our fingers crossed," Lee admitted.
Hearing sirens, Amanda immediately went to the front door to flag them down. Right behind the ambulance were two police cars. As they pulled up to the house, Amanda ran to Lee's car to get her badge out of her purse. Holding it up as the officers approached, she quickly explained where Lauren was and that her partner, Lee Stetson was waiting inside with her and a suspect.
The paramedics quickly ran inside the house, where Lee stood in the hall, waiting. Amanda stayed outside, explaining to the officers everything that she knew had happened, why they were there and who they were looking for.
The paramedics first took Lauren's vitals. Lee handed them the syringe he found on the floor. "I can't find the vial. I have no idea what they injected her with."
The first paramedic looked at Lee, "Well, her heart rate is strong, blood pressure is fine. She doesn't seem to be in distress right now although her breathing is a bit shallow." He took the syringe and placed it in an evidence bag. "We'll have the hospital test this, find out what it is. Who should we contact?"
Handing them one of his cards,"Me and my partner. We're staying at the Barclay Towers. I need to know the second she wakes up," Lee informed them.
The second paramedic look at Kuznetsov, "What about him?"
Lee glanced over at him. Kuznetsov was beginning to groan as he came to. "He'll be ok. I need to question him."
Outside, an Agency vehicle pulled up with two agents inside. They stopped at Amanda, still giving her statement to the local police, "We're looking for Scarecrow?"
"He's inside still," Amanda looked toward the house. The paramedics were just beginning to bring Lauren out on a stretcher. Amanda sucked in a quick breath, seeing her strapped down, still unconscious. Behind them, Lee followed, leading Kuznetsov.
"Scarecrow? Agent Miller. Agent Rockwood. We got a call from a William Melrose in DC saying you needed backup and a place for an interrogation," Agent Miller said.
"You guys are fast. I just got off the phone a few minutes ago," Lee was surprised.
"We were on a call not too far from here when this came in. Said it was Priority One," Agent Rockwood explained.
"Okay, I need him checked in and set up for a full interrogation. The first thing I need from him though is what they injected our victim with," Lee gestured toward the ambulance which was beginning to pull away. He called over toward the police, "What hospital are they taking her too?"
The officer replied, "General on First Colonial Road."
Turning back to Agent Miller, Lee said, "How long to process him?"
"Him? About an hour. Then we can put him in interrogation to wait for you," Agent Miller replied.
"Yeah, that's perfect. Amanda, that gives us enough time to check out that other lead. You know the one Harry just gave us," Lee called over to Amanda.
Amanda nodded, knowing he was talking about the key to the safe deposit box. The address of the bank wasn't far from the hotel so an hour should give them more than enough time.
"Ok, Scarecrow, I'll contact Mr. Melrose and give him the processing information, casefile number and location information," Agent Miller informed him. "Will he know how to contact you directly?"
"Yeah, I have a phone in my car. He can call me on that," Lee answered, gesturing to his car. "If he says anything on the way there, please, contact us immediately. We need to know what was in that vial. It could be a matter of life and death."
"Will do." The two agents put Kuznetsov in the car, closing the door after him. Amanda and Lee watched them drive away.
"Do you think he'll say anything to help?" Amanda asked.
"I said before I didn't think they were professionals and from they way they panicked when I got in there, now I'm positive. I just wish I knew what they wanted Lauren for," Lee ran his hand through his hair nervously. "And I sure as hell wish I knew what they injected her with."
"Did the paramedics say anything?" Amanda was worried too.
"No, just her breathing was shallow, everything else seemed ok," Lee answered.
"Lee, you don't think its that MR5 drug, do you?" Amanda asked, hesitantly.
Lee didn't even want to consider it. "No, no I don't think so. Where would they get their hands on that, huh? Don't worry, the hospital will test that syringe and with any luck…" Lee didn't know how to finish his sentence.
"We should probably finish up with the local police so we can head over to that bank," Amanda put her and on Lee's arm.
"Yeah, yeah, we need to talk to the boys in blue. Maybe they can put this place under surveillance in case Tsipkin comes back," Lee sighed.
They spent a few minutes with the local police who did agree to have a car stationed down the street until further notice from Lee in case Tsipkin did return. Lee gave them Billy's number for a contact in case anything else happened.
"There's nothing else we can do here," Lee checked his watch. "We still have about 45 minutes before they finish processing our new friend. Let's go check out that safe deposit box."
"Sounds like a plan. Should we check in with Harry? Let him know what's going on? After all, Lauren is his daughter," Amanda questioned.
Shaking his head, Lee replied, "I know it might be wrong but not yet. We need to know what was in that syringe before I start worrying Harry. We need him to keep an eye on Charlie. It's not going to do us any good if Harry takes off for the hospital. Christina will follow him there and then we are back to where we were yesterday. No, I think we check out that box, then head over to interrogation. We need some answers. We keep coming up with more questions."
They drove to the Langley Federal Credit Union, the bank Peggy had identified in her letter to Harry. Once inside, a relatively new bank employee brought the pair to retrieve the box indicated on the key, after Amanda gave her a long rambling story about losing her wallet and how a copy of everything was in that box. Once the woman left, the put the box on the lone table in the room to open it.
Inside they found two blouses, almost identical to the one they found in the vault.
"Lee, would you look at this," Amanda said, reading a document she found.
"What is it?" Lee asked, flipping through a few other envelopes containing stock certificates.
Amanda's eyebrows raised, "You're never going to believe this. It's copy of Lauren's birth certificate, listing Harry as her biological father." She turned the paper around so he could see it.
"And here is the bank book for that account Harry was talking about," Lee held up the small red book.
Amanda flipped through a few more envelopes, finding a bound book buried under more papers. Opening it, she thumbed the pages, "Lee, I think this is pretty important. It's a list of every contact Peggy made, what information she got. Names, dates. And Victor's name is all over this. From what I can see, he's was pretty ruthless."
"Let me see that." Lee took the book from here. He flipped the pages until he got close to the end, "Amanda, this book has Alina Kursk's name in it. Now it looked like they got something called the Coreforce List from her. But there's a notation beside her name, does this symbol mean anything to you?"
Lee pointed to a spot on a page in the book. Amanda swallowed hard, "Lee, that looks like shorthand for death. Does that mean that Victor and Peggy killed her?"
"I don't think Peggy had anything to do with that part of it. But that doesn't mean Tsipkin knows that. We still don't know why he's after Lauren… unless there's something in one of these buttons…. Do you remember how Harry got them off the other shirt?" Lee had an idea.
"He just held this part and twisted," Amanda said as she demonstrated on the first button. Inside it was empty so she tried another one. This time something fell out - small clear sheet of microfiche covered in black dots.
"We're not going to be able to read this without a reader or a microscope at least. Let's take all this back to the hotel, go through it and have it shipped by courier to Billy. He can have the boys in Crypto take a look. Then maybe we can get some real answers," Lee stated.
"I agree. And I think it's almost time for you to head over to interrogation. The hotel is just down the street, why don't you drop me off, I can get this packaged up and sent. Then I can check on Charlie too. It's funny, I've already become attached to the little guy," Amanda dropped her eyes, slightly embarrassed at the thought.
"You know what, so have I," Lee admitted.
They removed everything from the box, and after closing it up, and putting it away, they left the bank. Lee dropped Amanda off at the front door of the hotel. Before she got out, he reminded her, "Don't say anything about Lauren just yet. If Harry asks, tell him I'm following up on another lead."
"I don't want to lie to him, Lee. I feel like we've lied enough," Amanda pressed her lips together firmly.
"You're not lying. I have to find out what was in that syringe and maybe get some answers as to why Tsipkin is after her," Lee assured her.
"And what if he asks where she is? Then what?" Amanda asked nervously.
"Do you know where she is right now?" Lee asked, eyebrow raised.
Amanda eyed him, "Well I don't know where she is exactly…"
"So that's all you have to tell him. I'll be back soon. I promise. Now get that stuff off to Billy. I'll be back before you know it," Lee said. "Oh, one more thing."
"What's that?" Amanda stopped getting out of the car.
"I love you, Mrs. Stetson," Lee pulled her back for a kiss.
"I love you too, Mr. Stetson," Amanda replied, smiling.