Hello everybody, Grey Fool here with a new chapter.

First of all, thank you to those who have reviewed and to my beta, who is helping me stay on track with these characters.

As always, I don't own these characters. They belong to Shoot the Moon.

Last Week: Last week Amanda and Lee were knocked out.

Now let's see where they are. One other thing, there is a small paragraph that probably would rank 'M', I've marked it in the story but other than that one section the rest is rated 'T'

Please r&r and enjoy the story.

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Lee's eyes fluttered open. Seeing a blinding light, he shut his eyes in hopes of blocking the headache he felt coming on. Whatever had knocked him out had packed quite a punch.

After a few minutes, Lee groaned and tried to move his hands to rub his head. However, he came to discover that both his hands were tied together with rope and he was bound to a chair. He even tried to twist his body to see what was behind him, but whoever tied him up had done so leaving very little wiggling room.

Lee studied the room that had become his prison with some hopes of finding something that he could use to cut the ropes. All that he could tell that was in the room he was in were stacks of boxes. Upon seeing nothing that could cut the ropes, Lee sighed and tilted his head to stare up at the ceiling. It wasn't until he heard a groan that he finally noticed Amanda was also tied up beside him.

"Amanda, are you all right?" Lee whispered.

"I'm slightly nauseous and have very painful headache. It feels like someone wacked me upside of the head with a bag of bricks. Do you know where we are?"

"No, I was hoping you did."

Amanda looked about her. "Well, if I'm right, it is possible we are in one of the storage rooms at the Weather Bureau. Who do you think brought us here?"

"Most likely those two goons that got the jump on us, but if we are going to have a chance to get out of here, we need to start working on these damn ropes. Still keeping up with knots in that Den club?"

"Yeah, why?"

Lee rolled his eyes. "Do you think you might be able to work the knots a little to get yourself free?"

"I could try…Lee, what happened back at the house?"

Lee sighed, "I was coming to your house to check on you, but I got suspicious when the two guards didn't respond to my request for a status updates. By the time I arrived, the two goons were already in your house trying to take you away. One of them must have gotten the drop on me, because I don't remember too much after I came into your house. What about you?"

Amanda just shook her head. "I don't remember much outside of someone putting a cloth on my face and then nothing. How are you coming with your binds?"

"It's like trying to get out of a straight jacket."

"I wouldn't try undoing your bindings if I were you."

Lee and Amanda whirled their heads towards the voice and watched as Khusbakht entered the room.

"Who are you," Lee asked grinding his teeth.

The man smiled slightly. "Scarecrow, I'm surprised at you. Surely after JUST a few of years you remember me. After all it was you who ruined my plans to destroy the Air Force."

Lee frowned a few minutes before recognized who the man was. "William, oh but wait, I forget it is Khusbakht these days. Hmph, from betraying your country to defecting and almost destroying your country, you certainly have been busy. But I do have to ask one thing. Why change your name to Khusbakht? If I remember correctly it is an Muslim name, right?"

Khubaskht nodded. "Yes, it means fortune in Muslim. You see my family has roots in Arabic countries. So when I moved to Russia, I figured what better way to start over then to change my name to that of one with Arabian meaning. It means fortune. And what good fortune I've had since the last time you and I met."

The man walked towards Lee and towered above him; "You see Scarecrow, I've had to remain 'busy' as you put it. After you practically destroyed my career before I could destroy the Air Force, well, I just had to get back at them. So when Russia offered me a job due to my extended knowledge of the U.S. Military, I just couldn't refuse. Then when the U.S showed an interest in Grenada, it was a perfect opportunity to show my skills and work my way up the ladder."

Lee interrupted, "By collecting the Air Force's secrets and sending them over in weather reports? Oh yeah you certainly are improving your skills there."

Amanda spoke up, "Lee…"

Turning abruptly and walking away from Lee, Khusbakht made his way around the chairs and then knelt in front of Amanda. "Ah Amanda, it is such a shame you had to get mixed up in this little business. I've been watching you these past few days and I couldn't help myself that day we ran into each other. I just had to meet you. From what my men tell me, you are a mother of two and a loyal daughter to your mother."

He reached out with his hand and slowly started to stroke her cheek. Closing his eyes, he breathed in and out slowly. "One thing I've learned in Russia, a women like you would make a fine wife. I would be the envy of many Russian men."

Amanda closed her eyes and shuddered trying to turn away to get rid of the creepy feeling she felt as the man touched her. At the same time, Lee struggled against his bindings even harder.

"Let her go. She has nothing to do this."

The man dropped his hand instantly and moved to where he could observe both his prisoners. "Oh, on the contrary; she is the key to my plan. You see, If Amanda here had just left things alone and forgotten about seeing John's death; I would just be destroying you Scarecrow. As it is, not only will I utterly destroy you, but Amanda here," Khusbakht grabbed Amanda's hair and yanked it back while moving in close enough to breath in her scent, "will stay by my side and watch you suffer."

Amanda whimpered slightly.

Khusbakht smiled and let go of her hair. "However I remember how you operate Scarecrow and I do love a challenge as well as watching you operate. I propose to raise the stakes a little higher. I will release you and you will have to figure out how to save your lives and stop the bomb that I have hidden somewhere in the building. Don't bother with just trying to find an exit, all the doors are locked. If you can manage to stop the bomb in time, well then I might just spare your lives."

Lee snarled and glanced over at Amanda as best he could. Seeing she was looking at him with fear in her eyes, he gave a slight nod towards her and received one back. Turning back to Khusbakht, Lee gave their answer. "Fine, we'll play your game."

"Excellent," Khusbakht turned towards Tom, who just entered the room. "Please release our prisoners and let them leave this room in about five minutes."

With that, Khusbakht left the room. Tom walked over to where Lee and Amanda were and cut the ropes. As soon as Lee was free, he turned on Tom and gave him a right hook across his jaw. He took a fighting stance expecting a returning punch, but Tom had toppled over and landed on the floor, out cold.

"That is for the goose egg on my head."

After being sure Tom was out for the count, he turned his attention to Amanda and finished untying her.

Pulling her up, Lee started rubbing her wrists trying to get blood circulation back in her hands. Noticing she was looking at her hands, he leaned down so that he could catch her eye. "You all right?"

Amanda looked back up and, despite the fact Lee could see shock and fear in her eyes, nodded. "Yes, Lee. I'm fine. Just a little spooked is all. Do you know about how long we've been in here?"

"No clue. Why?"

Amanda groaned. "My mother Is going to kill me. I was just supposed to have been locking up the house, but when she finds out I disappeared and without calling Dean…Dean. Oh my gosh, he is going to be so mad at me when he sees me again. It was bad enough to have disappeared on him at the picnic but to not have called him…"

"Uh Amanda, is there something going on with Dean I should know about," Lee asked, his voice full of concern.

Amanda shook her head. "Dean? Is there something going on with Dean? No, no there's nothing going on with Dean."

Lee shook his head and decided to drop the subject seeing as he would not get an answer from her at the moment. That and they were running out of time.

"Come on, we've got to find that bomb."

With that, Lee grabbed Amanda's hand and together, they maneuvered through the maze of hallways and doors. To Lee's surprise, they met no trouble at all. In fact they did not meet anybody at all. Finally after several minutes, Amanda tugged at Lee's arm and pointed to a door marked 'Monitoring Room'.

Lee nodded and turned to face Amanda, placing both of his hands on her shoulders, and whispered. "Alright now I'm going to check in this room to see if the bomb is in there, I want you to go find a phone and dial 1-988-0209 ask for Billy Melrose. Got it?"

Amanda nodded and took off down a different direction and disappeared around a corner. Pulling out his gun, Lee crept slowly up to the door. Placing one hand on the handle, he jerked the door open resulting in a large bang when it hit the wall.

Ignoring the sound, Lee crept slowly into the room without any problems. Seeing nobody was in the room. Lee put his gun away and began searching the area for a bomb. Seeing as there was nothing in the room but control panels for the gigantic computer in the room he began his search there. Plus, if he remembered the way Khusbakht's way of building bombs correctly, the bombs needed to be placed in areas where they could pull power from other devices. And a big computer would be a perfect power supply.

After pulling out many control panels until he found the bomb. He pulled it up to try and move the bomb, but all that came out with it was a bunch of wires running into the circuitry of the control panel. He placed the bomb gently back into its place, not wanting to trigger anything.

At the sound of the door banging, Lee whirled around, pulling out his gun, and saw Khusbakht standing just behind the gate.

"It's over Khusbakht."

Khusbakht turned around with a smile on his face. "Not quite Mr. Stetson. You may have caught me, but you have not saved all the lives in this building yet. I'm still in the lead."

Lee lowered his gun, "What?"

"I see you've found the bomb, go ahead and take a look."

Lee inched his way back towards the bomb, keeping his gun trained on Khusbakht. Once Lee was in range of black screen, he saw that five minutes flashed a couple of times before it started ticking down.

Lee turned his attention back to Khusbakht, "What did you do?"

"Tut tut Lee, I'm surprised at you. You see I had the bomb rigged to begin the countdown once I stepped into this room. But Lee, that is not the only reason I'm ahead."

Khusbakht turned and beckoned Dan over, revealing a struggling Amanda in Dan's arms. In a quick flash, Amanda was pushed into Khusbakt's arms and he pointed a knife to her throat with one hand while the other circled her stomach.

"You see Scarecrow, not only do you have a ticking bomb on your hands, but I also have your partner."

Lee growled, "Let her go."

This next part is rated 'M'. Please skip if you are under 18 yrs.

Khusbakht grinned. "No Scarecrow, I don't think I will. You see I thought about it in the last few minutes, and Amanda here," Khusbakht took in a deep breath close to Amanda's hair, "is just too good to pass up. Yes…I think I'll make her a housekeeper with…special benefits. Hmm…I can see it now; Men will line up outside my door to make special appoints to have her come and 'clean' their houses. But first, I'll make her my wife and, after watching Dean interact with Amanda, finish teaching her the way a woman should behave with a man. Wouldn't you agree Lee?"

Khusbakht loosened his grip slightly so he could almost bury his face into Amanda's neck.

End of the 'M' section. Now is okay for younger readers to read from this point

While Lee's insides were burning with rage, he tried to keep a cool outer exterior. Once Lee was sure he had eye contact with her, he gave her a very slight nod.

When she returned the signal, Amanda lifted up her foot and forced it down with all her might on Khusbakht's foot. With a yelp, he let go of Amanda to grab it in pain. As soon as she could, Amanda moved out of Lee's way.

Lee took the opportunity of Amanda's distraction to tackle Khusbakht just as the timer on the bomb went to zero.

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Whew…what a chapter. I never originally intended for this chapter to get so intense. Anyway, now you can see why I aired on the side of caution and bumped up the rating.

Well, until next week, please r&r…at least I think people would like me to get Lee and Amanda out of this situation…I could always leave them in a burning building if no one wants to know what happens next.

Oh and about Khusbakht's name. When I originally wrote this story, it was set in present day. That led to having a Muslim name since it would have flowed with current events. However when I put the story pack in the original time frame of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, I forgot to change his name to a Russian name.

Next time on Scarecrow and Mrs King: Weathering Revenge: he had a very important phone call to make back at the Agency in regards to a certain weather man.