Chapter 7: New Neighbors

The arrival of the Petrescus went pretty smoothly. Wonder of wonders, the plane was on time. That almost never happened. All of the Agency's security personnel were in place, and Lee was ready to greet the family as they got off the plane. The only thing missing was Amanda, which made Lee feel strange and a little uneasy even though everything else was going perfectly.

Lee recognized the family immediately, thanks to the Agency's pictures. Anton Petrescu was a thin man with glasses, a little shorter than Lee, with darker hair. He held a briefcase in one hand and a newspaper in the other. He looked so much like a typical businessman that none of the other travelers gave him a second look. His wife, Doina, also had dark hair and wore a pretty floral dress. She had a cloth bag in another floral pattern that didn't match, and she was holding her daughter's hand. The daughter, Antonia, looked very much like her mother with the same dark hair and dark eyes. She wore a purple sweater with shiny square-shaped buttons and a matching skirt. She had a backpack with her in rainbow colors with hearts and white kittens on it. Thanks to training Amanda had given him in suburban consumerism, Lee recognized it as a Lisa Frank backpack, a brand popular among girls her age. In spite of the rainbow hearts and cute kittens on her bag, the young girl wore a serious expression as she and her family looked around for their escort.

"Good morning, Mr. Petrescu," Lee said as he approached them. "Welcome to Washington. I'm Lee Stetson. I'm here to give you a ride to your new house."

"And what do your friends call you?" Anton Petrescu asked, looking Lee up and down. He spoke with a soft Romanian accent.

"Scarecrow." That was the sign for the Petrescus to know that they had met the right escort.

The family relaxed visibly at the name, and Lee led them through the terminal to the baggage claim to get the rest of their luggage. As arranged, two more agents, Johnson and Wheeler, followed at a discreet distance, keeping an eye on things.

At the baggage carousel, the family pointed out their suitcases, and Lee helped to collect them. Antonia tried to pick up her pink suitcase herself although she only managed to get it about halfway off the carousel because of the weight.

"Let me get that for you," Lee said, taking it from her. She gave him a small smile but said nothing.

Her father, meanwhile, grabbed for a suitcase that Lee had missed.

"Oof!" Anton accidentally bumped into a man walking behind him as he turned with it, knocking over the briefcase he had set down beside him.

The stranger rubbed his leg where it was hit by the swinging suitcase and reached down to help Anton pick up the briefcase. As he did so, both men suddenly paused and looked at each other. The look they exchanged was one of astonishment.

"Are you alright?" Lee asked, coming over to check on Anton and get a better look at the stranger.

The stranger immediately pulled the hat he wore down over his eyes, turned and disappeared into the crowd. Lee looked toward their escort and signaled for them to check the man out. Johnson took off in pursuit of the man while Wheeler kept his eyes on Lee and the family.

"Who was that?" Lee asked Anton. "Was it someone you know?"

"I-" Anton paused. "I don't know. I just bumped into him."

"You seemed to recognize him," Lee pressed.

"He looked familiar at first," Anton said. "But, I think I was mistaken."

"Who did he look like?" Lee asked.

"Nobody." Anton shook his head. "I thought for a moment that I knew him, but I was wrong."

Lee's sense of uneasiness grew, but that was all he was able to get out of Anton. Johnson reappeared and shook his head at Lee, shrugging. He had lost the stranger somewhere in the crowd. Now, Lee was very uneasy.

"Let's finish getting the bags," Lee said.

He hurried the family out to the car that the Agency provided for him to take the Petrescus to their new house. His own car was both too conspicuous and not big enough for four people. Anton helped him load the family's suitcases into the trunk, and then they drove out of the parking garage.

Lee took extra time getting to Amanda's neighborhood, going out of his way to drive around other surrounding neighborhoods, telling agents Carter and Lopez by radio to expect that and to watch for any followers. The car containing agents Carter and Lopez followed them, but Lee didn't see any signs of other pursuing cars. If there were any, he had to depend on Carter and Lopez to spot them and call in reinforcements to help deal with them. Carter and Lopez didn't report seeing anything unusual.

Since Anton seemed reluctant to talk about the man he saw in the airport, Lee instead talked to the family about the story they would have to tell their new neighbors, since they couldn't talk about Anton's real profession.

"Technical advisor to a documentary film company?" Anton asked with a chuckle. "Very interesting. What kind of documentary are we making?"

"Since you'll be living here for the long term, you can say you're working on various projects. If anyone asks you what you're working on currently, just say it's about electricity."

"What about electricity?"

"All about it. It's all about electricity. Be very vague and general."

Anton chuckled. "A documentary all about electricity. Next, I suppose it will be a documentary all about chemistry. You know, each of those topics could take an entire series of documentaries."

"You could tell people that's exactly what you're working on," Lee said. "They'll never know the difference."

"No one ever sees the films your 'IFF' creates?"

"We make a few real films that are shown late at night on public television," Lee said. "We do enough to maintain our credibility, but we don't want to risk getting too much attention."

"I see."

"I understand that our film about crop rotation has actually been purchased by a number of schools. Poor kids."

Anton chuckled again, and Lee checked his rearview mirror. So far, so good. No followers except for the one they expected.

"I saw a documentary about Nikola Tesla in my school in California," Antonia said suddenly. "They got a lot of things wrong."

Lee was surprised. Partly because the girl hadn't said anything up to now and partly because there was no trace of accent in her voice like there was in her parents'. Of course, she'd been very young when she'd come to this country.

"What did they get wrong?" Lee asked conversationally as he steered them toward the neighborhood where they would live, just down the street from Amanda. He was satisfied that the mysterious man from the airport wasn't following them.

"They said that he was 30 when he came to the United States, but he wasn't. He was 28," the girl replied.

"Oh," Lee said.

They were getting close to the house now. He hoped Amanda was still resting at home. She would probably be tempted to come over and check on things, but he'd told her that she should just stay home until she was better.

"Tesla worked with Edison," Antonia continued, "but they parted ways because they couldn't see eye to eye on things. I think Tesla didn't get as much credit as he deserved because other inventors were better businessmen. But, being a good businessman doesn't make someone a better inventor."

"Most little girls idolize ballerinas or actresses or singers," Anton said with yet another chuckle. The man seemed to chuckle a lot. "My little girl idolizes inventors."

"That's not a bad thing," Lee said.

Briefly, he wondered what his little girl might be interested in. If he had one. Then, he forced himself to return to the present.

"Here we are," Lee said, turning into the driveway.

Carter and Lopez parked along the curb. Lee got out to talk to them and Fred Fielder. Carter and Lopez assured him that no one had followed them from the airport, and Fielder said that everything was quiet around the house, no visitors, not even Amanda.

Reassured that everything was alright, Lee got the family inside and started acquainting them with the house and the security systems in place. He made sure that they understood what would set off an alarm and how to reset the system with a code number in case of a mistake. He also told them about the security teams watching the house and how to alert them if they needed help.

Anton and Doina thanked him and immediately set about getting unpacked. Doina complimented the lovely and comfortable furnishings that Amanda had picked out.

"My partner is responsible for that," Lee said. "I'm sure she'll be pleased that you like them. Unfortunately, she's not feeling well today. You'll see her on Saturday. She lives very close with her mother and two kids, so you'll be seeing a lot of her."

"Kids?" Antonia asked, interested.

"She has two sons," Lee explained. He was relieved that Antonia didn't seem too excited at the idea of meeting boys. "But, I'm sure that there are plenty of other girls in the area, too."

"You'll make new friends when you start going to school," her mother said reassuringly. "Just remember to tell them the cover story that Mr. Stetson has given us for your father. Say that he works for a documentary film company."

"I know," Antonia said, sounding annoyed. "I heard."

"It's very important that you not talk about your father's real work in public," her mother emphasized.

"We never talk about his real work at home, either," Antonia pointed out.

"You know that your father's work is secret and that he has enemies."

"I know." Antonia sounded resigned. Lee had the feeling that she had heard this all many times before.

"Why don't you go and unpack now?" Doina said to Antonia.

Antonia nodded silently. Lee watched as she walked into the bedroom that was going to be her new room. Amanda had chosen a pretty quilted bedspread for her. There was a pretty white bureau and a small vanity table with a tri-fold mirror that matched. Instead of opening up her suitcase and pulling out clothes or brushing her pretty hair at the vanity table, Antonia Petrescu just plunked her kitty backpack on the bed and sat down on the bedspread, looking around at everything.

It reminded Lee of Amanda when she was bored and didn't quite know what to do with herself. He wondered if he should go in and talk to the poor kid some more. Moving to a new place with no friends was never easy. He'd done it plenty of times himself. But, before he could make up his mind what to say to her, she opened up the backpack and pulled out a book. It was about Nikola Tesla. Lee sure hoped that someone at her new school would be into Tesla.