SMK Chapter 21 - Day 13

He'd been instructed to be at work as usual, so here he was, but he could barely concentrate. He'd watched them drug her again last night; he'd also watched as Fred sharpened a very fine knife blade and set it on the table next to the gurney. Lee's blood had frozen right in his veins. Field agents spent years being trained on how to handle different forms of torture, but Amanda wasn't that kind of agent. Watching was more than he could bear, but not knowing was worse, and so…he watched.

So far, Lee didn't think Fred had any idea they knew he was involved, but one could never be one-hundred percent sure about these things. They knew June's endgame. Fred's and Davy's could only be death for both him and Amanda. When, where, and how were still unknowns, and there wasn't much time to sort this thing out.

When he'd turned the monitor on this morning, the video feed was off. But last night he'd watched Fred inject something into her IV. He'd worn a ski mask and had looked directly into the camera as if making eye-contact. It was a silent warning.

Yesterday, they'd moved to a little hole-in-the-wall diner and come up with the beginnings of a plan. They figured June would play the innocent while she tried to woo him into crying on her shoulder, so Billy would see that information on Amanda's kidnapping was leaked. That would give June an excuse to bring it up to Lee.

Lee was supposed to "accidentally" bump into her this morning to start things rolling. He blew out a hard breath; he was walking a tight rope. If he confided in her too soon, he would show their cards because nobody would believe the ruse. On the other hand, he had to give her a chance to try, or they were dead in the water, and that wouldn't end well for Amanda. Or their baby.

He rubbed his hand up and down his face as anxiety like he'd never experienced before tightened his chest. They'd been in some tight spots before – some really tight spots. How many times had she been kidnapped, anyway? Too many. Not to mention the shot that nearly killed her on their honeymoon.

But he blamed himself for this one. Actually, he blamed himself for most of them. Meeting him had probably been the single worst thing that had ever happened to her. Oh, she would argue with that, but from where he stood, he was the genesis of all her problems.

"Lee, stop it."

Francine's voice floated into his consciousness from what seemed like a distant world. He turned his head and looked at her. He'd forgotten she was even here. "Huh?"

"Stop it," she repeated. "I can see what you're doing to yourself." She stood from the sofa and walked over to stand by his desk. "This isn't your fault."

"Then who's fault is it, Francine?" Annoyance colored his words, but it was more at himself than at her.

"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged her shoulders in a mock display of uncertainty. "Maybe David's, Fred's, and June's?"

Lee put his elbows on his desk, clasped his hands together and just looked at her. "Yeah." He put both hands through his hair once, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed. "But she wouldn't be in this mess – hell, she wouldn't have ever been in any messes if I'd never singled her out at that train station."

"She also wouldn't be walking around on a cloud of happiness."

Lee looked back at her. "Huh?"

"Oh, come on, Lee. The woman is deliriously in love with you. Any fool can see that."

"You didn't."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to see it." She looked down at her feet. "At least, I didn't want to see it for what it really was." She looked back up at him. "But I can honestly say, after watching you two together, that you're walking around on clouds of happiness just as much as she is."

"I won't argue with that part."

"She really does make you happy, doesn't she?" He just looked at her. "Yeah, I know; you've told me that before." She sighed. "I guess I was still holding out a little hope for myself."

He was shocked by her admission, but he really didn't have the mental energy for this conversation right now. "Francine, I'd be happy to talk with you about that when all this is over, but…"

"No, I get it." Francine waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal. "I'm sorry. That was insensitive of me. We need to focus on getting your wife and child back." She took another big breath as she paused and watched him for a moment. "Are you ready for this?"

Lee looked at his watch. June would be coming through the bullpen with the mail cart in just a few minutes. "Yeah," he stood from his desk. "I guess we should head down there."

Their plan was working beautifully so far, but she wasn't sure what to expect from Lee this morning. Would he cooperate and come to work? Either way, it was only a matter of time now before he belonged to her

She pushed the cart into the bullpen and saw Fred sitting at his desk acting like everything was totally normal. But it wasn't normal for her; it was time to put herself out there and approach Lee. She'd seen the whispers going around the office and had overheard ladies in the restroom talking. Mrs. King had disappeared, and Scarecrow was beside himself with worry.

She was almost finished passing out mail when Scarecrow finally walked in with Francine behind him. Fred immediately got up from his desk, strode toward him, and reached out a hand to his shoulder.

"Hey man," Fred's distressed look was brilliant acting. "I've heard rumors about Amanda. Are they true?"

She watched Lee carefully for any sign of suspicion but saw nothing but a grieving man. "What have you heard?"

Fred removed his hand from Lee's shoulder and slipped it into his pocket. "I heard she'd been abducted by the wacko who tried to kill her in the elevator. Is that true?"

Lee took in a deep breath and let it out in a slow, controlled exhale. "So, the office grapevine has been pretty busy, huh?"

"Yeah, man. I know you two were really close. Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?

"Are…"

"Excuse me?"

"Are really close. We are really close." Lee was visibly annoyed. "There's no past-tense about it."

Fred removed his hands from his pockets and raised them in a slightly defensive gesture. "Hey, man. I didn't mean anything by it. I just, well, I don't think anyone realized exactly how close you two were…are," he amended at Lee's look. "…until that elevator thing happened." He clamped Lee's shoulder again. "I know it's not like we're best pals or anything, but we've known each other a long time, Scarecrow. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."

She continued to watch as Lee nodded his head and thanked Fred. What a performance. She'd have to congratulate Fred later. Meanwhile, she needed to catch up with Lee; he was headed out of the bullpen. She left the cart where it was and rushed to follow him.

"Mr. Stetson?"

Lee froze at the sound of her voice. It was a disconcerting feeling, fire and ice in his veins at the same time. Billy and Francine had talked with him about this yesterday – that he would likely have a difficult time playing this particular undercover role. He hadn't thought he would; he'd been wrong. All he wanted to do right now was turn around and strangle her. Slowly. He only had a split second to pull himself together. Acting as if he were trying to hide his grief, he turned. "Oh, hey June."

"Mr. Stetson, is what I heard true? Did something happen to Mrs. King?"

Oh, she was good; he had to give her that. "Uh," in typical fashion, he ran his hand over the top of his head. "What have you heard?"

"Well," she walked closer to him and laid a hand on his arm. Instinct screamed at him to pull away, but training and desperation for his wife and child made him stay. "I heard whoever blew up the elevator grabbed her and is holding her hostage." She squeezed his arm. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Stetson. I know you two were close." Something flitted across her features so fast, he wasn't sure if he'd seen it. Years of honed instincts told him he had.

"Yes," he admitted. "Someone grabbed her just a few nights ago." The burning in his eyes was not acting.

June squeezed his forearm then reached her arms around his neck in a hug that was supposed to come across as sympathy. He knew better, but he had a role to play here. He accepted her hug but remained stiff so he wouldn't come across to open. No one would believe that act.

"Oh, Mr. Stetson. Again. I'm so sorry." June pulled away, but not completely. It left them in a very awkward position. "Is there anything I can do?" Compassion rolled off her in waves. "Would you like someone to talk to?"

He gently pushed her away. "Thank you, June. I do appreciate that, but no. I'm not ready to talk to anyone really. I'm going to find her, and she'll be okay." He turned to leave. "But thank you, again. I really do appreciate it."

Well, that wasn't exactly a glowing acceptance of friendship, but she figured it would take a little while to get him to trust her enough to pour his heart out. It was a good first attempt.

Fred watched them surreptitiously from the bullpen. Not exactly a stellar response by Scarecrow. The plan required him to play nice with June, and he knew exactly how to get him to do it.

Still Day 13

Leatherneck was following June just in case she went to the location where they were holding Amanda, so Lee rushed home during his lunch break to check on her. The apartment felt palpably empty as he walked into it, like the life had been sucked right out of it. He'd lived for a long time by himself and thought he'd been happy that way. What a fool he'd been.

He dropped the keys on the entry table, then stopped abruptly and looked at them. He'd done it without thinking; Amanda would be proud of him. Stalling, he went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water before walking slowly to the monitor. He turned it on.

The glass slipped out of his hand and shattered on the floor.

No! No, no, no, no, no! He hadn't thought Fred would resort to cutting her this soon into the game, but there they were – two small, red horizontal lines across her upper arms. She'd always been blindfolded and lying flat on her back, but now they'd gagged her, too. She had to be in unbearable misery.

Something caught his attention and he looked more closely at her. She was tightening and loosening her fists. Dear God: she was conscious. Of course. Fred wouldn't spare either of them by cutting her while she was out of it; that would reduce the shock factor. No, she was awake and trying not to go crazy. But he was going crazy; that was the whole point, after all.

He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't tear his attention from her. Hold on. There was a sign written in dripping black paint hanging on the cage wall. He hadn't noticed it before. Try again, Romeo. Lee picked up the closest moveable object near him and threw it across the room with such force that it shattered against the wall.

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