SMK – Chapter 10
Day 2
The silence in the elevator was thick, but neither of them wanted to cut through it as they rose to the Georgetown portal, the main entrance hall where Mrs. Marsden sat guard and where stairs went up to the Q-Bureau.
Amanda glanced over at Francine, turned back to face the elevator doors, and sighed.
"You have something you want to say?" Francine didn't bother turning her head.
"Huh?" Amanda turned again to look at her. "Oh, uh, no." She faced forward again, but quickly swiveled her head back to Francine – one eyebrow raised. "You?"
Francine gave her a quick glance. "Uh...no. I don't think so." They stood in awkward silence another moment. "Actually," Francine clipped the word. "I think I do, but I'm not sure Lee would appreciate it."
"I'm a big girl, Francine. We don't need Lee's permission to have a conversation." Amanda reached over to the buttons on the panel to the right of the doors and pressed one. The elevator stopped.
"What are you doing?" Francine looked frantically at the buttons.
"It's fine, Francine. I'm just giving you an opportunity to get everything off your chest here where we're all alone." Amanda settled her shoulder against the back wall and leaned into it. "Give it your best shot, Francine. I'm all ears."
"Fine," Francine huffed as she abruptly turned to face Amanda square on. "You want my best shot? Here it is." She took a deep breath, ready to give Amanda both barrels. "I worked my butt off trying to make it as a woman in the man's world of field agents. I put in the over-time hours; I put up with the jokes and the insults; I did the menial "women's" tasks; I overlooked the harassment; I even used my charms when I had to, but I made it. I mastered hand-to-hand combat; I became a highly qualified sniper; I mingle effortlessly with the rich and powerful, and I speak several languages fluently."
She paused to take a breath. "I had Billy's respect, Lee's respect...I even had him in my bed at one point..." Francine seared Amanda with a look, "...and was well on my way to getting him back. Then you walked in." Anger coursed through her, and she gestured up and down Amanda. "You, with your bumbling ways, your middle-class, suburban style..."
"Ouch."
"...your two kids, your station wagon, and your annoying child-like enthusiasm." Francine shook her head. "What in the world Lee started to see in you I'll never know because whatever it is, he certainly didn't at first."
She paced the small elevator as Amanda just stood there and absorbed her venom. "And somehow, you got on Billy's good side enough for him to think it was a good idea to pair you up with Lee." She shook her head. "I hope you know that Lee wasn't terribly thrilled with that."
"Yes, I'd say that's a pretty profound understatement," she snickered.
Francine's eyes widened. "You know that, huh?"
"Uh, yes, Francine. I think that would have been difficult to miss."
"Huh." Francine stared at Amanda for a moment. "Well, why the hell did you stick around when you were very obviously not wanted?"
Amanda shifted her position against the wall and shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, Francine, I'm not sure. I actually did walk out once early on when he made it quite clear he didn't want me around. I even went to a job interview and was almost hired, too. I was totally ready to cut whatever small ties I had with the Agency."
"I didn't know that. So, what happened?"
"Well, Lee showed up in the middle of the interview pretending we were married and saying that I needed to be home taking care of our triplets, of all things." Amanda chuckled at the memory. "I was shocked. Just a couple hours before, he had made it very clear he didn't want me around. Then, all of a sudden, there he was sabotaging my job interview."
"Huh."
"Yeah. I was livid." Amanda continued. "I really had no desire to be somewhere I wasn't wanted...though I will admit to you that from the beginning I was fascinated...both with the Agency and with Lee."
"So why did Lee get you out of your interview?"
"Billy."
"Billy." Francine rolled her eyes. "Of course. I knew he had to have something to do with it. Lee wouldn't have done it unless he was ordered to."
"Thanks, Francine."
"It's the truth."
Amanda lowered her chin a bit. "Yeah, I know it is."
"Was that the case where gunrunners were hiding gun parts in the Connie Beth hairdryers?"
"Yup. That's the one."
"Yeah. Next thing I knew, Lee stopped requesting me as back-up and began requesting you. I would joke with him about you, and he'd practically bite my head off. After that you seemed to always be around...horning in on my territory...working with Lee even though you weren't trained...coming up with clues that we missed and even helping to solve cases." Francine snorted in an unlady-like fashion. "I couldn't fit you into a box anymore, and I really resented that. It made you much more complex – and likable."
"Really?"
"Yes, well, I didn't want to like you, Amanda." Francine gave her a pointed look. "Sometimes I still don't."
Amanda sighed. "I guess I don't understand that, Francine."
"You're everything I'm not, Amanda." Francine scowled. "Everything I considered common...everything I tried so hard to rise above…everything I fought so hard to be the opposite of. And yet people seemed drawn to you...even Lee." She snorted a half laugh. "Hell, he married you, for Pete's sake. Scarecrow...decides to tie himself to one woman for life..." Francine looked her up and down dismissively. "And you're the woman he chooses." Her voice lowered to a near whisper. "What is that supposed to say about me, huh?"
"Why is it supposed to say anything about you, Francine?" Amanda shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it just says something about Lee and me."
Francine stared at Amanda as she processed that last comment. "Huh. That's an insightful statement. Never thought of it that way before."
Their conversation wasn't finished by a long shot, but they needed a break from it, so Amanda pushed the button again, and the elevator resumed its journey. It stopped when it arrived at the main floor.
"I'll tell you what, Amanda," Francine began as they waited for the doors. "Why don't I continue going through the employee files while you think through your past cases and try to come up with a list of other people who could possibly hold a grudge."
"Sounds good, Francine," Amanda agreed.
The lights went out in the elevator.
Amanda grabbed the walls to steady herself in the disorienting darkness. "Why aren't the doors opening, Francine," she whispered.
"I don't know, but this doesn't feel right." Francine reached for her gun. "Get behind me and get down."
There was a disturbance above them; they looked up just in time to see a body jump down. It flattened Francine to the floor with a sickening thud, and her gun skittered across the floor. Before Amanda could grab it, the masked intruder leaped up from the floor and put her in a compliance hold.
The barrel of a gun was at Amanda's temple. "Shhhhhh..." Her attacker's breath whooshed softly past her ear. "You stay quiet and do exactly as I say, and the other one lives. Got it?"
"Hello, Mrs. Marsden."
She handed him his Agency I.D. "Back again, Mr. Stetson?"
Lee chuckled. "You know me, I…"
A loud thud came from the elevator…then a piercing scream. Adrenalin rushed into his brain; he knew that scream.
"Amanda!" Lee ran to the elevator and threw open the fake closet door. Immediately, he noticed there were no lights behind any of the buttons, but he pushed them anyway. Nothing happened. He pounded on the doors feeling panic spike higher. "What's going on in there! Amanda! Are you okay?" No Answer. No sound. Nothing.
"Mrs. Marsden, call a Code Red and get the building on lock down!" She was already in the process. He grabbed the new gray phone on her desk that went directly to Billy's office "Billy!" he barked into the mouthpiece just as alarms started going off in the building.
"What's going on, Scarecrow?" Billy yelled back.
"It's Amanda. Someone got to her in the Georgetown elevator! It's stuck; none of the buttons are working. I can't get it open!"
"Take a deep breath, Scarecrow. Try to stay calm." Billy responded. "I'm pulling the security footage right now while we wait for the over-ride."
Training instinctively kicking in; Lee closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he waited for further information from the security cameras.
"Scarecrow, I've got the feed," Billy's voice came back through the receiver. "It looks like Francine and Amanda were both in the elevator when someone dropped in through the ceiling, knocked Francine out, and took Amanda out through the ceiling."
"Billy! That's impossible! How the hell'd he get past the laser alarm system in the elevator shaft?"
"I don't know, Lee. I've already got someone coming up there to help you, and the main override switch is on...now. Get in there and follow them!"
Lee slammed the phone down just as the doors of the elevator opened. Francine was lying on the ground but was beginning to come to. She moaned and reached for the back of her head. He didn't have time to check on her, but she'd understand that. There would be someone behind him to help her.
He raced inside, leaped to grasp hold of the edge of the opened ceiling tile, and hefted himself up through the hole. There was nothing on top of the elevator, but when he looked around, he saw a rope dangling from a ledge that sat about eight feet up the wall. Damn. He hadn't even known the shaft went any farther up, but that was a thought for another moment. Grabbing the rope, he pulled himself up hand-over-hand knowing that Billy would already have someone behind him as back-up. He didn't have time to look down to see who it was.
A whimper reached his ears as he reached for the ledge, and his heart nearly thundered out of his chest. Immediately, when he pulled himself up onto the platform, he saw the reason for the whimper. Amanda sat there with a rag stuffed in her mouth. Whoever had taken her had trussed her up and left. Worse than that, beside her sat an explosive device with only 20 seconds left on the timer. He didn't have time to think, and there was no point trying to disarm it. He needed to get Amanda out of there right now.
The bomb was tied to the long end of the rope, so he didn't bother with her restraints; he just grabbed his Leatherman out of his leg holster and swiftly cut the main rope. Loud beeping instantly came from the bomb. Damn! Cutting the rope had short-circuited the timer. There was no time!
"IT'S GONNA BLOW!"
He scooted her to the edge of the platform, briefly looking down to make sure there was someone to catch her, and dropped her with no warning except brief eye-contact with the agent below; she screamed through the rag.
The agent caught her, but her bodyweight along with the force of gravity drove him to the floor. He dragged her out of the way as Lee dropped to the ground and rolled out the door...just as the bomb went off, sending the elevator plummeting down the shaft.
