"I think I can put my finger on the exact moment I knew they had to die," said Sinclair in a casual tone as he continued to hang up dynamite, while they waited for Lee to arrive.

"Who had to die?" asked Amanda.

"All of them," he answered, as if it was obvious. "All those young agents – I was better than all of them."

Behind Sinclair, Amanda could see the door to the apartment swing open silently. Lee! she thought, and quickly moved to look at Sinclair, hoping he wouldn't notice her distraction.

"Mr. Sinclair, you're going to blow up this whole building with all that dynamite. You can't mean to hurt all those innocent people, can you? I can see that you're upset about something, but maybe, if you just talked to someone at the Agency, they could help you."

"Oh, I don't think so," he answered. "Those innocent people – they all laugh at me, I know that. Do you know that the drive-in is playing my movie and people go to laugh at it? Me, Buzz Blade – a laughing stock! That film almost took my life and now it's taking my dignity too. Just like all those agents, thinking they could treat me like I was no one just because I wore a janitor's uniform. Well, I made them pay – by being better than all of them."

"Mr. Sinclair, I really think you need some help," she said, drawing his attention away from the doorway. "All those men were real agents and you're just an actor."

"Oh no, Mrs. King, I don't think so," he said, imperturbable in his madness. "I could do it better than anyone. Michet, Zernov, your Mr. Stetson… none of them had the skills I do. Look how easy it was for me to pick them off."

Amanda watched Lee approach in her peripheral vision, then realized it wasn't Lee at all. For a moment she thought it might be Mr. Fellers the doorman, since she could tell he was wearing a long coat, but that didn't seem right either. No, she realized, the coat was the wrong color; Mr. Fellers wore a green jacket and this one was blue. She chanced a quick look and saw it was a much older man, not as tall as Lee, but something about him reminded her of Lee when he was in agent mode, the same sense of coiled energy and concentration. His face was stony and his right hand was curled into a tight fist.

"What is it?" asked Sinclair suddenly, sensing danger. He turned, only to be met with that fist plowing into his face. He staggered backwards, howling in pain.

Amanda's rescuer followed him, grabbing his shirt front and holding him upright while he punched him repeatedly until Sinclair sagged, unable to stand up any longer, at which point he allowed him to drop to the floor. He stood over him for a moment, panting slightly. "Now look who's easy to pick off," he growled, rubbing his knuckles with a grimace of pain.

He turned to face Amanda, and bowed slightly. "Amanda King, I presume? I got your message." He knelt beside her chair and began to undo the knots.

She didn't know what he meant by that, but "Yes," she gasped. "Thank you! I can't believe you were here just in time."

"Right time, right place," he agreed.

"Stand up and step away from her, or you're a dead man," Lee growled from the bedroom door.

The man at her feet stiffened, then glanced up to meet Amanda's eyes, his own wide with surprise.

"Oh no, Lee," she exclaimed. "This isn't him. The man on the floor is Russell Sinclair. This is, well, I don't actually know who this is, but he stopped him."

Her savior stood up slowly and turned around. "I should have known it was some kind of damn stupid prank," he said.

"Oh my God," said Lee, startled. His hand with the gun in it dropped to his side. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," came the steely reply. "Since I was told you were dead."

"Not this time," replied Lee. "Sorry about that."

"Is that what you think?" The question came in a muted roar. "That I'd be happy you were dead?"

"Um, excuse me?" said Amanda, waving one hand to get their attention. "Still tied up here?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot you what with all the distraction of Lazarus here."

Lee came forward to help the man with the other knots, then held out a hand to help her out of the chair. "Amanda, may I introduce you to Colonel Robert Clayton – my uncle. Colonel, this is Amanda King, my, uh friend."

"Oh my gosh!" Amanda's eyes went wide. "You're here!"

"But why are you here?" Lee asked. "Why of all the times you choose to drop in unannounced did you choose this week?" he paused, suddenly suspicious. "And why did you think I was dead?"

Amanda cleared her throat. "Um, that might be my fault."

Lee turned to her. "What?"

"Well, remember when I said that I went to your apartment after your funeral?"

"You had a funeral?" asked his uncle.

"Well, not a real one obviously," snipped Lee.

His uncle rolled his eyes while Amanda went on. "Yes, well, after I found the… you know… the, um, paperwork in the desk drawer and I was going to take it to Billy, and then I remembered what you said to me that day when we were locked in the car trunk."

Colonel Clayton gave off a noise of complete exasperation. "Why did you have this young lady locked in the trunk of a car, Skip?"

"It's a long story," said Lee. He looked back at Amanda. "So what did I say?"

"You said 'if I don't get out of this, go to my uncle'."

Lee ran his hand across his face. "So you did. Oh my God."

"I thought you were dead!" She showed a flash of anger. "And I was upset! So, I looked through your desk and found his phone number in your address book and called him. I got the machine, but I left a message of condolence and said that we had something to discuss, but that it should probably be done in person."

"And I was giving a briefing at Beale, but got it when I got in last night and then I grabbed a red-eye to get here this morning," finished his uncle. "I was on my way straight down to the Agency to give them hell for thinking I didn't need notifying immediately, but then I decided to stop here instead." His expression turned bleak. "I guess I was hoping it wasn't true. I thought I'd have a few quiet moments to come to grips with it, but instead-" he gestured at Amanda, "I find this young lady tied up, and pleading with a man who was claiming to have killed you." He gave Sinclair a kick, and Sinclair gave a slight groan. "And that's where you came in – alive and kicking. Thank God." He scowled at Lee's bemused expression. "I don't know why you're looking at me like that, Skip!"

"I guess I never thought you'd drop everything to fly out here," said Lee.

"Of course, I would!" growled the Colonel. "You're my only family, whether you like it or not, and I do actually care if anything happens to you." He turned to Amanda. "Thank you for contacting me. God knows if anyone at the Agency would have, if any of this had been real."

"Of course, they would have," said Lee, uncomfortably, since he wasn't entirely certain if anyone would bother. It was entirely possible his uncle would get a simple death notification in the mail and nothing else.

"Well let's hope we never have to find out if that's true," said the Colonel, correctly interpreting Lee's discomfort. "I'm glad you've turned out to be so delightful, Miss King."

"Mrs," she corrected him.

"Mrs. I see." The colonel turned his gaze on Lee for a moment who flushed at the knowing tone in his uncle's voice. "Well, I have to admit when I got your note about having to talk to me, I wasn't at all certain what to expect." He looked around the room. "Certainly not finding you in the middle of an ammunitions depot, talking down a killer."

"That's because you don't know her," said Lee, shooting her a proud look.

"No, I don't," said the Colonel. "I wonder why?"

Lee's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Amanda," he said, not taking his gaze off his uncle. "Could you call Billy and let him know we have Sinclair here while I get him trussed up for transport?"

Amanda looked between the two men, not sure why she sensed tension. She nodded though and stepped away to pick up the phone. Lee put handcuffs on Sinclair, then drew his uncle into the kitchen.

"Okay, spit it out," he said. "What have you got against Amanda? You've only just met her."

"Nothing at all, Skip," said the Colonel promptly. "Like I said, I didn't know what to expect."

"But you expected something," Lee prodded him. "I know that tone."

"Well," his uncle glanced across the room at Amanda who was talking animatedly to Billy. "I got a call from a strange woman, telling me you were dead, but that I should come talk to her about something personal. What would you think? I can't help it if my mind went to the lowest possible place, given your dating history."

"Oh, for God's sake," Lee rubbed his hand over his face. "Okay, I probably deserve that – but Amanda doesn't! She is a divorced mother of two small boys."

"Either of them yours?" asked his uncle.

"No! For God's sake!" Lee exploded. He dropped his voice as Amanda turned to look at them questioningly from across the room. "We only met a few months ago! But she's very important to me, you hear me? None of what you're thinking is true, not one little bit."

His uncle surveyed him for a moment, then nodded. "I can see that. You should have seen her trying to calm him down and see reason. She's got a good head on her shoulders."

"She does," Lee couldn't help smiling as he looked across the room at Amanda. "I think the only crazy thing she's ever done in her life is get involved with me."

Colonel Clayton studied Lee's profile as he watched Amanda and felt a flicker of a smile of his own. "Well, I'm looking forward to hearing all about her."