Chapter 2

When they arrived, the store manager of the children's department briefed them on how to interact with the children. Afterwards, they got into their costumes. Lee continued to complain about being undercover as Santa, while Amanda stuffed his suit with pillows to make him look fat.

When Amanda saw her costume, she grinned. Eagerly, she stepped into the elf dress along with the matching red and green striped tights. Amanda slipped her feet into the oversized shoes with pointed tips before adjusting the plastic elf ears over her own.

"Lee, did you see this adorable hat?" Excitedly, Amanda tugged the matching stocking cap on her head. At the tip was a jingle bell. She immediately experimented with different ways to move her head to make the bell jingle, earning an annoyed look from Lee.

Amanda pressed her hand to Lee's chest to stop him from moving towards the hallway, "Remember to smile at the children, Lee."

"I don't know how they'd tell if I am smiling one way or the other with this beard," he grumbled.

"Let's hear your ho ho ho," Amanda encouraged.

He eyed her indignantly. "Ho ho ho," he replied very grumpily.

"With more feeling. Can't you be livelier?"

"No, I can't!" he growled through gritted teeth.

Amanda instructed Lee, "Remember what the manager said. You can't promise the children you will get them specifically what they ask for. You need to tell them, you will consult with their parents or say the elves will work hard to get them what they want. I'll introduce you to each child after their parents fill out the registration card for their picture with you."

Lee groaned once more, thinking about posing for pictures too. "This is terrible. I don't know how to act like Santa, Amanda," he whined.

"Lee, just think back to your childhood and when you visited Santa."

"That's just it, Amanda. I can't remember if my parents ever took me before they died," he said softly, adding, "My uncle didn't do any of this kind of stuff."

Lee jabbed the air. "Those kids out there know more about Santa than me. I can't do this," bemoaned Lee.

It suddenly dawned on Amanda, that for a moment, Lee had let his guard down by exposing a bit of his childhood. His vulnerability touched her. She thought how sad and tragic it was, how his early life was always centered around before or after his parents' death. Amanda concluded it must be why Lee shunned the holidays or any personal discussions regarding his early life. He was avoiding dealing with those painful feelings. She decided to try a different tactic.

Amanda gave Lee a pep talk. "Yes, you can! Come on now, think positive. You're a professional. You can do it!" Amanda strongly patted his arms, turned Lee around, and shoved him out the door. She stayed right behind him, giving him small pushes on his back until he sat in Santa's chair.

The children were all calling out Santa's name and waving excitedly.

Amanda prodded him, "Wave back and say hello to the children. Do your ho-ho-hos."

When he saw the line of children waiting to see Santa, Lee mumbled something unintelligible. Amanda smiled and whispered, "Remember to smile a lot."

"Okay, okay." He grumbled and half-heartedly stated, "Ho-ho-ho."

"Louder," Amanda said under her breath.

"Ho-ho-ho!" Lee asserted.

"Look at all the wonderful children, Santa!" Amanda proclaimed excitedly. Lee rolled his eyes. Amanda handed Lee a bag of candy canes and instructed him to give one to each child before they left.

Amanda gathered the cards from the parents and escorted the first child to Lee. He faintly tapped the little boy on the head. As each youngster came to sit on his lap, Amanda made up for Lee's lack of conversation with the children. She hovered nearby, giving encouraging words for Lee to say in his ear.

One little girl asked him where Comet and Cupid were. "Who?"

Amanda immediately intervened, "Your reindeer, Santa. Aren't they on top of the building having their snack?"

"Oh yeah, along with ah… ah, ah, Rudolph and Bubba," Lee added.

"I never heard of Bubba," the girl replied, frowning.

Amanda thought fast. "Bubba is Santa's nickname for…Blitzen, sweetie."

"Okay, here's a candy cane for you. Next kid, please," Lee bellowed.

The little girl left very confused.

As time wore on, Lee got crankier. He wanted this to be over. When the hell is Cazacu gonna show up? he thought, please end my misery!

A toddler screamed as the parents watched proudly while Amanda took their picture. Another child was all sticky from a candy cane and kept touching Lee's face, causing their hands to get stuck in his beard. In addition, with fingerprints covering his glasses, he could hardly see.

However, Lee's countenance improved at one point, when the aunt, who had brought her niece to see Santa, asked if she could have a picture on Santa's lap. "Sure thing!" he replied. She flirted with him as Amanda gave a disapproving look and took their picture.

Lee was about to ask for her phone number when Amanda shooed her off his lap quickly.

"Okay, miss. Santa has a lot of children to see."

"Spoilsport," he muttered to Amanda.

A little while later, he had to go change his costume because a little girl got frightened and went to the bathroom all over him.

"What the…"

Amanda swooped in and cut a furious Lee off, "Oh my, children! There was a little accident. Santa needs to change his clothes. He'll be right back!"

Lee stormed to the back room. He angrily started yanking off the cumbersome outfit. "I can't believe this! Cazacu better get here soon."

"I hope so too. It's getting late. It's already four-thirty." Amanda worriedly thought about her family and the church service.

Amanda helped Lee take off the wet costume and found the spare for him. She was thankful Lee wore shorts and a T-shirt underneath, so her sense of decorum and his dignity stayed intact.

When they returned from the back office, Amanda noticed the Romanian standing by the line of children. He appeared fidgety as he took in the scene of excited and overtired children. Amanda grabbed Lee's arm and whispered, "He's here!"

Lee nodded and sat back in the giant chair.

Amanda announced, "Children, Santa is back!"

The adults gave exhausted sighs as children clapped and continued to call his name excitedly.

Cazacu approached Amanda and said, "I want to give a wish list to Santa from my daughter. She's sick and couldn't come."

"Oh, I'm sorry she's not feeling well. Please come right ahead." Amanda held her arm out to guide the spy to Lee. He repeated the phrase to Lee, who kept in character, and gave a ho-ho-ho, then quickly took the envelope from him. He passed it to Amanda, who put it in her pocket for safekeeping.

At that moment, a mother with a pair of young twin boys came to place them on Santa's lap. As they were getting settled, one was very wiggly and knocked his brother off balance. As the child began to fall, he grabbed for the closest thing, which happened to be Lee's beard. It tore off and revealed his face. Cazacu was leaving, but turned and saw the commotion. Immediately, he recognized Lee and realized he'd been tricked.

He whipped out his gun and yelled, "Damn you, Stetson!"

Upon seeing the gun, parents scattered with their children and ran to the exits. Lee dove behind the enormous chair he sat on and drew his gun. As bullets flew through the air toward him, he refrained from firing, afraid shoppers or children might possibly be hurt. Lee screamed into his wire for backup, "Evacuate the store and the mall, NOW!"

When the melee began, Amanda dove behind a toy counter where she saw a football. She stood up and hurled the ball as hard as she could toward the Romanian, knocking the gun out of his hand. It went flying out of sight, causing Cazacu to bolt for the exit out into the mall.

Sprinting past Amanda, Lee yelled, "Good throw, Amanda! Stay here!"

Lee chased after Cazacu, who'd managed to avoid the agents at the mall exit by ducking through the running crowd. Amanda took a minute to think before looking around, then picked up a hockey stick, and followed her partner. Lee struggled to track the double agent in the crowd of running people and quickly lost sight of him. He instructed the other agents on which direction Cazacu was heading.

Racing to keep up with Lee, Amanda thought she saw him go through an unmarked door, and before she knew it, found herself in a long corridor. As she searched, she found several storerooms with janitorial supplies but no sign of Lee or the Romanian. She then turned around to go back from where she came. When she reached the door, Amanda found it had somehow locked behind her and she was unable to get out.

"Oh my gosh," she wailed.

Backtracking, Amanda checked for another way out but there was none. "If only I knew how to pick a lock like Lee," she muttered. She remembered the bobby pins which were keeping her hat in place. "It's worth a try." She shrugged.

After ten minutes of using the bobby pin, Amanda gave up. She began to pound on the door and yell but there was no answer. Amanda decided to sit down and wait. Every few minutes she repeated her actions hoping someone would hear her. Looking at her watch, Amanda thought, I'm going to be late again. Mother is going to be worried sick.

While Amanda was stuck in the hallway, Cazacu was captured and taken back to the Agency.

Before he left the scene, Billy informed Lee, "Scarecrow, tell Amanda she can wait till the 26th to debrief. I know she is already late for her family celebration. But after you change, I expect you in my office for a report."

"Sure, Billy."

Lee went back to the toy department to get Amanda. When he arrived, he couldn't find her anywhere. "Damn, she never does what I tell her," he swore. Lee decided to get some of the security guards to help find Amanda. They began by checking the abandoned stores. After searching for two hours, Lee heard Amanda yelling. It seemed to come from behind a closed door in the mall.

"Amanda," he called.

"Yes, Lee, it's me. I'm locked inside!" Amanda hollered.

Lee found one of the security guards to unlock the door. When it opened, she gratefully embraced Lee. "I was so afraid I would be there all night."

When they hugged, they both had a strong reaction to being in each other's arms. Amanda felt her heart quicken. Lee savored the feeling of her closeness but quickly rejected the thought and drew back. Amanda noticed his confusion and tried to ignore his reaction while she regained her composure.

Uncomfortable with this new feeling, Lee stuttered, "Ah, umm, I'm glad you are all right. You should have stayed put. And, why do you have a hockey stick?"

Amanda shrugged her shoulders. "I thought I could help you and I needed protection. So, I tried to follow you but got lost in the crowd. There were so many people running the opposite way. I got mixed up and—"

"Okay, okay, it doesn't matter now. I'm glad you're safe." Lee ran his hands up and down Amanda's arms trying to reassure her. When he realized he was touching her again, he let go quickly and asked, "Do you still have the microdot?"

"Here." Unnerved by Lee's touch, Amanda pushed the envelope into Lee's hand. Then she noticed the clock in the mall.

"Oh my gosh. I've missed Christmas Eve service and, I've probably missed dinner, again!"

Lee sighed. "Well, come on. Let's change our clothes and get out of here. Billy said you can be debriefed after Christmas."