Chapter 10
Within minutes word spread throughout the Agency like a raging wildfire. Amanda King had been captured by terrorist, Addi Birol. A room normally bustling with activity was eerily quiet and still. A feeling of dread had consumed the space like dark, foreboding clouds. While it was normal for agents to get into precarious situations or become injured, something of this sort happening to Amanda King was devastating and the thought of Mrs. King being tortured was unthinkable. .
Kristen was standing with William and Tony when they heard. The two other freshman candidates both looked at Kristen, as they knew she had become friendly with Amanda. She felt like she had been punched in the gut and found it difficult to breathe. She felt the tension in the room and needed to know what exactly occurred.
The trio walked over to where the A-TAK team had returned. Somehow, Addi Birol had used the interview as a ruse to capture Amanda King. She was actually the target. The team assumed by letting Amanda call in the strike from the news van she would be safe, however, Karbala was ready for them and Addi Birol himself took her at gunpoint. While it was known that Scarecrow had a partner, her physical appearance was not readily known to others outside the Agency. To their knowledge, Addi Birol did not know of her existence, so how did he learn about her?
Suddenly the full effect of what had happened to Amanda came over Kristen. What if he harms her, or worse, what if he rapes her or kills her? Poor Phillip and Jamie. The possibilities rattled around in her brain, and she fought to keep the random thoughts in order. It was emphasized in training not to get too close to other agents or candidates. Kristen felt she'd already failed miserably at this test of her own volition. She, pushed aside that recommendation thinking that by getting closer to her co-workers it would make them a better team. It did that as she was had become very cohesive with Amanda, William and Tony , but it also had the effect of making it nearly impossible to stay detached and objective.
Don't cry, Kristen. Don't cry. You are too strong for this. You are a federal agent, don't cry. She suddenly felt the urge to vomit. Kristen excused herself and ran to the bathroom where she became ill. She locked herself in a stall where she hyperventilated and cried. She felt the urge to scream, but knew it would be heard so she stifled it.
Pull it together, Kristen. Falling apart is not an option.
Kristen stood up and practiced some meditation to calm her nerves. Clear your mind. Focus on your breath. Breathe in 1-2-3-4, breathe out 1-2-3-4, breathe in 1-2-3-4…
After repeating the breathing exercises she was able to gather herself. She emerged from the stall and splashed some water on her face. As the was leaning over the sink one of the more senior female agents on the A-TAK burst into the bathroom and ran to the toilet to vomit. Somehow that was comforting to know she was not alone and that seasoned agents were not immune either.
She needed to talk to Lee to find a way to help. He had been in Billy's office with Dr. Quidd right after he returned to the Agency. However, after being completely inconsolable and frankly refusing to remain impartial, he stormed out, grabbed some results from the printer and left in a hurry. She could not just stand around and wait either, but needed to do something. It occurred to her that if someone needed to talk to her family as to why she was not returning home, she should be the one do it as they knew her. Where would he be? She knew the way he left so angrily that he had been taken off the case. It made sense as he was too close to think clearly. Frankly, Kristen was surprised anyone even expected that of him. Even apart from their illicit romantic attachment, she was his partner and it was clear they were close. However, what she knew of Lee Stetson so far was that he'd never just stay on the sidelines. Where would he be? The Q Bureau. Yeah, maybe he's in the Q Bureau.
Kristen took the elevator to the Georgetown foyer. She stepped out and greeted Mrs. Marston.
"Is Lee Stetson in the Q Bureau? " Kristen asked
"I don't believe so, but I think Francine Desmond is in there."
Kristen figured Francine may know Lee's whereabouts. She climbed the stairs and found the room unlocked. Indeed, Francine was in there. Francine had gone to the vault to see if there was any information they may have missed in old files that could explain why they were duped. She felt desperate to find anything.
"Ms. Desmond?" Kristen called.
"Yes?" Francine snapped back. She was in no mood to babysit today. "What do you want?"
"I was looking for Lee Stetson," Kristen said. She looked around the room and saw the Karbala network photos on the board. As she lazily scanned the photos one stood out that made the room go cold. She froze in place staring at the board.
"I can tell you he's very busy right now, and shouldn't be bothered." Francine barked as she walked out of the vault, completely annoyed. She stopping noticing Kristen's fascination with the board. "What are you doing?" Francine asked. She saw Kristen slowly walking to the board and taking down one of the photos.
Kristen stood transfixed looking it. She knew this woman. That night she was out with Tess. They saw Beamon on what appeared to be a date. The face of the woman who pushed past her in the bathroom.
"Hello?!" Francine yelled at her.
"Who is this?" Kristen asked Francine holding up the photo.
"That's Phyllis," Francine said feeling concerned at Kristen's expression. "She's one of the lieutenants to Addi Birol." Francine saw what appeared to be horror on Kristen's face
"No. Oh my God, no," A cold sweat came over Kristen as she looked back up at Francine. It was all making sense now. "I know why they targeted Amanda. They know who she is and they know her connection with Lee."
"What are you talking about?"
"They know about Amanda because BEAMON IS DATING THIS WOMAN!"
"What?" Francine said, walking up to her. "That can't be right. You must be mistaken."
"No," Kristen explained. "A few weeks ago I was out after work at Lincoln's Lounge with my roommate and a few friends. While I was there I saw Beamon sitting with her at a table in the back."
"So you saw someone who looked like her from a distance," Francine seemed skeptical. "How could you be certain it's her."
"Later that evening I went to the restroom," Kristen continued. "She was at the sink. We were literally face to face while she bumped into me on her way out. This is her!"
"Oh my God," Francine said. The pieces were all coming together, and the picture they created was ominous. "Are you absolutely certain this is the woman he was with?"
"Yes. Like I said, I was face to face with her."
"We need to talk to Billy now!" Francine grabbed the picture as she and Kristen rushed out of the room. "Where is Beamon today?"
"I haven't seen him in a couple hours. He was in his office earlier." Kristen answered.
"Do NOT tell Lee yet, okay?" Francine instructed her. "If Lee hears this I don't know what he'll do to Beamon."
The two women ran to the elevator, took it downstairs, exited and ran into the bullpen and Billy's office. Francine and Kristen burst in out of breath, closing the door behind them.
"What's going on?" Billy roared. Clearly the capture of Amanda had triggered him as well.
"Billy," Francine tried to remain calm while explaining. "Kristen Adler believes she saw Phyllis with Efraim Beamon." She held up the picture.
"What?" Billy said incredulously. "Are you certain?" He said to Kristen.
"Sir," Kristen took a deep breath to explain. "A few weeks ago I saw this woman with Agent Beamon. They were sitting together at a bar. Later in the evening I saw her close up in the restroom."
"What the hell is Beamon doing with a damn terrorist?!" Billy yelled.. He picked up his phone and barked, "Get Beamon in my office NOW."
Kristen turned to leave.
"No, Alder," Billy said. "You stay here. I'm going to need you to fill in the blanks."
A couple minutes later Beamon walked into Billy's office looking confused as Billy, Francine and Kristen were all glaring at him.
"You wanted to see me?" Beamon said looking around the room, unclear why everyone seemed so upset with him.
"Tell us what you were doing with this woman," Billy held up the photo of Phyllis.
Efraim's stomach dropped. Why were they asking him about Phyllis? "Um, that's a woman I've been dating," he said. Unclear why this was a problem.
"You've been dating a known terrorist?" Francine barked.
"Terrorist?" Efraim was clearly taken off guard. His mind raced until the reality hit him. Was the organization that Phyllis referred to a terrorist group? "I'm confused," Efraim said. "How did you even know I was dating her? For the record, I had no idea she was a terrorist."
"Adler here saw you two at a bar a few weeks ago." Billy said sternly.
"Wait? What?"
"I saw you with her at Lincoln's Lounge about three weeks ago. I didn't think anything of it until I saws her photo on the Karbala board today." Kristen explained.
"Karbala? She's part of Karbala?" Efraim felt the room was spinning. It was all coming clear now. Phyllis had been using him for information. This was why she was so preoccupied with his work relationships. He felt betrayed, shaken, dazed and devastated all at once. Chills streamed down his spine. He was the reason Amanda King was targeted and captured.
"Oh my God." Efraim paced the room. "I swear, I had no idea who she was."
"Didn't you look at the damn board? You're on temporary suspension until review is completed by Internal Affairs." Billy bellowed. He picked up the phone again, "Get Frampton down here now."
"I understand," Beamon said, his head hanging. "I wasn't part of the A-TAK team, so I didn't know about the minor players." What have I done? How could I have missed this? I should have listened to my instincts.
"We don't have time to waste." Billy barked. "Conference room NOW. You need to be debriefed."
The group marched into the conference room. The bullpen was silent except for a few whispers as people had overheard the screaming and watched the group move to the next room.
Over the next few hours, Efraim recounted his entire relationship. The worst part was that it was his jealousy of Lee Stetson that caused this situation. That embarrassing truth was coming out. His own insecurities had made him a target.
Meanwhile, time was passing knowing Amanda was in the hands of madman, Addi Birol.
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Amanda found herself in a bedroom devoid of any furniture or floor coverings. Walls that were once white had been stained with bugs squished into oblivion and what appeared to be dried blood and years of inattention. The cement floors were cold and windows were boarded up. Light came from a lightbulb handing from the ceiling with a simple chain. She did not want to think what may have happened in this room before she became its occupant.
Birol had forced her at gunpoint to drive several blocks . Once in the garage behind a house, he grabbed her by her shirt collar and violently heaved her from the van. Still at gunpoint, he marched her through the house that smelled of mold and had only a few folder chairs and table randomly placed throughout, and forcefully shoved her into a back bedroom, closed and locked the door. She had been in tight spots before, but this was different. She was a hostage and had no idea what they wanted with her. She sat on the cold floor and forced herself to maintain her composure.
A few minutes later, the door opened and Birol entered with the woman who planted the bomb at the airport, who Lee later identified as Phyllis. Amanda stood up and moved as far back into the corner as she could. Birol said something to Phyllis in Arabic, and she appeared to reply in the affirmative. He then switched to English, clearly so that Amanda would understand.
"Is this her?" He asked Phyllis.
"Yes," Phyllis replied. "She matches the photo in the file. That's Amanda King."
He then spoke to Phyllis in Arabic again. She left the room while Birol blankly stared at Amanda, his cold, beady eyes piercing into her. If the stare was meant to intimidate, he was successful. Phyllis returned with a syringe and bottle.
"No," Amanda said seeing the bottle and syringe. What were they injecting her with? Were they going to kill her? Ask her for information? Amanda tried to push herself as far as she could against the wall behind her as if to try to somehow disappear from into the walls.
"Don't worry, Mrs. King" Birol said as he approached her. "You're very valuable. We have no intention of killing you."
He grabbed her by the arm, his fingers digging into her flesh. He pulled up her sleeve jabbed her with the syringe. A few moments later the walls looked like they were rippling and everything became fuzzy. In the corner she thought she saw a white rabbit who turned, and tilted his hat. Next, vines were growing out of the walls and the light bulb was whispering to her in words she couldn't understand. Nothing made sense as she drifted farther from reality. Efraim had trained them for this. Force yourself into positive images. She tried to concentrate but everything was spinning. She tried to force thoughts of being warm and comfortable like under a soft blanket surrounded people who make her feel loved and safe.
Suddenly, there he was. Lee seemed to appear out of nowhere. In a normal, non-drug addled state, Amanda would have recognized it as a hallucination, but now he looked as real as any day.
"I'm coming to get you, just don't give it up." He said to her. "It's alright, you knew I'd come, didn't you? Did he hurt you?"
"No" she replied.
"I've come to take you home, Amanda. But you're going to have to wait a little longer. I love you so much. I can't stand this, it's killing me. Remember, I love you."
As quickly as he'd come he faded away.
"Oh, Lee. Don't go. Lee!"
Birol laughed at her and left the room.
"Good work, Phyllis. You found the correct woman." He left the room, closing and locking the door.
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Lee returned to the warehouse to try to find some clue as to where Amanda had been taken. He found nothing and was only getting more agitated. He decided to come back to the Q Bureau. While he could not work on the case, he needed to do something. When he came in, Ragmop was cleaning the room.
"I'm so sorry about Mrs. King," Ragmop told him.
"Thanks, Ragmop." Lee said, not fully paying attention to the man.
"Damn crazy that Beamon knew that Phyllis woman. Can't believe he was dating her." Suddenly, The man had Lee's attention. Beamon was dating a member of Kamala?
"What?!" Lee screamed. Beamon gave Phyllis the info to capture Amanda? He could feel the sweat beading along the back of his neck as her charged out the door.
Ragmop jumped back out of the way "I.. I thought you knew… I'm sorry…" He called as Lee flew down the hall.
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The group in the conference room had taken a break. One of the agents attempted to call the phone number Beamon had for Phyllis. Not surprisingly, it had been disconnected. Beamon had never been to her apartment so he did not know where she lived. Agents were chasing down other potential leads, but they were coming up blank. Meanwhile, Lee Stetson came storming back into the bullpen heading toward Beamon. Francine and Kristen could tell by the look on his fact he'd heard about Beamon dating Phyllis. There was clear uncontrolled rage on Lee's face..
He saw Beamon standing outside the conference room. That stupid son of a bitch put Amanda in danger so he could get laid by some terrorist! He never thought he could kill someone with his bare hands before, but today could be the day.
Kristen saw Lee enter the room and immediately panicked.
"Oh shit! Lee Stetson is going to lose it on Beamon, isn't he?" Kristen asked Francine while looking at Lee.
"Probably," Francine signed, "no, most definitely."
"If he does that, Lee would get suspected or even fired, correct?"
"Again, probably," Francine replied. "We need to find a way to stop him."
"Will you back me up with Mr. Melrose?" Kristen asked.
"For what? What are you doing?" Francine asked the younger agent.
Lee saw Beamon was standing just outside the conference room door looking dejected. He was marching toward him. He was getting closer, his hand balled into a fist and drew it back. Suddenly he saw Kristen rush up to Beamon, shoving him. A look of surprise came across Beamon's face. Francine ran into Billy's office to try to run interference.
"What the hell, Beamon!" Kristen shouted. "You're a senior agent, for God's sake, and our supervisor! You're are supposed to teach and protect the freshman agents, including Amanda, not serve us up on a platter to some fucking terrorist!" Kristen actually found the rage coming out of her to be rather cathartic.
Lee stopped in his tracks. What was she doing? The other agents jumped in to stop Kristen. Lee, himself, suddenly disregarding Beamon, also ran in and pulled the her off him.
"Stop! Stop!" Lee looked at her. "I'm pissed as hell too, but you're not helping anyone."
Lee was ready to rip Beamon's limbs out but knew he had the save the freshman agent who he knew had also become close to Amanda.
"I'm sorry!" Beamon broke down, "I'm so sorry."
Lee saw Kristen looking squarely into his eyes. "Don't do it," she mouthed at him. "I've got this."
The realization came over Lee that this Freshman candidate had blown up at Beamon solely to keep him doing it himself and potentially losing his job.
Billy, upon hearing the commotion pushed past Francine who'd not been able explain yet.
"What the hell is going on out here?!" He screamed into the bullpen.
"It's ok," Lee said not only for Billy, but for himself. "It's ok."
"Adler, Stetson, Desmond! Get in here!"
The three agents came in to the office and closed the door.
"I'm sorry, Sir." Kristen said first. "I knew Agent Stetson was upset and I thought this would defuse him."
Lee shook his head, smiling at the Freshman candidate. "Well, that did it." Lee looked at Kristen and then back at Billy.
"So, Adler," Billy spoke to the younger woman, "You purposely screamed at your supervisor in front of the Internal Affairs head agent to keep another agent from harming him?"
"Yes, Sir." Kristen said. Oh dear, what have I done?
To her surprise Billy Melrose, grinned and shook his head.
"I think you may be as crazy as Scarecrow here. But I also see you're thinking on your feet. Good." He said to Kristen. "I'll talk to Frampton. Just see to it that this doesn't become a habit. In the meantime, Scarecrow, back off! We're getting intel from Beamon and we'll find her."
"Thank you, Sir." Kristen replied.
"Desmond," Billy turned toward Francine. "Did you know about this?"
Before Francine could reply, Kristen jumped in.
"No, Sir. There was no time to lose so I followed my instincts. Don't worry, I heard you. It won't happen again."
"Scarecrow, keep an eye on this one. She seems to share some of the bad habits you had when you first started. Keep her in check."
"I will," Lee said. This little spark plug had his back. He couldn't help but grin. As they walked out, Lee turned to Kristen.
"Thank you." He smiled. "You've got good instincts. Just don't let it get to your head."
"Like you did?" Kristen grinned at Lee. "I've heard things.."
"Yeah. Exactly."
"Listen," Kristen whispered to Lee and Francine. "We saw Phyllis at Lincoln's Lounge. My roommate is a Senior Aide to Senator Lautenberg and many of the younger employees at the Capital hang out there a lot. That's why I met her there. Maybe someone there knows something about Phyllis?" Lee's grinned. Damn, this one's tenacious.
"Welcome to the A-TAK team," Lee said, shaking Kristen's hand. "I'm hands off, but see if you can run down that lead with the bar and the regular patrons. You're a Freshman agent, so you shouldn't go alone. Francine, talk to Duffy to have him supervise."
"Yes, Lee," Francine said, "I agree this is a great lead, but you can't be a part of this. You know that."
"I know," Lee said. "I think I'm in the mood for a chili dog at Milo's Daffy Dog in about 30 minutes."
Francine looked at him, tilting her head. "Lee, I know it's tough, stick to what's practical."
"Please, Francine?" Francine rolled her eyes. She knew that Lee felt personally responsible for Amanda's capture. Lee was her friend and he had been there for her in the past, she could help him now.
"Well, I suppose I've not had enough junk food this week."
"Oh, Kristen." Lee said, looking uncomfortable. "I think I'm going to need to talk to Amanda's mother. We need to let her know Amanda is "out of town" so they don't worry. I think it may be easier if you come with me, since they know you better."
"I was thinking the same thing," Kristen replied. "I recommend we go earlier in the day before the boys are home from school. Jamie's already having a tough time lately. If he suspects something may be wrong with this mother, I'm afraid what may happen to him."
"Before you sounded like Lee, now you sound like Amanda," Francine laughed. "What is this world coming to?"
"Very funny, Francine," Lee said to Francine and then turned to Kristen, "Good idea. Meet me back here at 2:00?"
"Ok. Maybe I can even set up another Spanish tutoring session in the meantime to keep an eye on them."
"Billy was right," Lee said. "I think you have the makings of a really good agent. You're already smarter than I was at your age."
"That's not hard," Francine said with a smirk.
"Oh Francine, you're so hilarious." Lee said, grinning at his friend. "Thank you both."
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Thirty minutes after meeting in the agency, Francine met up with Lee outside Milo's.
"Ok," Francine said. "I agreed to meet you, but I'm not eating a chili dog. The smell alone is making me sick."
"Ha ha, "Lee said sarcastically. I was hoping to get some intel here, but no luck. Anyway, I'm going to try to revive an old case. You still have those brown contact lenses?"
"Magda Petrak?"
"Yeah, she knows Birol and I think she may be able to get us close to him."
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Kristen and Duffy stopped by Lincoln's Lounge. It was lunchtime so the bar was mostly empty. As they walked up to the bar Duffy whispered, "This is your show. Take the lead and I'll stand back. Show him your badge and asked him if he recognizes her. I'll fill in with any other details if we need them."
"Thanks," Kristen replied.
She approached the bar and recognized the bartender as one she'd seen on a previous visit with Tess. "Hoping you may be able to help us," Kristen held up her badge and pulled out the photo. "Do you recognize this woman?"
The bartender looked at the photo. "She does look familiar." He looked at the photo more closely, "I think I've seen her in here a few different times. Once with a straight-laced looking guy in his mid thirties with glasses. A few other times she's been here with a group of people. They kind of seemed like the "we're up to no good" intense, revolutionary types. They usually sit in the back and keep to themselves. She hasn't been here in a while. Some of them ride motorcycles and are a little too obnoxious for my taste. Davey's in later, he may know more."
"Thanks," said Kristen.
"I always thought you were one of the Capital kids working for the Congress big wigs. Kinda cool that you're actually a federal agent."
"Keep it to yourself," Kristen said.
"Hey," he laughed, "that's all part of being a bartender. Her biker buddies may be in later. You may want to check back."
"Thanks. If you see this woman or the others in her group, can you give us a call." Kristen handed him a card, as did Duffy.
"Well done," said Duffy as they were leaving the bar. "It seems they know you here."
"My roommate is here quite a bit."
"Does she know you're an agent?" Duffy asked.
"Yeah, she does." Kristen replied.
"Do you trust her?" He asked.
"Yeah, she's become my best friend." Kristin replied.
"Okay, see if you can use her as a source." Duffy instructed. "See if any of the people she hangs out with here may know her. We may get lucky."
"I will." Kristen said.
"While I doubt Birol comes here, his fighters might. This may be helpful in taking the rest of his group down once we get him."
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A couple hours later Lee returned to the Agency to meet up with Kristen.
"We should head over to Amanda's." Lee said. "Thank you for going. I know Mrs. West, but you know her better. I want you there in case she gets alarmed. Amanda said you've gotten to know her family a bit more and you may be a comforting element."
"Ok," Kristen said, "But I'm not certain what we say to her."
"The cover is that Amanda was pulled out of town as the last second on a project and has not been able to call."
"Ok." Kristen seemed a bit nervous. "Do we say anything else?"
"No," Lee replied. "Less is more. The more intricate a cover the more chances you have to blow it. Just enough so that people buy it and move on."
"Ok," Kristen said. "I'll follow your lead."
"Let her know you can set up another tutoring session for Phillip. I like that idea of keeping an eye on the family and you have the best access. The more they think this is a normal day, the less they will worry. I just hope to God we get her back quickly."
"We will, Lee." Kristen said, putting her hand on his arm to comfort him. "We'll find her. He's using her to get to you, so he'll keep her alive."
Lee smiled at the young agent. She was young but seemed to have a wiseness of someone much older. Her liked her, and now had a better understanding of why Amanda was so fond of her.
They knocked on the door, waiting uncomfortably as Dotty answered the door.
"Well, hello!" Dotty greeted them. "I know you are all worked together but I'd never seen both of you at once.."
"Hi, Mrs. West." Kristen smiled. "It's good to see you."
"Hello, Mr.s West," Lee said as Dotty welcomed them in.
"What's this about today?"
"Well," Lee started. "We wanted to let you know that Amanda got pulled out of town suddenly on a project. She may be a couple days. She asked that I come here to tell you in person because she didn't have time to call."
"Oh," Dotty said. "She usually goes out of town with you. This is unusual."
"Yes, this is definitely unusual," Lee said thinking these words were more true than Dotty realized.
"Why are you both here?" Dotty asked as she rambled on. "Not that I mind seeing you, Kristen. Phillip has being doing so much better in Spanish. Even Mr. Gomez, or I guess it's Señor Gomez mentioned how much better he's doing in class."
"Well," Kristen said smiling, "that's why I asked Lee if I could tag along. I wanted to make certain it was ok for me to come by while Amanda was out of town."
"Why, of course," Dotty said, clearly delighted. She adored this sweet girl.
"Great," Kristen said. "I'll come at 6:00 tonight like usual."
"Well," Lee said. "Amanda should be back in the couple days. The shoot is out in the middle of nowhere, so she can't call. However, if you need anything please call Kristen or myself."
"Thank you for telling me in person," Dotty said. "It must have been quite at last minute as she never even packed a bag."
"I know," Lee said, trying not to add further details, "this is out of the ordinary but it happens sometimes."
"Well, I suppose it does," Dotty said. "This job has had some unusual hours."
"That it does," Lee laughed. He was not lying there, that's certain.
"Well, When Amanda gets back in town maybe we can have both of you over."
As Lee was looking around the room, he saw her. Amanda was there.
I'm alright
She spoke to him.
"That would be great," Kristen said as she bumped Lee to wake him from his trance.
"Yes," he said. "I'd love that."
Just then the phone rang.
"Oh, maybe that's Amanda now," Dotty said, picking up the receiver. "Hello? Oh yes." She turned to Lee. "It's for you. Why doesn't that surprise me?" As she handed him the receiver.
It was Francine. The idea they had was to persuade Magda Petrak to convince Birol she had come up with a deal for some Libyans to purchase Amanda King. They all knew that Libya was paying top dollar for American hostages, particularly women. It turned out that the Magda Petrak scheme was working. She found the Habib Brothers who were interested in purchasing some harmless wares, meanwhile the real Magda would convince Birol they would pay $5,000,000 for Amanda. They had the pieces in place.
Lee convinced Dotty it was the office calling. Kristen and Lee said their good-byes and walked back to his car. They talked on their way back to the agency.
"The scheme we are attempting to coming together. Cross your fingers and we may be able to find Amanda. In the meantime I'll meet with Night Crawler."
"Keeping my fingers crossed," Kristen replied. "Please let me know what else I can do."
"I will. Just keep working the bar angle. Maybe we'll get lucky finding Phyllis or his other fighters. By the way, great assessment of the situation," Lee said. "You jumped in at the right moment and you were able to make certain Mrs. West feel more at ease."
"Thanks," Kristen said. "They're such a nice family. Her boys are amazing. I don't mind helping them. Jamie's just a great kid, he's just having a hard time now."
"Yeah, he was really quiet the other night at dinner." Lee sighed. "I don't think he likes me very much."
"He's just wary of you, right now." Kristen explained. "His dad seems kind of hard on him and expects a lot."
"Yeah," Lee looked disgusted.
"Not a big fan of Amanda's ex-husband either?" Kristen grinned.
"Not really," Lee said. "I shouldn't say anything." Lee realized it was not his place to talk about Joe King. Even though he wanted the roast the jerk for leaving his wife with two kids to live on the other side of the world. .
"I understand," Kristen responded. "But I think Jamie could really use another father figure." Kristen not so subtly dropped a hint to Lee.
"Amanda said Jamie mentioned to you about us." Lee seemed nervous.
"Yes, he did." She responded. "Don't worry, mum's the word at the Agency. I kind of figured it out anyway before Jamie even said anything. I could tell you two were in love without even saying a word. You can see it when you look at each other. It's kind of romantic, actually."
Lee blushed. "Yeah, I think so too. However, I just don't even know where to begin with Jamie," Lee scowled.
"Just being a good listener goes a long way," she explained. "I think once he realizes you're not a threat, he'll open up more."
"It's just crossing that initial bridge with him is not easy."
"Well, I think I may have opened the door for you a bit. I told Jamie that I'm closer to my step dad than my biological dad.." Kristen admitted.
"Really?"
"Yeah. My dad and I do NOT speak the same language. However, Hank, my stepdad, is one of the best people I know. I can go to him with anything and he'll understand. The key is let kids know you are not trying to replace their father, but be their friend, and let them know that you will be there for them if they need someone."
"Well, I would love to try. If we can just get Amanda back.." Lee was clearly more troubled than Kristen had ever seen this Senior Agent. While she was worried about Amanda, she could only imagine how Lee felt, having the woman he loved taken by a lethal terrorist