Chapter 2

It had been two weeks since practical field training commenced and the new recruits were now getting some real assignments. Amanda was beaming with anticipation. While a basic assignment, it was the first one she would complete on her own. A potential bogus passport was discovered with a patient suffering from injuries as a result of a car accident in Arlington. They needed someone to perform a Class C interrogation to see if anything seemed off.

While she was a little sad she would have to miss yet another lunch with Lee, she told herself she could see him later. It had been a rough couple weeks for him with the discovery that Thomas Blackthorne killed his parents after falsely accusing them of treason. He did offer to have her over for dinner tomorrow, so with any luck they could have some quality time together.

At Galilee General Hospital, Amanda donned a candy striper uniform and filled a cart with flowers, candy, reading material, stationary and other items to fit in as a volunteer. She thought to herself, keep it light, don't scare him, just be friendly and see if you could get him to talk. Truth be told, Amanda was meant for this type of assignment.

Amanda entered the hospital room and found Mr. Stringle, a thin man with black curly hair and piercing blue eyes sitting up in his hospital bed. He was clearly nervous and looked startled at her entry. The thick Russian accent emphasized an inability to keep his story straight, especially the assertions of being Finish. It was obvious he was not here of his own accord. Someone else was pulling the strings and he was frightened.

When he could not answer Amanda's questions about Finland, Mr. Stringle immediately switched on the TV.

"We watch a lot of American television." He tried to change the subject, "The old westerns are my favorite. Isn't that Maverick?"

"Oh yes, that's Maverick, alright," Amanda replied. Realizing this was the distraction he needed to relax and open up. When Amanda pointed out the fourth Maverick, their cousin Beauregard, he immediately perked up. She chatted with him and showed him photos of her boys. It was clear he liked her, even though he continued to attempt to maintain the facade.

As they were talking a man entered alleging to be with the hospital business office. She could tell by Mr. Stringle's reaction this was clearly not true. She excused herself, pulled out her cart and placed it right outside the door. She then turned on a recorder near the edge of the doorway. She stood back a moment. While she could not understand what they were saying, it was clear it was Russian.

"Speak English" the second man barked at Mr. Stringle.

Amanda broke away and found a pay phone to call in a Flash Priority to order surveillance teams. She knew she was going out on a limb and there would likely be repercussions, but something was clearly going on and that second man was definitely KGB. She first tried to reach Efraim Beamon but was told her was unavailable. As she knew Mr. Stringle would be released soon, there was no time to waste, so she called in the Flash Priority and left a message for Efraim as to her intentions. This suspect had been brought in for a reason and they needed to know why. She then called Lee to have him meet her.

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Efraim was working with a freshman candidate, Tony Rodriguez, on some of the new computer upgrades. Tony had a degree from University of Maryland in computer science and had been hired for what he could bring to the Agency in the way of new technology. The receptionist approached Efraim, "Mr. Beamon, you received a message from Amanda King," as she handed him the note. He read the note.

"She used Flash Priority to obtain surveillance teams?!"

"Apparently she said they were speaking Russian," the receptionist responded. "Sorry, that's all I know."

He was not happy about Mrs. King coming into his new recruit training class as her relationship with Lee Stetson made her believe she had special privileges . She had been working with Lee Stetson the last three years. The man who epitomized "rules aren't for me." Apparently he taught her they could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted without bothering to get any oversight. He had a feeling having her in class would be like poisoning the water hole. Yep, her first assignment and she's already overstepping her authority. It was his job to supervise the candidates through their training, so why did she go above him?

He marched off to Billy Melrose's office. As he barged into the office of course who would be there looking smug as ever? Lee Stetson. Asshole!

"She issued a flash priority to order three surveillance teams," Efraim barked. "Mrs. King is a Freshman Candidate, and I'm telling you, I don't care if she followed the patient or not. Since I've been supervisor now, not one Freshman agent has ever used Flash Priority. Most of them don't know it exists!"

Lee Stetson butted in, "Oh, come on, Beamon, Amanda King has more experience than half the operatives in the agency. She knows what she's doing. Now did we send her the team?"

"We sent it," Melrose replied, "she said they were speaking Russian."

"Russian?" Efraim chirped back, "She's had some training, but she's not fluent."

"She's heard enough of it in the field," Stetson argued, "from the bad guys themselves. You've just got to treat her differently. She's not one of your kids, and most of the time she guesses right."

"I give her quite of bit of slack," Efraim replied back venomously, knowing that if he didn't Melrose would completely side with Stetson. Another "golden child" like his brother. He continued, "It makes it difficult with the others if she takes too much."

They were interrupted by a buzz from Melrose's phone. "Melrose here." He listened, "I'll send Scarecrow out immediately." He placed the receiver down. "This time her instincts were right on target. Stringle is very popular. We're watching, so's the KGB."

"Well," Stetson sarcastically pat him on the shoulder, "Face it, Beamon, now and the you've gotta bend the rules to get the job done."

"In your case, quite a bit more now than then," Efraim shot back.

"May I have my office back?!" Melrose shouted at them.

Efraim charged out the room. Scarecrow bested him again. The pompous asshole did it again. Scarecrow is so amazing he mocked the steno pool inwardly, he always gets the job done. Efraim had had enough.

He marched back toward the training room where a few candidates were gathered, no doubt whispering about Mrs. King's flash priority. They looked up as he entered.

"We're done for the day. See you tomorrow." He grabbed his keys and marched out of the room. He needed a drink. Beamon's behavior had the candidate room shocked. Kristen turned to the other candidates,

"What was that about?"

"He said Amanda King called in a Flash Priority to follow the patient she was interrogating today." Answered Tony Rodriguez. "He was really mad. I guess she didn't discuss it with him first or follow protocol."

"What's a Flash Priority?" Todd Jacobsen asked. Everyone shrugged.

"It has something about calling surveillance teams, I think," Tony said.

"Why did she call it?" Kristen asked.

"The guy was speaking Russian." He replied.

"Really?" Said another candidate, William Turner. "I'd love to hear that. Our training tapes are boring as hell, it would be helpful to hear some actual conversation."

Kristen laughed her to herself. They had no idea she was fluent.

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That afternoon Lee met Amanda at a restaurant where Mr. Stringle had stopped with his KGB escort. When Lee arrived, Amanda explained he was in the bathroom. They identified a man at the bar as KGB. They had the building surrounded by agents in an attempt to catch him. When Mr. Stringle did not emerge from the bathroom after an extended period of time, they noticed the KGB agent walked into the bathroom and ran back out. Mr. Stringle had escaped.

Lee jumped up to check with the other agents. He had slipped from them as well. This guy was quick and clever. This may be more difficult than they had anticipated.

From there, Amanda told Lee she was going to stop at home and would meet back up with him at the Agency.

Not quite an hour had passed when Lee received a call at the Q Bureau.

"Stetson here" he answered.

"Lee?" Amanda responded, "you're never going to believe this."

"Hi there," Lee smiled, "Are you heading back here shortly"

"Well, not exactly"

"What do you mean?' Lee asked, becoming a bit concerned.

"He's in my backyard." Amanda answered.

"What? Who's in the backyard?" Lee could not believe what he was hearing.

"Mr. Stringle. Somehow he found me and he's in my backyard. Can you come out here?"

"Yeah," Lee was taken aback in shock. "I'll be right there."

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Efraim arrived at Nedlingers and grabbed a seat at the bar. It was only 1:30, but it was time for a drink. He ordered a scotch on the rocks from the bar. He took a sip and coughed. He was not a drinker, but today would be the exception. He downed the drink and winced. It was terrible but he figured it would be the best thing to get drunk fast.

"I'll have another" he told the bartender.

While there weren't many people in the bar, a young dark haired woman dressed in jeans and a denim jacket sat a few seats down. As he started on his second drink, he heard her say "Scotch, please." Efraim couldn't help but notice she ordered the same as him. The frustration must have shown on his face.

She looked over at him, "Bad day?' She asked.

"The worst," said Efraim.

"Yeah, me too." She said. "I hate to drink alone. Can I join you?"

Efraim could hardly believe it. She appeared to be in her late twenties, with a bit of roughness around the edges. Cute, but not overly feminine.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Efraim answered.

The woman moved down a few seats to sit next to him.

"Hi, I'm Efram," he said. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," the woman said. "My name is Phyllis."