Prologue

It appeared to be another quiet Monday night at the airport. John Marcus checked his watch, and then glanced around. Everything seemed in order, and it was only another ten minutes until Tom Rolands would be coming on duty to relieve him. It would be good to get home. He and his wife had had a bit of a fight that morning, and he fully intended to make it up to her. He moved his cart and stopped in front of hangar number 42.

Inside the dark cavern of the building, unbeknownst to John Marcus a slim, dark-clothed woman picked up the package she had laid on the ground. Walking over to one of the small planes inside the hangar, she checked that the timer was properly set on the device her associate had given her. She didn’t agree with blowing up this hangar, and had voiced her opinion on the subject, but had been overruled. By doing so, it was only making it easier for the feds to start seeing some sort of a pattern between last week’s explosion at this airport, and the one at the College Park Airport. Her business partners had insisted that they needed to get rid of any and all evidence. Seeing that the timer was down to three minutes, she realized she was running out of time. Quickly, she moved to the door leading out the back. Poking her head outside, she saw that the coast was clear and ran as fast as she could away from hangar number 42.

Looking through the darkness at the silhouette of hangars stretched out before him, Marcus never saw the dark figure. Carrying a large bundle protectively to its chest, the dark form melted into the night as it darted from behind the hanger and ran, like the devil was after it, away from the building. Instead, he focused ahead and moved to put the cart in drive. Marcus’ last living thought was that he had to remember to pick up flowers for his wife, as a kind of peace offering. He never knew what hit him as hangar number 42 blew into a million pieces, throwing him and the cart into the air. Marcus plummeted to the ground, hitting his head, and was killed instantly when the cart chose to land directly on top of him.

Chapter 1

“I’m afraid that’s all we have to go on. This is the third hangar to blow up in the last month. No one said anything at first, because the first hangar was at a different location. This is the second one to go at Silver Spring Airport.” William Melrose sat down in his chair, and waited for the onslaught of questions that he knew would be coming.

“Sir, what was in those hangars?” Amanda Stetson asked.

Billy couldn’t help but smile. He knew, without a doubt that she would be the first to jump in. “They all appeared to house private planes. I’m assigning you and Lee…” he turned his attention to Amanda’s husband, waiting to see some sort of protest. He knew that the couple had been planning a long weekend with the family, but this was important and he had every confidence that the team could get the case wrapped up before the weekend. “…to this case. I want you two to see what connections you can come up with between these two hangars, and the one at the College Park Airport.”

“Billy…” Lee rose from his seat and started his protest, “how long is this case going to take? You know that Amanda and I both asked for time off starting Thursday, and Dr. Smyth even approved it.”

Amanda turned in her seat. “Lee, I’m sure if we get right on this, we can have it wrapped up by Wednesday, and it won’t affect our plans…”

Lee looked pointedly at his wife. “Amanda, you know as well as I do, that no matter how simple we think a case may be it always manages to turn into something bigger.”

“Scarecrow, don’t force me to make this an order,” Billy commanded. “I have every confidence that you two can get this done quickly. I’m merely asking you to find a connection, and if necessary look into those connections.”

Amanda rose from her seat and moved next to Lee. Putting a gentle hand on his arm, she said, calmly, “Come on. If we start now, we may even get this done before dinner tonight.”

When she looked at him with those soft brown eyes, promising things he knew no one else would be able to see, he couldn’t say no. Realizing he was going to lose this battle, he sighed. “Oh, all right. I can see I’m out numbered.” Looking at Billy, he just shook his head. “Now I know the real reason you partnered me with Amanda. You knew you had a foolproof plan for making me do what needed to be done, with very little protest.”

Billy just smiled. “I don’t know what you mean.” He watched as Lee and Amanda headed for his door, and waited until the door was securely shut before releasing the contained laughter.

“Amanda, this is ridiculous,” Lee complained, running his hand through his hair. Looking up from the papers on his desk, he glanced at his wife, who was clearly concentrating on her file. “We’ve been sitting here for an hour, and we haven’t found a pattern.” He rose from his chair and started walking towards her desk. “Let’s face it. There is no pattern. We’re grasping at straws.”

Amanda looked up. “Sweetheart, I know there’s a connection. I can just feel it.”

Lee sighed. When his wife was determined to find something, he knew she wasn’t going to give up until she did. “Why am I the only one who sees this as a disaster waiting to happen,” he mumbled. “Amanda, don’t you think this is a job for the FBI’s arson division?” He took his usual seat on the corner of her desk.

She raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean? The paperwork came here…to Billy. That means it must be more important than just simple arson. Think about it, Lee. Why else would the Agency get involved?”

“If you ask me, it was some college fraternity prank. Why else would they have blown up a hangar at the College Park Airport? Didn’t I read somewhere that one of the planes in that hangar belonged to a professor?

Amanda rolled her eyes and focused her attention back down to her paperwork. “I have a feeling that it isn’t going to be that simple, Lee.” Her eyes found the name of the airport from yesterday’s explosion. She knew it was the same airport where Lee and Paul had finally captured Serdeych, but that wasn’t the reason it seemed so familiar to her. She knew she had heard it mentioned much more recently than that. Repeating the name of the airport to herself again, she suddenly realized that it had been her mother who had mentioned it. It was where Captain Kurt had moved his flight training school.

“Lee, I think I may have figured out someone who can help us,” she exclaimed excitedly.

He looked at her intently. “All right, I give up, who?”

“Captain Kurt.”

“Your mother’s flight instructor? How is he supposed to help us?” He asked.

“Don’t you remember mother complaining that she now had to drive all the way to Silver Spring for her lessons?” She watched Lee shrug his shoulders and shake his head. “Captain Kurt moved his school to the Silver Spring airport. Captain Kurt’s hangars aren’t far from where this one blew up.”

“Amanda…” he started to protest.

She rose and grabbed her purse. “I know it’s a long shot, Lee. But maybe he knows something about this guy Benny Collins, who just happens to have been renting the last hangar before it exploded.” She walked to the door. “I’m going to go talk to Captain Kurt, whether you come with me or not.”

Lee raised his hands in defeat. If he didn’t go and her hunch was right, who knew what kind of trouble she could find on her own? “All right, I give up.” He stood up from his chair and moved to join her.

Chapter 2

“Did you get it?” Benny Collins asked the tall blonde.

“Yes, I did.” She handed the brown paper package to her boss. “I told you it was a dumb idea to blow up this hangar too. Aside from the fact that it was your hangar, a guard was killed as a result of the explosion.”

John Markez was polishing his gun, but stopped when he heard this new piece of information. “What do you mean a guard was killed? I thought we had been careful and knew when no one was going to be around.”

Cindi Gayle shrugged her shoulders. “We did. He must have been making a second pass through, or was too busy watching the stars.” She walked over and dropped into one of the office chairs. “I think we’ve got bigger problems. The feds are sure to start looking for some connection. I figure it won’t be too long until they come knocking on Benny’s door and start asking questions.”

Benny turned to stare at Cindi. “Don’t start getting all smart-mouthed with me, young lady. You may be very good at cracking safes and getting in and out of buildings undetected, but you are expendable. I can find someone else just as good to get the job done.” He started unwrapping the package.

“Chill, Benny. I was just pointing out the obvious. Besides, you can’t get rid of me. If you did, my brother would be on you like that,” she snapped her fingers. “You’d be breathing your last breath before you knew what hit you.”

“She’s right, boss,” John replied. “Her brother has eyes and ears everywhere.”

Benny just rolled his eyes. “Well, for right now, I just want to make sure this stuff is pure. If it is, we can start selling it.”

“What is it, anyway?” Cindi asked.

Benny had just gotten the package open. He revealed a bunch of different colored bags. Opening one of them, he took out a few green pills. “They’re supposed to be the latest drug. According to my sources, it’s supposed to be better than cocaine.” He saw Cindi shrug her shoulders. “It looks like your average over the counter drug. You could get so many people hooked and they’d never realize what happened.”

Her eyes lit up. “Is that what we’ve been hiding in the cargo hold of all your planes?”

Benny nodded. “Don’t worry. There’s no way anyone is going to connect me to those other explosions. The planes in those other hangars are registered to a couple of guys who’ve been reported out of the country for the last year. The feds will hit a dead end trying to track them down and, I promise you, they won’t have any reason to suspect me.”

“I just hope you’re right. I for one have no intention of going to jail,” Cindi replied. “I’m going out for a while. I’ll be back later.” She rose and quickly disappeared from the small office.

Amanda and Lee had just arrived at Captain Kurt’s office. He was on the phone, so they decided to walk around and get a look at some of the nearby hangars.

As they neared the ruins of hangar number 42, Lee caught sight of a tall blonde walking their way. For some reason, her features seemed familiar.

Amanda saw her husband’s eyes squint, and noticed where his gaze was directed. “I knew this day would come,” she sighed.

Lee turned his eyes on his wife. “What do you mean?”

“I knew it wouldn’t be long until I couldn’t keep your eyes on me, and me alone,” she teased.

“Amanda…” he began to protest, but was interrupted as he heard his name being called by a female, and he knew it wasn’t his wife’s voice.

“Lee Stedman, is that you?” the tall blonde asked as she got closer to them.

‘Uh-oh. I knew I recognized her.’ Searching through the cobwebs, he stared back at her, struggling to come up with a name.

“Oh it is you. Did NASA finally kick you out?” she asked. Ignoring Amanda, she inched closer and took his arm.

“Cindi…Cindi Gayle? How long has it been?” Lee tried to remove his arm from Cindi’s grasp. Looking toward Amanda, he attempted to give her an apologetic look, but re-thought that when he saw the humor dancing in her eyes.

Seeing his eyes on the brunette next to him, and feeling the pull of his arm, Cindi realized that he didn’t want to play. Letting go, she softly touched his hand. “It’s been six years, I think.”

Out of her clutches, Lee moved closer to Amanda. “Cindi, I’d like to introduce you to Amanda Stedman, my wife.”

Cindi’s eyes bugged out. “Well now. That is a surprise. I thought Lee would be a confirmed bachelor forever.”

“I’m afraid not,” Amanda chimed in. “He finally found the right woman to settle down with.” She extended her hand politely toward Cindi, “It’s nice to meet you.” Cindi accepted it. “By any chance, your name wouldn’t be spelled with an ‘i’ would it?”

“Why yes, yes it is. How did you know?”

Amanda glanced quickly at Lee. She could see he was very uncomfortable with this line of conversation. “Lucky guess.”

Any further discussion was cut short when Captain Kurt came out of his office. Lee spied him in an instant. “Amanda, it looks like Captain Kurt can see us now.”

“Oh, are you taking flying lessons?” Cindi asked Amanda.

Realizing that Lee didn’t want Cindi with an “i,” to know why they were really here, when he hadn’t corrected the blonde’s use of his last name, she went along with the charade. “Yes, actually. Ever since Lee left NASA, all he seems to talk about is the rush that comes from flying. I thought it might be fun to learn, too.”

“I wish you luck.” Cindi turned and continued toward her car.

As they headed toward Captain Kurt, Amanda asked teasingly, “So I guess that was the Cindi with an ‘i’? I also gather that she was one of those poor women you had told that you were an astronaut?”

“Amanda, I told you before. Those women are in my past. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t dated so many women,” he admitted in the form of an apology.

“It’s all right, Sweetheart. I know you love me. I actually wish we hadn’t burned those little black books of yours. I would love to give them all a call and thank them.” Lee looked at her curiously. “If you hadn’t dated those shallow women, you wouldn’t have realized that you had such a good thing when you met me.”

Lee laughed and wrapped his arm around his wife. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now, let’s go see what Captain Kurt knows.” Amanda took Lee’s hand in hers and headed into the flight instructor’s office.

Chapter 3

Dotty watched her daughter and son-in-law finish their dinner. She knew something was up. They appeared to be listening intently to what the boys were saying, and were even commenting here and there, but their minds were definitely not entirely on the conversation.

The boys had just finished relating their day at school, and the conversation had died down. The suspense was killing her, and she couldn’t wait any longer. Dotty seized this opportunity to find out what was going on. “So,” she started, looking at her daughter, “Kurt said you stopped by his office today.”

Lee swallowed the food in his mouth fighting not to choke on it and stared at his mother-in-law. Amanda, almost dropping her fork, quickly shot her mother a look of complete shock.

“Are you gonna start taking flying lessons, Mom?” Phillip asked.

Amanda turned her attention to her oldest son. “No, Sweetheart. We had to go over there to talk to Kurt regarding a few things that happened at the airport where he keeps his planes.”

“So, did you tell him he was going to be in a film, in order to get the information you needed?” Jamie asked, spooning another helping of mashed potatoes onto his plate.

“I bet he’ll be disappointed when he finds out that there isn’t going to be any film,” Phillip chimed in.

“I think that’s enough of this.” Lee wanted to end this discussion. “You know your mother and I can’t discuss our cases with you. It’s bad enough that this topic even came up.” He looked pointedly at his mother-in-law.

Jamie and Phillip looked at each other and then back to Lee. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jamie replied.

“Boys, didn’t you say you had a ton of homework to do?” Amanda asked. Both boys reluctantly nodded.

“Why don’t you two head upstairs and get started on it? I’ll take care of the dishes,” Lee offered.

“Is that okay with you Mom? I mean, it is our turn to do the clean up after dinner.” Jamie inquired, surprised at the thought of actually getting out of the chore so easily. Then again, whenever topics surrounding his parents’ job came up, the adults always seemed to find a way of getting them out of the room.

“I think it’ll be all right for tonight. If you two are done with dinner go on and get started with your homework.” She watched her sons place their napkins on the table and head out of the dining room.

Once the boys were out of earshot, Amanda turned to face her mother. “Mother, couldn’t you have waited until later, when the boys were upstairs, to ask that question?”

Dotty shrugged her shoulders. “I couldn’t help it. Curiosity got the better of me. Kurt told me this afternoon, when I was taking my lesson, that you two had been by. I didn’t think you went around telling people what you did for a living.”

“Dotty, when we have to ask questions, regarding a case, sometimes we have to tell them we’re with the government. In this case, it wouldn’t have done any good to lie to Captain Kurt, especially since he knew us,” Lee explained to his mother-in-law.

Amanda nodded. “I have to say though; I was very impressed that you never told Captain Kurt about our jobs. I’m sure you were just dying to tell him on several occasions.”

“Amanda, I know it’s important that that information is kept quiet,” Dotty looked intently at her daughter, “You’ve made it very clear, and since I’m not really sure where my relationship with Kurt is going, if it’s even going anywhere, I didn’t think he needed to know that information. I can keep my mouth shut when it’s important.” There was a bit of an edge in her voice, clearly letting her daughter know that she was a bit offended by that last comment.

Rising from her chair, Amanda started to clear the table. “I wasn’t implying anything. So, Mother, how is your flying going?”

Lee knew that Amanda was trying to change the subject, hoping that Dotty wouldn’t go back to wondering why they had seen Captain Kurt. Somehow, however, he didn’t think that his wife’s ploy was going to work. Picking up some dishes, he followed her into the kitchen.

“Going well, actually.” Dotty replied, her tone a bit more neutral, as she joined them in the kitchen. “Kurt says I should be able to start flying solo, soon.” Placing some plates in the sink, she turned to look at her daughter. “And stop trying to change the subject, Amanda. Is Kurt somehow involved in a case you’re working on?”

Amanda rolled her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lee shake his head. “Mother…”

Dotty put up a hand to stop her daughter’s protest. “Amanda, I’m not asking what the case is about,” she glanced quickly at Lee, before returning her gaze to her daughter, “I just want to know how Kurt is involved. I think I have a right to know at least that much.”

Amanda sighed. Looking towards Lee, she saw him nod. “Okay, we’re investigating some explosions that took place at the Silver Spring Airport. Captain Kurt’s hangars aren’t far from where the last explosion took place. We were hoping maybe he could tell us something about the man who had been renting one of those hangars.”

Lee moved to stand next to Dotty, near the sink. “Unfortunately he couldn’t tell us much about the guy, other than the fact that he hangs out with a very attractive blonde, and rents an office near a second hangar where he stores his own planes.”

“Phew.” Dotty turned to head into the dining room to collect the remainder of the dinner dishes. “For a minute, I thought maybe you were going to tell me that he was going to end up getting involved in whatever you two are working on. It’s bad enough having to worry about you and Lee all the time,” she called from the dining room. “But I don’t think I could handle worrying about Kurt, too.”

Amanda laughed. “There should be no reason for Kurt to get involved. We just needed to ask him a few things.” She joined her husband near the sink, and whispered, “I think the subject is dropped.” Grabbing a dishtowel, she said a little louder, “Now, don’t you think it’s time to start the dishes? They aren’t going to wash themselves.” Laughing she swatted him on the butt with the hand towel.

“Why did I volunteer to do the dishes? I’d much prefer drying,” he mumbled. “Then again, I’d rather not have to do these at all.” Pouring soap over the dishes in the sink, he turned the water on and started washing.

Dotty returned with the rest of the dishes. “Well, if you two don’t mind, I’ll leave you alone and go upstairs and soak in a nice bubble bath.”

“Not at all, Mother. You go on. We’ve got everything under control down here.” Amanda watched her mother ascend the stairs, before turning her attention to her husband. “I guess we’re going to have to go over and talk to Benny tomorrow, huh?” she asked, picking up one of the dishes Lee had just placed in the draining board.

“Yeah, I just hope this case wraps up quickly. I’ll be honest with you, Amanda. I’ve had a very bad feeling from the beginning that it won’t be that easy.” Scrubbing intently at a piece of food that had stubbornly hardened on the plate he was washing, he looked up and stared out the window. “Something about this case is making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I really don’t want to cancel on the boys again.”

Amanda put the dried dish on the counter before moving to stand behind her husband. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his back. “I know. I don’t want to either. If it drags on too long, we’ll just have to ask Mr. Melrose to have someone else take over.”

Turning off the water, he turned around so that they were now facing each other, and embraced her. “I doubt we’ll get that lucky, Amanda. Besides, if it does, it’ll be all your fault.”

Looking up into his eyes, she tried to assess if he was joking or being serious. Seeing them twinkle, she decided to play along. Wiggling out of the embrace, she put her hands defensively on her hips. “And what exactly does that mean, Scarecrow?”

Lee just laughed and pulled her back into his arms. “I was referring to the jinx you put on us the moment you said that all these hangar explosions were more than just some prank. Admit it, when you get that ‘feeling’ you are very rarely wrong.”

Frowning ever so slightly, she whispered. “Sometimes I think that my sixth sense is more of a bad thing than a good thing.” Raising her head, she placed a light kiss on his lips, and then quickly stepped out of her husband’s arms. “Come on, let’s get these dishes done, then we can head up to bed. I have a feeling we have a long day ahead of us.”

Lee sighed. “I guess you’re right.” He resumed his position at the sink, and turned the water back on. He was definitely not looking forward to tomorrow.

Chapter 4

Benny had just hung up the phone. A satisfied smile crossed his face. Cindi’s brother was extremely interested in coming in on the deal. Somehow he wasn’t surprised that Jacques Incorvia, wanted in on the profit. Jack was more than happy to keep his hands clean by simply supplying some of the money up front to get the drugs into the country, and then reap the profits later. He wondered if Cindi had anything to do with her brother’s interest.

Pulling out a piece of paper he started jotting down all the figures. Yes, this was going to work out nicely. He’d be able to make a fortune in a short amount of time and gather enough money to buy a place in the Caribbean, never to be heard from again.

Twenty minutes later, with all the details ironed out, he decided he would call Jack and Cindi in order to arrange a meeting, and go over the details. As he reached for the phone, he was interrupted by a knock at his front door. Looking at the clock, it read nine-thirty. He couldn’t imagine who would be stopping by this early. Grumbling, he went to go see who was disturbing him.

Opening the door, he came face to face with Cindi. “Well that saves me a phone call. What are you doing here this early?”

Cindi stood with her arms crossed and a disgusted look on her face. “Believe me, this wasn’t my idea. I was just getting ready to jump into the shower. I had a very interesting evening with a sailor last night…”

“Please spare me the details and get to the point. Why are you standing in my doorway?” Benny interrupted her.

Rolling her eyes she sighed, “Fine, if that’s the way you want to be. As I was saying, I was just getting ready to jump in the shower, when my brother called. He seems very eager to start working on the finer points of the arrangement you two just made. He’s arranged for his right hand man, Carlos Duncan, to meet us downtown in about twenty minutes. We don’t have much time, so get your shoes on,” she said as she looked down at Benny’s bare feet, “and meet me at the car, pronto.” With that said, she turned on her heels, her blond hair blowing with the morning breeze, and headed for her car.

Benny shook his head, but turned and moved into the den. He grabbed the paper he had been writing on earlier, folded it neatly and stuck it in his back pocket. Then he walked into the his bedroom and put on his socks and shoes. “What a morning. I can’t believe how well this is going. My luck hasn’t been this good in ages,” he mused joyfully to himself. Smiling, he headed back towards the front door and prepared to join Cindi outside.

Amanda looked down at the paper in her hand. “We’re getting close, just turn right at the next stop sign and we should be on the right street.”

“Are you sure? You said that once before and we ended up in a cul-de-sac.” Lee glanced quickly at his wife.

Amanda smiled. “Yes I’m sure. It wasn’t my fault that that last set of directions was a little off. My guess is that the street wasn’t there when they made out the map we used. The area is growing, Lee.”

Lee sighed, but smiled at his wife’s comment. He knew it wasn’t her fault they had made a wrong turn. “I know. I just want to make sure we get to Collins’ house before we miss him.”

Shaking her head, she chuckled as she looked at the clock. “Lee, it’s just a little after nine-thirty. The guy we called at his office told us that Benny was taking the day off. Most people don’t usually get that early a start when it’s their day off.” She gave her husband a pointed stare. There had been quite a few times when they had been given a day or morning off, that it had been especially difficult to get her husband out of bed any earlier than ten in the morning. “But, if it turns out we missed him, we’ll just have to try him tomorrow or we can drive back to the airport today and see if we can talk to any of Benny’s business associates.”

“I guess you’re right,” Lee conceded. “I just can’t seem to shake this feeling of dread. I know I’ve said it before but I really do have a bad feeling about all of this. I really don’t want to disappoint the boys again by having to break our plans and the longer we put off talking to this Collins guy…”

Amanda reached over and put her hand on her husband’s arm. “I understand, Lee. Don’t worry. We’ll wrap this case up before the weekend.” It warmed her heart to hear Lee so concerned about the boys’ feelings.

Turning the car onto the street Amanda had mentioned, Lee slowed down and started to scan the house numbers, “I just hope you’re right about…what the hell?” he paused and pulled the car over to the side of the road.

“Lee, what’s the matter?” Amanda asked as she took in her husband’s shocked features.

“What is she doing with him?” Lee’s gaze was now focused on the blonde getting into the driver’s seat of a red Honda Prelude.

Amanda watched as the gentleman, whom she recognized from the Agency picture as Benny Collins, got into the passenger side of the car. “I don’t know, but maybe we should follow them and find out where they’re going.”

Lee’s was already putting the car in gear. “I was just thinking the same thing myself.” He turned his head to look at Amanda so as not to be recognized as the car pulled out of the driveway and passed them.

Once the other vehicle was a safe distance away, Lee made a quick U-turn in a neighboring driveway. Keeping his distance he followed them out of the neighborhood and onto the highway in the direction of D.C.

“Lee, can you hear what they’re saying?” Amanda asked her husband, as they peered around the corner at the group congregated in the alleyway.

He shook his head. “No, but I don’t have to. They’re obviously in the midst of a discussion regarding trafficking drugs or something of that nature.”

“How do you know?” she whispered, staring intently at her husband.

“I know, because the guy Benny and Cindi are talking to is the right hand man to one of New York’s mob bosses.” As soon as Lee had gotten those words out, Cindi looked in their direction. Lee quickly moved away from the corner of the building that was their hiding spot. Praying that she hadn’t seen him, he decided it was time to get out of there. “Come on, we’ll catch up with Benny again, later. I want to head back to the Agency and figure out what Cindi has to do with Carlos Duncan.”

Amanda nodded her understanding and turned to head back to the car.

Lee peeked once more around the corner, and mumbled, “I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy assignment.” Shaking his head, he moved away from the building and followed his wife.

Chapter 5

“I don’t know why I never checked into Cindi’s background before,” Lee commented as he stared at the printout he had just pulled out of the printer.

Amanda moved over to sit on the corner of her husband’s desk. “What do you mean? Did you make it a habit of checking into the backgrounds of all the women you dated?”

Lee looked up, “No…but…if I had gotten involved with Cindi back then, I might have wished I had.”

Amanda leaned down to read the paper. “It says her father was killed in a sky diving accident when she was two. But that her mother remarried, and had another child, Cindi’s half-brother, Jacques.”

Lee nodded. “Yeah, and it just so happens that Jacques took over his father’s business when he died five years ago. Jacques Incorvia is the mob boss I was talking about earlier.”

Amanda stared at her husband. “Oh. So Benny’s hangar blowing up wasn’t just a freak college prank after all,” she commented, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“Okay, so you were right. But,” he paused and leaned back in his chair, “so was I. I told you this wasn’t going to be an easy deal. I told you we were gonna have to disappoint the boys again.”

Amanda stood up and moved to kneel down by Lee’s chair. She placed her hand on his arm. “Sweetheart, it’s only Tuesday. We still have two days to wrap this thing up.” Leaning forward she placed a kiss on his cheek. “I have no intention of letting them down again.”

Lee turned to see the determined look on his wife’s face. “I hope you’re right. Come on. Let’s head back over to Benny’s and get some answers.” Taking Amanda’s hand in his, he helped her rise to her feet.

“Now that’s more like it.” Amanda squeezed his hand and then moved to her desk to get her purse.

“Benny, will you please calm down,” Cindi whispered, rolling her eyes at her associate. Ever since they had come back to the airport office, Benny had been wearing a huge smile on his face.

“Oh, come on now.” Benny grinned. “I can’t help but say, ‘I told you so.’”

Cindi raised her eyebrows, “What do you mean, ‘told me so?’”

“Weren’t you the one who told me not to count my chickens before they hatched?” Benny leaned down and picked up a piece of paper from his desk. “And now,” his voice full of excitement, “now your brother’s going to fund the whole operation. I can’t thank you enough for getting me in contact with him.”

“Believe me. I’m beginning to think it was a huge mistake. I still have a bad feeling about all of this.” Cindi walked over and looked out the window. “I feel like we’re being watched.”

“I’m positive you’re just being paranoid, but…”Benny signaled his right-hand man, “just in case, John will go take a look around.”

John nodded and headed for the door.

“John, do me a favor, call it a hunch, but check down by all the other hangars. Look for anyone who looks out of place,” Cindi requested, turning away from the window.

John looked to Benny. Benny just nodded. “What can it hurt?” Once John had left and closed the door behind him, Benny turned his attention back to Cindi, “I’m telling you, you’re worrying too much.”

Cindi shrugged her shoulders and turned her attention back to the window. “Whatever, but I’m telling you, something just isn’t right.”

Benny shook his head, and moved over to his desk. Sitting down behind it, he pulled a bunch of papers together, and started making out his plans for the future.

“Damn!” Lee grunted. “He’s not home,” he remarked to his wife as he climbed the steps of the front porch. When they had arrived, they had knocked a few times, but got no answer. Being a bit overly cautious, Lee had taken out his gun and gone to look around back.

Amanda had just finished ringing the doorbell for the third time, and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe, he decided to go over to his office. It’s not far from here, and probably makes the most sense. I mean, if you just made a deal with a big time mafia boss, wouldn’t you go back to your office to figure out your next course of action.” She put her ID badge back into her purse.

Lee looked at his wife. She was, of course, probably right…again! Where she came up with these little insights and ideas, he would never know, but nine times out of ten she was right. Putting his gun back into its holster, he relented. “Come on, let’s head back to the airport. I really want to get this all over with.”

Amanda just smiled, took his hand in hers and headed for the car.

A dark-suited man, wearing shades watched as the two agents got into their vehicle. “I’d better call Jacques. He isn’t gonna like the idea of a couple of feds snooping around Benny’s place.” Picking up his car phone, he dialed his boss’ number. When Jacques answered, Carlos began his explanation, “I did as you asked and kept an eye on Benny’s house. You’re not going to like this, but I think you might want to reconsider the whole deal.”

“Kurt, how much longer are you going to be?” Dotty called from the doorway of her instructor’s office.

“Just a minute, Dotty,” Kurt replied. “I’m just checking the weather reports.”

“Will you relax, please? If we leave now, we can head in the opposite direction of any storms.” Dotty was eager to get back in the air. It had been a good two weeks since she’d actually been up.

Kurt appeared behind her. “Okay, okay. You sure you want to do this?”

Dotty nodded. “Yes, besides, it’s just a few gray clouds.”

Kurt followed her out and looked at the sky. The sky didn’t look too ominous, but he had a bad feeling about this flight.

Chapter 6

Lee parked the Jeep near Captain Kurt’s office. “Let’s go take a look around. If it looks like we’re outnumbered I want you to come back here and call for back up.”

Amanda nodded. At least it was better than him telling her to wait in the car. Taking his extended hand, they started walking towards the area where Benny’s office was.

Cindi had seen the Jeep drive into the hangar area just moments after John had returned and told them the area was secured. He had looked at Cindi as he spoke; his tone was a bit condescending, as if to say she was just a little paranoid. Now, she watched as Lee and his wife began to walk towards Benny’s office.

“Benny, I told you something fishy was up.” She kept her eyes out the window. Benny came over to see what she was referring to. “I met that guy a few years back, and then just happened to bump into him again yesterday. Something tells me they aren’t here on a social call.”

Benny turned to look at his associate’s serious face. “Why do you say that?”

“I’m almost positive it was Lee I saw peering around the corner at us this morning. I told you we were being watched.” She gave him a pointed look. “I also get the feeling that he’s not who I thought he was all those years ago.” She turned her attention back out the window. “I’d bet anything that he’s some sort of fed. If that’s the case, then I’m sure he’s put two and two together by now and knows that we’re in cahoots with my brother.”

Benny let his fist hit the wall. “Damn! Just as things were going my way.” Just then the phone rang. Benny walked over and picked up the receiver. “Hello? … Oh come on now, surely a pair of harmless agents can’t get him all worked up … I know very well that when he says ‘maybe we can try this again at a later date’ he really means the deal is never going to happen … I realize he gave his word, but … Fine, hold on…” Benny stared at Cindi. “Carlos wants to talk to you.”

Cindi headed over to Benny’s desk and took the phone. Benny decided it was time to do something about the two meddling agents. He had a good thing going, up until they had started snooping around. ‘Damn my luck.’

Cindi hung up the phone just as a knock came at the office door. “Benny, just try and act calm. Maybe we can take them out with no one the wiser, and be out of here in no time. We can head up to New York. Maybe if you meet with him in a different venue, my brother will be more willing to reconsider.”

Benny didn’t look too convinced. Cindi, seeing the anger in the man’s eyes, walked over to him, and firmly put a hand on his arm. “I mean it. Let’s be as calm as possible. John, you stay here. I’m going to sneak out the back door and come around front. I’ll wait for the perfect opportunity and then we can take them both out.” She turned and looked pointedly at John. “Don’t get any ideas about the woman, I’ll take care of her. I want to make Lee pay for lying to me.”

John shrugged and took a seat behind his desk.

Cindi returned her gaze to Benny. “Remember, try not to give anything away.”

Benny nodded and took a deep breath. Walking to the door, he waited until he heard the click of the secret backdoor shutting, before going to the front of the office and opening the door.

Lee and Amanda flashed him their government IDs. “Benny Collins?” Lee asked. Benny nodded. “I’m Lee Stetson, and this is my partner, Amanda King. We’ve been trying to track you down all day. We have a few questions for you.”

Benny raised his eyebrows. “What is this about? Do I have some unpaid speeding tickets and the police turned to the feds to track me down?”

Amanda shook her head. “No, we’re here to talk about the hangar that blew up. We believe that it may be linked to some other recent explosions. May we come in?”

Lee had been a little irked by the speeding ticket comment, and could sense that Benny was trying to buy some time. But buy some time for what? As Amanda had been talking to him, he had been surveying the office. He saw three desks, at one of them he saw a blond-haired man with his feet propped up on his desk; one of the other two was obviously Benny’s.

Benny had moved aside and motioned for them to enter. “I’m sorry, I don’t have much to tell you. I had actually just told the airport that I no longer needed that hangar. I had just sold the two planes I had in there.” He was pretty sure that these agents had probably done their homework, but he wanted to give Cindi some time to make her move. “This is my associate, John Markez. John, would you mind going over to the file cabinet and digging out the papers regarding the sale of the planes.”

John nodded and moved to the cabinets by the door.

Amanda had a bad feeling about this. Benny was being too calm, and she hadn’t trusted the look on that John’s face when they had walked in. Then there was the matter of the still-burning cigarette in the ashtray on the desk by the window. Something just wasn’t right. She saw Lee looking around too, and knew by his stance that he was having similar thoughts.

John walked back over to them a few seconds later with the papers. He handed them to Amanda. Amanda looked them over, and passed them to Lee. “They look legitimate, Mr. Collins. However, I do have a question. Why would you be giving up the hangar, if all you did was sell a few planes? Are you planning on getting out of the plane business altogether?”

Benny shook his head. “Actually, no. I make a business of buying the planes from someone else and then selling them again. I just have too many hangars, and that one was too big. It was costing me a bundle to rent. I can’t say I’m sorry it blew up. I was sorry to hear about the guard though.”

Lee was getting a really bad feeling. He’d had it since yesterday, and the feeling was growing stronger. He especially didn’t like the look of that John guy. Maybe he could convince Benny to come down to the Agency for questioning. The problem with that was, on what legal grounds could they get him to come down there? Cautiously, looking around again, Lee decided one thing: he had to find a way to get Amanda out of harm’s way.

“Mr. Collins, we were here yesterday questioning a few of the other hangar owners. They said they saw some pretty suspicious people snooping around your office. Do you think someone was targeting your hangar?” Lee asked.

Benny shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know who would possibly have a motive, unless it was some deal gone bad that I’m not aware of.”

Amanda had casually started walking around the office. This office was small, but neat. It definitely had a woman’s touch. ‘Cindi,’ she thought.

Lee looked down at the papers regarding the sale of the planes. He suddenly had an idea on how to get Amanda out of there. “Would you mind if we called these in, just to verify everything?”

“If you feel that’s necessary, you can go ahead and use my associate’s phone.” Benny pointed to the third, unoccupied desk.

“Thanks all the same, but I think I’ll have my partner use my car phone.”

Amanda turned to look at her husband. She knew he was concerned for her safety. He had voiced his feelings about this case from the start, and now it looked like his fears hadn’t been for nothing. However, if this situation was going to go bad, she didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone in this office with Benny and his associate, John. There was also the question of where the occupant of the third desk and owner of the cigarette was. They hadn’t seen anyone leave the office as they had approached, and from her vantage point she couldn’t see any kind of back door. Discreetly, she looked at the clock and realized that they hadn’t checked in with Mr. Melrose in almost two hours. The Agency had no way of knowing where they were, so if something did happen to them… She quickly dismissed the rest of that thought before she had completed it. Lee’s attitude about the whole case was beginning to rub off on her.

She nodded slightly, and walked over to retrieve the papers. “I won’t be but a minute.” She looked her husband in the eye, and his gaze told her that he would be all right. Turning, she headed to the front door.

No sooner had she closed the door behind her and headed in the direction of the Jeep, than she felt the hard barrel of a gun in her back.

“So, how are the flying lessons going, Mrs. Stedman? That is if you really are Lee’s wife,” Cindi’s cold voice came from behind her.

As she tried to turn, Cindi pushed the gun further into her back. “Uh, uh. We’re going to go back into the office. Nice and easy, turn towards the door.”

Amanda hesitated for a moment. She slowly turned back towards the office and took in her surroundings. To the left she saw what looked like one of Captain Kurt’s planes leaving his hangar. ‘That’s right. Mother was planning on going up with Kurt today. I sure hope she’s too busy taxiing the plane to see me.’

Cindi sensed Amanda’s hesitation. “Come on, I want to give Lee a dose of his own medicine.” Amanda started to turn to look at the blonde. “There’s no need for you to look at me. You know, when I saw you and Lee snooping around this morning at the alley, I began to wonder if Lee really had been an astronaut. I had my brother do some digging, turns out there never was a Lee Stedman in the space program. What a shame. Come on…you’re definitely going to come in handy.”

Chapter 7

Inside the small plane, Dotty was busy paying attention to the runway they were quickly approaching.

“Twelve-Niner-Zero, Silver Spring Airport. Seventeen-Forty-Three come in.” The voice of the tower controller came over the radio.

Kurt picked up “Seventeen-Forty-Three responding.”

“You’re no longer cleared for take-off. We have reports of a thunderstorm fast approaching. All flights are hereby grounded until the storm passes over. Do you read?”

“Ten-Four, we read. Turning back to our hangar now. Over and out,” Kurt replied back into the radio. Turning to his flight companion, his eyes held an apology, as he spoke into his headset. “Sorry, Dotty. Looks like we’ll have to take this baby up another day.”

Dotty nodded. She was disappointed, but there was no use getting killed just for a flight. Re-adjusting the yoke, she turned the plane back towards the hangar.

Lee’s head quickly looked to the door as he heard the handle turn. It was too soon for Amanda to be back. Perhaps it was Cindi. All his fears from the past two days crystallized as he saw his wife come through the door, followed by Cindi. From the look in Amanda’s eyes, he could tell that Cindi was holding her at gunpoint.

He reached for his gun, but stopped short when he caught the quick movement of John rising from his seat, and saw the gleam of a gun pointed at him.

Amanda looked apologetically towards him. He wasn’t sure why she always felt the need to apologize. They had had this discussion over and over. It was never really her fault, besides, like he had told her on more than one occasion, he wouldn’t trade his life as it was now, for anything. At the present moment, however, he had to think of a way out of this.

John, keeping his gun aimed at Lee, walked over and removed Lee’s gun from its holster.

Cindi removed the gun from Amanda’s back momentarily and moved so that she could get a better look at John. “I think we’ll just tie Mr. Stedman up and lock him in the bathroom. We’ll take his pretty wife with us as a security measure.”

Amanda, remembering the metal pole by the door, took advantage of Cindi’s lack of attention to her and John’s eyes on Lee. Moving quickly she reached for the pole, wrapped her fingers around the cold steal and spun around, successfully knocking Cindi in the head with the metal object. Amanda watched as the blonde slumped to the floor before letting out the breath she’d been holding.

Lee took advantage of Amanda’s distraction and punched John square on the jaw with his left fist.

Benny watched all his plans quickly going sour. The King woman had managed to take out Cindi, and Stetson was successfully pummeling John. He knew his only course of action was to run. Making sure that nobody was paying any attention to him, he quickly snuck out the back door.

Amanda knelt down beside Cindi, and gently put her fingers on the blonde’s throat. Relief flooded through her as she felt a slow pulse. Glancing up, she quickly assessed the situation. Lee was still battling with John, and Benny… her eyes went wide as realization dawned on her. She quickly looked around the small office. Benny was nowhere in sight. ‘He must have slipped out the back.’ Without further hesitation, she grabbed the blonde woman’s gun from where it had fallen when Cindi had collapsed. She then headed for the front door and exited the office.

Scanning the area she tried to determine which way Benny might have gone. Not seeing him anywhere in the immediate area, she could only assume that he was somewhere behind the office. Turning the corner, she caught sight of Benny running towards a small plane that was apparently heading towards a hangar. Glancing back at the office, she weighed her options. Lee was probably still battling with John, a fact which unnerved her a little. She knew Lee could hold his own, but if he got into a situation where he might need her help…

Knowing that if she hesitated any longer Benny could possibly get away. Before she could weigh her options further, she noticed that the plane had come to a stop in front of a hangar not far down. She saw Benny getting closer to that plane. Torn between wanting to make sure her partner was okay and catching Benny, she knew she couldn’t let Benny get on that plane. Looking back in Benny’s direction, she realized her decision had just been made for her. She looked closer at the hangar the plane was parked in front of; it was Captain Kurt’s hangar. That meant the plane was most likely carrying her mother and Kurt. Glad she’d worn her tennis shoes, she took off at a sprint towards the plane.

Dotty had just put the plane on standby so that Kurt could exit the plane and go back into the hanger to open the door. Kurt rose from his seat and had opened the small door in the back of the small six-seat plane, when he came face to face with the barrel of a gun.

“Excuse me, sir, but I’m going to need to borrow you and your plane.” Benny motioned for the man, whom he assumed was the pilot, to step back and allow him entrance into the plane.

Kurt noticed someone coming up behind the man holding the gun and nodded. Hoping he hadn’t given anything away, he turned and went back to his seat.

Dotty gave Kurt a curious glance, and then noticed the man attempting to enter the plane, his gun pointed in their direction. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she muttered under her breath. ‘If only Amanda or Lee were here,’ she thought to herself.

As if in answer to her prayers, she heard her daughter’s voice. “All right Benny, that’s far enough. Drop the gun and step out of the plane.”

Benny, who was already inside the plane, took one quick stride and wrapped one arm around Dotty, while pointing the gun at her head. “I think it is you who should drop the gun. If you don’t, I’ll blow this pretty lady’s head into a million pieces.”

Amanda tried not to let her fear show. Instead, she placed her gun on the floor of the plane. “Why don’t you let these two go, huh? You can take me instead. Wouldn’t a federal agent be a much better hostage than two civilians?”

Benny appeared to be considering the offer. However, knowing that he couldn’t fly a plane, and that the King woman probably couldn’t either; he decided it would be better to keep those who could on board. “Unless you know how to fly a plane, I think we’ll just keep these two pilots on board for now. However, you do make a good point. I think I will have you come along for the ride.”

Amanda had hoped Benny would be too worried about not getting away to realize they’d need a pilot, but was glad in a small way that he had accepted her offer to be a hostage. This way, she could at least think of a way to subdue Benny and save her mother and Kurt.

Benny pressed the gun harder to Dotty’s head. “Slide your gun over towards me, then climb on board and close the door behind you. We’re going for a ride.”

Lee planted one more left hook on John’s jaw sending the lackey against the wall. This time, as Lee bent down to defend himself once more; he realized that John wasn’t going to be causing him any more problems, any time soon. The guy was finally out cold. Taking out a pair of handcuffs, he cuffed John to the desk. He then stood and turned in the direction of the door to see how Amanda was fairing. Seeing the open door, and Cindi on the floor, he quickly glanced around the room. His eyes went wide, and fear gripped him, as he realized that both Amanda and Benny were nowhere in sight. Following his instincts, he ran out the door.

Frantically looking around, he shouted, “AMANDA!” Not getting a response, he ran around the corner of the office. Noticing a plane parked just outside what appeared to be Captain Kurt’s hangar, he caught sight of a familiar pair of legs just under the belly of the plane. He watched as they disappeared up the side of the plane and out of sight.

He quickly ran back inside to retrieve his gun, which had fallen out of John’s hand during the fight. Cursing the seconds he was losing as he searched for the gun, he prayed he could reach Amanda in time. He had every bit of faith in his wife’s abilities, but he didn’t know much about this Benny Collins, and had no idea of the situation on board that plane. Finding his gun, he raced back outside.

Looking up, he saw the dark storm clouds brighten as a bolt of lightning lit the sky. Moving his gaze back to the plane, his heart stopped as he noticed it begin to back up and make its way towards the runway. “Amanda, what have you gotten yourself into now?” Knowing he couldn’t stop the plane on foot, he headed in the direction of the control tower.

Chapter 8

Once Amanda had climbed on board, Benny released his hold on Dotty. As he bent down to pick up Amanda’s gun, he found some rope that was hiding under the pilot’s seat. Keeping his gun trained in the direction of Dotty, he motioned for Amanda to take a seat. He then moved over to her and lowering the gun briefly he pulled her arms behind her and began to tie her hands behind her back.

Dotty watched as this madman tied her daughter’s arms behind her back and to the seat of the plane. She noticed the calmness in her daughter’s features and realized that this was probably not the first time her daughter had been in a situation like this. That thought unnerved her quite a bit. It was bad enough watching her daughter with a gun in her hands. She moved her gaze from her daughter to the gun that now lay at the madman’s feet.

Kurt had been watching as well, and had followed Dotty’s gaze. His thinking was that if he could some how get the gun away from the man Amanda had called Benny, he could help save the day. His mind was focused on the gun, and never saw Amanda’s barely perceptible shake of the head warning him not to do anything stupid.

Benny, on the other hand, had seen it. He reached quickly for the gun, and turned his attention towards the pilot. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Making sure that Amanda was secure to the seat, he sat himself in the seat next to her. “All right folks, let’s turn this plane around and get in the air. I need to get as far away from here as possible.”

Kurt shook his head. “Sorry, buddy, but we can’t. There’s a storm coming and the tower grounded all flights.”

Benny raised the gun in Kurt’s direction. “I don’t care what the tower says. You are to take this plane up, NOW!”

Kurt shook his head again. “I’m not going to endanger my life or the lives of these two women…”

Benny didn’t give him a chance to finish. He was up and out of his seat before the man could finish. He gave Kurt a swift blow to the head with the butt of his gun, knocking the man out cold. He then turned his attention towards Dotty, “I mean business, lady. Get this plane in the air.”

Dotty looked in Amanda’s direction. Amanda nodded. “Okay,” she whispered nervously. Swallowing her fear, she put the plane in gear and turned it back towards the runway.

Amanda was taking advantage of Benny’s attention on her mother to try and loosen the ropes around her wrists, but she would need as much time as she could get. She stopped her movements as Benny moved back into his seat when the plane started to move. She noticed Dotty's hands shaking on the controls, and realized that this was probably the first time her mother had flown without Kurt’s assistance. Amanda knew it was up to her to somehow save the day. Lee wouldn’t be able to help once they were airborne.

As Lee passed his car, he suddenly remembered that neither he nor Amanda had checked in with Billy. He knew he should call in and at least get Agency back up to come in and take care of Cindi and that John guy in Benny’s office. Knowing there would be hell to pay if either of the two suspects woke up and got away, he opened his car door and dialed the number to the Agency.

“Melrose please. This is Scarecrow.”

“Hold one moment, Scarecrow, patching you through now.”

Lee drummed his fingers on the hood of the car as he waited for Billy to pick up the line.

“Scarecrow, where are you?” Francine Desmond’s voice came over the phone.

“Francine, we’re out at Silver Spring airport. We need a clean-up crew to come and get two of Benny Collins’ associates.” Noticing airport security rounding the corner, he amended, “The suspects will be with airport security. Tell Billy I’ll fill him in as soon as I can.” He hung up the phone and closed his car door. Fear for his wife’s safety overtook him again as another bolt of lightning splintered the sky, and then was followed by a very loud clap of thunder.

Taking out his Agency ID, he flagged down the approaching security cart. “I have two suspects, who are responsible for the hanger explosions, in that office over there. I need you to take them into custody and wait for my associates to come and apprehend them.” He showed one of the officers his ID.

“Sir, I’m afraid we can’t assist you, we need to go stop that plane.” The security officer handed Lee back his ID.

The second officer shook his head, “Smith, I think we can, that plane just took off, there’s no way we can stop it now.”

Lee turned in the direction of the plane as another lightning bolt streaked the sky. He closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer that everything would turn out okay. Turning, he ran at full speed in the direction of the tower.

“Twelve-Niner-Zero, Silver Spring Airport. Seventeen-Forty-Three you are not cleared for take off. Please return to your hangar.”

Dotty knew she should respond, but if she did, they would just tell her she couldn’t take off, and she knew that the man aiming the gun in her direction obviously didn’t care about the safety of himself or the occupants of the plane.

Knowing it was against all rules and regulations, and after this she may never get her official pilot’s license, she pulled up on the throttle and increased the plane’s speed for take off.

“Ma’am, are you going to be able to fly this plane without the assistance of a co-pilot?” Amanda had decided that if she could at least find a discreet way to let Benny know that their pilot wasn’t the most experienced, he might change his mind and let them stay on the ground. She was also hoping that by not referring to her by name, her mother would get the hint that she didn’t want their captor to know they knew each other.

“A…” Dotty realized at the last second what her daughter was up to. She didn’t want that Benny fellow to know his hostages knew each other. “It might make it easier on us all if we introduced ourselves. I mean if we’re going to die together we might as well get to know each other.”

Amanda could hear the tremor in her mother’s voice, but was glad that Dotty had indeed picked up her subterfuge. “My name is Amanda King. I’m a federal agent. Not that that makes a difference right now.”

Dotty clicked on a few controls and pulled back on the throttle again, the plane jolted a little as the wheels lifted off the ground and were secured in their home under the plane. “I’m Dotty West, your pilot.” A bolt of lightning struck the sky in front of them and she swallowed the fear that had suddenly lodged itself in her throat. Calming her nerves, she glanced over at Kurt’s slumped form, as if willing him to wake up. “To answer your earlier question, I will do my best, but I’ve never flown solo before, and I have never ever flown in a storm either.”

Benny looked over at the agent tied to the seat, and then at the pilot. “Look lady, just fly this plane. Enough chit chat.”

Amanda turned her attention towards their captor. “You know what, Benny? Mrs. West just informed us that she’s never done this before, and you yelling at her, isn’t going to help. Unless you want to crash, I suggest you soften your tone and let her do whatever it is she needs to do to stay calm.”

Benny never liked being told what to do by a woman. He had put up with it from Cindi, only because of who her brother was. He didn’t know Agent King from Eve and wasn’t about to take sass from her. Rising quickly from his seat, he moved directly in front of Amanda. Raising his hand he slapped her across the face. “You just keep your mouth shut missy.”

Amanda kept her features calm. Benny was clearly way over the edge, and there was no reason to make the situation any worse than it was. She decided she would try her best to keep her mouth shut. If Benny was concentrating on things out the front window, then she could keep working on the rope. She needed to find a way to get control of the situation.

Dotty cringed as she heard the thwack of Benny’s hand on her daughter’s face. Deciding it was best not to anger the madman behind her further, she concentrated on the instruments in front of her. As another bolt of lightning streaked the sky in front of them, she sent out a silent prayer that she could get them out of this alive.

Chapter 9

Roger Jones watched as his co-worker, Lou Ranger, switched views on the radar screen one more time hoping to be able to give the very impatient Agent Stetson something of a good report. Seeing nothing on his screen, Lou shook his head.

Roger saw the vein in the agent’s neck look as if it were going to pop. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone turn that shade of red before.’ Turning his attention back to his radio, Roger tried one more time to reach the missing aircraft. “Five-Niner-Zero, Silver Spring Airport, Seventeen-Forty-Three please come in.” Hearing only static, he looked apologetically towards Lee. “I’m sorry Agent Stetson, but the storm must be affecting the radio signal.”

Lee looked up at the ceiling of the flight tower, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. How Amanda managed to get herself into these life-threatening situations was beyond him, but his heart couldn’t take much more of this. She was his life and if anything ever happened to her… His thoughts were cut off by the sound of his name.

“Agent Stetson, there’s a Mr. Melrose on the phone for you.” One of the tower personnel called out as he held the phone out to Lee.

Lee ran his hand through his hair and walked over to the young man. Taking the receiver, he spoke into the phone, “Billy?”

“Scarecrow,” the frustrated voice of Lee’s boss came over the line. “What the devil is going on? I just received a very annoyed call from the F.A.A, saying that some hot-headed agent was terrorizing the control tower personnel at Silver Spring Airport. I knew, without question, that it had to be you.”

“Not funny, Billy,” Lee replied, his eyes scanning the control tower, watching the crew work, hoping to get some idea that the plane carrying his wife and mother-in-law had made contact. “Benny Collins took off in a private plane with Amanda, and according to the tower logs, Amanda’s mother and her flight instructor, Captain Kurt, are on that plane as well.”

Billy cut in, “What do you mean Collins has Amanda and her mother? How did Dotty get involved in this?”

Lee sighed, and shook his head. He had been wondering the same thing too. “Wrong place at the wrong time,” he mumbled. Then a little louder, he continued, “The problem isn’t just that Benny has them, Billy. He somehow forced them to get the plane airborne and fly right into a major thunderstorm. The tower hasn’t been able to make radio contact, so we have no idea what’s going on aboard that plane.”

“Oh, that’s just wonderful,” Billy hissed. That’s all he needed. A lunatic holding Amanda and two civilians at gunpoint in a plane was a surefire recipe to tip Lee’s control of his temper over the edge, and a storm front coming in was just icing on the cake. “Do me a favor, Scarecrow,” he said into the phone, “Please do your best to keep your head, and not lose your cool…”

“Billy, that’s my wife up there,” Lee jumped in, his free hand now clenched into a fist.

“Scarecrow!” Billy cut him off. “I know that, but you losing your temper and doing something stupid isn’t going to help them. I need you to stay as calm as possible and stay out of the way of the personnel in flight control—let them do their job! If you don’t, they’ll most likely call security and have you removed from the premises.” Billy waited for an explosion from the other end, but all he got was silence. “Scarecrow? Did you hear me?”

“Yes, Billy, I did, and you’re right. I need to keep my wits about me so I can stay in the loop. I won’t do anyone any good if I’m locked in a security officer’s holding cell.” Lee was sure he could hear his boss’ thoughts. He knew he had changed. The years he had spent working with Amanda had softened him. He was more than willing to see the damage his actions might cause if he acted first rather than think first, and then act.

“Are you feeling all right, Lee?” Billy asked his voice holding a bit of humor.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Getting back to business, Lee remembered Benny’s two associates. “By the way, speaking of security offices, do you know if Francine dispatched a crew to pickup Cindi Gayle and John Markez?”

“Yes, one of our guys just checked in. They’re on their way back to the Agency with the suspects now. I’ll also start making some phone calls to nearby airports, see if they’ve heard from Amanda’s plane, and ask them to keep an ear out.”

“Billy, would you mind if I did that? I think it might be best if I made the calls from here.” Lee watched the control tower personnel scanning the radar screens watching for any sign of the small aircraft. “It’ll give me something to do. I need to keep from thinking about all the things that could go wrong.”

“All right,” Billy agreed, “but keep me posted. I’ll get in touch with you there if I hear anything on my end.”

“Will do, Scarecrow out.” Lee hung up the phone and then turned his attention to the young man who had handed him the phone. “Do you have a list of all the nearby local airports?”

The young man nodded his head and started rifling through some papers on his desk. Finding the list, he handed it to Lee.

“Thanks,” Lee commented as he took the paper. Picking the receiver off its base, he dialed the first number.

Rain was now pelting the window of the small plane. Dotty was having a very difficult time seeing anything outside the window other than streaks of water. Taking a deep breath she kept her focus on the instruments. As long as she kept the horizon even… Her thoughts were cut off as a jolt of lightning struck the wing of the plane. The little plane shuddered and tipped drastically towards the right. Gripping the yoke, she tried to right the plane.

Benny grabbed onto his seat as the plane rocked back and forth. What had he been thinking? Forcing the pilot to take this plane up in the air in the middle of an oncoming storm. How had things gotten so bad so quickly? Just an hour ago he was about to be filthy rich. Now, he’d be lucky if he lived long enough to salvage anything from his business venture.

Amanda had been watching Benny, waiting for opportune moments to work on her bonds. However, at the moment, the bonds were the only thing keeping her in her seat. Should her mother not be able to keep control of the plane, and they crashed, at least she wouldn’t be thrown from her seat. Too many thoughts were going through her head at the moment. Her mother was terrified, but at least she had played along and not let Benny know that they knew each other. However, at this moment, she almost wished she could lend her mother moral support. She knew however, that her mother needed to concentrate on flying. If only Captain Kurt hadn’t tried to be the hero.

Then there was the fact that Benny was definitely not looking very stable. She needed to get out of her bonds and get that gun away from Benny. Taking advantage of Benny’s lack of interest in her, she continued to work on the ropes that bound her to the seat. Unfortunately, Benny was one of those criminals who liked to tie ropes way too tight. The more she tried to work on the ropes, the more they chafed her wrists.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning electrified the sky and again struck the wing of the plane. Dotty felt the jolt of the bolt as it caused the plane to tip again. Gripping the yoke as hard as she could, she tried to gain some semblance of control. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to keep the plane in the air much longer, she decided she only had one choice. She was going to have to find a place to land this plane. However, the lack of visibility made it impossible to know where they were and if she would even be able to find a safe place to land. As the plane hit an air pocket, she felt the plane shudder.

Dotty had just managed to get the plane level on the horizon, when another lightning bolt struck the plane. This time it sent a surge of electricity through the plane itself. The plane tilted to the right, then the left. Dotty knew she didn’t have a choice anymore; her horizon was gone. “Hold on tight everyone. We’re going down!”

Lee looked at his watch and noticed that it was almost 3:30. He had now contacted every local airport within a sixty-mile radius of the Silver Spring Airport. Including National, BWI and Dulles. All the tower personnel he spoke to assured him that they would contact him if they heard anything or received any report of any small aircraft flying in the storm. He listened as Roger tried again to reach the small plane. He prayed that the storm hadn’t knocked out their radio, and that it was Benny’s idiocy that kept either pilot from returning the control tower’s calls.

Realizing that the boys should be home from school by now, he decided to give them a call. He needed to check in with the two family members he could at least communicate with verbally. He had no intention of telling them anything about their mom or grandma. It would do no good to worry them, and he had to keep hoping that Amanda, Dotty and Kurt would make it out of this one unscathed. Picking up the phone he dialed the familiar number, and waited for one of his stepsons to answer.

“Hello, King-Stetson residence.”

Lee recognized his youngest stepson’s voice. “Hi, Jamie, it’s Lee.”

“Hey, Lee. What’s up?”

Taking a deep breath, he tried to sound as calm as possible. “I, uhm, called just to make sure you and Phillip made it home okay…and to tell you that your mom and I are going to be running a bit late tonight. It also appears that your grandma might not make it home on time either. Do you think you and your brother can take care of getting yourselves something to eat?”

“Guess that means you guys won’t be home for dinner.” Lee could hear the disappointment in his stepson’s voice.

“Not entirely sure on that point, Chief. Your mom and I are trying to wrap something up, and I am hoping we’ll be home in time, but I think it would be best if you and Phillip didn’t plan on us being there.”

“Okay. I’ll let Phillip know. Where’s Grandma?”

“She’s with Captain Kurt. Make sure you guys get your homework done, and if you could just stay around the house, I’d appreciate it.”

“Lee, is something wrong?”

Damn, Jamie was just like his mother, very intuitive. “Why do you ask, Chief?”

“Well you and Mom really only want us to stay around home if something is wrong.”

Lee rubbed his forehead. “Let’s just say your mom and your grandma are caught up in something, and I would rather not have to worry about you and your brother, okay?”

“Okay…but…Lee?”

“Yeah, Jamie.” Lee closed his eyes. The small headache that had been nagging him since the plane had disappeared from the radar was beginning to grow stronger.

“Promise that if something goes wrong, you’ll call us and let us know?”

Nodding, as if the younger boy could see him, he answered, “I promise. Now, don’t you worry about anything, okay? You just go work on your homework and we’ll see you when we get home.”

“Okay, Lee. See you later. Bye.”

Just as Lee put the phone back on its receiver, one of the other phones in the tower rang. Lee jumped to answer it, but was stopped when Lou beat him to it.

Lee paced back and forth in front of the man, listening as Lou replied with ‘uh-huh’s’ and wrote down information. He knew from the glances Lou was giving him that the news was about Captain Kurt’s plane. However, he was unable to read the other man’s body language, and therefore was unable to gauge if the news was good, or bad.

No sooner did Lou hang up the phone, than he was eye to eye with Lee. “Agent Stetson, if you could back away, I promise to give you all the information you want.”

Lee nodded and backed away. However, he never took his eyes off of Lou.

Lou turned to address Lee, “That was the Baltimore City police department. They located a plane that fits the description of Captain Kurt’s plane...”

“Where? Did it crash? Did the plane survive the crash? Are the occupants okay?” If he wasn’t so concerned about the safety of his wife and mother-in-law, he probably would have found it kind of funny. The rapid-fire questions were one of his wife’s more endearing traits.

Lou shook his head. “That was their dispatch that called. They were only able to give me the location, and inform me that the rescue squads are on their way.” Handing Lee the paper he had written the information on, “here’s the location.”

Before Lou could say anything else, Lee had grabbed the paper and was half way to the door.

Chapter 10

Amanda opened her eyes, and just as quickly closed them. The pounding in her head wasn’t her imagination. As she tried to raise her hand to inspect the throbbing in her head, she remembered that her hands were still bound behind her. Knowing she needed to assess the situation, she slowly opened her eyes again. Lifting her head, she took in the interior of the plane. The plane itself seemed to have survived the crash landing. She looked to her left and noticed that Benny was sprawled out on the floor. The gun he had been holding on them earlier was now lying at her mother’s feet.

Amanda allowed her gaze to move from the unconscious form of their captor. “Mother! Mother, are you all right?” A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she heard her mother groan.

“Amanda? Did we make it?” Dotty slowly lifted her own head, and glanced around.

“Yes, Mother, we did. That was some bit of flying you did. Are you all right? Can you move?”

Dotty nodded slowly. “Yes, I think so.”

“Good, we have to act fast. I need you to come over here and untie me. Then we need to use the rope to tie Benny up.” Amanda ignored the pain in her head. She would have plenty of time later to worry about her own body’s screams for attention.

Dotty slowly rose, looking down she saw Benny sprawled out on the floor, and stepped over him. As she reached her daughter, she reached out to touch Amanda’s forehead.

Amanda instinctively pulled her head back, “Ouch! Mother, please, I don’t know how much time we have before Benny wakes up and I’d rather he be the one tied to a seat when he does.”

Dotty swallowed and nodded. “I’m sorry, Amanda, but that cut on your head looks really bad.” She took her eyes away from the large gash on Amanda’s head and moved to untie her daughter. It didn’t take long, and within a few minutes Amanda’s hands were finally free.

Rubbing her wrists, she moved over to Benny. Seeing him sprawled on the floor, she was silently glad that she hadn’t pointed out to their captor the importance of wearing a seatbelt. “Mother, do you feel strong enough to help me move Benny back to his seat?”

Dotty nodded, and between the two of them they were able to sit Benny upright in his seat. “Now, while I secure Benny, see if you can contact anyone using the radio. Hopefully, that last bolt of lightning didn’t affect the radio.”

“Right, the radio. I totally forgot we had that.” Dotty moved back to the front of the plane. She paused when she saw Kurt lying over the yoke on his side of the plane. “Oh, my goodness, Kurt.” She saw the large knot on the back of his head where Benny had hit him earlier, but she had no idea if he had sustained any other injuries. Needing to make sure he was okay, she gently pushed him back in his seat.

“Mother, the radio. Is it working?” Amanda, having just finished tying Benny up, moved to the front of the plane. Bending down, she retrieved the gun on the floor. Checking to make sure the safety was on; she placed it in the waistband of her jeans, at the small of her back.

“I...I don’t know, I was too concerned with Kurt.”

Amanda nodded, and put a gentle hand on her mother’s shoulder. Reaching over she felt under Kurt’s neck for a pulse. “He’s alive, Mother. Right now we need to get help for ourselves.” Looking out the window, the rain was still coming down, but at least it wasn’t a heavy rain. “I’m going to go survey the situation outside the plane. See if I can figure out where we are.”

Dotty reached over and tried the radio. “Hello, anyone out there? This is Seventeen-Forty-Three.” Nothing. All she received back in response was static.

Amanda had moved to the back of the plane and opened the door. Preparing herself to jump down from the plane, she glanced once more towards the front of the plane. “Keep trying Mother. Keep trying.” She headed out of the plane.

No sooner had she touched ground than she heard the sound of sirens. Looking around she realized that they were on the side of a four-lane highway. However, there didn’t seem to be much traffic at the moment. Whether the crash had caused the police to shut down the highway, or the traffic was just light, was hard to determine at this point. Regardless, they were going to be fine.

She poked her head back in the plane. “Mother, you can stop trying to contact someone. They know we’re here.”

Amanda knew without looking that Lee had arrived at the scene, she could hear him yelling her name. Her mother was in one of the other ambulances with Captain Kurt. He had just regained consciousness, and she was hovering over him like a mother hen. Amanda had been greatly relieved when Kurt awoke, for more than just the fact that he was okay, but it also meant that her mother wouldn’t be hovering over her.

“I’m back here, Lee.” She smiled at the young paramedic working on her head.

“Are you all right?” Lee asked as he reached her side.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Amanda saw the concern on her husband’s face. “Can you please tell my husband that I’m fine?” She turned her attention to the paramedic.

“Sir, other than a nice abrasion on your wife’s head, and some chafing on her wrists, it appears she’s okay.” The young woman replied never looking in Lee’s direction.

“Amanda, you had me scared to death.”

Amanda reached out and grabbed Lee’s hand. “I’m sorry. It all happened so fast. When I realized Benny wasn’t in the office, I went to see where he’d disappeared to. Then I saw him heading towards a plane, and when I realized it was Captain Kurt’s plane… I remembered that Mother and Kurt were going up today, and I realized that if he commandeered the plane he would most likely get away. But by the time I reached the plane, Benny had already gotten inside, I thought I could stop him but then he put a gun to Mother’s head…”

The paramedic had finished with Amanda’s head and had stepped aside. Lee took this opportunity to wrap his arms around his wife and kiss her soundly. As they broke apart, he looked her up and down to ensure himself she was, indeed okay. “Hey, we can go over all that later. How are Dotty and Kurt? Are they okay?”

Amanda nodded. “Yeah Benny had knocked Kurt out, but other than a bump on the head, he seems to be okay. Mother doesn’t have a scratch on her. I was so proud of her, Lee. With Kurt out of commission, she had to fly the plane, solo. She was terrified, Lee, I could tell, but she kept it together.”

“Well I’m just glad everyone’s okay. By the way, where is Benny?” Lee began scanning the area.

“Well once the police got here, I showed them my ID and had the officers put him in the back of one of the squad cars. The crash was a blessing in disguise. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt when we crashed, so he was thrown from his seat and knocked unconscious. Otherwise, I have no idea how we would have gotten out of that whole situation.” Amanda moved closer to Lee as he wrapped his arms around her protectively.

Leaning down he kissed the top of her head. “Thank goodness for small miracles. Come on, let’s go check on Dotty and Captain Kurt. Then I need to go call Billy and let him know you’re okay. After that, we all need to go into the Agency for debriefing.”

Amanda nodded. It felt good to be back on solid ground again.

Conclusion

Amanda sat on the couch cuddled next to Lee. Phillip and Jamie were outside shooting some hoops, and Amanda was enjoying this alone time with her husband. Staring blankly at the T.V. screen, she thought over the events of the last two weeks. After being debriefed on the Collins’ case, they had come home and had been bombarded with questions from the boys. After assuring the boys that everyone was indeed okay, and the house settled down again, they had begun to finalize their plans for the weekend. Billy had given them an extra day off, and they had taken full advantage of it. Despite Lee’s reservations, and the unscheduled flight, they had kept their promise to the boys and had gone on their camping trip.

Now, almost a week later, they were anxiously awaiting Dotty’s arrival home. She had gone to finish her pilot’s license test. After the incident last week, Dotty had been extremely nervous that all her past work would have been for nothing. The F.A.A. was never one to take pilots disobeying control tower orders lightly. Sighing, she hoped everything would work out for her mother.

Lee tightened his arm around Amanda’s shoulder. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I just hope Mother gets her license. She’s been working on that for so long.” Amanda leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder. Before Lee could respond, the front door opened. “Mother! Is that you?” Amanda quickly rose from the couch.

“Yes, it’s me.” Dotty entered the room with Captain Kurt behind her.

“So…are you going to keep us in suspense?” Lee rose to stand beside his wife, as they both stared at Dotty expectantly.

A wide grin spread across her face. “I got it!”

Amanda jumped and ran to her Mother, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’m so proud of you, Mother. I knew you could do it.”

Dotty smiled as she stepped out from Amanda’s arms. “Yeah, apparently the review board was so impressed with how I flew during the storm, and how I handled myself under pressure that they overlooked my blatant disregard of the control tower.”

“That’s wonderful, Dotty,” Lee walked over and hugged her.

Just as he stepped away, Phillip and Jamie came bounding into the house. “So, Grandma, are you a pilot yet?”

“Yep, as of today, I’m fully licensed to fly the friendly skies.”

“That’s great Grandma, but promise us, no more dangerous skies.” Jamie commented as he hugged her.

“Oh don’t worry about that.”

Amanda had been watching her husband. Something about his demeanor and his reaction to the news told her that he had had something to do with her mother’s license.

Lee saw her looking at him. He smiled at her and winked. “Well, I think this calls for a celebration. What do you all say we go out for dinner? My treat.”

A chorus of “Yeah!” “Sounds good to me” and “How sweet, Lee” were the responses he received.

Amanda walked over to her husband and put an arm around his waist. “Mother, since it’s your celebration, I think you should pick the place. Boys why don’t you head on out to the car, with Grandma and Kurt, we’ll catch up in a minute.” Amanda turned, placing her other arm around Lee’s waist. Hooking her hands behind his back, she looked into his eyes.

Lee returned the gesture, pulling her closer to him and placing a kiss on her forehead. “Well, I must say, I’m very proud of Dotty. I thought for sure, after her last experience she might not want to get back in the air.”

“Yeah, I was a little afraid of that too. But I think she’s learned that if you don’t get back on the horse right away, you never will.” Amanda saw Lee look towards the front door, and she tightened her arms around him. “Not so fast, Big Fella. I have a question to ask you.”

Lee looked her in the eye. “Okay.”

“What exactly do you know about Mother’s license? I may not know a lot about pilots and regulations, but I know that she broke a dozen rules when she never returned the tower’s calls.”

Lee shrugged. “I have no knowledge of anything.”

“Mmm-hmm. That’s what I thought. You can’t pull one over on me, Stetson.” Amanda unclasped her hands and methodically began to rub her hands up and down his back. As she trailed her fingernails up closer to his neck, she moved her lips closer to his. “Fess up, or I’ll have to use my feminine wiles on you.” She felt him shiver.

Lee knew the family was waiting on them. He also knew that his wife would get the answers from him one way or another. Sighing, he gave in sooner than he would have liked. “Okay. Okay.” Amanda stopped and placed her hands on his shoulders. “I felt bad that Dotty was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then after reading the transcript of her debriefing,” Amanda raised her eyebrows at him. “I know, I know. I shouldn’t have done that, but hey, your life was at stake too, and you know me, I have to know the whole story.” He watched as Amanda nodded. “Anyway, I realized not only how brave Dotty had been, but how well she handled herself under pressure. She deserved to get her license. So I called in a few favors. Hey, what’s the use of having contacts if you can’t use them?”

Amanda smiled. She then moved her hands behind his head and pulled his lips down for a kiss filled with love. When they broke apart, she whispered. “You’re a wonderful man, Lee Stetson. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Stepping out of the embrace, he grabbed her hand. “Come on. We better go before they send a search party in after us. Besides, I’m hungry.”

Amanda laughed and squeezed his hand. As they headed towards the front door, she grabbed her purse from the table in the hallway. “You know, Lee. It may not be a good idea to let Mother pick the restaurant. She’s likely to pick one of the priciest places around.”

“Well, for such a special lady, I think I can empty my wallet out this one time.” He turned and winked at her, as they headed out of the house. Closing the door behind him, he locked it and they made their way to the family impatiently awaiting them near the car.

The End