Chapter 4

         Francine glanced at her watch for the tenth time in the last fifteen minutes.  Adam was late, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he had changed his mind, and decided not to join her after all.  It had taken a lot of persuading, but Adam had finally agreed to join her for dinner.  She had told him that her boss, by way of congratulating her on her engagement, had given her the rest of the day off.  He had protested at first, claiming a prior engagement, which if Amanda was right about him, would have been dinner with his wife and son.  After some very forced seduction on her part, he had agreed to break his previous plans and would meet her at her place around six o’clock. With that set, she had stopped by the Blue Fox on her way home and picked up dinner which was now in the oven set to warm, and she was sitting on her living room couch in front of the fireplace, wearing her favorite blue dress.  It was simple, with a low waist and batwing sleeves, but she loved it because it brought out the blue of her eyes, although after tonight, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be wearing it again for a very long time, if ever. 

         Francine moved her gaze from her watch to the engagement ring sitting on her finger to the roaring fire she’d started earlier.  She was using every ounce of determination not to rip it off her finger again, this time throwing it into the fire and watching it burn. Of course, she knew the fire wasn’t nearly hot enough to melt the ring, but it sure would feel good right about now.  No matter how much she hated having to put it back on her finger, Amanda had been right; Adam would surely notice if she didn’t have it on, so she had reluctantly returned to her boss’ office to retrieve the ring she’d angrily discarded earlier. However, she had waited until she was home and had put the dress on before forcing the diamond ring back on her ring finger, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat the whole time.

         Francine glared at the diamond-studded necklace she was wearing, a gift of sorts from Leatherneck.  The diamonds looked real, but that was only a ruse to hide the fact that one of them was actually a radio transmitter.  If the evening did end up in the bedroom, there would be no reason for the necklace to come off, and if Adam tried, she’d just tell him that she wanted to leave it on.  Of course she planned on pulling a page from Amanda’s book if things progressed too far in that direction and would use her bedside lamp to knock him out, because she really didn’t want Lee and Amanda to have to listen to her and Adam being more intimate than she had any desire to be. That was just a little too close and personal for friends to have to share, not to mention the fact that she had absolutely no desire to make love to a deceitful, lying, cheating low-life.  Once she’d gotten enough of a confession out of him, or knocked him out cold, they could then drag him down to the Agency and get him to talk.  She realized that they could do that before she tried getting some information out of him, all she’d have to do was cuff him and bring him in the minute he arrived, but the truth was, she wanted this one-on-one ‘interview’ with him.  She wanted to use her feminine wiles to get the truth out of him, maybe even do some minor bodily harm, after all, she was owed that much wasn’t she?

         “If he doesn’t get here soon, I’m going to end up losing my cool.” Francine said aloud. She knew Lee and Amanda were across the hall listening in, and also knew that they didn’t really have a way to communicate back to her, but still it felt better knowing that she wasn’t really talking to herself. “It’s a good thing you two are so close, because if I do lose it, I won’t be in any kind of mood to seduce anything out of him. I’m going to want to tie him up by his feet and hang him over the balcony instead, and you guys will have to come over and keep me from dropping him head first to the street.”

         The phone ringing ended her verbal tirade.  She half hoped that it would be Adam telling her why he was late, but in reality she knew it was her back up calling. She reached behind her and picked up the receiver. “Speak.”

         “Francine, take a few deep breaths and relax.” Amanda’s voice came over the phone. 

         “I’m crawling out of my skin waiting. I don’t want to relax.” Francine was fighting the urge to throw the phone against the wall.  She wasn’t in the mood for her friend’s trademark niceness.

         “I understand that, but if you don’t relax, you’re going to blow the whole operation.   Adam’s only a few minutes late.”

         “That’s the other issue, he’s always punctual. In fact he usually beats me everywhere.” Francine blew a hair out of her face in frustration.

         “I called home right before I called you. My mother said that this afternoon’s game ran over.  Phillip only got home half an hour ago, so my guess is that Adam should be arriving fairly soon.  In fact, Lee said he just saw Adam getting out of a blue Honda Civic.”

         “If you tell me to take a deep breath again,” Francine interrupted her friend, “I’m going to come over there and throttle you. I don’t care if Adam’s on his way up, it’ll be worth it just to let out some of this frustration.”

         “I wasn’t going to say that, actually. I was going to wish you luck, and to remind you, not that you need reminding, but Lee and I are here if you need us.”

         Francine took a deep breath when she heard a knock at her door and then the key turning in the lock. “Thanks, gotta go. It’s show time.” She whispered the last bit as she rose from her seat on the couch and hung up the phone.  She was halfway to the front door when it opened and Adam walked in.

         “I’m so sorry for being late, but the game ran long.” Adam entered and closed the door behind him, his facial expression apologetic. “I had planned to call you, but as luck would have it, an old friend called and I spent the entire drive over here on the phone with them. Forgive me?” He smiled endearingly as he looked her up and down. “Wow! Now I’m really sorry I’m late. You look good enough to eat. Although I should have known you’d be wearing something sexy when you promised me a night of passion.  I don’t suppose you have that sexy negligee I bought for you as an engagement present hiding underneath?”

         “Possibly,” Francine approached him, smiling beguilingly, “after all you should never judge a book by its cover.” She whispered seductively as she trailed her finger along the collar of his shirt. She then snaked her arm around his neck and kissed him passionately.  When his arms wrapped around her waist, and his hand began to wander down to her buttocks, she quickly ended the kiss. “Dinner’s in the oven, and we have all night, so what do you say we move over to the couch and get better acquainted?”

         “I really like the sound of that.” Adam placed his hand in hers and pulled her towards the couch. “How long until dinner’s ready?” He asked as he sat down on the cushion and pulled Francine down onto his lap.

         “Not long enough for us to have too much fun.” Francine smiled coyly and eased off of Adam’s lap.  She was pulling on all her strength not to wrap her hands around his neck and choke him to death.  “And I wasn’t referring to that kind of acquainted.”

         Adam looked at Francine with a slightly puzzled expression. “I thought we covered all of the getting to know you questions early on in our relationship.”

         Francine shook her head gently. “Actually, I realized when I was showing off my ring at work today, that I didn’t know as much about you and your past, as you know about mine.  The more I thought about our game of twenty questions, you did all the asking and I did all the answering.” As she finished her comment, she could have sworn that she had seen a glimmer of panic flash behind Adam’s eyes just before he gingerly shook his head.

         “I’m sure I answered just as many questions as you did.” Adam protested as he swallowed the lump forming in his throat.  He didn’t like answering questions about his past; there were things about himself that he preferred to keep hidden.  Why did women have to be so damn nosey? “What brought this about anyway?”

         “A couple of girls from the steno pool started asking me questions about you.  The ones about what you do for a living, I could answer.” Francine brought her hand up and began running her fingers through Adam’s hair.  When in doubt, go for sexual confusion. “But when one of the girls said she knew an Adam Clyde in college, she asked where you went to school, and I realized I didn’t know.  Then I realized that I really didn’t know a lot about your past.  I got so swept up in everything, I never thought to ask, and now that we’re getting married, these are things we should know about each other, don’t you agree?” While the fingers of her right hand continued to play with the tendrils of hair at the base of his neck, she moved the fingers of her left hand along his jaw line.  “After all, you know much more about me and my past, than I know about yours.” She traced a path over his Adam’s apple to the top button of his shirt. “It’s not like you have any reason to keep your past a secret, is it?” She let out a silvery laugh and then purred seductively, “Imagine you some international man of mystery.”

         Adam laughed with her as he took her left hand in his.  Francine was sexy and obviously knew how to make him weak in the knees, but he needed to think.  Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to answer some of the easier questions, after all where he grew up and went to school wasn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t like she would have any reason to double check his responses.  She worked in the film industry, and produced boring documentaries.  If he didn’t answer her, then she might get suspicious and he didn’t need that.  No, it was better to answer the basics and if he needed to, he could fudge a few answers.  “So,” he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her palm, “what is it that you want to know?”

         “Well,” Francine purred, “how about we start with where you went to college?”

         Adam fought the surge of electricity running through him.  He didn’t just love Francine for her mind and body, but he loved the things she did to him with just a simple touch. Despite his desire to keep his past a secret, he really wanted to end this conversation and thought hard about kissing Francine until all thoughts of his past were wiped away, and make her think of nothing but making wild passionate love to him. However he had a sister once, not to mention four marriages under his belt and he knew that women, before he’d knocked their independence away, weren’t as easily distracted as the average male was.  Seeing the determination in his love’s gaze, he sighed and gave in. “I graduated with honors, from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. And since I’m sure I know what you’re next question is going to be, I’ll save you the trouble, I majored in education. Not very exciting, I realize, but it did help me get this job.”

         “So I guess it was another Adam Clyde that Susie from the Steno pool knew in college. She went to Georgetown.” Francine smiled sweetly and, leaning over placed a tender kiss on Adam’s cheek. With one question answered, she rose from the couch, eager to move this conversation away from the current romantic setting. She could tell that she’d successfully gotten under Adam’s skin, and she still have a few more questions that she needed answered before he started thinking with his male anatomy.  “I’m going to go check on dinner, it should be almost done.  There’s a bottle of Chardonnay on the table, would you mind pouring out two glasses?”

         “Not at all.” Adam stood up and followed Francine into the other room.  He watched his fiancée enter the kitchen, before moving over to the table.  As he opened the bottle of wine, he prayed that he could somehow steer the conversation away from his past while they ate.  He was glad she had suggested dinner, because now, he’d be able to feign a headache and head home once the meal was over.  He had felt bad having to disappoint his son, but compared to Sally, Francine was a tiger in bed, which was the only reason he was here, in Francine’s apartment, instead of in his comfy Baltimore home.   Sometimes his libido had a bad habit of making decisions for him. “You know, you never asked me if we won or lost.”

         Francine opened the oven and pulled out a dish of fully cooked lasagna. “You’re right, I didn’t, but it wasn’t for lack of interest, I just figured that Amanda would be only too happy to tell me all about it tomorrow if her son’s team won, and wouldn’t say much to me if they lost.” She carried the dish into the dining room and smiled apologetically. “But it was very un-fiancée-ish of me not to ask you, after all you are the assistant coach.” She put the food on the table and walked over to Adam. She wrapped her hands around his waist and whispered in his ear. “How did the team do?”

         Adam gulped and tried to concentrate on the aroma of the food on the table. “We went into extra innings, but lost.”

         “I’m so sorry. As soon as we finish with dinner,” she unwrapped her arms and moved back towards the kitchen to retrieve the salad, “I promise to help you forget all about your loss.”  Opening the refrigerator, she pulled out the big bowl and made her way back into the dining room. “So, did you play a lot of sports in high school? Is that why you gravitated to teaching baseball to teenagers?”

         Adam mentally cursed.  Here he thought talking about his work would distract her, but he’d been wrong. He had been right earlier; she was a woman on a mission.  Maybe he’d rethink his earlier headache idea.  If he could get through dinner, then he’d be able to distract her physically. “Actually I did play on the baseball team in high school, and then managed to make the freshman baseball team at Rutgers, but I soon found that I couldn’t keep up my grades and play baseball, so I quit the team and concentrated on my studies.”

         “Since you told me you jumped at this coaching job, I’m guessing you took the job because you missed playing?” Francine sat down and spooned some salad into her bowl.

         Adam shrugged. “I guess a small part of me did.  The truth was, I was tired of traveling and I wanted to settle down in one place.”

         Francine had to fight back a bitter comment at that statement. She knew for a fact that he wasn’t settling down in one place, not unless he intended to divorce Sally Thompson. “I bet you were a heartbreaker in high school, with a new girlfriend every week.”

         Adam shook his head and sighed resolutely.  There was no way around this whole conversation.  “Nope, actually I only had one girlfriend, but we parted ways when we graduated.  We both went off to different colleges. I used to run into her every now and then when I’d go back home to visit my grandmother.”

         “Where did you grow up?” Francine stabbed at her salad with her fork, willing herself not to make direct eye contact with Adam.  She knew from his file where he grew up, and she sat in her chair with bated breath waiting to see if he would tell her the truth or lie.

         “No place you’d ever have heard of.  Just a small town in central Jersey,” Adam glanced up and was thankful that Francine was focused on her food, “not far from Trenton.”

         Francine managed to force herself to smile and glanced up at Adam. “Tell me about the first girl you fell in love with. After all, it’s only fair, since you know all about my first love.”

         “You really are very inquisitive tonight.  Are you sure that only one co-worker’s question prompted all this curiosity?” Adam raised his eyebrows slightly and watched Francine. “Or, have these questions been bugging you for a while?”
         Francine shrugged noncommittally. “I guess on some level I’ve always been curious, but her question did get me thinking.” She waived her fork in his direction, “And I think you’re trying to avoid my question.  Why don’t you want to tell me about your first love?”

         “It’s not like I have anything to hide,” Adam prayed that Francine didn’t know him well enough to know that he was, indeed lying. “Her name was Julie, we were engaged to be married and then one day, she up and disappeared. I guess, it’s sort of similar to you and Jonathan, only she didn’t leave me at the altar.”

         “I guess we really were fated to meet each other.” Francine forced herself not to gag on the food she’d already consumed.  She had a funny feeling that Julie was actually Adam’s first wife, or rather married to Adam’s real alias, and that she wasn’t the one that left, that it was Adam who’d left in the middle of the night and never returned.  She was in the middle of trying to come up with a way to ask him more about her when the phone rang. “Looks like you’re saved by the bell, for the moment anyway.” She smiled sweetly as she rose from her seat and headed over to the phone. “Hello?”

         “Francine, it’s Amanda. I called to give you some confirmations and see how you wanted to proceed.”

         Francine let out a fake gasp. “Oh my, that’s awful. I want to hear all about it, but I have company. Let me take this into the bedroom, so he can eat and I won’t disturb him. Hang on a minute.” She laid the receiver down and moved towards the bedroom. She gave Adam an apologetic smile. “That’s my mom. She just got some disturbing news about my aunt.  I promise not to be too long.”

         Adam nodded. “Hey family is important. Take your time. I’ll just go put the lasagna in the oven to keep it warm.”

         Francine watched Adam head into the kitchen and then hurried into her bedroom.  She closed the door and, sitting on her bed, picked up the receiver. “Okay, talk to me.”

         “I’ll make this quick, as I’m sure you don’t want to leave Adam alone for too long, but I just wanted to tell you that our records indicate that his first wife’s name was Julie, and that he married her using the alias Adam White. They were married about a year after he graduated college.  Be cautious Francine, he may be giving you a few real facts, but he’s not being completely truthful with you.”

         Francine nodded. “That’s what I figured.  I could tell he wasn’t being entirely honest, but he was pretty convincing. Perhaps he tells that story a lot.”  She glanced towards the bedroom door to make sure it was closed all the way.  The last thing she needed was for Adam to overhear her conversation.

         Adam re-entered the dining room and was about to sit down and finish his salad when he noticed that the receiver in the living room was off its base.  He moved into the other room and picked it up, intent on hanging it up for his fiancée. He was just about to place the receiver back on the base when he heard Amanda’s familiar voice coming over the line. Wondering why Francine would lie about who was on the phone, his curiosity got the better of him, and he brought the phone to his ear.

         “For what it’s worth he did graduate from Rutgers, and his grandmother lives in Chambersburg, New Jersey, which is right outside Trenton. Do you think you have enough basic information to bring him in, or do you want to delve a little more?”

         “I want to see if I can get him to mention any of the other wives and their maiden names.” Adam heard Francine respond.  He fought back the wave of panic and quietly put the receiver back onto the table. If he hung it up now, it might make a click and Francine would be out here in a flash.  The fact that Amanda had called and was confirming information about him meant that Francine was somehow wired.  He quickly moved over to the foyer and collected his coat. Taking deep breaths, he realized that Francine had set him up, and he had played right into her hands.  He should have listened to the voice of reason and tried to seduce her on the couch the minute she started asking questions about his past. 

         As he passed the front table, Adam noticed Francine’s purse and curiosity once again got hold of him.  The blonde in the other room, who he had planned on marrying, didn’t seem the least bit nervous with her line of questioning; it was almost like she knew exactly what she was doing.  Throwing caution to the wind, he opened her bag and as he searched for her wallet, he came across a flat black leather holder. Opening it, he had to stifle the gasp that threatened to escape.  Francine was a government agent.  Had he been set up from the start? He mentally shook his head at that thought; after all he was the one who had approached her.  No, he realized, she must have run some sort of background check on him after they got engaged, making sure he wasn’t using her.  He gritted his teeth at his own dumb luck. He had to fall for a government operative.  As he put her ID back in her bag, he caught the glint of metal and realized it was her gun. Knowing that it could come in handy, he took it out of her bag, tucked it into the waistband of his pants, then grabbed his coat and quietly moved towards the door.  Without a second glance, he quietly turned the doorknob and slipped out of the apartment.

         “Adam?” Francine called as she stepped out of the bedroom and noticed that he wasn’t in the dining room.  She moved into the living room, noticed the phone still off the base and then turned towards the door.  She immediately realized that Adam’s coat was gone. “Oh shit! Adam’s gone.” She grabbed her purse and ran to the door. She threw it open just as her neighbor’s door flew open. She barely glanced at Lee as she ran out into the hall and over to the elevators. Reaching the set of double doors, she noticed the floor button lights indicated that the elevator was descending.  She quickly ran towards the door leading to the stairs, and hearing heavy footsteps behind her, knew that Lee was right behind her. As she bolted down the stairs, she began searching in her purse for her gun.  When her hands came up empty she let out another string of curses. “The jerk stole my gun.”

         “He did what!? How the hell did he get away from you, Francine?” Lee jumped down two steps and was now right behind the blonde.

         “I left the phone off the hook in the other room,” Francine managed to get out between breaths, “he must have picked it up and overheard some of the conversation.  Then he probably searched my purse for my ID and found my gun.” She kept her eyes focused on her descent. “And don’t blame all this on me.  You were supposed to be keeping a watch on the hall. What the devil were you doing while Amanda and I were on the phone?”

         “Don’t go turning this around on me, Francine. It was your idea to try and get him to confess to something.” Lee edged passed her and ran out the door. He let out a string of curses when he saw the blue Civic pull out of its parking space and tear down the road.  “Well he’s gone now.  We’ll have to go back up and regroup.” He turned around and glared at Francine. “How the hell did he get your gun?”

         Francine clenched her fists at her side, and fought the strong urge to sucker punch her friend. “He must have gotten suspicious and went digging in my purse.”

         “Why did you have your gun in your purse?” Lee asked, his voice full of frustration and anger.

         “Because, Scarecrow, that’s where I keep it when I’m home.  I have a spare in my bedroom, but I like to keep one in my purse, and I keep my purse on the hall table. You never know when you might have to make a fast getaway.” Francine turned around and headed back towards the entrance to the building.

         Lee took a few deep breaths and tried to calm his emotions.  He wasn’t really mad at Francine, he was mad at the situation and he wasn’t looking forward to the phone call to Billy.  With his temper partially in check, he made his way towards the entrance. He couldn’t believe that they had let a wanted man slip through their grasp, a man who had a number of recorded aliases, and ways of making himself disappear.  Not only was Billy not going to be happy, neither was the FBI or the Army.  Not that he really cared about pissing off the FBI, but he didn’t want to be the reason why interagency relations went to hell.  He entered the building just behind Francine and, with a few quick strides, was beside her before she’d had a chance to hit the elevator button.

         Francine punched the up button for the elevator and turned towards Lee. “And while you’re giving me the third degree, you never answered my question, why the hell weren’t you watching the hallway?”

         “Don’t go getting all pissed off at me Francine. The fact that you’re fiancé got away is no more my fault than it is yours.” Lee glared at the blonde.

         “Ah the classic Scarecrow rebuttal.” Francine replied sarcastically as she stepped through the now open elevator doors.

         Lee followed her into the waiting car and then, after angrily pushing the button for Francine’s floor, grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. “What the hell does that mean?”

         “It means I know exactly what you were doing.  You were busy being the Lee Stetson we all know and love.” Francine’s eyes blazed with fury as she shook Lee’s hand off of her arm. “Alone, with your wife, and you were making the most of it.  Doesn’t matter if she was on the phone or not, you were thinking with the little brain down there.” Her glance shot to the area below Lee’s waist.

         “You’ve got to be kidding.” Lee let out a vicious laugh and shook his head. “I’ll have you know that although I have a very healthy sex drive, I am very capable of concentrating on work and not letting myself get distracted, especially when I’m providing back up for people I care about.” He let his features relax slightly.  “Besides, it’s not like we were in a hotel room, we were in someone else’s home, without their consent. Do you really have such a low opinion of me, Francine? Not to mention Amanda. Do you think, for one minute, that she’d let me get away with something like that?”

         Francine let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry.  I guess I got carried away.” She turned a somewhat subdued and chagrined glance in her friend’s direction, as the elevator doors opened and she stepped into her hallway. “So what were you doing?”

         Lee followed the blonde out of the elevator. “I was plugging away at the laptop, trying to get more information on Julie Clemmons.  Looking back on it,” he took two quick strides and began walking next to his friend, “I suppose the research could have waited, and I should have been watching the hallway, however, I had no reason to think that he would get antsy and start snooping around your apartment.”

         Francine’s apartment door opened and Amanda poked her head out. “I was beginning to get worried.” She moved back inside and moved over to the couch, “while you two were running down the stairs, I ran to Francine’s balcony and was going to attempt to shoot out the tires of the Civic, but then a dog ran across the street and I was afraid I’d hit it, you know how lousy I am at long distance shooting.  Anyway, I saw the Civic tear away and realized that we lost Adam.” She caught the questioning look on her husband’s face as he looked at the laptop on the coffee table and then back to her. “Since both of you left your keys up here, I knew you weren’t going to attempt to chase him down, so I gathered up all our stuff, locked up the apartment across the way, and came back here.”

         Lee smiled lovingly at his wife and then let out a grunt. “I guess we need to call Billy and let him now that this whole thing was a bust.”

         Amanda shook her head. “I already called him. He said that the three of us should meet him in the Q-bureau in half an hour.”

         “Gee, Little Miss Perfect didn’t waste any time ratting my failure out to the boss.” Francine snapped at the brunette sarcastically. “I bet you just couldn’t wait to gloat.”

         Amanda stared blankly at the blonde, momentarily stunned by her friend's bitter comment. Since their friendship had begun to grow, Francine’s barbed comments had become almost non-existent, so this one had taken her by surprise. Seeing the hint of pain in Francine’s eyes, she realized that her friend was just trying to mask her own pain by verbally striking out at those around her. She mentally sighed and looked at the blonde with an expression of indifference. “For your information, Francine, I only told Mr. Melrose that things didn’t quite work out as we had hoped and Adam is now at large. I didn’t go into specifics because I figured we could do that together, as a team.” Then, knowing that they needed to get moving, she headed into the dining room and started gathering up the food and began bringing it into the kitchen.  Although she did this more out of habit, since she didn’t like the idea of food going bad, she had really removed herself from her friend’s presence before either one had a chance to say something that they might later regret.

         Lee moved over to the table and began gathering up their surveillance equipment. “I guess we might as well head into the office and get this over with.  The sooner we make our report, the sooner we can put this whole situation behind us.” He glanced over at Francine and gave her a sympathetic nod of his head. 

         Francine shrugged her shoulders and moved towards her bedroom to get her spare gun.  Looking around the room, she fought back the tears that threatened to flow.  Just twenty-four hours ago, she and Adam were celebrating their engagement, and now she realized that the last month of blissful happiness was all a lie.  She was never going to let herself be fooled again.  As she began pushing her pain behind her carefully constructed walls, she walked over to her closet and pulled out her hidden safe.  Unlocking the small metal box, she took the gun and some spare ammo out, placed them in her purse and then relocked the safe.  She then rose and headed back into the other room to see what else needed to be done before they headed into the Agency to face their boss.

*****  *****

         “So let me get this straight,” Billy stopped pacing in front of the large vault door and stared at his three agents, “you managed to get him talking and he told you the name of his first wife,” he glanced at Francine, “then you decided to call her to let her know that she was on the right track,” he looked over at Amanda and then back to the blonde, “and because you didn’t want to have the phone conversation in front of him, you left him alone, and now he’s disappeared with your gun.” When the two females nodded, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Don’t you think the phone call could have waited,” he looked at Amanda, “and don’t you think it was unwise to leave him unattended.” Billy turned his attention over to Scarecrow, “and you know better than to leave an avenue of possible escape unobserved, what were you thinking?” He put up a hand to halt any comment that Lee might make, “That was a rhetorical question, Scarecrow, because obviously none of you were thinking.  This whole operation was sloppy and now I get to go call the FBI and tell them we screwed up.”

         “Billy, what if you hold off on telling them anything and let us try and track him down.” Francine looked at her boss with a serious expression.

         Billy shook his head. “Sorry, but no, I’ve already done too much as it is.  I had an APB put out on Adam’s car and that’s as far as I want to continue sticking my neck out on this one.  If anything comes back, I’m giving the information over to the FBI, it’s time we stepped away and let them get back to wasting their manpower and resources on tracking this guy down.” He took a deep breath and softened his tone, “I realize that you have a personal stake in this, Francine, but we have too much going on right now for me to even think of giving you permission to handle this one.  The FBI gave me this one as a favor, since we had a means of capturing Adams; we lost that when he ran.  He’s probably long gone by now and we don’t have the faintest idea of where to start looking for him.”

         “That’s not true, Billy.” Francine walked over to Amanda’s desk and picked up the folder of information on Adam. “According to this,” she opened the file and turned to the second page, “we can start by talking to the agency in Trenton that bonded Adam out in the first place.”

         “This is getting ridiculous.” Lee ignored the death glare Francine shot in his direction. “What I mean is, one minute we’re referring to him as Adams, the next as Adam.  I think we should pick a name and stick to it.”

         “How about Dick?” Francine smirked and nodded. “I think that suits him just perfectly.”

         “I’ll concede that the name does fit, but I think it would only confuse matters more.” Lee glanced over at Billy. “Any suggestions?”

         “Let’s just call him Benjamin, since that is his legal name.” Billy shook his head slightly. “Now that we have that taken care of…” 

         Francine nodded. “Yes, now that that is out of the way, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, the agency up in New Jersey would have had to have done a background check on Benjamin,” she stared at Lee as she emphasized her ex-fiance’s official name, “especially since he skipped and they would have tried to track him down. If we…”

         Billy shook his head again, more adamantly this time. “Did you not hear me tell you that I can’t justify keeping you on this, especially since it’s not even our case to begin with?”

         Francine tightened her grip on the folder in her hand. “Fine, then I’m putting in for time off, and I’ll work on this, alone. I’m not going to just let this…this scumbag get away with what he’s done to me, not to mention the other women he’s duped into marrying him.”  She moved towards the door, “and don’t even try and stop me,” she glanced briefly at Amanda and then Lee, before turning and looking straight ahead once more.

         “Francine, if you walk out that door, you won’t be using vacation time, I’ll suspend you…without pay.” Billy took a few steps to try and intercept his assistant.

         Francine paused briefly, but then continued her path towards the open door, “Fine, suspend me, standard two weeks I presume.” She waved her hand in the air, “I’ll see you at the wedding.” She kept her eyes straight ahead and headed out of the office.

         Billy brought his hand up and rubbed his temples with his fingers. Letting out a long sigh, he looked up at the two agents who were still in the room. “Why couldn’t I have gotten lucky enough to have people in my department who follow protocol? I’m getting too old to deal with hot-headed agents.” He looked pointedly at Lee, “I can’t justify what I’m about to do, but I can’t let her go off half-cocked like that and muddy up an ongoing FBI investigation.  Go with her, and make sure she stays out of trouble.”

         Amanda glanced briefly at her husband.  Her mother was going to go ballistic.  Less than two weeks before their wedding and they were being sent out of town.  She looked down at the folders on her desk and realized that Francine had left with the file on Adams.  She was about to say something to that affect when another folder caught her eye.  Picking up the illegal arms file, she opened it and quickly glanced at the bottom of the page. “Sir, this may not be a total waste.” Billy and Lee both glanced in her direction, with questioning expressions. “The case that Lee and I were working on that hit a dead end when Southern Star closed up shop and Veranos disappeared, indicated that the weapons appeared to be shipping out of Trenton.”

         Billy’s face brightened. “Brilliant, Amanda, absolutely brilliant.  I knew there had to have been a very good reason why I was so certain you’d be a perfect addition to this Agency all those years ago.” He smiled knowingly at the brunette. “I may not be able to justify sending you after Adams, but I can justify sending you to Trenton to investigate the stolen weapons. I take back my earlier comment, not all my agents are hot-headed.  I do have a few level-headed, cool thinkers.  Just don’t go picking up his bad habits,” he thrust a finger in Lee’s direction.

         “I’ll do my best, sir.” Amanda smiled at her boss and began gathering up the relevant case folders from her desk, purposely avoiding looking at her husband.

         Lee rolled his eyes. “If you two are done taking potshots at me, I think we need to get moving.  Francine’s got a head start on us,” he looked at his boss, “and if you want us to trail along after her, we don’t want to waste any more time.” He started moving towards his wife’s desk.

         “Go, but I want you to keep me updated.” Billy waved his hand in the air, dismissing them as he made his way out of the office.

         “That was pretty fast thinking, Mrs. Stetson,” Lee whispered when he was sure Billy was out of earshot. “However, I don’t think I’m the only hot-head, I have a feeling that if Billy hadn’t insisted we go, you would have followed Francine anyway.”

         Amanda shrugged as she threw her purse over her shoulder and walked over towards the office door. “I’m worried about her, and she needs as much support as she can get right now.”

         “For what it’s worth, I’m worried about her too, and I’d have insisted on chasing after her with or without Billy’s say-so.” Lee followed his wife into the hall and closed the Q-Bureau door behind him.  Locking the door, he placed his hand at the small of his wife’s back. “So do we head straight to Francine’s apartment or do we go to my place, gather our emergency bags and then try and catch up with her.

         “Francine’s first, she took the dossier on Adams, which happened to have the address for the bond agency.” Amanda opened the door at the end of the hallway and preceded her husband to the stairs. “So if we want to have any idea of where we’re going, we need to catch up with her, and I think we should also let her know that she’s not doing this alone, so that she doesn’t think we’re following her, but rather working with her. And she’d probably like to know that since Mr. Melrose is sending us to Trenton with a legitimate case, she’s no longer suspended, though he didn’t come out and say it, we both know he wasn’t really going to suspend her.”

         “I don’t know, if you get Billy mad enough, he’ll make good on his threats. I just hope she doesn’t expect to actually find Adams in New Jersey.  Men on the run don’t normally return to the scene of the crime.” Lee commented as he followed his wife down the stairs.

         “I’m sure she doesn’t, Lee.” Amanda turned and glanced at him as she reached the last step.  “But, it’s as good a place as any to start.  If the people at the bond agency can give us any clues as to where to start looking for him, so much the better.”

         Lee nodded. “And if we can track down a lead on the weapons going to El Salvador, I’ll be a very happy man.”  He reached the landing and put his hand back at the small of his wife’s back. “Did you want to try and stop by the house and give your mother the good news in person.”

         Amanda raised her eyebrows and stared at her husband. “I hope your joking.  I think I’ll wait till we’re safely on 95, heading north, before calling her.  She may not like to drive, but I have a feeling that if I don’t put a safe distance between us, she’ll jump in the car and try and drag me back home. She’s not going to be happy that we’re leaving town with so much still to do before the wedding.”

         “I have a feeling that your mother is actually going to have the opposite reaction.” Lee opened the door leading outside for his wife and caught her curious glance. “Your mother is going to absolutely love the idea of being able to make the final decisions about our wedding plans, without having to check with you.  Face it Amanda, your mother has been itching to take over since we announced our engagement.” He turned his head and placed a kiss on his wife’s cheek.

         Amanda let out a small sigh. “I never thought of that.”

         Lee chuckled. “Don’t worry, the only thing about our wedding that’s important is the fact that we’ll be exchanging vows in front of everyone we know, and everyone that matters will know just how much I love you.  Everything else is just show.”

         Amanda stopped and, turning, wrapped her arms around her husband. “I love you, Mr. Stetson.”

         Lee leaned down and captured his wife’s lips with his. “And I love you and, as much as I would love to take you home to the apartment and show you just how much I love you, we need to get moving if we have any hope of catching up with Francine at her place.”

         Amanda nodded and reluctantly broke the embrace.  Moving down the stairs she headed towards Lee’s car.  After her husband unlocked and opened her door she sank back into her seat as her thoughts wandered back to Francine. She knew her friend had said a lot of things in hurt and anger over the last day, but she said a silent prayer that when this was all over, that the blonde wouldn’t re-erect all her old barriers.  Amanda had grown to cherish Francine’s friendship and they had begun to really open up to each other.  She hated the thought of losing that, especially since, aside from Lee, she had no one else to talk to who knew all her secrets, and no one else to talk to when she and Lee were at odds.  Lee was her best friend, but sometimes she needed to be able to vent to someone, who wasn’t him and her mother was a wonderful confidante, but there was still a lot surrounding her job that she couldn’t share.  As the ’Vette pulled out into the night and headed towards Francine’s place, she looked up into the starry sky and said a silent prayer that one day true love would eventually find Francine.