Chapter 5

         “Thanks Officer Monroe, that information helps, though at this point I’m not really sure how.”  Lee nodded in appreciation as the young cop walked across the street to relieve the posted officer on the corner.  Though he had a handful of cops and agents doing quick walk bys in front of Marvin’s, the constant need to have them change outerwear to avoid being recognized wasn’t sitting too well with him.  Tapping his fingers in frustration against the hood of his ’Vette, he wished he had given Francine the full open mic, rather than the single one-way communicator, but he hadn’t wanted to risk either one of their suspects overhearing something and automatically suspecting his co-worker of being anything other than a poorly dressed Marvin’s patron.  The silence, however, was driving him nuts.  As if reading his thoughts, his car phone began ringing, and he reached inside the passenger window and removed the handset. “Stetson.”

         “What’s going on, Scarecrow.” Billy’s impatient and worried voice came over the line. “I expected a status report twenty minutes ago.”

         “Sorry, Billy, but I didn’t want to call unless I had something useful to tell you.” Lee opened his car door and gently lowered himself down onto the seat.  His leg was killing him, and spending half the day standing on it wasn’t helping any. 

         “Is there anything you can report?”

         Lee nodded, forgetting briefly that Billy couldn’t see him. “Agency backup has arrived, so between them and the plain clothes cops, we’ve managed to keep people away from the restaurant, as well as off the street across the way.”

         “Won’t that seem suspicious to the two men inside Marvin’s, if no one walks past?”

         “No, because we’ve set up a rotation of cops and agents, who mill past the restaurant, and,” Lee repositioned himself so his leg was elevated slightly on the curb, “they’re doing a quick wardrobe swap of various jackets and hats, just enough to keep from looking too familiar.” 

         “Have any of them been able to get a good look inside?”

         Lee shook his head. “Not really, apparently Marvin had sunshades installed on the windows and someone instructed that the shades be pulled down, giving the windows a very tinted look.  According to one of the officers, it makes it very hard to see inside, unless you’re passing by the glass front door, which now appears to be locked. I guess Francine’s impromptu arrival forced their hands and they locked the door.”

         “Have you heard anything from Francine?”

         “Not since she first went in about twenty-five minutes ago.” Lee ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “She managed to convey that no one was injured, but that was about the long and short of it.”

         “Is there a back door, a way for you to sneak in undetected?”

         “Yes, and it’s locked as well, but we’ve got that door covered…with five men. I’m not taking any chances this time.” Feeling a cramp in his leg, Lee readjusted his position again. “If they sneak out, we’ll be ready for them.  I don’t plan on letting them get away again.”

         “Sounds like you’ve got things pretty well handled, well as much as you can, given the restraints you’re under. All right, contact me if you hear anything from Francine. Oh before I forget, we think we know who the two men are.  Assuming that the name Amanda gave us is someone who works for Strategic Software, then his name is Herbert Tippesh. He’s the only Herbert in the entire company, and has worked there for five years. If our information is correct, then the other man would be his brother Oswald. Not sure what knowing that will do for you, but it might come in handy if you need to negotiate for the hostages.”

         Lee closed his eyes and did his best not to think about having to negotiate for anyone, especially his partner. “Thanks Billy. I’ll contact you if anything new develops. Scarecrow out.” He placed the receiver back on its base and then, glancing at his watch, gritted his teeth as he slowly rose from his seat.  He was going to give Francine ten more minutes, then he was going to figure a way in through the back door, even if it meant trying to pick the lock himself.  He knew one of the agents back there had tried, but apparently it was one of those deadbolt locks, the kind that was impossible to pick. He didn’t care about impossible anymore, because what little patience he had left was almost gone.  He hated not knowing what was going on. He had breathed a brief sigh of relief when he’d heard Amanda’s confident voice earlier, and knew that, at that point in time, she was fine, and since they hadn’t had any reports of gun fire, he had to believe that she, and Phillip and Jamie, were still okay.

*****  *****

         Amanda stood silently beside the big hulking Waldo with the barrel of his gun pressed into her side. She fought the urge to look over at her sons, knowing that one look at their scared or worried faces would weaken the calm she was putting every effort into keeping.

         Waldo nodded to his brother. “Okay, Herbie, grab the disk and let’s go.” He watched as his older brother moved over to the counter and then turned towards the other patrons.  “If we hear even one single siren, this pretty lady’s gonna buy the farm, and I don’t think any of you want that on your conscience, so I suggest that no one call the cops after we leave. Just go about the rest of your day like none of this ever happened.”  Assured that his brother had the box safely in his possession, he began leading their single hostage towards the back. 

          Amanda walked silently beside Waldo, keeping her eyes focused ahead. Noticing a bottle of ketchup sitting very close to the edge of the table they were passing, she prayed for a distraction, anything to divert Waldo’s attention away from her.  Suddenly, as if in answer to her prayer, the young boy Johnny, who was sitting at the table in question, accidentally dropped his drink; the contents spilling out right in front of them.  When Waldo glanced down to avoid stepping on the ice and lemonade now forming a large puddle on the floor, she grabbed the bottle of ketchup and brought her foot forward, tripping the big man. As he reached over to grab her, in order to steady himself, she squeezed the plastic bottle, spraying the red liquid in his face and pushed him away.

         “What the…” Waldo hollered as he fell spread-eagled onto the floor.

         Phillip, who had turned to watch with worry and fear as his mother was being led away at gunpoint, observed his mother’s fast thinking and instinctively stuck out his foot as Herbie walked past. 

         Jamie noticing the second man falling, picked up a bottle of mustard from the table, and just as his mother had done, sprayed Herbie in the face. “Take that.”

         Phillip smiled and grabbing his Chocko Blocko Shake, tore off the lid and dumped the contents over the smaller man’s head.

         Francine, who had briefly stared in shock at the chaos ensuing, pulled her gun out of her purse and ran over to the now floundering Herbie. “Federal Agent. Drop your weapon.” As Herbie did as she asked, she bent down, never breaking eye contact with her man, and picked it up.  “Now, down on your stomach and place your hands behind your back.” She pulled out her cuffs and, as he complied, she clasped them around his wrists.  Standing back up, she placed her foot on his back, ensuring that he wasn’t going anywhere.

         Little Johnny, thinking this was all a lot of fun, grabbed his mother’s large milkshake and tossed the contents at the other man’s chest. “Yeah…take that, mister.”

         “Cool,” a young girl in the back cried out, “food fight.” She picked up a handful of fries and threw it across the room.  And suddenly, in response, a chorus of “food fight” echoed through the room, as various items of food began hurling through the air.

         Amanda, afraid that the little boy might get hurt if Waldo should decide to blindly take aim, quickly stepped in front of him. Noticing that Waldo was using the hand holding the gun to support himself as he wiped the chocolate and ketchup out of his eyes, she brought her foot up and slammed it down on his gun hand.

         “OWWW!” Waldo turned his head in the direction of his hand, then did his best to focus on his assailant.  “I think you broke my fingers. Lady, you’re going to regret that.”

         Amanda quickly bent down and picked up the gun.  She then gingerly aimed it at Waldo. “Not as long as I’m holding the gun, I won’t.  Now, over on your stomach, with your hands spread out in front of your head.” While she watched with calm resolve the big man doing as she asked, she dodged to the left as a bunch of Jumbo fries flew in her direction. 

         Francine glanced behind her and, seeing that Amanda had the other man under control, removed one hand from her gun trained on Herbie, and pressed the little mic at her collar. “Suspects have been apprehended, time for the clean up crew to come in…and boy do we need a clean up crew!  Better bring your mop with you, Scarecrow.”  She turned her head towards the manager.  “You have the keys to the front door, correct?” At his affirmative nod, she continued, “Good, then unlock the doors so the police and federal agents outside can come in and pick up this scum.” She ducked just in time to miss a flying onion ring, only to be hit, square in the chest, by a flying chocolate shake.

         Amanda watched the young man unlock the door and then, no sooner had he had stepped back into the restaurant, than the glass door swung open and a horde of agents came rushing in.  She glanced around briefly and saw that her two sons were now engaged in a little food war in the corner and then turned her attention back to the agents filing in, her eyes scanning the group looking for the familiar face of her partner.  The minute she caught sight of him, their eyes locked and they smiled at each other.

         “When I said bring in the crew, I didn’t mean an entire football team, Scarecrow.” Francine shook her head as she removed her foot from Herbie’s back and two agents bent down to pull the man up. 

         Lee shrugged. “Well you weren’t too specific when you asked for the clean up crew, Francine.” Glancing down at the mess on her shirt, he grinned openly. “Guess I see why, now. You’re doing a great job of blending in, and I must say this new look really suits you.”  He then made his way over to Amanda who had just passed the gun she’d been holding on the suspect over to Agent Duffy. “You okay,” he asked in a quiet voice, aware that even though they appeared to be distracted, Phillip and Jamie weren’t far away.

         “Yeah, I’m fine.” Amanda nodded and laughed as she glanced at the ketchup that had splattered on her pants when she’d sprayed Waldo and then reached up to pull a fry out of her hair. “Though, I could definitely use a shower.”

         “Personally, I think you look beautiful just the way you are.” Lee whispered as he smiled, then a little louder, he added, “Francine, on the other hand, could probably use a good hose down.”

         Amanda glanced over at the blonde just in time to see her hurtle a strawberry shake in their direction and as she jumped slightly to the left the shake hit an unsuspecting Lee directly in the chest, sending strawberry shake cascading down his jumpsuit and splashing up onto his face.

         “Nice aim, Desmond.” Agent Johnson nodded as he passed by Francine, dragging a now cuffed Waldo towards the door.

         “I didn’t get high marks in the shooting range for nothing.” Francine grinned satisfactorily as she called after him, but her grin quickly faded when another chocolate shake smashed right into her head, sending chocolate goo through her hair.

         Amanda took one look at two of the Agency’s finest, covered in glop and couldn’t contain her laughter any longer.

         Lee wiped some of the strawberry shake off of his face and glancing briefly around to make sure that Phillip and Jamie were still distracted, he reached over and spread some pink cream onto his partner’s face. He grinned wickedly when Amanda narrowed her eyes at him, and had a feeling that she would find a way to get even with him later.  Keeping half an eye on her so that he could be ready in case she decided to retaliate now, he turned towards the blonde. “Francine, didn’t anyone ever tell you that chocolate should be eaten, not worn?”

         Francine ran her hand through her hair, and then shook it off as she tried to get some of the shake out of her ponytail. “You’re one to talk, Scarecrow, though I must say, pink with those baby blue overalls, gives you a kind of patriotic look, too bad it’s not the Fourth of July, you’d be a perfect addition to any parade.” She grabbed a napkin from a nearby table and began brushing some shake off her sweatshirt.  “Besides, I’ll take chocolate over strawberry any day.  Pink just doesn’t match my complexion.”

         Lee grinned. “Yes, but what is it that they say about chocolate?” He paused as if thinking of the answer and then snapped his fingers, “that’s right, isn’t it ‘once on the lips, forever on the hips’?” He turned and winked at Amanda.

         Amanda did her best to stifle a giggle and prayed that Francine wouldn’t think that she had anything to do with her partner’s last comment.  “Lee…,” she began admonishing him and then remembering the pizza box, she glanced over the counter and saw that it was still there, untouched, except for all the food lying on top of it. “Don’t forget that.” She nodded with her head as she pointed towards the box.

         Lee followed her gaze. “No definitely don’t want that falling into the wrong hands.”

         “You’ll have to tell me later, exactly what’s in there.” Amanda smiled, then, noticing Agent Duffy standing at the door writing down information from the various Marvin’s patrons who were all very eager to leave, she turned back to her partner. “Do you need me to come down to the Agency today, and you, know, give you a statement?  I don’t mind, but I’ll have to figure out…”

         Lee shook his head, and interrupted what he was sure would end up being one of her infamous rambles, “Normally I’d say yes, but since you’re not alone,” he nodded his head in the direction of her sons, “you can come in and give your statement tomorrow, I’ll clear it with Billy.”

         Amanda smiled in thanks. “I guess you probably have a lot to do, cleaning up and everything?” She glanced around to make sure that none of the agents were too close to overhear and then, just to be safe, lowered her voice, “Do you want to postpone dinner?”

         Lee shook his head again. “Not a chance. But we might want to make it a little later, say around eight, just to give me, and you, time to get good and cleaned up.”

         Amanda nodded. “Okay, eight it is then.” She turned and grabbed a few napkins from a nearby table. “Speaking of cleaning up, you probably want to get some of that strawberry off your clothes before you get in your car.” As she handed the pieces of paper cloth to Lee, she did a quick scan of his clothes and suddenly noticed that not all of the stain on his jumpsuit was pink, and that a portion on his upper leg was a dark reddish color. Her eyes grew wide, and she glanced back up at her partner, concern written on her face. “Lee, you’re hurt.”

         Lee, although touched by her concern, was very aware of their audience and not wanting to make a big deal about his leg, shrugged slightly. “Amanda, I’m fine.”

         Amanda narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “Lee Stetson,” she hissed out, “That’s blood, and I know you, you haven’t had it looked at by anyone, have you.  I think we need to change our plans, at least until you’ve had that leg checked out.”
         Lee looked up at the ceiling and then took a deep breath. “Amanda, really, I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound, and I promise to have the Agency medics take a look at it, later, okay. I’ll even bring a doctor’s note home with me.” Noticing Amanda’s two sons heading their way, he let out a sigh of relief at the reprieve and clearing his throat, whispered as he tilted his head in Phillip and Jamie’s direction, “see you at eight.” He then turned to go and retrieve the pizza box.  He shook his head as he approached it; the entire box was covered in burgers and sesame seed buns.

         Amanda quickly turned her head and seeing what had Lee so abruptly turning away, she began walking towards her sons. Even though she wasn’t done scolding her partner for being so cavalier about his wound, and would have liked nothing better than to finish their discussion, she knew that now was definitely not the time. Her first priority was to catch up with Phillip and Jamie before they got too close and managed to get a closer a look at Lee.  She wasn’t ready for her two worlds to collide just yet, and she really didn’t want either of her sons remembering Lee from the day in the gym a few months ago when Joe had returned.  When they met Lee, she wanted them to think of him as just an average guy and a film-maker, not some cool, worldly spy.

         “Mom, can we leave?” Jamie asked as he finished wiping his glasses off on the only part of his shirt that wasn’t dirty.  Placing them back on his face, he looked at his mother questioningly.

         “Yeah, Mom, do the feds need to talk to us, or can we go?” Phillip brushed some ketchup off of his pants with a napkin, then tossed the dirty rag into the trashcan. “I don’t mind if we do, it might be cool to actually be able to say that we were interrogated by real life James Bonds.”

         Amanda reached over and brushed a piece of onion ring out of her oldest son’s hair. “No, sweetheart, these agents only need to question the adults.  I asked one of the agents, and he said that they’re taking names and numbers at the door,” she nodded towards Duffy with his clipboard, “and they’ll contact everyone to arrange a time to come down to the local police station for questioning.”  She’d have to remember to ask Lee later tonight to arrange for someone call to set up her appointment, after she finished scolding him properly for not taking better care of himself.

         Amanda glanced around hoping to make eye contact with her partner one more time before leaving, but noticing that he was engaged in conversation with the real manager of Marvin’s, she remembered that she was still wearing one of the restaurant’s red blazers.  Removing the now food stained article, she laid it on one of the chairs closest to her, and then sighing, she glanced back at her sons. “I think it’s time we head home, don’t you? If we don’t get home and get cleaned up soon, we’ll never be able to get the smell of fries and burgers out of our clothes and hair.” She smiled as she realized how much food her sons were wearing. “You two are a mess.”

         “You not too clean yourself, Mom.” Jamie replied, laughing at the fries sticking out of various points of his mother’s hair.

         “Yeah, you look like you went rolling around in the fry basket.” Phillip laughed along with his brother.

         “More like had the basket thrown at me.” Amanda chuckled as she pulled two more French fries out of her hair, then glancing around at the mess on the tables, chairs and floor, she shook her head.  She didn’t envy the poor Marvin's employees who were going to have to put in a lot of overtime to do the cleanup. “I know one thing’s for sure I don’t think I want to see another hamburger as long as I live.”

         Phillip stared at his mother in shock. “Mom, you can’t be serious.”

         Amanda wrapped an arm around each of her sons’ shoulders. “Okay, maybe not quite that long, but I definitely don’t want to see another burger, or the inside of a Marvelous Marvin’s, for a very long time.”  She meant the last bit seriously; she’d had enough bad experiences in connection with Marvin’s to last her a lifetime. Shaking her head, she began leading them towards the door.  Feeling a light tap on her shoulder, she glanced briefly behind her and then removed her arms from around her sons’.  “You two head out to the car, I need to give my name to the agent at the door.”  She watched as both her boys walked out the door, and then turned around to face her partner.

         Lee pulled another fry out of her hair and, leaning close, whispered, “I guess there goes our meal of hamburgers and wine.”

         “Oh, I’m sure we can come up with something else.” Amanda smiled and winked, then turning back around, she headed for the door.

         Lee smiled as he watched her retreat, and then, as he caught Jamie’s voice carrying through the open door, his smile grew wider.

         “Hey Mom, where’d you learn how to hold a gun like that?” Jamie asked as he waited for his mom to dig the keys to the car out of her purse.

         “Yeah,” Phillip nodded his head. “You were so calm, like it was no big deal, especially since you’re always telling us to be careful around weapons of any kind.”

         Amanda unlocked the back door to her car and then, glancing briefly back towards the agents milling inside and out of the restaurant, turned her attention back to her sons and shrugged. “I guess I just remembered something from all those female detective shows you make me watch.”

         “And you always said that we can’t learn anything from TV.” Phillip chuckled as he climbed into the car. “Wait till we tell Grandma, she’s going to be so upset that she missed all of this.”

         Amanda groaned inwardly as she walked around to the driver’s side of the car.  She wasn’t looking forward to the twenty questions, or the grief that she was going to get from her mother once Dotty learned all the details from her grandsons. 

*****  *****

         “This is Terry Duncan, reporting to you live from right outside the Marvelous Marvin’s on K Street in Northwest D.C., where, earlier today, two unidentified men held thirty people hostage.  Due to the quick thinking of one hostage, the authorities were anonymously notified in a timely fashion, and the area around the restaurant was quickly secured.  There were no reported casualties, unless you count the food used in what can only be described as a food fight.  Authorities aren’t saying why the two men chose this particular Marvin’s, however, earlier today gun fire was reported in the M Street block of 21st, where one man was shot and killed; authorities, however, refuse to comment if the two incidents are related.  Now back to you, Bob.

         Thank you, Terry. Coming up next on the five o’clock news…”

         “Bumbling idiots.  Never trust Americans to do a job properly.” The dark-haired, dark-skinned man glared at the television for a split second and then lowered his gaze to the photo in his hands and tightened his grip on the telephone receiver as he spoke, “You are positive that the man in this photo is the man you saw at Strategic Software and then again in charge of the law enforcement at the hamburger place?” When the person on the other end provided him with a positive confirmation, he swore, “harrah,” and threw the phone across the room. He tightened his grip on the photograph in his hand and glared down at it with a calculating look in his eyes. “Scarecrow, always the Scarecrow.  Such a thorn in my flesh.  One of these days, I will find your weakness and pluck you out.  Then you will never again spoil my plans.”