Chapter Nine

October 30, 1991

6:45 PM

“Mom!” Jamie ran up to them, carrying Jenna in his arms. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Amanda hugged her son tightly and kissed Jenna on the forehead.

“And Lee, is he-” Jamie’s voice faded away as he looked at the unconscious Ren Jepard, and then to Lee and Amanda. Realization dawned in his features.

“That’s what you meant when you said that Lee-that whoever that is-” Jamie pointed “-wasn’t really Lee.”

“That’s what I meant,” Amanda said.

“So it wasn’t really Lee who tried to hurt Jenna, it was him.” Jamie said, relief evident in his voice. Amanda nodded.

Lee’s face darkened. “He tried to hurt Jenna?” He said. “How?”

“He pushed her down and tried to hit her,” Jamie said. “I stopped him and Mom kicked him out.”

Lee said nothing for a moment, then he clapped Jamie on the shoulder and pulled his stepson into a brief hug. “Thank you,” he said.

“Daddy!” Jenna said. She squirmed out of Jamie’s grasp and ran over to Lee, who swooped her up in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. Jenna rested her head on Lee’s shoulder.

“How’s my little munchkin?” he asked her.

“Fine,” Jenna said in a small voice. She looked down at Ren Jepard, then up at Lee, a pensive expression on her face. . “Bad man's gone?” She asked.

“That’s right,” Lee said, his arms tightening protectively around his daughter. “The bad man will never bother you again, Jenna.” He looked at Amanda. “We need to go to the Agency-they can send someone to pick him up and Billy needs to know what’s going on."

October 30, 1991

8:30 PM

“Ren Jepard,” Francine shivered, her fingers absently running across the small scar on her leg where she’d been shot by the man while trying to protect Amanda. “Not someone I’d ever want to see again.”

“Hopefully you won’t have to.” Lee told her. He and Amanda were sitting on the sofa in Billy’s office, Lee holding a sleeping Jenna in his arms. Probably because of everything that had happened recently, the two-year-old didn’t seem to want to let Lee out of her sight. They still had decided to take Jamie over to Joe’s house-not that Amanda believed that Jamie was in any real danger anymore, but she'd found it best to err on the side of caution.

Billy shook his head in bemusement. “We knew there might be an assassination attempt, but I never dreamed they’d go this far. Someone really doesn’t want this microdot to surface.”

“Someone who had to know that we were assigned to the case, Sir.” Amanda said.

“A mole,” Billy said. “The question is who? The only people who are supposed to know about this operation are in this room. Scarecrow, do you remember anyone else being there while you were being held at the warehouse?”

“Billy, all I remember after talking to Ren Jepard was having a needle stuck in my arm over and over,” Lee said. “I don’t remember any other faces or voices.”

The office door swung open, and Julie Porter stood there with a stack of papers. “Francine, I finished the expense accounts,” she said. “I put them all on a di-” her eyes widened and her face grew pale as she saw Lee and Amanda sitting there. “I-uh-I have to go,” she said.

“Something bothering you, Julie?” Francine said acidly, standing up and blocking the girl’s way.

“What makes you think that, Ms. Desmond?” Julie said.

“The way you’re looking at Lee like you’ve just seen a ghost,” Francine said, crossing her arms. “And it just occurred to me that you’re the only other one who could have known about Patrov and the microdot.”

Julie was silent for a moment. Without warning she threw the papers in Francine’s face, pushed the older woman to the floor and ran out of the office. Billy pushed a silent alarm under his desk, and Julie was grabbed by security guards while running through the bullpen. Francine picked herself up, looking on with obvious satisfaction as Julie Porter was handcuffed and led away.

“I was going to fire her anyway,” Francine said.

The phone in Billy’s office rang; Billy picked it up. “ Melrose here,” he said. “Wait a minute-he what?” He listened for a moment. “Well you better find him fast,” he said. Billy slowly hung up the phone.

“What is it?” Lee asked.

“That was the team we sent over to pick up Ren Jepard,” Billy said. “He appears to have escaped.”

TBC