Billy’s Case Files
by Ermintrude
See part one for disclaimers
Part 14
After Affair at Bromfield Hall November 26, 1984
Billy had the copies of the London Gazette before him. There, in color, was Amanda King, in the arms of Lord Ralph Bromfield on the front page. It could have been worse—Scarecrow had managed to pull some strings and pressure a few contacts into making sure the story didn't get to the US. So Billy didn't have to worry about repercussions back home. And she had made the papers not once, but twice! He shook his head.
'How does she do it? She's sightseeing and she ends up in a sex scandal with a Lord on the security committee.' He shook his head. 'Fortunately, they managed to salvage the case—and the scandal even played into the resolution of the case and discovery of the traitor and the leak for the North Sea strategic defense plans. But pictures like this can have a life well past their immediate play. Hopefully the story will die, and there will be no nasty surprises down the road. Agents are especially careful about appearing in the media—especially newspapers that can have a life well past their publication date. With Mrs. King's luck, this may come back to haunt her in a way none of us ever suspected. Hopefully that day will never come.'
Billy carefully folded the clippings, and placed them in Amanda's file. They would have to stay there, in case they became important in the future. But they managed to crack the case, and expose the traitor, so it was another job well done, newspaper scandals notwithstanding.
After A Class Act December 7, 1984
Billy was finishing up his report on the repeat class at Station One. Nobody went on for further training – a total washout. Of course, having a mole among the recruits for the first class didn't help, and catching that mole helped pinpoint holes in their pre-screening procedures. So next time, hopefully, there would be no moles.
Several candidates nearly passed—Mrs. King was among them. Billy was disappointed she didn't pass outright. But she eventually identified the mole in the first class and helped capture her. Imagine! Amanda King going one-on-one with a fully trained KGB operative—and coming out on top with nary a scratch on her. Chalk up another success for Scarecrow and his partner. Amazing!
Now, Billy's concern was to get Mrs. King more training somehow. Station One wasn't scheduled again for several months. But Mrs. King was out in the field with her partner and she needed some additional training. Granted, she was learning a lot from Scarecrow, but she needed the basic freshman agent courses that would make her a more well-rounded agent. And if she was full-time she would get a better salary—not to mention that her position at the Agency and in Billy's unit would be more secure. Civilian Auxiliaries were always the first positions to go in a budget cut. And Amanda was already functioning as a field agent anyhow. Plus she would get a higher security clearance, which would mean she wouldn't be as reliant on Scarecrow or Francine for access to higher level files.
Billy wanted to do all he could to keep Mrs. King working for the Agency in his field unit. She complimented Scarecrow so well, and they were an effective team. So it was best to keep them together. And while Billy tried to keep the two of them reasonably happy and comfortable with each other, bureaucracy had its own pitfalls that could result in Mrs. King's termination from the Agency, through no fault of her own. So Billy had to do all he could to keep Mrs. King in his unit. He needed his best team working together.
After Playing Possum December 15, 1984
Billy was finishing up his report on the Krushchenko case. He finally had a chance to observe Scarecrow and Mrs. King in the field along with Yuri Valov. What a strange group they all made.
But they got the nuclear device defused in time, and that’s what counted. Nobody had even gotten anywhere near a dangerous dose of radiation—which was a miracle considering Krushchenko wasn’t big on safety. ‘How she knew to pull the blue wire, I’ll never know. Scarecrow said he would have pulled the red one, so it’s very good she was there.’
‘How many people would willingly stay in a city with an armed nuclear device when they could be safe with their family? That’s loyalty and patriotism. With Savior she stayed, and helped Lee neutralize the bomb, but she didn’t really know it was armed and ready to go off. This time, she knew—she even got her family out of town—but she stayed. You can’t buy that sort of dedication.’
Billy thought again how lucky they all were that Scarecrow had handed that package to her at the train station. Scarecrow picked her out, Billy had encouraged the partnership, but in the end it was Amanda who chose to stay involved and do the work.
Interestingly, in the field Scarecrow listened to Amanda and they worked together quite smoothly. Very different from their interactions in the office. The betting pool now focused on which of them would win their arguments. Usually it was Amanda.
But they got results and Scarecrow admitted that Amanda’s instincts and hunches were helpful. So he was beginning to appreciate her skills. Good.
The Three Faces of Emily December 31, 1984
Billy read Emily Farnsworth’s report on the Falconwing operation. She certainly had high praise for Mrs. King. And why not? Once again, she had managed to come through. If she hadn’t allowed the use of her house, the operation would have been busted before it could get going. Billy had filled out a requisition order to re-paint the King dining room. In their excitement, Scarecrow had neglected to alert the team to restore her house back to order, and subsequently Amanda ended up with a grey dining room. So Billy had promised to arrange for it to be re-painted, which was something he was happy to accommodate. ‘The least we owe her is a dining room of a decent color.’ He thought.
Billy was a bit unhappy—they had overlooked the possibility of Whitsett using a mule—and having already chosen Amanda for the job. He shook his head. ‘It figures he’d already chosen Amanda and made the contact with the two soldiers. She certainly has some sort of luck. Scarecrow is right, only Amanda could turn getting arrested for counterfeiting into stopping a major Nazi resurgence and unmask a traitor in the Agency as well. And we’re lucky we had already planned the operation with Whitsett—otherwise Amanda would have been caught up in his scheme without Agency backup.’
It had all worked out in the end. Hopefully Amanda’s house would not be needed for any more secret operations in the future. But she got compensation for that—over and above her usual pay—so that should take some of the sting out of it for her. Yes, Amanda was a great asset for Billy, the Agency and also MI6. She was rapidly gaining a good international reputation among the intelligence communities in the west. Britain, Germany and also Austria, had praised her efforts. That was good, because every good report just added ammunition for Billy to try to get Mrs. King hired on as an agent trainee. Hopefully it would come through soon.
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