Billy’s Case Files part 7
by Ermintrude
See part one for disclaimers
After Dead Ringer February 10, 1984
Billy Melrose sat at his desk reviewing expense reports. Extensive repairs on Amanda King's station wagon. Again. Billy felt sorry for Amanda's car. Of course, it was better to have car damage than personal injuries.
Billy was still amazed at Amanda's driving when she eluded the Romanians taking Magda Petrak to the airport. That was some fancy maneuvering. Too bad she ended up in a ditch. He was not surprised Amanda had opened her home to Lee so Magda could be debriefed. Amanda would be gracious to Attila the Hun if it was important to the job, and to Lee Stetson.
And all that was right after Amanda had been in a car crash and suffered traumatic amnesia. The doctor had pronounced her completely recovered but Billy was still surprised she could drive aggressively so soon after that crash. The woman recovered quickly and bounced back. Maybe he could see if she could get some defensive driving training. She already had some of the skills—adding to them would help make her more effective and maybe she’d manage to elude the bad guys next time.
Billy was happy the amnesia had been short-lived. He really would have missed Amanda around the office, and everyone else would have also. ‘Scarecrow even wondered if we could retrain her. Said he could adapt to almost anything. That says a lot. He doesn't want to lose her as a partner. That's more than just his feeling responsible for her. I think he is actually starting to like working with her. Took long enough. She cares about him. We were all surprised how hard she took his faked death last month. That's one of the bad things about this business – the deceptions, the lies. But she seems to believe in Lee totally. I don't know whether that's good or bad. It's still a good productive partnership. Great solve rate. Well worth the expense of repairing the station wagon now and again.’
During The Mole February 13, 1984
The morning after the Viktor operation was blown, Billy sat in his office. The morning meeting had gone badly, the unit was in disarray and most of the people had fled to Nedlingers for an early lunch. Probably mostly liquid, if Billy knew the mood of his people.
He downed a couple of antacids and fumed inwardly. ‘Damn! Viktor got away again. I swear—that man must have a direct pipeline into my field unit! It’s just a matter of time before Blue Leader calls me and starts an internal.’
He looked over the files of the other two blown operations. Looking at the personnel involved Billy realized his entire field unit was involved. Except—wait! Scarecrow hadn’t been in the country during the previous two operations, so he couldn’t be the leak. Suddenly Billy had a sick feeling in his gut. Blue Leader had probably already started the internal—‘Since I was involved in all three operations—I’m a suspect as well,’ he realized with a further sinking feeling. ‘And as Scarecrow was out of the country for the previous two… He’s the guy stuck with the assignment. Oh boy.’
Just then, Billy’s phone rang.
“Melrose here.”
Amanda King’s cheery voice replied, “Good Morning, sir.”
“Good Morning Mrs. King.” Billy hoped his voice didn’t betray his disquietude.
“Sir, I’m really sorry to bother you, but I’ve been calling Lee all morning and he isn’t anywhere to be found, and he hasn’t answered any of my messages and I need to get something to him that he left in my car.”
Billy looked out into the mostly empty bullpen, “He isn’t in the office right now.”
“Oh?” she replied, then continued undaunted, “Do you know where he is right now? Or where he will be? I really think he needs this…”
Suddenly Billy had an idea. If Lee was doing the internal, he’d need some help. Nobody in the unit could help him—they were all suspects. Except Amanda wasn’t with the Agency during the last two blown operations, so she couldn’t be a suspect either. And she was very good with the paperwork and research… Billy made a quick decision. “He’s probably at Nedlinger’s. You might try to catch up with him there.”
“Thank you sir,” She sounded relieved. “I’ll be glad to get this to Lee.”
“You’re welcome, Mrs. King. Have a nice day.”
“You too, sir. Good bye.”
Billy hung up the phone. ‘Well Scarecrow—I hope you have enough sense to ask for help with your internal. It’s too big a job for you to do by yourself—and your partner is someone who can be a big help. Besides, with both of them on the case, they’ll solve it in no time. Maybe Blue Leader knew what he was doing when he drafted Scarecrow for this one.’
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Later, when everyone had returned, Billy noticed Amanda was not among the group. Well, he’d give Scarecrow another shove in the right direction. He called a meeting in the conference room, and laid it out for everyone, full complete reports from all involved. As they left grumbling and complaining, Billy held Lee back. He wanted Lee’s report two days earlier than the others, and with more detailed analysis. Predictably, Lee complained, and that’s when Billy played his ace, offering Scarecrow an assistant who had a grade 10 security clearance and could type 90 words a minute. Lee immediately understood Billy meant Amanda, and that it wasn’t just a suggestion. Even though Lee made a face at the thought of being ‘forced’ to work with Amanda again, Billy saw him go straight to his desk and make a call. Then he puttered around for a few minutes, and left.
‘I’ve done all I can. Scarecrow is going to meet with Amanda at a neutral site and outline the assignment, and throw in the internal as well. With those two on the case, I know we’ll find our mole.’ He noticed his stomach suddenly felt a lot better.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.