Chapter Fourteen
Monday Evening, September 21st
Amanda stood on her back porch peering in the window at the activity inside. Her ex-husband was sitting on the couch next to Phillip playing a video game, and her mother was in the kitchen with Carrie, preparing the meal that, once everyone found out what was going on, would most likely not get eaten tonight. She desperately fought back the lump that was forming in her throat. This wasn’t how they were supposed to be spending the evening. They should be sitting at Camden Yards, eating hot dogs and cheering on their favorite team; instead the world of espionage had once again interrupted their plans. As she wiped away a stray tear that fell to her cheek, two strong arms wrapped around her waist. Leaning back against her husband’s chest, she let out a small sigh. “Is this what it was like for you, always looking in on the activity inside, wanting desperately to join in but not sure you really belonged?”
“Are you trying to tell me that you feel like you don't belong in there? Is that why you're standing out here, looking in, instead of being a part of what's going on inside your home?” Lee moved his hands up from her waist to rest on her shoulders and then, gently, he turned her to face him until he could meet her eyes. “Amanda, you have to accept that you're not responsible for the fact that Jamie and Sydney aren't inside with everybody else. Isn’t that what you were trying to drill into my head earlier?” He watched as his wife gave a slight nod of her head. “You belong in there with your family.” He placed a gentle kiss on the top of her forehead. “There’s a big difference to what I experienced in the past and how I feel today. In the past, I was just an observer, longing to be a part of the King household chaos, but today I am a part of it…and so are you.”
Amanda shrugged slightly. “I know you’re right and even though, on some level, I do feel responsible for what happened to Jamie and Sydney, as I know you do too, the reason I’m standing out here is because I didn’t feel like facing our family alone. I knew that if I went in there without you, I’d fall apart, and I can’t let myself do that. I have to be strong.” She placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “But thank you for the reassurance. So, did you get in touch with Katrina?”
Lee let out a small chuckle at his wife’s obvious attempt to change the subject. “Yes I did. I’ve arranged a meet with her for later tonight. I didn’t want to go into too much detail over the phone; you never know who might be listening. I’ll sneak out after dinner and be back before you have a chance to miss me.” He winked at her and then, as he looked deeply into her eyes, he saw the pain and anguish that she was trying to hide from everyone. “Amanda, why do you feel like you have to be strong? No one’s expecting you to put on a brave face. I know that, deep down, this is killing you and no one would think any less of you if you broke down.”
Amanda stepped away from him. “Lee, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from all my Agency training, it’s that I have to compartmentalize my emotions. If I don’t, I’ll worry too much and then I won’t be able to concentrate.” She turned to look at her husband. “And if I can’t concentrate, it could mean the difference between life and death for me or for someone else.”
With two quick strides, Lee was standing in front of his wife. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he tenderly put a finger on her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Amanda Stetson, that is the most absurd thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth. Your emotions are what make you a good agent. If you bottle them up, you’ll end up doing more harm than good. Sure, the Agency teaches agents to compartmentalize, but they don’t tell you not to feel. Believe me when I tell you that because, as you know, that’s what I did for too many years. You’re allowed to break down and show that you’re worried, especially when loved ones are concerned. It doesn’t make you weak, it makes you human.”
Amanda leaned in and wrapped her arms around her husband. Looking up at him, she gave him a shy smile. “How did you get so smart?”
“I learned it from my partner.” Lee placed a gentle kiss on her nose. “Now, what do you say we head inside and let our family know what’s going on?”
Amanda looked up at her husband, a twinkle of merriment dancing in her eyes. “I think it’s really sweet that you think of Joe as part of your family.”
Lee rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. “You know that wasn’t what I meant. I was referring to Dotty and Phillip…”
Amanda let out a small chuckle and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I know, love, I just couldn’t resist.” Turning serious, she glanced back through the window. “I’m still a little hesitant to go in there.” She looked back at her husband and caught the questioning raise of his eyebrows. “I feel like we should be doing something to help find Jamie and Sydney. I don’t feel right letting someone else do all the research and leg work, when Sydney was our responsibility in the first place.”
Lee let out a long sigh. “Amanda, I understand how you feel, I don’t like sitting this one out, either, but Billy’s right, you’re first responsibility is to the family members we can account for.” He locked eyes with his wife. “I don’t mean to be so straight forward, but you need to realize that your place, right now, is inside there.” He tilted his head towards the house. “I’ve done everything I can at the moment. I’ve contacted the members of my family who might be able to help us. Other than pacing back and forth in our office, what else is there for us to do?”
“You’re right. We need to be here to give our family all the love and comfort we can, not to mention answer any questions they might have.” Amanda smiled tenderly at her husband. “You really have been spending too much time with me. I’m making you think like a normal person.”
Lee pulled his wife to him and wrapped his arms around her. “And I’m enjoying every minute of my new life. You’ve made me realize that my place is and always will be where ever you are, and I know that, right now, your place is here, with our family.”
“I love you.” Amanda leaned in and placed a quick kiss on his lips.
Lee winked. “I love you, too.” He then tilted his head in the direction of the back door. “Now, don’t you think we should go inside?”
“I guess there’s no time like the present.” Amanda took her husband’s hand in hers and headed for the door.
As they stepped inside the kitchen, they were greeted by the sounds that had accompanied the scene Amanda had witnessed from outside the window. Dotty and Carrie were clanging pots, pans and dishes in the kitchen as they put the final preparations on dinner, and the steady beep of the video game was coming from the den.
Amanda gave her husband’s hand a gentle squeeze, before letting go and heading into the kitchen to say hello to her mother and Carrie.
“One more level, Dad, and I’ll be the high scorer.” Phillip shouted, his eyes glued to the video game.
“Phillip, did you complete another level?” Lee asked in amazement as he headed towards the den and placed his hands on the back of the couch. “That’s great.”
Phillip pushed pause on the video control and turned to look at his mom’s boyfriend. “Thanks, Lee. Hey, by the way, you really let the guys down when you didn’t show to pick me up. Tommy Watkins was bringing Susie Miller over to show off the car.” He then turned and gave his father an apologetic grin. “Sorry, Dad, I didn’t mean that I wasn’t happy to see you.”
Joe gave a small laugh as he patted his son’s arm. “Don’t worry Phillip, I know how much fun it is to impress the girls with hot cars.” He then turned and looked towards Lee, giving him a knowing grin.
“Hey, Lee,” Phillip stood and looked behind his mom’s boyfriend, “where’s Jamie? He’s always bragging about how much better at this game he is than me, I wanted to prove to him that I really can beat his high score any day. And where’s Sydney? She didn’t believe I could do it either.” He looked out the window onto the patio, expecting to see them walking towards the back door. When he didn’t see any sign of them, he looked back at Lee. “Didn’t they come home with you?”
Lee looked towards the other room and locked eyes with his wife. Before he could answer Phillip, Dotty called out from the kitchen.
“You didn’t leave them at the tournament, did you? I mean it can’t still be going on, I would have thought that they would have finished for the day by now. Besides, dinner’s almost ready.” Dotty finished scooping the vegetables into a bowl and looking up, she caught the look that passed between her son-in-law and daughter. Taking a closer look at Amanda, she noticed the lines of worry that were etched on her daughter’s face. “Amanda,” her tone of voice suspicious, “where are Jamie and Sydney? Joe said that you were all staying behind to watch the tournament.”
Amanda took a deep breath and moved over to turn off the stove. “Mother, Carrie, I think we should all go into the den. Something’s happened…”
Dotty’s eyes grew wide as a sudden realization dawned on her and she turned towards the den. She quickly moved into the other room and pointed a finger at Joe. “You lied to me.” She then turned back towards the kitchen and stared at her daughter. “You had Joe lie to me. Yesterday, you and Lee sat there,” without taking her eyes off of Amanda, she pointed towards the back patio, “and promised me that there would be no more lies.” Suddenly she put her hand over her mouth and let out a small gasp. Removing her hand, she looked directly at her daughter. “This has something to do with Sydney and the people you were protecting her from, doesn’t it?” She watched her daughter nod her head almost reluctantly. “I knew Joe was side-stepping something. He wouldn’t look me in the eye, I should have guessed right then that something was wrong.”
Amanda followed her mother into the den and stopped behind the couch. “Mother, I asked Joe not to tell you anything because I didn’t want you to worry. We wanted to wait until we had more information before we told you anything.”
Dotty eyed her daughter suspiciously. “So, I take it that, since you two are home now, you have more information to tell us?”
Lee walked over and placed his hands on his wife’s shoulders. “Unfortunately, Dotty, we don’t. Look, why don’t we all just have a seat and then Amanda and I can tell you what’s going on.”
Carrie King, who had been standing in the kitchen watching the exchange with some confusion, moved into the den. She found it slightly odd that her husband had told her the same thing that he had told Dotty. Then again, maybe he didn’t want her to worry either, after all Jamie was her stepson, and she loved him just as much as she would if he were her own son. Taking a seat next to her husband, she gently rested her hand on his leg.
Dotty sighed and moved to sit in the armchair, and let her gaze fall on her eldest grandson. She saw the confusion written on his face. She then looked back at her daughter and son-in-law and wondered just how much of the truth they were going to share with them.
Amanda reached up to her shoulder and taking one of Lee’s hands in hers, led him around the couch and into the den. Stopping in front of the fireplace, she turned to look at her family. Feeling the gentle squeeze of her hand, she took a deep breath. “Jamie and Sydney have been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped?” Dotty looked stunned. “You’re right, I’m glad I didn’t know this before you got home. So do you know who has them and if you do, why aren’t you two out there doing your jobs, trying to find them?”
Lee looked at his mother-in-law. “Dotty, believe me, we would prefer to be out there looking for them. We know who took them, but we don’t know where they are. We had a team set up at the school, and they followed the vehicle that drove off with Jamie and Sydney, but unfortunately they lost them. I’ve already put a few feelers out with some of my contacts, but so far we haven’t turned up anything more.”
Phillip looked at his mother, his brows frowning in confusion. “Mom what did Grandma mean when she said that you were supposed to be protecting Sydney?” He then turned towards his mother’s boyfriend. “Lee, what do you mean by contacts? That almost sounds like spy talk. I think you’ve been watching too many James Bond movies, you’re a film-maker.” He caught the knowing look that passed between his mom and Lee. “Aren’t you?”
“Not exactly.” Lee kept his gaze focused on the small audience in front of them. He didn’t need to look at his wife to know what she was thinking. That phrase was the one that had opened his eyes to the fact that his partner was tired of dancing around their feelings for each other. She never would let him forget the fact that, technically, she had made the first move.
Phillip looked at his mother’s boyfriend like he had just grown another head. “I’m confused, if you say you work for a film company, how can you not be film-makers. I thought you worked for I.F.F which I thought stood for International Federal Films which means they make films, right?”
Amanda let go of her husband’s hand and moved towards the couch. “Phillip, we do work for I.F.F, and to some degree the company does make documentaries,” walking around the coffee table, she sat down in front of her son, “but, you see, the documentaries I.F.F produces are merely to hide the fact that it’s a top secret government organization. And the truth is, Lee and I don’t work in the documentary production department. We work in the information gathering department.”
“Are you saying that you two,” Carrie pointed from Lee then to Amanda, “are spies?” She then looked at her husband and was a little surprised that he didn’t seem the least bit shocked by this news. In fact, he seemed to lock eyes with Dotty, as if they were sharing a secret. She wondered how long her husband had known about Amanda’s career, and wondered why he hadn’t shared that information with her. She liked Amanda, but the closeness that still existed between her and Joe made her very uneasy at times. She made a mental note to have a nice long conversation with her husband, later.
“Spies?” Phillip let out a small laugh. “That’s a good one Carrie. My mom a spy.” He then looked at his mother. “You’re not a spy? Are you?”
Amanda looked at her son and nodded. “I wouldn’t say spy, but yes, we’re federal agents, and what is so unbelievable about the idea of me being a ‘spy’?”
“You’re my mom. Moms don’t become spies…sorry, federal agents.” Phillip looked closer at his mother, as if really seeing her for the first time. “Then again, maybe it isn’t so ridiculous.”
Lee moved to the coffee table and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You’re right, Phillip it's not so ridiculous. Your mom is a damn fine agent; in fact many people at the office think she’s one of the best. I’ve learned a lot from her, just as she’s learned a lot working with me at the Agency. She’s the best partner I’ve ever worked with.”
Phillip saw his mother’s cheeks turn pink with embarrassment as she turned and looked at Lee. He followed his mother’s gaze and studied his mom’s boyfriend for a moment. As the older man’s words started to sink in, he suddenly remembered something. Taking his eyes off of Lee, he looked at his dad and then at his mom, before staring directly at Lee again. “That was you!” He energetically jumped out of his seat and turned back towards his father. “That day in the gym, when you showed up, Dad.” He then turned back in Lee’s direction. “You’re the federal agent who saved Jamie and me in the gym when that guy pulled a gun on us.” He watched as both his mom and Lee nodded their heads in unison. “Is that how you met my mom, because of the mix-up with my dad?”
Amanda shook her head and took her son’s hand in hers. “No, Phillip, I didn’t meet Lee that day. I actually helped Lee get the charges against your dad dropped. The truth is, I met Lee four years ago.”
“If you met four years ago, then how come you didn’t introduce Lee to us that day in the gym?” Phillip sat back down next to his father. “Did you know about mom back then, Dad?”
Joe shook his head. “Not really. When I first returned and ran into your mom, I thought the same thing you just did, that Lee had met your mom while trying to track me down. It wasn’t until after the whole mess with my return was cleared up that your mom told me the truth.”
“You’ve known for over a year.” Carrie turned and looked at her husband, her even tone did nothing to mask the anger flashing in her eyes. “I realize that we didn’t know each other all that well back then, but we’ve been married for just over six months, I think you could have found time to tell me before now. I thought husbands and wives weren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other.”
Joe reached out and placed a hand over hers. “Carrie, I was sworn to secrecy. Besides it wasn’t my secret to tell.”
Carrie rose from the couch. “Oh what a convenient answer. Sometimes I wonder if I really am part of your family, Joe. If you can keep your ex-wife’s secrets, what other secrets are you keeping from me. You didn’t even bother to tell me the truth about Jamie when you said that Amanda had invited us over for dinner.”
“Carrie…” Joe stood and took his wife’s hands in his. “Please, don’t do this. Not now. I’m sorry you found out this way, but can we put this discussion on hold, I want to find out what’s going on with my son. Don’t you want to know what’s being done to find Jamie?”
Carrie removed her hands from Joe’s and, narrowing her eyes at her husband, she let out a deep sigh. “Yes, I do.” Sitting back down on the couch, she crossed her arms in front of her. “But don’t think for a minute that this discussion is over.”
Amanda cleared her throat and looked at the petite blonde woman. She liked Joe’s wife and she didn’t want to be the cause of friction between the pair. “Carrie, please don't be angry with Joe, it's not his fault. When I told Joe the truth, I had to make him swear not to tell anybody, I never even gave it a second thought after you two were married. I could tell you the old company line about national security, but the truth is, we believed that if we kept our jobs a secret from the family, you’d all be safer.”
“A lot of good that did. I still think you should have told Phillip and Jamie sooner, then maybe Jamie would have some idea that you’re out there looking for him.” Dotty turned her attention to Joe’s wife. “And Carrie, don’t feel so bad. I only found out this weekend. I guarantee that if I hadn’t overheard a conversation that I wasn’t supposed to, I would be just as stunned and angry as you are now. As it was, they were forced into telling me the truth.”
“I guess knowing about your job helps explain some of your odd behavior over the last few years, Mom,” Phillip looked over at his grandmother, “and all those times you sent us out of town to visit Aunt Lillian or some other relative and you never came with us.” He then looked back towards his mother. “Last year when we had to go see Aunt Edna because the house was being sprayed for termites, was the house really infested?”
Amanda looked at her son, a sheepish expression on her face. “No, sweetheart it wasn’t, but it was necessary for you all to be out of the house for a while, and that was the best excuse I could come up with at the time.”
“I don’t want to think about all the excuses you’ve given over the years to get us out of the house.” Dotty shook her head slightly. “Like the time you practically forced us to go see Uncle Herman. You said something about a bomb and that you held the key to the whereabouts in your memory.” Her eyes grew slightly wide as the memory came back. “You weren’t kidding about that were you?” She watched as her daughter shook her head in response.
Carrie almost jumped out of her seat as she stared at Amanda, dumbfounded. “Bomb! What bomb and how long ago was this?”
Amanda let out a deep sigh, and exchanged a knowing look with her husband. “About three years ago.”
Lee glanced over at Carrie. “Let’s just say that there was a bomb threat that threatened all of Washington, D.C. and the surrounding areas, but it was taken care of before anything happened.”
“Thank God for the blue wire.” Amanda muttered.
“The blue wire?” Carrie looked at Amanda, curiously.
Amanda shrugged. “I always jiggle the blue wire on the dishwasher when it’s not working, so I told Lee to cut the blue wire and the timer on the bomb stopped.”
“Wow, way to go, Mom!” Phillip grinned at his mother.
“I think we’ve drifted way off topic.” Dotty glanced briefly at her grandson, before turning her attention back on her daughter and son-in-law. “Now, I’m sure there are a ton of things about your jobs that Phillip would love to know, but I think that can wait. I think it’s time we got back to the main reason for this family meeting, don’t you?”
“Yes, Dotty. You’re absolutely right.” Lee removed his hands from his wife’s shoulder and began pacing. “Before I begin, I’m going to tell you right from the start, that we won’t be able to tell you everything. Most of what we deal with is classified information and we’ll only be able to give you the basics.” He stopped and looked at the family in front of him. “That means if you ask any questions, we most likely won’t be able to give you a complete answer.”
Amanda rose from the coffee table and went to stand beside her husband. “Okay, here’s what we can tell you. Sydney’s father sells airplane parts for a living and recently he sold some things to a pair of Russians. Apparently the original items weren’t exactly what they had expected and when he refused to get them what they really wanted, they threatened him. It turns out that the Russians were actually members of the KGB, so Jack was forced to contact the CIA and, because he feared for Sydney’s safety, he said that he would only cooperate if they provided protection for his daughter. He was afraid that if the KGB found out he was working to help capture the men he had been dealing with, then they might try and take Sydney in order to get Jack to stop assisting the government. That’s how we got involved, our bosses asked us to look after Sydney. Unfortunately something happened that we didn’t expect, the man who took Jamie and Sydney is an associate of one of the men Jack had dealt with. We found out today that this man was going to be at the tournament and, although we had arranged for Jamie and Sydney to stay away from the tournament, they decided to sneak in and watch some of it before school let out.”
“If you knew this man was going to be at the school, why didn’t you do something about it? Couldn’t you have had some of your own people watching him or something?” Dotty sat forward in her seat and eyed the couple.
“Actually, Mother, we did.” Amanda turned her attention on her mother. “We had agents at the tournament and another agent undercover at the school.”
Joe looked at his wife. “Well if you had agents in place, how the devil did this man manage to get Jamie and Sydney off school grounds?”
Lee ran a hand through his hair. “Unfortunately, our guys screwed up. They didn’t have every area of the school under surveillance and we didn’t realize that Jamie and Sydney were missing until it was too late. They were supposed to meet us at the book sale after their last class. In fact, Amanda and I had been making sure they made it to and from class safely.”
“When I got to Jamie’s last class, they weren’t there.” Amanda tried not to make eye contact with any of her family, afraid that they would be able to see the guilt she felt for not getting there sooner written on her face. “That’s when we went into panic mode, and by the time we figured out where they had gone, it was too late.” Needing to gain strength from her husband in order to continue, she took his hand in hers. “The other thing that worked against us was that we didn’t want to broadcast to everyone that Sydney was the one in danger, and before you ask, I can’t tell you why we had to keep that a secret. Anyway, our agents were only instructed to watch the Russian. You see the Russian was assigned to be guarding the guest player at the tournament, which is why he was at the school. The agent we had following the Russian, noticed him talking to Jamie and Sydney, and then followed the Russian, Jamie and Sydney to a classroom. Apparently the Russian tricked them into meeting the young prodigy. Since the agent didn’t know who Jamie and Sydney were, he thought everything was perfectly innocent and didn’t stay outside the classroom. If he had, there’s no way the Russian would have gotten away with the kidnapping.”
“We were able to take his associate into custody, though.” Lee let go of Amanda’s hand and began pacing again. “Unfortunately, by the time we left he still wasn’t talking. Our boss told us that he’d contact us the minute they got any new information. So, in the meantime, we have to sit tight.”
“I can see you’re doing a fine job of that, Lee.” Dotty watched her son-in-law walk from one end of the fireplace to the other. “I’m sure we’re all extremely worried about Jamie and Sydney, but what do you say, we head into the dining room and have something to eat. It won’t do any of us any good if we sit around waiting for news on empty stomachs.”
Amanda caught Lee’s arm as he passed by her for the third time. “I think you’re right, Mother. We need to keep our strength up.”
Joe looked at his son. “Phillip, what do you say we go and set the table? I’m sure your grandmother and Carrie were too busy to do that earlier.” When his son nodded in agreement, he stood and started walking towards the other room.
As Phillip rose from his seat, he glanced through the open door to the living room. Catching sight of Lee’s temporary bed, he turned towards his mother’s boyfriend, a curious expression on his face. “Lee, did your apartment really get flooded?”
“No, it didn’t.” Lee shook his head. “Since you guys didn’t really know what we did for a living, and we couldn’t tell you that Sydney was really staying here for her own protection, we had to come up with a good excuse for me staying here. ”
Phillip shrugged his shoulders. “I guess that makes sense.” His brows then creased, deep in thought. “Now that I know the truth, and I guess Jamie will too, when you and mom bring him home…does this mean that you won’t have to make up stories anymore? I mean, you’ll be able to tell us the truth?”
Amanda sighed. “We promise to tell you as much of the truth as we can. But there will still be details that we’ll have to keep from you. Our jobs require us to keep some secrets.”
“I guess I understand that. If James Bond told everyone what he was really doing, MI6 couldn't send him out on operations, could they? He wouldn’t be able to move about in secret if everyone knew who he was and what he was really up to.” Phillip glanced around the room at the adults and noticed them all trying to hide their amusement. “Yes, I know James Bond isn’t real. I was just using him as an example.” He let out an exasperated sigh.
Lee chuckled. “I think that James Bond is as good as an example as you can get.”
“I hate to be the voice of reason, but if we let ourselves start talking about spies, we may never get a chance to eat.” Carrie rose from the couch and looked towards the blonde woman. “Dotty, I’ll help you finish getting dinner out.” She then started walking towards the kitchen.
“Thank you, dear. I’ll be right in to help you.” Dotty watched as Phillip followed his stepmother into the other room, before moving over to her daughter and son-in-law. “While you were divulging secrets, why didn’t you tell Phillip that you two are married?”
“Mother,” Amanda began playing with the pendant around her neck. “Now was not the right time. When we tell the boys what Lee’s place in this family really is, I want both of them present. I promise that we will tell them, but they deserve to hear it together, not separately.”
Dotty looked up at her son-in-law, who nodded his agreement. “I suppose you’re right. I’d better go get the rest of dinner ready. I hope it’s not too cold to eat.” She turned to head into the kitchen. “You know, I can’t wait to hear the dinner conversation. I bet Phillip dominates the whole conversation with questions about your job.” A knowing grin broke out on her face as she moved into the other room
Lee let out a groan. “Amanda, why do I get the feeling that now that the truth is out, your mother’s going to declare open season on us?”
Amanda chuckled as she began leading him towards the dining room. “Because she will. Look on the bright side, maybe now when mother suddenly remembers something, it won’t throw us for such a loop.”
Lee rolled his eyes. “Somehow I truly doubt that. Some of the things she comes up with…” Shaking his head he followed his wife towards the dining room. “You know she’s going to have no qualms about throwing her own questions at us whenever she wants now.”
Amanda laughed and stopped just outside the dining room entrance. “Well at least we don’t have to worry about who hears the answers anymore.” At her husband’s worried glance, she squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry, I trust mother enough not to ask questions in the wrong company.”
“We can only hope.” Lee followed his wife into the dining room and watched as Dotty and Carrie brought in the meal, and Joe and Phillip took their seats at the table. Maybe the dinner conversation would take their minds off the current situation. Which, considering the fact that his wife could use a little distraction from worrying about Jamie and Sydney, wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Letting his own mind drift to his stepson and Sydney, he let out a silent prayer that they were still somewhere nearby and not on a plane heading to Russia. He was glad that Amanda hadn’t mentioned anything about that to the family. That was clearly need-to-know information, and the family did not need to know that. He knew he needed to stay positive and let his fellow agents do the dirty work, no matter how hard it was for him to be the one to sit around waiting. Right now, he knew he had to be here for his family and, most importantly, his wife; their time to be involved would come soon enough. Taking a seat next to his wife, he waited for the barrage of questions he knew his eldest stepson was going to fire at them.
SMK a SMK a SMK
Sydney watched Jamie carefully tinkering away at their makeshift transmitter. She saw the concentration written on his face, and decided to leave him to his task. The last time he looked up and saw her staring at him, he had gotten slightly agitated, thinking that she was critiquing his work and he had ended up cutting his hand with the screwdriver. Thankfully it wasn’t a deep gash, and amazingly enough they had found a small first-aid kit in the cabinet by the sink. With his hand bandaged, he had gotten back to working on their project. Walking over to the little window at the back of the shop, she peaked outside. Although the window was dirty from neglect, she could tell that it was nighttime already. Catching a glimpse of the moonlight bouncing off the bars on the other side of the window, she shuddered as, for the twentieth time in the last few hours, she remembered exactly how much danger they were really in. It was a shame that there were bars on the window; it would have been a perfect escape route.
Pressing her face against the glass, she tried to catch sight of at least one star. She remembered what her mother used to tell her when she was really little, ‘If you wish upon the first star you see, it’ll bring you good luck’. Well, luck was exactly what they needed right now. Unfortunately, between the dirt and the bars, she couldn’t see anything more than a few feet away. Sighing, she turned back around to watch her friend. “Jamie,” she began twisting her mother’s bracelet around her wrist, “do you think that anyone has contacted my dad?”
Jamie looked up from the transmitter and noticed her playing with the bracelet. “I hate to do this to you, but I’m almost ready for the bracelet. I don’t want to take a chance that any of this stuff isn’t real gold.” He motioned to the few items of jewelry they had managed to gather. “As for your dad, I’m sure that my mom tried to get in touch with him, why?”
Sydney walked towards him, unclasping the gold chain. “I sometimes wonder if my dad really loves me. I know how much your mom loves you, and I can even tell that Lee loves you.” She smiled shyly at Jamie’s almost shocked expression. “It’s written all over their faces when they look at you. You don’t believe that Lee loves you, do you?”
Jamie shrugged as he accepted the jewelry. Avoiding eye contact, he went back to working on their project. “I know Lee cares about us and I know he loves my mom…”
“Boys really are blind,” she muttered to herself, “Jamie, I’ve seen the way Lee looks at you. Granted it’s nothing like the way he looks at your mom, that puppy dog, head-over-heels kind of love, it’s more like the look most parents give their children. There’s pride and love in his eyes. My dad never looks at me that way.” She handed the bracelet to Jamie. “I sometimes wonder if he resents having to raise me on his own without my mom around. He’s always so cold and distant.” She took a deep breath and angrily wiped away a stray tear that fell down her cheek. Leaning over Jamie, she inspected the transmitter. “You said you’re almost done. Do you think it’ll work this time?”
Jamie looked over at her and narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean…this time?”
Sydney let out a little laugh. “Didn’t you say that the last time you built one of these, you couldn’t get it to work?” She was thankful for the change in subject, it got her mind off of other, darker thoughts.
Rolling his eyes, Jamie leaned back over the device as he put the final connections together. “Well the last time my mom helped me. However, since you and I built this one, I have every confidence that it’ll work.”
Sydney tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “That’s really sweet, Jamie, but you did most of the work.”
Jamie shook his head. “Not really, I may have done this before, sort of, but you’re the one who figured out which was the best way to connect everything. I was all ready to do it the same way my mom and I had tried, you’re the one who figured out what I was doing wrong. There,” he slapped his hands together in triumph, “that should do it. Maybe you should go put your ear to the door and make sure that no one’s coming. I want to test this baby out and see if we really can get it to work.”
Sydney nodded and moved to the door. Putting her ear against it, she listened intently trying to pick up any sound at all. She shook her head as she moved back towards Jamie. “It’s a pretty thick door, but I couldn’t make out any sounds near it. I think we’ll be okay.”
“Okay then, here goes nothing.” Holding his breath, he pushed down on the makeshift lever. “. . . - - - . . .” The transmitter seemed to mimic the clicking noise.
“By George, I think he’s done it,” Sydney said in her best British accent as she slapped Jamie on the back.
Jamie’s face beamed with pride. “Actually, partner, we did it.” He fought the urge to give her a hug, and instead took her hand in his and shook it up and down. “Now if I only knew more than S-O-S, we could transmit the address to this place too.”
Sydney gave him a knowing smile. “Guess what, partner, it just so happens that I do know Morse Code.”
Jamie shook his head and laughed. “Okay, I’ll bite, how the devil do you know Morse Code?”
“Well a couple of my classmates and I had to do a history project where we had to re-enact the time and place of a particular invention. We got the telegraph. So, in order to make it real, we made a fake telegraph, but we learned Morse Code so that we could transmit real messages. Our teacher was really impressed. Anyway, it’s come in kind of handy, because my friends and I use it to send secret messages to each other during class. We just tap the side of our face and the teachers are none the wiser.”
“That’s awesome.” Jamie looked closer at his friend with a new sense of respect; she was so full of surprises. It was too bad she lived in California. He was going to miss her a lot when she went back home. “Do you think you could teach it to me, I mean when all of this is over?”
Sydney nodded and smiled. “Count on it.” She started moving around for a piece of paper to write on. Finding a blank sheet of paper and a pen on the desk in the corner, she started jotting down the sequence of dots and dashes that they would need to transmit their location. She would be able to do it from memory, but since Jamie didn’t know it, a cheat sheet was definitely needed. When she was done, she placed the paper in front of the transmitter. “Do you want to do the first honors?”
Jamie shook his head. “Nah, I think you should.” He then started moving around and gathered a few larger items and placed them on the shelf on either side of the transmitter.
Sydney looked at him quizzically. “What are you doing?”
“In case Mr. Romanovich and that other guy come back in, I don’t want them to get suspicious. This thing stands out sitting on the shelf all by itself.” Jamie picked up another radio and placed it on the shelf, effectively blocking the transmitter from view of the door.
“Good thinking.” Sydney smiled at him as she moved over to the device and started transmitting their message. “…---…, …---…, …---…, --. .-.. . -… . .-. -.., …---…, …---…, …---…” She took a break and then started the message over again.
Jamie looked at the sheet of paper in front of the device. “That sure is a lot of dots and dashes. What exactly does it say?” He covered his mouth to hide a yawn.
“Basically its pretty much S-O-S over and over, I just threw in the street name in case anyone really does get this message. If they listen to it enough times, it might help them pinpoint our location faster.” Sydney shook her hand out and began the message again. When she had finished another round, she looked up at Jamie. “Why don’t you lie down on the bench and try and get a little sleep. I’ll wake you up in an hour and then you can take over. What do you say?”
Jamie reluctantly nodded. “Yeah, I am getting tired. Just keep an ear out. If you hear the sound of the key in the lock, you better stop and move away from the shelf.”
Sydney rolled her eyes. “Well that’s a no-brainer. I wouldn’t want to be caught doing this. They may not be the nicest of men, but so far they haven’t really mistreated us. I’d hate to do anything to make them mad.”
Jamie just shook his head as he moved over to the wooden bench. Lying down on the hard seat, he turned on his side and bending his arm, he made a makeshift pillow for his head. As he closed his eyes, he sent out a silent prayer that the transmitter was really working and that someone would hear their message. ‘I love you, mom. Please come find us.’ With that final thought, he tuned out all other noises and let the sound of the dots and dashes lull him to sleep.
SMK a SMK a SMK
Lee awoke and instantly felt the emptiness beside him. Turning his head, he realized that he was, indeed, alone in bed. As he sat up, he scanned his wife’s bedroom in hopes of finding a sign that she was somewhere nearby. Looking towards the bathroom, he saw the light was off and knew she wasn’t there. He climbed out of bed and, grabbing the bathrobe he had placed on the chair in the corner earlier, he quickly put it on and headed for the door.
As he stepped out into the hallway, he listened for any sound that might have indicated where his wife might have gone. She had asked him to sleep with her, rather than have him sleep downstairs. She had told him that it was going to be hard enough as it was to fall asleep and that she just needed to have him hold her. He hadn’t argued, needing to draw the same strength from her that she obviously needed from him. He had asked if she was sure, and she had told him that even if Phillip didn’t know their marital status, her mother did, and although she didn’t want to appear to set a bad example for her eldest son, she was pretty sure that Phillip didn’t really think they spent all their nights in the editing room, especially not after his comments over the past few days. As he quietly slipped downstairs, he thought about how much courage it had taken for her to admit that fact about her son.
Stepping off the landing, Lee peered around the corner into the den. He had thought that his wife might have come down here to think; it was a place he had found her many times in the past when he would sneak into her back yard. However, it appeared that she hadn’t come down here this time. He then moved towards the back door, but noticed that it was still locked and knew that she wasn’t outside. Sighing, he wondered where his wife could have gone, and then it hit him, he knew exactly where she was. He turned and headed back towards the stairs.
Amanda had gotten only a small amount of sleep. Even with her husband’s arms wrapped around her, thoughts of her son and Sydney out there scared, frightened and in the hands of the KGB wouldn’t stop running through her mind. Knowing that Lee needed his rest, she had quietly snuck out of bed and headed to the one place she would remotely feel closer to the missing children. Now, as she sat staring out the window of Jamie’s room, she allowed the thoughts and emotions she had been suppressing to surface. Her little boy was missing, kidnapped, and in the hands of men who wanted to ship them off to Russia. She knew that Jamie hadn’t been the intended victim, that it had been Sydney, but that didn’t make it any easier to accept the fact that her son and Sydney weren’t at home, asleep in their beds, like they should be.
It was ironic really. She and Lee were supposed to be protecting Sydney. Instead her son had probably taken it upon himself to come to the girl’s aide; that had to be the only logical explanation to explain why her baby boy was now in enemy hands. After all he was her son and, as Lee had pointed out time and time again, her family had a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only thing that kept her from going totally crazy was the knowledge that once the Magician discovered who he was, Jamie’s life would be spared. However, if they didn’t find them in time, then her son and Sydney would be shipped to a foreign country. If Lee was right, and Sydney was Jack’s test subject for Project Christmas, than it was very likely that Kholokov would subject her to more tests once he got his hands on her. As for Jamie, he would end up being a pawn in some spy game, used to taunt Lee and herself into giving up secrets, and in the end he’d probably be killed anyway.
Damn the Agency anyway. Their life wouldn’t be so complicated if it weren’t for her job. Then again, she wouldn’t be with Lee if it weren’t for the Agency. They had worked so hard to keep her family safe, which was one of the main reasons for the mystery marriage. Sure there had been other reasons, reasons that at the time made sense. Lee hadn’t been officially introduced to the family yet, and she had had her own fears; fears that she might fail at another marriage. She was more afraid that if she couldn’t make things work with Lee, that her sons would be hurt in the end. They would lose another father, and it would have been her fault. No, she couldn’t, wouldn’t think like that. Joe had been right the other day, their marriage wasn’t meant to last. Lee, on the other hand, was her soul mate, and she was his. This case had made them both realize that their earlier fears didn’t mean anything; that they had no need to be scared anymore. Sighing, she realized that no matter what happened they needed to be together as a family. They needed to move forward; there was no going back, but what would be the cost? Would they end up being like Khai’s family? One day realizing that one of them wasn’t coming back, only to find out that they had done it for the safety of their family?
Lee had stood in the doorway of his stepson’s room, watching his wife lost in her thoughts. He had been right; this had been where she had come to. Hearing her sigh, he entered the room and stood behind her, placing his hands gently on her shoulders. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“This isn’t how I wanted everyone to find out, Lee.” Amanda stood and wrapping her arms around him, she laid her head on his chest. “This whole thing has me really thinking and I want us to make a promise to each other.” She leaned back and looked into his hazel eyes, the glow of the moonlight allowed her to see the love she felt for him, reflecting back at her. “We had decided to keep all of this a secret to protect the family, so that we never found ourselves in a situation like Khai’s right?” Her husband nodded, and she could see a hint of confusion and curiosity on his face. “When this is all over and we go public with our marriage, I want us to promise each other, that no matter what, we’ll never put each other through what Khai and his wife went through.”
Lee tightened his arms around her waist. “Over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at trying to decipher your rambles and I think I know what you’re getting at, but just to be safe, can you break it down a little better for me?”
“What I’m trying to say is that if for some reason one of us had to… you know…pretend to be killed for whatever reason, that no matter what, we’d find a way to let the other know what was going on. No matter what the reason. I can play the grieving widow pretty convincingly as long as I know you’re really alive. If I thought you really were dead, I don’t know how I’d be able to keep on living, but if I knew it was only a ruse…” Amanda took a breath when she heard her husband clear his throat. “Sorry, I guess I’m tired and worried, I didn’t mean to go off on another tangent. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve played the part of the grieving partner before; remember the whole mess with the Barnstorm list, when I had to pretend to mourn because you died on the operating table in front of me. I mean it Lee, I don’t want to ever have to go through what Khai’s wife went through, thinking that her husband was dead, when he really wasn’t.” She leaned her head against his chest. “Then again, if it were true, and it wasn’t because of some game you had to play in order to solve a case or get the bad guy, and you really were dead…”
Lee unclasped his hands and leaning back, he gently placed his hand under her chin and guided her to look at him. “Let’s not let our minds wander down that path, okay.” He leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her lips. “Besides, I have a feeling that if something tragic did happen to either one of us, the other would instinctively know. Call it a gut feeling or cosmic link, I don’t know. Regardless, if one of us is asked to make the world believe that we were dead, I think we can definitely make a promise to each other, right here and now, that we’ll find away to let the other one know the truth; perhaps we’ll come up with a special code that only you and I know, or a way to contact the other, ahead of time if possible, okay?” His wife nodded and, leaning his forehead against hers, he let out a deep sigh. “I have a confession to make. You’re not the only one whose been thinking a lot about coming clean. I keep thinking that if we’d only told the boys about our jobs before this whole thing started, then we could have told Jamie the real reason why the tournament was off limits. If he’d had some of the facts then he wouldn’t be in this mess right now. If only…”
Amanda placed a brief kiss on his lips. “I thought we decided not to place blame or think about what ifs.”
“You’re right.” Lee tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn. “We should probably head back to bed and try to get some sleep. We have to be back in the office in a few hours for the five a.m. briefing.”
Amanda nodded reluctantly and stepped out of the embrace. “Do you think we’ll be able to find them in time?”
Lee put his hand at the small of her back as he led her out of Jamie’s room. “I know we will.” He gave her a warm smile, when she turned to look at him. “Besides the fact that we have men posted at every airport who are discreetly circulating pictures of Jamie and Sydney, we have the Amanda King luck on our side.”
Amanda rolled her eyes at him before entering her bedroom. “I thought my luck was what usually gets us into trouble.”
Lee closed the door behind them before pulling his wife into another embrace. “That’s true, but your luck is what usually gets us out of it, too. I have faith in that luck to help us find our son and Sydney.” He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Come on. We only have a few more hours before we have to get up again.”
Amanda stepped out from the comfort of her husband’s arms and taking his hand in hers, led him back to the bed. “Tell me again why Mr. Melrose called for such an early meeting.” She asked as she covered her mouth with her hand to hide the yawn that had escaped.
“Because if anything turns up between now and then, he wants us to be able to act before the sun comes up.” Lee crawled under the covers and gently pulled his wife with him.
Yawning again, Amanda nodded. “That’s right and it makes perfect sense.” Turning on her side, she spooned up against her husband and let out a contented sigh when his arms wrapped around her. “I love you, Lee.” She tenderly placed her hands on his arms.
“And I love you,” Lee placed a gentle kiss in her hair. “Now get some sleep.”
Closing her eyes, Amanda focused on the warmth and love emanating from husband’s embrace. She hoped he was right and that luck would be on their side. If the Magician managed to get Jamie and Sydney out of the country, it was going to be almost impossible to get them back. She knew, however, that if that were to happen, she and Lee would be on the first plane bound for the Soviet Union. It wasn’t ideal, and they would be heading into enemy territory, but nothing, not even an executive order from the President himself was going to stop her from getting her son back. Letting out a deep sigh, she tried to wipe those negative thoughts from her mind, and instead focused back on the man lying next to her. He was her rock and together they would get through this. ‘Don’t give up hope, Jamie. We love you and we’ll bring you both home.’ Hearing the even breathing of her husband, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off to sleep as well.
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.