The black helicopter moved to hover above the white deck of the Nightwave as Lee and his team descended on ropes. The wind buffeting from the blades helped provided some cover as the team dropped. Williams protected the team from the helicopter. Shots began to ring out as the crew took up defensive locations around the cabin and the bridge.  Williams returned fire as did Cho and Parker as they hit the deck. Lee scrambled behind a deck box as he looked frantically for the stretcher carrying Amanda. “There she is.” he shouted “cover me.” Lee began to move around the deck as Williams made his descent and the rest of the team began to take fire to draw the crew away from Lee’s position. Bits of deck began to shower Lee as he began to make his way starboard to the two crewmen taking the stretcher below decks.

“Hold it” Lee yelled as they began to hand the stretcher down the steps. The crewmen stopped what they were doing held steady. “Bring that stretcher back up here. Place it on the deck, Nice, slow and easy.” Lee held his gun on the men as they complied. One of the crewmen dropped the stretcher and suddenly turned on Lee and knocked his gun away with a club only to be hit on the back of the head by the buckle from one of the stretcher restraints. Amanda sat up and kicked the other crewman down the stairs. He dropped the other side of the stretcher and Amanda clambered out it and moved low along the wood paneling of the cabin. Amanda picked up the dropped automatic and waited for Lee to dispatch the crewman. Lee knocked away the man’s blow with the club and disarmed him with a twist of the wrist. When the man threw a haymaker at Lee’s head, he ducked and countered with a punch to the solar plexus and a kick to the jaw. The man fell and didn’t get up. Lee rolled him over and cuffed him. The sound of gunfire was slowing down.

Lee moved to Amanda’s side and looked at her. “That was a nice kick. When did the drugs wear off?” he asked. Before she could answer there was silence outside “All teams, status check!” Lee barked into his mic.

“We are clearing off the deck, Scarecrow.” Cho’s measured voice came over his earpiece. Parker has the crew down and covered. Williams and I are working our way forward to pick up any stragglers.”

“Hannah team is on board with two suspects.” Came Francine’s confident reply. “Leaving Duffy and Charles with Parker to guard the rest.” Spenser and I will be…what is that?!” Francine shouted. “We have a boat leaving on the port side. Repeat a boat is leaving on the port side. Damn it! Spenser and I are going back to the Hannah for pursuit.”

Lee and Amanda looked up and ran to the stern of the yacht to see. Lee brought his Mac 10 to bear and started firing in the direction of the retreating yacht. Williams took a duplicate position fired as well. They stopped when Francine and Spenser jumping off the ladder and onto Hannah went into immediate pursuit. “Harry” Lee called to the helicopter “Go for air support. We’ll secure the rest of the ship. Amanda and I are heading below decks.”

“Do you want backup?” Cho asked.

“Negative. Work the rest of the ship. But keep your eyes peeled and your ears on”

“Roger.” Came the laconic reply.

Lee pulled an extra ear piece and mic for her so that she could communicate with the rest of the team. He stepped closer to her and attached the mic to the collar of her shirt running his fingers around her collarbone and neck as he moved her hair aside so he could place the ear piece. She shivered at his touch and nearness. He looked into her eyes to assure himself of her condition as he attached the battery to her belt. Francine’s voice over the ear piece broke their reverie. “The boat is getting away. It’s too fast. Continuing to pursue.”

Lee looked grimly at Amanda. She was beginning to look distraught.

“Lee,” she whispered “to do all this and lose him now.”

“Look, we don’t know anything yet.” He handed her a .22. She looked up at him. “We also don’t know what we are going to encounter below decks, you need to be armed.”

Amanda popped the clip, looked, slapped it back in and chambered a round. “Let’s go.”

Lee led the way to the stairs. He had Amanda cuff the crewman she had kicked to the stair rail. He continued past the galley to the aft cabin.

Amanda and Lee paused to scan the area. They observed the thick white carpets, leather furniture and dark polished wood of the main cabin. The galley had green granite countertops and every major appliance. “Who is this guy?” Lee asked almost to himself.

“Shouldn’t there be a bigger crew?” Amanda whispered as they turned the corner into the galley.

“It may have been a skeleton crew for this particular run.” He whispered back.  They heard the sound of a bolt being pulled back coming around the back side of the galley. They split around the galley and drew fire from a crew member with an M-1. Amanda ducked around the wall as shots began to score the polished wood where her head had been. Lee returned fire and the crewman dropped to his knees then flat on his face. Amanda covered him while Lee cleared the M-1 and cuffed him. There were three rooms in this portion of ship.  They ran across no more crewmen. It appeared to them that almost everyone was on deck when they arrived.   

“Lee,” Amanda whispered urgently. “Look at that!” She pointed to a door with a padlock. She took the lock pick from her bracelet and had it opened in a few seconds.

“You keep getting better at that.” Lee admired.

“I know. Leatherneck keeps telling me I’m beating your times.” She replied smugly as she pulled the lock off the door.

Lee motioned her back and opened the door. What greeted him made him pull up in shock. Amidst the beautifully appointed cabin with its cherry wood fixtures, leather chairs and oriental carpet lay two naked, gagged women on the bunks red marks scored their bodies and their hands and feet chained to the beds.

“Amanda” Lee called “You better come in here.” Amanda responded immediately and gasped at what she saw. Lee saw her set her face and flush but not in embarrassment but in anger. Then she visibly pulled herself together and walked between the beds. She grabbed two blankets and started to cover them up. Lee looked around the room and saw the camera mounted on the wall.

“They’re unconscious.” She keyed her mic. “Cho, can you spare Parker? We need some medical treatment one of the aft cabins.”  She removed the gags as gently as she could and begin picking the locks.

Parker replied “Are you hurt Amanda?”

“No, but we have two women who show signs, at the minimum, of physical trauma. I need a medic down here to evaluate them. They’re unconscious.”

“I’m on my way.”

Amanda took charge. “Lee, we’re going to need a medical evac helicopter for them. We can’t take them back on a boat.  Contact the Coast Guard and get them out here.” Lee looked like he was about to refuse to leave her alone.  “Go now. Parker is on her way. I have the .22 and can watch until you get back.”

Lee ran up the stairs to the pilothouse. There he radioed the Coast guard requesting medical evacuation and backup. Then he called Billy to inform him they had found captives.  Once he had given his status check he returned to Amanda and Parker in the cabin. Parker had her medical bag out and was checking the vitals of the two women.

“Parker, are you okay with them?” Lee asked. “We need to finish the search.” 

“Go ahead. They are dosed pretty heavily with something.” She replied checking the pulse one of the women.

Lee and Amanda moved to the cabin at the end of the hall. Lee opened the door and blanched at what could only be described as a torture chamber. Amanda looked over his shoulder and gasped. “Oh My Gosh. Who could do this?” She whispered. Lee felt her hand go to his arm and grasp it tightly.

Lee turned to her. “You stay outside. I’m going to do a sweep.”

“No.” she replied firmly. “I need to see this too”

“Honey, you don’t have to see this.”

“Yes, Lee, I do.” She returned firmly.

They walked through the converted cabin. Chains and leather cuffs hung from the wall in various places. Amanda walked past a 3 foot square metal cage and a table with restraints and stirrups, she felt sick as she passed an open cabinet with whips, masks, riding crops and other paraphernalia she didn’t want to identify. She met Lee in the middle and couldn’t form words to ask what he had found. He took one look at her and brought her into his arms. “Let’s get out of here.” He whispered in her ear as he felt her breaths coming more rapidly. “Amanda, I counted three more cameras in that room.”

“That would mean he would have a place to watch the video feed.” She replied.

“Come on, let’s finish the sweep. We’ll find his hole” Lee encouraged her.

As they continued to move through the sitting room and towards the bow of the boat, they found another room with a hasp but no lock. They opened the door and found another well-appointed room with neatly furled chains attached to the bed waiting for their occupant.

“Do you think…” Amanda broke the thick silence.

“Yeah, I do.” Lee answered his voice husky with emotion.

As they moved through the master bedroom, they found a richly appointed office. A pull of a closet door gave them the video feed with video tapes marked with dates and names. A search of the desk garnered some vague information about the man who owned the ship. The name on the papers was Georgos Andropov. They gathered the papers and continued to comb the office. Amanda moved to open another door and found a water tight hatch through the hull about six feet above the water line. “Lee” she called “here’s how he got out.”

“He must’ve had an escape boat. Why didn’t we see it?” Lee pounded the wall. Amanda put her hand on his shoulder and moved across his back.

“You know we had to gain control. We didn’t know what we were going to…” Amanda reasoned before a voice broke in.

“Scarecrow” came Billy’s voice over the ear piece. “Coast Guard medevac chopper is two minutes out.”

“Roger, Cho you copy that”

“Roger, Scarecrow. I see them coming.”

Lee took Amanda’s hand. “Let’s get back to Parker and help with the evacuation.

They met the Coast Guard EMTs by the cabin. Amanda helped to wrap the women in blankets and Lee helped move them to stretchers. The EMTs told them that they would take them back to Norfolk for treatment.

            Lee took Amanda’s hand again. “They look so young.” Amanda stated flatly as she walked up behind the stretchers. He wondered who they were and where they came from. Amanda put her head on Lee’s shoulder and he could feel small shudders through her frame. Lee thought that maybe her control began to collapse. He put his hand on the small of her back as they watched the stretchers being lifted into the helicopter. He thought she felt the strength of his touch because she managed to bring herself back under control.

            Francine’s triumphant voice broke over the com. “We got him. We have him, his captain and a bodyguard aboard the Hannah. Making our way back.”

            “Francine, that’s wonderful!” Amanda was ebullient.

            Lee keyed his mic. “Billy, we are going to need assistance in bringing these ships back to port. Can the Coast Guard send out some pilots? I’m pretty sure that these two yachts are beyond our capabilities.”

            Amanda looked at him and smiled. “You think so, Scarecrow? I seem to remember being the skipper of the Mata Hari once instead of you.”

            “I think I let you boss me around then.” Lee’s thumb made circles around her spine.

            “Really, that is not quite how I remember it.” She leaned into him slightly. “C’mon let’s see what we have caught, Partner.”

            Amanda and Lee helped the rest of the team move the cuffed crewmen to the stern of the boat to facilitate moving them off to the coast guard cutters when they arrived. Cho and Williams retrieved the crewmen who Lee and Amanda had apprehended.

            Fifteen minutes later, Amanda saw the Hannah pull alongside the Nightwave and moved to the starboard side to see what Francine had caught. She tried to see through the windows but the men’s faces were obscured. The cabin lights of the Hannah shone and Amanda found herself moving inexorably to the ladder and onto the Hannah to see the man who was the architect of her kidnappings.

The .22 was still clasped in her hand as she opened the cabin door and stepped in. Spenser had the three men on a low couch to make it difficult for any of them to rise. Amanda looked at each of the men. The one on the left was obviously the bodyguard. He was a large burly man with an air of menace only belied by the bandage on the side of his head. He glared at Spenser with obvious malice. Amanda dismissed him from her attention.  By his uniform, the one on the right was the captain of the Nightwave. She dismissed him as well.  She focused on the man in the center and found that she was surprised with what she saw.  He was perhaps thirty-five and by any standard, quite attractive. His dark brown hair was neatly combed and his piercing blue eyes looked at her. He smiled with perfect teeth.

            He tried to stand but was prevented by his handcuffs. “My dear, Mrs. King,” his voice was rich, deep and cultured, “you’re more lovely in person than in your pictures. I am so looking forward to making your acquaintance on a more personal level. I hope you enjoyed the two presents I brought for you. They are your first project. Of course you and I will be training together first.”

            Anger and disgust began to take over her emotions. She looked at his smiling face and sheen of red covered her eyes. Images of the two women chained to the bed flashed into Amanda’s mind and a metallic taste flooded her mouth as her heartbeat began to race. The gun felt light in her hand as she began to bring to up to point at him. Suddenly she felt a presence at her back, a warm hand on her arm and a whisper in her ear. “Loosen your grip, Amanda. Let go. Don’t let this guy turn you into something you’re not.” She immediately began to calm down. The gun lowered and Lee took it from her hand. Amanda turned immediately and left the cabin.

            The man’s voice followed her. “Don’t worry my dear; there will be plenty of time for us later. I rather fancy next time we meet you will be in my position.” She could still hear his voice as Lee shut the cabin door.

            She needed time and a place to breathe but this was not the time to relax. She could see boats in the distance making their way to their location. She hoped it was the Coast Guard. There was something she needed to take care of first. She walked over the captive crewmen and knelt down before Alexandra “Montgomery”. “Lee,” she called “this is Alexandra Scott.”

            “Scott, the retrieval agent?” Lee looked at her.

            “I overheard them in the cabin during the trip. Apparently, I was the unique item to be retrieved. Marks really is a cop. They fabricated the entire case against me. She tapped into the outside lines at IFF to access the computer to move the money. The first few times were test runs to see if it would work. We will need to secure the lines better at the office.”

            Alex looked back steadily. “An assistant director, huh?”

            “Yep, just an assistant director with some very good connections.” Amanda confirmed.

            Marks looked at Lee in his tactical uniform. “A friend and her boss?”

            “Yep, also a former marine with very good connections.

            All the agents brought their weapons up when an air horn sounded from the approaching boats. Radio confirmation was given that it was the Coast Guard with people aboard to take the ships and the prisoners back to dock.  The Hannah would return with Cho, Parker, Francine, Duffy, Charles and Spenser and some cargo. The cargo on the Hannah included Andropov, Scott and Marks. Lee didn’t want those prisoners out of Agency control. The helicopter would return to pick up Amanda, Lee and Williams and take them straight back to the Agency for debriefing.

            Lee left Williams on the deck waiting for the helicopter to return while he and Amanda made a search of the pilothouse. The Coast Guard pilots were reviewing the ship to make sure everything was secure so that they could begin the transfer to Coast Guard Station at Portsmouth.

            “Lee, look at these charts.” Amanda called. “We might be able to back track his location from these.”

            “Could be. Let’s take them back to the Agency for analysis.” He suggested.

            Williams voice came over the com. “Scarecrow, helicopter is 2 minutes out.”

            “Roger. We’re on our way.”

            Once the helicopter was on the way back to the Agency, Lee put an arm around Amanda and pulled her close. He covered the mic of his headset and signaled for her to do the same. “You pulled it off, Amanda.” His hand covered hers and he could feel the shaking beginning. “You’re coming off an adrenaline jag. You’ll be sleepy soon” He rested her head on his chest and his chin on the top of her head and realized he didn’t give a damn what anyone thought. 

The Agency

April 7, 1987

The debriefing was long and tedious. After her debriefing, she went to the interrogation room to watch Francine question Andropov. She longed to be home in bed with her husband but something kept her watching and listening. Lee had been right; she had slept on the way to the Agency. Lee walked into the room. She smiled at him and he took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

            He put his hands on her shoulders and began a massage. “You look tired, Mrs. Stetson. Let me take you home and take care of you.” Lee suggested. “We are finished for tonight. It’s 6:00 am.  All the prisoners are accounted for, we have been debriefed and the ships have made it back to harbor.” He followed her gaze to the ongoing questioning. “He is not going anywhere.” She looked at him. “C’mon you have been running on nervous energy for a week. You’re about to collapse.” She smiled as she leaned back into his embrace. “Good, I’m glad you agree.” He took her hand and opened to door where they almost ran smack into Billy.

            “Scarecrow, Amanda, finally calling it a night or rather a morning?” Billy said with a smile.

            “Yes sir.” Amanda wearily replied.

            “Go get some sleep. You both have a 9:00 meeting tomorrow morning with Dr. Symth about the clean-up of this operation. Oh and Amanda, I took the liberty of having your mother told you had an emergency shoot and would be gone for a few days, since we didn’t really know the status of the mission. You can always call her with more specific details.”

            “Thank you, sir.”

            Billy cleared his voice. “It would seem that no one told her where you were going and she kept calling the Film Library looking for you.”

            Lee looked guilty “Oh my gosh, I forgot. I told her I didn’t know where you went.”

            Amanda looked up at him and smiled. “Well, it seems, Scarecrow, you have some explaining to do to her.”

            Having dealt with Amanda’s formidable mother before, Billy’s smile told him that he did not envy Lee’s position. They could barely hear Billy’s chuckle as they walked down hall to the elevators.

Lee’s Apartment

Later in Lee’s apartment after showers had been taken, food consumed and wine quaffed, they lay in bed. Spooned together, Lee held tightly to Amanda as she slept. He was worried about her. Her emotional reaction to their mission didn’t seem normal for her. She seemed too controlled. His own reactions differed wildly. He was so proud of her for all she accomplished as well as her bravery and control. On the other hand if anything had gone wrong he could have lost her. His embrace tightened.

            “Sweetheart,” came Amanda’s soft voice in the dark, “I can’t breathe if you hold me that closely.”

            Lee loosened his grip slightly and turned onto his back and brought her with him. She placed her head of his shoulder and her arm across his chest. “You know how you told me that Andropov wanted you untouched?”

Amanda stiffened at the mention of the man’s name. “Yes.”

“If we were married publicly, do you think he still would have gone after you?

“I don’t know. Maybe not.” She admitted

Lee was relieved that she started talking again. She had been so quiet tonight, but he knew she had to process her thoughts. “What are you thinking?” he ventured.

            Amanda whispered. “I almost committed a murder. If you hadn’t stopped me, Lee, I would have shot that man. I kept seeing those women we found and all the faceless women out there. His smile was taunting me.” Her voice was soft and reflective. “That is a side of myself I never would’ve thought to see.”

            Lee kissed the top of her head and lifted her chin so that he could look into her eyes. “I bet you didn’t even consider what you were in store for you if he got you.” She just returned his gaze. He loved her so much. “Amanda, I don’t think you would’ve actually pulled the trigger. That’s just not you.”

            Amanda didn’t reply, but only snuggled closer into the secure and loving embrace of her husband.