"Missing Factor" by PaxSaMKers.
Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King belong to Shoot the Moon Productions and Warner Brothers. Several members of the Pax forum generously donated their time and talents to this fan fic. Ideas were taken from 'Fearless Dotty' written by Timothy Burns and 'Over the Limit' written by written by Tom Ropelewski.
Enjoy!
Season 3
Setting: 4247 Mapelwood Drive
"Mom, mom, come quick!" one of the boys yelled from down stairs.
"I'm coming," she shouted back. Well her makeup would just have to wait until later she supposed. It wasn't like she was really doing any thing today that she needed makeup for, she thought.
"Mom!" the shouts became more urgent. She sighed deeply and almost sprinted down the stairs.
"What on earth?" she asked, incredulously. The fawcet of the sink was running, down and UP! The spray looked like a waterfall. Amanda was not amused.
"What happened?" she turned to the boys who were standing, side by side, watching her reaction.
"Worm brain did it!" said Phillip, giving Jamie a poke in the side.
"Did NOT!" Jamie yelled.
"Phillip, what have I told you about calling your brother, worm brain?" Phillip made a face at Jamie and they took off out of the room.
Sighing in frustration, she turned back to the water which was quickly making a lake out of her kitchen.
~~~
"Amanda, sweetheart, what are you doing under the sink again? I thought we agreed we get professional help for things like this."
"Oh, mother, you know how expensive plumbers are. You remember the last time we called one? The bill was astronomical!"
"Yes, dear. I remember. But I still don't think you have a ghost of a chance of fixing that faucet!"
"Mother!" she responded, exasperated.
Something shiny caught her attention and she removed it from the drain, re-attached the pipe and slid out from under the sink.
"What's that, dear?" asked Dotty. Amanda held it up for her mother to see.
"Its my locket. I wonder how it got in there?" she responded. Dotty gasped.
Amanda looked up at her mother with a smile. "You know, mother, if I lose my locket, I lose myself."
"Whatever are you babbling about, Amanda? It's only a locket."
Amanda laughed. "Nevermind, mother. I should know better than to make jokes based on Shakespeare. Especially obscure plays like Anthony and Cleopatra."
"Yes, dear. Now, why do you suppose your locket was in the plumbing system?"
"Oh nevermind that Mother, I just remembered something, I have to go."
"But Amanda, where are you going dear?"
"Philip needs a book for school. I'm going downtown to the used book store."
As she drove to the used bookstore she thought she smelled smoke and pulled over to the side of the road. Sure enough, there was fire coming out of the store!
'Oh, no,' she thought. 'Why am I always in the wrong place at the wrong time?'
When Amanda pulled to the side of the road, she almost ran over two suspicious looking people who had just darted out of the burning building. She could hear the blaring siren of the fire truck as it approached so, instead of dialing 911, she decided to take this matter into her own hands.
'No one else saw those people run out of that building except me', she surmised, 'I guess it's up to me to catch them.'
Foregoing all previous Agency training on 'tailing a suspect', Amanda put the car in gear and burned rubber to pursue those shady characters. Without back-up.
As she pursued the two misfits, they sprinted into a narrow alley. To her surprise, the alley was a dead end and she soon had the two suspects cornered with her wide station wagon. Taking a deep breath, Amanda jumped out of her car, held her hair brush out like a gun, and hollered "Stop or I'll shoot!"
The two men turned to look at each other, then glared menacingly at Amanda. Her heart was beating out of her chest but she courageously stood her ground. The taller of the two put his hand in his pocket and, before she could duck, whipped out a small vial and squirted burning liquid into her eyes.
As she passed out and fell to the ground, she wondered, 'What was that?'
Little did she know it was a potentionally lethal poison.
Amanda awoke and looked around. She was in a small room, lying on a small bed, her hands tied. Fortunately, whoever had taken her was one of the 7% of the bad guys who tie your hands in front of you. She tried to get up, but was overwhelmed with an attack of dizziness. The whole room seemed to be rocking gently, back and forth. Squeezing her eyes closed tightly and clenching her teeth, she tried once again to sit up. This time she made it. She walked over to what she now realized was not a window but a porthole. Looking out, she could see that she was on a boat and, judging by the nets and other equipment, it was a fishing boat.
A fishing boat? How did she get here and what was she going to tell her mother?
The door opened and a woman came in with a bowl of water and a sponge. She untied Amanda's hands and said, "I thought you might like to wash up a bit."
It was then that Amanda realized that she was covered in a sticky, foul substance. Thankfully she reached for the sponge. A million questions were going through her mind.
~~~~~~~~~
Lee looked through the spyglass at the Trans-Oceanic Industries vessel. He was certain that they had captured all those involved with Hamilton Rawlings' death but something still seemed fishy.
Francine nudged Lee and asked him, "Why isn't Amanda with you on this assignment? I thought you two were attatched at the hip."
With a sideways glare at Francine, Lee curtly replied, "She wasn't home, alright?"
"Hmph" Francine sniffed back. "Do you think these guys were working with Magnuson?"
"They could have been", Lee said as he put the sightglass down, "I'm goin' in for a look see. Wanna bet they're over their limit again?"
Francine nodded as she watched Lee approach the docked vessel.
~~~~~
"Thanks, I feel better now. Um, where am I and why am I here?", Amanda inquired as she finished wiping herself off with the sponge and turned to face the stern looking matron.
The old lady spat out, "Shut up Mrs. King, it's no use asking questions. You'll only get hurt."
~~~~~
Heaving himself up on the deck, Lee quickly gained his footing and ducked under one of the portholes. He could hear two men talking....
"I wish Keene's replacement woulda had that information at that used bookstore."
"Yeah, too bad that King woman chased us down that alley. I heard she helped put Keene in the slammer."
"Yeah, she also helped catch our boss too, *the* president of Trans-Oceanic."
"That's some woman."
"Yeah, she's cute too!"
"Yeah, we better off her."
~~~~~
Amanda winced as the stern matron tied her hands back up.
"Hope you enjoy your stay Mrs. King," the old spinster snickered as she picked up the bowl of water and the sponge. Amanda rolled her eyes as she watched the old woman walk over to the door and turn to close and lock it. Before the door was completely closed, the old woman fell with a thud to the floor.
"Must be narcoleptic!" Amanda mused.
~~~~~~~~~~
Lee hopped up over the side of the boat, careful to land light on his feet and not make a sound. He spotted the back of one of the men about fifteen feet away, so he ducked around to the port bow. Hearing the latch to the door that led below deck jiggle, he stooped down behind some crates and prepared himself to jump whoever emerged. His every muscle tense and ready, as soon as the door fully opened, he quickly sprung from behind his hiding area and almost grabbed the person from behind when he realized who it was.
"Amanda!" he hissed in a loud whisper, then firmly grasped her shoulders and pulled her to duck behind the crates where he had just hidden.
She had jumped when he had first sprung out, but when she saw him, she visibly relaxed and greeted him with a relieved smile. "Lee! I'm so glad you're here! There's two men on board who are working with Trans-Oceanic with remote connections to Magnuson," she told him, also in a hushed voice.
"I know, Amanda. Francine and I are already on the case. Just how did you get involved in all of this?" he asked, then held up his hand to stop her reply. "Never mind. I don't want to know. We have to figure out how to get out of here, though, and signal Francine to call for backup."
"That shouldn't be too hard, Lee," Amanda replied. "The boat's docked, and there's only two of them. I know there's no one else on board. You should be able to take them out without a problem."
"Thank you for your vote of confidence in my abilities, Amanda," he retorted sarcastically, "but I think I'd still like the knowledge that backup is on the way."
"Then, I'll alert Francine and you work your way around towards the men," Amanda offered.
"You know, that idea's not half bad," Lee agreed, then turned and pointed towards the area above the docks. "Francine should be waiting behind the shed up there, watching the ship with the spyglass. I told her I'd signal with a wave of this blue and then this white flag," he instructed, handing the two items to Amanda. "Just go to the bow and lower them over the side, then swing them back and forth. She'll know the signal and signal for backup, then join us down here. Got all that?"
Amanda gave him a look of disbelief. "Lee, you're not asking me to do much of anything. I think I can handle a simple task of flag-waving." She glanced down at her hands. "There's only one problem. Do you think you could untie me?"
Lee's gaze followed Amanda's and he grinned. "I don't know. I think leaving you tied will ensure that you can't get into as much trouble," he teased.
"Then, I don't know if I'll signal Francine for your backup. Maybe I'll just let you take on those two men alone," she retorted with a smug grin.
"That's blackmail!"
"Yes, it is. I never said I was above it if it gets me what I want."
Lee stepped closer and took her hands in his before reaching for the ropes. "We'll talk more about what you want, later, after I bag these two bums on the other end of the boat."
A tinge of pink crept into her cheeks as she lowered her eyes and waited for Lee to untie her hands. As soon as he did, he massaged her wrists for a brief moment before moving away to decide how he was going to catch the two men by surprise. He glanced behind him to see Amanda concealing herself behind some crates as she signaled Francine.
Having finished signaling Francine, Amanda glanced at the crate to her right and noticed what appeared to be a bill of lading. 'Odd,' she thought. 'Why would a fishing boat have something that required a bill of lading?' The paper, she discovered listed the contents of the crate as "antiques". Strange cargo indeed, for a trawler.
She heard a commotion and realized that Lee had subdued and captured the two men. He and Francine were walking towards her with their prisoners in tow. Amanda looked toward the dock and saw several Agency vehicles pulling up. Everything was under control.
"Lee," she called. "Look at this," she indicated the crate which was supposed to contain antiques.
"That's odd," Lee looked around the deck. "Hey, hand me that belaying pin."
Francine picked up the object and gave it to Lee. He battered the side of the crate until he broke through. Reaching in, he pulled out some protective straw and a few small packets. Opening one, he discovered they contained a powdery substance.
"Junk," he said. "Let's get our men to take this crate and check the others too. It may be that O'Keefe is into more than fishing - a lot more!"
"Well, that wraps it up! Thank you, Scarecrow," the detective remarked after shaking hands with Lee.
"Just make sure they stay put for a long time!" Lee added.
"No worries about that," the detective assured. "That powder and their involvements with Keene's ring and Magnuson will have them on ice for enough years to chill even their descendants....if they get out to even have any."
"That's real good news!"
"Thanks again!"
"No problem," Lee replied, then turned to find Amanda, but spotted Francine instead. "Hey, Francine, have you seen Amanda?"
"I don't know, Lee. Why don't you check and see if there's a bake sale or little league game nearby, or perhaps there's a "Save the Bay" charity involvement around," Francine remarked, her voice full of sarcasm.
"Knock it off, will ya, Francine?"
"Touchy!"
"Have you seen her or not?"
"Yeah." She pointed. "Last I saw, she was over by the supply shack, sitting on the bench outside."
"Thanks," Lee replied and headed in that direction. As soon as he spotted Amanda, a smile lit his face. "Hey," he greeted.
"Oh, hi, Lee!" she returned, appearing equally pleased, but also seeming to be having trouble breathing.
"Amanda? Are you all right?" he asked, concerned. He reached down to help her stand and was almost worried at how listless she appeared.
"Oh, yes, Lee. I'm fine," she assured him, her eyes meeting his.
Those eyes seemed to focus, then lose focus, and focus on him again, and he felt her sway a little beneath his firm grasp. He tightened his hold as he watched her face pale to a ghostly white and her eyes lose all expression. Instead of the vibrant and beautiful woman looking at him, he was looking into blank, empty orbs. It frightened him to see her like this, and he instinctively tightened his grasp.
"Amanda! You're not all right," he deduced, his voice laced with worry.
"Yes, I am, Lee," she countered. "I just..."
He acted fast when her knees suddenly buckled and caught her before she fell. Watching her eyes roll back into her head, he felt a sudden feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, as if someone had just delivered a succession of solid blows to his midsection and left him winded and gasping for air. She couldn't be hurt. She just couldn't. He wouldn't let her be!
"Somebody get a medic over here and call 9-1-1!" he shouted at anyone who would listen.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Her eyes blinked several times as she struggled to focus and slowly come out from under the anesthesia. He held her hand tenderly in his and stroked the back of it with his other. Watching as she turned her head, he grinned when a soft smile formed on her lips.
"Hi," she whispered.
"Hey," he replied.
"Where am I?"
"You're at the Agency medical center," he told her.
"What happened? I feel like I've been hit with a ton of bricks!" she muttered and reached up her free hand to touch the side of her head. "Did you happen to get the license number of that truck?"
Lee chuckled and squeezed her hand, then softened his expression. "Amanda, those men that grabbed you sprayed a Kedoenad on you, but it's a low level poison, so it was easily treatable. Good thing we caught it in time, though. The guys at the lab developed the antidote and rushed it in here."
"So, refresh my memory. Did everything work out all right with the case?"
"Yeah, everything's wrapped up fine. The men won't be causing any more problems with anyone, and that powder has been disposed." He grinned then leaned in closer to her and lowered his voice. "But that's not the best part."
"Oh? What is?"
"That you're all right," he replied, and his grin grew to a tender smile when her mouth turned up at the corner.
"Ohh, thank you for your concern," she whispered.
"It's not just concern," he retorted, his eyes focused intently on her as he slowly lifted her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on it. Reaching out his left hand to lightly touch her cheek where a tinge of pink appeared, he then trailed his hand across her shoulder and down her arm to clasp her other hand in his and smiled.
(THE END) Neeney, ele, TheRev, patience25, Tiff, & randibaby
