Deception     by Robin

Lee Stetson strode into the Georgetown office knowing he had a long day ahead of him.  With Amanda out of town, he had to handle the normal workload by himself and their workload was anything but normal.  Even before Amanda left town they were behind, without his partner and secret wife, he was swamped.  He stopped at Mrs. Marston desk and gave her the obligatory password.  “The password is ‘picnic’.”
 

Without as much as a smile, Mrs. Marston handed him his badge, but before he could head upstairs to the Q Bureau, the matronly Agency receptionist announced, “Mr. Melrose wants to see you in his office ASAP.”
 

Dutifully, Lee walked over to the closet/elevator and stepped inside.  Pushing the button he waited while the elevator descended deep into the Agency.  Letting out a long slow breath, he could only guess what his supervisor, Billy Melrose had for him now.  Scarecrow got the feeling that today was going to be a really long day.  Without Amanda his job was more difficult, more dangerous, and very lonely.  She had a keen intuition about people and noticed things that even with his many years of Agency experience, he would often overlook.
 

When Lee entered the bullpen, he noticed that Francine was in Billy’s office.   His supervisor’s face was grim.  Lee glanced around the bullpen – agents on the phone, others hustling about.  It was obvious, something was brewing.  As Lee arrived at his supervisor’s door, he was waved inside.  Billy silently signaled for Francine to leave with his eyes.  Without a word she stood up and hurried out the door.  Lee noticed her face; she was clearly troubled.
 

“Close the door, Scarecrow,” Billy instructed sharply.
 

“That bad?”  Lee winced.
 

“It remains to be seen,” Billy remarked, nodding for his agent to have a seat before he continued.
 

“Before you assign me anything else,” Lee Stetson commented in a tired voice, “I’ve got the Whitman detail, the Gardener case, and remember Amanda’s still out of town…”
 

“Yes, I know.  When did you last hear from her?”
 

“She called me on Monday after she checked into her hotel.  I talked to her again Tuesday evening, our time.   I don’t suppose you’re recalling her?”
 

“Recalling her, no,” Billy shook his head, “I’m trying to locate her.  I was hoping you’d heard from her.  She missed her last two check-ins.”
 

Lee stared at his boss for a moment. He must have heard wrong.  It couldn’t be possible that his supervisor just told him that Amanda, his wife and partner was missing.  If she was missing in the States that would be a problem, but she wasn’t, Amanda was somewhere in Kiev, in the Soviet Union.  When an American spy went missing in the Soviet Union it could be a major flap.
 

Amanda King was many things and reliable was one of them.  There would be no way she’d miss a check-in unless there was a problem… missing two check-ins - Lee swallowed hard as he tried to hide his sheer panic.  It took him a moment to compose himself without letting his emotions get the best of him.
 

Despite his best effort, Lee’s voice was unsteady and alarmed. “When did you hear from her last?”
 

“She checked-in late Tuesday night Kiev time, which would have been five PM here in DC. According to Amanda’s own words, things had gone well.  She had met her contact for dinner and planned to meet her again the next day.”
 

“No distress word, no tails, was her cover blown?” Lee peppered his supervisor, hoping to hide his fears yet desperately wanting answers.

“Everything was in order; there was no distress word.  She didn’t mention anything about a tail or that her cover was jeopardized.  Sounds like you talked to her after I did.   She didn’t mention anything to you, did she?  Did you hear from her last night?”
 

He shook his head.  “No, but Amanda knew I had the Whitman detail last night.  I was out until after midnight.  Something obviously went wrong if Amanda missed two check-ins.  Have you checked all Agency lines for a message from her?  Maybe she called the Agency on Wednesday some time.  You know Amanda can be rather creative at times…”
 

“I’m having Francine run the lines now, but it’s not likely.  Amanda’s pretty well known around here these days.  If she called a different line, whoever answered would have told somebody by now.”
 

Lee ran his hand nervously through his hair.  There were so many things that could go wrong in the Soviet Union.  He closed his eyes for a moment, but opened them back up immediately.  He couldn’t and wouldn’t allow his mind to wander.  He needed to focus.
 

“Have you gotten in touch with her contact?” he questioned.
 

“No, since we don’t know what the problem is, we don’t want to contact Dr. Popova.  The mission is potentially still viable.  We need to get Popova out of the Soviet Union.  Amanda is still our best chance of doing that successfully.”
 

“What about getting Amanda safely out of the Soviet Union?” Lee shouted, his control of his emotions waning. Standing up, he began to pace Billy’s office.  Taking a deep breath, he added, “The Soviets don’t take kindly to an American spy smuggling one of their top scientists out of the country.  Billy, if the Soviets catch Amanda, best case scenario is they ship her off to the gulag in Siberia.”
 

“Calm down, Scarecrow, you’re jumping to conclusions. All we know for certain is that she missed a couple of check-ins.  Amanda’s an excellent agent and quite resourceful.  Don’t give up on her so fast,” Billy cajoled, trying to bolster the spirits of his senior agent, but the grim face he wore didn’t support his words. He too knew Amanda wouldn’t have missed calling in unless there was something dreadfully wrong.
 

“Send me over there, Billy,” Scarecrow demanded.
 

“Give her some time,” Billy reasoned with him, opening his desk drawer and fishing around for his antacids.
 

“Amanda might not have time,” he reasoned, glancing at his watch.  “If I leave now, I can be in Kiev before midnight.  If she’s in trouble I can help her, and get Popova out of the country.”
 

“Scarecrow, I realize this is Amanda, your partner and…” Billy didn’t finish his sentence.  He knew very well that Amanda and Lee were much more than partners.  “If you go racing into the Soviet Union and there’s a simple explanation for all this, Amanda will never forgive either of us.  Let’s give her another 24 hours.  If we don’t hear something by then, we’ll fly you to Kiev.”
 

“24 hours is a long time, Billy,” Lee reminded his supervisor, apprehensive to wait.
 

“Scarecrow, I promise I’ll put you on an airplane first thing tomorrow morning if something doesn’t break.”
 

Lee continued his pacing.  Tension wracked his body.  “I warned you this wasn’t going to be a milk run, Billy.  This was too big of an assignment for a freshman agent – even if it’s Amanda.”
 

“Don’t jump to conclusions Lee.  There could be any number of reasons why we haven’t heard from her.  Give her credit and give her time. I just wanted to keep you apprised of potential problems…”
 

“Potential problems?  Billy, I hope that’s all it is.  If you have any other news to share, I’ll be up in the Q Bureau,” Lee snarled as he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.
 

End Prologue…
 
 

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