WITH OR WITHOUT YOU

The dark haired man and his partner watched as the last person filed into the red brick Georgetown house. Keeping one eye on the front door, they expertly scanned the perimeter, searching for a figure in the shadows. Satisfied, the dark haired man nodded to his partner and spoke quietly into his two-way receiver.

"All clear."

A black limousine pulled slowly down the street, coming to a stop in front of the house. The door slowly opened and a tall man emerged from the interior.

"Everything in place?" he demanded brusquely in the tone of one who was used to getting what he wanted.

"Yes, sir," the dark haired man quickly answered.

"Good. This will be the last time we'll meet for awhile. Things are getting too hot." He smiled cryptically at the last remark. Taking one final look around, the tall man continued emphatically, in a voice that brooked no disagreement, "Make sure your teams take care of business before you leave here. If you have any questions, ask them now…we won't speak again."

The dark haired man and his partner exchanged an apprehensive glance. "Everything is ready, sir," he reiterated.

"Good…for your sakes, for all our sakes, you'd better be right."

The tall man walked up the steps and entered the house. The dark haired man and his partner took one final look around. A rustling sound, almost imperceptible to the ear, caught the dark haired man's attention. He nudged his partner and pointed to the shadowy area to their left. Slowly, they worked their way to the side of the house, taking cover in the darkness. The dark haired man pointed to the basement window, indicating that security had been breached. Grinning, he poked his partner in the arm, heaving a sigh of relief.

"Looks like our fish is on the hook," he murmured, smiling with relief. "It's show time!"

Amanda made her way through the bullpen, heading to the small conference room next door to section chief Billy Melrose's office. She had spent an anxious night, unable to turn off her thoughts. Sleep had proved as elusive as her husband had and she steeled herself to face the coming day. Avoiding her mother, she left the house earlier than usual, heading quickly for Georgetown. But her precipitous arrival at the Agency this morning had done nothing to quell the uneasy feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. Now, sitting in the small, stuffy conference room, she still hadn't been able to shake it. She couldn't tell if this nagging dread was real or a product of her own overactive imagination.

She wished she'd been able to touch base with Lee. She had called him first thing this morning to put matters right after their conversation last night, but there was no answer at his apartment. The ringing phone only fueled her determination to get to the bottom of things today. All this secrecy had gone on long enough. She and Lee had enough things to deal with these days on the home front without adding work problems into the mix. Whether he liked it or not, Lee Stetson was going to accept her help before this day was out.

She sat down at the polished conference table and waited for the others to file in. She greeted the other agents with a quiet smile. These faces could belong to a group of ordinary businessmen, lawyers or accountants maybe, instead of men and woman who chose to make a living by routinely putting their lives on the line.

The discordant sound of someone's clicking heels broke into Amanda's reverie as Francine Desmond entered the room in a rush and took her seat, acknowledging Amanda with a nod of her head. Billy Melrose followed, carrying an armload of files. Amanda took a final look around. She half expected to see her partner's familiar form follow Billy through the door.

Melrose glanced at his watch a few times and shot her an inquisitive look. Amanda shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Nervously, Billy cleared his throat and began.

"Okay, let's get started." He looked down at the pile of files on his desk, then back at the faces around the table. "As I'm sure you're all aware from the news, the police have been investigating a series of explosions in D.C. and the surrounding area over the past three months. These fires have resulted in at least four fatalities so far. Normally, we would leave this to the local police or even the FBI," he stated, pausing slightly before continuing. "Yesterday, this became an Agency matter. Senator Holstein, as you all know, has important connections in this town. His cousin's house was the latest target and the Senator himself had just left a party there on Saturday night. As a personal favor, the White House has asked Dr. Smyth to look into the matter."

In the corner of the room a chair began to pivot slowly, revealing a lean, taciturn man holding a cigarette holder in his right hand. He rose with affectation, casually greeting them all.

"Continue, Melrose," was all he said.

Billy acknowledged the Director of the Agency, Dr. Smyth, with a nod. Continuing, he said "There was another explosion and fire last night in Georgetown. Senator Holstein is missing."

A murmur of voices greeted this latest remark. "As you all know, the Senator has been a major player recently. The White House wants to get to the bottom of this before the trade conference scheduled for next month. People, we need some answers. This case now becomes an Alpha One priority." Melrose took a deep breath and continued. "Amanda, I see that Scarecrow attended the party for Senator Holstein on Saturday night."

"Yes, Sir." She was silent for a minute as all eyes turned on her speculatively, then continued, "It was just routine social duty, sir. Senator Holstein's aid is an old friend of Lee's."

"Okay," Melrose replied. "In that case, I want you and Scarecrow to get on this as soon as possible. Hit the streets, see what you can stir up, find out what, if anything, links these explosions. Then talk to the Senator's aid. Francine, make friends with the computer and get me a list of similar incidents in the past five years. Mason, you and Thomas act as liaison to the arson squad. See if there's an I.D. yet on the remains they found last night. Johnson, you and Crane cross-reference old cases, see if Senator Holstein's name pops up in any of them. Start with this year and work backward from there. Status reports to me A.S.A.P. Any questions?"

Melrose quickly scanned the room. The group shook their heads and started to leave.

"Just a minute, children," Dr. Smyth said abruptly. He paused, dramatically taking a puff on his cigarette holder. "And just where is the elusive Scarecrow this morning?"

"Sir," Amanda replied, "He had an urgent meeting with a source. I'm sure he'll be here soon."

Dr. Smyth looked her up and down with contempt. Amanda could feel the disapproval in his stare. "Well, then, if he's too busy to make this staff meeting, I'm sure he'll be relieved if Melrose gives his assignment to…" Smyth looked carefully around the room. "Mr. Mason and Mr. Thomas…why don't you two hit the streets?"

They automatically glanced at their section chief who nodded his head almost imperceptibly.

"Yes, sir," they answered in unison.

"I'm sure Billy can find something else for you to do, Mrs. King," Dr. Smyth added sarcastically, nodding at Melrose as he left the room. "Carry on."

The other agents turned to follow, silently filing out of the room.

"Mrs. King," Billy said, the strain evident in his voice. "And just where is Scarecrow, really?"

"I don't know, sir," she answered, tension becoming more and more evident in her voice. "He hasn't checked in this morning or picked up his messages."

"Is this some new habit?"

She hesitated. "Not really, sir. It's happened a few times lately."

"Well, when he does make an appearance, tell him I want to see him A.S.A.P.!" he growled in annoyance.

"Yes, sir."

"In the meantime, give Francine a hand with the computer. Then both of you check with the arson squad. You two can act as the Agency liaison."

She turned to go.

"Amanda, make sure I'm notified as soon as Lee checks in?"

Amanda nodded, that nagging feeling growing by leaps and bounds. She turned and headed up to the Q-Bureau.

* * * * *

Sitting stiffly at Lee's desk in the Q-Bureau, Amanda absently stared at the computer screen. After returning to the Q-Bureau, she'd placed a call to Lee's friend Tom, the Senator's aid, but was told he was out of the office for the day. The hands on the antique wall clock showed two o'clock -- and still no sign of her partner. Billy had phoned three times, demanding to know if he had checked in yet. This morning's simmering anger had grown into a full boil by the last call and he muttered something about suspension if Lee didn't check in by three o'clock. But she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was worried, too. He was Lee's friend as well as his section chief; he had bent the rules for both of them on more than one occasion. Dr. Smyth, on the other hand, had no love for Scarecrow, his sometimes unorthodox methods, or the "housewife turned spy" as he had referred to Amanda on more than one occasion. After the Stemwinder incident last fall, Lee had told her that Dr. Smyth never holds a grudge, but she still wasn't entirely convinced that was true in her case. She sighed as she tried once more to concentrate on the computer screen.

The door opened a crack and Francine poked her head in. "No word?" she asked, trying and failing to hide her concern.

"Nothing," she replied, shaking her head.

"Well, I've wrapped up my preliminary report for Billy – are you ready to head over to Metro?"

"Yes, let's go."

The two women walked down the stairs in silence, nodding to Mrs. Marsten as they left the building. Getting into Amanda's car, they pulled carefully out of the parking lot and headed for the Metro police department to check with the arson squad's special investigators. Amanda glanced sideways at Francine, who seemed lost in thought, absently twirling a lock of her blonde hair with her fingers. That was certainly unlike the perfectly coifed Ms. Desmond. She seemed uncharacteristically quiet this morning. Amanda's own thoughts were certainly not on the case at hand, but with Lee and whatever he had been secretly investigating. 'What do you know that you aren't telling?' Amanda wondered, casting a sidewise glance at Francine. After her phone call last night, Lee had left abruptly. She debated whether or not to broach this particular subject with Francine. Even though Francine had never been particularly supportive of her new career, she and Lee did go back a long way at the Agency. She appeared to be worried, too. Amanda decided to plunge ahead.

"Francine, what were you and Lee working on?"

"What makes you think we're working on something?"

"Yesterday morning, you brought him a folder in the

Q-Bureau and he disappeared with you to a meeting that had 'slipped his mind'. Last night, you phone him at my house, and he takes off without a word and no one has seen him since."

"Amanda, dear," Francine replied in a condescending tone. "You're not jealous, are you?"

Amanda rolled her eyes.

"Well, you seem to be implying that there's something going on between Lee and me."

"I'm worried. And so is Mr. Melrose. Dr. Smyth is just looking for an excuse to come down on him. The last thing Lee said last night was 'I'll talk to you tomorrow'. He hasn't checked in or picked up any of his messages. He wouldn't miss a staff meeting. I think he's in trouble. If you know where he is you've got to tell me," she finished emphatically.

They pulled into the metro lot and parked in a space marked 'visitor'. "Francine, I know you were gathering information on something for Lee. He admitted that much to me last night. I think he has this misguided idea that he's keeping me 'out of the line of fire'."

Francine hesitated for a minute. "If we were looking into something, don't you think you should respect Lee's wishes and stay out of it? Maybe he had good reasons for keeping it from you."

"He's my partner. I need to know he's okay."

Francine took a deep breath. "I honestly don't know, Amanda. I'm worried, too. We might as well go talk to the Metro boys and get it over with. Lee will probably have checked in by the time we get back to the Agency."

They entered the offices of the Metro police, flashed their badges and asked for the special investigation team. They were ushered into a small, private office and introduced to special investigator Lewis.

"Mrs. King, Ms. Desmond, have a seat." Lewis courteously pointed to the chairs in front of his desk.

"We've been assigned as special liaison to your department for the Agency," Francine began professionally, "Investigating the recent series of explosions."

"Yes, I received a top priority phone call concerning you this morning," Lewis smiled. "Our department is to give you every possible consideration."

"Detective Lewis," Amanda began, "What exactly do you have on the these explosions?"

"Not all that much, when you really get down to it," he shrugged. "But you're welcome to any of our information, however sketchy." He indicated the files spread out on his desk.

"Why don't you just summarize them for us?"

"This is what we know so far, and believe me it's not much. There have been six explosions in D. C. and the surrounding area since the beginning of July. Two warehouses, an abandoned office and an old apartment building in D. C., a house in Arlington belonging to Senator Holstein's cousin, and now this residence in Georgetown last night."

Amanda briefly scanned a red folder as Detective Lewis continued. "In the first five cases, we found evidence of a sophisticated device attached to the furnace in each building. That seems to be the cause of the explosions. We're still waiting for word on the Georgetown incident. In every case but one, human remains were found."

"Any idea as to who's responsible?"

Lewis shook his head. "Just a gut feeling. The remains have been identified as belonging to key members of two major crime families. I think we're seeing some kind of turf war here."

"Senator Holstein's cousin has ties to organized crime?" Francine inquired skeptically.

"That's the stumper. The cousin's house doesn't fit the pattern." Lewis admitted reluctantly. "And there were no fatalities."

Amanda looked up from the file she'd been scanning. "It says here that remains were discovered at the site of last night's explosion."

"Yeah. It looks like three people this time. We're still waiting for positive identification of the remains. The bodies were pretty badly burned and of course have to be identified through dental charts… well, you know the drill – it's a tedious process."

Amanda and Francine nodded in agreement.

"Care to hazard a guess as to who might have been in the house?" Francine queried.

Lewis shook his head. "We do know that they don't belong to owners of the house, the, ah…the Smythes," Lewis continued, consulting his notes. "The family has been out of the country since the beginning of June. I'd lay odds it'll turn out to be more of the same scum we've found at the other sites."

Amanda and Francine exchanged a look. "We appreciate your cooperation. You will, of course, forward copies of all your files to the Agency?"

Lewis nodded in Amanda's direction. "Already done. They should be there waiting for you."

"And you will give us a call as soon as you have a positive identification on those bodies?" Francine added, handing him her card. "You can reach me at this number after hours."

"I'll be in touch as soon as we have some word." Lewis escorted Amanda and Francine to the door.

The two women crossed the parking lot, heading for the car. "What do you make of that?" Amanda asked.

"That was a total waste of time. Either he's not telling us everything or they really know remarkably little."

Amanda paused, her hand on the car door. "Would you mind taking a cab back to the Agency?"

"A cab?" she answered with a wilting look.

"Yes, Francine, a cab. I want to drop in on T.P. Aquinas and see what he's heard about all this." 'And what he knows about Lee,' she finished to herself.

* * * * *

Amanda walked through the back door of her comfortable Arlington house. She sighed in exasperation. Her entire day had been one long exercise in frustration. Her visit to T.P. Acquinas had proved fruitless on both counts. T. P. had promised to dig up whatever information he could find on the alleged gang war, but if the easygoing antiquarian knew anything about Scarecrow's investigation, he wasn't saying. Amanda suspected that Lee had asked him to keep her in the dark. Feeling helpless, she tossed her purse carelessly on the kitchen table and sat down, unconsciously rubbing her temples with both hands.

"Amanda? Is that you?" Dotty asked, breezing into the kitchen. Glancing up, Amanda was relieved to notice that her mother was dressed to go out.

"Do you have a date, Mother?"

"Yes, well, I suppose you could call it that. It's just my regular meeting of the Rose Growers Association.

This is our annual potluck dinner." She pointed to the covered casserole on the counter. "I've made my seasoned new potatoes."

Amanda raised her eyebrows at this last remark.

"You know, Amanda," her mother countered, seeing the look, "That nice-looking Mr. Jeffries will be there. And you never know…"

"You're right, Mother, you never know," Amanda replied, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly.

Dotty observed her daughter closely. "Are you feeling alright, dear? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, just tired."

"Well, Joe came by and picked up the boys around five – they went to get a bite to eat. They should be back any minute now."

"Okay."

"You know, Amanda," Dotty added speculatively, "The boys certainly seem to be seeing a lot of Joe lately."

Letting her mother's latest remark pass, Amanda rose from the table and rifled through the kitchen cupboard, searching for an aspirin. At the sound of a car horn, Dotty snapped to attention, grabbed her casserole and quickly headed to the front door. "That will be Mr. Jeffries now," she smiled to herself. "He's picking me up."

"Have a good time." Hearing the front door close with a bang, Amanda closed the cupboard and walked into the den. About to sit down, she heard the doorbell ring and veered instead towards the hall. "Did you forget your key again, Mother?"

Opening the door, Amanda found herself staring abruptly into the clouded eyes of Billy Melrose. His sudden appearance caught her off-guard.

"May I come in, Amanda?" he asked with care. "I waited until I saw your mother leave."

"Certainly, sir." She stepped aside to allow him to enter. Billy walked up and then down the short flights of stairs leading into the den, Amanda following.

He hesitated briefly before nervously clearing his throat, as was his habit lately.

"We received positive identification on those remains found in the Georgetown house last night." He turned his eyes down and studied the carpet for a moment, as if uncertain where to look.

"Sir?"

"We have conclusive proof, Amanda—there's absolutely no doubt," he continued, almost to himself. "There were three fatalities last night. Senator Holstein, his administrative aid, Tom Fellows, and…"

"And?"

"And an Agency operative. There's just no easy way to tell you this." Melrose paused again as if somehow, by not saying the words, he could change the course of events that took place not quite twenty-four hours ago in the red brick house in Georgetown. Turning a sympathetic eye on Amanda, he forced himself to say the words.

"Amanda, Lee was the operative killed in last night's explosion."

To be continued…