Chapter Fourteen – Loose Ends in the Wind

Applegate Farm Stables

Lee’s eyes widened at Amanda’s sudden moves. What was she thinking? He took in a sharp breath and held it until he could see that she and Jenny had made it safely past the angry Asian, Wu Zhen Mao. ‘Good. They’re getting out of here,’ he thought, with a heavy sigh. He wondered what had happened when he looked back across their row to see Wu ducking down to hunt for some missing object. While the man was still distracted, Lee crept down the steps and headed out of the nearest exit, nearly running into Francine, coming in the opposite direction.

“Call your shots, Scarecrow!” she shouted, stumbling backwards.

Lee took hold of her arms to keep her from falling. He looked into her eyes with genuine concern, saying, “Sorry, Francine. . .are you all right? I mean, you look all right, but. . .”

She cut him off with a wave of dismissal. “I’m fine, Lee—it was just a near miss. You know what they say. . .Close only counts. . .”

“in horseshoes. . .right,” Lee finished, with a wry grin. He cast a searching glance around the outside of the stable complex, then focused on Francine’s face as he asked, “So. . .what happened with our Arab friend?”

“Aziz? We’ve got him in the van there. Somehow, he’s not very talkative.” She rolled her eyes as she went on, “Big surprise.” She rubbed her hands together and avoided his eyes for a moment. “Um. . .Lee?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s a slight problem,” she confessed, looking up to him and spreading her hands in front of her. “See, when we took him down, he didn’t have the disk on him.”

“What do you mean, he didn’t have it? We saw him take it! Where else could it be?” Lee yelled, his eyes flashing with anger as he stalked toward the Agency van. He stopped in his tracks and thrust up his hands in frustration. “I watched the man, Francine! He didn’t make contact with Wu or anybody else. . .not in there!” he shouted, pointing toward the arena with his thumb. “So what’d he do with the damn thing?!?”

She shook her head and looked out into the sunset-painted landscape for a moment, saying, “I honestly don’t know, Lee.”

“Hey. . .” he said quietly, “I’m sorry—it’s not your fault. . .we’ll just have to find it.” He gave her an encouraging smile as he continued, “Look. . .why don’t we start by retracing your steps from the time you left the arena?”

Francine told him how Aziz had grabbed her as she came outside and had pushed her along. . .”until we got to right about here. . .” she said, as she came to stand beside a black, late-model Mercedes. “At which point I took him by surprise and disarmed him.”

Lee looked impressed, tipping his head to her in congratulation, as he reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a pen-light. He clicked it on and started to search what he could see of the interior of the car. He focused the light on a portion of a square-edged plastic object. “There. . .you see it? Wedged between the driver’s seat and the console?”

Francine bent down to peer into the car, cupping her hands above her eyes to avoid the glare from the window. “Sure, it’s a CD, but it could be anyth-- . . .no. . .no, you’re right. . .there it is, ‘AQC-3095 Firefly’ . . .big as life!”

“And twice as natural,” Lee added with a crooked grin. The thought ‘Why are we talking like this?’ popped into his brain. ‘Where’d these folksy sayings come from? Must be the country air,’ he guessed, shaking his head slightly and leaving Francine to wonder why he seemed so amused. He flicked off the light and slipped it back into his pocket, then turned to lean his arm against the car’s roof. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he went on, “We still have a problem, though. For one thing, we don’t know for a fact whose car this is, and besides that, we still have a suspect in there, and we don’t know what he’s up to.”

Francine’s expression was grim as she said the name, “Wu Zhen Mao.” She locked eyes with Lee as she shouted anxiously, “Amanda! Amanda and Jenny! Lee, I only spared the man a parting glance, but he was really angry when he saw me. Who knows what he’ll do? We’ve got to get them out of there!”

“Relax, Francine,” Lee said, moving his hands in a palms-down, calming gesture. “They made it out already. I’m still not sure exactly what she did or how she did it, but Amanda hustled Jenny out not long after you left.” He stuffed a hand in his pocket and looked away for a second, then turned back to her, adding, “You know, it’s funny. . .the last I saw of him, Wu had gone down on his hands and knees, looking for something. . .I don’t know what. . .”

“I’m pretty sure I know, “ Amanda said, smiling as she came past the end of the Agency van, holdling a small, rectangular object between her thumb and index finger. “I’d be real careful with this, if I were you.”

Lee whirled around in surprise. “Amanda! Whoa!” he shouted, holding a hand to his chest. “Wait a minute. Where’s Jenny? And what’s that you’ve got there?”

“Sorry, Sw--. . .Lee,“ Amanda said with a sheepish grin, casting an eye in Francine’s direction before looking back to her husband. “I didn’t mean to surprise you like that. Jenny’s fine. . .she’s in the Explorer with the doors locked, and she’s staying out of sight. Now. . .this little thing.” She held it by the edges with one hand and pointed to it with the other as she went on, “I’m not absolutely sure, but I believe you’ll find a relay switch for a detonator of some kind in here.”

“A detonator?” Lee questioned, the shock registering on his face as he carefully took the device from her hand.

“Right. Remember what Kristin wrote on that little pad in the hospital? The dark-haired man said that unless Senator Winston did as he was told, they couldn’t guarantee Katie’s safety. And Katie was out there in the ring, Lee. She was making the turn before her last jump when I saw him. . .the Asian man who’d followed Mrs. Kingston. . .anyway, I saw him lean forward and pull this thing out. I knew I had to get Jenny out of there, and I had to stop him from hurting Katie, so. . .”

“So that’s what you were doing!” Lee interrupted, with a slight shake of his head, a proud smile spreading over his face. “I could see you were hurrying to get Jenny out of there, but I didn’t see your sleight-of-hand trick. Good work! Pretty smooth there!” he offered, taking hold of her hand and fixing his gaze on her, as she waved off his compliments with a shy smile.

Francine cleared her throat rather loudly, saying, “Ahem, pardon me, but we were saying. . .”

Lee and Amanda broke apart with embarrassed smiles. “Sorry,” Lee said quickly. “Right. See, Amanda, we’d just found the CD with the fake Firefly plans that Aziz Khalil put in this car, but we don’t know where Wu. . .the Asian. . .is right now, so we’re going to have to be on the lookout for him, and have someone watch this car, too.”

After he’d taken down the Mercedes’ license plate number and the three of them went back to the Agency van, Lee started issuing orders. “Robertson, take this remote and secure it, then call the bomb squad. As soon as we get all the civilians out of the arena, those guys are gonna have a lot of work to do in there.” He paused to hand the agent a small slip of paper. “Oh. . .and run this license-plate number through the Virginia DMV. Duffy, cover the black Mercedes, three cars down in the lot here, in case Wu gets past us and makes a move to recover the disk. Francine, take another crack at Aziz. See if you can be a little more persuasive this time,” he added with a quick wink. “Jensen—you and I’ll circle around to the opposite side of the arena—Wu will probably come out one of those exits. Okay, people, let’s go!”

He checked his clip and snapped it back into place, then climbed down from the van and offered Amanda his hand. Once she stepped to the ground, Lee whispered, “Look, Amanda. . .we’re almost finished here. . .why don’t you go ahead and take Jenny home?”

Once again, her emotions fought within her. . .she knew she had to move Jenny out of harm’s way, but she couldn’t help worrying about her bone-weary husband either. Then again, he was giving her that penetrating stare. . .the look that said, ‘I don’t want to argue with you about this. . .please.’ She examined his tired face once more and took hold of his hand loosely. “All right, Sweetheart,” she whispered. “But Lee. . .promise me you’ll be careful.”

He took hold of her free hand, looking deeply into her eyes as he answered with a tender smile, “Oh. . .always,” and leaned in for a soft kiss before turning away and hurrying off to the other side of the arena.

Amanda held a hand up to her brow, squinting against the sunset’s glare and watching until Lee had disappeared around the corner of the building. As she turned to go back to the Explorer, she offered up a silent prayer. ‘Please, God, keep him safe!’

********

Katie Winston had made a decent showing in her first outing, and rode Starlight out of the arena to the sounds of polite applause. Senator Winston smiled to his wife and they shared a sigh of relief. He whispered, “Good! I hope this means everything’s all right.”

“Me too,” Mrs. Winston agreed, but her voice wavered slightly. The chilling look from the Asian man in the dark suit had frightened her, and that fear hadn’t subsided. Suddenly, she gripped her husband’s arm. “Charles! He’s gone! What if. . .”

“Anne! It’ll be all right. Katie’s with her friends and the stable hands here. None of them would let anything happen to her,” Charles said soothingly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. At her still-wary countenance, he offered, “Look. . .if it’ll make you feel better, we’ll go on over to the stables, all right?”

She nodded silently, accepting his offered hand as they left the arena to reassure themselves about their daughter’s whereabouts.

********

Wu Zhen Mao frowned in disgust. He’d tried the cell number for Aziz Khalil twice since his partner had left the arena, to no avail. Then that clumsy woman had caused him to lose the remote control device, at the most inappropriate time. He’d already spotted the blonde American agent. Were there more of them? How would he get past them? His eyes scanned the general area where he was seated, and he noticed a dark-haired man with a build similar to his own, wearing a light blue windbreaker and a baseball cap. There was an empty seat beside the man, so Wu seized the opportunity and asked the man to meet him at the back of the stands.

********

Lee and Sam Jensen crouched beside one of several horse trailers that lined the area across from the arena exit where they’d expected to find their quarry. Only a few people had come out of the arena in the last twenty minutes, most of them parents with small children, none of them matching Wu’s description. Lee checked his watch again. “Come on!” he shouted under his breath. He looked over at Jensen and shook his head. “If he doesn’t come out soon. . .” he trailed off. Lee didn’t want to think about that possibility—he didn’t want the man using innocent civilians as a shield, and he certainly didn’t want to let him get away.

“Heads up, Scarecrow,” Sam whispered. “This guy’s about the right height and build, dark hair, glasses. . .nah. . .never mind. . .he’s wearing a light blue windbreaker and a baseball cap. . .prob’ly not our guy.”

Lee had heard Jensen’s comments, but something about the man bothered him, didn’t fit somehow. “Jensen? When’s the last time you saw a guy wearing a baseball cap and wing-tip shoes?” He tipped his head, silently ordering the agent to follow him. When the man started to pick up his pace, Lee and Jensen both took off running.

Wu looked back over his shoulder, and Lee noticed that he was pulling something from beneath his jacket. He barely managed to duck as the bullet whizzed past his head. He squeezed off three rounds in response, finding his target with the third shot as Wu Zhen Mao sank to the ground. Lee knelt down and touched a finger to the man’s neck, then called out to Jensen to get an ambulance.

Lee remained there for a moment. His breathing was labored, and he felt every beat of his heart as it pounded in his chest. When his body began to settle down from the sudden rush, he pushed himself up and headed back toward the Agency van, after telling Jensen to stay with Wu and wait for the paramedics.

He’d just reached for the handle of the door to the van when the sound of Amanda’s quivering voice caused him to spin around in surprise.

“Lee! Is it over? Are you all right?” she asked, all in a rush.

“Amanda! What the. . .” he started, then stopped to ask, “Didn’t we agree you were gonna take Jenny and go home?”

“I know we did, Lee. . .but I was so worried about you,” she admitted, reaching out to stroke his chest with gentle fingers. She searched his eyes and took hold of his hand as she went on, “Now take it easy, okay? Jenny’s fine. I took her over to the Carters’. I just had to be sure you were all right.”

“Well, as far as the case, we’ve got both Aziz Khalil and Wu Zhen Mao. Wu’s been shot and we’re waiting for an ambulance, and I need to check in with our guys here about a few other things, but other than that, I guess you could say it’s over.”

“Good,” she said softly, with a relieved smile. “How about the Winston family?”

He smiled and rubbed his thumb over her fingers as he replied, “I’m sure they’re fine, Amanda, thanks to your quick thinking in there, but to tell the truth, I haven’t seen them for the last half hour or so. Maybe they went back over to the stables with Katie.”

She nodded to him and looked back over her shoulder toward the stables. “Yeah, prob’ly so. . .I’ll go check on them while you finish up here.” Slowly, reluctantly, she let go of his hand, but not before gazing into his eyes and asking, “So. . .how are you feeling? You look awfully tired, Sweetheart. . .you really jumped into this thing with both feet, you know? Are you sure you’re ready for all this?” she asked, circling her hand in the air. “I mean, look. . .you haven’t had any sleep in almost 36 hours now, and. . .”

He held up a hand and broke in, “Amanda. . .stop. I’m fine. . .well, I’ll be fine. . .once we get all the loose ends wrapped up tonight.” He gestured with a sideways wave of his hand and gave her an indulgent smile. “I promise you I’ll get some rest. . .and you’re right, I probably did jump back into case work a little too soon.” He spread his hands out in front of him as he went on, “But look. . .I just happened to be there, taking a nice, peaceful morning walk, when the case started to break open. It could’ve happened to anyone,” he insisted, calling to mind all the times Amanda had spoken the same exact words to him. “Remember that innocent trip you made to the train station?”

“Yeah,” she answered, chuckling to herself and feeling oddly comforted that the shoe was on the other foot, so to speak. "All right. . .see you at home in a little while,” she said, accepting his promise as they parted with a soft kiss.

Lee watched her retreating form as she made her way to the stables, smiling to himself at his good fortune. . .how lucky he’d been when she’d ‘just happened to be there’ on that fateful day so long ago. As she vanished from his sight, he turned and climbed into the van, shouting, “Robertson! Where’s that bomb squad?!?”

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