Author's Note:

There's a weird story behind this story. It sprang to life courtesy of a great many minds within the SMK 7 group. And everything was rolling right along quite nicely until - wham! Out of left field RL hit with a vengance that can only be attributed to the Great Horned Spoon. I got sick, Tim got sick, and both of my home computers got sick! In the end, both of my gals went down - we think courtesy of a virus and boy, did I think I was screwed!

Everything - lost.

Well, who came to the rescue?

Of course, the gang over at SMK 7. They were able to use the last rough draft of Part 2 that I had e-mailed and managed to weave it together for the continuation.

So, courtesy of all who jumped in - I bring you Part 2. I hope, if not for me, then for all who lent their assistance that you enjoy!

Whatever Tomorrow Brings - Part 2

By: Twisted Sister and Co-written by The Evil Triumvirate

Prologue

Late Monday afternoon

4247 Maplewood Drive

Outside, the winter sky had darkened; a thick mass of black and purple winter storm clouds overshadowing the remaining orange and gray of daylight as the sun sank low to settle in for the night. As predicted, the beginnings of the snowstorm had made arrival and now a white crystalline blanket was beginning to form a cover over the cold ground below.

Inside the house on Maplewood Drive, emotions were beginning to turn as tumultuous as the weather. Lee had started pacing a path around the kitchen. Joe was becoming agitated. Even the Prime Minister was showing signs of being visibly upset.

Amanda was alternately glancing at her watch to keep track of the passing minutes and then switching her gaze to Lee as he moved about.

Only Dotty seemed to be calm, cool, and collected as she made a pot of hot tea.

Finally, after more than a few glaring looks from Amanda, Lee ceased his pacing and then looked at the clock.

“Okay, that’s it, Phillip’s officially grounded, and that car is staying parked until the middle of the summer.”

Joe practically grunted.

“Try until the middle of the next century.”

Dotty frowned as she began to pour tea into the cups. She had been listening to the others for the past ten or so minutes. Had they all forgotten that they were dealing with three boys on break from school plus one mall with a very appealing video arcade?

Of course, they were going to be running late. Besides, she knew her eldest grandson. If the roads had gotten a little slick, he would pick the safety of his passengers over making it home on time.

As she picked up the tray, she decided to speak her mind.

“They’re teenagers,” she gently reminded them as she approached the table.

“They were given their orders,” Lee retorted.

Dotty began settling the cups of tea in front of the worried adults.

“Home before dark, before the snow,” Lee reminded them.

“Lee, maybe he did have car trouble,” Amanda interrupted. “Maybe you and Joe should go look for them.”

Lee glanced at her across the table.

“What have we always preached to him?”

“I know, I know. If he had any kind of trouble, the first thing he’s to do is to call one of us.”

“Maybe Amanda’s right,” Joe said with a shrug. “Maybe he did have trouble and didn’t think about calling.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lee began but Dotty interrupted him.

“Lee, if the roads are slick, he’s taking his time. They’re only a few minutes late.”

“Try twenty,” Lee corrected her.

“Well then, if he is having car trouble, you’re probably going to find him under the hood. You know how is, he’ll think he can fix it himself and he’s just lost track of the time.”

Lee respectfully turned his face away from his mother-in-law to unintelligibly mutter something slightly indecent under his breath.

She did have a valid point though. If something were wrong, Phillip would, without a doubt, try to fix it himself.

“Let me go grab a few things from the garage and then we’ll go find him. And for his sake, he better pray he’s under the hood and not hanging out inside the mall with a bunch of his friends.”

Amanda watched Lee storm out of the kitchen, then turned to face Joe.

“They really should have been here by now.”

Joe reached across the table to pat her hand comfortingly.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“I am also sure there is no need to worry,” the Prime Minister added. “From what I have seen so far this weekend, your eldest son seems very responsible.”

Amanda gave him a small smile but before she could say anything further to him, the telephone rang.

Joe, being the closest, got up and answered it. “Hello.”

“Phillip?” Joe’s voice began rising as he quickly rattled off a bunch of questions. “Where are you? What are you doing? Did you forget that you were supposed to be home before dark?”

“What? What?” Joe shook his head. “Slow down son, I can’t understand you.”

“Where?”

“Okay, okay. Stay there. We’ll be there as quick as we can.”

Joe hung up the telephone and then looked at the worried group of adults looking at him.

“Well, what do you know? He did have car trouble.”

A visible look of relief washed over their faces.

“Oh no,” Amanda said. “I hope it’s nothing serious.”

The Prime Minister smiled.

“See, I told you,” he said as he nodded his head up and down. “No big fret.”

Dotty could not help but chuckle. The levity brought from the Prime Minister’s amusing speech was certainly a welcome respite after the last few minutes.

Just then, Lee came back into the kitchen, carrying one of his toolboxes with him.

“What’s so funny?”

“Phillip just called,” Joe answered. “The boys did have car trouble. They’re at a garage a couple of blocks from the mall. I told him we’d be there shortly.”

“Well, let’s get going,” Lee said.

The Prime Minister stood up.

“No, no. You should stay with your wife. After we get the boys, we can sway by the pizza place and pick up dinner.”

“It’s swing by the pizza place,” Amanda gently corrected him. “And I really appreciate that.”

“It is not a problem. I am most obliged for everything that you have done for us this weekend, so you and Lee stay here. We’ll be back with the…the pepperoni. Besides, we have an old saying…man stay with pregnant wife all the time and find much confusion. Or is that avoid much confusion?”

The Prime Minister shrugged his shoulders and smiled at them.

“Well, whichever way it goes, Lee shall stay here.”

After they had gone, Lee leaned over the back of Amanda’s chair and kissed the side of her neck.

“I guess we were sitting here worrying for nothing.”

“We still don’t know what’s wrong with Phillip’s car,” Amanda began.

“I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be fixed,” Lee reassured her, his hands already beginning to massage her shoulders gently.

Amanda sighed under the comforting touch of her husband.

“I guess you’re right,” she replied even though she still felt that little inkling of nagging doubt that she’d had in the pit of her stomach for the last hour or so. She reached one hand up and trailed her fingers over Lee’s. Maybe she would feel better once the boys were home and they were all safely inside enjoying their pizza.

Act 1

Aimee Delozier had returned home from her dentist visit earlier in the day and then had promptly settled into bed. She had been up far too late the prior night and the early morning appointment had taken a toll on her.

Napping most of the afternoon had not been part of her plan but when she had woken up, she realized that nearly the entire day had slipped by and that she had not made any further progress on the disk for Lee.

She slid out of bed, strolled to the kitchen, and tossed a frozen pizza into the oven. It was only after indulging in a quick hot shower and slipping into a comfy pair of sweatpants and shirt, along with her favorite pair of fuzzy socks, that she felt ready to tackle the world again.

With piping hot pizza and a tall glass of Pepsi over ice, she sat down at her desk and turned on her computer. While she waited for it to boot up, she listened to the weather report on the local radio station. She highly doubted that she was going to work in the morning from what they were saying. The entire city would be virtually shut down if the weatherman had it pegged right, and from the list of tomorrow’s cancellations being announced, it seemed that he did.

Aimee plucked a piece of pepperoni from her slice of pizza and popped it into her mouth. This suited her just perfectly. No other interruptions meant that she could give this little challenge all of her attention and, with any luck, she would have an answer for Lee by the time that the weather cleared up for Wednesday morning.

*** SMK ***

Joe eased his sedan off the street and into the snow-covered parking lot of Johnson’s Auto Shop. The roads were already becoming a slick mess in places where the slushy snow was piling up and judging from the expression on his friend’s place, he certainly did not want to send the vehicle sliding any more than necessary.

He slid the transmission into park and then looked over at the Prime Minister.

“Looks kind of deserted, doesn’t it?”

The Prime Minister surveyed the shop. There did not seem to be much light coming through the front windows, giving the establishment an aura of abandonment.

“Perhaps they are in the back?”

Joe keyed off the vehicle’s ignition.

“Let’s go find out.”

The two men got out of the vehicle and made their way to the front door. Joe tried the knob, finding it to be unlocked.

Once inside, they found the front desk empty although a small electric heater was running and blowing out warm air.

They walked on by it and then through the slightly open door that led to the darkened repair area.

“Hello?” Joe called out.

The door behind them suddenly slammed shut.

Then an overhead light blinked on.

Joe blinked his eyes a few times to adjust to the sudden brightness and was shocked at what he saw.

Lying face down on the cold hard floor, in front of a vehicle with an open hood, was a person. He took it to be one of the employees, judging from the dark blue coveralls that the man was wearing.

To his left, the Prime Minister suddenly gulped rather loudly.

Joe quickly brought his gaze upward.

Standing in front of them were two men, each pointing a gun at them.

Of one thing, Joe was certain. These individuals were definitely not employees of Johnson’s Auto Shop.

***SMK***

Aimee was sipping her Pepsi and trying combinations to crack the code on Scarecrow’s mysterious disk. Things weren’t looking good. She knew there were several sections-some were lists, but of what she couldn’t discern-yet. Then there were sections that had text and that was probably the stuff that would give the best results at decryption.

She sat back and thought. “I can attack all this at once-or I can go section by section. There’s no guarantee every section uses the same code-but then this is one mother of a code-so maybe they used the same one for all of it trusting the code itself was a doozy and unbreakable.” She got up and paced for a few moments, waving her arms. “What do I do? Attack the whole thing or concentrate on one small part? Picard would attack the big problem. Geordi would take it piece by piece. What would Data do? This is more his territory?” She paced back and forth, back and forth. “Data would do whatever needed to be done. OK, that settles it! I’ll go for this section, get it decoded, and apply that solution to the rest of it. Thanks, Data-I owe you-where are your nannites when I need them?”

She sat back down at her desk-took a generous swig of Pepsi and got back to work.

***SMK***

Over an hour had come and gone and still they had not returned. No phone calls, no hungry boys, no pizza.

Amanda was now the one who had taken to pacing about, occasionally stopping to rub her back before resuming her path between the kitchen and the living room where Dotty and Lee were seated on the couch.

Lee was flipping through the television channels, trying to see if there was anything major happening on the roads that might be causing a delay but so far, he had found nothing.

“Surely the wait for the pizza can’t be taking this long,” Dotty said. “I mean, surely, there can’t be all that many people out and about in this weather.”

Lee turned and looked at Dotty. Earlier in the day, she had been the only calm adult in the house. Now, she seemed the most nervous. Wringing her hands, rotating the assortment of bracelets on her wrists and turning her head back and forth from the television to Amanda.

“I don’t understand,” Amanda said. “Surely they aren’t trying to get Phillip’s car fixed tonight, not with this weather. And why wouldn’t they call? Surely, Joe would call, wouldn’t he? And I’m sure the boys are starved, they’d have to be.”

Lee wasn’t sure what to say to her. Judging from the look on her face, Amanda was more than a little worried. He wanted to say the right thing but apparently, his mind did not want to cooperate.

So, he sat there. Turning his gaze back to the television and saying nothing.

While the latest round of cancellations and closings for the area was being recited, the telephone began ringing. They all jumped.

“Got it,” Lee declared as he practically sprinted to the telephone. Amanda followed him as fast as she was able in this late stage of her pregnancy, followed closely by Dotty.

“Hello.”

“Yes, this is the King household.”

“I’m his stepfather, Lee.”

“You what?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, that’s his license plate. But I don’t understand. He called here about an hour ago and said he was having car trouble. His father went to pick them up but now he hasn’t returned either.”

“Okay, well thanks. I’d appreciate it.”

Lee hung up the phone and then turned to look at Amanda and Dotty. He had a very confused expression on his face.

“That was the mall security office. They shut the mall down several hours ago because of the weather. Phillip’s car is still there. They were going to tow it so that they could plow once the snow stops but when they found the keys in the door lock, they did a trace on it.”

“What?”

“But didn’t Joe say that Phillip was calling from the garage?”

Lee nodded at the anxious women. Then he began dialing another telephone number.

“I think it’s time to get some answers.”

*** SMK ***

The pizza was long gone; nothing left of it save a few crumbs. One two-liter of Pepsi had been emptied and a second was nearly half-gone. In the background, the faint voices from an un-watched Star Trek episode went ignored.

However, it was neither the cold drink nor the image of the USS Enterprise boldly soaring across the television screen that held her attention.

What had grabbed her complete attention was the computer monitor that she had been looking at for an untold amount of time. On the screen before her, the garbled text that formed file names was changing. Odd characters were being replaced, one by one, with recognizable letters from the alphabet.

Aimee Delozier nearly jumped out of her seat as she squealed aloud, pumping her fist victoriously into the air.

“Eureka!”

Now this was more like it, she thought to herself. She had managed to crack the first nut and, with a little luck, she would completely own the entire tree before the night was out.

Act 2

One man opened up the door and the other one pushed them inside the room. Joe tumbled to the floor from the force of the shove and the Prime Minister tripped over him.

Both men landed in a heap on the floor.

“Dad!”

“Dad!”

“Dad!”

The three boys rushed forward from where they had been sitting, grateful for the sight of their fathers, even if they were both now in a tangled heap on the floor.

A snickering sound came from one of their captors.

“Enjoy your little reunion.”

Then the two unknown men left, banging the door shut behind them and leaving the kidnapped group alone in the strange room.

*** SMK ***

It was midnight by the time that Billy Melrose pulled into the driveway in Arlington. His dark eyes were bleary and bloodshot, both from the lateness of the hour and from the tense drive over from Georgetown.

If this had involved anyone else, he would never have made the drive in the first place. But, this was Lee and Amanda’s family. A family that he considered an extension of his own. Plus, the Prime Minister of Estoccia and his son were also involved in this. Whatever this was.

After turning off the ignition, Billy sat there for a moment. He needed to be composed when he went inside that door and right now, he felt anything but composed.

He reached over and scooped his hat up from the passenger seat. Composed he wasn’t but neither was he an idiot. In these freezing temperatures and howling winds, he didn’t need to add to his headache.

*** SMK ***

When the door flung open, Joe could tell from the look on the one’s man face that it was not going to be a pretty scenario. One of the evilest scowls that he had ever seen was etched upon the man’s face.

Mr. Evil glanced to his accomplice standing at his side and then nodded his head.

In a split second, the skinnier man strode straight for Jamie. With more force than was necessary, he grabbed the boy’s arm and hauled him up and off the old bench.

Jamie couldn’t help but to shriek from the pain.

“Leave him alone,” Joe shouted.

“All in good time,” the elder man said. “But only if you tell me what we want to know.”

Joe blinked in confusion. He didn’t have a clue what the man was talking about.

“Don’t pretend that you don’t know.”

Joe shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m afraid that I really don’t have any idea what this is all about.”

“Tsk…tsk.”

The man looked at the Prime Minister and then back at Joe.

“Does the name Argus mean anything to you?”

Joe gave a sideways glance towards the Prime Minister. Then he looked back at the elder man.

“And what if it does?”

“Don’t go getting all half-witted on me, Mr. King. In case you’ve forgotten, both of your sons are here.”

He paused to take a look over at the bench where Phillip sat before continuing.

“Press me too hard and I could just as easily have both your current wife and your ex-wife here as well.” He paused to chuckle in a sickening fashion. “In multiple pieces. Now, please. Let’s make this simple. Just give me the information that I need.”

“Okay, okay,” Joe replied. “So I know who they are. I still don’t understand what’s going on.”

The man pulled off his gloves, slowly. First one, then the other. He folded them both in half and tucked them neatly into his coat pockets. Then he walked the few short steps to stand directly in front of Joe.

“Let’s just say that you have some property of theirs that needs to be returned.”

Joe shook his head in confusion.

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“The disk.”

“Disk? What disk?”

“Mr. King, I suggest that you think about your answers.”

“I am and I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“All right, if you insist. I’ll give you a little hint. There was a box of materials left behind at the EAO. In your office. A box that contained some very useful information to us. I happen to know that you found the disk.”

A more complete understanding suddenly dawned on Joe. The man was referring to the disk that he had given Lee to look at.

“Yeah, there was a disk but there wasn’t anything on it.”

“Where is it?”

“I threw it away,” Joe said. “It wasn’t any good to anyone.”

The old man sighed, then turned to look at the skinnier man who was holding Jamie.

“Renny.”

In the blink of an eye, Renny pulled a very long and glistening blade out of his jacket. He waved it in front of Jamie’s frightened face, coming dangerously close several times.

“Now…the disk, Mr. King. Where is the disk?”

*** SMK***

“The mechanic’s dead! There’s nobody else there! Billy, where in the hell are our boys?”

Lee’s voice thundered throughout the walls of the house on Maplewood Drive.

Billy sighed. He had known that this wasn’t going to be easy. Even so, he had hoped that Lee would have maintained some calm.

“We’ve got a team dusting for prints,” Billy offered.

“Bet you my next paycheck they don’t find anything,” Lee mumbled angrily.

“I don’t understand,” Amanda interrupted from where she sat on the couch. “None of this makes any sense.”

Billy looked sympathetically at her. She looked exhausted and given the hour and the scenario, he wondered just how well she really was holding up.

“At the moment it doesn’t,” he responded to her. “We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“Billy, they’ve got the boys. Hell, they’ve got the Prime Minister and his son,” Lee roared. “I don’t know about you but I sure as heck don’t think Smyth is going to appreciate this.”

“Lee, were you working on anything recently, anything that could have a tie-in to this?”

“You’ve seen my workload the past few weeks. It’s mostly BS,” Lee reminded him.

“You’re certain?”

“What I’m certain of is that our boys are missing. We’re wasting time playing twenty questions here.”

“All the angles need to be worked,” Billy reminded him calmly. He then turned to Amanda.

“And you’re positive that there hasn’t been anything suspicious, no strange phone calls, or unidentified individuals around the boys?”

Amanda shook her head.

“I’m sure I would have noticed,” she quipped. “I’m not a rookie.”

“Wait a minute,” Lee suddenly said.

“What?”

“This is a long-shot, way out in left field. Let me make a quick phone call.”

Lee practically bolted from the couch and raced to the phone.

Continued

Whatever Tomorrow Brings, Part 2, Conclusion

Act 3

Billy was sitting with Lee on the couch. They’d heard nothing in the past few hours. Melrose tried to remind himself of the old saying that no news was good news.

The doorbell rang and Lee practically jumped off the couch.

“Easy Scarecrow,” Bill told him.

Seconds later, Francine entered the room and Billy instantly began to grill her.

“How did you do with Foster?”

She shook her head.

“I think we’ve hit a dead end. I’ve gone through every recorded visit and phone call since he’s been in prison. He’s hardly had any contact with anyone other than the prison staff. His wife filed for divorce and the only contact there has been through their legal staff. The children have disowned him and haven’t made even one attempt to contact him. Other than that, there have been a few visits from a woman. The staff says she’s apparently some old acquaintance but even she doesn’t visit much. No letters, no calls, nothing.”

“Damn,” Lee grumbled. “There’s got be something. Who’s the lady?”

“A Tanesha Williams. There’s isn’t much on her.”

“Tanesha. Where have I heard that name before?”

Francine shrugged.

“One of your old girlfriends.”

Billy looked at her sternly.

“I know, can it.”

Lee paced around the room, trying to remember where he’d heard that name before.

“That’s it,” he suddenly exclaimed.

“What?” Billy asked.

“When I called Joe’s office the other day, a secretary answered his line because he wasn’t there. I think her name was Tanesha.”

“Francine,” Billy began.

“I’m already on it,” she told them as she headed for the kitchen to use the phone.

“We’ll find them,” Billy told Lee.

“We better. I have a feeling we’re rapidly running out of time.”

Fifteen minutes later, Francine returned.

“You’ll never believe this.”

“Tell us.”

“Tanesha Williams is currently employed by DC Quality Temps and you’ll never guess where her current assignment is?”

“The EAO?”

Francine nodded.

“She’s supposed to be assigned to someone named Carlton but she’s been helping Joe out for the past week.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Wait, there’s more,” Francine told them. “Tanesha has a twin sister. You’ll never guess who she’s employed by.”

“Save the games Francine,” Billy growled.

“She’s an elementary teacher, currently assigned as the home school teacher for the Prime Minister of Estoccia’s son.”

“That’s our connection.”

“This just proves what Aimee already told us. Foster’s up to his neck in this” Lee racked both hands through his hair. “Let me call her again and see if she has had any more luck decrypting the disk.”

***SMK***

Aimee was decrypting the final sections of the disk when her phone rang.

“Your nickel.” she replied breezily.

“Aimee-it’s Lee-do you have anything more from that disk?”

“Hey, Straw Man-do you have great timing or what? I’m finishing up the last few sections now. I should have it all in an hour or so.”

“I don’t have an hour-tell me what you have so far.”

“OK-well the disk seems to be about something called Argus. It’s a group of people-there’s a list of names and companies. There’s a lot about strategies for control and cornering commodities by strategic disruption of vital infrastructure in vulnerable parts of the world…”

“Disruption of infrastructure?” Lee was puzzled.

“Yeah-anyhow your guy Byron Foster and his guy Prescott are listed here as well as a bunch of other names. There’s also a list of properties and holdings.”

“Anything here in the DC area?” Lee was desperate for a lead.

“There’s a property-listed as a warehouse/shipping/transfer point.”

“Give me the address.”

She related the address in a seedy run-down industrial part of DC. “There are places like this all up and down the east coast-some on the west coast-a few in the gulf. I think they use shipping for transport. What is all this about anyhow?”

“I think Foster and his cronies are still in operation-they were stealing from the EAO a few years ago and it looks like we didn’t shut down the whole organization.”

“That sounds kinda creepy. There’s a list of five names: Edmund Truesdale, Charles McGillicuddy, Leslie Chamberlain, Carroll Winchester, Mikos Spiropolous. They seem to be the leaders of this Argus organization. Foster and Prescott are listed as “inactive in reserve.”

“That means they are in prison. Are there any other addresses in the DC area listed?”

“I still have part of the disk to go. But not so far-that’s the only warehouse listed in the DC area.”

“I’ll bet that’s where they are holding them. I owe you big time, Aimee-name it, and it’s yours if all this pans out.”

“Well Straw Man, there’s a media convention coming to town this summer-and a VIP pass with backstage access to the guests would be a good start.”

“You’ve got it. I gotta go. Thanks.” Lee hung up and took the slip of paper with the address.

“I’m going to drive out to this warehouse and take a look around.” Lee grabbed his jacket and key from where he had thrown them earlier.

“Lee,” Billy yelled.

“This one’s mine,” Lee told him. “This is my family we’re talking about and I’m not taking any chances. Now, are you coming with me or not?”

Billy sighed. He knew there was no stopping Stetson now.

“Francine, you stay here with Amanda. Keep us posted if you dig up anything else.”

She nodded.

Warehouse

“This is the address that Aimee gave me.” Lee pulled the ‘Vette to a halt, looking up at the dingy red-brick edifice. “They have to be here-all I need to do is find a way inside.”

“Wait a minute, Scarecrow-you can’t go in there without backup.”

“Billy, I don’t have much of a choice-those are my stepsons in there-and we’re running out of time.”

“I understand where you’re coming from Lee-but-”

“Amanda’s counting on me.” He thought of his wife, sitting at home, worried sick-his chest tightened with fear. This was not what she needed right now-not with their child on the way.

“I have to do this.” He looked over at Billy-who sighed.

Billy picked up the car phone to call for backup. It was dead. “I guess there isn’t any reception here-we can drive a bit until we can use it…”

“Billy-we don’t have time for that! I’ve goy to get in there and rescue the boys.”

Billy nodded in resignation. “Very well-I’ll take the ‘Vette and go for backup-I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Lee clapped the older man on the shoulder. “Thanks-I won’t forget this.”

Billy nodded again. “Take care of yourself.”

Pulling his gun from its holster, Lee got out of the car, approaching the warehouse. There didn’t seem to be anyone around. The snow was falling steadily now-it crunched underfoot as he drew closer to the building. An ominous creaking caused him to look upwards-he could see what remained of a rusty fire escape, moving slightly in the wind. Staying close to the walls-his gun at the ready-Lee moved around the side of the building-he could see the main door-it had been locked. He slid the double diamond out of his collar stay, working the lock until it finally it clicked open. The doors creaked slightly as he pushed them and entered the building.

Stacks of crates greeted Lee as he stepped inside-the only illumination filtered down from the fluorescent lighting above. Looking down at the dust-covered floor he could see other footprints-evidence that others had been here-his hopes rose.

“Looking for something?”

Before Lee could react, something hard was jammed up against his back.

“I wouldn’t try anything if I were you, Mr. Stetson,” a man’s voice told him. “Not unless you want your head blown off. Drop the gun now-kick it away.” Lee did as he was told-the man patted him down-checking for other weapons.

“And now, I think it would be best if you joined the rest of our little company.”

4247 Maplewood Drive

Frozen in time-that was the phrase that came into Francine’s head as she watched the tableau before her.

Carrie sat at the table, looking blindly at the now cold cup of tea that had been sitting there untouched for quite some time now. Beside Carrie sat Dotty, who was holding a now-empty mug-staring out the window at the now rapidly falling snow. Amanda stood at the kitchen sink, mindlessly scrubbing the same plate that had been washed several minutes ago. Francine’s head was going back and forth, studying each of the women who were dealing with this shock in their own unique way. She sympathized with them, she really did. She wished that she could do more to help them, but Francine had been in this business long enough to know that an outcome could never be rushed, no matter how hard one wished.

When Amanda rinsed the plate for the fifth time, Francine decided that enough was enough. She stood up from the table, where she herself had been flipping back and forth through the pages in her folder in a desperate attempt to discover some missing key that she had previously overlooked.

In as gentle a voice as Francine could muster, she spoke to the pregnant woman.

“Amanda, you need to sit down.”

“No, no. I need to finish these.”

From the tone of Amanda’s voice, it was clear that this situation was getting the best of her. Francine, who was very much worried about Amanda’s condition, continued.

“No, you don’t. You’ve been washing that same plate now for ten minutes.”

“I have not! Look Francine,” Amanda spoke hurriedly as she now kept wiping the dishtowel across the plate. “These need to be done before Lee and the boys get home.”

Francine watched as Amanda’s hands began to shake.

“They’ll be home soon, I know they will and I need to have the kitchen clean so that when they get here…”

The plate that Amanda had been holding slipped from her shaking hands and clattered to the floor. It shattered when it hit the floor, sending fragments flying across the tile.

“Oh my gosh,” Amanda whispered.

“Amanda-darling.” Coming out of her stupor Dotty rose from the table-moving to one side of her daughter-Francine quickly moved to the other side and took Amanda’s hands in her own.

“Sit down,” she pleaded.

Amanda pursed her lips together as she looked down.

“I’m not really holding together very well, am I?”

“You’re doing fine,” Francine said. Together she and Dotty led Amanda over to the table-Dotty helped Amanda to lower herself into the chair.

“You sit down, darling. We’ll clean this up.”

Carrie just sat there, looking back and forth and not saying a word.

As Francine began sweeping the broken pieces up with the broom, she wondered just how well she would fare if she were in either of their shoes.

Warehouse

“Right this way.” The man opened the door to the room, shoving Lee inside.

“Lee!” Phillip exclaimed.

Lee said nothing for a moment as he took in the scene in front of him. The Prime Minister sat on a crate, his arms wrapped protectively around his son Ja’Shaun. Joe, Jamie, and Phillip were up against a nearby wall- a thin man in a dark jacket stood nearby. Lee could see how Jamie physically shrank from the man-the younger boy’s face was pale-his eyes huge and frightened behind his glasses. Something had happened here-Lee’s anger started to grow.

Without warning he was shoved from behind-losing his balance Lee fell to the floor, his palms stinging as he hit the concrete. Slowly he picked himself off the floor, turning to face the older man.

“Look who decided to join us, Renny,” the man behind him said. “Perhaps he’ll be able to tell us more about the disk-I’m afraid that Mr. King hasn’t been very helpful so far.”

“I’ve told you everything I know.” Joe’s voice shook with anger. “There isn’t anything else that I can say.”

“That’s a pity-but perhaps Mr. Stetson might be persuaded to tell us a little more-with the right incentive, of course.” The older man snapped his fingers. Lee watched as Renny pulled a knife from his pocket, approaching Jamie, who shrank back against the wall-

“Stay away from my brother, you creep!” Phillip rushed at the man with the knife-taking the man by surprise. The knife clattered to the floor as the two grappled-the Prime Minister reached for the knife-but by that time Renny had risen from the floor-he shoved the minister hard-the smaller man slid across the floor and hit the crates-he stayed there, clutching his knee.
Lee took the distraction of Phillip’s move to jump the older man. They grappled as the fight on the other side of the room ensued.

“That does it, kid-” Renny growled as he grabbed Phillip by the neck and drew back his fist. “Now you pay.”

“No!” Pushing Phillip to one side, Joe hit the younger man square in the gut. Renny doubled over gasping for air. Phillip used his knee and brought it up to meet the man’s face. His nose broke with a crunch and he went down.

Lee and the older man were still grappling, and the older man reached into his pocket. Lee executed a roundhouse kick-hitting the man’s wrist and knocking the gun from his hand. The man tried for a right cross aimed at Lee’s jaw but Lee blocked the punch and came in with an uppercut-followed by a left cross-the man’s head snapped back and he fell, sliding against the wall and down to the floor.

4247 Maplewood Drive

Francine had just dumped the last fragments into the garbage can when she heard Amanda let out a low whimper. She quickly turned to look at her.

From the look on Amanda’s face, whatever had caused that whimper had hurt.

“Are you okay?” she asked her worriedly.

“I’m not sure,” Amanda replied.

“Maybe you should lie down for awhile,” Dotty suggested.

Amanda shook her head.

“No, really, I’ll be fine.”

Francine was not convinced but she kept it to herself. Instead, she chose an alternate approach.

“I’m going to go check with the fellows, see if there’s anything new. I’ll be right back.”

Both Amanda and Carrie nodded.

Once Francine had arrived in the living room, she looked at her fellow agents who were now camped out all through the living room.

“Anything new?”

Beaman shook his head.

“Not yet. We’re still waiting for Scarecrow to check in. How are things in there?”

“To be perfectly honest, I’m worried about Amanda. All of this stress can’t be good for either her or the baby.”

“Do you think we should call her doctor?”

Francine wrapped her arms around herself, hugging herself to ward off the cold chill that she had.

“I’m not sure, but you’ve got his number handy, right?”

“Right here.” Beaman pointed to the card lying in front of him.

Fielder spoke up.

“I sure hope she doesn’t have to go to the hospital in this weather. Did you see how much it’s snowing out there?”

Francine walked over to the window and peered out through the curtains. A deep white blanket of snow covered everything and there was plenty more of the stuff falling down from the sky.

Keeping her voice low, she spoke to the fellows.

“Leatherneck’s the best driver there is in this stuff. Would you mind giving him a call and asking him to come on over, just in case?”

Beaman nodded and went straight for the phone.

“Better than waiting for an ambulance, if it comes down to it.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t.” Francine added, shaking her head, “let’s hope it doesn’t.”

Warehouse

Using handcuffs, Lee secured their now-unconscious captors to a pipe and that was when he saw it-hidden away in the corner of the room. For a moment all he could do was stare-looking at the numbers as they counted down-fifteen minutes-fourteen fifty-nine-fifty eight-

“Is there a difficulty, my friend?” The Prime Minister hobbled over.

“How’s your knee?” Lee asked, his eyes frozen to the timer as he spoke.

“It’s not perfection, but I think I’ll live-oh my-” the Prime Minister’s eyes widened as he saw what Lee was staring at. “Is that what I think it is?”

“It is.” Lee nodded.

“That’s not much time.”

“No it’s not-and you smell that?”

The Prime Minister sniffed. “Burning-coming from outside?”

Lee nodded again. “They probably have it set up on a timer-something to trigger an accelerant-and I bet this isn’t the only bomb in the place-they’re planning on blowing us sky-high.”

The other man’s voice shook-he and Lee’s eyes met as comprehension dawned.

“We’ve got to get out of here.”

4247 Maplewood Drive

Half an hour later, Leatherneck was sitting in the den. He had turned on the television and seemed deeply enthralled with the Weather Channel’s current broadcast of the latest weather conditions. Many of the major highways in the area were slick and some roads were shut down because of accidents.

Francine watched him study the running blue bar scrolling additional information along the bottom of the screen and she knew, though it didn’t seem so, that he was playing just as an important role in this as everyone else. If it came down to it and any of them had to go anywhere, he would be their man. He’d know the alternate routes and could handle driving in a blizzard, if need be.

If nothing else, she felt more reassured by his presence.

“Oh!”

It was Amanda-the cry had come from the kitchen. Francine ran in there to see the woman bent over, clutching the countertop for support. Dotty stood beside her daughter, holding her hand and rubbing her lower back.

“Keep breathing, darling,” Dotty told her. “Just keep breathing.”

Francine realized that it wasn’t just any breathing-it was that type of breathing that women always did when they were about to-a sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach.

‘This can’t be happening now-’ Francine thought. ‘Not without Lee here-what the hell am I supposed to do?’

Then Amanda looked up at her-Francine could see her own apprehension mirrored there-and Amanda opened her mouth and uttered those two words.

“It’s time.”

Warehouse

“This place is gonna blow,” Lee said. “We’ve got to get out now.”

“But, what about them?” Jamie asked.

Lee looked down at the two unconscious men. The burning smell was growing worse, he realized-tendrils of smoke beginning to make their way through the bottom of the door.

“There’s no time.” He turned to the Prime Minister. “Will you be all right walking?”

“I will get out of here if I have to crawl on my hands and knees.”

“That might be what we have to do.” Lee put his hand against the door-thankfully it wasn’t hot to the touch-but the smoke-”Okay,” he told everyone. “Keep low and follow me.”

Together they their way down the smoky hallway.

“Which way?” Phillip asked.

Lee took a moment to look around and then pointed to their right. “Get moving.”

As quickly as they could, the group headed down the hall.

Lee knew his instincts were right when they reached the end. Sure enough, there was a metal side door that he knew would lead to the outside.

Joe went to pull it open, only to find that it wouldn’t budge.

“Oh, come on!” he yelled.

“Dad?”

Joe looked back at Phillip, whose face was now showing concern.

“It won’t budge.”

“Probably locked from the outside,” Lee growled.

“What about the big doors where we came in?” Ja’Shaun’s voice was high-pitched from anxiety.

“No-that’s where the fire is.” His eyes were stinging-Lee quickly looked around for another option, knowing that if they didn’t find one soon it would be all over.

That’s when he spotted the dirty windows.

Desperately, he headed to them. He shrugged out of his jacket as quickly as he could and wrapped it around his hand.

“Stand back,” he told everyone. Then he slammed his fist through the glass as hard as he could. It shattered at the impact.

With his covered hand, Lee tried to wipe away any remaining shards. Then he looked out.

Sure enough, there was the rusty fire escape-just inches away from the window. He didn’t think they would have any trouble jumping onto it. Not that it mattered. It was their only means of escape.

“We’re going down that way.”

Act 4

“Amanda,” Francine spoke through gritted teeth. “I can’t-feel my fingers.”

“You-think that’s pain-you should try being on my end,” Amanda gasped as she tightened her grip on the woman’s hand.

“Never-not in a million years-do you hear me?” Francine’s fingers cracked-she swore she could almost feel the bones breaking-then the contraction was over. Francine’s fingers tingled as circulation began to creep back into her hand. Amanda lay back against the seat, clearly spent.

‘What am I doing here?’ Francine lamented. ‘I know nothing about birthing no babies.’

“How far apart are the contractions?” She heard Leatherneck ask. He was keeping his eyes on the road as he steered his 1989 GMC Jimmy down the icy highway towards Galilee General.

“Far apart?” Francine’s voice rose slightly. “How am I supposed to know?”

“You’re supposed to be timing them-remember what Dotty told you.”

“Well I forgot, all right? I was too busy panicking-and anyway, Dotty should be here-not me.”

Leatherneck’s voice was irritatingly calm. “We left her behind, remember? To hold down the fort with Carrie in case Joe and the boys come back. Dr. Adams said we should bring Amanda in right away-he didn’t want to risk her being stranded in this weather.”

“Of course I remember,” Francine snapped.

“Francine-” Amanda began.

“Before we left the house they were ten minutes apart-are they any closer?”

“Oh, so suddenly you’re the birth expert, Leatherneck-ahhhh!” Francine gave a cry of pain as her fingers were constricted once more.

Leatherneck’s voice held a faint note of amusement. “Yep-I’d say they’re definitely closer together.”

“Need to hurry-please,” Amanda whispered.

“Something wrong, Mrs. Stetson?” Leatherneck asked.

“Not exactly-but my water just broke.”

“Couldn’t you have waited for that until we got to the hospital? Thank goodness we decided not to take my car.”

Francine looked over at Amanda who gave her a dirty look. “What?”

Warehouse

Joe poked his head out the window.

“It looks like it could collapse any minute,” he said quietly to Lee.

“Doesn’t matter. We’re running out of time. I’ll go down first, test it out. Then you start getting the boys out the window.”

Joe nodded.

They watched as Lee hopped over to the fire escape. The thing shook and rattled as his full body weight impacted on it.

The Prime Minister grimaced.

“Let us hope it holds.”

Lee made his way down it precariously, with it shimmying and squeaking all the way. He jumped down from the last step onto the ground.

“One at a time. Get moving!”

Joe turned to Jamie. “Get going.”

“Dad.” Jamie’s face looked slightly pale at the thought of traversing down the rattling rusty piece of metal.

“Quit being a ninny, dork face,” Phillip told his brother. “It’s no different than climbing down the trellis.”

“We’ll discuss the trellis later,” Joe interrupted. “Get moving.”

Jamie slowly made his way out of the window. He took a deep breath and then jumped the few inches over onto the metal, which shook even under his slight weight. Then he looked down at Lee, who was waiting for him at the bottom.

Lee encouraged him. “Come on son, you can do it!”

Inch by inch, Jamie made his way down until he’d reached the last rusty step. Then he jumped down to where Lee awaited.

“Get over there behind those bushes until we all get out,” Lee pointed to him. Then he looked back at the group.

“Next!”

Joe took the hand of the Prime Minister’s son.

“Ja’Shaun-it’s your turn.”

“Oh, I can’t,” the young child whimpered.

“Sure you can,” Phillip told him. “Hop up on my back. I’ll give you a piggy back ride.”

The youngster looked at his father who gave him an encouraging smile.

Joe scooped the child up and settled him onto Phillip’s back.

Phillip didn’t even hesitate. He was out of that window as though he’d done it a million times. And, although the fire escape swung back and forth, the teenager didn’t flinch.

He scurried his way down the rusty contraption while his passenger squeezed his eyes tight the whole way down. At the bottom, Phillip leapt down onto the ground.

Lee gave him the same instructions and Phillip hustled over to the bushes.

“It is your turn,” the Prime Minister told Joe.

“Are you kidding? You need help getting out the window with that knee. I’ll go last.”

By this time, the smoke was getting heavier in the room and both were coughing.

“But I will go too slowly.”

“We’ll argue about it down there-now scoot.”

With that, Joe began helping the Prime Minister out the window.

He managed the short jump over to the fire escape but collapsed under his own weight.

The grimace on his face from the pain was obviously visible.

“Get going,” Joe waved him on.

With a nod, the Prime Minister crawled over to the handle and began to inch his way down.

Joe watched as his old friend slowly made the journey down, with Lee waiting at the bottom to catch him.

He opened his mouth in shock as a bolt popped out of it’s holding on the wall and the entire thing shimmied like there was a massive earthquake. Somehow, the Prime Minister managed to hold on to the railing.

The smoke was getting heavier and Joe pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held it to his mouth. His eyes and his throat were beginning to burn now and knew that he would have to get out of there soon.

Galilee General

“We’re going to have to move you into the delivery room right now, ma’am,” the nurse told Amanda. “It doesn’t look as though this baby wants to wait.”

Not wanting to wait, Amanda thought dryly -of course that would be Lee’s child.

“But my husband. I-” Amanda could feel another contraction coming.

“We left a message at the number you gave us,” the nurse reassured her. “I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as possible. You’re doing great. Now blow out a nice cleansing breath.”

The contraction subsided. “Thank you.” Amanda stared up at the ceiling, looking at the lights as they flew by.

‘Please let him be here soon,’ she offered up a silent prayer to whomever might be listening. ‘And please let my boys and Joe be all right-please.’

Warehouse

He was ready the moment the Prime Minister jumped down onto the ground. Lee was ready and scooped the man upward to stand.

“Hurry Joe,” Lee yelled up at him.

Joe needed no additional encouragement.

The fire escape shook as his weight landed upon it.

He had taken several steps down, when another bolt pulled loose and the whole thing seemed to pull away from the wall. Joe lost his balance and pitched sideways. He was able to grab hold of the rail with one hand and hang on as it swung back and forth.

He held on with everything he had.

Lee had just gotten to the bushes and turned around to see where Joe was when it happened. He held his breath as he watched Joe struggle to hang on.

Then, the fire escape’s horrible shaking eased up and Joe began to make his way down.

Joe King had only gone down a few more steps when the entire side wall of the building blew apart in a brilliant burst of flames and a loud bang. Bricks and debris flew through the air and Lee hit the dirt, face down.

He could feel the stuff raining down upon them.

Act 5

“The paramedics checked the boys out.” Billy made his way over to where Lee sat, a blanket draped over his shoulders, staring blankly ahead. “Physically they’re just fine-but I’m having them sent to the hospital to be checked out there-just as a precaution. They’re going in with the Prime Minister and his son, who are being treated for minor injuries.”

Lee slowly nodded his head. “How are the boys emotionally?”

“Hard to say.” Billy shrugged. “It’s not going to be easy for them-losing their father like that.”

“No-” Lee thought back to his own losses. “It never is.”

“What exactly happened?”

“The warehouse was rigged to explode.” Lee put his hand on the back of his neck and blew out a deep breath. “Apparently-Argus planned to get rid of us along with all the evidence-I tried to get us out as fast as we could-I guess it just wasn’t fast enough.”

“You can’t blame yourself, Lee.” Billy put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “You tried your best.”

“Maybe. Joe was a real hero though-made sure everyone got out first.”

Billy nodded. “His sons can be very proud of him.” There was a buzzing sound-Billy pulled out his pager, staring at it.

“Oh my gosh,” he said softly.

“What is it, Billy?”

“You need to get to the hospital fast-Amanda’s about to give birth.”

“Oh my-” Lee’s mind whirled in twenty different directions at once. “But the baby-it isn’t even due yet.”

Billy smiled. “You really thought your baby would play by the rules, Scarecrow?”

“But-the boys-I-”

“Don’t worry-you go-I’ll arrange for transportation to take Mrs. West to the hospital-she can meet the boys there.”

“Thanks, Billy-I owe you one.”

Galilee General

“You made it!” Amanda exclaimed as Lee burst through the doors of the delivery room.

“Hey-you knew I wouldn’t miss this.” Lee took her hand in his. “I would’ve been here sooner if they hadn’t made me put on this get-up.”

Amanda smiled faintly. “Actually, I think you look kinda cute, Stetson,” she teased.

“Very funny.”

“Lee-the boys-are they all right?”

“Don’t worry-they’re just fine. They’re in the waiting room with your mother.”

“And Joe?”

Lee wasn’t sure how to answer at that point-thankfully he didn’t have to-Dr. Adams spoke first.

“You’re fully dilated, Amanda-I need for you to push with this next contraction”

Lee took his place behind his wife, supporting her head and shoulders-her hand gripped his tightly-she grunted, her eyes squeezed shut with the effort.

“Keep breathing, Amanda,” he told her, remembering how they had practiced this in their classes-inwardly surprised that he could even remember all that stuff. Amanda stopped pushing and leaned back against him, her breath coming in gasps.

“The head’s crowning,” he heard the doctor say. “I need you to push again.” Lee gasped as his wife squeezed his hand-harder than he’d ever thought possible.

“I’m stronger than I look” -Amanda had told him that once. And now she was preparing to bring their child into the world.

“The head’s out,” the doctor said. “Stop pushing.” Lee flexed his now-numb fingers-realizing now why Francine had been pressing an icepack on her hand in the waiting room. The doctor carefully rotated the head, suctioning out the nose and mouth.

“One last push, Amanda.”

Lee and Amanda’s eyes met. “I love you,” he whispered. Grabbing his hand once more Amanda pushed with everything she had. The next sound to fill the room was a high-pitched wail.

“We have a girl-” Dr. Adams announced. “A beautiful baby girl.”

A girl-Lee swallowed hard-surprised at the sudden rush of emotion as he heard those words. His mouth opened-he couldn’t seem to speak. He looked at Amanda and saw that she was smiling, her eyes bright with tears.

“A baby girl,” she gushed. ” Lee, we did it.”

“Mr. Stetson, would you like to cut the cord?” A nurse asked him.

“Go on,” Amanda told him. Lee let the nurse lead him over to the baby-he stared at the tiny red creature in the doctor’s hands-amazed that something so tiny could create so much noise. He mentally counted her fingers and toes-thank God-she seemed to have the right amount. The nurse handed him a pair of surgical scissors.

“Cut as close to the clamp as possible,” she told him. “Don’t worry-there are no nerves in the cord-it won’t hurt a bit.”

Carefully Lee managed to cut through the cord as the nurse held it up. The next few moments he watched as the nurses carefully weighed her-6 pounds, 3 ounces-measured her-19 inches, bathed her-finally wrapping her in a pink blanket and matching cap. By the time they finally handed him his child she was sound asleep and no wonder, Lee thought-if he had to go through all that he’d be pretty tired too. He held his daughter carefully, supporting her head-she felt so small and light in his arms. She opened her eyes, just a little, peeking at him-

“Amanda-she’s just beautiful,” his voice chocked with emotion. “Welcome, to the world, Emily Jennifer Dorothea Stetson.” He kissed her forehead, before placing the tiny bundle in his wife’s arms.

Tag

Rain beat softly on the tent covering the casket and the mourners around it. It wasn’t nearly large enough to cover all the people who had come to pay their respects, so many stood with umbrellas beyond listening to the priest speak of peace in the hereafter. Most of the snow had melted away, though there were still small piles of it up against stones where the sun hadn’t been able to reach in the past few days.

Amanda held the baby wrapped tightly in her new pink blanket tight to her chest. She tuned out the words of the priest as she held back the tears that had been brimming at the surface for the last two hours. She glanced around at the many faces blurring slightly around her.

The boys had each dealt with their father’s death in different ways. Phillip of course trying to be the strong one still hadn’t cried, at least not in front of anyone else. Jamie on the other hand was more emotional in the last three days he would be speaking and then excused himself to cry in his room. Amanda hoped that Phillip would finally let his emotions go, if not today, then soon. She didn’t think it was healthy to hold all that in, like Lee always tried to do.

Lee’s hand reached over and squeezed her leg, as if he knew she was thinking of him. She shifted Emily more snugly into one arm and took Lee’s hand with her free one. A squeeze from him made her feel a little more safe, a little more in control.

Amanda looked down the row past her boys to Joe’s wife Carrie, who seemed to be holding up as well as could be expected. Her eyes of course were a blotchy red and her hands were clenched tightly around a tissue in her hand. She too was looking at the people around her and Amanda caught her eye and gave her a sympathetic half smile.

The Prime Minister stood replaced the priest at the small little microphone stand. He took a deep breath and slowly looked around the crowd of people whose attention he now commanded.

“As a dignitary, I have met many people. In the United States and abroad I have been introduced to people of all walks of life. There are few however who have made such an impact that I will never forget them. Joe King was one of those people.

My life and the life of my son will forever be owed to this man. He was not trained to protect us, nor was he expected to, but he did so to the best of his ability. His sons, Jamie and Phillip, were not trained to protect others, but did so to the best of their ability. This is a great honor to their father and his memory.

I am honored to have known him and I will do my best to accomplish as much as possible with the life he has given me with through the loss of his own.

There are many here today I am sure who have been greatly affected by Mr. King and his family. He was a great man and that greatness will live on in the sons he left behind.”

The tears that had been threatening her finally dropped as Amanda looked at her two sons. They seemed to sit up straighter with the words of the Prime Minister and as the priest said the last words all the people began to come past the coffin to pay their respects to the widow and the boys.

Amanda stood and walked to the Prime Minister. She embraced him softly with Emily between them. “Thank you.”

“It is my pleasure. I will miss him greatly.”

“So will we, sir. So will we.”

He looked down at the bundle in her arms. “I think that Joe would say whatever tomorrow brings. We must not forget the past, but we must not live in it.”

Amanda nodded and followed his eyes beyond the tent where the rain had stopped and the sun was now shining.

“Whatever tomorrow brings,” Amanda repeated softly.