The Ties That Bind: A Scarecrow and Mrs. King Continuing Story Book 1

Chapter 13

Day 5 - Agency Airplane

"Yeah, okay, Francine," Lee spoke softly into the sat-phone as he and Amanda soared westward 38,000 ft above the earth. "Uh-huh..." He glanced over at his wife, a hard look in his eyes. "He was going to burn Amanda to ash, Francine; it's hard to feel sorry for him." He listened quietly for a moment. "Okay, I'll let her know. Thanks, Francine. Yeah, catch ya later."

"What was that all about?"

"Well, it looks like we have one less lead to follow."

From Lee's part of the conversation, she knew who it must be. "Gerald Falcon?"

"Committed suicide six months ago." Lee opened the file on his lap and began perusing it.

Amanda sighed. "That's sad. Did he have family?"

Lee turned and looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "You bucking for sainthood again?"

"Huh?"

Lee reached over and tenderly wrapped his hand around hers. "Amanda, the man was trying very hard to kill you."

"I know..."

"He sent an assassin after you, and when that didn't work, he was only seconds away from incinerating you." Lee shook his head. "Forgive me if I have a hard time feeling bad for the guy." He gazed into her eyes, leaned toward her, and gave her a lingering peck on the lips. "I take his trying to kill my wife a bit personally."

"I love you, too." Amanda laid her palm alongside Lee's cheek, then stroked his hair around his ear.

He gave her one more quick peck then leaned back into his own seat as he sighed and opened up the file again. "One more name on our list and another on Francine's, then we'll get back to the Agency and start going through all this data."

"David Benson."

"Yeah, Davy."

Amanda squeezed his hand. "Ah, Sweetheart. I'm sorry. I know Davy was your friend."

"Friend might be a strong word, Amanda. Trusted colleague is a better description."

"Just as painful, though," Amanda acknowledged.

"Yeah." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, then let go and patted her hand. "Okay," he said, turning back to the file, "let's get back to business."

"Alright. What's our cover?"

"Well, my contact at the Department of Justice has set things up to make us look like general inspectors doing a surprise safety check." He shrugged. "It could still raise some eyebrows, but I'm hoping that a surprise inspection will be less conspicuous than just checking out Davy."

"Makes sense." Amanda nodded her head in agreement. "So, we're DOJ."

"Right." Lee made a note on his paperwork. "Now, just to give us a little more cover, we're not going to use our real names – not even first names."

"Sure. If David were to hear about the inspection, the names Lee and Amanda would be obvious."

"Exactly. So, DOJ set us up with fake identities that look legit, just in case anyone calls to confirm our story...which any good prison employee would do." Lee took Amanda's fake I.D. from the file and handed it to her. "You're Julie Dunlap, and I'm John Sheridan."

Amanda looked him over. "Yeah," she said slowly. "I can see you as a John Sheridan."

He looked at her with a confused gaze. "You can?"

She nodded her head. "Shorter hair, a mustache and goatee...absolutely."

"You've been watching too much T.V. again, haven't you?" He shook his head.