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

Chapter 21

Day 13 - Q-Bureau

He'd been instructed to be at work as usual, so here he was, but he could barely concentrate. He'd watched them drug her again last night; he'd also watched as Fred sharpened a very fine knife blade and set it on the table next to the gurney. Lee's blood had frozen right in his veins. Field agents spent years being trained on how to handle different forms of torture, but Amanda wasn't that kind of agent. Watching was more than he could bear, but not knowing was worse, and so...he watched.

So far, Lee didn't think Fred had any idea they knew he was involved, but one could never be one-hundred percent sure about these things. They knew June's endgame. Fred's and Davy's could only be death for both him and Amanda. When, where, and how were still unknowns, and there wasn't much time to sort this thing out.

When he'd turned the monitor on this morning, the video feed was off. But last night he'd watched Fred inject something into her IV. He'd worn a ski mask and had looked directly into the camera as if making eye-contact. It was a silent warning.

Yesterday, they'd moved to a little hole-in-the-wall diner and come up with the beginnings of a plan. They figured June would play the innocent while she tried to woo him into crying on her shoulder, so Billy would see that information on Amanda's kidnapping was leaked. That would give June an excuse to bring it up to Lee.

Lee was supposed to "accidentally" bump into her this morning to start things rolling. He blew out a hard breath; he was walking a tight rope. If he confided in her too soon, he would show their cards because nobody would believe the ruse. On the other hand, he had to give her a chance to try, or they were dead in the water, and that wouldn't end well for Amanda. Or their baby.

He rubbed his hand up and down his face as anxiety like he'd never experienced before tightened his chest. They'd been in some tight spots before – some really tight spots. How many times had she been kidnapped, anyway? Too many. Not to mention the shot that nearly killed her on their honeymoon.

But he blamed himself for this one. Actually, he blamed himself for most of them. Meeting him had probably been the single worst thing that had ever happened to her. Oh, she would argue with that, but from where he stood, he was the genesis of all her problems.

"Lee, stop it."

Francine's voice floated into his consciousness from what seemed like a distant world. He turned his head and looked at her. He'd forgotten she was even here. "Huh?"

"Stop it," she repeated. "I can see what you're doing to yourself." She stood from the sofa and walked over to stand by his desk. "This isn't your fault."

"Then who's fault is it, Francine?" Annoyance colored his words, but it was more at himself than at her.

"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged her shoulders in a mock display of uncertainty. "Maybe David's, Fred's, and June's?"

Lee put his elbows on his desk, clasped his hands together and just looked at her. "Yeah." He put both hands through his hair once, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed. "But she wouldn't be in this mess – hell, she wouldn't have ever been in any messes if I'd never singled her out at that train station."

"She also wouldn't be walking around on a cloud of happiness."

Lee looked back at her. "Huh?"

"Oh, come on, Lee. The woman is deliriously in love with you. Any fool can see that."

"You didn't."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to see it." She looked down at her feet. "At least, I didn't want to see it for what it really was." She looked back up at him. "But I can honestly say, after watching you two together, that you're walking around on clouds of happiness just as much as she is."