Lee woke from a fitful sleep on the sofa in Billy’s office. “Amanda! Where are you?” He looked around wildly. Billy rose from his desk where he had been waiting for Lee to wake. “Easy Lee, we will find her.”

“I swear I heard her speak to me. She said she was ok but for me to hurry and come get them.” He buried his face in his hands and groaned. “I can’t live without her Billy. She is my life. What am I going to tell Dotty?”

“Lee, you said you had to get them and earlier you said that your wife was in that burning building. I think it is time for you to tell me the whole story, Scarecrow.”

“We were going to tonight at the debriefing. We are tired of hiding. I married Amanda six months ago at a private ceremony in the mountains. No one knows but Dotty. We felt the boys would be safer if no one else knew.”

Billy smiled and said, “It is about time man. I was beginning to think you were stupid to let her get away from you. She is the best thing I have seen happen to you in a long time. But why were you coming clean tonight? Did something happen? Was your cover story blown somehow?”

With a tired smile Lee shook his head and replied. “Not yet but soon it would have been. Amanda is pregnant. A little over three months. She just told me a few days ago. It was what made me decide to ‘fess up. I did not want to spend any more nights without her. I want my family all the time and for everyone to see.”

Billy reached out and hugged Lee. “Congratulations, son. Now I know why you said you had to get them not just her. And we will get her soon. Just hang on and don’t so anything rash.”

At that moment Francine rushed in with her hand full of papers and coffee. She handed the coffee to Lee. “Here. You look like you need this more than me. I guess our little housewife really managed to mess things up this time. A simple little pickup and she manages to get herself captured by Caris Saeed . How she does it I will never know.”

Lee approached Francine with a menacing growl. “Shut up Francine. She did everything right. Why are you talking about Caris? He is in Siberia. We traded him for high- ranking officers months ago on the grounds he would be held in Siberia until the Russians tried him for the crimes against their government. He was small potatoes here but they really wanted him. They would not have let him free this soon.”

All of this was said at the top of his voice while glaring down at Francine with eyes filled with rage. “Have you lost your mind, Lee? You have really gotten weird about Amanda lately. She is even weirder about you if that is possible. I told her she shouldn’t take dating you so seriously, I guess I should have had that talk with you instead. I knew this was coming. It was just a matter of time before she got herself in trouble again.”

Billy decided to intervene at that point. “That is enough from both of you. We all know that Amanda can be impulsive at times. She follows her instincts, and that is not always bad. Besides most of the times she has been taken it was in an effort to get to Lee. Not something that she did wrong or impulsively. Lee maybe you should explain to Francine what you just told me.”

He did so briefly then demanded to know what information she had on Caris Saeed. A dazed Francine handed over the papers she had brought in earlier to Billy. An eye- witness had reported seeing a woman matching Amanda’s description being led to a car parked in the zoos underground parking area. The witness had gotten the plates because she said that the men were almost carrying the woman and she appeared disoriented. It just looked wrong to the zoo employee and she reported it to the authorities after the fire was extinguished. Francine began to talk, “The car was seen leaving the zoo and heading south on the interstate. The plates are registered to corporation called Trandair oil. They are based out of Lybia and the mother company is owned by one Jahir Saeed. Cousin to Caris Saeed. And long time supporter of the faction that Caris swore loyalty to.”

Lee slammed a hand down on the desk. “This is it Billy. He wants revenge on Amanda and me for putting him away. She played a big part on that case and he saw her with me many times. But I still do not know how he got her out of that building without me seeing!”

Francine spoke again this time in a voice a bit stronger and less dazed. “ It seems that that building was recently renovated into a restroom. It used to house the fish aquariams and had a trap door in the floor that was used to access the tanks for routine cleaning and it leads to the underground parking area.”

“Okay Francine good work. I am sorry for yelling at you but I am sure that you understand why now. I have to get my wife and partner back. Now, where was the car headed? Where do we start looking?” Lee felt the first glimmer of hope since he had realized that Amanda was gone.

“I am sorry Lee. The car seemed to just disappear when it left the zoo. There are no sightings or reports of a matching car anywhere.” Francine couldn’t meet his eyes.

Lee felt the hope die in his heart and he left to break the news to Dotty. He and Amanda had promised her they would not keep any more secrets from her and he intended to keep that promise.

Lee walked into the kitchen of the home in Arlington where only recently had he been able to come and go openly as Amanda’s steady date. The boys were accepting him more everyday and Dotty called him son just last night when he had left after a family dinner in the kitchen. Dotty knew of their marriage and appeared to be very approving of the match. How on earth was he going to be able to tell her that Amanda was missing? He didn’t even know if she suspected Amanda was carrying his child.

“Dotty! Are you here?” He began to walk through the house he was hoping to call home very soon.

“Yes, Lee I am right here in the den cleaning the bookshelves. What on earth are you doing here this time of day? Where is Amanda?”

Lee cleared his throat his roughly. This was not going to be easy. “Sit down Dotty. I have to tell you something that is very hard to say.”

“Oh God, Lee what has happened? What is wrong with my daughter? Where is she?” Her voice was high pitched with fear and her eyes began to fill with tears. Lee gently reached out and took her hands in his and said, “We had a very simple job to so this morning but something went wrong. There was an explosion and …”

Dotty interrupted at that point and cried out, “Are you telling me that my baby is dead?”

“ No, no, no but she is missing. We have everybody on it. And I am going back now to work on this myself. I am going to find her. I will bring her home.”

Dotty stood up, with flames in her eyes and tears on her face, and said, “You better. This is all your fault. She would never have been there if it was not for you. You have put her life in danger too often. You don’t deserve her!”

Lee could only hang his head and agree. Hadn’t he said all those things and more to himself on the way here? “I know Dotty. I don’t deserve her. But I do love her more than life itself and I will bring her back to you. I am going now. I‘ll let you know anything I know as soon as I know. I promise.” Dotty only looked at him with reddened eyes and nodded. Lee silently walked out the back door and to his car.