Two hours later a frustrated Lee paced the confined space of the surveillance van. He of course wanted to go barging in and shoot his way out again if he had to. To be this close and not be able to do anything was terrible. But Billy would not let him of course. He insisted on waiting for more back up to arrive from the closest Federal agency, FBI in South Carolina. They had no way of knowing how many guards were posted or how much information had been forced out of Carlotta assuming she had been captured as well. Billy appeared at the door of the van to get Lee’s attention. He held a photo in his hand. “Lee…This just came over the facsimile machine in the communication center. It was forwarded from D.C. There is another note as well.”

He handed the two papers over to Lee and then waited for the explosion he knew would come. A few minutes later he was surprised to hear a low laugh from the agent. “Amanda loves me Billy. There is no way I would ever believe this. I don’t know how he did this but I will make him regret the day he put his hands on her.”

He threw the papers in the trash where they belonged. “If this was forwarded from D.C. then he doesn’t know we are here. We still have the element of surprise. Billy I have to get her out of there, now.”

Billy appeared to consider this carefully. “Maybe you are right. We may have a better chance of getting in there without the extra people. Let’s get ready to go. We head in as soon as Francine is here to monitor us with the sound equipment. I will order her to call out the troops at the first sign of trouble.”

Lee nodded his agreement. In his heart he knew this was personal. And that he was the best person suited for the job, no matter how involved he was. Caris Saeed wanted him and Amanda to pay. But they were going to show him that together they were unstoppable. They would make him wish he had stayed in Russia to take whatever punishment the government handed down because it would not have been nearly what he would have before Lee was through with him.