Thursday October 8, 1987
 

A sudden noise woke Amanda out of her slumber. Blinking her eyes, it took a few moments for her mind to register what was happening.  Then, she realized where she was; in Lee’s hospital room and Billy Melrose had walked in.

“I thought I told you last night to go home and get some sleep?” he reminded her, recognizing she’d spent the night at the hospital.

“I um, I was too tired to drive, sir.  Besides, I wanted to be here when Lee woke up.”

“Has he?” Billy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, he’s still unconscious,” she answered.

“The doctor’s already warned us that considering all the needle marks in his arm that he’ll be out for a while.  We still don’t have a full list of all the drugs that were pumped into him, Amanda.  It could be another day before he regains consciousness.  Go home, get some sleep.”

“No, sir, my place is here, with Lee,” she answered, as she attempted to adjust her rumpled clothes and pat down her tousled hair.

“That wasn’t a suggestion, Amanda that was an order,” Billy demanded in a stern tone.  “There is nothing you can do here until after Lee is debriefed, and my guess that won’t be anytime this morning, maybe not even today.  If you're too tired to drive, I can arrange a ride for you.”

Amanda was about to continue the argument, but Billy shook his head, making it clear the point wasn’t up for further discussion.  A silent nod towards the door and she gathered up her things begrudgingly and went out of the room.

The drive back to her house in Arlington was forgettable.  Sleep came to her fitfully; she tossed and turned for a few hours, hardly resting at all.  By noontime Amanda gave up the quest for slumber, and got up.  She took a long, hot shower, which made her feel more awake.  Then, she choked down some toast and coffee and was about to drive back to the hospital when the phone rang.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Oh, good, Amanda, you’re awake.  Billy wants you to come down to the Agency for a debriefing,” Francine Desmond said in a definitive fashion.

“Debriefing?” Amanda repeated, rather confused by the notion.  She hadn’t been part of the bust last night, hadn’t been there when they picked up the kidnapper.  In fact, she still hadn’t heard exactly what went down. Her main concern was her husband, and she spent the night in his hospital room to be near him

She questioned his order, “A debriefing for what?”

“For Lee’s kidnapping case,” Francine answered.  “The debriefing team is expecting you here by one o’clock sharp.”

Amanda was about to balk at the idea when she heard Francine hang up the phone on the other end.  Dropping the receiver back in the cradle of her phone Amanda muttered angrily under her breath.  She wanted to go back to the hospital.  She needed to be with Lee when he regained consciousness.  There wasn’t anything she could tell a debriefing team that wasn’t already in any of the reports over the past few days.

Frustrated, she thought about stopping by the hospital, but there was no way she could make it to the Agency for her debriefing and check in on Lee.  As instructed, Amanda drove to the Agency, planning to rush over to the hospital as soon as she could.

“How long can the debriefing take?” she wondered aloud as she parked her car near the Georgetown entrance.

When she arrived at the Agency, the debriefing team had yet to assemble.  Fuming in silence, Amanda waited almost an hour for it to begin.  The session was tedious, and slow.  They kept asking the same questions again and again.  Going over time lines repeatedly, and after a while, Amanda felt like she was being grilled, much like the Stemwinder incident barely a year ago.  Things weren’t adding up.

“You keep asking me the same questions,” she finally snapped in frustration.  “Is there something that you don’t understand?”

“No,” the lead agent answered, glancing at her notes.  “We need to be thorough, Mrs. King.  Any time an agent has been kidnapped and drugged, we need to be sure we have all the information and time line correct.”

“If you check my initial reports, you’ll see all the time lines match precisely,” Amanda noted with little patience.

“Yes,” the agent replied.  “It does seem to be precise.”

“Then we’re finished here?” Amanda asked in a voice that was more a demand than a question.

The debriefing team huddled together, mumbling softly and Amanda couldn’t make out what they were saying.  Finally, they nodded their heads.  “Yes, Mrs. King, we’re finished with you for now.”

Amanda jumped out of her chair in relief and exited the room like a child on the last day of school.  Glancing at her watch, she couldn’t believe that it was already after four in the afternoon.  With rush hour traffic, it would take forever to get back to the hospital.

The wait for the elevator was interminable.  When she finally reached the Georgetown foyer, Mrs. Marston stopped her.  “Mr. Melrose wants to speak with you before you leave for the day.”

Sighing heavily at yet another delay, Amanda forced a smile.  “Thank you, Mrs. Marston,” she grumbled while making an about face and returning to the closet/elevator she had just stepped out of.  When she arrived at the bullpen, Billy wasn’t in his office; in fact, he was nowhere to be found.  She asked a few of the other agents, but nobody had seen him.

A few minutes later, Francine came walking in and Amanda accosted her.  “Do you know where Billy is?”

“Last time I saw him he was down in interrogation,” she answered, pushing past her and walking to her desk with a bunch of files.

Amanda followed Francine, ignoring her fellow agent’s testy attitude.  “He wanted to see me before I left for the day.”

“Then you better wait, Amanda.  You know Billy has a lot on his plate today.  He’ll be back soon.”

 “I want to get back down to the hospital…”

“Here he comes now,” Francine noticed as Billy Melrose hastily rushed through the bullpen.

Amanda turned and began to follow her supervisor into his office.

“I’ll be with you in a few minutes, Amanda,” Billy remarked as he hurried into his office and shut the door almost in her face.

The minutes ticked by slowly, and ten minutes turned to twenty, twenty turned to a half hour.  Amanda began pacing outside of Billy’s office.  With no patience left, she knocked on Billy’s door and charged inside.

Billy glanced up at her, startled by the intrusion.  “I’ll call you back,” he stated to whoever he was talking on the phone with and hung it up.

“Sir, I’m sorry to barge in.  I know you’re busy, but I haven’t seen Lee since this morning.  I’d like to get back to the hospital.  Perhaps it would be better if we meet sometime tomorrow when things settle down?” she asked hoping he wouldn’t be too annoyed with her unusual breach of protocol.

“Sit down, Amanda,” Billy said in a calm voice.

After glancing briefly at her watch, she reluctantly sat down.  “Sir…”

“I know you want to go see Lee, but for the moment, you can’t.”

“Can’t? Is he all right?” she repeated in disbelief.

“He’s doing as well as can be expected.”

Furrowing her eyebrows, she began to wonder about the unusual debriefing, and now keeping her at the Agency when she should be at her husband’s side. She swallowed hard, getting a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Am I under suspicion for something?  You can’t possibly think I had anything to do with Lee’s kidnapping?”

Billy took a deep breath.  “No, Amanda, I assure you, it’s nothing like that.”

With a shrug, she confronted her boss with anger.  “Then what exactly has gone on in the last 24 hours.  You’ve kept me away from Lee all day.  I’ve been debriefed, yet I don’t have any idea what happened last night. Now, you tell me I can’t see my own husband.  What the hell is going on?”

“Amanda, it’s been a very trying day.  I’m sorry you haven’t been filled in on all the details,” Billy said in a genuine tone.  Sorting through the many files on his desk he pulled one out.  He took a deep breath and began explaining.  “We caught the person who kidnapped Lee and was blackmailing Leon Hamilton last night.”

“So who is it? Why did he do it?”

“The man’s name is Donald Young. He had no prior record; no arrests, no warrants, not even a parking ticket.  He’s a US citizen, with a degree in chemistry from Georgetown.”

“Georgetown?  When did he graduate?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Back in the early 70’s,” Billy answered, handing a picture of the man to her.  “Any chance you knew him?”

After studying the picture closely she shook her head. “Sorry, sir, but I don’t think we’ve ever met.  I knew a lot of the law students, but that’s only a small group of a large university.  Are you sure this is the guy who grabbed Lee at the airport?  What would he want with Lee?”

“Fingerprints from the cab match Mr. Young.  The address the cab company dropped him off is where we found Scarecrow and a pharmacy of drugs that the Agency lab is still sorting through.  Leon identified Donald Young as the man who approached him in London.”

“What was he after?” Amanda asked with a shrug.

“We still don’t know,” Billy answered honestly, his face showing signs of frustration and exhaustion.  “Donald Young lawyered up.  What we do know is that he worked in chemical research.”

Amanda signed heavily, frustrated by the lack of answers.  “Have you been able to debrief Lee yet?”

“No, that’s been a big problem,” Billy admitted with defeat.

“How long before Lee can be debriefed?”

“Maybe tomorrow, maybe not, Doc McJohn isn’t sure.”

“Has he regained consciousness?” Amanda asked, her apprehension for her husband’s health growing steadily because of his ambiguity.

“Yes, Scarecrow regained consciousness around noon.  But there’s another problem.  Scarecrow is suffering from Thornton’s repression,” Billy answered bluntly, putting his agent at ease and on edge at the same time.

“What?” she gasped in disbelief.

“You’re familiar with Thornton’s repression?” Billy probed.

“The technique developed by Harry Thornton?”
 

“Yes.”

“I’m familiar with it.  I read the case studies in training class.  It’s used when an agent is being interrogated by the enemy.  The agent suppresses vital information during interrogation to keep national secrets from going to the other side,” she recited from memory.

“The technique itself is rather straight forward.  However, when complicated with the use of psychotropic drugs, things get rather… chaotic.”

“Yes, I understand that,” Amanda replied, remembering when Billy had repressed memories from using the technique a few months earlier.  “What I don’t understand is why you won’t let me go see Lee.  If anything, I could be of more help now as his partner and wife.”

“If it was a normal circumstance, I would agree.  But for reasons we don’t yet understand, Lee has suppressed more than just the information about his latest mission.”

Amanda shrugged trying to remain unruffled.  “So?  Together, I can help Lee put all the pieces in place.  When he sees me, he’ll be more relaxed.  More likely to remember…”

“Things are more complicated.”

“Sir, is my security clearance not high enough?” she assumed.

“No, Amanda, given the current circumstances, I am considering reading you in to Scarecrow’s last assignment.  It’s highly classified, but certainly well within your abilities.”

“Then what’s the catch?” Amanda asked persistently. “I could help him sort through what’s fuzzy…”

“I don’t think so, Amanda.  From our initial attempt at debriefing Scarecrow,” Billy paused for a moment a pained look on his face, “he’s suppressed the last five years of his life.”

“Five years?” she gulped, as she finally realized why her supervisor had kept her away from Lee all day.  “You don’t think he’ll recognize me?”

He nodded.  “It’s a distinct possibility.”

“But we don’t know it for sure.”

“We’re certain…”

“It’s a temporary condition,” Amanda croaked out, but her eyes began to get glassy as the emotional toll from the last few days were catching up to her.

“Most likely, but we don’t want to pressure Scarecrow too hard or…” Billy stopped, the look on Amanda’s face told him that she knew all too well that there were agents who used the technique and never ever fully recovered.

Amanda stared at her boss in stunned silence before choking out past the tightness in her throat.  “How can this be happening?”

“Amanda, give the doctors a few days, maybe a week…”

She shook her head.  There was no way she would stay out of her husband’s life for a week. Not now, when he needed her most.  “How long before the drugs are clear of his system?”

“I was talking to Dr. McJohn before you came in,” Billy remarked.  “There’s such a long list of drugs, psychotropic drugs, experimental stuff that we don’t even know what they’re used for, let alone what they’ll do to a person…”

“How long does he think?” Amanda persisted, her eyes narrowing and staring at her supervisor.

“48 hours, maybe longer…”

“But we’re almost past 24 hours, right?”

“Billy nodded.

“Then Lee’s half way there,” Amanda reminded him, refusing to be defeated.

“It could be longer, 72 hours, maybe more.  Dr. McJohn is pushing fluids through Lee’s system as quickly as possible, but some drugs are more difficult than others to expel from the body.”

“I want to see Dr. McJohn, now!” Amanda demanded.  “I want to know every single chemical that’s flowing through Lee’s veins, and then I want to see my husband.  I don’t care if you tell him I’m an Agency secretary or his bedside bluebell, but there’s no way you can keep me from seeing him.”

Billy nodded, understanding her need to know.  Without another word, he picked up the phone and called Dr. McJohn.

End Part Three
 

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