Friday August 22, 2008
 

The next morning, Amanda arrived at the Agency early, hoping to avoid the stares, whispers, and snickers of her co-workers.  She knew after Lee’s disclosure in court yesterday there would be a fresh round of gossip.   Sure, there were a couple of supportive friends, but for the most part, the Agency grapevine was raging like a wildfire.  Stopping to get her Agency ID at the Georgetown entrance, the receptionist handed Amanda her identification badge.

“Mrs. Stetson,” the receptionist started with a sympathetic smile, “Mr. Abernathy requested that you report to his office immediately.”

Amanda took the badge from the younger woman and stared at it bleakly.  She knew the meeting with the current director of the Agency could only be the harbinger of more bad news.  Not wanting to grumble at the young and friendly receptionist, she forced a smile.

“Thank you,” she replied, clipping the badge to her blouse and heading for the closet/elevator.

The elevator ride to Simon Abernathy’s office seemed faster than normal.  The walk down the corridor to his office didn’t take long either.  Today, there would be no reprieve to what she knew was the inevitable.  Pulling open the door, Amanda walked in and began to announce herself to his secretary.  “Good morning, I was told to report...”

His secretary cut her off with a wave of her hand and a sharp tone in her voice.  “They have been waiting for you, Mrs. Stetson.”

Amanda ignored the secretary’s curt remark, and continued towards the door, wondering who ‘they’ were.  There wasn’t much else they could do to her now.  The Agency had already stripped her of her security clearances and dumped her into the administrative pool.  A fully qualified field agent with over twenty years experience filing and cutting expense reports checks.  Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door before going into the Agency directors’ inner sanctum.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” she asked the man sitting at his cumbersome desk.

“Yes, come in and shut the door, Mrs. Stetson,” Simon Abernathy snapped sharply while tapping his Montblanc pen impatiently.  Unlike Dr. Smyth, Simon Abernathy was a short, stout man, who abhorred smoking, although he had his own peculiarities.  Whenever he talked, he tended to tap his pen or drum his fingers incessantly.  If his mouth was moving, so were his fingers.  The man was younger than she was, most likely in his late 40’s.  His dusky brown hair was meticulously combed, trying to hide an increasingly large bald spot.  His dark eyes watched her cautiously as she came into the room and he pointed at the other person sitting in the room.  “You know Lucinda Suttan from our Legal department, don’t you?”

Amanda swallowed hard, noticing the woman sitting in one of the tall leather chairs.  Lucinda Suttan was a diminutive young woman with strawberry blonde hair.  Thin, and sickeningly pale, almost as if she shunned all exposure to the sun, she was always impeccably dressed in stylish suits.  Today she wore a bright red suit, reminding Amanda of the devil.  Lucinda Suttan known for her attention to detail took it to a new extreme.  Today, Amanda noticed she had on jewelry that matched the color of her outfit:  opal ring on her right hand, matching the red studs in her ears, and even the large stone in her necklace was blood red.

Attempting to remain unruffled, Amanda gave the woman a slight nod.  “Yes, we’ve met on several occasions.”

She remembered Ms. Suttan well.  The attorney had sat in on her interrogations after Lee had been arrested and charged with treason.  The expensive French perfume she wore often gave away her presence long before she was visibly seen.  In the small confines of the interrogation room, the fragrance made her sick to her stomach.  The same smell wafted to her nose this morning, and Amanda swallowed hard trying not to let it bother her.

“Sit down, Mrs. Stetson,” Lucinda snapped impatiently as she leaned forward, tossing her long straight hair behind her shoulder.  Obviously there would be no pleasantries, instead, she opened up a thick manila folder, and began to set out several pieces of paper on the desk.

Amanda obeyed the order grudgingly and sat down in the other empty chair across from Simon Abernathy’s desk.    She knew the news must be very bad if they’d called the Agency’s chief attorney to sit in on the proceedings.  Neither of them inquired about how she was feeling.  Certainly, they knew she’d passed out in court.  Putting on her best poker face, she waited for the dreaded assault to begin.

“We realize you were in court yesterday when your husband, Lee Stetson, admitted to being a double agent,” Lucinda Suttan began in a harsh tone and a presumptuous glare.

Amanda sat silently, her hands fisting up into a ball.  Defending Lee after he lied on the witness stand would serve no purpose – not here.  Her face began to redden, and her stomach began to churn.  She could guess what was coming, but couldn’t stop it.

Lucinda continued with ease; the only thing she was shy of was tact and diplomacy.  “Although Scarecrow claimed you were unaware of his actions, your continued employment at the Agency given the nature of this organization will depend entirely upon you.”

Intrigued and rather surprised, Amanda listened suspiciously.  Despite desperately wanting to defend her husband, she knew it would fall on deaf ears.  Simon Abernathy was the protégé of Dr. Smyth; a man who took great pleasure in harassing Lee and herself until his retirement several years ago.  Lucinda Suttan seemed to be in Simon’s pocket from the time she arrived at the Agency.

Granted, the climate in the world was different from when she first started to work for the Agency.  Terrorism and terrorists were a genuine threat, but Simon and Lucinda’s combination was a sort of dysfunctional duo that reigned with terror tactics of their own.  Their sort of justice often lacked facts or truth.

“Initially, you signed an Oath of Allegiance to serve the government.  Moreover, when you became a field agent, you signed other oaths.  We have here, agreements to keep national secrets,” she pointed, “and you’ve signed SC1034’s each time your security clearances have been raised.  Isn’t that true?”

“Yes,” Amanda answered, clearly remembering the paperwork, not to mention it was now staring her in the face.

Pulling another piece of paperwork from the file, Lucinda Suttan grinned.  “To continue to work at the Agency, we will require you to sign this document.”

Amanda furrowed her brow.  “What is it?”

“It’s a document stating that you had no prior knowledge of Lee Stetson’s, Agency codename: Scarecrow, treasonable activities,” Lucinda explained forthright.

Amanda nodded, assuming that was a reasonable request and certainly true.  She reached for the letter, but Lucinda still held in protectively in her grasp.

“If you sign the document, you will be permitted to continue working for the Agency.”

“Does that mean I’ll get my security clearances reinstated?” she asked idealistically.

“Of course not!” Ms. Suttan retorted, rolling her eyes.

“Oh,” Amanda replied, glumly.  “And if I don’t sign this… letter, what then?”

“If you choose not to,” Simon Abernathy remarked matter-of-factly, his pen tapping on the desk, “You will be terminated with cause - immediately.”

“I see,” Amanda replied, and reached for the letter again, her hand shaking slightly.

“Here you go,” Lucinda said with a phony smile, releasing her grasp on the document, and then handing her a pen.  “You need to sign and initial where it’s indicated.”

Amanda studied her adversary and glared at her.  In a scathingly calm voice, she answered, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to read it - before I sign it.”

Simon Abernathy tapped his pen faster and louder, and Lucinda replied with a huff and obvious contempt, “Certainly, my dear.  Take all the time you need.”

Amanda could feel their eyes bearing down at her, but she wasn’t about to sign something she hadn’t carefully read.  Sitting back in the large leather chair, she attempted to get comfortable, but felt more overwhelmed than anything else.  With what seemed like the weight of the world on her shoulders, she began to scrutinize the document.

The first paragraph started with typical legal mumbo jumbo.  It meticulously pointed out the parties in question.  It clearly stated her relationship with Lee had not only been partner in the field and the specific years in question, but that they were a married couple.

The second paragraph was exactly what Lucinda had said – Amanda swearing she was not party to any illegal actions or knowledge of Lee’s alleged traitorous activities.  She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to suppress a shudder.  Reading that on paper was difficult for her.  She knew, despite his own admission, that Lee could not be a double agent.  When she opened her eyes, both Simon and Lucinda were staring at her as if she was nothing more than an annoyance.

Glancing back down at the document, she took a deep breath, and continued reading.  Everything seemed reasonable; then suddenly, her eyes froze on the next section.  She blinked, thinking her eyes were deceiving her.  Then she rubbed her tired eyes, but the words didn’t change… ‘must publicly denounce Lee Stetson:  codename ‘Scarecrow’ as a traitor to the Agency,  the government of the United States, and his treasonable activities.  In addition, you must cease all contact with Lee Stetson: AKA ‘Scarecrow,’ immediately.  You will, in the future, not seek to contact him in any way – including, but not limited to personal visits, telephone calls, email, faxes or regular mail…’

“I can’t sign this!” she exclaimed, tossing the paper down on Simon Abernathy’s desk and slamming the pen on top of it.  She glared at them both incredulously.

“What seems to be the problem, Mrs. Stetson?” Simon asked in a patronizingly serene voice, his hands now clasped together on his desk as he twiddled his thumbs, his face wearing a thin and knowing smirk.

“You’re asking me to denounce my own husband and stop all contact with him.  He’s still my husband!” she snapped in disbelief.

“Mrs. Stetson, certainly you can’t continue to work here, for the Agency, and continue close contact with your husband,” Lucinda scoffed.

“Close contact?  You’ve got to be kidding!” Amanda challenged, getting more irate by the second.  “I haven’t had a moment alone with Lee since Internal Affairs dragged him out of Dulles International Airport!”

“Mrs. Stetson, you’ve visited with him regularly since he was in custody,” Mr. Abernathy reminded her.  “We can’t risk any additional security breaches!”

“I am not now, nor have I ever been, a security breach!” she shouted angrily, unable to quell her emotions any longer.  The months of anxiety and restraint had come to an abrupt end.  “You’ve revoked my security clearances, shoved me downstairs in payroll.  Even if I was to pass on anything, which I never would, how could cutting a check for an agent’s new tie possibly be a threat to national security?”

“Calm down, Mrs. Stetson, please,” Lucinda Suttan appealed condescendingly, the most insincere smile plastered across her pale face.  The woman tossed her long strawberry blonde hair away from her face yet again and continued.  “Certainly it would be possible to slip information to your husband.”

“Our visits are on audio and visual tape.  Watch them if you will, and listen in to our private conversations.  They’re usually about family.  You know - our sons, Phillip and Jamie and their lives and children.”

“Yes, Mrs. Stetson, so far your visits with Scarecrow have been rather… how should I put it, mundane,” Simon insinuated with an air of boredom that made Amanda want to slap his face.  “But Scarecrow is obviously cleverer than we thought.  He had you and the Agency fooled for decades.  You could simply mention something that you thought was innocuous, yet with certain other information could be vital.  Certainly, even a naïve person such as you must accept that possibility.  We absolutely can’t risk it.”

“I will not cut off my ties to my husband.  I made a vow to him years ago – for better or for worse.”

“Mrs. Stetson, this is not an option for you.  If you don’t agree to our terms, you will force us to terminate your employment.”

Amanda knew this meeting wouldn’t have ended any other way.  She actually laughed.

“You find this situation humorous, Mrs. Stetson?” Ms. Suttan asked.

Since she was going to lose her job anyway, she decided to tell them exactly what she thought.  “You’re trying to make it sound like I have a choice, but we all know I don’t.  I don’t believe Lee is guilty…”

Lucinda interrupted her.  “Mrs. Stetson, he admitted he was a double agent on the witness stand…”

“I don’t care what he admitted to on the witness stand,” she interrupted right back.  Glaring at the two people who held her future precariously in their hands, knowing they didn’t give a damn.  No longer holding anything back, she let her anger fly.  “I know the truth.  He cares more about his country than the two of you put together.  Lee understands the word honor, duty, and loyalty.  Some day, the truth will come out about why he said what he did.  I’m not sure when that will happen, but the day will come.  You mark my words.”

“Mrs. Stetson, that’s enough!” Simon Abernathy roared at her.  He picked up his phone and barked orders into it.  “Is the guard waiting to escort Mrs. Stetson out of the building?  Good, send him in here on the double!”

Within seconds, an armed guard opened the door and stepped inside.  Standing at attention, he awaited his orders.

“Escort Mrs. Stetson to her car,” Simon Abernathy ordered, his knuckles now drumming furiously on his desk.   “Makes sure she doesn’t stop or speak to anyone.”

Before Amanda could leave, Lucinda Suttan snatched the badge off her blouse, tearing the delicate fabricate in the process.

Amanda glared at the woman before she stood up, there was so much more she wanted to say, but she didn’t.  She knew in time, both Simon Abernathy and Lucinda Suttan would want to retract their dismissal of her and the charges they had against Lee.  “One day you’ll realize how wrong you were about Lee.”

“Good bye, Mrs. Stetson,” Simon called out, waving his hand dismissing her and the guard.

End Part Three
 

Go to:  Part Four
 

Go to:  Robin's Stories
 

Back to:  IFF FILM LIBRARY