Prologue
It appeared to be another quiet Monday night at the airport. John Marcus checked his watch, and then glanced around. Everything seemed in order, and it was only another ten minutes until Tom Rolands would be coming on duty to relieve him. It would be good to get home. He and his wife had had a bit of a fight that morning, and he fully intended to make it up to her. He moved his cart and stopped in front of hangar number 42.
Inside the dark cavern of the building, unbeknownst to John Marcus a slim, dark-clothed woman picked up the package she had laid on the ground. Walking over to one of the small planes inside the hangar, she checked that the timer was properly set on the device her associate had given her. She didn’t agree with blowing up this hangar, and had voiced her opinion on the subject, but had been overruled. By doing so, it was only making it easier for the feds to start seeing some sort of a pattern between last week’s explosion at this airport, and the one at the College Park Airport. Her business partners had insisted that they needed to get rid of any and all evidence. Seeing that the timer was down to three minutes, she realized she was running out of time. Quickly, she moved to the door leading out the back. Poking her head outside, she saw that the coast was clear and ran as fast as she could away from hangar number 42.
Looking through the darkness at the silhouette of hangars stretched out before him, Marcus never saw the dark figure. Carrying a large bundle protectively to its chest, the dark form melted into the night as it darted from behind the hanger and ran, like the devil was after it, away from the building. Instead, he focused ahead and moved to put the cart in drive. Marcus’ last living thought was that he had to remember to pick up flowers for his wife, as a kind of peace offering. He never knew what hit him as hangar number 42 blew into a million pieces, throwing him and the cart into the air. Marcus plummeted to the ground, hitting his head, and was killed instantly when the cart chose to land directly on top of him.
Chapter 1
“I’m afraid that’s all we have to go on. This is the third hangar to blow up in the last month. No one said anything at first, because the first hangar was at a different location. This is the second one to go at Silver Spring Airport.” William Melrose sat down in his chair, and waited for the onslaught of questions that he knew would be coming.
“Sir, what was in those hangars?” Amanda Stetson asked.
Billy couldn’t help but smile. He knew, without a doubt that she would be the first to jump in. “They all appeared to house private planes. I’m assigning you and Lee…” he turned his attention to Amanda’s husband, waiting to see some sort of protest. He knew that the couple had been planning a long weekend with the family, but this was important and he had every confidence that the team could get the case wrapped up before the weekend. “…to this case. I want you two to see what connections you can come up with between these two hangars, and the one at the College Park Airport.”
“Billy…” Lee rose from his seat and started his protest, “how long is this case going to take? You know that Amanda and I both asked for time off starting Thursday, and Dr. Smyth even approved it.”
Amanda turned in her seat. “Lee, I’m sure if we get right on this, we can have it wrapped up by Wednesday, and it won’t affect our plans…”
Lee looked pointedly at his wife. “Amanda, you know as well as I do, that no matter how simple we think a case may be it always manages to turn into something bigger.”
“Scarecrow, don’t force me to make this an order,” Billy commanded. “I have every confidence that you two can get this done quickly. I’m merely asking you to find a connection, and if necessary look into those connections.”
Amanda rose from her seat and moved next to Lee. Putting a gentle hand on his arm, she said, calmly, “Come on. If we start now, we may even get this done before dinner tonight.”
When she looked at him with those soft brown eyes, promising things he knew no one else would be able to see, he couldn’t say no. Realizing he was going to lose this battle, he sighed. “Oh, all right. I can see I’m out numbered.” Looking at Billy, he just shook his head. “Now I know the real reason you partnered me with Amanda. You knew you had a foolproof plan for making me do what needed to be done, with very little protest.”
Billy just smiled. “I don’t know what you mean.” He watched as Lee and Amanda headed for his door, and waited until the door was securely shut before releasing the contained laughter.
“Amanda, this is ridiculous,” Lee complained, running his hand through his hair. Looking up from the papers on his desk, he glanced at his wife, who was clearly concentrating on her file. “We’ve been sitting here for an hour, and we haven’t found a pattern.” He rose from his chair and started walking towards her desk. “Let’s face it. There is no pattern. We’re grasping at straws.”
Amanda looked up. “Sweetheart, I know there’s a connection. I can just feel it.”
Lee sighed. When his wife was determined to find something, he knew she wasn’t going to give up until she did. “Why am I the only one who sees this as a disaster waiting to happen,” he mumbled. “Amanda, don’t you think this is a job for the FBI’s arson division?” He took his usual seat on the corner of her desk.
She raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean? The paperwork came here…to Billy. That means it must be more important than just simple arson. Think about it, Lee. Why else would the Agency get involved?”
“If you ask me, it was some college fraternity prank. Why else would they have blown up a hangar at the College Park Airport? Didn’t I read somewhere that one of the planes in that hangar belonged to a professor?
Amanda rolled her eyes and focused her attention back down to her paperwork. “I have a feeling that it isn’t going to be that simple, Lee.” Her eyes found the name of the airport from yesterday’s explosion. She knew it was the same airport where Lee and Paul had finally captured Serdeych, but that wasn’t the reason it seemed so familiar to her. She knew she had heard it mentioned much more recently than that. Repeating the name of the airport to herself again, she suddenly realized that it had been her mother who had mentioned it. It was where Captain Kurt had moved his flight training school.
“Lee, I think I may have figured out someone who can help us,” she exclaimed excitedly.
He looked at her intently. “All right, I give up, who?”
“Captain Kurt.”
“Your mother’s flight instructor? How is he supposed to help us?” He asked.
“Don’t you remember mother complaining that she now had to drive all the way to Silver Spring for her lessons?” She watched Lee shrug his shoulders and shake his head. “Captain Kurt moved his school to the Silver Spring airport. Captain Kurt’s hangars aren’t far from where this one blew up.”
“Amanda…” he started to protest.
She rose and grabbed her purse. “I know it’s a long shot, Lee. But maybe he knows something about this guy Benny Collins, who just happens to have been renting the last hangar before it exploded.” She walked to the door. “I’m going to go talk to Captain Kurt, whether you come with me or not.”
Lee raised his hands in defeat. If he didn’t go and her hunch was right, who knew what kind of trouble she could find on her own? “All right, I give up.” He stood up from his chair and moved to join her.
Chapter 2
“Did you get it?” Benny Collins asked the tall blonde.
“Yes, I did.” She handed the brown paper package to her boss. “I told you it was a dumb idea to blow up this hangar too. Aside from the fact that it was your hangar, a guard was killed as a result of the explosion.”
John Markez was polishing his gun, but stopped when he heard this new piece of information. “What do you mean a guard was killed? I thought we had been careful and knew when no one was going to be around.”
Cindi Gayle shrugged her shoulders. “We did. He must have been making a second pass through, or was too busy watching the stars.” She walked over and dropped into one of the office chairs. “I think we’ve got bigger problems. The feds are sure to start looking for some connection. I figure it won’t be too long until they come knocking on Benny’s door and start asking questions.”
Benny turned to stare at Cindi. “Don’t start getting all smart-mouthed with me, young lady. You may be very good at cracking safes and getting in and out of buildings undetected, but you are expendable. I can find someone else just as good to get the job done.” He started unwrapping the package.
“Chill, Benny. I was just pointing out the obvious. Besides, you can’t get rid of me. If you did, my brother would be on you like that,” she snapped her fingers. “You’d be breathing your last breath before you knew what hit you.”
“She’s right, boss,” John replied. “Her brother has eyes and ears everywhere.”
Benny just rolled his eyes. “Well, for right now, I just want to make sure this stuff is pure. If it is, we can start selling it.”
“What is it, anyway?” Cindi asked.
Benny had just gotten the package open. He revealed a bunch of different colored bags. Opening one of them, he took out a few green pills. “They’re supposed to be the latest drug. According to my sources, it’s supposed to be better than cocaine.” He saw Cindi shrug her shoulders. “It looks like your average over the counter drug. You could get so many people hooked and they’d never realize what happened.”
Her eyes lit up. “Is that what we’ve been hiding in the cargo hold of all your planes?”
Benny nodded. “Don’t worry. There’s no way anyone is going to connect me to those other explosions. The planes in those other hangars are registered to a couple of guys who’ve been reported out of the country for the last year. The feds will hit a dead end trying to track them down and, I promise you, they won’t have any reason to suspect me.”
“I just hope you’re right. I for one have no intention of going to jail,” Cindi replied. “I’m going out for a while. I’ll be back later.” She rose and quickly disappeared from the small office.
Amanda and Lee had just arrived at Captain Kurt’s office. He was on the phone, so they decided to walk around and get a look at some of the nearby hangars.
As they neared the ruins of hangar number 42, Lee caught sight of a tall blonde walking their way. For some reason, her features seemed familiar.
Amanda saw her husband’s eyes squint, and noticed where his gaze was directed. “I knew this day would come,” she sighed.
Lee turned his eyes on his wife. “What do you mean?”
“I knew it wouldn’t be long until I couldn’t keep your eyes on me, and me alone,” she teased.
“Amanda…” he began to protest, but was interrupted as he heard his name being called by a female, and he knew it wasn’t his wife’s voice.
“Lee Stedman, is that you?” the tall blonde asked as she got closer to them.
‘Uh-oh. I knew I recognized her.’ Searching through the cobwebs, he stared back at her, struggling to come up with a name.
“Oh it is you. Did NASA finally kick you out?” she asked. Ignoring Amanda, she inched closer and took his arm.
“Cindi…Cindi Gayle? How long has it been?” Lee tried to remove his arm from Cindi’s grasp. Looking toward Amanda, he attempted to give her an apologetic look, but re-thought that when he saw the humor dancing in her eyes.
Seeing his eyes on the brunette next to him, and feeling the pull of his arm, Cindi realized that he didn’t want to play. Letting go, she softly touched his hand. “It’s been six years, I think.”
Out of her clutches, Lee moved closer to Amanda. “Cindi, I’d like to introduce you to Amanda Stedman, my wife.”
Cindi’s eyes bugged out. “Well now. That is a surprise. I thought Lee would be a confirmed bachelor forever.”
“I’m afraid not,” Amanda chimed in. “He finally found the right woman to settle down with.” She extended her hand politely toward Cindi, “It’s nice to meet you.” Cindi accepted it. “By any chance, your name wouldn’t be spelled with an ‘i’ would it?”
“Why yes, yes it is. How did you know?”
Amanda glanced quickly at Lee. She could see he was very uncomfortable with this line of conversation. “Lucky guess.”
Any further discussion was cut short when Captain Kurt came out of his office. Lee spied him in an instant. “Amanda, it looks like Captain Kurt can see us now.”
“Oh, are you taking flying lessons?” Cindi asked Amanda.
Realizing that Lee didn’t want Cindi with an “i,” to know why they were really here, when he hadn’t corrected the blonde’s use of his last name, she went along with the charade. “Yes, actually. Ever since Lee left NASA, all he seems to talk about is the rush that comes from flying. I thought it might be fun to learn, too.”
“I wish you luck.” Cindi turned and continued toward her car.
As they headed toward Captain Kurt, Amanda asked teasingly, “So I guess that was the Cindi with an ‘i’? I also gather that she was one of those poor women you had told that you were an astronaut?”
“Amanda, I told you before. Those women are in my past. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t dated so many women,” he admitted in the form of an apology.
“It’s all right, Sweetheart. I know you love me. I actually wish we hadn’t burned those little black books of yours. I would love to give them all a call and thank them.” Lee looked at her curiously. “If you hadn’t dated those shallow women, you wouldn’t have realized that you had such a good thing when you met me.”
Lee laughed and wrapped his arm around his wife. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now, let’s go see what Captain Kurt knows.” Amanda took Lee’s hand in hers and headed into the flight instructor’s office.
Chapter 3
Dotty watched her daughter and son-in-law finish their dinner. She knew something was up. They appeared to be listening intently to what the boys were saying, and were even commenting here and there, but their minds were definitely not entirely on the conversation.
The boys had just finished relating their day at school, and the conversation had died down. The suspense was killing her, and she couldn’t wait any longer. Dotty seized this opportunity to find out what was going on. “So,” she started, looking at her daughter, “Kurt said you stopped by his office today.”
Lee swallowed the food in his mouth fighting not to choke on it and stared at his mother-in-law. Amanda, almost dropping her fork, quickly shot her mother a look of complete shock.
“Are you gonna start taking flying lessons, Mom?” Phillip asked.
Amanda turned her attention to her oldest son. “No, Sweetheart. We had to go over there to talk to Kurt regarding a few things that happened at the airport where he keeps his planes.”
“So, did you tell him he was going to be in a film, in order to get the information you needed?” Jamie asked, spooning another helping of mashed potatoes onto his plate.
“I bet he’ll be disappointed when he finds out that there isn’t going to be any film,” Phillip chimed in.
“I think that’s enough of this.” Lee wanted to end this discussion. “You know your mother and I can’t discuss our cases with you. It’s bad enough that this topic even came up.” He looked pointedly at his mother-in-law.
Jamie and Phillip looked at each other and then back to Lee. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jamie replied.
“Boys, didn’t you say you had a ton of homework to do?” Amanda asked. Both boys reluctantly nodded.
“Why don’t you two head upstairs and get started on it? I’ll take care of the dishes,” Lee offered.
“Is that okay with you Mom? I mean, it is our turn to do the clean up after dinner.” Jamie inquired, surprised at the thought of actually getting out of the chore so easily. Then again, whenever topics surrounding his parents’ job came up, the adults always seemed to find a way of getting them out of the room.
“I think it’ll be all right for tonight. If you two are done with dinner go on and get started with your homework.” She watched her sons place their napkins on the table and head out of the dining room.
Once the boys were out of earshot, Amanda turned to face her mother. “Mother, couldn’t you have waited until later, when the boys were upstairs, to ask that question?”
Dotty shrugged her shoulders. “I couldn’t help it. Curiosity got the better of me. Kurt told me this afternoon, when I was taking my lesson, that you two had been by. I didn’t think you went around telling people what you did for a living.”
“Dotty, when we have to ask questions, regarding a case, sometimes we have to tell them we’re with the government. In this case, it wouldn’t have done any good to lie to Captain Kurt, especially since he knew us,” Lee explained to his mother-in-law.
Amanda nodded. “I have to say though; I was very impressed that you never told Captain Kurt about our jobs. I’m sure you were just dying to tell him on several occasions.”
“Amanda, I know it’s important that that information is kept quiet,” Dotty looked intently at her daughter, “You’ve made it very clear, and since I’m not really sure where my relationship with Kurt is going, if it’s even going anywhere, I didn’t think he needed to know that information. I can keep my mouth shut when it’s important.” There was a bit of an edge in her voice, clearly letting her daughter know that she was a bit offended by that last comment.
Rising from her chair, Amanda started to clear the table. “I wasn’t implying anything. So, Mother, how is your flying going?”
Lee knew that Amanda was trying to change the subject, hoping that Dotty wouldn’t go back to wondering why they had seen Captain Kurt. Somehow, however, he didn’t think that his wife’s ploy was going to work. Picking up some dishes, he followed her into the kitchen.
“Going well, actually.” Dotty replied, her tone a bit more neutral, as she joined them in the kitchen. “Kurt says I should be able to start flying solo, soon.” Placing some plates in the sink, she turned to look at her daughter. “And stop trying to change the subject, Amanda. Is Kurt somehow involved in a case you’re working on?”
Amanda rolled her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lee shake his head. “Mother…”
Dotty put up a hand to stop her daughter’s protest. “Amanda, I’m not asking what the case is about,” she glanced quickly at Lee, before returning her gaze to her daughter, “I just want to know how Kurt is involved. I think I have a right to know at least that much.”
Amanda sighed. Looking towards Lee, she saw him nod. “Okay, we’re investigating some explosions that took place at the Silver Spring Airport. Captain Kurt’s hangars aren’t far from where the last explosion took place. We were hoping maybe he could tell us something about the man who had been renting one of those hangars.”
Lee moved to stand next to Dotty, near the sink. “Unfortunately he couldn’t tell us much about the guy, other than the fact that he hangs out with a very attractive blonde, and rents an office near a second hangar where he stores his own planes.”
“Phew.” Dotty turned to head into the dining room to collect the remainder of the dinner dishes. “For a minute, I thought maybe you were going to tell me that he was going to end up getting involved in whatever you two are working on. It’s bad enough having to worry about you and Lee all the time,” she called from the dining room. “But I don’t think I could handle worrying about Kurt, too.”
Amanda laughed. “There should be no reason for Kurt to get involved. We just needed to ask him a few things.” She joined her husband near the sink, and whispered, “I think the subject is dropped.” Grabbing a dishtowel, she said a little louder, “Now, don’t you think it’s time to start the dishes? They aren’t going to wash themselves.” Laughing she swatted him on the butt with the hand towel.
“Why did I volunteer to do the dishes? I’d much prefer drying,” he mumbled. “Then again, I’d rather not have to do these at all.” Pouring soap over the dishes in the sink, he turned the water on and started washing.
Dotty returned with the rest of the dishes. “Well, if you two don’t mind, I’ll leave you alone and go upstairs and soak in a nice bubble bath.”
“Not at all, Mother. You go on. We’ve got everything under control down here.” Amanda watched her mother ascend the stairs, before turning her attention to her husband. “I guess we’re going to have to go over and talk to Benny tomorrow, huh?” she asked, picking up one of the dishes Lee had just placed in the draining board.
“Yeah, I just hope this case wraps up quickly. I’ll be honest with you, Amanda. I’ve had a very bad feeling from the beginning that it won’t be that easy.” Scrubbing intently at a piece of food that had stubbornly hardened on the plate he was washing, he looked up and stared out the window. “Something about this case is making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I really don’t want to cancel on the boys again.”
Amanda put the dried dish on the counter before moving to stand behind her husband. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his back. “I know. I don’t want to either. If it drags on too long, we’ll just have to ask Mr. Melrose to have someone else take over.”
Turning off the water, he turned around so that they were now facing each other, and embraced her. “I doubt we’ll get that lucky, Amanda. Besides, if it does, it’ll be all your fault.”
Looking up into his eyes, she tried to assess if he was joking or being serious. Seeing them twinkle, she decided to play along. Wiggling out of the embrace, she put her hands defensively on her hips. “And what exactly does that mean, Scarecrow?”
Lee just laughed and pulled her back into his arms. “I was referring to the jinx you put on us the moment you said that all these hangar explosions were more than just some prank. Admit it, when you get that ‘feeling’ you are very rarely wrong.”
Frowning ever so slightly, she whispered. “Sometimes I think that my sixth sense is more of a bad thing than a good thing.” Raising her head, she placed a light kiss on his lips, and then quickly stepped out of her husband’s arms. “Come on, let’s get these dishes done, then we can head up to bed. I have a feeling we have a long day ahead of us.”
Lee sighed. “I guess you’re right.” He resumed his position at the sink, and turned the water back on. He was definitely not looking forward to tomorrow.
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: Scarecrow & Mrs. King and all related characters are the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only. No infringement is intended. The story itself is the property of the author.
Author's notes: I want to thank Jan for Betaing this story for me and providing wonderful insight and helping to jump start my brain when it decided to slack off. I also want to apologize, I don’t have contact with my plane expert anymore, and I was going off old notes with regards to radio control tower and pilot-speak. I apologize to anyone, up front, if I got some of the terminology or call signs wrong.
Timeframe: Sometime after the series ended. Marriage is no longer a secret, and the family knows about the Agency.
Author's notes: I want to thank Jan for Betaing this story for me and providing wonderful insight and helping to jump start my brain when it decided to slack off. I also want to apologize, I don’t have contact with my plane expert anymore, and I was going off old notes with regards to radio control tower and pilot-speak. I apologize to anyone, up front, if I got some of the terminology or call signs wrong.
Timeframe: Sometime after the series ended. Marriage is no longer a secret, and the family knows about the Agency.