It wasn’t his imagination, Lee decided. The mood in the Monday morning staff meeting was definitely more subdued than usual. Based on some of the looks he saw around the room, he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Maybe it was Francine’s uncharacteristic quiet. She spoke when spoken to, offered opinions when asked, and greeted people politely. But she wasn’t involved in the usual banter. Things were moving the right direction for her, but they weren’t all the way there yet.
Or perhaps it was because, for the first time, Douglas Trent had been brought into one of these meetings. He was toward the bottom of the table, sitting quietly next to Zeta. It was the first time Lee had seen him without his collar button fastened, though he still wore a tie.
Lee focused his attention back toward the head of the room, where Billy was just finishing up.
“…Francine and Zeta, you’ll be taking the security arrangements for Ambassador Mensah’s visit. I’ll also want you working with Duffy and Jenkins on tracing those Benton Irregularities. Plus there are a couple loose ends on Bohannon and MELCHIOR that need tying up.”
“Yes, sir,” said Francine softly. “Thank you.”
“Good,” replied Billy. He shuffled the files in front of him. “Now. One last item. Staffing updates.”
Several people in the room shifted slightly. Here it comes, thought Lee, remembering the recent conversations he’d had with Billy and Amanda.
“We’ve all noticed Lee Stetson is still on crutches, and we all know why. There’s no reason he can’t continue as an agent, but everyone in this section needs to be able to do field work. I’ve spoken with both him and his medical providers —”
“— and his wife,” quipped someone. Beside Lee, Amanda smiled. There were a few other quiet chuckles, and the tension in the air seemed to ease a bit. Lee tried to summon a smile for the sake of morale.
“—and his wife,” repeated Billy. “They’re going to be transferring to the London station in new roles. We’re sending them out this summer so there’s time for Amanda’s son to finish the school year. In the meantime, they’re going to be winding down all of the current Q-Bureau cases. That gives us about a sixty-day transition period before they have to report for initial briefings and training for their new assignment. Let’s use it wisely.”
“When’s the going-away party?” asked Duffy. “No way we can let ’em go quietly. Especially not you, Scarecrow. Who’s going to be our resident ladies’ man?”
Lee gave him a look. “You volunteering?”
The chuckles were louder this time. Duffy shook his head vehemently.
“Besides,” said Amanda. “He hasn’t been that for a while anyway.”
“Yes I have!” he protested, although he could feel his smile had become genuine. “It’s just only been with one lady.”
“And a fine lady she is,” said Billy. “We’re going to miss both of you. While I expect that any going-away parties will be appropriate for this office —” he gave Duffy and Francine knowing looks — “I’m also looking forward to them.”
“Hear, hear,” said someone else.
“I’m not done yet,” continued Billy. “The Stetsons’ departure opens up the Q-Bureau. Francine, Zeta, we’ve already discussed this, but I need to tell everyone else. You’ll be going up there to take over that caseload. Which, let me reassure all of you, is not a favor.”
“But which also means we’ll be leaving the Q-Bureau in good hands,” remarked Amanda, earning smiles from both of the other women. Lee nodded to show his agreement.
“That it does. I’m still reviewing candidates for my new second-in-command, but I’ll alert everyone once that’s decided. Any questions?”
“What are the odds on the Final Four these days?” asked Duffy, his tone just a tad too innocent.
Billy mock-scowled. “Any relevant questions?”
There was a general murmur of nos.
Billy stood up, indicating the official end of the meeting. “Then let’s get to it, people.”
Unlike most Mondays, the conference room didn’t empty immediately. It seemed everyone there had something to say to Lee, Amanda, or both of them. Lee didn’t remember the last time he’d shaken so many hands at once. After the sixth or seventh, he surreptitiously wiped his right hand on his slacks.
There was a clapping sound from the door. “I didn’t say let’s have a gaggle, people,” announced Billy, though his voice was light. “I said let’s get to it. There’ll be plenty of time for goodbyes over the next two months. Lee, Amanda, I’ll want you to start setting up meetings with Francine and Zeta to plan the transition.”
“We’ll do that right away, sir,” said Amanda, loudly enough to carry. “As soon as we can get up there.”
There was more laughter, but this time, people started leaving. Lee got to his feet and grabbed his crutches, making sure the cuffs were aligned before latching on to the handles. It galled him to admit it, but Kelford had been right about using this style.
As long as, he promised himself, he didn’t have to use it much longer.
Douglas didn’t want to wait any longer. He stood awkwardly in the bull pen, wanting to stay close enough to the conference room so that he could call out to Billy Melrose when the section leader appeared.
“What can I do for you, Trent?” he asked.
“May I have a few minutes of time in your office?”
“Something can’t be said out here?”
“Possibly.”
Melrose glanced at the clock on the wall. “I have a meeting in ten minutes.”
“It shouldn’t take that long, sir.”
At that, Melrose nodded and led him over to his office, closing the door behind him and waving him toward a seat.
“I suppose you’re aware that my assignment with MI6 was scheduled to conclude soon,” Douglas began, wanting to make the best of the time he had. Now came the hard part. He inhaled and exhaled once before continuing. “The last time I spoke with them, they made me an offer. I’m clear to extend for up to twelve months if I think there’s more to learn. I gave it some thought over the weekend, and I’d like to remain if I could. I’ve learned several things over the past few days, so I’m clearly not done yet. Plus, the Service…” he trailed off, catching himself.
Melrose raised his eyebrows. “I’m sure MI6 wouldn’t mind one of their agents developing strong American contacts.”
Douglas nodded.
“I can’t grant you the same security access as my own people. Some of the clearance levels require American citizenship.”
“I’m sure they do. But I believe I could still contribute while I’m learning.”
“I believe you can,” answered Melrose. Was that a subtle softening in his features? Douglas made a mental note to learn how to read the man as quickly as he could. “And I can come clean about this now. MI6 already told me they wanted to offer you the extension. They wanted my permission first.”
Of course, thought Douglas. He should have realized. “I take it I’d be welcome to stay, then?”
“I’d be happy to have you. In fact, it might just solve a problem I have.”
“Really, sir?”
Now Melrose smiled. “Yes. They’re grooming you for a leadership role, aren’t they? Well, now that Francine’s moving up to the Q-Bureau, I need an assistant. How’d you like to do it? It’d be a chance to learn about section leadership, at least.”
“Sir?” he asked, startled. He’d thought he would simply be working cases and absorbing organizational culture along the way. “Wouldn’t that be a position that requires citizenship and full clearance?”
“It’s not a second-in-command position,” answered Melrose. “I’m still evaluating for that, and you’re right about it needing to be an American agent. But there’s no rule that says my second-in-command has to be my assistant. Francine was both, but I can find another senior agent to take the role of second.” He paused. “I’ll be honest. I’d been hoping you would be interested in staying. But I didn’t want to offer this unless you were sure.”
Douglas felt his heartbeat accelerate. “I…this is a lot, Mr. Melrose. I’m flattered by the offer.”
“Well, hear me out before you say yes. It’s a lot of admin and paperwork, what might feel like busy work beneath your capabilities. You won’t be out in the field as often as some of the other agents. This is about you learning to think at the section level instead of the case level. And I am not always an easy person to work for.”
“I understand.”
“Good. The thing is, you’ve already shown you know how to do field work. So this would be…” he trailed off. “Think of this as its own apprenticeship, maybe. And I’ll want your input. Just know that I can’t delegate the same amount of authority as I did to Francine. That could chafe from time to time. And there will be a non-disclosure agreement involved; some of things can’t make it back to London.” Now he met Douglas’ eyes. “I don’t know the exact oath you took to your country, but if you feel like that could be a conflict, then there’s no harm, no foul.”
It was a serious question, Douglas reflected. This temporary position wouldn’t release him from his obligations to the Crown. “Our countries are allies. How much are you talking about?”
“Not much, in terms of intelligence sharing,” he answered, slower than before. Then, after a few seconds’ thought, he continued, “but you’d see specifics of our internal operations. Budgets. Personnel evaluations. Operational requests that get turned down.” Melrose paused again. “You can tell MI6 you’re working on these things, but you can’t give them any details.”
It was Douglas’ turn to think aloud. “Things that the Service wouldn’t share with the Agency, you mean. Correct?”
“That’s a good way to look at it.”
“I…” he had to take another breath and let it out. “I believe I could navigate that. Although I would need to clear the non-disclosure agreement with my superiors before I signed.”
“That’s reasonable.” Melrose’s eyes flicked up briefly, glancing at the clock. “I need to go. But come back here in a couple of hours and we’ll go down to Personnel to get you a copy of that NDA. There are a few other logistics to be worked out. Will that work?”
“Yes, sir,” said Douglas, wanting to project confidence and grateful for the opportunity to process this.
“Good.” Melrose stood up, offering his hand. “Welcome to Field Section, Trent. Unofficially. But hopefully, officially, by the end of the day, provided everything’s a go with that agreement.”
“Thank you, sir,” he answered, standing up himself. While his vision was perfectly steady, his gut felt as though the world were spinning round him. But, he realized, it was a spin of giddiness and anticipation. Not dread.
Three Weeks Later
“Thanks a lot for this information,” said Nancy into the telephone. “I’ll be sure and let you know how things work out.”
“No problem.”
Hanging up the phone, Nancy took a moment to stretch. This phone call with one of Francine’s janitors had given them some really good intel for the Bohannon case — maybe even the last piece of the puzzle — but it had also run long, and her right shoulder was aching. She accompanied the stretch with neck rolls and even a couple of shoulder rolls, but the soreness was still enough to bother her.
She looked around the bull pen to see if Francine was anywhere nearby, thinking now wouldn’t be a bad time for a quick report. Unfortunately, her partner was nowhere to be found. She’d mentioned something about going over to the Library of Congress to do some research this afternoon, so Nancy guessed that was probably where she was.
Sighing, she got up and left the bull pen entirely, wanting peace, quiet and fresh air. They’d move up to the Q-Bureau in early June, and she was looking forward to actually being able to see sunshine when she was at work.
Calling the elevator, she murmured a greeting to Mrs. Marston and let herself out in front of the Georgetown townhouse. She stretched again, hoping the combination of being outside and moving around would address her shoulder. It wasn’t really bad enough to need pain medication, but it was enough to disrupt her concentration.
“Hi!”
Nancy smiled. Now there was something that would definitely disrupt her concentration. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Scotty paused, but didn’t shrink back. “I’d just run out to pick up some more film. I’ll go on in if you want.”
“No, it’d be nice to talk for a few minutes. Out here. About anything other than work.”
“It sure would,” he answered, falling into step beside her on the sidewalk. “You’re closing up the last of your cases?”
“Yeah. It looks like we may get one of them done today. But I didn’t want to talk about work.”
He colored slightly. “Sorry. I just — yeah, I get stuck in work brain, too, sometimes. What else do you want to talk about?”
It was so awkward it was amusing. Or at least, she thought, it’s funny now that I know how much more he can do. “Anything, really. Do you follow any sports?”
“Uh-uh. Just seems like so much wasted energy to me. If I’m gonna run around like that, I wanna be doing something.” He hefted the bag of film cartridges. “That’s part of why I got so interested in making movies.” He laughed. “That’s what I was doing when Mr. Stetson and Mr. Melrose recruited me. Did they ever tell you that story?”
“No,” she said. “Why don’t you?”
His lips twitched. “It’s work-related. I ended up smack-dab in the middle of one of their cases. Of course I didn’t realize it at the time.” He laughed. “I think I’d been here a year before I realized Mr. Stetson never actually directed anything, and Mr. Melrose wasn’t really a producer. By then…by then I’d kind of gotten interested in the work. I liked documentaries anyway. Here, I get to make them all the time.” He paused. “Even if it is just a front.”
“It’s not ‘just’ a front,” she pointed out. “Your unit really does send things out to schools and other government agencies all the time. Movies that are needed, even if they’re not box-office type. Someone needs to make those.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Besides, it reminds the rest of us what’s really important. It’s not about the games, or the hunt, or solving cases. It’s about helping, and making sure there’s time and space for people to watch and learn from documentaries. Which can be awfully easy to forget sometimes, down in the basement.” Nancy glanced around. “It’s why I’m looking forward to moving up to the second floor. And there really is a film library in the Vault,” she continued, referring to the files area of the Q-Bureau.
He cocked his head. “Am I allowed to see any of them?”
“I don’t see why not. Most of them aren’t classified. They’re just in there because it’s a convenient place to store them.” She paused. “If you’re interested, I can find out.”
“That would be great!” Scotty’s smile was really amazing in full deployment. “But, I mean, not if it’ll just be more work for you…and we weren’t supposed to talk about that anyway…well, I don’t think we really did, but…” he shook his head and took a breath. “What kind of movies do you like? Do you like documentaries the way I do?”
Nancy thought about that for a moment. “You know, outside of school I’m not sure I’ve seen that many of those.”
“Oh.” He blinked several times, and then laughed under his breath. “Well…if you want to fix that, I can — we could watch some sometime.”
She thought about that for a second. He’d already surprised her several times; he might just surprise her again. “I think I might like that.”