“Lee, I think we should stop working together.”
“What are we talking about here?”
“My resignation. I think I should probably give it to Mr. Melrose.”
— Amanda and Lee, “Brunettes are In”
The words echoed through his head as he drove, over and over again, to the point that found himself needing to look out his windshield to figure out where he was. Damn it. Three of their best agents were going to lose their lives in a matter of hours, and he couldn’t even maintain the most basic level of situational awareness—! He needed his focus laser-sharp and pointed at that. Not on…not on…
Damn it, he thought again as he dragged on the steering wheel, sending the car into a U-turn. He wasn’t going to be able to focus unless this got resolved first.
He wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to think or feel about that.
Amanda’s house was quiet and suspiciously dark, but one look up and down the street clarified that: the coming storm had knocked the power out. Making his way through the shifting light from the lightning and the clouds, he found his way to the back porch just as there was the sound of crockery smashing. The wind had knocked over a plant pot. Ignoring that, he tapped several times on the back door.
She peeked out, then opened the door immediately. “Oh, it’s you. I thought that it was —”
“Don’t do it.” The words were out before he knew it.
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t resign. Don’t —” the wind shifted, bringing rain with it. “Can I come back in?”
She stepped far enough back into the kitchen to let him close the door. “Lee, I think it’s for the best if I —”
“No, it isn’t.” His arms went around her, pulling her against him. Hard. “Please. I’m sorry. It’s not for the best. I don’t want you to resign. I — damn it.” This wasn’t coming out the way he wanted it to at all. “D-don’t leave me. Don’t give anything to Billy. It’s not —”
“I won’t.” Slowly, far too slowly, she responded to the embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I won’t. I’m sorry, too. I know this is getting to you.”
“Yeah.” His eyes fell closed and he exhaled hard into her hair. He was shaking, he realized. “It is. But I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m sorry. I’ll — I’ll try to do better.”
“Lee.” She pulled back enough to hold up a hand, quieting him. “Stop. I’m not resigning.”
He pulled her back against his shoulder, and this time she squeezed him back. They stayed that way for a moment, rocking a little as he dragged the air back into his lungs, refilling them after letting go of the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. She was going to stay.
The back doorknob rattled, and he shoved her away to pull his gun. “Are you expecting —”
“No, not yet.”
The knob rattled again before there was the sound of shattering glass and a hand reaching in to flip the lock. “Amanda, get —”
She was already gone, flying out of the kitchen into the living room, and he grabbed the hand that had reached through the door and yanked the intruder all the way in, breaking the sill in the process. In the next moment, he was laid out cold across the linoleum, and that was when Lee realized he heard the sounds of struggling from the living room. “Amanda!”
He raced back to find her swinging a lamp at one man even as another tried to creep around the other side of the couch. He tackled that one at a run even as she brought the lamp down, sending the first man scrambling before he sprinted for the front door. The one underneath Lee followed suit before he could grab hold of him again, following the first man out the front door. Lee caught himself as he stumbled against the couch. “Are you all right?”
“Am I all — Lee, watch out, there’s the other one, he —” But a well-placed kick knocked the knife out of the back door assailant’s hand while stunning him at the same time. He went back down in a heap, this time behind the couch.Â
“Oh, my gosh,” whispered Amanda. Her wide eyes were so dark they were almost black. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“I know.” He grabbed her shoulders. “It’s over. You hear me? It’s over. It’s all over. Everything’s fine. They’re gone.”
“Why —” her breath caught. “Why’d they come in my house?”
“I don’t know,” he ground out, “but I’m going to find out. Believe me.” It wasn’t just a promise, he realized as he hauled her back against him. It was a vow. He’d just gotten her back. Nothing and nobody was going to take her from him again. Nothing and nobody. If he needed time to breathe, to take care of Tripod first before he gave any energy over to figuring out why it was so very important that Amanda not resign, that was all right.Â
He’d have it.Â
END