The Mole - tagalogue

Written by Chris Gould (excerpts from the episode belong to him)

Amanda leaned over to speak to the steering wheel, just as Lee suggested. As she spoke, Lee looked in his rearview mirror to be certain the limo was still there, and it was. "Sir? Sir, as long as I have you on the line, I wonder if I could just mention to you that I damaged my station wagon pretty badly in the, uh, in the -- well, yesterday in the whole mission and I was just, um, wondering, I was hoping, that we could, uh, you know, the Agency would be sure to take care of, uh, of, uh, of the repair and, uh....

"Amanda," Lee interrupted her, then cleared his throat and checked the mirror again. The limo was gone, so he turned back to face Amanda. "He's gone."

"No, no. No, no. I think we're on hold," she replied, then sat silent for a moment. Lee smiled at her and fought to control a laugh as she continued. "Sir? Mr. Leader? Blue Leader, sir?"

Lee couldn't contain it any longer and burst out laughing. "Amanda," he said between chuckles. "He's really gone."

"How do you know?" She turned toward him.

Lee didn't think it was necessary to reveal that aspect of the Agency work to her at this point, so he didn't tell her about the limo. "Just trust me, all right. He's not there."

"Does he always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Just appear out of nowhere, say what he wants to say and then leave again without a trace?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Why?" Lee glanced briefly at her, then returned his eyes to the road as he drove.

"Oh, no reason." She shrugged and was silent for a moment, then inhaled and prepared to speak again. "Lee, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why did you decide to ask me to help you with this assignment? I mean, I know it was Mr. Melrose's idea that I help you with your report, but why did you need me to get those bank statements and other personal information? You said you needed someone you could trust, and I'm flattered that you feel you can trust me, but what I did just doesn't seem like something you couldn't have done yourself. After all, you've been doing this for a lot longer than I have, and you can get a lot more information than I can a lot faster. Was it because you didn't want your friends, the other agents, to find out it was you who was digging into their files and doing those investigations? Or was it because..."

"Amanda!" Lee interrupted.

"Yes?" She turned to look at him.

"Will you just take a breath. One question at a time, all right?" He sighed, trying hard not to grin at her rambling. It didn't annoy him as much as it had when they first met. It had actually grown on him, and it was something that he could identify as uniquely Amanda."

"I'm sorry." She looked duly chastised as she folded her hands primly in her lap and waited for him to answer.

"First of all, I was going to do this solo, especially when Blue Leader explained how important it was to be careful. When Billy told me he wanted my reports two days earlier than everyone else and suggested I ask you to help me type, it made sense to ask you to help me with the internal investigation." He glanced in his rearview and side mirrors, then signaled and slowed to turn left. "You would already be working with a lot of paperwork, so a few extra reports and printouts on the various agents wouldn't look suspicious."

"That's a good point."

"Second of all, with the deadline moved up on my reports, I knew I'd have even less time to get done what Blue Leader wanted me to do. I figured if I worked with someone, I could get twice as much done in half the time." He paused as he pulled the Porsche alongside the curb a little ways down from Amanda's house, then looked over at her and met her eyes. "Third, as I said at the Smithsonian, I knew I could trust you." He stared intently at her and grinned as she turned her head away and broke their gaze.

The rapid rise and fall of her chest gave away her attempt to appear nonchalant. After several breaths, she finally managed to say, "Is that all?"

"No." He drew out the word. "You're also very good with details and noticing things that I sometimes miss. That's why I had you go to Monica Benson's place once you pointed out the unusual change in Benson's alimony payments. She wouldn't know you, and neither would anyone else, so you could get away with it." He paused and turned in his seat to face her, resting his left arm on the steering wheel. "How'd you figure out it was Benson, anyway?"

"Well, I didn't really know for sure." She turned to look at him. "I only knew I had found something suspicious about the alimony payments and his claiming the money on his taxes even after he stopped making the payments. Then, when I spoke to Mrs. Benson, and she told me about the money, I told her about what David was claiming and what he was getting back on his taxes. She didn't have any idea."

"But how did you find me at Ned's?"

She turned to look out the windshield as she continued. "Billy told me. When I got there, the bartender told me you and another guy had just left and directed me out the back door." She turned back to face him. "See, I know you rarely use the back door, so I knew something was wrong. I got outside in time to see you and David driving off, so I followed you, saw the cops and got them to follow me, then when they pulled me over, I showed them my fake badge, explained the situation and...," she raised her hands slightly and shrugged her shoulders, then smiled in satisfaction, "that's it!"

"See what I mean?" Lee grinned. "You're good at details." He laughed. "You know, when I saw your car drive past us on that back road, I was a little worried about what you were going to do. Good thing you didn't try to cut us off or anything..."

"Oh my gosh, no!" She interrupted him. "I would never do something like that. I could have turned the wrong way or something and totaled my car. Mother would have been just beside herself if I had done that. No, I knew I had to do something else, so when I saw the cops, I followed my instincts."

"As usual, your instincts were right." He reached out and placed his hand over hers in her lap. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

Amanda looked up at him and met his eyes, and he immediately thought about their discussion regarding her date with David, how he had found himself feeling a little jealous that she was going out with David and not him, although he would never admit it. For a moment, they both sat there, their gazes locked, then Lee broke the spell and cleared his throat. He quickly removed his hand from hers and turned back to face forward in his seat.

"Well, we're here." He knew his announcement was unnecessary, so he reached for the door handle to cover his reaction to the look in Amanda's eyes.

Amanda reached out and placed a hand on his arm to stop him. "Oh, you don't have to get out. I can let myself out and walk from here."

"Are you sure?" He turned to face her.

She took a deep breath, then expelled it. "Yes, I'm sure." She opened the door and got out of the car. Just as she was about to close the door, she leaned back down and looked at Lee. "Oh, I have one more question."

"What's that?"

"Did you ever receive any training at all from Blue Leader before you were assigned to be a field agent?"

Lee was a little surprised at her question and wondered why she would ask something like that. "Uhh, not directly, no. Why?"

"Because his manners are as bad as yours!" Without giving him a chance to respond, she closed the door and walked towards her house.

Lee stared after her in shock and watched her walk down the sidewalk to her house. Once she walked through her gate and disappeared from view, he allowed a grin to form on his lips. He shook his head, put the Porsche in gear and drove past her house, glancing at the front door. She turned around and smiled at him as he drove by, and Lee found himself returning the smile. He chuckled. Amanda was definitely not like any other woman he'd ever met, and he surprised himself by admitting that he was glad.

(THE END)

Leave your comments

Back to SMK Fan Fiction