“There it is. Right up that road. Are you sure this is gonna work?” Amanda asked.

    “Absolutely. Hans is gonna wish he’d never done this to you. He’ll be eating right out of your hand.” Skipper answered. Amanda smiled and put her ear com in.

10 minutos Later

    Amanda walked up to the door of the small mansion, and knocked. A man answered with, “Amanda? Is Hans expecting you?” Amanda looked at him with craze and hatred in her eyes. “He’d better be. Let me in.”

    “Hold on, let me get permission to-”

    Amanda shut him up sa pamamagitan ng whipping out the dagger and putting its tip at his throat. “I don’t think that will be necessary. Do you?” The man gulped and opened to door for her. She took two steps in, sinabi “Much obliged.” then marched forward. She didn’t need to ask where he was. The team had tapped into the security footage and gave her his location. She was gonna scare the truth out of him. Make him beg for mercy.

    She was walking down a long hallway on the segundo floor when two guards appeared. She whipped out the small dart gun Rico had ibingiay her and put a dart in both of them. They dropped instantly. Amanda smiled deviously as she approached the large double doors at the end of the hallway. She took a deep breath, and slowly pushed them open.

    Hans, who was looked through some files, spoke without looking up. “I’m busy.”

    Amanda stood in the doorway, feet apart, the dagger clutched tightly in her hand, murder in her eyes. Finally Hans looked up. At the sight of her he closed his file and rose. “Amanda? How did you get in here?”

    Amanda stepped in and shut the door behind her…locking it. Hans looked at the dagger in her hand and gulped.

    “Wh…wh-what are you doing here?” Hans stuttered. He leaned against his mesa on the palm of his hands. Amanda raised the dagger and brought it down to the mesa with force; the blade wedged itself into the wood…right in between Hans’s fingers.

    This action caused Hans to jump. His hands jerked back and he landed in his chair. Amanda ripped the dagger up out of the wood, walked around the mesa and leaned into Hans’s face. Hans gulped again, eyes wide with fear.

    “You know why I’m here.” Amanda sinabi sternly.

    “Now Amanda, let’s not do anything we’ll regret here…” Hans sinabi nervously, finger tracing the edge of his desk. Amanda used the flat side of the blade to push his hand away from the desk. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” She grabbed the arms of the office chair and pushed it to the center of the room. She raised the dagger and threw it at him. Hans looked at the dagger wedged in the back of the chair, inches from his head, then back to Amanda as she hissed: “You killed my son.”

    Hans tried to free the dagger from the chair, but it was also wedged into the internal furnished wood, so it was no use. However, Amanda, infuriated, ripped the dagger free in one yank. She grabbed his sando and pulled his face not even an inch from hers and said: “Don’t worry…this will only hurt…a lot.” She pulled him from the chair and almost pushed Hans to the ground but he caught himself. He stood upright and tried to reason with her.

    “Now Amanda, you don’t know what you’re doing!”

    “I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING! How can you live with yourself!?!”

    “Now Amanda, I know how you must be feeling, but-”

    “You have no idea how I’m feeling right now.”

    She stepped closer to him, grabbed the side of his neck and pushed him to the ground. “I’m stronger than I look Hans. Don’t think for a minuto that I won’t break your arm before you even have time to blink!” She kicked his chest to make him lay on his back, and got on tuktok of him. She gently ran the blade across his cheek in a shaving motion. “I wonder how you’d look without a face.” She sinabi through clenched teeth.

    “He’s not dead!” Hans screamed in terror. Amanda laughed.

    “You fool. You expect me to believe that?”

    “It’s true!”

    “If its true then why did you lie to me?”

    “Because I wouldn’t have been able to let him talk to you! I had to change the plan! I thought you'd get the team to come with you! Please Amanda!"

"If he's truly not dead then where is he?!"

"He's gone! He escaped! I had some people looking for him! You have to believe me!"

"Why should I?!"

"Because despite everything I've put you through I still pag-ibig you Amanda!" Amanda sinabi nothing. She kept staring at him with a straight face. Hans continued. "I don't expect you to believe me. But I was never going to harm our son. The minuto I saw him for the first time I could see you in him. You know he has your eyes? I miss seeing your beautiful blue eyes you know."

"I guess that's your loss then." She stood up, turned around, and left. Hans sat up and slammed his fist to the floor in defeat.

While she was with Hans, the team had taken out the rest of the guards. She met them outside.

(Kowalski) "Amanda, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Let's go find my son."

(Private) "He could be anywhere in New York sa pamamagitan ng now!"

"I don't care."

------------------------------------------------------

They'd searched for hours...without luck. Kowalski and Amanda were searching Manhattan. Skipper and Private New York City. Rico and Marlene Queens.

Kowalski and Amanda were now in Central Park.

"Don't worry Amanda, we'll find him." He assured her. Amanda sat down on a bench and began crying.

"But he could be anywhere! He's probably in an alley somewhere...cold...alone...scared..." Kowalski sat down susunod to her and wrapped his arms around her. Amanda buried her face into his chest and wept. Kowalski gently stroked her hair, and realized that dye was coming off in his hands. He looked at her hair which was gradually turning blonde.

"I didn't know your hair was blonde." Amanda picked up her head and looked at the light brown on his shirt.

"Sorry. It usually doesn't come off this early." She took her bun out and Kowalski watched her hair flowing in the wind. She took her sweater and wiped off some of the running dye. She was about to re-bun it but Kowalski gently grabbed her arm.

"I think you should leave it down. You have such beautiful hair." Amanda smiled, but only for a second. Kowalski held her again, and ran his fingers through her long hair.

After a few minutos of silence, Amanda got to her feet hopefully as she took notice of Skipper, Private, Rico, and Marlene approaching. But she did not see her son with them.

"I'm sorry. None of us have had any luck." Skipper sinabi sorrowfully.

"Maybe we can try again tomorrow." Marlene said.

"No, I want to keep looking."

"Amanda, it's eleven 'o' clock at night. You need to rest."

"I don't want to rest until I-" She looked past then in shock. The others turned to look. Amanda pushed through them. There, about twenty yards away, stood Hans...and Ryan.

Ryan looked up at Hans, as if asking for permission to go. Hans nodded. Ryan, in his dirty clothes, messy hair, and unlaced shoes, raced forward. Amanda fell to her knees, arms open and tears welling in her eyes. Ryan fell into her arms. Amanda held him tightly as she cradled him. "Oh Ryan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! What happened?"

"Don't you worry about it. You're ligtas now and that's all that matters." She looked at Hans over his shoulder. He was watching them with his hands in his pockets.

Amanda gently pushed Ryan off of her. "I'll be right back." She told him pushing a lock of hair out of his eyes. He nodded. Amanda stood up and walked over to Hans, arms crossed.

She stood in front of him for a moment in silence, and he said: "My men found him."

"This still doesn't change anything."

Hans took a deep breath and said: "I know. I don't expect it to."

Amanda hesitated before saying: "Thank you."

Hans nodded, looked past her at his son and said: "He's a good boy. You've done well." He paused for a moment, and concluded: "Goodbye Amanda."

"Bye Hans." With that, Hans turned and left without another word. Without looking back. Amanda returned to her son, put her arm around him, and the six of them went back to the apartment building.

March 22, 2012
0937 hours

Amanda and Kowalski stood out on the terrace talking.

"Why do you have to leave?"

"Because, Kowalski, you need your team madami than you need me. You don't need someone to tie you down. Especially when I have Ryan to think about."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know. Maybe back to NYC. Ryan's mga kaibigan are there. And so is my career." Kowalski took her hand.

"You don't have to do this."

"Yes I do. I'm sorry Kowalski. I'll be around."

"I'll never forget you Amanda."

"And I won't forget you. I wish there was something I could do to ipakita you how grateful I am for everything you've done for me."

"How 'bout a halik goodbye?" Amanda smiled, gently grabbed his collar, and pulled him closer until their lips met. She pulled away first.

"Goodbye Kowalski."

"Goodbye Amanda." With that Amanda turned and entered her apartment. A few minutos later Kowalski saw her down in the kalye getting into her car. She looked up and saw him there. She waved. Kowalski waved back and watched as the car drove away.

Skipper appeared at his side. "Sorry amigo."

"'Sokay. I'll see her again one day." Skipper smiled sympathetically and patted his back, then went back inside.

----------------------------------------------------

"So who was that man mom?" Ryan asked from the passengerside seat. Amanda smiled.

"He's just a friend, Ryan. A really good friend."