"Yes!" Annie exclaimed as the door opened.
"Yes? You mean…?" stammered McQuaid.
"Yes, I'll marry you!" she said, giggling and leaping into his waiting arms. He laughed with her before pressing his lips against hers; she could feel his smile.
It wasn't long before there was a trail of discarded clothes. They didn't reach the bedroom…
Propped up on one elbow, Ryan stroked Annie's bare arm. She wore a soft smile as they lay there, quietly enjoying each other's company.
"I suppose I should get you a ring," he said eventually.
Annie rolled onto her back, smiling playfully up at her new fiancé, "I suppose you should," she answered.
"Well, I was hoping the answer would be yes. But you took me a little by surprise, Miss Walker," he found his pants, and pulling them on, bent his knee and from the pocket pulled a velvet blue box.
"Miss Annie Walker, would you do the honour of marrying me?" he asked, as he pulled open the box to reveal a platinum band with a solitary diamond.
"Yes, I will," replied Annie, a grin spreading across her face.
He slipped the ring on her finger.
They rest of the afternoon was spent much like their first night together; talking, drinking, laughing.
"What made you say yes?" Ryan asked all of a sudden.
The question surprised Annie a little, but she relaxed and smiling softly answered, "I listened to my heart. It told me a few things actually…Joan offered me a job, back at Langley. In the field…it would be a promotion, actually."
"Ok. What did you say?" he asked, without a hint of judgement.
"I said I'd think about it…but at the same time I realised I wanted to say Yes to you, I realised I didn't want to go back. With you, I can get the best of both worlds. Langley can contract out to us and at the same time I don't have to deal with the bureaucracy. I mean, what would happen the next time I do something they don't agree with? I know you trust me and I trust you."
"Alright then," he said, leaning up and kissing Annie again, "I think this deserves another toast."
The ring caught the light. Annie looked away from her computer to study her hand and a smile spread slowly across her face. A knock on her door brought her back down to earth.
"Can I borrow you?" Ryan asked, leaning against her door frame.
"Business or pleasure?" Annie smiled.
"Business. Although, it's always a pleasure to be in your company," he replied.
Annie followed him through the corridors, their hands brushing slightly. Despite being discreet, news about their engagement had travelled throughout the building. But things at work stayed strictly professional, at least in the office.
Joan and Arthur sat at McQuaid's desk and shortly after they were joined by another man, Cooke, one of McQuaid's top operatives.
"Thanks for joining us. Annie, Cooke, Langley have contracted us to for an assignment in Russia. Joan is here to brief us, we three will be on a plane in the next two hours. Joan?"
"Thanks, McQuaid. Greg Blake, an operative of ours was in deep cover, working for Russian arms dealer Balsunov Denisovich. This morning, he tried to reach out. We think he was trying to warn us of an imminent attack on US soil. We have lost contact with him soon after his message and we are worried his cover is blown. He may already be dead, but we want to try an extraction, but sending our guys in will be too risky. You have methods at your disposal that we don't. If we are too late then any possible intel on a possible threat would be beneficial."
Joan finished her briefing and handed over document wallets with the rest of the details. The office was emptying when Annie felt a hand brush her arm.
"You know, my offer still stands Annie. We all miss you and with Augie gone, the place doesn't seem the same," Joan said.
"Thanks Joan, I appreciate it. You have to admit though, working like this has its benefits," Annie answered.
"That is true. I hear a congratulations is in order," said Joan, her eyes shifting briefly to Annie's hand.
"We were trying to keep it quiet, but it seems everyone knows. Doesn't say much for us as spies" Annie smiled.
"I'm happy for you. Have you set any dates yet?"
"Nothing decided for certain, but we want a small wedding. I'll let you know."
Joan smiled at Annie fondly. Despite feeling certain she had made the right decision to stick at McQuaid, she still found herself feeling a little guilty for not accepting the offer and now, looking at her former boss and mentor the guilt churned more than ever.
The private jet felt comfortable and familiar now. Ryan sat beside her as it started moving along the run way and soon she was watching the landscape drop away through the window.
"We are going to use one of our Russian helicopters to get us as close to Denisovich's last known location as we can without arousing suspicion. He is careful, he uses temporary bases, never near urban centres. The slightest hint of our arrival and he and his men will disappear, so we have a trek ahead of us," said Ryan.
"What is the plan when we find them?" Annie asked.
"Well, we know he travels only with a few men. We take them out, get Denisovich and hopefully find Blake alive. I can signal for our helicopter to extract us when we reach that point. We will take him to a safe house of mine in Chelyabinsk, see if he will talk for us. We should get some rest, we need to hit the ground running when we land."
The whir of the helicopter's blades gradually disappeared into the distance leaving them in a quiet clearing. The rising sun was just starting to shake off the half-light of dawn. Annie slung her back-pack over her shoulder, and studied a GPS device in her hand.
"The co-ordinates Blake last sent in places them North-East of here," she told McQuaid and Cooke.
Taking the lead she headed towards the dark tree line. The air was cold but within half an hour of trekking through thick forest she had a slight sheen on her forehead.
"You ok?" asked her fiancé quietly.
"I'm fine," she answered automatically.
He nodded and they continued on but Annie noticed Ryan's eyes tracking her, his concern causing the slightest of creases around his eyes.
They had barely been walking two hours when they reached a clearing. Cooke called for a stop.
"There was a camp here. It's well covered up but there were definitely people here recently," he said, examining a scuff in the soil.
"How recently?" Ryan asked, "A few days, weeks, what are we talking about here Cooke?"
"No, there was rainfall a couple of days ago, it would have washed away these signs. I think this was from yesterday, possibly even earlier this morning."
"That means they are on the move. Possibly close by. How could you tell?" Annie said.
"My dad was a hunter, he taught me how to track. It started off with animals, now I am an expert at tracking humans," Cooke answered.
"Useful skill. Any clues as to which direction they moved off in?" she asked.
Cooke examined the clearing, bending down and studying the ground. After a few minutes he pointed West.
"Ok. Let's move out. Be on your guard, they could be close by," ordered McQuaid.
From then on they crept through the undergrowth, Cooke taking point and looking for signs of passage.
There was no breeze to rustle the leaves or bird calls, even the insects seemed to stand down. The only noise was their careful steps. It was as if the whole forest had come to a standstill, as if it were holding its breath in anticipation of something. It made Annie shiver.
They reached a particularly dense patch of forest. Her instincts were to avoid it but just as she was about to voice her concerns Cooke called a halt.
"There is a footprint here. Looks fresh," he said in a whisper.
Ryan signalled for them to continue and pushed to the front, leaving Annie to take the rear.
The thick, leaf-laden branches cut out most of the sun light so they continued on in a deep green haze.
Suddenly, the forest's silence broke. There was movement above Annie. Her hand reached for her gun, but before she could draw it, something or someone heavy had landed on her and pinned her to the ground.
She could hear the grunts and struggles of Ryan and Cooke. She tried to push whoever pinned her down away, but all she achieved was a blow around the head.
The pain began then, spreading from her chest to her arm and squeezing the breath from her lungs. She gasped and tried desperately to wrestle free but the pain was paralysing. Everything had grown quiet again but she wasn't sure if the ambush was over or she was simply losing consciousness.
The weight on her shifted and she was able to move her head. Several men surrounded them, two had a hold of Ryan, blood trickled from a small cut on his eye-brow and Cooke looked as if he were coming round from being knocked out.
Annie's vision grew blurry.
"What's wrong with her?" she heard one of the men say in Russian.
She tried to answer, but another wave of pain rippled through her chest.
"Please, she needs medicine. It's in her backpack…" she heard Ryan answer as her vision faded.
To be continued…