Note: this is the follow up story to "False Flag" that I wrote last fall before the epic story that was " Collide" took all my time. It has been floating around in my mind since then, so I finally decided to write it. You don't necessarily have to read False Flag to enjoy this story, but some things might make more sense if you do.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Covert Affairs; I'm simply borrowing them for this story.


Auggie removed the flash drive from the USB port of his computer and put it back in. He typed something on his keyboard. He didn't know if he should be irritated, disgusted or surprised. Somehow he was none of those things.

"What did you get?" Joan asked anxiously while opening the door to his office.

"Nothing." Auggie leaned back in his chair. "Not a damn thing."

"How can that be? The informant said that we'd be able to use everything on it and more." Joan leaned against his desk. "Do you want me to have Barber try?"

"Knock yourself out." Auggie removed the flash drive from his computer and held it out in his hand in the general direction of his boss. "I'm telling you it's blank."

"Joan, there's a call you need to take." Joan's assistant said while standing in the doorway.

"Thanks Deidre," Joan responded. "We don't need Barber to check on this." Joan closed Auggie's fingers around the flash drive. "We're going to get to the bottom of this. Retrace all of Annie's steps."


"Well?" Arthur took off his glasses as his wife entered his office. "Anything actionable?"

Joan approached his desk and sat down in a chair across from him. "It happened again."

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was."

Arthur stood up and grabbed a file from the top his file cabinet. "What's that, the third time this month?"

"About that."

"This is getting ridiculous."


Auggie caught the smell of familiar perfume as the glass doors of the DPD slid open. "Annie, so glad you're back," he said catching her elbow. "Tell me again what happened when you picked up the flash drive."

"The man was at the restaurant, just like we were told. He left it on the table next to the salt and pepper shakers, just like we were told he would. It was uneventful," Annie explained to Auggie as they entered his office.

Auggie scooped the flash drive up from his desk and held it up. "It's empty. You didn't get it near anything that might wipe it out did you?

"Seriously Auggie, you think I'd do that?" Annie was disappointed that he thought she would make that kind of mistake.

"No, I don't." Auggie could sense the hurt in her voice. "I'm just looking for an explanation, that's all."


"You have got to be kidding me!" Arthur stood up from his chair and looked out the window to the flame colored leaves of Langley, Virginia. "How could they possibly know that we were there?"

"I don't know, they just did," Jai responded. He was sitting in one of the leather chairs across from Arthur's desk. "I thought I was in and suddenly they kicked me out. I don't understand it either."

"Did you do everything by the book?"

"You know I did."

"We've got to get to the bottom of this." Arthur returned to his seat. "This is the forth operation that's been blown in the last month."


Joan stared into space, half watching C-Span and half day dreaming. She knew that she shouldn't watch the treason trial of the former DCS Henry Wilcox, but at the same time, she couldn't stop herself.

"You really should just turn that thing off." Auggie's voice in her doorway caused her to jump.

"I know, but I can't. It's like watching a car wreck. You don't want to see it, but you can't help but look."

"Jai is back, he's up talking with Arthur." Auggie settled into the sofa.

"Make yourself at home." Joan smiled at him while hitting mute on the television and returned to her desk.

"I've been thinking…" Auggie began and he leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "We need to get in front of this thing that is going on around here."

"Whatever this is…" Joan trailed off.

"We need to play one close to the vest, next time an info drop lands on your desk, we need to move up the time table," Auggie continued.

Joan smiled, they've been working together so long; she knew where he was going with his idea. "And if this is more than bad luck, we need to turn our luck around."

"Exactly."


Julie Donovan signed deeply as she hung up the phone, as the assistant to the Director of Clandestine Services; Julie had the security clearance of most of the management on the seventh floor of Langley. The one thing that she knew that the other members of the management team did not always know, it was when her boss was having a lousy week. This was one of those weeks and the phone call she had just received wasn't going to make his week any better. Knowing that she couldn't put off the inevitable, she stood up and walked across the plush carpet to the imposing double doors of her boss's office.

"Come in," Arthur responded to her knock from the other side of the door.

Julie cautiously opened the door and stepped inside, thankfully Arthur wasn't the kind of boss that would shoot the messenger, at least he never did that to her. "Just got off the phone with Shelly in Steve Baylor's office…"

"He wants to see me as soon as possible?" Arthur asked looking up from his desk.

"How did you know?" Julie sighed in relief.

"With all the crap that's been happening around here, I figured the Director of National Intelligence would want to see me."

"First thing in the morning."


Allen's Tavern was unusually quiet for a Wednesday night; usually by Wednesday everyone was ready to shake off the effects of a busy workweek with a couple of bottles of beer and a round of darts.

"The place sounds deserted," Auggie commented as he took Annie's sighted lead through the maze of tables to their favorite table.

"It is, surprisingly." Annie answered as she brought his hand to the back of a chair and parked their beer bottles on the table with a noisy flourish to tell Auggie where they were.

Auggie sat in the chair and reached for his beer, taking a drink and closing his eyes.

"Long week already?" Annie asked.

"Irritating week." Auggie leaned back in his chair. "Irritating and somehow I think it should be explainable, but it's not."

"Maybe we should just buy a lottery ticket, considering our luck as of late." Annie said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"What, your government pension isn't good enough?"

"I'm not fully vested yet."

"We're going to get to the bottom of it, don't you worry," Auggie said mysteriously.

Annie looked around to make sure that no one else from their office was nearby. "What, do you have a plan?"

"You know I always have a plan," Auggie answered before taking another long swallow of beer.


More to come soon. Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.

-M