Amazing Part 1
Author's Note: So this is a little nuts….I wanted to send Annie and Auggie on the Amazing Race, but as I discussed it with Epona3 we both realized Annie cannot be on television, so I dreamt this whole plot up. The company is actually based on a real adventure company I know and the challenges are all from Season 9 of the Amazing Race which I recently watched. I hope you like it!
"Annie, Auggie, Barber, conference room please," Joan swept by her arms laden with files.
Annie and Barber looked at each other and shrugged, then turned to Auggie. He could sense the interrogation from both sides and laughed.
"Don't look at me, I have no idea what's up," he stood and fished his laser cane out of the drawer.
"You always know what's up," Annie brushed her arm against his and he took it despite the assistive device in his other hand.
"Not this time," he replied curious himself.
Joan was pulling up something on her laptop and connecting to a projector when they arrived.
"Have a seat," she smiled.
There were folders at three places, one of them was labeled in Braille so Annie guided Auggie to that seat and she and Barber sat across from each other.
"Annie and Auggie, I have a mission for you, it requires a pair of operatives and I think it is going to be right up your alley. Barber, you will be providing back up, serving as handler if needed, keeping an eye on them. Information is in the folders, but the basic gist is this: the agency sees an opportunity to recruit an asset who works for World Race Enterprises," Joan began.
"I know about World Race, I almost did it when I graduated from college," Annie smiled.
"I know, part of why I picked you for this. I figure your combined language skills, your relationship and the exceptional story of Auggie's time in the war would make you the perfect team for World Race and sure enough it did, you've been accepted," Joan smiled.
"You already registered us?" Auggie asked with a quirked eye brow.
"You do have to complete an interview together and pass a physical, but you are pre-approved pending the interview. I didn't think either of you would object. It is a long-term assignment, the Race is 28 days, lots of logistics on your end Barber although I imagine you can hack the itinerary and get ahead of them," Joan nodded at the agent and he nodded back.
"When do we leave?" Annie grinned.
"If all goes well, 2 weeks. The mark is Gwen Masterson, she is the Operations Manager for World Race, she is 28 Yale educated and she travels around the world for 50 of the 52 weeks of the year. She is smart, physically fit and has access to parts of the world and people we would like access to on a regular basis," Joan brought up a photo on the screen behind her.
Gwen was tall, red hair, nice smile Annie got a good vibe from the photo, but obviously would need more to go on.
"What's our play?"
"You have 28 days to assess Gwen, make an impression on her and decide if you want to approach. Her vetting is complete, but it will ultimately be your call. During that time, enjoy the race," Joan grinned.
"Why me?" Auggie asked.
"You two are a team, you are both more than capable of completing the race and I think it will be an interesting bonding experience, welcome to dating at the agency," Joan grinned and stood and left the room.
"So I understand the objective here, but I don't know anything about the company or the trip we are embarking on," Auggie mentioned as he ran his fingers over the documents in his folder.
"Ever hear of the Amazing Race?"
"Sure."
"It's that without the eliminations or the million dollars, although it is a race and there is a prize at the end. I should have asked Joan if we can keep the prize when we win," Annie chewed a nail as she pondered.
"When we win, Walker?" Auggie smirked and Eric looked up from the files.
"Oh we're going to win, with our combined language skills and our ability to communicate, plus they always make people do these 'terrifying' things like bungee jumping and sky diving, child's play to us," she scoffed.
"Who were you going to do the race with before, when you were thinking about it after college?"
"Danielle, we would not have won, she would have needed to get her nails done in India and missed the plane, but it would have been fun, in a very different kind of way."
"Why didn't you do it?"
"Danielle got pregnant halfway through my senior year, instead of a race around the world we got Chloe," Annie laughed.
"Well she's her own kind of amazing," Auggie smiled.
***555***
"Well I'm not pregnant," Annie announced as she entered tech ops.
Auggie had, unfortunately, just taken a swig of coffee and nearly choked.
"Good to know," Barber looked up confused.
"Went for my physical for the mission, they took one look at me and decided I looked healthy enough. They checked my blood pressure and gave me a pregnancy test and I am good to go," Annie patted Auggie on the back as he continued to cough on the coffee.
"You're kidding, they gave me a whole stress test," Auggie frowned.
"Well you are older and male, they don't want you keeling over hiking through Nepal," she kissed his temple, "or possibly the nurse just wanted you to take your shirt off."
"We have the interview at 4:00 don't forget," she reminded him and then took her leave.
***555***
Annie and Auggie were seated in a comfortable office waiting for their interviewer to arrive. Auggie was tapping some unknown beat against his knee and Annie was instant messaging with Danielle via Skype. Finally a young man strolled in.
"Ms. Walker, Mr. Anderson so sorry for the wait. My name is Kevin Joyce and I will be conducting your interview," he extended his hand which Annie took and he responded quickly to Auggie placing his own hand in Auggie's with ease.
"Please call us Annie and Auggie," Annie smiled and put her phone away.
"Great, it is very nice to meet you both, I have read through all of your application materials and am excited to get to know you a little bit today. The first question is simple, why?"
"That is simple Kevin, Auggie and I have had the great privilege to travel a lot for work, but very rarely together, we have experienced so much on our own, we thought this would be a great way to do that together," Annie answered honestly.
They had decided going in that aside from their covers at the Smithsonian and omitting the whole CIA thing they would just be themselves.
"Auggie, you have any hesitations about the unknown in your situation?" Kevin asked with no hesitancy in his voice and Auggie appreciated that.
"When your blind, everyday has an element of unknown to it, Annie and I work very well together, I trust her with my life, I have very few concerns," he shrugged.
"What is your greatest strength as a team?"
"Communication," they said simultaneously and laughed.
"We really didn't rehearse that," Auggie clarified.
"We have worked together for over 3 years, been dating for 6 months, we are very much in tune with one another. In some ways we are more in tune because Auggie is blind, we can't rely on visual cues, we have to make the effort to literally reach out to one another," she made her point by patting his knee.
"Weaknesses?"
"We have half the eyes of other teams, some of the challenges might be too challenging, but I have come to terms with a lot of my limitations and I have no qualms about allowing Annie to do something if I can't, there is no gender hierarchy here, I know how tough she is and am proud of what she is able to do," he turned towards her and touched her cheek knowing it would be warm with blush.
"I also don't really like spiders," Annie added and Kevin laughed.
"That might be a problem," he winked.
TBC…