Annie was awakened by the loud metallic click of the lock. Blinded by the bright light, all Annie could make out was the silhouettes of three men. Once her eyes became adjusted to the light, she saw Boris, Dmitri, and Adrik.
"So how did our little spy sleep? Well I hope. We wanted to ask some questions again, see if you remembered anything after a good night's sleep." Boris said with a smile.
Annie just glared at the men, not saying anything. Her night in fact, was not good. Nightmares plagued her all night, waking her up every couple of hours. The last thing she wanted to do was be interrogated and tortured by these men. But it's not like she had choice.
Boris gave Dmitri and Adrik a signal, and they both came up on either side of Annie and grabbed her arms. All Annie could do was to watch Boris watch her with an amused smile on his face. Then he walked up to Annie, inches away from her face.
"You know, you are a very beautiful woman." He said while he brought his hand up to caress her face. As soon as his fingers touched her face, Annie snapped at them. No way in hell was this guy allowed to touch her in such a way. Boris whipped back his fingers with a grunt of pain and gave another sign to his henchmen. This time, Adrik was the one who gave a swift but hard punch to Annie's gut. Annie bent over in pain, but soon straightened up, not letting out a sound.
Now glaring at Annie, Boris said in a calm voice, "Now, now, now. Didn't they teach you back in daycare to play nice?" Annie just glared at him, not wanting to give him another reason to hit her. "Well, let's see if you remember anything shall we?"
In her mind, Annie was scared. Not that she would ever show it, but just some of the things these guys did for fun was enough to leave her petrified of what they would do when they really wanted something. Just the thought of what they did to the people before her was enough to send her blood boiling with rage. If it was the last thing she did, she was going to make sure these guys couldn't hurt another person. If all she could do to help was gather as much information as she could and give it to the CIA, then that was what she was going to do.
A swift kick to her stomach stopped Annie's thoughts and left her out of breath. "Once again, I'm going to ask you, who do you work for?" Boris asked with a calm voice, like he does this every day, which he probably does. Just like the day before, Annie said nothing and braced herself for the kick. Except that the kick never came. Instead she saw the glint of metal being pulled out of Boris's pocket. Knowing what was coming next, Annie struggled to pull free of the men's grasp on her arms as the knife closer to her body. But Adrik and Dmitri held her down tight and the next thing Annie felt was cool metal pressed against her stomach, making her abs clench. Annie couldn't hold in her gasp of pain as Boris slowly glided the knife down her stomach. She could feel the blood running down her body.
A small chuckle made Annie look back at Boris, where she saw him looking at her with a cruel smile on his face. Annie felt her stomach drop when she realized he just didn't do this because it was his "job" or because he liked it. He loved to torture people and make them squirm.
"Not what we were expecting was it? Like I said, this is only a taste of what we can and will do. It would be best to just tell us everything. I promise you, it would save us a lot of time and you a lot of pain. So, once again, I am going to ask you, who do you work for?"
When all Annie did was glare back at him, Boris made another long cut across her stomach, but this time Annie was expecting it, and held in her gasp of pain. Just like the day before, this continued on for a while, Boris alternating between cuts and punches. Finally after asking the question for what felt like the hundredth time, Annie, frustrated, spoke for the first time.
"If I didn't answer the question the first twenty times you asked it, what makes you think I'm going to answer it the next twenty?"
Annie braced herself for another hit, but nothing came. Instead, when Annie looked up, she saw Boris chuckling.
"We're done for now."
Dmitri and Adrik threw Annie back to the concrete floor with a signal from their boss.
"You have spirit in you, I'll give you that. But let me tell you something. It's our job to break that spirit. And we haven't failed yet."
With those words, all three men left and closed the door, leaving Annie in the darkness once again. Once the men were outside, they started to speak in Russia, so Annie scooted as quietly as she could to the door and listened.
"What are we going to do with her boss? She's going to be tough to crack, and by the time we do, it'll be too late to reach our quota in America."
"You're right on one thing. She will be tough to crack. But maybe we can use that to our advantage. Alik doesn't care how we get the money, as long as we get it. So why don't we use her as ransom. Force whatever company she works for to pay her way back."
"That's good boss. But she knows what we look like, and probably a hell of a lot more than she's letting on. If we give her up, she'll probably be able to give enough information to get us caught."
"I know that Dmitri. That's why I don't plan on giving her back at all. Once the money transfer is complete, we can kill her, leave without a trace, and return to business as usual."
"And how are we going to get the money without being traced boss?"
"Let me worry about that. Now go get Anton and send him to my office and then go do your jobs. The sooner that girl cracks the better."
"Yes sir!"
Annie heard footsteps coming closer to the door, so she scooted back as far as possible to where she was. Once the door opened, she heard the clang of two bowls hitting the ground and the door closing again. When she heard the metallic click of the lock, Annie scooted herself closer to the bowls and began chowing down. She honestly didn't know how she was going to get out of this one. The only knew thing she learned was the Boris wasn't the head honcho. There was apparently another man that called all the shots, and if they wanted to stop this whole organization, then he was the one he was going to have to take down.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
"Auggie, did you get any sleep last night?"
Auggie tore his gaze away from his computer long enough to answer "yes", and then turn right back.
"Auggie, you need to get some sleep. And not some crappy sleep you get from spending the night here. Some real sleep…in your own bed. You aren't going to do Annie any good working half exhausted."
"One sec, Joan. Almost got it…come on…YES!"
Joan thought Auggie was about to jump out of his seat in excitement. "Auggie, would you mind telling me what you found?"
"If I'm right, I think I might have found where they have taken Annie. I have some friends up where Annie was investigating, and they have been working hard, trying to bring down the organization that has been wreaking havoc in their city, the same people that kidnapped Annie. Well, they've been watching some people they think might have been members, following them around and such. One of them is an old MIT student named Anton Baskov. A couple of nights ago, one of the guys followed Baskov and he led them to an old abandoned warehouse that hasn't been occupied in years. When I pulled up the layout of the building, I found that they have a couple of secret underground rooms that nobody knows about anymore. I am almost positive that they are holding Annie down there, in those rooms."
"Stu, give me all the information you can find on Baskov and see if there is any other way into that bunker. Auggie, go home."
"Joan! I-"
"No Auggie. You aren't going to be any help to Annie with no sleep. Go home, get some rest, and come back with a clear head…now,"
Auggie knew that tone. It was Joan's no nonsense tone. Seething, Auggie grabbed his stuff and left the office. Once Auggie got home, he couldn't stay still. He should be out there, helping to get Annie home, and he was going to. If it was the last thing he did, he was going to bring Annie home, because he didn't know what he would do if he lost Annie. She had single handedly changed his life for the better. And no matter how stubborn Auggie might be, he couldn't deny how much he needed Annie Walker in his life. She had always been there for him when he needed someone to talk to, when he need to get away from everything. She was the only person that Auggie has allowed to get as close as she is to him. Auggie doesn't know if he could survive losing someone who had become such a big part of his life. He had a plan, and tomorrow he was going to put it into action.
A/N: Hey guys! I am so sorry for taking so long to update this story. School has been kicking my butt and I have had no time to do anything and then I had a case of writer's block. I will try and get updates more often but no promises. I also want to thank everyone for the reviews. They make my day and I love reading them. Please R&R. Any reviews or advice you can give will help me out a lot!