A/N: Thank you again to all the readers and reviewers, especially the first time reviewers. Again, I have to thank Rachel Wilder for her assistance and advice. As always, your feedback encourages me and prompts my progress. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
Barber proved himself extremely useful. Within a matter of hours, he was able to locate and contact Sam's satellite phone. They found him alive and well and very much in Iran. During the brief exchange of information, Barber was able to pinpoint Sam's exact location and estimate when he'd be back in Pakistan.
"I don't understand how you were able to reach him when I wasn't," Max's relief at hearing this news allowed his frustration with the situation to seep through.
"We have additional technology at our disposal," was all Auggie could give him in the way of details. "They should be leaving Iran in the next few hours and will be back in Pakistan before nightfall today for them. They're about 12 hours ahead of you."
"And then what?" Max pushed.
"We'll try to remain in contact with him. He should be headed right back to Afghanistan, probably directly to Helmand Province. It's an easier crossing from Iran to Pakistan than to Afghanistan, apparently."
"Yeah. The border between Afghanistan and Iran is still a bit of a mess. It would be much easier to go through Pakistan, especially in the southwest corner."
Auggie forgot how familiar with the region his brother was. His team could actually use Max's expertise here. "He was just a few kilometers north of Khāsh headed toward Zāhedān when we reached him. Will they most likely go north or cross directly west from there?"
"If they continue north, they'll have a more direct geographical route back to Afghanistan, but I'm not too familiar with the terrain there. I do know that the main road, the only road, really, goes west. I'm not sure what the route number is in Iran, but it becomes N404 in Pakistan. I'd say they'll go that way and then eventually head north to Helmand, but it's rough going through there."
"We can get to him in Afghanistan if necessary. Even in Pakistan, actually," offered Auggie.
"As long as he's okay and in communication with you, he'd be furious with me if I asked you to pull him out. Can you just follow him for now?" Max knew he was asking a lot of his brother.
"Okay. That's what we'll do, but if there's any sort of trouble, I'll do what I can to send our guys."
"Thanks, Auggie." As anxiety about Sam's whereabouts left Max, exhaustion replaced adrenaline. Auggie could hear this in his brother's voice.
"It's not a problem, Max. Did you get home okay?"
"Yeah. It was a quick flight, and I've finally been able to breathe for the first time since he came up with this idea," Max confided. "And probably a lot longer than that, too."
"Good. I'll keep you posted." Despite catching a few more minutes of sleep after his first phone call with Barber and in between the four more that followed, Auggie was dead on his feet, although his headache had thankfully subsided.
Max could hear the fatigue in Auggie's voice as well. "Okay, thanks. It's getting late there, though. I'd better let you get some sleep. You guys looked as rough as me today."
"It's been a hectic few months," Auggie revealed.
"Yeah?" Max felt oddly fulfilled to have this small glance back into Auggie's life.
"Yeah, but things are finally starting to work themselves out."
"You need a vacation, Auggie."
"Don't we all." He decided as he terminated the call. Auggie plugged his phone into the bedside charger. As he entered the bathroom, Annie handed him his toothbrush.
"Everything okay there?"
"Yeah." He stuck the brush in his mouth and rubbed it around his teeth. Max was right. "I think we need to get out of here for a while," he announced through the lather in his mouth.
"For a while or longer?" Annie had felt this coming for months.
More than any of the others, Auggie had born the brunt of the havoc Henry had wreaked. He alone found himself implicated in every missive Henry had eventually directed against Joan, Arthur, Teo, and Annie. The fact that Henry hadn't gone after him directly but had attempted to use his relationships and connections with each one of the others to bring down the people he cared about most continued to eat away at him, even as evidence leading to Henry's arrest mounted. Auggie allowed himself to believe that he truly was the link between all of them, but more than that, he feared he had become the weak link threatening to bring down the entire operation. All of this weighed on his mind as he suggested a break.
"I don't know. Maybe play it by ear for a bit." He spat into the sink and continued brushing.
"Where would we go?"
"Not away. Just away from here."
"Okay." Annie was willing to give him what he needed, within reason.
"I need some distance from Arthur and Teo. And Joan needs time with them before the baby comes."
"Don't you think she'll need you when she's on leave?"
Auggie shrugged. "Calder's here. Maybe it's his time now. He's worked hard to get here, and he was a major factor in bringing Henry to justice."
"So you're just going to hand the DPD to him?"
"There's more to life than running the DPD, Annie." He spat toothpaste in the sink again. "At least I hope there is."
She wrapped her arms around his midsection, resting her head against his back. "When are you thinking?"
"I've made a commitment to Max, so when that's over, I guess. Maybe two weeks?"
"And then you'll just leave?" She knew how completely engrossed in work he could get. The thought of him dropping it all seemed very foreign to her.
He shrugged again. "How much vacation time do you have built up? Three weeks times four years of working here? I have at least that."
"So you're proposing that we'll be gone for three months?" Annie attempted to clarify.
"Maybe start with a month or so? From Thanksgiving to New Year's is about six weeks."
"You're serious." She hadn't been completely sure until now. He'd actually made a plan.
"We can start with Danielle and Michael and the girls in California and then maybe Hawaii or the Maldives or Whistler or anywhere for a couple of weeks before ending up with my family for Christmas. Or we can flip it around. Doesn't really matter to me."
She took his toothbrush from his outstretched hand and rinsed it with her own. "I'm assuming you're done with that?"
"Yeah."
"Then let's go to bed and we can talk about this tomorrow. Okay?"
"Good plan." Auggie slid beneath the covers and Annie climbed across him to her side before snuggling up in the angle where his body met the bed. "Is this really over?" he whispered into the darkness around them just as she began to slip into sleep.
"I think so. I hope so." She answered with as much conviction as she could muster.
"I can't do that again, Annie."
"I know, Babe." She reached up to lightly massage his scalp as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I know."
TBC
