Annie came through her meeting with Auggie's mother unscathed. Will she be that lucky when her mission in Norway resumes? Guess we'll be finding out soon enough.

Again, the disclaimer ... I own nothing of Covert Affairs except my appreciation for the show and my imagination of what is happening to the characters between seasons. Please read and enjoy.

Chapter 7 – Back to Norway

Annie tried to rest on her flight back to Norway, but the noise of the other passengers and the droning of the engines kept her from napping. She bent over and pulled her quilted tote bag from under the seat and rummaged through it to find her iTouch. Music would block out some of the noise she hoped. Her hand brushed against her Braille slate, so she pulled it out and continued to dig for the stylus. From the side of the bag she reached into a folder and pulled out a couple of sheets of paper.

She pulled down the tray table and prepared to write Auggie a note. Annie had become proficient enough with basic Braille that she no longer needed to use a reference card. The older woman who was her seatmate glanced up from the book she was reading and went back to the book. Annie thought about what she would say for a long time before she started writing.

"Auggie, I'm not even half way across the Atlantic, and I'm already missing you. I have wrongly thought that the more experience I have in this job the easier it would be for me to make these trips. I was wrong. It's getting harder to leave. Do you think it would be easier if I were flying out to Hawaii? LOL. No, unless you were going with me, I'd be sad even going to Hawaii. I'm already looking forward to a hug when I get home.
Love, Annie"

Her seatmate watched her write the note. Once, Annie glanced up and smiled when she realized she was being watched. The woman smiled, but didn't say anything when she realized a tear was trickling out of the corner of Annie's eye. There was so much more she wanted to say in the note, but Annie wanted to be sure both she and Auggie were healed enough from their past relationships before she shared everything that was in her heart.

The plane landed in Oslo, and Annie had a long enough layover to eat a real meal, buy some Norwegian stamps to mail Auggie's letter, and give Auggie a call.

Annie looked at the clock in the airport terminal. It was 9 p.m. in Oslo, so it would be 2 p.m. in DC. Auggie should be at his desk. He was expecting Annie's call, so he answered in his best Norwegian accent … "hah-loow."

"Hey, Auggie. I'm in Oslo, I've eaten something and I'm on my way to get my flight up to Alta. Anything going on there?"

"It's quiet for a Wednesday," he teased, "meaning we've barely had time to catch our breath today."

"If it makes you feel any better, the flight wasn't that great, either."

"I'd still rather be on a not-so-fun flight with you," Auggie countered.

"I know you would, but I'm glad you're where you are to look out for me," Annie said. "Not that you couldn't do that if you were here."

"Speaking of looking out for you, we've had a little change in plans. The station chief from Oslo will be on the plane up to Alta with you. We were studying the intel today, and these Russians are real bad dudes. We don't want you to take any chances."

"What's he … I'm assuming it's a he … what's he look like. How should I introduce myself to him?"

"You don't. We don't want you to make direct contact with him, in case someone is watching you," Auggie explained. "In case you and Ivan have been noticed by anyone, we don't want you to alter your patterns to spook them."

"Do you think I've been made?"

"No, but we can't be too careful," Auggie assured her. "I'm … uh … we're … just being protective of you … maybe a little over protective," he admitted.

"You don't know how good and safe that makes me feel, Auggie … thank you," Annie whispered. "Now, I need to get over to the gate for the flight up to Alta. If I'm lucky, I'll get checked into my hotel by one in the morning."

"Travel safe and rest well," Auggie said softly so no one else in the tech center could hear.


Annie had not set the alarm on her cell phone, and she was thankful that when she awakened she could see a streak of bright light behind the room darkening draperies in the hotel room. She rolled over and picked up her phone to check the time … 10 o'clock in the morning meant it was 3 o'clock in DC so she wouldn't get to speak to Auggie until the middle of her afternoon.

She washed her face and brushed her teeth before jumping in the shower. She stood under the steaming water for a several minutes before reaching for the shampoo and shower gel. The warm water washed away the weariness of the long trip and seemed for a moment to ease her homesickness. Annie took her time drying her hair and getting dressed. At this point in the day she was going to eat an early lunch rather than a late breakfast before she went to the university library to work on her "research."

On her last trip to Alta, Annie had discovered a Subway Sandwich Shop that had just about the same menu as the shop she and Auggie would duck into when they needed a quick bite to eat. She ordered a veggie sandwich with cheese, oil and vinegar on whole wheat with a bottle of water and took a seat at a corner table where she had a view of the entire restaurant. It was early, so there were few customers eating. She wondered if the Oslo station chief was one of the men … or was one of them a Russian mafia member following her. Annie listened carefully to the conversations of each customer and determined that none of them were Russian … someone could have been working for the Russians, but at least they weren't Russians.

"Darn, that Auggie," she thought, "making me wonder if I'm being followed." When she thought about it for a few minutes, she realized he wasn't trying to spook her but remind her she needed to be vigilant about who was in her surroundings and stay hyper aware to remain safe. She finished her sandwich and left the shop for the library in her rental car.

She made herself comfortable in the library working on the genealogy research. She recognized several people who had been working in the library when she was there several weeks ago. They recognized her, too, and smiled warmly. Annie worked for a time before Ivan joined her at the table with a stack of his own books concealing a thicker-than-usual large manila envelope. He sat at the chair across the table from Annie and began reading and taking notes for a time until he slipped the envelopes under the stack of three books in front of Annie. As the transfer was being made, Annie did not look up. One of the keys to her staying safe was to ignore Ivan. They both sat at the library table and worked for a while before Ivan left. Annie worked until almost four o'clock and decided to go back to the hotel when dusk was approaching.

Annie stuffed her legal pad and the envelope into her messenger bag and returned her reference books to the stacks on the way to the exit. Leaving through the main entrance, Annie slung the bag across shoulder strap across her body and checked her surroundings before walking to the car. The temperature had dropped during the afternoon, so the snow crunched under her boots as she walked, making an eerie echo. She was glad she had her car keys in her hand, because she thought she saw a person's shadow out of the corner of her eye. She picked up her pace and looked in the car and around it before she opened the door. There was nothing. She got in the car quickly and breathed again.

The little rental car groaned in the cold and rumbled to a start. Annie let out the clutch and pulled away from the curb to head back to the hotel. She looked at the clock and calculated that that in about 20 minutes she would be in her room and could be talking to Auggie on her encrypted phone. Granted, it had to be a business-like conversation, but at least she could hear his voice.

Four thirty in the afternoon in Norway meant it was mid-morning in Langley. Annie pulled into the hotel parking lot, surveyed the area before she sprinted through the cold into the lobby. Before she called Auggie's office number, Annie set up her encrypted laptop with the little portable scanner in case Auggie and Joan wanted to see information in the documents immediately.

Annie's heart started beating faster in anticipation of hearing Auggie's voice. She pressed the speed code for Auggie's desk phone, waited for the call to lock in and start ringing … one ring … two rings … three rings … "Anderson."

Is it possible for someone's heart to actually skip a beat? Annie swore her heart skipped a beat before Auggie answered the phone.

"Auggie, I'm back at the hotel," she said softly, "so we can talk. He gave me a larger package than usual this afternoon. I hooked up the scanner to the laptop, so I can start scanning and emailing it to you in a few minutes."

"That's good news. Have you looked at the information yourself?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you first and start sending it to you so we can get it transcribed, in case there is something that needs immediate attention. He's been giving us just a few pages at a time that I could read and almost analyze on the fly, but this is more than 50 pages of intel," Annie explained.

"Good call, Slugger. How are you holding up?"

"OK, but I'm chilled to the bone and for the first time in my life, I think I'm homesick for DC," she whispered.

Auggie smiled at her admission because he understood what she was telling him. "Well, we're missing you here, too. I'm especially missing your afternoon coffee runs … Annie? Have you noticed anyone unusual following you? I'm hoping I'm just being over cautious."

"No, but I'm being very careful and keeping a close watch on my surroundings. I'm following all the protocols I've been taught."

"Stay cautious and start scanning. We can get started analyzing and check for authenticity of the documents when you get back here with them," Auggie instructed.

"I just found a note to me in with the documents. It says there will be one more packet of information and he'll pass it to me sometime in the next few days. I'm going to start scanning. This is going to take some time."

"We'll be watching the email," Auggie acknowledged.

Annie started scanning the documents and transferring them to Auggie.


As the scanned documents popped into his email, Auggie began forwarding them to Joan to distribute to staff members who could translate them. "Joan?" Auggie asked as he heard his boss's footsteps and necklace jangle as she walked into the Tech Ops office.

"Auggie, don't waste time sending me Annie's intel first. Send it to the translating team and me at the same time."

Auggie nodded. "Do you have any information back from the team, yet?"

"No, it's a shame Annie's our field officer on this op, because she's our fastest and most accurate Russian translator," Joan mused.

"Maybe she'll do a little light reading after she finishes sending us the scans," Auggie chuckled. "She said she was so cold that making coffee runs in the office was looking good to her today. Want to bring her home early?" Auggie teased.

Joan patted Auggie's shoulder and whispered, "I know how much you miss her, but we need the rest of Ivan's intel."

"Yep," Auggie acknowledged sadly.


Auggie and Annie are experiencing separation anxiety. Join me for the next chapter, when piesces of the intel puzzle start to come together.