Ch7
"Annie! There's been some chatter on the Latin Desk and I need you to translate these emails." Joan said as I walked in with Auggie on morning. I grabbed the file and she walked away without another word.
"Maybe something interesting will be in them?" Auggie asked with a hopeful grin. I looked at him incredulously.
"Oh yes, because the plans to smuggle cocaine across the Ecuadorian border to Colombia is definitely interesting."
"Drug cartels are becoming more and more vicious." Auggie shrugged as we got to his office. He moved to his desk. I leaned against the edge and sighed.
"Well, I'll let you know how much cocaine is getting smuggled out of Bolivia."
"I thought you said Ecuador?" Auggie smirked as he sat down. I laughed and shook my head.
"Lunch?" I asked hopefully.
"If nothing goes Tango Uniform in this op with Frenck in Brazil."
"Well I hope none of these translations interfere with that. I'll talk to you later." I kissed his cheek quickly and walked out to my office. After I sat down, I immediately dug into the stack of papers and got started with the translations.
After 2 hours I had to pause for a second. Something was adding up and it wasn't looking good. I grabbed the related papers and walked over to tech ops.
"Hey Auggie, what exactly is Frenck doing in Brazil? Does it have to do with the Embassy?"
Auggie turned his head slightly to acknowledge me.
"He's trying to gain intel in the Turkish Embassy. Is that the Embassy you were talking about?" He paused and turned his head more towards me.
"I think I have intel on an attack on the US Embassy in Brazil, but I need to tie the connections together. I think it may be related to your op."
"But Frenck is working on the Turkish Embassy, not the US one."
"I have 5 different emails from 5 different people to one email address disguised as 5 separate addresses. Each email specifies a different component of the attack. Day, time, place, weaponry, and who is going to carry out the attack."
"That seems pretty tied together already."
"Yeah, but there was also the mention of an Artimis who is handling the Turkish Embassy. Auggie, you need to pull Frenck."
"Annie, how solid is this intel. It seems like you got it pretty easily."
"Actually, half of these translations were from last week."
"Annie, let's take this to Joan, first." Auggie started to stand.
"But the date is set to today! In less than 12 hours! Auggie!"
Auggie found my shoulders.
"Annie, I believe you. But we can't just go rushing into this. This is serious. It isn't just about pulling an operative, it's about stopping a terrorist attack on the US Embassy. We need to take this to Joan."
I took a deep breath to calm myself. He was right, of course.
"Ok."
"Ok?"
"Yeah, let's get this to Joan right away."
He smiled and grabbed my elbow as we quickly walked up to Joan's office. I knocked on the doorjamb and she gestured us in.
"Annie, Auggie, what is it?"
I handed her the papers.
"When doing the translations you gave me today, I had a hunch that something was off. Some of the emails reminded me of ones I did last week so I pulled those out and when I compared them, they were similar."
She glanced through them.
"That's the address of the US Embassy in Brazil." She said as she looked at one of the papers.
"And another one gives a date, another with a time, another with the type of explosives, Joan there's a terrorist attack being planned for today." I stated as she looked through the rest.
"Ok, I will get Calder up to speed. Auggie, read Frenck in and if necessary, pull him. Annie, see if there is any other connected translations in anything within the last week."
I nodded and we started to leave.
"And Annie."
I turned.
"Good work." She said as she picked up her receiver. I smiled and led Auggie out of the room. He immediately went to his desk and got Frenck on the phone while I walked back to my office and grabbed the finished stack to go through it again.
Halfway through and I was frustrated. I shouldn't be stuck here. I wanted to help. I belonged in the field helping Frenck and the others catch this guy. In fact, I should have been Frenck on his op. He was a good operative, but I was the lead. I should
have been on such a high-priority mission. I should be in Brazil.
But I'm not. I can't. I shouldn't. I need to recover. Get the virus out of my body and then I will be back to where I was. I have to be patient.
I took a deep breath and powered through.
I have more talents than just being a field operative. I love languages. That's why I was recruited in the first place. Minus the whole Ben diboccal. I am good at what I do. That's why I am still here and not tossed on the corner of a street, scorned
and not allowed to ever come back. I am helping.
I had to repeat this over and over to keep myself from flying down to Brazil on my own to go and take care of it myself. I couldn't do that.
Even after I was done scrutinizing the old translations, I sat in my desk with my head in my hands refusing to move. I could hear something happening in Tech ops and the urge to leave and help would overwhelm me if I saw what was going on. So I stayed
and sat at my desk for what was probably hours.
"Annie? You still here?"
I looked up at Auggie's voice.
"Yeah, I'm still here."
"Bad guys busted, terrorist attack prevented. Miss Anne Walker, I believe you might be getting a medal." He leaned against the doorframe.
I rolled my eyes and snorted as I stood up. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, just needing the comfort that he brought me.
"Ready to go?" He asked quietly. I nodded against his chest. "You did well today, Annie. If you had been in Brazil instead of here, hundreds could have been dead."
I took a deep breath.
"I know. I just needed a moment. Let's go home."
He kissed my forehead and I smiled.
