Into the light and back 11

Auggie entered his new safe house. He had no clue what it looked like. He trailed his trolley suitcase with his left whilst holding his cane with the right. He left the suitcase next to the door and started to explore the room layout.

He made a few tentative steps forward and swept his cane in a small arc until the tip of the cane touched something. Auggie slowly felt and came across a kitchen counter to his right. He let his hand slide across the surface and found the fridge, the sink and a cooker. He reached up and found three cupboards. He opened them and they contained a couple of cups, plates, glasses and bowls.

Auggie slowly continued his way through the flat. Opposite of the kitchen, he found an L-shaped couch and a table. He trailed his hand along the wall when he had reached the end of the couch and found a door. He opened it and after a few steps he got to a huge double bed on his left and found a closet to his right. Auggie turned and left the room. He veered a bit to the left until his cane touched the next door. It was the bathroom. The room was small and had a shower on the right and a toilet and a was basin on the opposite side. The bathroom had no windows, but room ventilation instead. But windows were not necessary for Auggie anyway.

The safe house was small, and after Auggie had oriented himself a bit, he thought that he might feel at home in the safe house for some time.

He had brought a few groceries but cooking would be impossible for him. The stove was not prepared for the use of a blind person. So he would prefer sandwiches, yoghurt and salad for some time. There was also a coffeemaker. Using it would not be a problem for him.

After the first night, Auggie woke up early and could not fall asleep again. He touched his wrist watch and noticed it was 5:30 a.m. He had had a strange dream. Since he had gone blind, Auggie had stopped to dream, or more precisely in is dreams he did not see pictures. His dreams were only a combination of scents, colours and voices in the dark. But the dream he had the night before, was colourful, vivid and seemed very real. He could see everything. He saw himself and Annie in Disneyland, he saw the Trevi Fountain in Rome and he saw himself strolling through the streets of Barcelona.

His brief period of sight had given him back a piece of his past. A past as a sighted man with vivid visual impressions. Being able to see in his dreams, made him happy and sad at the same time.

Because when Auggie was fully awake, the usual black nothingness before his eyes greeted him.

A bit confused after the dream, he rubbed his eyes. Everything had seemed so real to him.

Auggie got up and walked to the bathroom, trailing his hand along the wall. He took a short shower, shaved and went to make some coffee. He felt for the first cupboard, found a cup and in the drawer next to the sink he found a tea-spoon and a knife.

He had brought some jam, toast and cheese and started to make breakfast now. He slowy carried the plate in his left hand to the couch table whilst orienting himself a bit with his right and went over to the kitchen counter again to get his coffee cup.

When he had finished eating, he fished his mobile phone out of the pocket of his jacket and attached the cable to recharge it. Then he booted the laptop he had brought, and attached the portable Braille display. There was no TV or radio for his distraction and so he used his computer for entertainment. He had already tried to reach Natasha by e-mail but there was no response so far from her. Auggie opened the music player on his computer and soon Mingus sounds filled the room.

He needed to write some e-mails,too. He had to report to Joan, that everything was okay so far. He started his email programme and began to write a message.

Dear Joan,

first night at the safe house was okay.

Nothing new so far

See you at the office.

Regards Auggie

He typed the message and slid his fingers across the Braille line of his keyboard. Reading with his hands had become easy for him. It did not require real effort anymore. His fingers automtically recognized the letters and converted them into words, phrases and texts.

Auggie himself would never have believed, that this was possible until he had lost his sight from one day to the other.

At 8:00 a.m. Auggie called a taxi that would take him to Langley. He had no real idea where he was, the only thing he knew was the way into the building. But he had not explored the surroundings yet to find a shop, a bakery or a pub. It would not be advisable to go out a lot but just in case he needed some groceries it would be good to know where to go.

The taxi driver opened the door for him and when Auggie had taken a seat he asked

„Can you tell me where I can find some shops close-by?"

The driver looked over to Auggie and said „Yes, there is a bakery on the opposite side of the road and a supermarket a few hundred metres down the road."

„Good to know" Auggie said and smiled a bit.

A bit more than 30 minutes later the taxi reached Langley. Auggie took his wallet out of the messenger bag and fished out one of the neatly folded bank notes for the driver.

Then he opened the door, unfolded his cane and walked towards the entrance of the building. When he reached his office, he was already greeted by Barber who had continued to stay at his place. Just in case Auggie would get another message, it would be advisable to have somebody to check it. Otherwise the Russian lady would immediately realize that he had moved out. And that would put him in even more danger.

„How is it going man?" Barber asked when Auggie reached the glass door of his office and made his way towards his desk.

„First night was okay" Auggie answered and stowed his cane in the desk drawer before he booted the computer.

„Glad to hear that" Barber said but his words were hard to understand as he was munching on a cheese sandwich.

„What did you say?" Auggie asked a bit confused and Barber swallowed the last bite of bread and cheese before he repeated „I am glad to hear that"

Two minutes later Barber had left and Auggie slid his headphones over his head and listened to the computer voice reading the messages to him.

After the fifth message he stopped. He had received an e-mail from Natasha.

Finally, he thought. He was really concerned what would have happened if Natasha had not replied to him.

She wrote:

Hey Auggie,

so good to hear from you again.

What have you been up to lately? Guessing you need some hacking assistance or why do you write to me?

Call me on my cell phone : 0039 456 890 690

Tash

Auggie was glad that she had replied. The country code of the cell phone told him that she was in Italy. She had always been on the run since they had met. He wondered when she would finally stop running from everyone and everything.

Auggie rummaged through his desk drawers and finally found his encrypted cell phone. He dialled the number, Natasha had given him, and after a while, Natasha took his call. First of all, he heard her speak Russian but when she finally realized who was calling, she immediately switched to English.

„Auggie, so good to hear your voice again" Natasha said with a smile in her voice that Auggie could hear.

„Yeah, good to hear from you, too" Auggie answered and continued „You are right, I am contacting you for some special reason, but it has nothing to do with a hacking attack or a new code. I was threatened by the Russian mob. They want me to find you. Otherwise, they will put an end to my life they said. I don´t know what this is all about, but you need to come to the USA , Tash, come to DC as soon as possible, PLEASE." The last word had sounded desperate, even scared.

Natasha had listened and she was shocked „Who would do that to you? She asked with horror in her voice.

„I don´t know" Auggie replied. The woman that approached me was Russian. I could tell that from her accent. But given my total lack of sight, I cannot describe her. Apart from the scent of her perfume and the voice. I have no idea who she was. But she did not sound very young anymore." He added .

„And how do you want to get out of that mess?" Tash asked. She was terrified. Travelling to DC meant that her life was at stake but if she didn´t, Auggie would suffer or lose his life. She did not want to be responsible for that. Therefore she said.

„All right I will be there ASAP."

„I knew you would not let me down" Auggie said with a relieved sigh and smiled a bit despite the serious situation that he was in.

After the call, Auggie took his laser cane and went to Joan Campbell´s office. He knocked, and when he finally heard her call „come in" , he made his way towards Joan´s desk. He felt for the back of the chair and took a seat.

„Joan, I have found Natasha" He announced. And if he had been able to see, he would have noticed the signs of relief in Joans facial expression.

„That is so good to hear" Joan Campbell said, rising from her desk chair. She walked over to Auggie and put one hand on his shoulder. „I am sure we will figure out how to help you" She said and tried to sound more convinced than she really was.

„What is your plan now?" Auggie asked her, trying to meet her gaze. But as usual, he only managed to look into her general direction.

„My idea is to use Natasha Petrovna as a bait. We will try to arrange for a meeting with Natasha and the mob guys and then we will take them into custody but first of all, we have to find out how many others are behind that, apart from the person you have encountered two days ago."

„I guess we will have no other choice" Auggie answered and rose from his seat and made his way to the door. Before he walked out he turned again a bit and said „Thank´s Joan for your support".