A/N: I don't own these lovely characters. They all belong to USA and CA writers. Thank you for writing reviews/feedback. I really appreciate it! Please let me know what you think. . . it's entertaining for me to write and come up with twists and turns. I always believed that there could have been more to the Khalid connection in Season 5. . . the scene where Annie tells Charlie that he likes white girls and there is a shot of her in the side view mirror looking off, I thought that perhaps she had contact with him while she was on her "sabbatical". . . I think Khalid was attracted to Annie Walker (What Man Isn't?) and in my fanfic universe of Prodigal, he reached out to her. More to come later. Busy with new job and tired. Hard to juggle kids, kids' activities and work. House is a disaster zone, but found some time today to edit and post.
/
Annie went silent. Despite her headache and fatigue, her brain worked hard to process events and information that appeared to be unconnected. What did Ryan mean when he said, the man wouldn't get away?
Wait, thought Annie. . . The car that she just saw pull away there was something familiar about it. . . one of her skills that she applied well as a spy was her ability to recall details. Although the damage on front of the car wasn't visible to her, it was the same model and make as the one she saw crash into her out of the corner of her eye.
How did that man know where she lived? Was the man in her apartment working with Harris Wilson or the Altans or both? There were pieces she needed to complete the puzzle. She had to question him.
"What the hell McQuaid? He's started his car already!" shouted Annie as it occurred to her that the man sitting next to her at no intention of starting his car and her gut told her all along he had been hiding something. She didn't have time to ask questions she knew he wouldn't answer truthfully so she made a decision.
"Annie, that man is. . .," started Ryan before he started letting out a string of expletives as Annie opened the passenger car door and swiftly went around back to the sidewalk to avoid the man in the pick-up seeing her from his rearview mirror. From his sideview mirror, Ryan saw her hike up her dress and get on a motorcycle, the same one she rode to the Campbell house for dinner. She put on her helmet and started to maneuver it into the street after the man he knew as Allan Langer.
Ryan sucked in his breath and turned on his ignition. She was doing nothing out of character and therefore he shouldn't have been surprised that she sprung into action with no thought to her personal health and well-being. He should have told her what he knew, he shouldn't have hesitated. Now he had to stop her from blowing things where Langer was concerned.
Ryan didn't want to do it, but he could think of nothing else, so he pulled out of his parking spot abruptly and cut her off causing her to swerve her bike, then go down on the curb in front of her apartment. Beads of sweat formed on his head as the hairs on his neck and back stood on end. He quickly pulled his car back into the spot he was in while also turning his attention to the spot where Annie went down. Once out of his car, he ran to Annie. He was surprised that she wasn't up and ready to take him for what he did. He saw that she struggled to right the bike. The fury he saw in her eyes when she saw him approaching was undeniable. He would have felt better had she unleashed a tirade on him, but instead she fiercely focused on lifting her motorcycle.
As quickly as he hit her, he righted the motorcycle. When he turned back, Annie had stood up and that's when he saw blood dripping from her hand, which held her handgun, the very one he gave to her. After she made sure he saw the gun, she tucked it back in her jacket while gritting her teeth. With her head she motioned to her apartment. Still not a word had come out of her mouth, but Ryan knew she was fuming.
/ /
Auggie called Annie repeatedly and each time his call went straight to voicemail. He wanted to give her an update on what he found and he wanted to check up on her. There was so much he wanted to know, they needed to have beers and he needed to have answers. She said to come by after work and the end of his day couldn't come sooner.
On the last call, Hallie Price blew through the DPD. She stopped by Auggie's office and without a hello or greeting of any sort, she started in, "Did you know she quit and was allowed to leave the building? You of all people! You are the one who came down so hard on me about finding out who is responsible for Chicago. You want to find out who killed your friend and his colleagues don't you?"
Auggie put down the phone and thought, "great, another female angry with him."
"You know I do," said Auggie firmly. "You're not the only one working on this case. What's got you all riled up now?"
"Annie Walker?! That's who! She's a person of interest in the NCTC's investigation into the Chicago bombing. There is enough evidence to at least hold her for questioning."
"Wait, what? Evidence that proves what exactly?" asked Auggie angrily.
"Do you know where she went?"
"No!"
"How long ago did she leave?"
"I'm blind remember? I didn't see when she left."
Her voice softened, "Look Auggie, I like you. I really do and I'm enjoying what we started. But I'm doing my job here and right now that trumps everything. Do you understand?"
She saw that Auggie nodded.
"I know she's a friend of yours, but I can't let that stop me from doing my job and you shouldn't either. You have to ask yourself some tough questions about where Annie was during the four months she was missing and what she was doing and whom she was with."
"What are you insinuating?"
"I've found information tying her to a key suspect in the Chicago bombing and the fact that she hid and actively covered up her heart condition points to a pattern Auggie. You have to be objective."
"I know her. There is always an explanation and she never does anything lightly or without reason."
"Don't be blind to her history Auggie!" shouted Hallie.
"Oh, don't be blind?" sneered Auggie.
"I'm sorry Auggie, I didn't mean to. . . it came out wrong. You know what I meant."
"You know what Hallie, you go and do your job and let me do mine!"
Auggie heard her leave the office and when he was sure she was gone, he tried Annie's cell again. He needed to tell her that Hallie was on a witchhunt and that the face he captured of the man who hit her came up in the CIA system, but he could not access the information on the person in question. His files were denied which concerned Auggie. If the facial recognition system was as good as he knew it to be, they were in trouble.. There was no response even though he tried to call her multiple times. He needed to tell her to be vigilant.
"Ugh, Walker, pick up!" said Auggie as he slammed his phone down.
/
If she distrusted Ryan a smidgen before, that distrust had multiplied in the last few minutes. A dozen questions raced through her head, but first she needed to get to her apartment where she intended on questioning the bigshot CEO at gunpoint. She wanted answers, she needed answers. Her head and hand throbbed, this day was turning into a nightmare. There was blood was coming from a laceration caused by going down on her bike.
Disturbed by the silence, Ryan finally broke the ice once inside the lobby of Annie's building. While they waited for the elevator, he said, "I apologize. There was no other way to stop you."
Still nothing.
"I was about to tell you before you. . ."
He noticed her trying to deny the pain and hide her weakness from him, so he took out his handkerchief and said, "Let's stop that bleeding."
She eyed him angrily as she stepped away from him, "I wouldn't be bleeding if it weren't for you."
"You wouldn't be in the predicament had you stayed in my car," countered McQuaid.
"Whoever that was is long gone thanks to you!" said Annie through clenched teeth.
When the elevator came, she struggled to open the heavy industrial doors. He had to admit he admired her grit and total lack of need for him. He stepped in and opened the doors with no difficulty. He could tell she was annoyed at his help. "I want some answers."
He nodded. Once at her door, he said, "Wait a minute. Let me check something."
He had put a case into his suit pocket. He retrieved a wipe from inside the case and started to wipe her door handles.
"Explosives? Really?" The man knew a lot more and she couldn't wait to question him.
He nodded as his lips curled, partially enjoying keeping her wondering. This routine they had fallen into since the beginning was something he enjoyed very much.
"Are you going to tell me what you know or not?" she asked harshly as he signaled that all was clear and motioned for her to open her door. She entered her apartment slowly and cautiously. She began scanning the small space immediately. Nothing seemed out of place from her initial look. The CIA had done a good job putting her apartment back in order. There was no sign of her struggle with Harris Wilson and there was no trace of death, not even the scent of cleaners they must have used to eradicate all evidence.
Ryan watched her as she studied her place, he could see the wheels turning. His phone had pinged a number of times, but he remained focused on her.
She turned around with her gun trained right at him. "Time to talk."
Ryan knew she was pissed off, but he didn't expect to her to point a gun at him. He put his hands up, she was angry, perhaps angry enough to actually shoot him. He was slightly scared but what he really wanted to do was to grab the gun from her and kiss her fiercely. He'd never felt the strong urges he was feeling in that moment. But he was also a man of discipline and there was business to attend to. He slowly put his right index finger to his lips, motioning, "SH!" to Annie.
She looked at him puzzled. He continued to make motions towards her. He slowly went into his pocket again and Annie removed the safety on her gun and, she didn't need to utter a word. The couple communicated through motions and eye contact.
Ryan's face contorted and he motioned again for Annie to be quiet.
Finally Annie said, "Take off your jacket, make yourself at home." said Annie cheerily.
"Are we getting comfy because I'd like that," he replied with a big grin.
He complied and when he handed over his jacket she went into his pocket to find a bug detector. Annie kept trying to figure out this man. He seemed to always be ready.
Her eyes narrowed once again. Did the man who was in her apartment place a bug there? She nodded to McQuaid and handed him his bug detector. He went to work immediately sweeping her apartment as Annie followed him with gun still cocked in case. While he worked, he made flirtatious small talk with her for the benefit of whoever was on the other end of the listening devices. He found a listening device in her kitchen lights, another in her nightstand, and one in her bathroom. If he disarmed them all, it meant Langer (the one he suspected was listening in) would know and they would lose their advantage. Instead he turned on Annie's radio and then said, loudly, "Care to dance?"
Annie laughed. "You dance?"
Then he walked towards her and whispered in her ear, "Put your gun down. I'm not the bad guy here." Annie felt his breath on her neck as she leaned down to whisper to her. She tensed up and whispered back,
"You stopped me from going after the man who was here, which leads me to believe you know him. It seems convenient that you knew why he was here."
He sighed. "The man who walked out of your apartment is very dangerous and I am having him followed."
"Now we're getting somewhere. . . and how did you know that and how long have you been following him?"
He remembered the time she held a gun to in Venezuela. He had his boys, Fitz and Dex then as back-up. He was alone here. . . Ryan wasn't sure if he should tell her everything she was holding a gun to him afterall. He settled with what he had come up with back in the car just moments before Annie abruptly ran out of her car. "I saw his face on your handler's screen when I was at the DPD. I just had him followed starting about an hour ago."
She studied his face. Her gut was telling her to trust him, but her body was still tense. Her head was still telling her she needed more.
"You have anything to drink?" he asked in a regular voice.
"Yeah, there are beers and water in the fridge, help yourself."
"You want one?" he asked. He was concerned for her. She looked pale and the blood from her injury had seeped through is handkerchief.
"Just some water, thank you," said Annie trying to sound as polite and sweet as she could.
Her eyes narrowed, Ryan had just confirmed what she had remembered. The same man who hit her yesterday was in her apartment. "So I heard you quit. Care to reconsider my offer? We have great benefits."
In that moment her gut told her to trust him for the time being. She tucked her gun back into her pants and whispered to him, "And you knew him by sight?"
Ryan nodded, happy and relieved that she had finally put her gun away.
"Who is he?"
He didn't answer her, instead he asked, "Does anything look out of the ordinary?"
She shook her head. Then went to her bedroom where Ryan tried to follow her, but she put her hand up to stop him. "Wait here while I get out of my work clothes," she said.
Her bedroom was enclosed by decorative glass windows, Ryan watched her silhouette as she went to a corner, where he had seen a closet before she closed the door.
When she opened her safe, it looked different than when she left it earlier that morning. Inside among her sketchbooks and journals she found a phone she had never seen before, an accordion file, explosives, a heap of cash and passports she had never seen before.
/ /
While Annie was in her bedroom, McQuaid checked his voicemails and texts. The men he had following Langer had followed him to a warehouse. His people back at his office had found no info on Langer's recent jobs, but Langer had been paid through a Flint account, a top-secret division that Ryan ran outside of McQuaid Securities. He knew the details of every Flint operation and the operatives on every mission. That was news to Ryan. What was going on? The next ping he received was an alert. He opened the attachment and there he saw Annie Walker's face and the heading, ENEMY OF THE STATE, wanted for questioning. Also listed was a photo of Annie talking with Khalid Ansari on a beach taken nearly four months ago.
Now it was time for his gut to speak to him. It didn't seem like the woman he had come to know, the woman he began to fall for to consort with the likes of Ansari. He had to bring her in, that was the only way to clear everything up and to keep her safe. Ryan had a terrible feeling about what was going on. He had a small gun strapped on his calf. He took it out and called out, "I've got your water here Walker, are you coming out or what?"
/
Annie had to think quickly. She managed to dump all the items planted in her safe into a duffle. She had little time to waste. The man who had been in her apartment probably called the CIA already. She had just opened the accordion file and lifted out maps and photos of the Chicago facility as well as those belonging to a posh DC hotel. Then among the papers was a photo of Ryan McQuaid with Borz Altan. They were both dressed in fatigues and holding automatic weapons and looking very cozy.
"I'll be right out," said Annie as she went another 180 where Ryan was concerned. She made sure she had her gun within reach.
She took off her dress, which had ripped when she crashed into the sidewalk. She was standing in her room in nothing but her bra and underwear when Ryan barged in. She grabbed her gun and suddenly they were face to face, each pointing a gun at the other.
His eyes couldn't help but to look over her body.
"We need to get going," he said trying not to be distracted by the beautiful woman standing in front of him.
Annie cocked her head towards the file on her bed. Ryan's eyes went from her to the photo lying on top of an envelope and when he saw it, he sighed. His phone was pinging again.
He took out his phone while still holding his gun up and showed Annie the photo of her with Ansari.
When she saw it her eyes narrowed as she shook her head.
"Want to get out of here?"
He nodded and they both put their guns away. She motioned to her safe. She quickly changed while he closed up her safe and wiped it down. She grabbed some clothes and shoved them into the duffel. She went into her bathroom and threw her overnight kit into the duffel as well. She packed her medication and went to her toilet tank where she retrieved a waterproof container that had a new phone in it.
Ryan stopped her inside the bathroom, he found a first aid kit. He untied the blood soaked handkerchief he had tied to her hand earlier. She winced as he rinsed her hand under water. The cut was deep. He applied pressure on it as she clenched her jaw. He applied surgical tape and wrapped it up. Then as he held her injured hand, he looked at her intensely and kissed her. She didn't pull away from him for about three seconds. Then he felt her push him away. He loved the confused and exasperated look on her face.
"Let's go!" said Annie.
He took her duffel from her and they headed out.
"What the hell was that?" she asked as she headed to the stairwell.
"You're wanted by the federal government."
"And from the looks of it, you will be too," countered Annie. "You knew Borz Altan? Is that why you wanted to question him?"
Ryan thought, she didn't jump to the conclusion that he had something to do with Chicago when she saw the photo of him with Borz. He had to give her credit for not believing he would be a traitor. "You aren't scared of me or what you don't know?"
"No, right now I'm more scared by what will happen if the CIA takes me into custody. More lives are at stake and I need to figure this out."
He admired her spirit. "And that's why I kissed you and want to do it again right now."
She headed to her bike once outside. "They won't be far behind."
"You can't ride with that hand."
"You can't get back in your car. They'll be looking for it soon enough."
"I have this. . ." he said holding up his electronic skeleton key.
"Let me grab by go-bag, find something suitable."
Surprised he let her choose their transportation, she followed his order. She needed him to get to the bottom of everything and it appeared for now that needed to be partners moving forward, someone was trying to set both of them up.
