"You ladies ready?" Auggie opened the door. Annie noted he held his folded cane in his left hand but didn't move to open it.
"Got Michael's Charger. Hell yeah I'm ready!" Sapphira bounded out the door, tapping Auggie's hand along the way.
"Good thing I like to go fast," Auggie replied.
They walked together to the parking garage of Sapphira's building and in the corner was a black 1973 Dodge Charger, sleek like a panther waiting to pounce.
"I didn't realize you had such an eye for cars," Annie observed.
"My brother Danny liked them. Have you seen Auggie's '67 'Vette? It's a beauty!"
"Seen it? Auggie gave it to me a few years back. It's in storage now, in case you're wondering, Aug," Annie crawled behind the front seat and buckled her seat belt in the back seat as Auggie and Sapphira buckled up in front.
"Oh, really?" Sapphira dragged out with a devilish grin and a twinkle in her eye. Auggie muttered something that sounded suspiciously like Please don't. "Tell me you like to drive fast, Annie."
"Is there any other way to drive a '67 Corvette?" Annie laughed. "Of course I like to drive fast."
"I called it, Anderson!" Sapphira announced triumphantly. Annie looked curiously at Auggie, who now had a blush spreading down his cheeks to his neck.
"Yeah, shut up," Auggie grumbled, but smiled nonetheless as Sapphira fired up the engine and threw the car in drive out of the garage with alarming speed.
"Thank you, Fira. For everything." Auggie stumbled over his words, fiddling with the seatbelt. "I know you- This isn't exactly how you, I, um." He took a deep breath.
"Auggie. Get inside that damn building before I drive straight through the security checkpoint and physically throw you out of my vehicle."
"Yeah," Auggie rewarded her with a small smile and a shake of his head. "Sapphira, you are one hell of a woman, you know that?"
"I know. Now get out of my car," Sapphira said. Both of them would deny hearing the tears in their voices.
"Since I can't really use it anymore, can you, uh, take this for me? I don't care what you do with it. If anything, Danny would probably like it," Auggie reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a small, bulging envelope and held it in Fira's direction. She didn't take it.
"I'm not taking your car."
"Fira-"
"I'll have it shipped here."
"I can't drive it."
"I'm not taking your car," Sapphira repeated.
"What am I supposed to do with it here? It doesn't matter where I am, I still can't drive it," Auggie's voice was laced with bitter frustration.
"Put it in your garage, prop it up on cinder blocks, and rev the engine every once in while." Sapphira shoved his hand back to his body. "Or give it to a beautiful woman who likes to drive fast."
"You're a beautiful woman and you like to drive fast."
Sapphira chewed on her lip in silence.
"You're not staying in D.C." Auggie knew the answer before the words were out of his mouth. "Can you tell me where you're going?"
"You're a spy. You'll figure it out," Sapphira looked down. She hadn't figured that out either, just yet.
"You can still drive it, when you come back to D.C."
"Beautiful woman who likes to drive fast, Auggie," Sapphira reminded and nudged his shoulder.
"Prospects aren't looking too great. So to speak," Auggie gestured to his eyes with a self-deprecating wave of his fingers.
"You'll get there. And when you do, you'll know just who to give the keys to. It's not me." Sapphira closed her fingers around Auggie's still holding the envelope.
"It's not like I'm not proposing with the car. I'm gifting it to you."
"I refuse to accept your gift. And you could use it as a proposal. Instead of a ring, give a '67 Corvette to a beautiful woman who likes to drive fast," Sapphira forced some excitement into her voice.
"How do you know that I'll find me a beautiful woman who likes to drive fast? I think that's pretty specific."
"I don't. Maybe she'll find you. But she will be beautiful and she will like to drive fast. And she will accept the keys to your car."
"Are you going to say something tacky about the keys to my heart, too?" Auggie joked with a chuckle. He put the envelope back into his bag anyway.
"Get out of my car and into that building before the spies get suspicious. I'm not particularly keen on a reunion with anyone."
Auggie reached over the console and laced his fingers through Sapphira's. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, you know? You kept me alive. Not necessarily sane, but alive."
"Just repaying the favor," Sapphira tried to brush off. They both knew the significance of their words, though. Auggie kept Fira alive after she returned from captivity, in a way. Fira kept Auggie alive after he was blinded, arguably after Helen died too.
"Are you sure-"
Sapphira cut him off, "Beautiful woman who likes to drive fast. I can't wait to meet her."
"You know I love you, Sapphira Hartanto. Always will."
"I love you too, August Anderson. Always will." Sapphira leaned across the console to press a gentle, chaste kiss against Auggie's lips, and before he could respond to it, his door was open and his seatbelt was off. "Now get out of my car."
Auggie brushed his hand against her cheek one last time, squeezed her hand, then unfurled his cane. "Wish me luck?" He asked through the open window.
"You've never seemed like the type to need luck. But good luck." Auggie flashed her a genuine smile. With that, Auggie turned and walked into Langley for the first time since he was blinded.
Sapphira drove dangerously fast through a warehouse district close to the coast, passing some seedy looking groups of people eyeing the car like a new prize. At a stoplight, one teenage boy yelled something in Indonesian and started to approach Sapphira's side of the car. Sapphira didn't bother to respond verbally, just pulled her gun from the waistband of her jeans and held it up for the kid to see. He put his hands up and moved back to his friends.
"Sapphira, where are we going?" Annie asked tentatively. This did not look like a neighborhood they should be in. Even though they were all trained spies, it still made the hair on Annie's neck stand on end.
"Meeting place."
"Where is that?"
"Annie, if I gave you a street name would it really help you?" Sapphira smirked slightly as she looked in the rearview mirror.
"No," Annie conceded.
"It's up there. White building," Sapphira nodded her head toward a group of white buildings. "Wanna guess which one is ours?"
Annie noticed one building was blatantly better secured than the others. Some of them had wire fences around them, but this particular building had barbed wire on top and a sign that indicated electric voltage. Security cameras dotted the corners.
"Is it actually electrically charged?" Annie inquired.
"Not usually, but the sign keeps most people from even getting close. The barbed wire and cameras are for everyone else."
"Why are we meeting in such a dangerous neighborhood?" Annie was surprised that Auggie still hadn't said anything. It seemed he knew exactly where Sapphira was taking them.
"So many questions," Sapphira rolled her eyes as she took out a remote gate opener, pressed a series of buttons into the security key pad outside the car, then hit the remote. Sapphira brushed a cloth over the key pad to remove any traces of use. The barbed wire gate opened with an ominous creaking that made Annie cringe.
"Fira, you have to get that fixed," Auggie spoke for the first time since they took off from Sapphira's apartment. He seemed so deep in thought the entire ride over.
"Well, excuse me for never expecting to have to use this place," Sapphira muttered sarcastically and pulled the car into a garage that required another code. She pulled the keys out of the car and slid the seat forward for Annie to exit. She pressed a button on the wall and the garage door closed again. "Welcome to our safe safe house."
"Safe safe house?"
"This is where we meet for the worst of the worst. Or, better known as, where we stash assets and witnesses when we need to. No one in their right mind would come looking in this neighborhood, so it's safe."
"Except for that time that bird triggered your alarm system," Auggie broke in.
"Yeah, we almost threw a grenade at a bird. But besides that time," Sapphira responded.
"They here yet?" Auggie prompted. He moved toward Sapphira's side of the car, skimming his fingers across the hood of the car.
"They wouldn't be parked in this garage. We'll go inside." Sapphira offered Auggie her arm and moved toward the door that led presumably inside the warehouse. Annie followed with wide eyes.
They walked through a cement-lined hallway to a metal door that required a numerical code, a verbal code "Persetan masuk," and a thumb print. Annie noticed Sapphira took out the cleaning cloth to wipe down her fingerprints from the pads again. Sapphira opened the door and led them into a surprisingly open warehouse space. She flipped on a switch and lights flickered on.
There were metal stairs to a second floor that covered half the room with a railing around the edges. There was a bed in one corner and a small kitchen area on the first floor. The center of the room held a metal worktable with bar stools around it. All around the room were metal cabinets with several high-security lock systems. Annie glanced at the windows around the room, surprised that Sapphira would choose a place that had so many windows.
"Masons aren't here," Sapphira confirmed. She caught Annie's eye and told her, "Bullet resistant, double glazed together. Short of a rocket launcher, we're fine."
Just then, the same door that they entered through swung open and a tall woman sauntered through. "Sorry it took so long. Thought we'd pick up Maccas for the Americans, since that's all you animals eat, just burgers and fries," she tossed out in an Australian accent. That must be Cami Mason.