Globe Trotting – Cape Town P9

"Was that…." Annie trailed off to gather air in her lungs and kissed the sweat from Auggie's brow, "make up sex?"

"Did I have something to make up for?" Auggie queried as he took her hand and placed it against his chest where his heart was racing.

"This, is what you do to me Annie," he pulled her hand back and kissed it as he tried to roll off of her in the tiny confines of the sofa.

"My heart is going that fast too," she illustrated by shifting her back to his chest and pulling his hand around and placing it on her own chest.

Auggie leaned down and kissed her back, noticing the indentation the arm of the couch made.

"Does this hurt?" he was concerned.

"Uh, no actually, but you can keep kissing it," she smiled.

"If you are right about the competitor we have to do some research, is it another Russian or a some other country on the game board? The team Calder has in town could serve as back up and part of your cover," Auggie spoke quietly into the warm damp skin of her neck.

"You were working the mission while we were having sex?" she chuckled.

"It is possible my brain was still on work, but trust me it was not my brain in control here."

"I'm pretty sure I know what was in control," Annie teased as she snuggled back against him.

"I was going to say it was my heart," he scoffed offended.

"Awwww," she rolled a tiny bit to look up at him.

"This whole mission I have tried so hard not to be overly cautious, not to worry too much, not to be jealous, but my heart hurts Annie. It hurts at the thought of you being caught by this guy."

"Auggie, I can take care of myself, I am trained for this," Annie squeezed his muscled bicep.

"I know that, in my brain, I know that. In my heart you are my wife and I am supposed to keep you safe. Wow, that sounds anachronistic when said out loud," he chuckled.

"It is kind of old fashioned, but I love it, I love you, we are so close to this, let's finish it and move on," she looked him in the eye for her own benefit.

He just nodded and sat up, leaving her suddenly chilled. She found her shirt and untangled their shorts from the pile they landed in on the floor.

"Let's get to work," Auggie agreed.

***555***

By the time Yuri returned to Cape Town three things had happened. Calder's Team in Moscow reported that he closed up shop there, Dimitri called Annie and arranged for her to go out with Yuri the night he arrived back, and Annie and Auggie narrowed down the list of possible competitors to two.

"The Chinese have all their ducks in a row on bioweapons, they have the resources and the money to get this done," Auggie stated on a call with Joan and Calder.

"But I am not Chinese," Annie countered.

"You aren't Russian either, but he thinks you are," Auggie volleyed.

"I can pass for Russian, I cannot pass for Chinese," she said with a 'you know what I mean tone'.

"We know the Chinese are using non-Chinese to get their intel, you two posed as Canadians working for the Chinese a couple years back," Joan defended Auggie's position.

"It is much more likely he thinks I am working for the other Russian group. How did we not know about them?" Annie continued.

"They are much less flashy, no big cars or private escort services. They have been slowly building their resources and stealing the intel is their best bet of coming out ahead, they don't have the money to do both the research and production and distribution of the toxin," Calder clarified.

"It would be clever if it weren't so terrifying," Auggie sighed.

"So what is my play?"

"Honestly, it is the same if you are the Chinese or the Russians, you need to steal the intel," Calder said.

"I already did that," Annie pointed out.

"You need to do it less well," Joan smirked.

"Get caught?" Annie said curiously.

"No," Auggie said simultaneously.

"This mission is no longer just getting Yuri, we need to know what he knows about the competitor so we can round them up too. The intel Annie got is great and it is nearly enough to bring in Yuri's team, but if there is another group waiting in the wings…." Calder trailed off.

"There will always be another group waiting in the wings," Auggie pushed back.

"True, which while great for job security is moot. We know about this one Auggie, we cannot in good conscience ignore the facts," Calder reasoned.

"I know," he sighed.

"So Annie, you go on your date. The team is providing you a less effective drug, good old fashioned knock out drops, it will slow him down for a bit and when he seems to be coming around you start your search for the intel. Your bugs are still in the room, we have been listening to other guests. Yuri wakes up you get him talking, the team will be right behind you, this ends," Joan ran through the mission like so many before.

"OK?" Annie nodded and reached for Auggie's hand.

"One condition?" he asked back and she squeezed his hand.

"I am with the team, not locked up here. If something goes wrong I want to be on site," Auggie was really asking Calder and Joan but he was looking towards Annie.

***555***

"OK Walker, let's finish this tonight. Equipment is on and ready to record all the evidence we need to take Yuri in and uncover his competitor, just play it cool and safe," Auggie reported from the Ops van.

Annie was in a cab enroute to dinner.

"I love that you still call me Walker," she laughed.

"Always," he laughed back.

The cab pulled up to the restaurant and Annie switched her cell over to Russian call girl interface and stepped from the car. She had on a long black dress with a slit up the side, her hair curly but upswept and her wedding ring on the wrong hand.

Yuri greeted her happily, kisses to both cheeks and a glass of champagne at the ready. He made no indication he was nervous around her. They ate with some of his colleagues, he kept his hand on her knee most of the night, intermittently shifting it to the skin revealed by the high cut slit.

Annie kept her cover in place and played along. Once they were alone in the car to his hotel he was all over her, kissing up her neck, his hands everywhere. Annie feared this was how he was trying to out her, pushing her physically to see if she would break her cover. She played along, hating that Auggie could hear her, but determined to keep her cover in place until they were in the right position to turn the tables.

"I've been thinking about you all week," Yuri said between devouring her neck, Annie certain she was going to have marks there.

"Oh yeah?" she replied coyly.

The car pulled up to the hotel and the driver helped Annie out. Yuri took her arm and led her to the private elevator for the penthouse he had checked into earlier in the day. Once the elevator doors closed he had her pinned against the wall, his hands on her breasts.

They were ostensibly alone now, the elevator only serviced the penthouse, so no one else would be getting on. Annie tried to tamp down the fear of how much Yuri was going to push her and how fast. She needed a little time to slow things down, back to her advantage and get the drug in his system.

He all but dragged her from the elevator to the couch in the living room, luckily the champagne had already been delivered and he stopped pawing her long enough to open the bottle. Annie used the break to escape to the restroom and pull herself together.

TBC…