Chapter 6:

Edge of Hopelessness

As Auggie made his way through the winding halls of Langley his only thought was about Annie. His thoughts raced with questions about what she must be going through right now. Assuming his hunch was correct, she was taken by the arms dealers he had surveyed. He wondered what Annie might be going through not only as a woman who had been kidnapped by men she didn't know, but also as a blind woman. Auggie couldn't imagine going through his everyday life in the dark, let along an unfamiliar place like Annie was just thrown into. He could not comprehend how scared and helpless she must be feeling. As he reached the entrance to the Domestic Protection Department (DPD), he took a deep breath and released it slowly, pushing the thoughts of Annie out of his mind for the moment. He needed all his concentration right now on finding her.

As he arrived in the tech office, he immediately got an update from Barber about what he had found so far.

"So far we've found four suspicious vehicles in the vicinity of Ms. Walker's street around the time we think she was taken. We are running down license plates and facial recognition for the people in those cars. I will update you as soon as I know more. Joan says she wants you in her office as soon as you arrive." Eric told him as soon as Auggie entered the room. Auggie had always liked Eric Barber. He did what he was told, when he was told, and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty if he needed to.

Arriving at Joan's office, he knocked on her door twice and awaited her reply.

"Come in Auggie" was the icy reply he received as he tentatively opened the door.

As he walked in and sat in one of the chairs, in front of her desk, he waited for her to speak first since he was the one being summoned. He knew what she wanted, but he was hoping being patient and respectful would earn him at least a tiny bit of leeway.

"Spill it. What do we know?" Joan said more emotionally than Auggie expected. Joan was clearly on edge over this situation.

"According to Annie's sister, she was at her house around 11:30, but it appears she never made it back to her house. Her seeing-eye dog and cane are still both in her house. Danielle seemed extremely concerned for her sister. There were three sets of boot prints in the snow around Annie's house, but I assume one set belonged to whoever shoveled the driveway this morning. Barber detected a few suspicious vehicles that he is tracking, identifying, and tracing." Auggie stated all the facts that he knew for Joan hoping to defuse her anger.

"How did they find her? Where you followed?" Joan stated bluntly.

"I don't know." Auggie stated hanging his head. "When I was observing the arms dealers They did pause and look around at one point, but I just thought they were being paranoid. According to the translation, they questioned each other as to whether they were followed. I honestly do not know how they could have known I was there or how they found Annie though. My only guess if they followed me somehow to her house and assumed taking her would be worth something to me."

"Taking her should be worth something to you Auggie." Joan said with more emotion than Auggie had ever heard from her. "Auggie, you really have no idea how important this girl is to the agency, do you?"

"Not really. She just a translator, right? I mean, we have a lot more, right?" Auggie said, honestly dumbfounded at how to answer.

"Auggie, do you know how many languages Annie knows? Do you know how many translations she has done for us?"

"Ummm-no." He replied.

"Auggie, she knows seven languages fluently and about ten to fifteen more enough to get by to do what we need for our translations. Furthermore, she has done more translations in the last six months than every other translator we use combined. We can give her several translations a week and they are always back to us in just a few hours. She is the best. We are considering bringing her on as an official translator for the agency. Right now she thinks I work for the state department and that I need documents translated for fellow colleagues as well as myself."

Auggie's mouth just dropped as Joan told him this. Not only was she a great translator, but she was being considered for a job at the CIA. "But Joan, how would that work? I mean, it's not like she can go to The Farm to train, shot a gun, or go into the field. Joan, she's blind. Can she really be that much more help here in the office than she is with the current arrangement you have with her?"

"August Anderson! I never took you for the type to be prejudice. Do you really consider Annie less of a person just because she can't see? Does she not deserve a great job like you have, making a difference? All of those details are for me to worry about. Not you. She is very well travelled, cultured, not to mention the linguistic skills she possessed. She just happens to be blind. It does not affect her ability to translate, bridge gaps between cultures, or work with a variety of different types of people."

"I'm sorry Joan. I've never been around a disabled person. I mean, I had guys in my unit to be disabled in one way or another, but I never spent much time with them after. I called them to check in, but I guess I never followed through. I just find it all inconceivable. Joan, I will find her. If the Amos or Raphael took her, I will find her."

"You will find her no matter what happened to her. It has been at least three hours since she was taken. That is your number one priority. I'm letting Jai take over your mission with figuring out what the arms dealers are up to. You are only to work on finding Annie and bringing her home safe."

"Yes ma'am." Was his only reply as he walked out of her office and back to the tech office.

Annie sat in the chair the men had left her in. It had been hours since they had been to check on her. She knew that it was around 4:30. But she did not know whether that was a.m. or p.m. Since it had been around noon when she was taken and she had not heard from any of the men in at least two hours, she felt like it must be 4:30am and her captors were sleeping. But she could not be sure how long she was unconscious after the men drugged her. It could have been just a few minutes or in could have been many hours.

Finally she decided that she should explore that room she was in. As she stood from her chair, she walked with both hands out in front of her cautiously from her chair to the wall in front of her, counting her steps as she went. Then she followed that wall until it met another wall and so forth. As she walked, she felt the wall for art work, windows, or doors. She now knew that the room she was in had no artwork on the walls, no windows and only one door. There was a lot of furniture in the room, which she found with her shins and knees a good part of the time. In addition to the chair she sat in towards the middle of the room, there was a table with five other chairs around it, a small sofa in the corner of the room with a side table beside it that held a lamp that Annie almost caused to fall to the ground when she bumped into the table. There was a TV on a shelf on the wall adjacent to the sofa and a coffee table between them.

"What are you doing?" A voice shouted to Annie's left as she was making her third pass around the room. Then she heard footsteps coming towards her quickly.

"I was just-" But before she could finished explaining Annie found herself being hit with the back of the man's had, forcing her unexpectedly onto the floor with a thud. Then she was picked up by her ankles and drug back to the chair she had sat in. As she was pulled she banged her head on something, gashing it open a couple inches. She helplessly tried to kick off the strong hands around her ankles, but this only angered the man and caused him to be more forceful with her as he pushed her back into the chair.

"Stop please! I can walk wherever you want me to go" Annie said as she felt her shoulder brush roughly against another piece of unseen furniture.

"NO! What you doing? Trying to find escape?" The man whose name she did not know said.

"No. Of course not, I was just exploring the room I am in. Just like if someone where looking around them. I have to touch things to know where they are. I meant no harm."

"This is not permitted. You were blindfolded and handcuffed when you arrived. If you were not blind, you would not have been uncuffed or unblindfolded. Now I see that you must be made to stay put."

"Please, no. I will not walk around anymore. Please don't." Annie tried to plead with him, but as she heard the metal cling of the handcuff she knew that her pleas would not be answered. Annie put her hands behind her back to try to cooperate with the man. Not only did he handcuff her hands and then tie them to the chair so that they could not be moved, but he also tied her legs to the legs of the chair. She simply let her throbbing, bleeding head fall forward so that her chin rested uncomfortably against her chest as she listened to her surroundings wishing for a sign of hope. She felt defeated. Annie began to experience a sense of hopelessness from the situation she found herself in. Not since the last time she was kidnapped had she felt so utterly despairing. Those events had caused her to lose her sight, trust in people, and self-confidence. She was slowly getting the last back, but her trust in others might never be repaired and her sight was gone forever. As she sat thinking, she couldn't help, but wonder what she could possibly lose this time.