Same Town, New Story
They make it back to the edge of Maracaibo. Kids are playing soccer in the road, and adults sit on their stoops watching with narrowed, suspicious eyes. The two foreigners that roll up in the six figure Audi are quite the sight. Ryan pulls the car to a stop, and proceeds to step out of the vehicle without any warning, much to Annie's surprise. She follows his lead, but with some uncertainty.
"Is this really time for a pitstop?" She asks, surveying the surrounding area, skeptical and unconvinced.
Ryan looks from her, to the road, then back again, and as if on cue, the bus he's waiting for appears out of the dusty summer Venezuelan haze. It rattles and hisses to a stop in front of them, sun bleached, peeling paint, mismatched tires and all. This would be their final chariot to freedom: the look on Annie's face when the realization hits her is priceless.
"This is our ride." He announces, the corners of his eyes wrinkling behind his sunglasses despite his best effort to keep a strait face.
"You're taking it cheap to Colombia?" Annie's dubious - he had made it clear he only traveled in style.
"What's the matter? I thought you were into non flashy; this is about as non flashy as it gets." Ryan grabs the black bag off the ground, and they step off the curb together into the throng of locals boarding the bus.
"No I'm fine, I'm just surprised." Annie's eyes sweep up and down the bus, and then to Ryan before delivering her punchline. He can spy it coming from a mile away: "I didn't know open air windows satisfied your air conditioning requirements."
"The only requirement that I have is to get the job done. If I have to sweat my ass off in an overcrowded bus, so be it." Without skipping a beat, Ryan clambers up into the bus, turning around to offer her a lift up. "I can live and be hot and sweaty, as long as I keep living y'know?"
"Yeah." Annie deadpans, not buying his honorable martyrdom for a second.
She takes his hand and Ryan pulls her up into the bus with ease. Annie hardly gives the appearance of frailty, and her vice-like grip is far from fragile, but Ryan had forgotten how light she is. He remembers carrying her into the safe house in Maracaibo like it was yesterday, but he pushes the memories away, tamping down the swell of emotion in his chest that he can't quite shake, and burying the increasingly obvious truth with it.
You like her, maybe too much.
Annie squeezes past him, her palm balancing against the flat of his back before sliding into the seat on the far side of the bus. Ryan tires to ignore the trail of her fingers, the burn, as he settles in beside her.
But when she smiles at him, he can't.
Ryan watches Annie for the better part of their five hour bus ride back to the border crossing, much like he did the first time, but she's so far lost in her head today that she doesn't seem to notice. She's spent the majority of the time starting at something off in the distance. He imagines she sees things he can't, her own demons and ghosts, but his curiosity doesn't keep him from conjuring up his own ideas. Something is eating at her, that much he can tell, but just knowing that isn't enough to satisfy him.
"You're awfully quiet." He observes thoughtfully.
"Just trying to stay alert." Annie shrugs, indifferent.
Ryan may very well crown her queen of deflection, but as talented as she may be, he's not so easily deterred.
"No you're not." He argues, peering at her over the top of his sunglasses. "You're thinking can I trust this guy? Who is he really? Is he a war profiteer, is he a mercenary? Believe it or not I'm a patriot just like you."
"I like this little trick you're doing," she replies dryly, "trying to open up, to get me to open up."
Ryan smirks at that.
His trick will work eventually, she just doesn't know it yet.
They almost make it through the border crossing without any incident, though in hindsight Ryan supposes he should have seen it coming. Annie Walker is his company after all, and excitement follows her wherever she goes. Except when the bus roles to a stop at the checkpoint, he's pretty sure it's dread and not excitement that makes his hair stand on end.
"Is this our guy?" Annie eyes the approaching guard with muted anxiety.
"Our guy was supposed to wave our bus through the crossing." Ryan mutters under his breath, fishing out their passports from the bag beside him.
Things can never be easy.
Of course the guard checks their bag, of all the bags, and of course the stacks of cash are suspicious enough to warrant confiscating it and pulling both of them off for questioning. He has to give the girl credit, even now Annie's spinning a wild tale about winning the money at a casino, trying to talk her way out of another sticky situation. This guy isn't buying it though, and Ryan's starting to think they might have to run for their lives - again.
But at the last possible second, just when hope seems lost, their contact appears out of the security checkpoint office, a proverbial savior suited in Venezuelan border patrol tan with an AK-47 at his hip.
Better late than never. Several apologies and assurances that Caitlin Cook will not seek retribution later, they're back on the bus, and Venezuela is behind them.
Ryan's never been so happy to see Colombia.
If the look on Annie's face is anything to go by, neither has she.
It'll be another few hours until they rendezvous with Dex, their ride to the airstrip. However, even though the end is in sight, this last leg of the journey is undoubtedly the longest. Ryan has kept a careful watch over Annie; the rising afternoon temperatures have him slightly paranoid. He can't tell if it's the heat, the sheer exhaustion or her heart, but she's visibly struggling despite her valiant efforts to hide it.
He glances to his side, for his bag - and then his heart drops when he remembers it's back at the border crossing. And so is her nitrate medication.
"Hey." He says suddenly, turning to Annie, eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah?" Annie's tilts her head sideways with a yawn.
Her indifference is puzzling, troubling even. Ryan can't help but wonder if blocking it out is her fail safe mechanism, or if she's just convinced herself that the truth is a lie to survive.
"They took the bag."
He's becoming less and less adept at keeping his worry in check, but part of him is beginning to care less and less about hiding it - a risky combination, perhaps. Annie sees it, and her expression softens. He swears, if just for a moment, that something about the way she looks at him is different too.
"Don't worry." She pulls back her vest, revealing a hidden pocket, and the auto injector she's smuggled inside it. "I'm one step ahead of you, boy scout."
He sighs, relieved, and leans back against the seat.
"I'm dropping the ball." He jokes, but in reality he really isn't joking.
"No you're not, Ryan."
When she says his name (his real name) it feels less like talking to a stranger and more like talking to someone who's known him for a lifetime.
Annie reaches over and squeezes his knee, a touch of reassurance, but it catches him off guard in the best of unexpected ways. He tries not to feel disappointed when she draws away, almost as if she's the one burned this time. In seconds she's effectively redrawn the line in the sand between them, much to his dismay.
She disappears back into herself, and he lets her because he gets it. She finally closes her eyes, something she's avoided doing around him for the near entirety of their adventure. A few minutes later exhaustion finally wins out over her resolve and she's sound asleep.
Before long her head finds his shoulder.
Maybe he's selfish, but Ryan can't help but feel like it's right where she should be.
AN: Ahhh, finally, they made it out alive! I'm not sure who I enjoy writing for more, Annie or Ryan, or both. We knew so little about Ryan at this point, that knowing what we know now makes it especially interesting to try and project what he might have been thinking during these early episodes. Thanks for the reviews lovelies! I try to respond to everyone and say thank you, and if you're a guest know that I appreciate you too! It's so fun to see what everyone thinks, your thoughts are super intriguing to me and it's fun to muse over all the "what ifs", as my beta Primadonna001 has said haha. Also when I see "this could be the actual script" comments, y'all make me blush, I love you! Moving into 504 and 505, there will be lots of potential for filling in missing areas. I can't wait! xoxo