Author's Note: Hi all! Thanks so much for all the faving and the reviews; my e-mail was overjoyed to see mail! This chapter came much quicker than I expected; perhaps the story might not take too long after all. But I make no promises. This chapter is mostly background, but I promise things will get much more interesting very quickly.
Disclaimer: The broke college student continues to have fun and doesn't own any rights to this TV show or the characters.
The next day, as soon as it was a "decent" hour for anyone on vacation, Auggie jumped on the bus headed for Langley. He had wanted to go in and check on Annie's progress as soon as he was awakened by the terrifying dream, but Auggie's mistrust of the government and of bureaucracy made him cautious; if something was really wrong, he would not be told until it was too late. Therefore, the best way to get information was to act as though everything was normal.
Auggie's "cover story" was that he left something in his desk; a piece of technology he wanted to work with. Everyone would believe that, and he could get close enough to Bert to perhaps squeeze out some information about Annie. He was coming onto the base at around nine thirty; which was still early for some people but fairly late for him. Trying to look nonchalant, Auggie exited the bus and walked in through the front gate. The guards barely noticed him; Auggie had been around for so long in CIA terms it was as if he were a part of the landscape. Auggie grinned to himself as his imagination ran away from him. "I've made it past the guards," he thought with a grin. "Now, my mission is to make it to my desk."
As Auggie entered Langley, however, he realized that it may be more of a mission than he had originally thought. Strange footfalls pounded through the corridors. Panicked voices of novice agents and their handlers answering to the droning voices of efficiency experts pelted the air like bullets shattering peace. Everything was very loud, disorderly, and not at all in a "working" order.
"No wonder Joan wanted me to take a vacation this week," thought Auggie as he stood in the entryway. Stunned by the strange voices and various new sounds washing over him like a tidal wave, Auggie used his actual cane (not his laser one) to navigate to his office. As expected, everything was re-arranged. But this time Auggie patiently bit his lip; if he wanted information, he would have to sweet-talk it out of Bert.
"Hello, Bert!" Auggie hailed when he was sure he was fully in his office. "Any calls?"
"Auggie!" Bert replied with a smile in his voice. "Long time no see... er, well..."
Auggie relaxed, realizing that pumping Bert for information would be a piece of cake. "I just came in to get my new tech-recorder; it's supposed to record even the most hypersensitive of sounds."
"Is that so?" Bert asked in awe. "Well, that's neat. It's a good thing Joan's not here to see you in, though, or she'd have my head. She made me promise not to let you in here."
Something in Bert's tone made Auggie suspicious. "Where is Joan?" asked Auggie.
Bert chuckled. "Gone for a couple of days giving efficiency reports to the brass in the Pentagon. As if she didn't have enough to do already. This place is swarming with efficiency experts; I'll be glad when they are gone. It's like they're not human. Anyway, at least we've slowed down a lot. We've only got one op going right now..."
"Annie's op, right?" asked Auggie.
"Yeah," Bert replied. "She's so lucky; while all the other agents are getting grilled, she's off in Brazil with Marco Sanchez."
Auggie's interest was peaked. "The Marco Sanchez?"
"Of course," Bert replied. "One of the best international agents ever, plus one of the longest-living South American agents. He's nearing retirement, you know."
"I hope Annie's cover is not his trophy wife," Auggie scowled.
"No, she's his niece and ward. We like to say, 'like a daughter' to him. Well, anyway, he's been awfully tolerant of her; their mission has had some snags but it's gone off without any serious problems."
Auggie frowned, his heart starting to beat fast again. "What were the glitches?" he asked.
"Well, for starters, they were supposed to be back already. They were tracking an arms dealer by pretending to be in the business themselves, but needed more time than was originally scheduled. Then, Annie's mike died."
"Annie's off-line?" Auggie fretted.
"Don't worry," Bert reassured. "She keeps checking in with Sanchez's mike; she's supposed to check in about five minutes if you want to hear her voice. We've got limited contact, though; Sanchez told us the dealing is going slow. The arms dealer is pretty suspicious, I guess."
"Does this arms dealer have a name?"
"Valmor. They say he owns a huge ranch outside of Rio Branco in Acre. A huge ranch, with the cover of the Amazon rainforest? No wonder he's been able to smuggle so many guns out of the Brazilian army."
"And we call this the secret service," said an unwelcome and annoyingly familiar voice. Jai Wilcox walked into the office, sounding amused in the way a panther would over a scared piece of prey. At least, that was the vibe Auggie got from how he was walking towards Bert.
"Sorry, sir," Bert was apologizing. "Auggie has been here for so long... he already knows everything, anyway. Why not just chat about it?"
Auggie could practically feel Jai's eyes scouring him. Though the last person Auggie wanted to meet up with today was the devil's little helper, he had no choice but to at least act civilized.
Jai was now lecturing the unfortunate tech. "What if, let's just say what if Auggie is the CIA leak? Then what? You've compromised not only your own job, but also your two agents who were counting on you to provide them with security! Is "chatting" all worth that?"
"No sir," Bert humbly replied.
Auggie could feel Jai's evil grin. "And what are you doing here, Auggie?" asked Jai in a silky-smooth voice. "Rumor has it that you are on vacation. Though I make it a point never to listen to rumors, as their intel is wrong so many times."
"Not that it's any of your business," Auggie began, "but I'm here to get my recorder out of my desk. I was going to play around with it while my week drags on. And anyway, who died around here and made you king?"
"Joan. Actually, Arthur made me "king" for a couple of days. You see, Joan has meetings in the Pentagon. The rest of our agents are being polygraphed, drilled, and tested. And, as I am sure chatty Cathy over there told you, Annie's op is the only one running at the moment."
"I guess the powers that be figured Annie was too fresh from the farm to audit," Auggie added.
Jai sighed. "At least she is getting good training," he replied. "I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to train with Sanchez; the man's a living legend."
That last statement made Auggie squirm; living legends in the CIA often tended to go out in a bang. If an agent's record was exemplary and spotless, that meant that either he or she was perfect, or that he or she were smart enough not to get caught when they did wrong. The latter was far more plausible.
"Well," Jai said after a pause, "shouldn't you be getting about your business then?"
Auggie scowled in Jai's general direction and began to rummage around in his desk. He pulled the recorder out and put it in his pocket. Suddenly, static burst through the air. Auggie thumbed the recorder on and listened for the sound he so intensely wanted to hear.
"Good morning, Bert," Annie's voice came in loud and crackly.
Bert fumbled at the computer to reduce the static till it was just a dull murmur in the background. "Got you, Annie. How's Brazil?"
"Hot," she complained, and Auggie grinned. Well, she at least sounded okay.
"Any progress yet?" Bert asked.
Annie's voice went low; troubled. "Not yet. Marco is taking a ride with "Polo" later in order to talk over the deal some more. Who knew that deals could take so long to make?"
"Well, sometimes deals don't go the way they planned," Bert replied.
"Hey, Bert, I've gotta go," Annie said. Auggie frowned; it was not like Annie to be so short-spoken. "Tell August I said hi, would you?"
Bert laughed. "Tell him yourself; he's right here!"
"Auggie? He-" suddenly, in the middle of Annie's surprised response, the transmission cut off.
"Dangnabbit!" yelled Bert. "It keeps doing that!"
Auggie looked in Bert's direction. "Every time?"
"Yes," Bert scowled. "As soon as we know Annie's direct info, it cuts off. It's okay I guess; I was just looking forward to actually running an op with her, not being stuck as her messenger boy."
Auggie frowned even deeper. "Bert, Jai, I think Annie's in trouble," he stated.
"How would you know?" Jai responded.
"Well, the first thing that tipped me off was that Annie used my real name. Who around me calls me by my real name? And then there is the fact that we're only able to get bits of information out of her, but only the bits we need. My guess is Bert was never left hanging during one of these transmissions!"
Auggie could almost feel Bert roll his eyes. "Marco's mike is working," Bert stated. "He fills in any gaps Annie might leave. Fortunately, she is a very succinct agent."
"But she isn't at all!" Auggie stated. "Sometimes, I have to dissect the information from all her chatter. I don't mind it; in fact, I kind of like it, as it is like putting a puzzle together. But then, why would Annie be so straightforward and yet use the wordplay of 'Marco' 'Polo'?"
"You can't be serious," Jai said with a laugh. "Just because Annie is running an op without you, it has made you completely paranoid! Auggie, you need more than one week off. Take another off, and I'll forget to tell Joan you came in here as crazy as a walk-in."
Auggie fought the urge to walk over and punch Jai in the mouth. "When will you be sending in help?" Auggie asked, his voice low.
"When Marco says they need it," Jai responded just as coolly. "Now, I am temporarily in charge. I can't control what Joan does with you on a day to day basis, but I can control what I do with you today. Auggie, leave this base now, or I will be forced to have security carry you off."
Auggie swallowed both his temper and his pride; attacking Jai was not worth being put in jail. Turning on his heel, he stormed out the door and kept up the pace until he was back at the bus station. He didn't know which was worse; knowing Annie was in danger and that he couldn't do anything about it, or knowing that the CIA was such a mess right now that Annie would fall through the cracks until it was too late. And suddenly, as Auggie sat waiting for the bus, an idea dawned on him.