Authors Note: Thanks so much for the reviews, you guys have been awesome! I have no idea why this story is coming to me so fast; I'm sure I'll have snags later, so... But please enjoy this next saga!
Disclaimer: The (emphasis on broke) college student is really enjoying Covert Affair's characters, but does not own them.
It was a stupid idea. A crazy idea! And like all crazy, useless, impossible ideas, Auggie stuffed it into the back of his mind and concentrated on something else. While he was waiting for the bus, Auggie listened again and again to the recording of Annie's brief call. She sounded troubled; her voice sounded nervous, and there were subtle differences in her tone. But, if Auggie strained his hearing enough, he could almost make out another sound behind the cloying static and the Amazonian bird calls. Auggie's musings were interrupted by the steady chugging of the bus; in frustration, Auggie resolved to listen to the recording again when he got home. Perhaps then, he could use some of his hacking tech to layer the sound over sound. He'd be interested to see what that odd background noise was.
As always, bus trips were long and tiresome. Auggie, having not gotten enough sleep the night before, began to feel drowsy. The sun was on his back, and a window was cracked open, admitting a pleasant breeze. Auggie sighed and nestled down into his seat; he still had over half an hour's worth of stops until he got back home. Slowly, a pleasant doze overtook him, and in moments he was asleep.
Auggie looked around; a world of light and color assaulting his senses. It was so confusing for his mind to adjust too, and yet seemed so natural. "This is the world as it should be," Auggie thought as he looked around. Again, Auggie was in a familiar room; except this time it was noticeably brighter. Morning, perhaps. Birds called to one another in the jungle beyond, and the room seemed even hotter than it did before. The light colored adobe drew light into the room, and the cool tile underneath his feet was a vibrant blue that reflected off the walls like mirrored water. Suddenly remembering how his dream had gone before, Auggie looked around for Annie. She was by a window; the only window in the room. Bougainvillea had grown up the sides of the exterior wall, and Annie stood before the window, the open shutters letting in the brightly colored flowery vines. Again, she wore all white; but this time it made her look camouflaged; like she blended into the walls. Auggie scrutinized his mental picture of her; it seemed as though it were Annie. The facial proportions were right. But Auggie had to be sure; he closed his eyes. For a moment, the world around him made sense again.
"Annie," he called into the darkness. "Annie, is that you?"
He heard her footsteps and felt the grace that emanated from her stride- it was her! Quickly, Auggie opened his eyes again. Annie was standing right in front of him. "I always wondered what you looked like," he whispered, pushing some strands of errant blonde hair out of chocolate colored eyes.
Annie smiled sadly. "Auggie, I miss you," she whispered.
Auggie leaned forward and held her close, protectively. "No one is going to hurt you," he soothed.
Annie laughed a shallow, tired laugh. "They already have, Auggie. It's just a matter of time," Annie stated.
Auggie looked at her, his face betraying the fear for her safety he felt in his heart. Then, suddenly, Annie began to back away. Her eyes were filled with terror, as if she didn't recognize him at all. "Auggie, HELP ME!" she screamed.
Suddenly, she began to bleed again from the wound in her stomach. Auggie rushed up to her and caught her again as she collapsed, looking for a knife wound or a bullet hole. Strangely enough, there were none. It was as if she were just bleeding though her skin, the crimson red clashing vibrantly with the crystal white of her dress.
"Help me," she breathed, and Auggie watched as her breathing grew labored, slower, and stopped. Auggie felt panic overtake him. "NO!" he yelled, and simultaneously jolted awake.
He could feel the stares of the crowded bus like a weight as he was once again thrust into familiar and comforting darkness. The bus driver announced his stop next, and gratefully Auggie exited the bus. He tapped his way to the elevator, paced as it carried him to his floor, and practically ran the rest of the way to his apartment.
Once he safely bolted himself inside, he took his recording of Annie's communication out and plugged it into his computer. Auggie then spent the next few hours dissecting the recording, using his Braille enhanced keypad. Patiently, he scraped off layer after layer of sound by feeling the vibrations in his fingers. Annie's voice was the first to go, followed by the bird calls. The static was much harder to get rid of; but finally Auggie managed to silence it to a whisper. He then listened for what only he could hear with those extra sensitive ears of his. There it was! Near the end of the recording; a dull murmur that showed only as a small vibration on his keypad. Auggie pinpointed it and enhanced it.
"Man los ples mice," Auggie heard a male's voice say. He frowned and enhanced the points of sound again.
"Mante losples o mice," the computer dutifully responded. Auggie enhanced it one more time; this time, breaking each sound wave into syllables.
"Mante-lo simples ou mais," the computer spat out, syllable by syllable.
Auggie listened to the computer spout the phrase for a couple more times, and then he ran a translation program. Annie was in Brazil, which meant that there people spoke Portuguese (coincidentally, Auggie mused, also Annie's favorite language). So, Auggie ran the phrase through the subroutine. The message he got was chilling.
"Keep it simple- or else," the phrase meant.
Auggie should have felt vindicated by knowing that his fears had some grounding in reality, but inside he was too worried about Annie to feel any satisfaction that he had been right. Auggie also knew that Jai wouldn't do anything for Annie until Joan got back; Jai would follow protocol right down to the letter and by then it would be too late. Annie needed help as soon as possible; Auggie could feel the urgency in his very core. And suddenly, the idea that Auggie had dismissed earlier as crazy while waiting at the bus station came back to him; and it didn't sound so crazy after all. In fact, it could be done! But in order to do it, Auggie would need some resources, some imagination, and quite a load of creativity.
Like all men, Auggie planned his attack on steps that needed to be taken. He knew that Annie was in danger; his head was now as sure as his heart, so his motivation was squared away. He also knew that, of all the people in the DPD, he was the only one who could help her now. No one was expecting him in for at least a half-week, and if Jai had his way, another week would be added. Auggie was on vacation; no one would question it if he were out of phone range for a couple of days, and certainly no one would ever think twice about him taking a trip. Auggie's passport was current, thanks to the CIA. Therefore, his first step would be to buy plane tickets.
It was not too difficult to buy plane tickets for Rio Branco. Actually, the air fare was rather cheap, considering that the rewards perks to government employees included lots of frequent flier miles that Auggie never used. He cashed in his miles and bought two open-flight tickets; one round trip for himself, and a one way for Annie.
The next step took much longer to plan out. Auggie couldn't just walk into Valmor's house; he needed a cover story. For a while, Auggie thought of all the different "business man" proposals, but he couldn't come up with a flawless story. He needed to be able to move around unobserved. Finally, he settled on the least conspicuous of all covers; even if it was a little insulting for him. But to prepare this cover story, Auggie would need some special equipment- from a thrift store.
Blind beggars were a staple on every city street; to be poor and disabled was like being invisible. Though Auggie didn't feel inhibited at his job, and though he liked to joke about his blindness, using it as a crutch had seemed... dishonorable. Now, he would be taking his disability and exploiting it to the extreme. The idea unnerved (and in a way angered) him, but Auggie also realized that it was the best of his options. A rich man with knowledge of "spies" would be on the lookout for an extraction team or another "business" man. They would be looking for someone inconspicuous but someone still able to wield power. A poor person was nothing to a rich man; Auggie would barely be noticed at all. And it was not like Auggie was being sent to finish the op; he merely wanted to bring Annie home. Auggie believed that he could pull that off.
The thrift store downtown closed late on Wednesdays, which was good because Auggie had lost track of time. It was already evening, and by the time Auggie got down to the store, he only had a half-hour to shop. He did have the advantage of knowing the shop-keeper, though; his first few months of blindness he broke about a dish a day. It got to the point where he started coming to the thrift store to buy dishes; after all, he didn't care if the patterns matched.
Heidi, the store clerk, smiled as she saw Auggie come in. "Hey, Auggie, you haven't broken a dish in some time!" she said cheerfully.
Auggie grinned over at Heidi's general direction. "I need some help, Heidi. You see, my friends and I are planning this costume party, and I'm supposed to show up as a thug. I need to be wearing stained jeans and torn t-shirts, and I need to carry a slender stick like I've been street fighting. Oh, and I need a knapsack."
Heidi laughed. "You and those other lawyer friends of yours; it must get pretty boring sometimes when you think it is fun to dress up as the people you prosecute. Anyway, we don't sell anything ripped or tattered here... although I could check the new donations box. Some people just don't understand that when something is ready to go in the garbage no one else will want to wear it!"
Heidi shuffled off towards the back of the store. "Oh, and walking sticks and canes are in the bin by the register. Take three more steps to your right!"
Auggie took three precise steps and found the bin of canes. "You're awesome, Heidi!" Auggie called.
While Heidi was shifting through the day's donations, Auggie was fingering the canes. Most of them were heavy walking sticks, and were suited for leaning on, not using as sensory canes. Finally, as Auggie was just about to give up hope, he found the right cane. It was actually a hiking pole; but it was made of very light wood, was just his height, and skimmed the ground almost as well as his own cane did.
Auggie heard Heidi's steps; she was struggling with something. "A whole box full of junk!" she exclaimed as she neared Auggie. She set the box down, and Auggie could hear her rummaging through it. "Okay, in men's shirts we have a clean but grease stained white tee, a black tee with holes in it, and a blue polo with paint splatters. The rest look like they'd be either too big or too small."
"I'll take the white tee," Auggie said; for white tees were able to soil much easier than blue or black, besides the fact that a polo would look too nice.
"White tee it is," Heidi stated, folding it up. "Now, I have about three pairs of tattered jeans; the best one just has gaping holes in the knees. Here, try them on while I search for a knapsack. Fitting room is straight behind you, about ten large steps. Do you want your pack tattered too?"
"Please!" Auggie answered pleasantly, and he maneuvered his way quickly into the fitting room. Despite the allure of the other two shredded jeans, Auggie chose the ones that were mostly intact except for the knees. He may have to do walk a long way, and he wanted pants that could hold up as well as possible.
After changing back into his own clothes, Auggie headed back up to the register with his jeans. Heidi was waiting; she had already rung up his other two purchases. "The knapsack is made out of gray canvas, and it has a couple holes and clips broken. But the top is drawstring, and both straps are intact and sturdy."
"Perfect again!" Auggie said with a grin. "Remember that I owe you dinner in the near future."
"I'd love too," Heidi said, playing along. "But remember, Auggie, I'm married. I'm also twice your age."
"Shucks. Well, hopefully I can find the love of my life with these new duds."
Heidi stifled a horse-laugh, and Auggie, realizing that he had not been joking there, smiled, paid for his things, and left.
By the time he got back to his apartment it was late. Auggie was aiming to reach the airport at around three; his plane was to take off at five in the morning. Auggie hurriedly set about the rest of his preparations. He pulled out his "new" pack, filled his old canteen (that he had kept for nostalgic reasons) to the brim with water, and packed another couple of plastic water bottles along with it. Several purification tablets came in next. Then, Auggie threw in some rolls, dried fruit, crackers, and beef jerky from his cabinet; he kept emergency rations on hand just in case. The tattered clothes came next.
After packing, Auggie took his sneakers that he had used all the time for geek conferences and shredded them with a kitchen knife. The serrated edges tore the material in jagged streaks, and the shoes would at least (hopefully) look old. Auggie threw the shoes into the top, closed the sack, and proceeded to pack a separate pack for himself. In this suitcase went the respectable clothes, his hiking cane, the toiletries, and a massive amount of first aide supplies. Auggie wished he could also be taking his combat knife; but he'd have a hard time getting through security with that! Instead he settled on a camping knife that he wrapped up with his first aide. This would be going through baggage claim; he hoped desperately that it was not lost.
Finally, Auggie put his passport and one of his cash Visa cards into his wallet. When he finished, he checked the time. Ten-twenty at night! He only had a few hours to sleep; he'd have to catch a taxi around two. Auggie sat down to eat a hurried meal, took the last shower he'd probably have in days, set his alarm for one-forty, and was in bed by eleven. He almost dreaded going to sleep because he was afraid of seeing Annie, but this time, he fell into a deep and blessedly dreamless sleep.