Into the light and back part 6

Auggie enjoyed being with Annie. Being with her and seeing her was all he had dreamed of. The night at the restaurant had been great and Annie had looked gorgeous in her black evening dress.

Now, the weekend was over and Auggie was sitting in his office again, reading files, that Joan had placed on his desk. Because Joan still would not let him do bigger missions alone, he took every chance to get out of his office. Although installing bugs in the houses of the people they were targeting was not his favourite task, he went out with his Tech Ops guys to assist them. He sat in the surveillance van for several hours checking and listening and he was working on a new programme, that would make it easier to crack encrypted codes or passwords of computers. He was busy, but he still wanted more.

Two hours later, he rose from his desk and walked to the cafeteria. He strolled along the counter where cake, sandwiches, salad and lots of other things were displayed and opted for a tuna salad and a yoghurt. He paid and sat down at one of the tables. He had almost finished eating, when he saw Joan Campbell approach. She walked directly towards him and finally sat down.

„I want you to go on a mission" She said and gave Auggie a questioning look. She knew what it meant to him to go back to the field.

Auggie did not trust his ears. He raised his brows in surprise and replied „How come that you have changed your mind?"

„Let´s say that I appreciate your qualities as an operative and I trust you"

Auggie smiled and took the last spoonful of his yoghurt.

„I am glad that I am still in the business" He said.

You will be travelling to New York tomorrow. The ticket and the necessary information are already waiting for you on your desk. Annie is already in New York and has made the necessary arrangements. You will check into the same hotel and you two will work together again. Make sure to pack one of your best suits into your suitcase. You will have to pose as a rich business man."

Auggie had boarded the plane and was on his way to New York. He was excited to work with Annie again. Not only because he loved her, also because he appreciated her capabilities as an operative.

The sounds of Mingus sounded through his headphones while he enjoyed the snack, that the young flight attendant had just served. In an hour he would land in New York and he was looking forward to the job he had to do.

Annie stood at the exit of the airport building. She checked her watch. Auggie´s plane had just landed. She played a bit with her mobile phone and when she looked up, she saw a tall, handsome man with dark hair walk towards her. He smiled broadly when he spotted her. She remembered the time when she had to call him, to anounce her presence. Seeing him walk towards her just like that made her heart leap.

„Hey beautiful lady" Auggie called and wrapped his arms around her before he kissed her.

„It is great that we are a team again." Annie said and both walked to the parking lot where Annie had left her rental car.

The next morning, Auggie had breakfast in his room. He was not supposed to be seen with Annie before the mission was concluded. They did not even have their rooms on the same floor in order to avoid suspicion.

He and Annie war targeting a Greek shipowner who was involved in Money laundry with the Italian Mafia. Stavros Papadopoulous was about to meet Gianni Marchese, one of the heads of the Mafia .

Annie was supposed to install surveillance equipment in the rooms of the two men while they met. Auggie would keep an eye on the men, pretending to be a business man waiting for his business partner. As soon as he would notice any changes, he would either send Annie a message or give her a code word through the earpiece that she was wearing. The code word was peppermint.

Auggie had finished breakfast and got dressed. He put on the black suit, the light blue shirt and the black tie with stripes that he had brought. He grabbed his briefcase and made his way down to the lobby bar. He took a seat and ordered an espresso. Then, he checked his phone. Annie had sent him pictures of the two men the were targeting. He wanted to be sure to recognize them. Shortly before his Espresso arrived, Auggie had unpacked a few folders. He was pretending to read business documents and from time to time he would look up, checking whether Marchese and Papadopoulous had already arrived.

In the meantime Annie had picked the locks of the staff locker room. She sneaked in and grabbed a room maid uniform from the shelf with clean uniforms and a pile of towels and went back to her room. Just in case she was caught, she would be more inconspicuous. Then Annie changed and waited for Auggie´s message.

After five minutes, she received a text message

P and M underway

A.

Shortly before, Auggie had spotted the two men taking a seat three tables away from his. He pressed the button of his watch and the built-in camera took a picture of the two men.

Meanwhile, Annie had sneaked into the room of Marchese and installed the bugs. Everything went smoothly and she picked up the towel pile and took the lift to the second floor where she would find the room of Papadopoulous. Again, she picked the lock and went in, to look for the best place to install the bug. This was not a simple hotel room. It was a suite. She decided to install two bugs. One below the bed and one in the living room under the living room table.

Auggie still sat in the lobby bar and ordered another Espresso. He realized, that Papadopoulous and Marchese were obviously having an argument. The Italian´s gestures were lively and his expression was anything else but friendly. Then, Papadopoulous hit the table with his fist and Greek swear words followed before he got up and rushed out with a furious expression on his face.

I love Peppermint, Auggie said into his earpiece and Annie got the hint. She quickly installed the bug and grabbed the towels from the bed.

She went into the bathroom, took two used towels and put the other three on the towel rack.

When she was done, the door opened and Papadopoulous came in. She gave him a radiant smile

and said in broken English with a strong Russian accent „Excuse me Sir, I only want clean room... I now going" and then she left quickly.

You´d better do so. Papadopoulous snarled. He was in a bad temper after the unpleasant discussion with Marchese.

Annie made her way upstairs to her room and put on her skirt and her blouse again. In the meantime, Auggie had paid his coffee and had left the lobby bar.

The mission, he had accomplished with Annie, had not been very tricky, but it felt good to be back to the field again. He wished, that now that he could see again, Joan would send him out more often. He loved his Tech Ops job, but as a sighted person, he wanted more than just an office job. He wanted more, and he was capable of more. He needed to prove that again.

Two hours later Annie and Auggie were on a flight back home to Washington. They had enjoyed it to work together again and Auggie hoped, that many missions more with Annie, or alone would follow.

On the plane, Auggie had taken the window seat. He hated it to sit in the middle and Annie had offered him her seat. Now, her head rested against Auggie´s shoulder and with a little sigh she said.

„Isn´t it great to be together in the field again"

„Yes, couldn´t be better" Auggie answered and kissed the back of her hand.

The next morning, Annie and Auggie´s first way led them to Joan. They presented the pictures that Auggie had taken of Marchese and Papadopoulous and Joan explained, that due to the bugs in the hotel rooms they had already gotten more details about the intentions of Marchese and Papadopoulous. Barber and the other guys of the Tech Ops crew had been busy and they had worked overtime to find out more.

„You two did a good job" Joan said and a little smile played around her lips before she continued

„Maybe I should send you out more often as a team".

Auggie grinned and thought by himself

Finally I am back!