Auggie and Annie were sent to Arthur's office to wait out Lucy's polygraph. Admittedly, sitting in Arthur's office made Auggie more than a little uncomfortable, especially now that he was in trouble. He felt like a kid in the principal's office; usually Annie was the one in trouble, and Auggie came in here to sort things out. He'd maintained an excellent rapport with the Campbells, and now he might lose it all. His fate sat in the pulse of his twenty year old niece.
It was Joan who broke the silence. "It was my idea to assign Auggie this case."
"It was my idea to do things the way we did," Annie countered.
"It was my fault for letting any of you have any say whatsoever," Arthur snapped.
"Well God help us all for trying to do something a little different," Joan snapped back.
"I flipped her," Annie said, her voice less sure than before.
"How can you be sure?"
Annie shifted in her seat. "We had a long talk this morning."
"Exactly what did you have to promise her, off the record, to get her to choose the United States government over the Chinese mafia?" Joan's voice carried more than a little concern.
Tickets to Disneyland, Auggie wanted to snap. Her very own pony.
But Annie didn't crack. "I told her my story."
"Which version of this story did you tell her?"
"I told her that no one makes a better spy than a scorned woman," Annie said calmly. "Which we all know is true."
"Do we all know that?" Auggie could almost hear Joan's eyes narrow. The acidity of her tone implied that she was more scorned than she'd like to admit.
"It wasn't a dig. I'm just saying, we've turned all sorts of people from the 'dark side' who wound up being our best operatives."
"You think she knows how to manipulate a lie detector yet?" Arthur bit back. "You're making this woman sound like she's some innocent schoolgirl, but you seem to forget she was in a long-term relationship with a wanted criminal from a country with which we have an extremely complicated relationship."
"People change," Annie insisted.
Arthur sighed. "You cannot view this woman as anything other than what she is, a person of interest in a very sensitive case. Joan made that mistake first, but it has gone too far."
"What about the real bad guys?" Annie demanded. "The CIA only trusts their own, but what about Lena Smith? She wasn't even investigated until it was too late. Yet, there have been millions of turned assets we barely even let in the building because of their past."
"If I were you, I would remember my rank in this room," Joan said coldly. "Reel it in."
"All I am saying is, if we get Lucy Anderson, we could get insight into the things she's seen. The things she's done. And we'd be getting one hell of an operative," Annie tried. "If she passes this polygraph, please, let me talk to her about starting at The Farm."
"Send this girl to The Farm?" Arthur scoffed.
"Please," Annie tried, her voice confident and unwavering. "If she passes this polygraph, let's see what she can do."
"If she is anything short of a spectacular spy," Arthur began, voice still raised but fury dissipating. "It is your neck, not mine."
"What about Auggie?" Joan asked.
"I'm with Annie," Auggie said, with confidence he wasn't sure he felt. She reached over and squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back, warmth radiating within him for the first time all day. "Let's see what the kid can do."
...
GUYS! Please R&R!
I would love to hear what you think (constructive criticism?!)
