Annie and Auggie family and home part 15
Auggie arrived in his office at 8:30. Barber had moved over to his own desk again and was just listening to some recording. Auggie found the glass door to his office with the tip of his cane, opened it and walked across the room, over to his desk, folding the cane on his way. Then he trailed his left hand along the edge of the desk, found the first drawer and swapped the white cane for the laser cane.
Right after, he made his way over to Barber and Hollman in the adjacent office.
"Hey guys, what are you working on right now?"
"Hey, man…." Barber looked up from the screen and over to Auggie who stood right next to him.
"Good to have you back Auggie, I have missed the "big Tech Ops boss" he smirked and Auggie could hear that grin in Eric´s voice.
"Yeah, it is good to be back" Auggie replied before he continued "What have you found out about Garret and Company?"
"Well, I have just listened to the latest calls he made and it looks like he is up for a meeting with an Arabic guy in two days. They are about to meet in a café on Wednesday afternoon. If we could get more details that would be just awesome."
"What about following them and listen to their conversation? " Auggie suggested
"Well that would have to be an inconspicuous person" Barber said
" I guess I have an idea" Auggie said
"Why don´t we just send Annie to that café. Garret does not know her. Maybe she is able to get a bug or a microphone on him or she might even listen to his conversation from a neighbouring table."
"This might be an idea" Barber said We just need a bug tiny enough to hide it, but I guess I have still some stuff that might suit this purpose."
"Good… and I am going to read Annie and Joan in" Auggie said and walked out of Barber´s office.
Four minutes later, Auggie knocked on Joan´s office door. He entered and walked straight to the desk where Joan was going through a heap of documents. She looked up and rose from her seat.
"I am glad you are back Auggie" She smiled and put her right hand on Auggie´s shoulder. She knew how important physical contact for Auggie was since she could not look into his eyes.
"I have come to give you an update on my mission. Barber and I have got a plan. I would love Annie to be a part of this plot" Auggie said, feeling for the back of the chair before he sat down.
"Have you already read in Annie?" Joan asked, taking also a seat again behind her desk .
"No, I have not had time yet. I immediately went over to you after my conversation with Eric" Auggie answered trying to meet Joan´s gaze across the desk. "But I will inform her as soon as I am back in my office." And with these words Auggie got up from his seat and walked to the door.
Shortly after, he was back at his desk. He grabbed his headphones and booted his desktop computer. There were already a couple of mails he needed to answer, before he got to the other tasks. He was immersed into listening to the first email read to him, that he almost was not aware of somebody coming into the room. Annie had slowly come closer and put her hand on Auggie´s shoulder.
"Jesus…" Auggie turned round with his chair….he had not noticed her presence and was now slightly shocked.
"How can you sneak up so secretly on your poor blind husband" He quipped, rising from his chair and pulling Annie into an embrace before he finally kissed her.
"Well I had guessed that you would have noticed me a bit earlier given your super-senses" Annie replied, kissing him back passionately.
"I have to talk to you. Eric and I have made a plan and we need your help. We want you to be part of the mission. Wednesday afternoon at 5:00 Garret is going to meet his contact at the "Black Cock" Café. I want you to spy on him and to listen to his conversation. It would be good if you could be there a bit earlier to make sure that you get a table. Eric will give you a tiny microphone that makes it possible to overhear conversations from a distance."
"Wow, nice idea to be on a mission with you again so to speak" Annie said "I have not worked with you in a while. I guess that will be fun"
"Speaking of fun; I am still thinking about the school thing. Next Wednesday I am supposed to go to school with Jeremy. I will have to convince the kids that working in an office is fun"
"I am sure the kids will enjoy your story. You could bring your laptop and show how the Braille display works. Maybe they will find that interesting.
"Yeah, I have already thought about that and I think it is a good idea"
"I need to go through a translation for Joan, some Russian documents she has just received" Annie said before she left the office.
Auggie grabbed his headphones again and continued listening to the emails he had received.
The day passed quickly and at 5:00 pm Annie walked again into Auggie´s office.
"Are you done for today?" She asked.
Auggie stopped sliding his fingertips across the page he had been reading, opened his watch, checked the time and said
"Wow, I wasn´t aware that it was so late already. But yeah, I am almost done. The page I have been reading can wait until tomorrow, so let´s go home honey"
Annie offered Auggie her arm and led him out of the office to the parking lot. At home Jeremy was playing Memory with his babysitter when Annie and Auggie arrived.
"Daddy, Mum...I have already 5 matching pairs and she has nothing!"
Jeremy said proudly pointing over to Sarah the babysitter.
"Well, he is hard to beat" The girl said before she grabbed her handbag and left.
"I wish I could play with you Memory too, Dad." Jeremy said, walking over to Auggie and putting his little arms around Auggie´s waist.
"Well, I cannot play Memory with you because I can´t see, but we can play other games" Auggie replied, lifting his son up to his eye level and hugging him tightly. "Besides, I got a new game for you that might be interesting as well"
"What kind of game?"
"Well that is still a secret but if you get me that little brown, wooden box from my desk I will tell you"
"That sounds cool" and with these words the little boy ran up the stars into his father´s writing cabinet and grabbed the box from the desk.
"Do you mean this one?" Jeremy asked, placing the box into Auggie´s hands.
Auggie assessed the box by sliding his fingers across the lid and the label and nodded
"Yeah, that would be the one. Let´s sit down at the dining table and I ´ll show you what´s in it"
Jeremy and Auggie took a seat at the table and Auggie opened the lid of the box and got out a number of flashcards. Each of the cards contained a tactile Braille letter and the matching letter in black print.
"Wow, are these Braille memory cards?" Jeremy asked
"Not exactly, those are flashcards. With these cards I learned to read Braille a while ago, I mean after my accident. I have not used the cards for quite a while but I thought you´d have fun learning Braille with me, using these cards"
"That is really cool" Jeremy was enthusiastic. "Can we start right now?"
And then, Auggie started sliding his fingertips across the cards, explaining to his son all of the tactile Braille letters. Jeremy was already able to distinguish some of the cards all on his own by reading out loud the printed black letters, he had already learned at school.
"Maybe you can take these cards to school with you Daddy when you come and visit next week." Jeremy said
"Yeah, that is a good idea" Auggie smiled
Two days later Annie sat at the café. She had taken a seat at one of the tables and a hidden camera and a tiny microphone with a wide range would help her to get eyes and ears on her target person. Auggie and Hollman were sitting in a delivery van on the other side of the road prepared to listen to the conversation.
Annie sipped on her first cup of cappuccino when Garret and his Arabic friend arrived. First Garret took a seat at the table and ordered an ice-tea and two minutes later his friend appeared and started talking to him.
Annie pretended to be playing with her mobile phone whilst enjoying her cappuccino and Auggie listened from the distance
"Have you got all the details?" The Arabic guy asked
"Yes, the boxes with the missiles and guns shall be here in three days. Ben Al Makri will your contact. He is going to deposit the boxes in the old and empty warehouse on Starling-Road 30. You just need to pick them up there. The money transfer however should take place tomorrow. Payment in advance or no delivery. " Garret explained
"I shall arrange for the immediate money transfer" The Arabic guy said in English with a strong accent
"Bingo" Auggie said listening to the conversation "We got them, we just need to nail them in three days"
When Annie had finished her cup of cappuccino the two men had also concluded their deal and got up. Annie waited until they had left before she went over to the delivery van and knocked.
"We got all that we need" Auggie said "Now we can go over to the last phase of our mission"
Two minutes later Hollman started the motor and they were on their way back to Langley.
"Great job" Joan said, when the three appeared in her office. "We have almost achieved what we wanted. I am sure we will be able to catch the guys."
Garret sat in his kitchen. He had just finished his pizza and opened a bottle of beer when the doorbell rang. He went to open the door and found two men in black suits standing on the threshold. One of them had short black hair, opened his wallet, showed a badge and said
"Rossabi, FBI I have to ask you to come with us"
Garret was shocked. He went pale from one minute to the other and almost lost his balance. He had always been scared that his connection with the Arabic weapons dealers would one day come to the surface but he had not believed that it might happen so soon.
"May I at least get my jacket?" He asked and the two men followed him trying to make sure that Garret did not attempt to escape.
Then, Garret followed Rossabi and his colleage to a blue van that took him to the FBI headquarter.
Three days later, the operation was reaching its peak. Auggie, Barber and Hollman sat again in a grey van not far from the building where the weapons were supposed to be hidden. An armed crew of CIA agents was hiding in the area around the building, waiting for the weapons deal to take place. CIA staff had bugged the building so that they would know what was going on every single minute.
"A car is coming closer, Auggie said, listening to the sounds coming through his headphones" Hollman and Barber peeked through the windows of the van and confirmed
"Yes, a black Mercdes and a blue Toyota have just stopped in front of the building"
The two men walked towards the building and opened the door.
"Here they are" the first man said in Arabic and Auggie translated to Hollman and Barber who were listening as well
"You got the desired quantity. Your payment has been accepted. If you have problems to get the boxes out of the country, contact Garret Davison. He knows a reliable forwarder that would help you"
"Thank you" The second man said. Shaking hands with his partner.
By the time the two men walked over to the door with the first box in their arms, the door opened and an armed 6-people CIA team yelled
"Hands Up, don´t move!"
And before the two men could act or respond they were handcuffed and led to a dark-blue van outside
Through his headphones Auggie could now hear a bunch of Arabic curses and swear words he would not literally translate to his colleagues.
Back in Langley Auggie learned that Garret had been arrested by the FBI. He felt pity for the man because he really had come to like him. Therfore he decided to visit him in jail and tell him the truth.