Amazing part 7
"Did you ever have to wash your parents' car?" Annie asked randomly.
"Um, I'm the youngest so, yeah…" Auggie answered his face an adorable mask of confusion.
"Our choice is to search through 15,000 matrioshki for 1 of 10 slips of paper or to wash a trolleybus. Even if you could see, the matrioshki challenge could take forever," Annie reasoned.
"Let's get dirty, babe," he grinned and she led him to a taxi.
The trolleybus yard was in a very remote part of town, but Annie's language skills and knowledge of the city got them there in short time. The trolleybus wound up being quite dirty and the water source very far away, but Annie ran a bucket of water to Auggie and got him working on a specific area while she fetched more water.
Other teams were scurrying around the city, opting to do the nesting doll challenge or lost looking for the trolley bus yard all while Annie and Auggie flung soapy sponges at one another and giggled.
Annie began singing Russian folk songs and the stoic work crew at the yard were soon singing along.
"I have never had so much fun working my ass off," Annie declared as she polished the headlights of the trolley.
***555***
Annie and Auggie were an hour ahead of the next team in completing the challenge, their clue led them to Red Square to meet Gwen behind St. Basil's.
"There aren't many things that I remember visually," Auggie mentioned, "but St. Basil's is pretty clear in my mind."
"I'll never forget the first time I saw Red Square," Annie began as she led him through the throngs of people coming out of the Park Culturi metro station.
"I was 19, the host family I was living with brought me and they led me this way, up the back side of the Square by the history museum, there is a slight hill, you can't see St. Basil's right away at the far end. The Kremlin and GUM, St. Sophia's they catch your eye and you almost forget and then you crest the hill and there it is," she stopped and Auggie caught himself before he walked into her.
"It's so beautiful," she whispered.
"You're so beautiful," he leaned down to speak in her ear and she smiled.
"Let's go," she picked up the pace and led him unerringly through the crowd.
Annie found Gwen and a Kremlin guard behind St. Basil's as instructed. The guard welcomed them to Moscow in Russian, Annie and Auggie both responding with "Spacibo".
"You two made short work of the challenges today," Gwen commented.
"We had a little advantage this leg, I speak Russian and lived here for a while in college," Annie down played just how well she knew Moscow.
"Ahhh, that explains the reports of Russian folk songs at the trolley yard," Gwen laughed.
"Just trying to make it fun," Annie shrugged.
"Well I wish I could tell you you are done for the day, but this leg is not over, you are still racing, here is your next clue," Gwen turned over an envelope.
"Das Vidanya Russia," Annie smirked.
"Where to, Walker?"
"Plane to Frankfurt, train to Stuttgart," she reported.
"Thanks Gwen," Auggie waved as the pair took off for the airport.
***555***
Annie was surprised to see Danielle and Kendall at the airport in time for the earliest flight to Frankfurt.
"Hey guys," Annie greeted.
"Hey, wow we must be in good shape if we caught up to you guys!" Danielle beamed.
"Which challenge did you pick?" Auggie asked as he sipped on a bottle of water.
"We did the nesting dolls and found the paper on the 2nd one we picked, total luck," Kendall admitted.
"Don't downplay luck," Annie smiled, "it comes in very handy."
***555***
Once in Stuttgart the teams were sent to the Mercedes Benz test facility.
"We get to test drive a Benz on your track?" Annie asked in awe.
"Um, no," the Mercedes rep answered, " you get to ride in a test car, as a passenger."
"Oh," Annie pouted and Auggie pinched her side and chuckled.
Annie and Auggie strapped themselves in and the test track driver gained speed. At the fastest they were going 170 km or just over 105 mph and Auggie knew Annie had topped out faster than this in a chase or 2, but the real fun came on the 'wall of death' as the Benz banked high off a track wall. He heard Annie squeal with a glee she usually reserved for him in private.
"God that was fun," Annie mentioned as they got out of the car.
"I am constantly in awe of your ideas of fun," Auggie smiled.
Sure enough there were Mercedes vehicles waiting for them and a 200 mile drive to Bad Tolz on tap, much of which would take them via the Autobahn.
"We might need to stop for Dramamine," Auggie chuckled.
"You love my driving," Annie scoffed and Auggie rolled his eyes.
***555***
Annie pulled the Benz onto a dirt road and followed the markers to a giant field.
"How far ahead do you think we are?" Auggie asked.
"Danielle and Kendall were a few minutes behind us at the track, but I never saw them tailing us, they either got lost or can't drive as fast as me, why?"
Instead of an answer she got Auggie launching himself across the console of the luxury car.
"I want you so bad," he mumbled against her lips as he tugged her tee shirt out of her jeans.
"You do like my driving," she laughed.
"I like everything about you Walker," he growled and pulled her over to his side of the front seat.
She went willingly into his lap, looking around surreptitiously to make sure there was no staff in sight, but it did appear they were truly alone in the German countryside. She reclined Auggie's seat and stretched along his long lean body.
***555***
"That's it, I'm getting a bigger car," Annie sighed as she leaned back against the dashboard and looked down at Auggie still reclined in the passenger seat.
"Heh, there are not a whole lot of places in DC we can have sex in a car without, you know, being arrested," he ran a hand over his face, the car warm and the windows fogged.
"True and my car is easy to park," Annie shrugged and tried to figure out how to untangle their bodies as she scrambled for her shirt before Danielle and Kendall arrived.
She finally got out of the car without injuring herself or Auggie and looked around. The field was huge and there were dozens of red metal domes spread throughout. She grabbed the clue as Auggie organized himself.
"OK, it is an individual challenge, but I think I am going to have to do it. The field is huge and even if I could yell that loudly it would be tough for you to navigate," Annie explained.
"OK, have at it," he shrugged leisurely, clearly relaxed from their previous activities.
Annie's stomach fluttered at the sight of him, she pushed him up against the car and kissed him again, molding her body to his and allowing him to wrap his arms around her fully. They were roused from the kiss by the sound of tires on gravel as Kendall and Danielle arrived.
"Well we managed to cover your professional grade driving skills by frittering away our lead time," Auggie whispered in her ear.
TBC…