Amazing Part 18
Annie strategized the whole way to the pottery kiln. Should they make multiple trips with a few pots at a time or try to move large numbers first. They arrived and the staff were surprised by their decision of tasks, but gave them the scoop.
"Stay here," she placed her hand on Auggie's chest and walked out to get a feel for the course.
"Cobblestones," she reported back.
"Tricky," he replied with a grimace.
"Can we do a test run?" Annie asked.
"Sure, you can take as long as you need," the staff member shrugged.
Annie stationed Auggie at one end of the plank and moved around to the front.
"OK, we do a five count to get the plank to our shoulders and a five count to stand," Annie instructed and Auggie nodded, crouching down and finding the end of the plank.
She began counting and they both began raising the plank. Annie had her back to Auggie but she felt steady movement and pressure on the plank.
"Ok, now stand on 1,2,3,4,5" they were both upright with the plank on their shoulders.
"We're going to lead with our left foot and go," they walked in unison out of the building and over a few yards of cobblestone, Auggie getting the feel of the road under his feet.
Auggie was grateful for the military training that allowed him to focus and move in unison, although truth be told he had been moving in unison with Annie from day 1.
"On 5 we stop," Annie instructed and counted them to a stop.
"Nice," Auggie commented on their progress.
"We got this," Annie smiled.
It was of course, infinitely harder with the pots balanced on the plank, but ultimately they completed the challenge in decent time and received their clue. Annie flagged a cab and in minutes they were on their way to that night's stop.
"Wonder what kind of greeting we are going to get," Annie mentioned casually.
"Your competitive streak is ebbing, I must be a good influence," he ran his thumb over the back of her hand.
"A calming one, definitely," she agreed, "but I mean from Gwen."
"Yeah, I know. "
They were the third team to arrive despite their break in the Buddha garden. Gwen greeted them with a smile and a tour of their accommodations at the marble Temple as if nothing had happened in Australia. Annie wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one for the CIA.
***555***
The next day they were out of Thailand and enroute to Japan.
"Out of luck on the language front," Annie sighed as she snuggled into Auggie on the plane.
"Yeah, Japanese is one of the few languages you can't even fake," he laughed as he sipped his ginger ale.
"Did you email our friend Eric?" Annie mentioned casually.
"Yeah, the internet in the Bangkok airport was sketchy, but I got a message out," Auggie confirmed that he had completed his task while Annie was getting them on the flight to Tokyo.
They had established a protocol with Barber and Auggie communicated that they had approached Gwen and had no definitive response from her at this time. It would keep Joan at bay while they finished the race.
"Is anyone sitting here?" Kendall appeared in the aisle and indicated the empty aisle seat.
"No, it was mine, but no one sat in the middle so I scooted over," Annie smiled and sat up a little, still keeping her body tucked against Auggie.
"Danielle is driving me nuts," Kendall sighed and asked for a beer when the stewardess passed by.
"Close quarters for almost 3 weeks can do that," Annie grinned.
"You two seem fine," Kendall laughed.
"Oh he's totally annoying," Annie teased.
"Hey," Auggie feigned affront.
"I think this trip is easier for couples, if you get mad at each other you can just kiss and make up. Danielle and I would actually have to talk and I am way too tired for that," Kendall drank a long sip of the beer.
"So what seems to be the problem?" Annie asked as she reached for Auggie's ginger ale.
"She thinks she is so perfect, and she is in a lot of ways, but she doesn't have to make me feel so inferior all the time," Kendall mumbled.
Annie snorted, "My sister's name is Danielle, maybe it is the name, cause that sounds just like her."
"No harshing on your sister," Auggie reprimanded.
"I love my sister, but she can drive me absolutely crazy Kendall, I get it," Annie smiled.
"We just need some space," Kendall took a deep breath.
"Well, you are welcome to the seat, we have a long flight," Annie patted the younger girl's shoulder.
***555***
Their first stop in Tokyo was the Japanese equivalent of Times Square, the clue was a visual one and it was flashing on one of dozens of giant LED screens. Annie finally caught it and realized it was a statue of a dog "Hachiko" and at the statue she was handed an actual clue envelope.
Their choice of tasks was clear cut, as one of them involved riding bikes – and not tandem this time, so they headed to a Japanese tea garden where they had to lift and carry a cart carrying a young woman in it 1/3 of a mile. After the plank and pot challenge this one was easy, while the cart was much heavier it was more stable and Annie sang a little sea chanty to keep the pace.
They dropped off their young lady and got a clue directing them back to the city to a Japanese Capsule hotel.
"I've heard of these hotels, we will literally have like a coffin-sized hole in the wall," Auggie explained.
"I saw a special on the travel channel about them, they are kind of nuts, but very efficient," Annie agreed.
Gwen was waiting in the lobby of the hotel when they arrived.
"You two have done a really good job working together the past couple days, the crew is kind of amazed at what you have accomplished," she complimented them.
"You mean what I have accomplished," Auggie clarified without sounding too snarky.
"You are a very resourceful team, you communicate amazingly well and you should be proud of one another," she smiled and led them to their capsules.
"Do we have to sleep apart?" Annie asked as they were shown 2 capsules, one above the other, at the end of a hall clearly reserved for them.
"We won't be doing bed checks," Gwen laughed and seemed very much like herself.
There was some food out and a small bar in the tidy common area near the capsules. Annie poured them each some water and grabbed some seaweed salad and a couple forks.
"That could have been worse," she whispered.
"Yeah. either she is OK or she is a good actress, either way would work for us," Auggie smiled and leaned in to kiss Annie.
When they finished eating Annie got some relatively clean sleep clothes out of their packs along with their toiletries and stashed the packs in one of the lockers. She walked Auggie to the men's room and went in to the ladies room to wash up and change. Without discussion she crawled into the lower capsule with him and settled her smaller frame on top of his.
It was a small space but not as claustrophobic as she imagined from the outside. She leaned up and kissed Auggie, proud of Gwen's acknowledgement of their team work. Auggie responded readily to the kiss, his hands warm and strong against her sides, her hands were moving, one in his hair, the other on his hip.
"Mmmmm, Annie, you need to stop that or more people than Danielle and Kendall will be overhearing us," he chuckled.
"Stop kissing you?" she was a little dazed.
"No, this," he found her hand on his hip and stilled it with his own.
Sure enough just as they fell quiet the hallway filled with voices, at least 3 teams had returned.
"I will bet you my lunch money Annie and Auggie are not sleeping in separate capsules," Kendall laughed and stood right outside the thin curtain.
TBC…