Chapter 22: The Note
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Eyal untied and ungaged Auggie as Belenko spoke. "Now, I have no wish to kill Miss Walker here, however, if my father is not released into my custody in 24 hours, well, Mr. Anderson I'm sure you can imagine what might happen."
Auggie had to control every muscle in his body not to lunge at Belenko. His fists were clenched at his sides. He could feel Eyal's tension beside him.
"Now, Mr. Anderson, I'm going to take Miss Walker here and go now. I'll be in touch."
Auggie took a step in his direction as he began to walk away but Eyal grabbed his arm to stop him.
"We'll do her no good if we get killed here and now." Eyal sounded very reasonable but Auggie sensed his difficulty in staying put as well. He heard a door close and he whipped around and dragged Eyal along to show him out of the building. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Auggie dialed Joan.
"What the fuck happened, Joan? Where the hell are all our men?" Auggie's voice was a very low, intimidating growl.
"Auggie, Belenko must have known they were there. We lost contact with them five minutes ago. What's going on?"
"He took her, Joan. He took Annie. He said if he doesn't get his father back in 24 hours that he'll..." Auggie's voice trailed off and he hung his head in despair.
"Auggie, we'll get her back. We got you back, twice. She'll be ok."
"The babies, Joan..."
"They'll be ok, too. We'll get them all back to safety. Come back here so we can strategize."
"Yeah, ok Joan." In a daze, Auggie climbed into the van with Eyal and it sped away towards Langley.
Annie was blindfolded and thrown into the back of a van, harshly. She tried to count turns and stops to determine about where she might be headed, but after about 30 or so she lost track. When they finally stopped, she was pulled from the vehicle and dragged into a building. The lack of echoes told her it was something small, a house maybe. She was pushed down onto a hard chair and chained to it. The gag and blindfold came off and she was staring into the face of the man she hated most at that moment, Alexei Belenko.
"Hello, Miss Walker. So good to finally meet the legend that is you. I heard you were a force to be reckoned with but until I saw it with my own eyes in Columbia well..." He pulled a chair across from her and sat. "I honestly do not want to kill you. I have nothing against you personally, dear. I don't even have a problem with that damn boyfriend of yours. My father is the one that cares about him. I'm feeling very generous right now. If my father is released and allowed to leave the country, I will not kill either of you." He sneered at her. "Can't promise for daddy, though." Annie glared at him. "Not feeling talkative are we? Ok then. Perhaps you'll change your mind soon enough..." She watched as a few of his men set up recording equipment in front of her. "You see dear, as much as I don't want to kill you, your lover boy may need some incentive..."
Auggie stormed through the doors of the JCD with such force, he nearly broke the glass outer doors. Eyal was close behind but steering clear of his fury. Joan heard Auggie enter and turned to face him as he came up behind her. They both tried to speak at once.
"Auggie-"
"Joan-"
Joan looked at him and waited a second before she tried again. "Auggie, it's ok. We know where she is. I made Annie take some steps before I allowed her to be in that van. She has a GPS tracker embedded beneath the skin here," she touched the back of Auggie's neck. "After what happened to you in Columbia, her multiple conditions and her penchant for finding trouble I was not taking any chances."
Auggie looked towards Joan and nearly cried with relief. "Joan, I... I wish I would've thought of that."
"That's my job, Auggie, keeping you guys as safe as I can. Now, she's about 40 miles outside of D.C. in what looks to be a cabin in the middle of the woods. A team is gearing up right now to go get her back and capture Belenko. This will be over soon, I promise."
An hour later, the team was indeed ready to 'storm the castle gates' as it were. In position outside of the cabin, they were awaiting orders. The house was dark. Really dark. No sounds were coming from inside. No cars were parked anywhere nearby and they had discovered tire tracks leading away from the cabin. However, Annie's tracker still indicated she was inside that building, so the plan remained the same.
Joan gave the go ahead and all at once every man came in through a different entrance. Doors, windows, through the roof, if it could be opened or broken through, they did it. Every room was pitch black. Flashlights waved around everywhere, searching for their intended target and operative. Calls, of 'clear' came from each room of the house as they systematically searched it until there was only one room left. A bedroom. The only room that had light coming from it. The leader of the group kicked in the door and looked around the room. What he saw made him sick to his stomach.
A solitary floor lamp was on the far wall. A chair with chains attached was against the other wall. Camera equipment was set up at one end of the room with a note taped to it. One man went to go look at it and determine it was safe. He picked up the note and read it aloud. Auggie could hear through the comm systems.
"Dear Mr. Anderson- I have left you a little gift. I thought you may need some help in deciding to do what I have asked of you so I took these steps to ensure you did. My men certainly enjoyed preparing your present. I hope you enjoy the show, as it were." A flash drive was taped to the note.
In dead center of the room was a twin mattress. Laying on that mattress, chained to the floor by the ankles and wrists, was an unconscious and naked Annie Walker.