Chapter 26: Losing Everything

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"Annie, it's not up for discussion. Go home." Joan stared at Annie from behind her desk. She knew how Annie felt. Undercut, tossed aside, but that wasn't the case. Joan truly felt that Annie needed the time to herself to recover from all the events of the past few months.

"Joan, I need to be here. I have to do something. I'll go crazy at home." Her voice was panicked.

"Like I just said, Annie, it's not up for discussion. Once you leave this building today your I.D. badge will be temporarily deactivated and you won't even be allowed in the building without my or Calder's consent. I promise you, we will keep you apprised of the situation as it unfolds but you are not to go near it, understand?"

Annie hung her head in defeat. She should've known that Joan would take steps to ensure that she wouldn't be able to fight this. "Fine, do you have any leads on how the Belenko's got away or where they might be?"

"Not yet. But we'll find them. Now, go home. I won't ask again before I have you dragged out of here." Joan's voice had that familiar sternness she seemed to reserve only for Annie. She stood to leave Joan's office but as she reached the door Joan said one last thing, "Annie, I hope you continue therapy. After what you've been through lately anyone would need it." Annie simply nodded before exiting.

As she closed the door behind her, Auggie caught her arm. "Annie, I know you want to be here, but I agree with them. Nothing is more important to me than your health and safety. And our babies. And that includes your mental health, too. She's right. You need help, more than I can give you. You stopped seeing your therapist after we came back from Columbia because of everything that was going on but considering the circumstances and the fact that you won't have work to distract you, I think you need to go back."

"Auggie, I... I know you're right, I do, it's just so hard to walk away from this. To walk away from what he did to us. He's still out there, somewhere and we don't even know where because they deactivated the tracker somehow."

It was true, the Belenko's had been prepared for their plan and managed to get away without the CIA knowing where they were. Even Eyal hadn't been able to find them after Auggie had gotten word about the tracker. That was a week ago and they were currently in the wind, again.

Auggie pulled her into his arms. "Maybe you should see if Dr. Russell is available to see you today. I think you have a lot you need to talk about and maybe it will help if I'm not there."

Annie allowed herself to be wrapped in his arms. This was the one place she felt safe these days, in Auggie's embrace. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Promise me you'll tell me if something happens? I need to know, ok?"

He squeezed her slightly, "Yeah, I promise. Now, go, please? It will help me to know you're out there working on getting better. Joan's got a security detail on you, so you should be safe. But try not to go too many places, ok? And keep your phone on you."

"Always." She leaned up and kissed him lightly, quickly. He was a little surprised. They hadn't shared that level of intimacy since Belenko had kidnapped her. But, perhaps this was just a bit more progress in the right direction. She didn't usually cringe when he touched her now. In fact, she pulled him to her more and more lately. Her nightmares still occurred but less now than at first. She unwrapped herself from his arms reluctantly. "I'll see you at home. I love you."

"I love you, too, Annie Walker. Now go." He listened as she walked away from him then turned and headed to his office to work on the Belenko problem from his own angles.

As she sat in the driver's seat of her car, Annie pulled out her phone. Her finger hovered over the call button with Dr. Russell's number. She knew she should call but she was afraid to. She was afraid to admit that she needed help. Finally, she sighed and pressed the button.

"Dr. Russell's office."

"Yes, um, my name is Annie Walker. I don't have an appointment but I was hoping that she could see me today..."

"Hold please." Annie sat and listened to elevator music until the receptionist came back on the line. "Yes, Miss Walker, Dr. Russell can see you in 30 minutes if that's alright?"

"Yes, that's just fine. Thank you."

That gave her just enough time to drive to Dr. Russell's office from Langley, she thought as she hung up the phone. Sure enough, she arrived just in time for her newly scheduled appointment. The receptionist barely looked up from her computer as she waved Annie into the office.

"Annie, I'm so glad to see you." Dr. Russell smiled and closed the door behind her as Annie sat on the couch.

"Yeah, I was kind of pushed into coming."

"Well, I'm happy you're here. Now, I know last we spoke you weren't ready to actually tell me what happened to you, are you ready now?" Russell said as she took her seat in her easy chair.

Annie looked down at her hands. They had healed nicely from her coffee accident. Not even a scar. She sighed. "I suppose I should, shouldn't I?"

"Annie, I know this is a tough step. If you're amenable to it, I have a method of helping you through this..."

Annie looked up hopefully at the doctor. "You do?"

"Yes. It's fairly new agey to some people, hence my hesitation in suggesting it, but I've found it to be quite helpful, especially at first."

"What is it?"

"Hypnotic therapy. I will put you into a kind of sleep, hypnosis, and have you talk about your experience while you're under, which will help you to not relive the experience in your conscious mind. Subconsciously, however, you will know you've discussed it and a great weight will lift off of you."

Annie thought about this for several minutes. Hypnosis. Could it really be that simple? Could she simply talk about it in her sleep and everything be ok? She decided she was willing to try anything at ths point. She nodded at Dr. Russell to let her know she had agreed.

Russell instructed her to lie down on the couch as she started her hypnosis. She slowly brought Annie down and down into her subconscious until she didn't even know where she was.

"Annie, can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where you are?"

"No."

"Do you know who I am?"

"No."

Russell stood and went to the back wall behind her desk. Pressing a panel there that was invisible to the naked eye, a door opened in her office. Out stepped two men. Men Annie knew very well. Russell looked at the men, fearfully, and spoke to them.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her."

The younger one spoke. "We won't. We just need her to tell us some things. Then we have a task for you to complete after our exit."

"Yes, I know. You've told me already. It goes against everything I believe in to do this." Russell said, defiantly.

The older man grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the wall. "You will do as you are told. Or your daughter will die, slowly."

Eyes wide and filled with tears, Russell nodded. Aleksandre Belenko released her and walked over to where Annie lay on the couch with his son, Alexei. Aleksandre spoke to her.

"Miss Walker, does the CIA know the whereabouts of Aleksandre or Alexei Belenko?"

"No."

"Do you or August Anderson know the whereabouts of Aleksandre or Alexei Belenko?"

"No."

"Does the CIA have a plan to find us?"

"Yes, but I don't know it. I'm on a leave of absence."

"Do you know the whereabouts of James Decker?"

"No. He was put into witness protection when Alexei Belenko made himself known."

The two men looked at eachother and spoke. "This wasn't part of the plan. She was supposed to know..." Alexei said to his father. They stood and spoke to Russell. "You know what to do. Do not fail. You know what will happen if you do." She nodded and watched them as they exited through the secret door.

Walking over to Annie with trembling hands, she began to speak to her. "Annie, I want you tell me everything about Auggie Anderson..."

Annie spoke for close to an hour, telling the woman everything about him from his sexy eyes to how he became blind. Russell recorded every word. Finally, after she was satisfied she had gotten everything from the girl, Russell spoke to her again, "Ok Annie, I want you to start to lose everything..."