Full Circle P5
Annie's fingers itched to call Auggie back, she had to stop herself from calling from the cab and the elevator and waited instead until she was back in her room. It was 11:00 pm in San Francisco which meant it was 2:00 am back home, but he said it was OK and just the few seconds of his voice earlier had made her crave it, she hit dial.
"Hey," he answered on the first ring.
"Hi," she said as she eased back against the pillows on her bed.
"How's Danielle?"
"All things considered? Better than anyone could have expected, certainly better than I expected."
"She's tough Annie, she can take it," he had given her similar advice before the read in.
"Yeah."
"I'm glad and I wanted to ask, she um, she emailed me last night, after she talked to Joan."
"Oh?" Danielle hadn't mentioned that, but Annie guessed it shouldn't be surprising.
"She sounded like she thought I just found out too, she was reaching out to see how I was," Auggie explained.
"She knows everything now."
"OK, she probably hates me more than you," Auggie chuckled.
"She was ready to nominate you for a grieving boyfriend Oscar, but she got over that too," Annie tried for humor but stumbled a bit on the word boyfriend.
"OK," Auggie wasn't sure how he would respond to Danielle, but at least he knew where he stood.
"It's late for you," Annie said lamely.
"I have a love hate relationship with sleep," Auggie said vaguely.
"I know. I leave for Budapest in the morning, I can, um, check in from there."
"Sure," Auggie said.
"You should, um, try to sleep," her voice was soft.
"You too," he replied.
"I can sleep on the plane," she didn't want to hang up.
"You comfortable with the file?" he asked as he leaned back against the pillows of his bed not wanting to let go of her either.
She could hear the sheets rustle and could picture him there, the grey/blue sheets against his skin her own skin flushed with memory.
"I am," she tried to answer but had to clear her throat.
"Annie?" his voice held some warning.
"Auggie?" she replied in a lower octave.
"We shouldn't do this 3,000 miles apart," he said and tried to quell his body's reaction to her voice.
"Tomorrow I am going to be 5,000 miles in the other direction," she tried to rationalize it as she slipped her shirt off over her head.
"Yeah," he sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face not missing the sound of her stripping.
"I can call Calder right now and switch my assignment Auggie. I'll sit on the Eastern European desk forever if you want me to," she came perilously close to pleading.
Auggie actually thought about it for a millisecond, he thought about having her there all the time, the perfect blend of the early days of their working relationship and the recent past of their personal one. Simple missions, brush passes and asset entanglement that often went sideways, but were usually tied up neatly combined with long leisurely nights in his bed, shared showers and slow dancing in the living room. He could be that guy, but right now, she was not that girl.
"Go to Budapest Annie and if that is still what you want in 6 weeks we'll have this conversation again," he promised.
"I…." she wanted to say it, it was so clear in her mind, but not on the phone at this late an hour.
"I think that's a good idea," she cleared all emotion from her voice.
"Have a good trip," and once again he was gone, leaving her sad and lonely and achingly needy.
He tried to settle in the bed, he really needed a shower though, a cold one would have to do.
***555***
Auggie had barely fallen asleep when his phone rang again.
"Hello," he answered as clear-headed as he could.
"Auggie, it's Nick," the rookie.
"What's up?" Auggie sat up in bed and reached for his pants, he had a feeling his night was over.
"I think I was made."
"You think or you know?"
"I'm pretty sure."
"Where are you?"
"Angola."
"Yes Nick, I remember that. What's your 20?" Auggie tried not to get too frustrated with the kid, he was likely terrified.
"I'm in an alley near the drop site."
"Is anyone in pursuit?" Auggie kept up the sit rep as he dressed himself as best he could and made his way to his bag and keys.
"I think I lost him."
"You think or you know?" he repeated the question.
"I think."
"Take as much cover as you can, I need to call a ride into Langley and I will start putting out feelers on the ground there, I will get you some help."
"Thank you Auggie," the kid sounded relieved.
"Hang tight."
***555***
"I'm here," Annie reported from her apartment in Budapest.
"How was the trip?" Calder asked as he read three different reports.
"Uneventful," Annie offered as she poked around her temporary new home.
"Plans for the evening?" Calder asked as he negotiated the time zones.
"There is a pub down the street, University hang out, thought I would just go get dinner and observe."
"Sounds like a plan, have a Grabanc for me," he laughed and hung up.
Annie was surprised by how low key he was being. She really thought she would get much more hand holding on this mission. It was low risk and high reward, a Russian graduate student willing to spill on all things evil and nefarious he learned about the Putin regime from his father who worked and died for the Russian leader.
The son was likely being watched by the Russians so Annie's cover as fellow grad student with a work study job at the library was the perfect way for him to pass the intel easily. Annie would translate it and report back on it, it was a good gig leaving her plenty of time for her counseling sessions which were scheduled to start the next day.
She unpacked a few things (for the first time since coming back from Hong Kong),noticed the fridge and cupboards were stocked and the bathroom had soap and towels. She freshened up and put her hair up and some lip gloss on, grabbed her purse and headed to the pub.
***555***
"Hey, oh, hey sorry," a voice that sounded an awful lot like his rookie interrupted Auggie's thoughts around midnight.
"Nick?"
"Yeah, sorry to bother you, someone told me Auggie Anderson was back here."
Auggie grinned.
"I see my reputation has not preceded me," once he got more than one word out the young operative recognized his voice.
"Oh man, sorry, I just, I didn't know, I had, um….ok, going to stop talking now."
"Are you now terrified to realize I was both your eyes and your ears for that extraction?" Auggie stood.
"Nick Galster," he waved lamely.
"Auggie Anderson, nice to meet you, officially," Auggie held out his hand and the young man shook it.
"I promised you a drink, hope it's not too late, I am wired from my flight," Nick bounced on the balls of his feet.
Auggie felt his watch and shrugged.
"We'll consider it a head start on tomorrow."
"I like the way you think Anderson."
"Stick with me kid, I am full of good ideas."
"Whatever you did to get me out of that alley was practically magic."
"The stars aligned for you Nick, you will soon realize a good bit of this job is luck," Auggie laughed as he dug out his outside cane and shut down his work station.
"Were you waiting for me?" Nick realized there was no one else around at that hour.
"I like to make sure my Operatives get home in one piece."
"Am I? Yours, I mean. Are you my handler?"
"That is up to the head of the DPD," Auggie answered honestly.
"Who is that?" Nick asked curiously.
"No idea," Auggie laughed as they made it to the elevator.
***555***
Annie woke Thursday morning early, nervous for her first full day in Budapest and found she had a text from Auggie:
"Went to Allen's with a new rookie, just like the good old days. He doesn't smell as good as you."
Annie wondered how many drinks in he was before sending that. She replied:
"Found my own Allen's in Budapest already."
Within seconds he replied:
"Someone is up early."
She smiled:
"Someone else is up late."
He replied:
"Going to bed now."
"Sleep well."
And he was gone, again.
***555***
Annie's first day at work went well, she liked the head of reference at the library she was working in, she sat in on a global economics lecture for her cover and she was able to take a long swim in the University pool. She saw her mark, but made no move on him just yet, he was told she would be in touch within the week and she wanted to get her bearings first.
Really, she wanted to have her first therapy session and insure that it didn't send her running for the first plane to an unknown location where she would continue to bury her fear and loathing. Her stomach churned at her flight tendencies as she sat in the comfortable hotel room where her therapy sessions would take place.
Just as that flight instinct was about to take over the door opened and a middle aged woman entered with a tray of tea and cookies. Anyone else's first instinct would be that this woman was hotel staff, but Annie knew better than to make such logical assumptions, she smiled but said nothing.
The woman went about pouring two cups of tea, shuttling the plate of biscuits from the tray to the table in front of Annie.
"Milk?" the one word in clear English.
"Lemon?" Annie countered politely.
The woman nodded and arranged a circle of lemon on the saucer before presenting the cup to Annie.
"Thank you," she smiled again.
"You're welcome," the woman took her own tea and sat opposite Annie with the small table between them.
They sipped the tea quietly for a minute, Annie reached for a cookie her stomach in need of something to settle the acidic churning.
"You found the place OK?" the woman asked after interminable silence.
"Yes," Annie nodded.
The hotel room key was in her safe house pack, the hotel name, address and appointment time encrypted.
"I have level 13 clearance, I have met with both Joan Campbell and Calder Michaels and am fully briefed on the events of the past 8 months, you should consider this the only place in the world where you can talk freely. Do you understand?"
Annie nodded again.
"Do you have any questions before we begin?"
"What do I, um, what do I call you?" Annie looked down at her hands.
"I'm sorry," the woman laughed, a light sincere laugh.
"You aren't the only one nervous apparently. My name is Gail Larson," she put the tea cup down and reached across the table to shake Annie's hand.
TBC…