Chapter 2
She had flown on plenty of regular airplanes before, and been through plenty of regular airports, but standing on the tarmac of a nearly deserted airstrip in the middle of Washington, D.C., with a Lear jet roaring to life in front of her at two in the morning, was disconcerting.
Danielle pulled her coat around her and shivered, a combination of the December weather and her own nerves. She had not slept on the flight from San Francisco to Dulles International, had spent the majority of her time gazing out the window at clouds and biting her fingernails down to the quick- an old habit she had kicked in college suddenly resurfacing. Her mind was wracked with a million questions, mostly questions that had her doubting her own sanity. Auggie had slept like a baby, or at least it appeared he had, and once more Danielle was left marveling at his ability to remain perfectly calm and in control.
At least one of them was.
She waited beside the car they had driven to the airstrip, parked alongside the main hangar. A hundred feet away Auggie stood in heated conversation with a black man she did not recognize, though from the looks of his expensive tastes in suits and cars, he seemed to fit her preconceived ideas of a secret agent profile. She admired his Jaguar from a distance. It reminded Danielle of her dad and his own obsession with fast cars, and the times she and Annie had spent in their family's home made auto shops with him as kids. Danielle could not have cared less about cars, but Annie would be the one handing their dad tools and accidentally getting grease stuck in her hair, which she would squall and scream about having to wash before going to bed.
Danielle pushed the memories away, regretting having thought of it at all. She refocused her attention on the stranger and Auggie, and the cellphone in Auggie's hand that was clearly on speaker given the angry echo of a female voice she could detect even at this distance. After several more moments of debate the council seemed to come to some sort of agreement; Auggie hung up the phone, and the other man led him back toward Danielle.
"Mrs. Brooks? Calder Michaels." He extended his hand, which Danielle eyed suspiciously before shaking. He seemed to find her reaction amusing, or maybe his smile was simply a cover up for how he really felt. She glanced at Auggie, then Calder, and then back to Auggie again. She made a mental note that good looking men in suits were not to be trusted. She knew better, honestly, given her own husbands questionable escapades. Yet here she was, with two men, both dashing in appearance, both in suits, about to get on a plane the destination of which she was not entirely sure of.
"You can call me Danielle." She replied, her composure forced and stiff.
"Danielle," Calder nodded, Cheshire cat grin in place, "Auggie tells me that you're the only one in this whole, wide world, who can find Annie Walker. If you're anything like your sister, I know better than to try and stop you, but I'd like to remind you that by sanctioning this "mission", I'm sticking my neck out for you, and her-" Calder paused thoughtfully. "-again, I might add."
Auggie unfurled his cane, the snap and click of it stark in the awkward silence following Calder's monologue.
"As much as I'd love to stay and chat," Auggie's sarcasm was dually noted, "We have a plane to catch and a pitstop to make before we reach our first destination."
Danielle glanced sideways at him, immediately wondering what he meant by pitstop. The plan, after discussing several possibilities, was to start in the past and work forward. If Annie was revisiting her life from before as they suspected, they hoped with the right luck and right timing they would somehow meet her in the middle. The journey would be a whirlwind marathon across Europe, tracking down every single army base Danielle and Annie had lived on as kids, praying that somewhere in all the old memories of an untainted life, they would find her sister.
"What, no edible arrangements this time, Anderson?" Calder scoffed, and Danielle quirked an eyebrow in blatant befuddlement, trying to follow why they were suddenly talking about food. Auggie simply smirked, the only response Calder would illicit from him. Shaking his head, Calder turned away, glancing backwards as he went. "Good luck you two, you're going to need it."
"I've never really been the type to need luck, actually!" Danielle quipped after him, rubbed wrong by the man's undeniable air of arrogance. She was not about to let him have the last word; much like her Annie, subordinate behavior did not run in her DNA. Auggie stood beside her and chuckled under his breath, and she gave an unimpressed "hmph" of indignation at his reaction.
"What's so funny?" She demanded.
"Nothing." Auggie shook his head. "Not a thing." She did not miss the crooked grin he could not seem to get rid of, and she watched him curiously for a moment, wondering what it was he was hiding in that head of his. He shifted his position and held out a hand. "Are you ready for this, Agent Brooks?" He jested.
"I am not an agent." Danielle declared furiously, adjusting her stance so he could take he arm. "And I don't think there's anything in the world that could make me ready for this."
Auggie remained quiet, squeezing her arm reassuringly. She wondered if he could feel the dread in her, so strong it was almost suffocating. She sighed as they approached the steps to the jet, her stomach starting to flip.
Overhead a clear sky was lit up with a million stars, bright diamonds against a velvet black backdrop. Danielle though of Annie's post card, tucked away safe in her bag on the plane. She was not sure why she brought it, but it was the last piece of Annie she had, the last clue her sister had left her. She paused at the stairway up into the cabin, letting Auggie go ahead of her, briefly searching the sky to the west before following behind him.
"Where exactly is this so called pitstop you mentioned?" She settled into her seat across from Auggie, fingers tapping tentatively against the leather armrest.
"I'm recruiting the help of an old friend." Auggie replied, folding his cane once he had found his own seat and setting it to the side.
"Old friend?" Annie might have been able to speak almost every language known to man, but she would never be able to oust Danielle when it came to speaking skepticism. "That still doesn't answer my question."
"Tell me Danielle, how would you like to visit Israel?"
Eyal Lavin could withstand many things an average man could not.
He could withstand the demanding, exhausting life of working for the Mossad, the endless days, the sleepless nights, the risks and the dangers that never guaranteed tomorrow. He could withstand his niece climbing on top of him, pulling his hair and screeching in his ear at ungodly hours of the morning when he visited his family in Haifa. He could even withstand his ex-wife nagging him with endless reminders not to miss his son's important school functions - which, he could proudly declare, he had yet to do, her reminders thus being a waste of precious oxygen. He would never have dared say that to her face though — he was not quite as sure of his ability to withstand her mean right hook.
One thing, however, Eyal knew he certainly could not withstand, was someone stealing his boat.
The phone call from the marina in Flisvos was entirely unexpected. When they asked him when he had intended to tell them he was removing his vessel from their care, he informed them that he had done no such thing. The ensuing conversation was heated. Lech laazazel! What do you mean it's missing? You're the ones who've lost the damn boat! How is this my fault?
There were no witnesses, no video evidence to go back and study in hopes of finding the thief who had whisked away into the night with his dreams of retirement. Anger was not a strong enough descriptor to adequately address his feelings of blinding rage over the fact that his pride and joy had been spirited out of the harbor, without so much as a single soul noticing its disappearance. Not to mention the fact that his lunch was now entirely ruined, a travesty in itself. Eyal would have gone into a complete tirade over it too, if it weren't for the phone call that followed almost immediately after he hung up with the marina manager.
It was not very often he heard from August Anderson.
Sitting at a café in the city center of Tel Aviv, countless people passing by in throngs, Eyal studied the ringing cellphone over the tops of his sunglasses with the curiosity of a cat. The Mossad agent allowed the phone to ring and go to voicemail. It was always best to think before acting, and he briefly considered what the blind CIA tech operative could possibly want from him.
Concern hits him unexpectedly, his thoughts turning to Annie, and a sense of unease ran like ice through his veins. Was something wrong? What kind of ridiculous trouble had Neshema gotten herself into now that she needed saving from? If she had come to Athen's with him in the first place, and taken him up on his offer to sail the seas on his boat, she never would have landed herself in whatever situation this call was sure to be about to begin with.
His boat.
Eyal's eyes widened, mouth first agape in the shock of initial realization, and then replaced with a triumphant smile as the puzzle pieces fell into place. He quickly opened the old flip-style cellphone - his preferred technological device of choice, simple and uncomplicated - and redialed the last incoming call.
"Hello, Auggie, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Eyal leaned back in his chair, eyes hidden beneath tinted shades from the evening sun. The rays of light gleamed off the white of his suit, and the blue of his tie. He pulled his wallet from his pants pocket, tossing a twenty shekel banknote on the tiled table top along with his half eaten-meal.
"It's funny, actually, that you ask. No, I have not seen her, but I suspect I know where she was last." He stood and began walking, melting into the crowd along the sidewalk beyond the café. "I am overdue for a vacation, the Mossad won't mind, eh? Listen, I have a place in Jaffa, can you meet me there in twenty minutes?"
Auggie explored the confines of Eyal's safe house unhurriedly, his free hand running along the top of the couch in the living area, his cane discovering the various obstacles around him; a low coffee table, a rug, some sort of potted, indoor plant. He made his way in the direction of the kitchen, listening to the sounds of the Israeli as he shuffled around, opened cabinets and rearranged cookware, the smell of fresh coffee filling the entire house with it's aroma. Somewhere a shower was running, and Danielle sang a rendition of Dancing Queen that echoed down the hall leading to the bathroom.
Auggie was learning very quickly that Annie's resilience was easily matched (if not beaten) by that of her sister. Danielle might have liked to claim that she was nothing like her sister and that she really didn't feel she could possibly be prepared for what Auggie was asking of her, but the evidence proved otherwise. It had taken her less time than their flight to push free from the obvious fear she was laboring under and emerge as her usual, slightly giddy self. Actually, he found himself beginning to wonder if Ditzy-Danielle might not be something of a cover persona. He had a growing suspicion that Annie's sibling was a lot more "together" than she let on. It was quite possible the sisters had more than just resilience in common.
"Here, sit." Auggie's musings were interrupted by Eyal's touch on his arm, accompanied by the noise of a chair being pulled across a hardwood floor. Finding the back of the chair with his free hand he maneuvered into it, locating the table in front of him and resting his cane against the edge.
"There is a cup of coffee directly in front of you." Eyal advised, sitting in a chair opposite of Auggie at the table. He was silent for only a moment. "I'm afraid my curiosity is getting the best of me, what brings you to beautiful Israel?"
Auggie smirked, carefully reaching forward until his fingers brushed the handle of a ceramic mug. He and Eyal both knew why he was here, rather who he was here for. He picked the mug up gingerly, blowing on the contents before taking a sip. The coffee was black, and strong, but after spending nearly the entirety of the last twenty four hours in the air, the caffeine was a welcome source of much needed energy. Auggie noted the continuing sound of running water, and Danielle's off key lyrical improvisation. They would be able to talk at least briefly in private.
"Henry Wilcox is dead." Auggie could feel the weight of the statement as it hit the air, like lead falling from his lips. "Annie killed him."
"So, she finally accomplished her goal." Eyal murmured thoughtfully, and Auggie detected a hint of impressed surprise in the man's words, though not disbelief. "But that's not all, is it?"
"Unfortunately, no." Auggie set the coffee back on the table. "Annie was supposed to meet a US carrier for extraction after completing the mission. She missed the pickup, and now she's in the wind again."
"You're certain she wasn't abducted?" The concern in Eyal's question could not be missed.
"Entirely certain." Auggie confirmed. "Her ride to the carrier confessed she convinced him to drop her off the coast of Taiwan. But that's the last known location we have. She's disappeared."
"And you needed my help to find her." Eyal spoke with a smug satisfaction that had Auggie's eyes rolling in his head. The Mossad agent merely chuckled at this, shifting in his seat and causing the chair to scrape along the floor with his movement. "I suppose history proves I have a knack for hunting down our wayward friend. You've come to the right place. I wasn't lying when I told you I might know where she was last."
"Well?" Patience was not Auggie's strong suit.
"She stole my boat."
"She what?"
"She stole my boat."
Auggie was sure he must have looked utterly bewildered. For a few split seconds that seemed more like years, he sat completely frozen, trying to process what Eyal had told him.
"You have a boat?" Auggie tried to picture the Mossad agent in the cabin of a luxurious yacht, or on the deck of a sail boat, or hoisting nets on a trawler. He failed.
"Had a boat." Eyal corrected him. "Why so surprised? I like to fish."
"Forget I asked." Auggie shook his head to clear it. He heard the shower shut off, and the vibrations of the floor alerted him to the fact that Danielle was moving through the house. "How do you know it was Annie?"
"She was the only person who knew about it." Eyal explained with a deep throated laugh. "I tried to get her to come with me in Amsterdam, you know. I told her we could retire, and live on the ocean. She refused of course." Eyal paused, and Auggie could feel he weight of his stare. "I understand now, why she did."
A silence befell the kitchen. Auggie sat uncomfortably beneath the scrutiny of Eyal's gaze, fiddling with the coffee mug, but not drinking anything else. He knew there had been a time when Eyal was the only one Annie had trusted. It was a sore topic for him still, and one he would rather forget.
Amsterdam felt like a distant memory after everything else that had happened, but Auggie had not forgotten Annie's unwavering devotion to the Israeli that now sat in front of him. She cared for him deeply, a revelation that admittedly bothered Auggie before, but now it seemed like the least of his worries. There was no reasonable justification for his jealousy; Eyal had saved Annie's life numerous times when he could not do it himself. For that alone, Auggie would be indebted to him forever.
"Why is Danielle here?" Sensing the rift between them, Eyal broke the silence with another question, for which Auggie was thankful.
As if on cue, the sound of Danielle coming down the hallway and into the kitchen interrupted their conversation. He could sense when she paused at the kitchen's edge, not crossing the threshold, the smell of her shampoo mingling with the coffee. Even from where he sat, Auggie could feel her uncertainty, a palpable tension that filled the small kitchen. Eyal offered her a warm hello, to which Annie's sister did not respond immediately. He and Auggie sat awkwardly, waiting for her to say something.
"Great." Danielle deadpanned, her words dripping with irony. Auggie quirked an eyebrow in curiosity, a rare moment where he found himself wondering what his eyes were missing. She brushed past both men and made a beeline for the coffee, digging through the cabinets and pouring herself a cup without skipping a beat.
"What's so great?" Eyal called after her.
"What's so great?" She snorted, taking her own seat at the table. "Another man, another suit."
Though Auggie could not see it, she wore an undeniable look of accomplishment at the sight of both men's perplexed expressions.
AN: First off, THANK YOU for the reviews, I'm thrilled y'all love it as much as I do so far! Here is Chapter 2! Now we're getting somewhere. Love me some Eyal. Honestly Eyal, Danielle and Auggie are quite entertaining to write. I hope y'all think so too! Where is our lovely little Annie? Let me know what you think in the reviews!