Chapter 22
She figured she had fifteen minutes before someone came after her.
Annie stormed through the JMPC - as stormily as a one-armed, recently concussed person could manage - making a beeline for the nearest door. She ignored the looks of the scattered airmen loitering in the main hangar, staring after her with wide, surprised eyes. Bursting through the doorway to the outside world, the frigid cold of winter hit her in the face, coating her lungs with an icy chill that burned on the way down. The pale-white of winter was as bleak and empty as she felt. She came to an abrupt stop, swaying unsteadily, and it took her a moment to regain her bearings. It would be unwise for her to go far on foot, the hazard of snow and ice - in combination with her already questionable coordination - was somewhat hindering.
Escape, for now, was out of the question. So she stood, like an obstinate child, in the wind and cold, eyes shut tight against the reality she wished she could change, but couldn't. This had never been part of her plan - the needless suffering, the heartache, the insanity - but despite her best intentions, the people she loved continued to pay the ultimate price because of her.
And that was what devastated her - broke her entirely, destroying, until there was nothing left.
When she opened her eyes again, wiping the wetness away with the back of her good hand, she saw it.
A smaller, open hangar directly across the snow-covered courtyard from her, and the Mercedes sitting inside it - beckoning.
When Liat Varga found him, Eyal Lavin was holed up in one of the café's quaint little corner tables, out of distance and out of sight from prying ears or eyes. She noted the half-empty cup of tea and the completely empty plate in front of him, except for the few pastry crumbs left behind as evidence. Some things never changed, and Eyal's love of baked goods - and food in general - was one of them. He was bent over a piece of paper, not noticing when she walked up.
"Six months ago you come begging for my help," Liat smarted, hands on her hips, lips pursed, "and now you show up again, like a stray, expecting me to hand you another bone?"
Glancing up, Eyal's eyes narrowed humorously while his grin broadened. "Ah, Liat, as warm and welcoming as ever." He straightened up, gesturing for her to sit beside him, his expression suddenly becoming very solemn - grave. "While I hate to skip over pleasantries, I'm afraid I haven't much time."
Liat's eyes softened, belying the concern beneath the coy and callus front she wore. In all the time she had known Eyal, his feathers were hardly ever ruffled. But now, sitting in front of her, it was impossible to ignore the electric current of anxiety that lingered beneath the surface of his collected calm. With a sigh of reservation, she slid into the seat next to him, their arms brushing, and she had to force herself not to think too much about the last time they had been this close.
"You really are helpless," she quipped.
"That's why I have you." Eyal replied in earnest, glancing sideways at her. Their eyes met briefly, and she found herself caught by his stare. "I've missed you," he added more seriously, "I hope you know that."
"I know."
Liat lied. She lied because she didn't believe him, but she also lied because she wanted to. Pushing the troublesome thoughts away she forced herself to look away from him, snatching up the paper he'd been holding. "Now, tell me why you really need my help."
"Alright," Eyal took a deep breath, "How closely have you been monitoring incoming traffic from China?"
Auggie didn't chase after Annie immediately, knowing she'd need a few minutes to breathe, but until then…
"Do you really think that acting like a complete dick is going to make this easier for her?"
Auggie stood, arms folded, eyes boring holes in the general direction of wherever Calder Michaels was standing. He really didn't understand the man's logic, his abrasive tactics, or asshole-like tendencies. The last thing they needed was to push Annie away, or give her a reason to fight them - to lose her, again. Somewhere Oliver snorted, clearly amused by the spectacle his CIA field trip was turning into. Auggie could hear Calder shift uncomfortably at his remark, draw a little closer, just close enough Auggie imagined he could have easily swung and hit him with a closed fist. He restrained himself though, his better judgment winning out over impulse.
"Do you think pretending she hasn't lost her damn mind is going to make this any easier on us?" Calder hissed, his retort apparent evidence that his patience was being over-tested. "I know you think I'm the bad guy, but I'm just trying to make sure we all get to go home. In order to do that, I need 100% of everything: everything you have, Auggie - everything she has. Right now I don't feel like I have either."
"If you're question Annie's loyalty, after everything-"
"Uh, guys," Barber cut in, alarmed, "I know you're having a moment, but you really need to look at this."
She opened the passenger side door first, climbing into the Mercedes and examining the interior thoroughly - glove-box, console, all disappointingly empty as expected. The outside was damaged, the front deformed and caved in from where it had hit the Land Rover, airbags deployed. Annie frowned, dissatisfied, even though she knew Calder would have searched through the vehicle ten times over when they had found it. The gears of her fractious thoughts spun wildly, and her eyes roamed over the interior, searching for something they might have missed - desperate.
She imagined Danielle, sitting in the same seat, terrified.
Annie stared into the rearview mirror, the blank screen of the reverse camera, her reflection staring woefully back at her. Her nails dug into the palm of her hand, and when she exhaled and unclenched her fist, there were angry red lines left in their wake.
A phone rang - startling her out of her trance.
A phone?
Skeptical and surprised, she climbed back out of the Mercedes, eyes narrowed as the shrill ringing persisted - muted in quality, but obvious none the less. Squatting down she checked beneath the passenger side front-seat, her eyes level with the door, finding nothing.
Until…
Her heart leapt in her throat - the bright flash of a cell-phone screen glowing from behind the pinhole openings of the panel that hid the speaker.
"So you want me to help you find a rogue MSS operative. And by find, you mean contact my arms trafficking asset, and risk blowing my long-term operation, so you can save your friend's sister. Coincidentally, the same friend that I wasted my last favor with my contact inside city morgue on - I never did get any thank you flowers by the way, perhaps you forgot."
"I'll send you four-dozen flowers if that's what it takes, or perhaps a paid vacation, with me, on my boat. Besides, you won't blow it, I know for a fact that you're better than that."
"You know Mossad doesn't believe in vacations."
"Liat, please, Annie needs my help, and if I'm going to help her, I need you."
"Dammit, Eyal…"
"So that's a yes?"
"You're insufferable, but yes, that was a yes."
"The program we're running is compiling like-destinations from the data off of the GPS," Barber explained, breathless and hurried as his fingers flew over the keyboard of the laptop in front of him, "There's a set of coordinates that has popped up multiple times now."
"Where?" Auggie asked.
"The Henninger Tower, in the Sachsenhausen-Süd district of Frankfurt, it's been abandoned since 2002," Barber explained. "The GPS has the car there multiple times over the past 48 hours, but if that's where Tam is, and if that's where Danielle is, we've got a bigger problem."
"A bigger problem than Walker's sister being held hostage in the first place?" Calder's reply was nothing short of sardonic.
"Uh, yeah, how does 'this building is scheduled to be demolished today' sound?"
"Sounds extreme." Oliver commented cynically.
"Shit." Auggie ran his hand along the surface of the table, grabbing his cane and simultaneously unfurling it, before turning back to Calder, his expression urgent: "If you're done being a self-righteous, arrogant asshole, help me find Annie - now."
The same pry bar she had watched fall to the snow was still in the back seat where it had been left, forgotten. This time it fell to the concrete with an eerie echo that rang of the hangar walls. It landed next to Annie's now-removed shoulder immobilizer, and the decidedly destroyed speaker panel of the $100,000 Mercedes-Benz G Class SUV.
Trying to ignore the fact that her left arm was still incredibly weak (never mind the excruciating pain) she grabbed the still-ringing burner phone and quickly answered it, leaning breathlessly against the Mercedes, teeth chattering against the cold.
"Hello?"
"Annie Walker, what a shame, having to meet like this."
"Where's my sister?"
"She's safe, for now. But if you want her back, you'll do exactly as I say, or else…"
"What do you want, Sarah?"
"I want a lot of things, for instance Oliver Lee's head on a silver platter. But right now the thing I want most is you. You have five hours to make it to Frankfurt - the timer starts now."
Liat had a bad feeling, the kind that gutted you and made your stomach flip. She walked in solemn silence beside Eyal as they made their way to his vehicle, trying to write off the nerves. She trusted him, and that should have been enough.
He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket when they reached the street corner, dialing a number, the sliver of his breath silver against the air as they came to a stop. It drifted up, and disappeared.
"Auggie," he spoke into the phone, "I think I've found something."
Liat watched Eyal carefully, and clearly saw a transformation take place when his face fell as he listened to the voice on the other end of the phone - eyes darkening, distraught. She peered back at him, questioning, the bad feeling growing tenfold and making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
Something wasn't right.
He exchanged a few more urgent words, and when he hung up the phone, he became deathly quiet.
"What did they say?"
"It's Annie. She's gone."
A/N: Eeeeeekkk! The drama continues. Enjoy!