My first fanfic. I'm not sure what to say here or what disclaimers to give... obviously I have nothing whatever professionally to do with Covert Affairs. Just a fan and I love to write.

New Mission

Chapter 1

"I guess I proved I'm still fit for field work" Auggie repeated to himself, tasting the words, enjoying them. He sat sprawled still, on the sofa in Joan's office, the fingers of his right hand idly tracing the rough texture of the arm of the sofa, letting his body relax and allow the wash of emotion roll back off him like a receding wave. Natasha was gone. He knew that; he wasn't lying to Joan when he'd said he would never see her again. She would never contact him again. She'd given him the hack and she'd jumped from the train and from his life. He sighed deeply and stood, facing the empty office where Joan had so recently stood. As usual she had bustled out as soon as she was done with their debrief, sitting for a moment beside him, connecting, giving her sympathy and understanding then rising again and hastily moving on to the next thing. She was like that, he thought.

Moving on to the next thing. Moving on. Leaving Natasha again to be relegated to a part of his past, neatly filed away in his memory to be pulled up again only after he'd had one too many beers at Alex's [what was the name of the bar, anyway?]. Could he do it again?

"Auggie, get in here!" Joan's voice barked and he jumped, his reverie now lying in scattered shards on Joan's office floor. Hastily, he pulled his laser cane out of his pocket and went into the Ops Center where Joan was assembling technicians and officers on the upper level for an unexpected briefing. Their low whispers sank into heavy silence as they waited to hear what was happening.

"Auggie, good, you're here," she snapped as he mounted the stairs. "DataTech has been taken hostage. Something we've never seen before. Since you were just there, I want you and Annie to go back in."

A surge of adrenaline pushed out the fatigue and let-down he'd been feeling in Joan's office. Time to get back to work. He had no idea what time it was, but he'd be willing to bet it was late. Without bothering to check his watch, he turned to face the screens and Joan, waiting to hear what she would explain next.

Silence.

"That's it?" Annie asked incredulously.

"That's it," Joan replied with a trace of a weary smile in her voice. "I want to get somebody on the inside before they know that we know. You'll be going in blind, but I hope you can find out what they're doing before they do it."

Ha, ha, thought Auggie. Nice one, Joan.

"What are we waiting for?" he said.

Annie slipped past him, offering an elbow as she did so. Gratefully, he followed her through the tangle of desks in the Ops Center and into the echoing hallway. Yes, it was late. Normally the hallway bustled with activity, but tonight it seemed unusually long and the low tones of their conversation rattled along it, bouncing back ghostly echoes that unnerved him.

"What do you think is happening?" Annie asked.

Auggie shook himself, willing himself to pay attention to what she had said. He really was tired. "Hmm? No idea. Probably some punk-ass wannabe hacker."

Half his mind still felt the brushes of curly red hair, the memory of soft lips and the remembered intensity of her gaze. Annie was talking again.

"…do you think they could do anyway?"

His mind snapped back again. Here. Now. Late. Walking with Annie toward her car and some idiot who was holding DataTech hostage.

"With the best hackers in the world? And no outside interference? He could do some major damage."