Wow, this is short...

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or CA! Un-beta'ed.

The silent minutes dragged on. He couldn't possibly get more worried. He was already pacing the tiny room, gripping the phone so hard he was surprised it didn't break, holding himself as tensely as possible so that he didn't fly apart in a whoosh of nervous energy.

Oh, but he did get more worried. As five minutes turned into ten and ten into eleven and eleven into…

At that point he just sat down. No chair – it took too much effort to find one. He just sat with his back to what he thought was the bed and his legs sprawled uncomfortably across the dusty floor. He gave up checking his watch for fear that it would break or that time would just grind to a halt.

He was completely useless. In his month and a half here, Auggie hadn't felt it more acutely. No computer, no contacts, no way to help. He just had to sit and wait and wait and hope that his operative – his best friend – could get out alive.

She would. He knew that. But sitting in the silence with only his imagination was one of the hardest things he'd ever done.

Damn. He wished his imagination wasn't so good.

The phone rang twice before he answered it because he jumped so violently on the first ring. By that time, Auggie had made his decision. There would be no more waiting.