Cape Town – P10

The biggest mistake an agent can make is getting cocky, thinking they know more than their opponent. Annie used the time in the bathroom to regroup, to collect her thoughts and her wits and get back in the headspace she needs to be in to finish this mission.

When she emerges there are 2 glasses of champagne on the table in front of the sofa and Yuri has removed his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. It looks like the perfect romantic setting until he opens his mouth.

"Does Pavel how well you kiss?" he asks.

Annie plays her cover and asks who Pavel is despite knowing he is the rival Russian mob boss.

"I know you work for him," Yuri states calmly.

"I work for Dimitri, you know this?" Annie cooed and walked slowly across the room.

"Pavel thinks he can slip a pretty woman in my bed and all my secrets will fall out," Yuri sneered.

"You have secrets?" Annie asked coyly.

"You want to keep playing the game, that is fine we can drink, we can dance, we can make love and while all of that is happening my men are picking Pavel's team off one by one," he held the champagne up to Annie.

***555***

The team in the Ops van is moving furiously. Auggie had all the locations of the known associates of Pavel Daskin and sure enough, two of the men were now dead in Moscow. Calder's team on the ground in Moscow were in full mission mode and rounding up the rest, the CIA needed people willing to talk for their lives.

Auggie's 2nd had fluent Russian and was translating Annie's conversation in real time. Like most translations the inflection was lost, but he could hear the reedy thinness of her voice, the baseline concern there that echoed in his chest.

"She's not going to be able to knock him out," Auggie said to the air.

***555***

Annie drank the champagne as Yuri drank his. There was no time or opportunity to slip him any drugs and the man could drink like a fish so relying on the alcohol to slow him down was futile. Annie finished her champagne, the last swallow tasted a little funny, just a tiny bit salty.

"Shit," Annie said in English and Yuri and Auggie both took notice.

"How's it feel to be the one who is drugged? I will give Pavel credit, wherever he got that drug it is better than anything I have ever seen. I woke up that morning certain we had made love, certain you had pleasured me every way possible, but then I watched the video…"

Annie and Auggie both froze, the video? Auggie had run a scan of the entire suite, no video surveillance detected at all.

Annie stood to her full height in the shoes she had on.

"I enjoy watching, I have a little tiny camera in that room, in the heat of a romantic moment you miss the little things: the way a woman arches her back, the cords of her throat retracting as she swallows, the way she parts her lips when she…."

"Enough," Annie said forcefully in English.

"You have about 15 minutes before the amount of GHB in your blood stream stops your breathing for good. My men are ready for anything Pavel has in store, although my reports indicate most of his team is still in Moscow, he must really trust you to deliver the goods."

***555***

"We have to get in there," Auggie informed the Ops team.

"He just said his men are waiting for us," one of the men replied.

"He said his guys were waiting for a Russian mob team, not a drunk clumsy blind guy. As much as I want to be able to go in there and rescue Annie like some fairy tale character, I need one of you to help," Auggie quickly began laying out the plan.

As Auggie and Owen began planning their approach, the translator took down everything Yuri was saying up in the penthouse. He began telling Annie everything, where they got the original formula, how he developed the prototype distribution system where the labs were. He got cocky himself, always the biggest mistake, and revealed everything they needed to take him in.

Owen left the ops van in an HVAC uniform and entered the hotel with a big roll of wire. He headed for the men's room right next to the Penthouse elevator. Minutes later Auggie stumbled into the lobby, cane waving erratically and loudly singing an old Elvis tune.

Auggie had memorized the lobby lay out, a giant fountain filled with koi was the architectural center of the room. His appearance in the lobby gathered the appropriate attention of the staff and a couple of guys not far from the fountain. Nate, back in the Ops van, talked him through his maneuver.

"List to the right about 10 paces," Nate mentioned.

Auggie wavered on his feet and used his forward momentum to stumble towards the 2 guys Nate had pegged for Yuri's. In a move any member of the Royal Ballet would have envied, Auggie pirouetted towards the big guy and knocked him over, right into the fountain. Staff pounced at once, helping Auggie up from the floor and helping the big Russian out of the fountain.

"Sir, are you OK?" the staffer asked Auggie.

"Not feeling so well," Auggie cringed.

The staffer helped Auggie to the men's room where he assured the employee he would be able to take it from there. Owen peaked out and sure enough the two goons in the lobby were sufficiently distracted and the two operatives got into the penthouse elevator without being noticed.

Owen had his gun at the ready when the doors opened on the top floor, but no one was there. Yuri's team was stretched thin apparently. With Auggie at his elbow Owen moved to the French doors into the living room where they could both hear Annie's voice.

She was going from Russian to English and her words were a little sluggish and slurred, but she was giving it right back.

"You think you know everything? You have no idea," she laughed at him and he advanced on her.

His hands were around her throat quickly and her usual speed and agility were slowed by the drug.

"I was going to let the drug do this, but it might be more satisfying to complete the task myself," he growled.

"Since you didn't complete the task in there," Annie pointed back towards the bedroom.

He looked shocked at her insolence and loosened his grip the tiniest bit, enough for her to bring her elbow up and take a shot at his windpipe. It knocked him back a step and she was able to get a round house in before he roared and lunged for her.

"Stop!" Owen called from the doorway, gun drawn.

"Auggie, I…." Annie gurgled and fell to the floor.

"Annie!" he yelled and felt his way over to her.

"She's not breathing!" Auggie announced to the room as he laid her out flat and began administering CPR.

"I have the adrenaline Auggie," Owen called as he uncapped a syringe.

The small dose of adrenaline was administered and Auggie resumed compressions, another mouthful of his air passed into her lungs until finally she twitched and gasped and sat up suddenly.

"You're OK," he whispered and she clung to him.

***555***

Two days later Annie woke in the dark safe house in Cape Town to find Auggie sitting on the side of the bed, his back bowed and bare.

"Hey," she said quietly not wanting to startle him.

"Hey," he replied his voice suspiciously thick.

"You OK?" she shifted in the bed, the sheet pulling away from her naked body.

He just nodded.

She moved to him, draped herself over his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and reaching over his shoulder to kiss his damp cheek.

"I'm fine," she assured.

"Yep," he said clipped.

"Auggie, we saved a lot of people," she reminded him.

"For now, but when does it end Annie? We stopped this one weapon from hitting the streets, but how many more are out there?"

"I don't know," she sighed and the feel of her breath against his cheek made him smile.

"What if our best isn't good enough next time?"

"It is the risk we take in this life."

"Maybe we need to consider a different life."

"Seriously?" she moved to sit more fully next to him.

"What has this life done for us?" Auggie shrugged.

"It brought us together."

"And almost tore us apart again and again."

"Come back to bed," she encouraged and he complied, stretching out on the small firm bed with her tucked tightly against his side.

"What do you see when you close your eyes?" he asked.

Annie was stunned by the quiet question and floored by the visions that suddenly flooded her mind. Years of images, all of them with one common denominator.

"You."

The End of Cape Town

NOTE: Guys, thanks so much for your many many reviews and kind words on this story. I am not "completing" it right now but I am going to go away from it for a while and try my hand at something relatively new for me. There is still a lot of time until summer, so I am leaving his open in case I decide to revisit. You should see a whole new story from me soon!