Blind Ambition

Chapter 1 Early Ambitions

Jacob Steinmann was born in a dusty kibbutz located on the West Bank not far from the Jordanian border. His parents were both Americans from devout Jewish families who had immigrated to the Biblical homeland while still in their early twenties.

His father was a quiet, scholarly man who taught in the village school. His mother was a trained dietitian who helped in the kitchens and ran the shared gardens. She somehow coaxed carrots and cabbages, lettuces and herbs from the sandy soil. One of his first memories was of carrying bucket after bucket of the scarce water to individually soak each precious plant.

Not that he really knew his parents all that well. He was raised in the communal nursery, and went to school with the same group he had played with all his life. When they turned teens, they moved into barracks together. The few dark and sturdy girls held little attraction for him, and sexual play was frowned upon by the entire community. When he grew up, beautiful, blonde, hard-to-get women held a fascination for him.

He did well in school, and spoke and wrote fluently in both Hebrew and English. He took to military training with a will and was commander of his kibbutz's militia at 19. That was when Mossad came looking. Jacob Steinmann jumped at the offer. His drive, energy and ambition impressed his trainers, and he was offered opportunities to travel and learn. Glad to get away from the dull routine of a small farming community, he explored the colorful and sometimes dangerous life in the ancient cities of Jerusalem, Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul and others

When the United States seemingly ignored warnings from Mossad that terrorists were planning large scale attacks on major U.S. targets shortly before the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters, it was decided to place double agents inside the Central Intelligence Agency. Jacob Steinmann was one of the 6 selected for the special training necessary.

That's when Jacob Steinmann became Ben Mercer and a whole new history was created for him. With beautifully forged documents that proved he was the son of a Baltimore family that traded in Middle Eastern artifacts and fabrics, and with his knowledge of Farsi and Pashto, he had no trouble being accepted as a C.I.A. recruit. It was no surprise that he aced his training period at the Farm.

Chapter 2 Home Again

If I never see another airplane again, it will be way too soon, Annie thought as she disembarked at Dulles in the early evening rush. She had left from this same airport some six days ago and flown across the Atlantic to London. From there she flew to Brussels and found a lead that took her on north to Moscow.

After the usual dance with the modern Russian state and its system of escorts and watchers, she finally was able to meet briefly with an informer who assured her that the man she wanted had gone to New Delhi. Another endless flight took her there, where she found that all trace of the man had evaporated into the dust and noise of the marketplaces and teaming humanity of India. Her handlers told her to come home. For once, she was more than happy to comply.

She slung her tote full of soiled clothes over her shoulder and with a weary lag in her usual confident stride, headed for the exit. For some reason she looked up, and just beyond the glass doors that divided exiting passengers from the concourse she saw a tall, slim figure dressed in quiet colors standing and waiting. He was anchored by just the lightest touch of his shoulder against the wall. His hands rested atop his long, white cane and his head was cocked in an attentive attitude.

She picked up speed and burst through the doors in a bubble of passengers. She veered to the side and as soon as he heard her footsteps, he opened his arms. His wide, open-mouthed smile glowed with happiness. She stepped into his welcoming embrace and put her arms around his neck, her face turned upwards for a kiss.

"Annie," he murmured as their lips met.

"Auggie!" She hated to break their hungry clutch, but this was about as public as it got. "What are you doing here, sweetheart?" It always worried her when he ventured into mobs of people on his own, despite repeated proof that he could manage admirably. "You said you were going home to wait for me."

"I know, but I realized that I didn't want to wait that long. Traffic is wild tonight with the Redskins playing at home. You could be hours getting a taxi. I've got a staff car at the South Exit."

It amazed her that Auggie could command a car and driver at any hour for anything he could remotely claim to be agency business. He just lifted one eyebrow and said it was part of his original agreement with D.P.D., like the handsome apartment they had bought for him and that he now shared with her.

Tonight it was a perk she accepted gladly. She leaned against Auggie as he folded his cane and caught a light grip on her left elbow. He dropped a kiss atop her tousled honey hair and asked, "Tired, love?"

"Exhausted. There should be a humane limit to the number of hours they can require you to sit upright on an airplane, breathing recycled air and drinking canned orange juice. I just want to go home, have a long hot bath and fall into bed."

"And that's absolutely all you want to do? You have been away six whole days … and nights."

"Well, I hope you stocked some Rocky Road ice cream. I haven't had a bite since I left."

"Tease!" He laughed. "Ice cream you shall have, and I left roasted chicken and baked potatoes in the oven and one of Mr. Moretti's beautiful, fresh salads in the fridge. Hope you're not too tired to eat … first?"

"I'll try to choke something down." Annie had a hearty appetite and, unlike Auggie, rarely forgot to eat. "You spoil me, you know." She snuggled her shoulder against his.

Cooking didn't come easily to Auggie. He hadn't done it as a kid, and since losing his sight, it took careful planning and close concentration to avoid cuts and burns. It was a particular treat that he had made one of his specialties, lemon roasted chicken, for her homecoming. He would have chopped chives and crumbled bacon to top the sour cream for the potatoes, as well. It felt great to come home to his warmth and caring.

Annie tugged him quickly to one side as a heavily loaded luggage cart trundled near.

The driver realized Auggie was blind and stopped. He touched his cap and said, "Ma'am, do you folks need some help. I can call for a cart to drop you off wherever you need to go. It would be here in just a couple of minutes."

Annie favored him with one of her radiant smiles and said, "Thanks so much, but we're fine. There's a car waiting outside the next exit."

"If you're sure, then," the driver said with a question in his voice.

Auggie touched two fingers to his eyebrow in a half salute and said, "We're sure, but thanks anyway." The driver fed his carrier juice and moved away down the corridor.

The crowd had thinned, and Annie led them to the exit. Just as Auggie had promised, a plain black sedan with tinted windows awaited them at a stretch of curb clearly marked No Parking. The driver must have shown his agency I.D. Auggie felt the hairs along the base of his neck rise as they approached the vehicle. It was the same feeling of being watched by something hostile that he had experience off and on for the last three weeks.

"Annie," he said urgently. "Check out the driver and verify his I.D. before we get in. Something feels off."

Accustomed to Auggie's enhanced senses picking up on things that the sighted often missed, Annie did as he said, but the driver cleared with no problem. Soon they were settled in the back seat and on their way home.

A hooded shadow stepped from behind a taxi call box 30 feet beyond where they had been parked and blended smoothly into the crowds moving toward the parking area.

Inside their sedan, Annie gave Auggie a light shove and said, "You're going to have to tell me what's going on with you, Augs? I know we're paid to be paranoid, but this is getting a little strange."

"Later, Annie," he told her. "I think we'll be safe enough at home for now." He switched the subject. "Jake has almost finished work on the extension. I think you'll be pleased when you see what's he's done while you were away."

When they had agreed to move in together, Auggie had bought the adjoining apartment, and an old Army buddy of his, Jake Johnson, and his "Everything Jake" construction outfit, had taken down the dividing wall and were refinishing the apartment to meet their needs. She would be glad when it was done and she could unpack the last of her boxes.

She leaned close, and Auggie put his arm around her. She let her head rest his shoulder and sighed tiredly. It was good to be home.

Chapter 3 The High Life

In his new life as Ben Mercer, he had been functioning successfully as a covert agent for both Israel and the U.S. for some 2 years when he met Elfe Kappel. He felt he was performing a service for both sides as he passed useful information back and forth freely, and he enjoyed traveling widely throughout Europe and the East.

Elfe was playing alongside him at the twenty-one table in the Casino Gran Madrid. Ben liked the thrill of gambling, but even two salaries, deposited in different accounts under different identities, didn't go far at the tables. He drew on 17 when he should have stayed and went bust when an eight turned up. He was leaving the table when Elfe touched his arm and asked if he like to join her for a drink.

She was a stunning Germanic blonde with pale, flawless skin and a mass of spun gold hair. Slender and willowy, almost to the point of being fragile, she turned huge blue eyes up to him and clung to his arm. She was different from any woman he had ever met, and he was intrigued. One drink led to another and on to dinner. He was supposed to meet a contact, but business was forgotten when she invited him to her luxury suite on the top floor of the casino. She taught him things that night that he had never known existed.

They skied in Switzerland, sunned on the Cóte d'Azur, and gambled again in Morocco. She had exotic friends everywhere that she was happy to introduce him too. Her soft voice crept into his dreams. He found he thought of her almost constantly. Elfe had become a sweet poison in his blood. He was madly in love with her.

When Ben had cleaned out his bank accounts and run his credit cards up to the maximum, Elfe introduced him to Klaus.

Klaus was willing to pay handsomely for someone with contacts in the Middle East who could meet with certain groups desperate for firearms and come to terms with them on payment and method of delivery. It wasn't necessary for Ben to dirty his hands with the actual handling of arms, but he was asked to keep an eye open for agents of American or other agencies who frowned on the arms trade. Payments were generous and deposited to an encrypted Swiss account. He selected the name Jason Dourne for these accounts. He has quite liked Matt Damon's spy films.

Ben saw no reason not to supplement his salaries. Guns would reach the rebels and insurgents whether he aided in the sales or not. Some were even struggling to better things in their homelands. Things went well for while, and Ben managed to juggle all his assignments and still meet Elfe here and there for a few days of relaxation and gambling. But he saw gradually less of her; Kraus had other assignments that kept her busy. Then in mid-2006 things changed.

Ben was on assignment for the CIA, embedded as an advisor to a group of Iraqi native police when, late one night, he got a call on the private satellite phone Kraus used to contact him. This time it wasn't Kraus who answered his drowsy, "Yeah?"

Elfe's small, honeyed voice said, "Liebling? Is dis mein darling Benny?"

His response was quick and eager in the hot desert night. "Elfe, I've missed you; it's been too long. Where are you?"

"Ach, mine schatz, I'm in Monte Carlo. It is so beautiful here. Kraus says you must come. There is some boring business meeting, but I vant to see you again. We will go to the casino and drink champagne and play roulette and be together. I've missed you too, liebling. Please to come soon."

It would mean ditching his assignment and trying to hop a flight out of the country, but maybe he could manage a day or two in Monte Carlo and be back before he was missed. He explained to the sergeant in charge of his native police unit that his father was very ill, and he had to go and see him one last time. To expressions of sympathy, he threw some clothes in a travel pack and hitched a ride to Kirkuk.

Monte Carlo was wonderful. Elfe met him at the airport in a limo and took him directly to a luxury suite in a fashionable hotel that featured glorious air conditioning, a view of the ocean and a bath tub big enough to swim in. While he bathed, Elfe ordered a sumptuous meal and had vendors bring in a selection of the latest resort wear for his selection. It all went on Klaus' tab.

They spent the night at Le Grand Casino wandering from table to table, Elfe's arm intertwined with his, her butterfly kisses inflaming his desire. He won some, but lost a lot more. Not that he really cared. The money was only a way to keep score and to keep Elfe intrigued. It was almost dawn when they tumbled into bed.

Kraus shook him awake after only a few hours sleep with the news that the meeting was at noon, and he needed to be present. Elfe was gone. When Ben entered the private dining room where the meeting was held, he found Klaus already present along with two men of Middle Eastern appearance. They wore two thousand dollar custom made business suits, shoes of the finest Italian leather, and had the icy stare of cut-throat killers. Something in the bottom of his stomach turned over.

As it developed they only wanted a small piece of information from Ben – the location of two American missile installations in Iraq capable of launching rockets into Iran should the need arise. They would be more than happy to pay generously for the information in gold Krugerrands. To help persuade him, they happened to have a file filled with photos of his meetings with arms dealers and even one of an information exchange with his Mossad contact. There were records of huge gambling losses as well, certified by the casinos concerned.

Ben asked for 24 hours to think it over, and was granted the time.

He changed into trunks and a beach robe, took a towel and walked away from the crowded beaches of the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel to a lonely stretch used mostly by Monaco's fishermen.

Ben knew he had reached a turning point in his life. If he provided the information they required he would be completely rogue – an outcast from every service, a highly trained agent who worked for the highest bidder. Any particular service might not know for a while, but eventually even the dimmest handler would realize what was happening. He would become fair game for any elimination team that came across him.

He could turn himself in to the CIA, although it might be tricky staying alive until they extracted him, but he would be finished as an agent. He would have only some half-pay pension to live on while he remained in safe hiding. If he gave them the information they wanted he could bank the pay in new accounts and go for the highest paying assignments he could find. It was risky, but if his luck held for a few more years, he could put away enough to retire and live quietly but well in Switzerland or perhaps somewhere in South America.

It meant too that he could go on seeing Elfe. When he had money to spend, she could meet him at a casino. He would love to introduce her to some of the American ones in places like Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

He was on his way back to the hotel, still not fully decided, when a man of average looks and height fell into step beside him. When Ben stopped and turned to face him, the man murmured his Mossad contact code words. He informed Ben that his Iraqi police unit had been wiped out to a man by terrorists in his absence and that Mossad had become aware of his gambling habits. He was completely and finally disavowed as an agent of Israeli intelligence. He was burned! The only reason they did not reveal him to the Americans was their concern for the safety of his fellow agents who were still working in place.

Stunned and horrified at the ruthless destruction of his police unit, he stumbled back to the hotel and agreed to their terms.

Chapter 4 Suspicions Aroused

Another week began much as usual. Annie was set to some translation and analysis duties while Auggie handled an agent sent to learn what he could about the leaders of the Arab Spring movement in Egypt.

Annie had picked up the mail from their box when they came in from work. Kept late by a mission debrief, they stopped on the way home and picked up a stir fry of chicken, cashews and snow peas along with a green salad. Annie sat at the table going through the mail, while Auggie poured them each a glass of wine and got out Sunday's leftover boiled shrimp and red sauce.

The mail was so much easier since Annie moved in. Auggie had a device that scanned print material of most any type and read it aloud, but who wanted to listen through sheaves of advertisements and unwanted insurance offers in order to locate the credit card bill. Annie could do a quick sort, take out her mail and pass along anything of his that looked important. Tonight Auggie had heard her toss a number of items in the trash and then rip open an envelope. She fell silent as she read.

"Augs," Annie said, "this is really sort of strange?"

"What is it?" he asked through a healthy bite of shrimp.

"It's a letter from Marge."

"Who?" He washed the shrimp down with a swallow of wine and listened for the microwave to ping.

"You remember I mentioned Marjorie Whitman, the nurse I met in Guam. We got to be friends, went out a few times, and she still emails or writes me now and then."

"Okay, yeah, the one who pulled special duty on Ben Mercer so much?"

"Don't frown at me, Auggie. I'm with you, remember; not out searching for Ben."

"Yeah, okay, sorry, babe." He smiled warmly to make up for his instinctive jealousy. "So what does Marge have to say that's so strange?

"She was transferred to Madigan in Tacoma, Washington. She met a major there she really likes. They went for a little R & R in Las Vegas."

"Sounds like fun; do they want us to join them?" Auggie took the warmed rice and stir fry out of the microwave and put in on the table.

"No, but she saw Ben Mercer there."

Auggie turned from the refrigerator with the salad in one hand and focused his attention on her. "Now, that is interesting. Does she say what he was doing?"

"Yes, she says that he didn't see her in the crowd, but he was with a beautiful Nordic type blonde, and they lost about $200,000.00 at the roulette table while she watched."

"Two hundred thousand! You can't toss around that kind of money on Agency pay."

"No, but maybe he has other income – like you do?"

"Maybe, and maybe he was on an assignment, but it would be interesting to know."

"There's one more thing."

"And that is …?" One eyebrow slid up like a visual question mark.

"Marge says she asked a croupier about the high roller couple, and he told her they were Jason Dourne and Elfe Kappel. Apparently they're well known in the Vegas casinos."

"My, how very careless of them." Auggie's expression was sober and his words dry. "Annie, Elfe Kappel is beautiful, if you like the very pale and clinging type. She is also well known as an enticing contact for a German arms smuggling outfit. Your boy, Ben, seems to be dabbling in dangerous waters."

"He's not 'my boy' and you know it." Annie's brown eyes flashed. "You've seen this Elfe?

"Long ago and far away, in another life, sweetheart. I was far too small game to interest her."

"What should we do?" Annie asked as she scooped a healthy serving of the hot food onto her plate.

"Nothing official right now, but maybe I'll poke around a little. Anything else of interest?" Auggie picked up a spoon. A spoon was about the only hope a blind man had of capturing any rice and conveying it safely to his mouth.

"There's a letter for you from the Building Association. Seems they want to hold a meeting to discuss raising the Association fees."

"Yeah, I've never yet been to a meeting where they wanted to lower them. Put it on my desk after dinner, will you?"

Until now, Auggie had carefully avoided looking into Ben Mercer's background and affairs. Some sense told him that Annie would care deeply if she found he hadn't played fair, but things had changed in the last few months. Annie seemed to have made her choice; his heightened senses told him that a circle of danger was slowly closing around them, and now he had proof that something odd was definitely going on with Ben Mercer. He decided to look long and deep into anything he could find.

Chapter 5 Heartbreak in Paradise

Ben Mercer, under the cover of teaching English to the children of well-to-do Sri Lankan parents, was on the island to sell guns to the Tamil Tigers and evaluate some of their cadre leaders for possible recruitment by other organizations. The LTTE, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, were a group of separatists who had fought the government for more than two decades, but their defeat appeared imminent. Other Southeast Asian terrorist groups would welcome some of their experienced fighters and pay the recruiter well.

His cover required that he take a group of his charges to visit historic and beautiful Sigiriya, Lion's Rock. The site had been declared the 8th wonder of the world by UNESCO and dated back to the fifth century. A huge rock fortress and Buddhist monastery surrounded by magnificent gardens and adorned with amazing frescos, it was a major tourist attraction. While leading his students through the vast water gardens, Ben's eye fell upon Annie Walker for the very first time.

Annie had been back-packing around much of the Pacific Rim for the best part of a year. With her quick ear, she picked up languages and learned about cultures as she went. She had no clear idea what she wanted to do with the knowledge she gained. The travel in itself was reward enough. She certainly had no plan to fall in love.

Elfe Kappel had been elusive for several months, and Ben felt abandoned and alone. He was constantly afraid he would be discovered and totally disavowed by the C.I.A. as well as Mossad. His life would be worth very little if that happened. His secret Swiss accounts had grown fat, but not yet lavish enough to allow the kind of retirement he sought. The beautiful honey blonde trailing delicate fingers through a lily pond looked like nectar in the throat of a golden lily. He instantly wanted her more than anything he had ever seen. He would show Elfe she wasn't the only woman in his world. With his characteristic determination he set out to make Annie his.

He deposited his students is the closest tea room, handed the shopkeeper a 200 rupee note and asked him to keep an eye on them. He rushed back to Sigiriya to find Annie cautiously climbing down the long, worn staircase carved from the living rock face after visiting the famous frescos and polished mirror wall. Although Sri Lanka attracted tourists from all over the world, this American beauty wasn't hard to spot. Her fair skin, huge brown eyes and magnificent head of silken, natural blonde hair turned heads wherever she went.

He used the children as an excuse to approach Annie. "Excuse me," Ben said, "I don't mean to intrude, but are you by any chance an American?" Of course, he did mean to intrude by any pretense possible.

Annie turned to look him up and down. She was no stranger to advances from unknown men, but this one had an intensity that caught her interest. "Why do you ask?" she said.

"I have a group of Sri Lankan children here with me. I instruct them in English. It would be a thrill for them to talk with an American. I'm sure that if you could share some of the current slang with them … only 'proper' slang …" he added quickly. "They would gain valuable experience and consider it a special treat. But, if you had other plans, I understand." He looked so saddened by the prospect of losing her interest that she couldn't resist smiling.

"And where are these children, sir?"

"Oh, forgive me, miss. The students are having tea at a nearby shop, and I should have begun by introducing myself. My name is Ben Mercer. I have identification if you would like to see it. One can't be too careful, I know." It took all of his self control not to reach out and stroke the sun-warmed, perfect skin of her bare arm.

"I believe that can wait until we are off these narrow steps," Annie said and nudged him on ahead of her. "I wouldn't mind a cup of tea, myself. The island is famous for its teas, and they brew them well in the little tea shops, I've found."

"They do, and I would be delighted if you would permit me to buy you tea and introduce you to the children." They had reached the bottom of the stairs, and Ben dared to take her elbow and steer her toward the exit and the tea room. Annie felt something like an electric shock run up her arm.

The children delighted Annie. They were bright and eager and excited to meet a fair American lady who already had a smattering of Sinhale, their native tongue. Annie enjoyed a full English tea while regaling the children with explanations of slang terms like 'mos def,' 'wannabe,' 'epic fail,' and 'blue screen of death.' Ben translated when necessary, and he was as entranced as the children by her ease and quick wit.

He soon learned her name and that she was staying in Colombo at the Grand Oriental Hotel with its charming colonial style décor. Ben offered to show her the National Museum with it large collections of antiquities, including rare demon masks, the following afternoon. That led to a visit to the Dehiwala Zoo and on to a picnic on the Galle Face Green, the famous old British seaside promenade.

Unlike Elfe, Annie didn't cling; she had a strong, clear mind of her own. She had read widely and had informed opinions on many of the world's affairs. To Ben she was a breath of fresh, cleansing sea air. Annie found him interesting – he had traveled even more widely than she had. He also had an air of mystery and danger that added a thrill to his ardent courting.

Soon she was with him in a primitive hut on a magnificent stretch of deserted white beach. Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, well deserved its name as The Pearl of the Indian Ocean. They swam and fished and sunned and spent the night in glorious and heated lovemaking. They bought matching shell bracelets, and she thought she had found the love of her life until she woke one morning to find him gone and a note saying only: "The truth is complicated. Forgive me."

She paid the fifty dollar bar bill he had left, gathered up the pieces of her broken heart, cradled them in her arms and found her way home to Danielle. After long days of moping and solitary walks and nights of tears, she gave herself a healthy and resounding kick in the posterior portion of her anatomy and joined the C.I.A. She blazed through her training, and before she even quite completed it she was whisked into action. At Langley she met Auggie, Jai, Joan and a host of new friends. Life began to seem worth living again.


Chapter 6 Premonitions and Precautions

There was something wrong with Auggie. By turns, he was distant and broody or he lavished her with affection and seemed starved for reassurance that she still cared for him. He was tense and hyper-alert whenever they drove anywhere – even to and from work. When he took to searching every cranny and closet in the apartment every time they returned home, she put her foot down.

"Auggie, really! Stop that!" She caught his hand and pulled him out of her closet. "There are no boogey men in there. We have got to talk about what's bothering you! You have been as skittery as a water bug in a pond full of storks lately. This apartment has excellent security; you designed it yourself, and all the locks are new. What do you expect to find? Something is wrong. What is it? You can tell me, honest. I'm a spy, remember. I can keep a secret."

Auggie groaned and trailed his hand through the apartment and into the living room to collapse into his favorite chair. As she always did, when there were important things to discuss, she pulled the footstool close and sat down with one hand resting on his knee.

"I don't know what to tell you, Annie," he said in a low voice. "You probably think I'm going mad, and maybe I am, but it's a feeling I can't shake. Call it a 'Spidey sense' or whatever you like. It's not anything I can hear, or smell or touch, but I know we're being spied on, watched, and whoever is doing it is hostile. He … she… whatever intends us harm. I say us it could be either you or me. But, my spine crawls when we're together in public."

His hand found hers and closed around it firmly.

"Auggie, I don't understand how you can be so sure? I know some of your senses are highly developed, but you don't have even a crumb of real evidence, do you?"

"Babe, as your favorite TV character Michael Weston is wont to say, 'I used to be a spy'." Auggie grinned and waited for a smart comeback from Annie. She didn't disappoint him.

"Hey, I like Burn Notice. Fiona is my idol. I've picked up all sorts of great ways to blow up stuff." Her voice told him she was smiling before he went on.

"Seriously, from time to time in the field, I was under surveillance by enemies. I also used to be a soldier, and there were a whole lot of people eager to do me and my men harm there. You develop a sense for danger, for ill intent. The one time I ignored it, I nearly died and other good men did. I can't just ignore it now." He looked intent, serious, older in some way.

Sometimes he just made her want to weep. He had been so much, done so much, had suffered such a terrible loss and was still the best man she had ever known. She crawled into his lap, wrapped her arms around him, snuggled her head into the bend of his neck. She both sought and offered comfort.

"We'll figure it out, sweetheart," she told him. "If it makes you feel safer to search, then search. We'll take care of each other – always!"

He gathered her close against him and bent to find her mouth. His kisses where ardent and urgent. They told her of his love without the need for more words.

Despite Annie's reassurance, Auggie went ahead with a series of arrangements he had thought out over the past weeks as his sense of danger grew greater. He paid personal visits to his lawyer, his banker and his property manager and left each of them with a detailed letter of instructions. Should Annie approach them with a letter of authorization and certain code words, they were to follow the instructions he laid out in their letters exactly.

He also made sure that Joan had an updated statement of his total financial picture and the sources of all of his income. One night when Annie was away on a short mission, he put in a call to his father. They talked for a long time, and Auggie filled him in fully on his relationship with Annie Walker and his hopes for their future together.

Last of all, and most reluctantly, he wrote a letter to Annie. In it he listed the names and addresses of a number of people important in his business and personal life. He also dropped several other items he had gradually collected into the thick envelope. One night after a quiet dinner, he slid it across the table to her and said, "Annie, I want you to have this. It's pretty important."

She picked it up and turned it over in her hands, felt its weight. "What is it?" she was quick to ask. "Should I open it?"

"I wish you wouldn't, sweetheart. I'd like you to just put it away in your safe for now." He could only ask; he knew he had no right, or even the desire, to give her orders. Annie was a strong, intelligent woman with a firm will of her own.

"It's only a precaution against something that may never happen. I'd really like you to hang on to it. Open it only if you don't know where I am and you can't find me for a period of 24 hours or more. It has information you might need then."

He couldn't see the worried frown that put creases in the creamy skin of her forehead, but he heard it in her voice. "Auggie, isn't this going a little overboard? I know you've been worried about some sort of threat, but it's still so vague. You don't have to do anything special for me. I can take care of myself."

His warm baritone was gentle, persuasive. "I know you can, Annie, but it's possible I might need your help. I'll always let you know where I'll be – even in the unlikely event that they send me out on a mission. If I vanish one day for no reason you can see, please, open the envelope. After all, we are 'spies,' 'secret agents,' whatever you like. Unexpected things can happen. I hope that envelope will just molder away in the bottom of your safe, but I want you to have it."

"Will it make you feel better, Augs, if I say yes?"

"It will. More than you know." He got up and edged around the table until he was behind her chair. He draped his arms around her shoulders and bent to kiss the top of her head. Her hair smelled so clean and wonderful, as it always did. "Please, do it for me. I'll make it worth your while." He nibbled at the edge of her ear.

Annie bent her head back until her lips touched his cheeks. "Yeah, what did you have in mind, soldier?"

Chapter 7 Poison In The Well

Annie had just dropped Auggie off at his apartment after an evening of beer and laughter at Allen's. It had been all she could do to keep from pulling his mouth against hers and throwing all caution to the winds. For her it had gone beyond the friendship he always offered. She wanted more, but she couldn't get the old cliché of the student who fell in love with her teacher out of her head. It would hurt too much if he smiled kindly and rejected her advance.

When she pulled into the driveway of the house she shared with Danielle and Michael, she was more than ready for a shower and her bed in the guest cottage. Ben Mercer stepped out of the shadows just as she locked her car and turned toward home.

Annie jumped back! Her hand plunged instinctively into her purse for pepper spray. She had last seen Ben less than a month ago when they said goodbye after the hostage situation in Mexico. Now, he had popped up again like a bad penny.

Ben raised his hands in mock surrender. "Please, Annie, you don't need protection from me." There was affection and laughter in his voice.

"Ben, you startled me. Not a safe approach to a trained CIA agent. Suppose I'd had a gun?" The pepper spray was still in Annie's hand.

"You don't carry a gun. It's well known in the inner circles. I rather wish you did. Surely they taught you to shoot."

"I know how to shoot; my father taught me." He was trying to lead her off the subject. "What are you doing here, and why didn't you let me know you were in town?" she asked. His habit of appearing unannounced and suddenly was beginning to annoy her.

"I apologize for startling you." He was trying to make amends. "I only have a few hours before I have to be on a flight to Beirut. I wanted to see you. It's been too long since Guam."

"You saw me in Mexico on that hostage mission."

"And you turned down the offer of two weeks decompression time with me on a secluded beach, as I recall. What's wrong, Annie? I thought there was something real growing between us. Now you seem to be spending most of your spare time with that blind computer tech … what's his name … ah, Anderson. It shows your kind heart, Annie dear, that you're willing to share so much of yourself with a disabled veteran, but you need to be careful. Don't let him fall in love with you; he's had enough tragedy in his life. You don't want to spend your life leading some helpless blind cripple around by the hand."

Annie found herself speechless. Auggie … a cripple … helpless? By God, far from it! And she didn't lead him by the hand; she guided him by a light grip on her elbow. Ben had no idea what he was talking about. All of her carefully controlled and long suppressed feelings for Auggie rushed to the surface, and she was suddenly furious. She could feel the heat of a flush as it spread over her face and throat.

Even in the dim light from a clear sky and the neighboring houses, Ben could tell something was wrong. "Annie, what is it?" he exclaimed. "Did I say something wrong? Surely, you're not falling for that pitiful half-man?"

Annie raised the pepper spray. "Leave, leave now before you make it worse – if that's possible! Don't come back until you learn something about the blind and their abilities. Auggie's smarter, tougher and more capable than half the sighted people I know! And he doesn't vanish between one minute and the next, either. In fact, he's more likely to turn up when you need help the most. He's a friend, and a damn good one!"

She spun away from Ben and stomped off toward the house without another word.

Ben slid into his car and sat for a long time watching Annie's lights as they went on and shortly afterward off again. So, he thought, Tech. Op. August Anderson. He had scarcely registered in Ben's consciousness before, but he was about to become one of the central objects of his attention and hatred. He would take Annie's advice and find out more about the blind – particularly one special blind computer geek. Annie was his. He'd found her, claimed her, even killed for her. And hadn't he caught hell from his terrorist bosses for that one. Nobody else had the right to seek her affections, especially one sad, blind, has-been covert op. Ben laughed quietly. The stupid guy had no idea how much trouble he was asking for.

Ben did his research well, and the next time he spoke with Arthur Campbell, he made a casual mention at the end of their conversation. "I've been hearing some whispers lately about one of your special ops guys," he said.

Arthur was immediately interested and demanded details.

"I don't have many," Ben said, but it appears one of your techno-geeks took his blind mobility training with a minor member of the Saudi royal family. Seems strange enough that you have a blind tech, but I hear he has remained in contact with his Saudi buddy. Maybe you should look into it. Can't be too many blind techs around." With that he dropped the subject.

Arthur immediately asked Joan to quiz Auggie on the subject.

Auggie readily admitted to the friendship. "Abdul is a very minor member of the al Saud royal family," he told her. "We met when I went for advanced mobility training. He got knocked in the head in a polo match and fell under the horse's hooves. Among his other injuries he lost his sight. The family felt he was too much of a playboy to begin with, and now with his disabilities, he's even less likely to ever have any power or influence."

"Still, Auggie," Joan said to him, "it may not be wise to keep up a friendship with someone who might be questionable." She watched him closely for any reaction.

Auggie's grin was relaxed and confident. "I wouldn't exactly call it a bromance, Joan. Abdul's experience led him to make some changes in his life. When he went back home, he started a school for poor blind kids. He contacts me once in a while to ask about new equipment to help the kids learn to read and do other daily tasks. I try to help out when I can. I've gotten him some donations from manufacturers, that sort of thing. He has no idea what I do, and probably could care less if he did. He's just not political."

Joan seemed satisfied, but that was just the first drop of poison in what was to become a steady trickle of darkling innuendo and hatred.

In their next conversation, Arthur answered Ben's question about the tip he had given him. "We checked it out, Mercer. It's just a very minimal contact about helping blind kids in Arabia. Nothing to worry about."

"Excellent," Ben said, " I did hear that the man involved is a grandnephew of the head of The General Intelligence Directorate, but if you're sure … " He moved on to other subjects, but left a tiny worm to eat away at Arthur's former total trust in Auggie.

h)m$c*a!v%

Arthur Campbell had used his special line to alert Ben Mercer that Annie might once again be in trouble in Mexico. Ben threw a few essentials in a shoulder bag and waited for the call to go. It didn't come. Instead, Arthur phoned to say that Annie was safely out of Mexico and on her way home. "Auggie did some amazing work in guiding her through the cave system," Arthur had mentioned in passing. He had no idea how much his words inflamed Ben's hatred of the blind technician.

After speaking with Arthur, Ben rushed to his observation post near the entrance of the Langley offices. He was in time to see Annie entered the offices. She looked frazzled and as tired as he had ever seen her. He kept watch until she exited with a look of determination on her face and a re-energized stride.

He lost her little red car in the heavy Washington traffic. On a hunch he parked where he could see the entrance to Auggie's apartment building. It was early afternoon when Annie entered loaded with a bulging tote and arms full of groceries. It was past midnight when Ben gave up the watch and returned to his rented room. He kicked the furniture and smashed a lamp. He deleted a message on his cell phone from Elfe. Anger at Annie had driven the German temptress from his mind. Annie had betrayed him with a cripple, one of Joan's effete techno-geeks, a pitiful figure of a man. Auggie could never love her or take care of her as he could. He spent what was left of the night tossing and turning in a fever of envy and hatred.

Dawn found him outside the apartment complex once again. It was afternoon when Auggie and Annie emerged to stroll arm in arm through the golden sunlight of late August. Ben used all his spy craft to shadow them through the streets. When a radiantly smiling Annie and a grinning Auggie exited a shop that specialized in pearls, he nearly rushed them. Annie carried a smart shop bag that held something she looked at repeatedly. Auggie looked blissfully content. He had obviously bought her some trinket; women were so easily pleased.

Only the crowds of Sunday strollers and shoppers protected Auggie that lovely afternoon. If he were even half the spy he was once supposed to be, he would have sensed the pure malice and malevolence directed at him, Ben thought.

An urgent call from his al-Qaeda contact took him away from Washington on the morning flight to Algeria and a long mission that he had to mix with meetings to arrange arms sales for Klaus and Elfe's group. When he got back to the States, he found that Annie and Auggie had been living together for some time. Both appeared happy and content. It couldn't go on. He had to act to destroy him and reclaim her. It would take time and a good plan, but he had both.

Ben brought up Auggie's former girlfriend, Natasha, on his next meeting with Arthur Campbell. An internationally known hacker and computer expert, she was wanted by several governments. Arthur explained that Auggie had recently persuaded her to give them a valuable piece of software before she vanished into a cold Canadian night.

"Anderson told you that did he?" Ben asked.

"We had agents on the spot within minutes of her disappearance," Arthur said. She jumped from a moving train. We had no reason to doubt our man, and he did have the program."

"And you're sure he's not still in contact with her? These computer freaks have ways the rest of us would never think of." Ben gave an expressive shrug. "He has information about agents and operations in the field that some countries would pay a lot for. She could be acting as his 'agent' – passing on information and collecting the payments."

Arthur straightened. "Anderson has been with the agency for years. We've never had any reason to doubt his loyalty. He's a good man."

"If you say so," was Ben's response. "Still, he kept his agency connection when he went into Special Forces?"

"He joined as much for our benefit as because he wanted to get into the active end of the fight. He and his unit ran several ops for us. He did us proud." Arthur was smiling.

Ben stretched and prepared to get up. "He lost his sight in one of those fights, didn't he? Enough to embitter some men – make them turn against those who put them in that position. Guess you're lucky he didn't go that way." Ben put money on the table to cover his tab in the remote neighborhood bar where they had met, nodded at Arthur and left.

Arthur sat for some time deep in thought.

Chapter 8 Geeks and Games

Auggie's inquiries into Ben Mercer's background had yielded some results. He asked Joan for some private time with her, and when she found herself with half-an-hour free, she called him in.

"This is going to sound like a bad mix of sour grapes and bitter almonds," Auggie began. "But I've turned up some information on Ben Mercer that you should know about."

"Ben Mercer," Joan all but spat the name out. "Why does that bad penny keep turning up? Is Annie the reason you've taken an interest in him?"

"Yes … and no," Auggie said slowly. "Like all of us, I knew Ben and Annie had a brief fling a couple of years before she joined the agency, but I didn't waste a lot of time brooding over it. The past is the past; we all have one. Then I started to feel like Annie and I were being watched almost any time we were out in public."

Auggie held up his hands. "Yeah, I know. Don't shake your head, Joan. I'm a blind guy. No matter how good my spy craft is, I can't spot anyone following us. But I can feel them, Joan – that ancient feeling that goes back to prehistory. The hairs lift on the back of your neck, and you know something, someone is watching, and, by God, they intend you lethal harm. You know I'm right; you've felt it when you were in the field. Don't say you haven't."

A small smile lifted the corner of Joan's mouth. "Alright, I'll grant you that, Auggie. I'll even agree that you are probably more sensitive to that sort of thing than most of us, but how does that tie into Ben Mercer?"

Auggie opened the folder he had carried into her office and felt the top right corner of the first sheet. Joan could see the raised Braille symbol impressed on it. He pulled it out and placed it before her. It was a copy of the letter Annie had received from her nurse friend from Guam. He waited while Joan read it through.

"You know who Elfe Kappel is, of course?" Auggie said.

Of course. I was actually approached once by her handler, a man who seems to be known only as Klaus. I think he was looking to recruit me, but I didn't stay around long enough to be sure." Joan smoothed her hair and smiled. "This seems to add some substance to my feeling that Mercer has gone completely off the reservation."

Auggie pushed the ends of his shaggy dark hair back out of his eyes. "After we got this letter, Annie told me about an incident that happened some time before she moved in with me." He went on to describe the occasion where Ben had displayed his contempt of sightless persons and his disdain for technical experts by making rude remarks about Auggie and warning Annie not to fall for him.

"I bring this up only because it adds some weight to the idea that Mercer might have his reasons for being out to get me. He might even be stalking Annie. I just pray he doesn't intend to harm her."

"Do you want protection?" Joan asked.

"No, no, not at this stage. Annie would flip. I do have a few more items to add to his account."

"Go on, Auggie."

"His birth into the Baltimore family that he claims as his own was not recorded in the city records until October of 2002. It was skillfully done and backdated, but some things are hard to hide from a good hacker. Mistakes can happen, but I don't think this is one." Auggie gave her another sheaf of printouts.

"After I found that, I followed a hunch. I still have a few Mossad friends left from the old days. They were pretty frank with their comments about how badly we blew it on the 9/11 mess. Just suppose their intelligence bosses decided to carefully place a few agents into the C.I.A. to be sure it didn't happen again. I've tried mentioning the name of Ben Mercer to a few of my Mossad friends recently. One and all they start to stammer and then clam up." Auggie lifted his hands and shrugged.

"Is he Mossad; if he was, is he still, or has he been disavowed? I don't know. It's all supposition on my part, but I can't help but feel there's something there."

They were quiet for a few moments before Auggie said, "I do have one other piece of solid evidence. You can't get information out of Swiss banks without high level support, but others are easier to get into. Mercer transfers funds into and out of a Monte Carlo account assigned to one Jason Dourne." Auggie grinned. "You have to assume he likes the Robert Ludlum thrillers. He's not very careful about covering this identity either. As of yesterday he had a little more than half a million in the account." More printouts changed hands.

"That's about it," he said to Joan. I wanted you fully in the picture – just in case." He half-arose and then added, "You got my quarterly financial statement?"

"Yes, it's here on my desk somewhere." She searched around a bit.

"Find it please, Joan, and have the Agency auditors go over it carefully. If anyone should question my finances, I want you to know where every penny comes from."

"I'll find your report, Auggie, and I'll pass your concerns about Mercer on to my husband. He should know. Thank you for coming to me. Let's keep it between us for now, okay?"

"Okay." Auggie sketched a salute and found his way out of the office.

9#m^be*d?

Auggie and Annie were enjoying a rare lunch break together in the big Langley cafeteria when he put down his fork and asked, "Annie, my geek squad wants to meet you. How about coming with me tonight?" Every other Tuesday night Auggie met with a small group of young people who were seriously into computers. Annie knew little more than that about it.

"They want to meet me? I'm barely beyond computer basics." She cocked her head and looked up at Auggie sideways. Of course, the delightful gesture was lost on him, so she added, "How do they even know I exist?"

Auggie grinned down at her. "They see you when you drop me off and again when you pick me up after meetings. You've made quite an impression on them. They don't quite whistle and drool – mostly because I insist on courtesy to all females while they're in my hearing – but they are full of questions about you. Come on with me; I think you'll have fun."

"What about dinner?" Annie asked. "I was thinking of calling Danielle and seeing if I could treat her and the girls to a meal while I waited for you."

"You can do that another time," Auggie told her. Tonight we're having New Orleans fine dining: shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, oysters Rockefeller, crayfish soufflé, the works. I'm trying to broaden their tastes a little beyond pizza and tacos."

"And do I have to cook?" If he was trying to sucker her into preparing that menu for a dozen or so ravenous teens, she was going to kill him.

His laugh warmed her as his voice soothed. "No, love, it's all being catered. All you have to do is sit down with us and eat."

That brought on the need for more explanations. Auggie's group met in half of a large and well-ventilated loft over a vast computer store in one of Washington's most upscale malls. Auggie had convinced the franchise owner to donate the space as a community service he could brag about and use as a tax write off. In return Auggie had improved the lighting and the flooring and filled the space with computer desks, tables and ergonomic chairs.

He also rounded up a variety of computer equipment from several donors, including the Agency. A lot of it the club had rebuilt with Auggie acting as the expert and the kids as his hands and eyes. It wasn't the most expensive stuff on the market, but it was sturdy, and it worked well.

When the mother of one of the boys decided to redecorate, her son persuaded her to donate the old living room suite to the club. So now, one corner held two deep-cushioned sofas, a big coffee table and half-a-dozen assorted chairs and end tables. Maybe the rose and gray upholstery was a little funky, but who cared. It was great for breaks and even catered dinners with the addition of a folding table and a few more chairs.

"The whole thing got started," Auggie explained to Annie, "when I caught a pair of them trying to break into the D.P.D. system with a two-pronged attack. It wasn't very elegant, but it showed imagination. I could have turned them over to the F.B.I., but I wanted to give them a chance to go 'white hat.' I tracked them down to Pete's mom's basement and dropped in one evening when I knew they were on line."

Auggie paused and centered his concentration on Annie's plate. "Are you going to eat the other half of that sandwich?" he asked.

Annie drew back in surprise. "How the heck did you know? That sandwich is sitting quietly on my plate. It never made a sound, and I sure didn't mention not eating it."

The long lines in Auggie's cheeks creased in a wide grin. "Not enough of the right kind of chewing sounds," he said. "Bread and meat chomp differently from salad. Was it any good?" He sounded hopeful.

"Actually, it's quite a decent steak sandwich," she told him. "It was just more than I wanted with that big salad and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Why, do you want it?"

"Yeah, I'm still hungry. Do you mind sharing?"

Annie pushed the half-sandwich over. "Right at your twelve, babe, happy for you to have it." She was glad to see him hungry. Far too often, he simply got busy and forgot to eat. "Can I get you something else: a glass of milk maybe and the desserts are good today? There's bread pudding with blueberries?"

"Yum." His mouth was half-full of her sandwich. He swallowed and said, "If you don't mind standing in line again, I'd love some."

"It's not too long now. Be right back."

It wasn't long until she was back with the pudding. "Your two o'clock." She put it down with a click. "Now, if we've staved off starvation, I'm dying to know what happened when you showed up at that kid's house."

"Who? Oh, Pete's folks, sure." His handsome dark eyes held a hint of mischief in their unfocused gaze as he shifted them to the sound of her voice. "They were horrified, of course. They were ready to banish Pete's buddy, Charlie, permanently from their basement and ground Pete forever. I managed to get them to give the boys a second chance if they would meet with me regularly. It must have sounded better than calling in the Feds, so they agreed. Both boys were 17 and played sports, so I guess they figured they would be safe from a blind guy." Auggie finished his pudding and licked the spoon.

"At first we just met in my apartment," he went on. "Then about two months later, it got complicated." Auggie shook his head and laughed quietly. "I just managed to block a sixteen-year-old girl who made a very smart run on our D.P.D. data base. It turned out she was trying to impress Pete – she had a huge crush on him at the time – but she had exposed some weaknesses in the system I had to fix in a hurry."

"A sixteen-year-old girl almost hacked our system? Are you kidding me?"

"No, embarrassing hardly covers it. I had to bring her in, but once I had Marla, she was way under age remember, we couldn't go on meeting at my apartment."

Annie reached across the table and patted his hand. "What, hero, you didn't want to get arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor or something a lot worse?"

"Just shows the mess you can get into when you try to be a good guy." Auggie made a very sad face, and Annie had to laugh.

"Go on, laugh at the trials of your poor, blind companion." Auggie waited for a bit of sympathy, and she patted his hand again. She loved his ability to laugh at himself.

"So, what happened then?" Annie said.

"I found another place and had her dad come with her to meetings until he got to trust me. So, long story short – we do have to get back to work soon – the group just grew. Charlie asked if Shane Northman could join; he's the current President of the club. Evie hacked the group's private website and turned up on our doorstep. Her parents are old school hippies – her full name is Evening Star Gomez, and she rebelled by being brilliant with computers. Tom Drummond's dad works for the Agency. He asked me to take Tom-Tom on. Seems they had some conflicts at home."

Annie collected their trays and dishes and dropped them off at the return station, while Auggie used his laser cane to edge toward an exit. She caught up with him there, took his hand and guided it to her elbow. Together they walked toward the elevators.

"We moved into the loft about eighteen months ago," he told her as they walked. "Members tend to come and go. A few drop out; others go away to college or into jobs. We have 12 members right now ranging from 17 to 25. I don't take anyone under 16. Six of them have been with me for 3 or more years; the others are newer."

They were at the door to Tech Services. "So will you come with me tonight, Annie? Please?"

It seemed to be important to Auggie. He was so darned good to her, Annie thought. Always considerate, always patient and tender, and generous to a fault – how could she turn him down for something this simple?

"Sure, Auggie. I'll be glad to go along and meet your 'geek squad'."

"Great!" his smile was wide and happy, "but remember 'geek squad' is just the way I think of them. They call themselves 'Hackers, Crackers and Trackers, Inc,' Wait …" Auggie took out his card case, quickly felt the Braille symbol impressed on the corner of a card and handed her one. "Check this out when you get back to your desk."

Before she could say more, he was through the door to Tech Services and someone in the bullpen was calling for his attention.

Once at her desk, Annie took a good look at the sleek, professional appearing business card. Printed in white against a glossy black background, was a wide-brimmed cowboy hat with "Hackers, Crackers and Trackers, Inc" embossed in vivid red ink around the brim. Underneath was printed the statement, "We're the Good Guys. Let us go gunning for your troublemakers." There were two unfamiliar phone numbers in the lower, right-hand corner of the card.

She knew she would have a lot more questions after work.

W9a#bo7q%m

After briefing Joan on upcoming operations that might affect her section, Arthur opened a new subject. "Look, Joan," he said, "you may not like it, but Ben Mercer has raised some valid concerns about Auggie. He has a friend with connections to Saudi intelligence. He has a supposed ex-girlfriend who's not only Russian, but an expert with computer viruses. Then we know he lost his sight in an ambush that might have been avoided if we'd had better intelligence. What are the chances it has embittered him, turned him against the agency?"

Joan's stare was fierce. "Arthur, this is ridiculous! You're repeating all that poison Mercer has been feeding you. He's trying to smear Auggie with innuendo and half-truths. Auggie has been with the Agency since he was in his late teens. We educated him, trained him; you know he was being groomed for fast track advancement. He spied for us, fought for us; then he suffered a horrible injury in our service. Being blind limited his shot at the top levels, but his skills were too valuable to waste. We saw that he had the finest medical care available. He had extensive training in blind living skills and in-depth counseling."

Joan's fair skin was flushed, and her hands gripped the back of the chair before her so tightly that her knuckles were white. Arthur thought of a lioness defending her cub.

"He came to my section when he was ready, and I bought him the latest equipment to help him deal with his blindness. In return he has developed the finest Tech Support section in the entire intelligence community. His knowledge of field operations coupled with his technical expertise is invaluable. He is totally and completely loyal. I'd trust him with my life."

Joan pointed to the dossier that Auggie had compiled. It lay on Arthur's desk. "I showed you the information he brought me on Mercer: the association with known weapons smugglers, the possible false background and connection to Mossad. Then there are the funds that can't be accounted for. He's gone totally rogue, Arthur. Who knows how many masters he's working for? You should bring him in for interrogation!"

Arthur paced to his desk, picked up a paperweight and tossed it in his hand for a minute before turning back to his wife. "I have a better idea," he said.

The following week orders came down that all Tech Services personnel were to report to the infirmary for their annual flu shots. Along with the vaccine, and unknown to him, Auggie received a miniature RFID device in his shot. He thought the injection hurt a bit more than usual, but shrugged it off. The tiny radio frequency identification transponder settled under his skin and rested there quietly.

Chapter 9 Seafood and Surprise.

When Auggie shepherded Annie into the club's loft, she found it warm, bright and welcoming. She was quickly surrounded by a swarm of young adults eager to meet her. They were all well scrubbed and smelled fresh – something she suspected Auggie insisted on – but dressed in a variety of styles from the conventional jeans, tee shirt and hoodie to full-blown Goth. One young lady, dressed in a smart business pants suit, was introduced as Marla Ingram. She said she had just come from her part-time job as a data entry clerk for a local law firm.

Some of the kids smiled, shook Annie's hand and slipped away quietly to a computer station shortly after being introduced. Others lured her to the break corner for a longer chat. She identified them as Mark Henry, Evie Gomez and the current president of the group, Shane Northman.

They wanted to know who she was and what she did. She stuck with her Smithsonian cover story, and they were delighted when they learned she traveled a lot in her job. Of course, they wanted to know all about how she met Auggie and anything else about their relationship they could squeeze out of her. Fortunately, within days of moving in together, Annie and Auggie had agreed on a story that they told outsiders. It included an amusing fiction about how they met when she dropped her program and stopped suddenly. Auggie bumped into her and propelled her into the punch table at a Smithsonian function.

Annie was more interested in them. Mark Henry was 25, only four years younger than she was. He was a tall, dark-skinned, attractive African-American man, who shaved his head closely. He was a fully trained Emergency Medical Technician. He wanted to go on to medical school, he told her, and work in biomedical engineering.

Evie was Evening Star Gomez, whom Auggie had told her about. It wasn't hard to see that she was brilliant and deeply into computer science. She was studying high performance supercomputing at George Washington University. Pretty much everything she said went directly over Annie's head.

Shane Northman was an adult at 22. He had a calm, logical personality and a dry sense of humor that reminded her of Auggie in many ways. It was he who answered some of her questions about the group.

"What's this thing with cowboy hats?" she asked him. "Seems a bit old west for such an advanced group?'

"Guess the terms do come from old western movies," Shane told her. "White hats are the good guys – people who want to use computers in positive and legal ways. Grey hats are those in-between who fool around with trying to break into sites and other mischief mostly for fun. Black hats are the truly bad dudes who are using computers to steal, crash systems and other nasty stuff.

"And Auggie tells me you call yourselves hackers, crackers and trackers. What about those?

"Well, hacker is the broad general term. Basically someone who is deeply knowledgeable about computers, someone who loves to experiment, find solutions, open up new possibilities. Cracker is not a racial slur as we use it, but someone who is proficient at breaking software protection like key codes, firewalls and the like. In our case, they would work in computer security, testing and reinforcing systems. A tracker is a programmer who monitors something – follows it through all its stages. It can also refer to tracks in music."

Annie shook her head and looked up with wide, curious eyes. "Talk about total ignorance. I am completely out of my depth here. Auggie must think I'm an absolute dunce."

Shane cracked a wide and mischievous smile. "Auggie thinks the earth of you, Miss Annie, and so do we. You make him happy and that's more than enough."

Annie looked up to see Auggie moving from one computer station to the next. He stopped to talk with each occupant, answer questions and suggest approaches. While he clearly knew the area well, she noticed that he did use his cane. She realized why when she saw its sweep contact a carelessly dropped backpack. Auggie stepped around it and walked on.

"You're fond of Auggie, then?" Annie said to the group around her.

Everyone started to answer, but Evie won out. "He's the absolute greatest guy on earth," she said with considerable exaggeration, but welcome enthusiasm. "He's done a major save for pretty much everybody here. Some of us he grabbed by the collar and yanked back from the edge of a pit. He's taught us so much, and not just computers either."

Donny Carlone had wandered over and now spoke up. "You got that right. He sez we gotta wash, and always talk nice and play fair. I'd ended up in Juvie if my truant officer hadn'ta sent me to him."

Mark Henry entered the conversation. "I'm not exactly a 'major save', but one of the top surgeons at Bethesda did ask Auggie to take me in and teach me as much as he could about computers. It's been a real education. I think Colonel Harrison was or is one of Auggie's doctors."

"What's he do?" Evie demanded.

"Doctor Harrison? He's a neurosurgeon," Mark told her.

"Is he going to fix Auggie's eyes, make him see again?" Evie's voice was low with intensity.

Annie thought it best to put those speculations to rest at once. She didn't want Auggie to have to deal with it. "I'm afraid that's not possible, Evie," Annie said. "The optic nerves are dead; there's no hope of a recovery."

"So he'll never see anything?" Evie sounded so sad.

"Well, his implant does let him in a sense see the bounce off a laser…." Annie trailed to a stop, suddenly aware that she was sharing Agency information. "Er… it's highly experimental, just something he's testing for a friend. Tell me about what you want to do, Evie?"

The conversation veered away from the dangerous subject, and soon the caterers arrived with dinner. A spare table was set up and chairs dragged over from the computer stations. The spread of New Orleans delicacies was fully as delicious as Auggie had promised, and Annie soon found herself stuffed almost to discomfort.

The meal lasted more than an hour, and between them, Annie and Auggie got everyone to talk a little bit about themselves and their plans, their hopes and even their dreams. It became clear that at least three of the kids were dirt poor, but with ambition and what they were learning in the club, a brighter future was possible. Annie would later learn that Auggie was helping two of them with their college tuition.

"Well, what did you think?" Auggie asked when the evening was over and they were in the car headed home. "Did you have any fun or was it something you never want to repeat?"

'I enjoyed it far more than I expected," Annie told him. "They are an amazing crew, and you are doing great things with them. You have hidden depths that I have yet to explore." She reached over and slid her hand from his knee up the line of his thigh to the warmth of a deep crease.

He clamped his hand down over hers. "Jeeze, Annie, if you don't quit that, you're going to have to stop the car, and we'll probably end up being arrested. I'm glad you had a good time, but it must be all those oysters you ate. Hang on until we get home."

H&f4c*y8r$

Arthur Campbell thought he had been very clever. They would be tracking Auggie at all times. Ben had been given strict guidelines. Auggie was to remain in the country and was not to be permanently injured in any way. As soon as they went to ground, a listening array would be secretly dropped into place. The type of questioning would soon reveal Mercer's intentions and confirm or destroy their trust in Anderson – two birds with one stone.

Q#u9v*6t^b

Auggie wasn't afraid, but he wasn't a fool either. He didn't doubt the deep feeling that someone was watching him – probably Ben Mercer or someone acting for him. When Annie was away on a mission, as she had been for the last four days, he stuck close to home. He let the Agency provide a car and driver to take him to and from work and fixed simple meals for himself. But this was different. Annie had a birthday coming up, and he had ordered something very special for her. Precious Pearls had called to say it was ready.

He telephoned to be sure that Evelyn, the salesperson he knew, was in before he walked the three blocks from his apartment building to the shop. He knew the area and made good time. Evelyn was delighted to see him again. She had sold them the pink pearls he bought Annie on the day she moved in with him, and she had taken this special order some weeks ago. She exclaimed over how beautifully his design had been realized.

A large and gleaming white, teardrop pearl was centered between two slightly smaller, but perfectly round black pearls. They were strung on gold links with tiny white pearls spaced every half inch along its length. It would hang just between her breasts. Auggie couldn't see it, but he had visualized it, and the reality felt the way he thought it should. He thanked Evelyn for her assistance and paid. She packaged it beautifully for him, included the card he had brought and dropped it into a distinctive Precious Pearls bag.

Half a block from Precious Pearls, Auggie heard two sets of heavy footsteps closing on him. Ice ran up his spine, and the hair on the back of his neck stood erect. A hand clamped onto his left arm. "Allow me to assist you, mien Herr." The speaker had a heavy German accent. Auggie spun and brought a knee up into his attacker's balls and his fist into his face at the same instant. The man fell back with an agonized grunt. Auggie had hoped to break the man's nose, but felt his knuckles contact an eye instead.

The attacker on his right closed a massive hand around Auggie's upper arm. Auggie thrust his cane between the spread legs behind him and jerked up hard. The resulting screech told him the man's height. He released the cane and brought his shoulder up sharply under a solid chin. Momentarily free, he was about to sprint down the familiar street, when a voice he knew said, "Dammit, you fools! I told you he was dangerous." A powerful electric shock jolted him from behind. He had just time enough to think 'taser', before darkness descended.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 20.11.2011

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