Blind Ambition - Just.Us.Friendz (free ebooks for android .txt) 📗

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."