CarinaChuck1
2247 02/09
All warfare is based on deception.
Art of War - Sun Tzu
CIA Residential Hotel
Burbank, CA
Chuck turned away from the closed hotel room door and walked down the corridor toward the elevator, thrusting the long-stemmed rose viciously into the trash receptacle followed by a bottle of champagne. 'So much for the Montgomery,' he thought, 'I'm such a damned idiot. They're probably laughing their collective asses off right now'.
He pushed the down button on the elevator and the doors opened and he walked smack into…Carina Hansen!
"Chuckles! My, my, imagine seeing you here! I take it you and Sarah …"
"She's 'entertaining' her old partner, Bryce Larkin. I imagine you'd be a welcome addition. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go soak my head in bleach to purge the memory of…"
She had the decency to blush, whether from the images cascading through her mind of the three spies in the sack together or she was embarrassed…he laughed to himself, 'Carina, embarrassed? No way…'
She suddenly looked down at the elevator floor and sighed. 'Another decent guy who thinks I sleep with anything and everyone.'
"So, I guess she won't be wanting to have a 'girls' night out'. I don't suppose I could convince you to go clubbing with me? I'm really not comfortable going out stag dressed like this." She turned her blue eyes on him and was surprised at his expression. Maybe not surprised, but pleased. She saw a kindred spirit, at least for the night.
"You look incredible, Carina. You'll be beating the best looking guys off with a stick. I can vouch for a couple of clubs around here that aren't meat markets. I think you'll have better luck hooking up with Brad Pitt if I wasn't hanging around."
"What you mean is that you feel uncomfortable around the 'DEA Ho', right? It's OK, Chuck. I get it." Chuck felt like crap. He hadn't meant that at all. OK, OK, she had a rep but it wasn't his place to judge. Certainly not after the Montgomery crashed and burned.
"No, Carina, it was a shitty thing to say. I'm sorry I'm just…I just…I don't know anything anymore. Nothing makes sense anymore. Certainly not Sarah Walker."
"I'm sorry Walker's jerking you around but she has a job to do. She can't have anything other than a handler/asset relationship or she'd be reassigned or worse, fired. She lives for the job, Chuck, and believe me when I say she'll be easier to deal with after she's spent some quality time with Bryce. It's lonely doing what she does. Don't begrudge her a little relaxation and fun, Chuck."
Chuck pushed down his feelings for Sarah Walker and examined the issue realistically for perhaps the first time. He didn't like what he saw.
"She's the 'cover girlfriend' and it's OK for her to be with Bryce but God forbid I have something outside the damned cover. That would make it look like I was cheating on my 'girlfriend' as far as the general public was concerned. That's not who I am, Carina. And it wouldn't work for the 'cover'. I'd be cheating on a cover girlfriend who right now is 'cheating' on her cover boyfriend."
"I never looked at it from your point of view, Chuck. That really does seem hypocritical. And I know you're no hypocrite, even if it is all just a cover. I knew from the diamond op that you were a decent guy caught up in something you didn't understand and couldn't escape from."
"I shouldn't be talking about this. I'm going to hear about it tomorrow, I'm sure. Just…aw, Hell, I'm whining again. Look, just knock on the door and the three of you can go party. I'm heading home."
He walked into the elevator and pressed the lobby button. "Carina, this is your floor. I'm heading home."
"No, you're not. You're going with me and we're going to have fun and drink and dance and no funny stuff, I promise, Chuck. I'd like to just pretend I have a normal date with a normal guy for just a while. Humor me?"
"Me? Normal? Not used to being seen as 'normal', Carina. Well, OK. But no handcuffs. No funny business. I mean it. Just a 'first date'."
"Deal. Now, let's get you properly attired. How far is it to your apartment?"
"Um, about 10 minutes. I live with my sister and her fiancé. They're both doctors. Residents, actually."
"No problem. Let's go. The night is young and so are we."
Casa Bartowski
Carina scoped out Chuck's available wardrobe and made a few quick selections and then she looked at his hair. Nice – if you liked immature dreadlocks.
She walked into the common bathroom and perused the medicine cabinet and found what she was looking for and went back to her project still sitting on his bed, in shock.
"OK, sweetie, I don't know who this belongs to but just replace it tomorrow. Now, let's give you a haircut." She giggled at the look on his face but she just forced him to sit back down and went to work with the scissors and trimmer on his electric razor. She'd done this before, in worse places and to men she despised. This time it was almost a labor of love.
"Now, go in and take a quick shower and shave and get dressed. I'll finish your curly locks when you're done." She smiled at her work. She'd transformed a geek, OK nerd, into quite the handsome man. He'd been cute before, now he looked older and…edible. She sighed and grimaced. She'd keep her promise this time.
The first thing he noticed was that Carina drove her rented Chevy Malibu like an old woman, not exactly the way he'd seen other operatives drive. She didn't seem to have the same skill set that Sarah and Casey had.
"Carina, you do know that the speed limit is 70 on the expressway, don't you?"
"Chuck, this is a rental in my name. If it were a government pool car we'd be there already. I told you, I'm on vacation pending my next assignment. So, please, don't nag, sweetie. I can drive as well as Walker or Casey when the need arises but there's no need right now, is there?"
"Nope. Sorry. Your explanation makes a lot of sense. Thanks for not slinging me some story. I appreciate your honesty."
"I'll make you a deal, Chuck. You don't lie to me and I won't lie to you. If we stumble into 'secret territory' tell me and I'll back off. Same deal with me, OK?"
"Works for me." This wasn't the Carina Hansen he'd met in Malibu when they swiped the diamond thingy. This woman was relaxed and had apparently put the estrogen levels on 'normal'. He liked her and she was a refreshing change from Agent Walker.
The club was fairly busy and they found a place at the bar and ordered drinks. Chuck ordered a beer and he was surprised when Carina ordered just a Coke.
"You take 'no drinking and driving' seriously, Carina. I expected you to order something more in keeping with your image. Something like a 'Screaming Orgasm' or a 'Sloe Comfortable Screw'." He grinned to show he was kidding her.
"I'd like either one of those for real but I promised you no funny business. And yeah, I don't drink and drive. Personal history. Sometime I'll tell you about it but not now. C'mon, Chuck. Dance with me. It's been a long time since someone danced with me and didn't try to cop a feel or grab my ass. I really don't know how to act around you."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Just be yourself, Carina. No need to put on airs. It's just the two of us and I don't have a secret agenda."
Carina enjoyed being held by Chuck as they danced. He made her feel like fine china or something fragile and precious. She reached up and put her arms around his neck and snuggled her face against his neck feeling safe and enjoying both his scent and his presence. Her 5'9" was a perfect fit for his 6'2".
They sat out the fast dances as Chuck had been blunt telling Carina his dancing was more like a gerbil on speed than something she'd recognize and he felt very self-conscious about it. She laughed and said that if she wanted to get wild she'd find another girl whose guy wasn't into fast dancing and have at it and not to worry. She'd rather dance touching him any day.
It was a little past midnight when things took a turn for the worse. Chuck noticed a man come in, look around and spot Carina and then leave. Chuck flashed on him. Hector de Guzman was a fairly important middleman for the Mexican drug cartels in the U.S. A minute later he came back – with friends. Big friends.
Chuck leaned down and had to shout in Carina's ear to overcome the din in the club. "Don't look, Carina, but Hector de Guzman and some friends just walked in and are standing by the entrance eyeballing you. Are you in trouble? Do we need to leave by the back way?"
He saw fear in her face and without a second thought he punched the panic button on his watch and grabbed Carina by the hand and dragged her through the crowd of dancers toward the rear service bar and the back door.
Chuck had set up the club's network ordering and inventory control systems and knew the layout of the club very well. They were out of the club and in an alley in less than 30 seconds while he knew it would take her enemies several minutes to find the rear entrance after wading through the crowd of revelers.
"Chuck, run down the alley to the parking lot and wait for your handlers. I'll be fine. Honest. Just go, Chuck!" She knew he was special without knowing why but figured since he had two top-notch agents as handlers he was very special. She was fumbling opening her purse for her pistol but she was shaking too badly to get it open.
"Carina, take my cell phone and hit speed dial #1 and explain to the person that answers what's going on. Give me your purse, Carina. I need your pistol and then I need you to run to the parking lot and flag down my handlers. Knowing those two assholes, they'd throw me in the van and leave you if they saw me first. So not going to happen."
"Chuck, no! Absolutely not. I'm the professional here and…"
He grabbed her purse and found her Beretta Star Minx and then shoved the purse back in her hands and pushed her toward the parking lot. He had a look on his face that frightened her into following his instructions.
Chuck hid behind one of the dumpsters at the end of the alley and checked that the safety was off and a round in the chamber just like Casey had tried to teach him. He had learned quickly but didn't want the big man to know just how much he'd retained. He'd learned a hard lesson: never let the enemy know your plans or intentions. Casey was the enemy, and despite his feelings for her, so was Sarah Walker.
The four men burst from the emergency door into the alley and it took a few moments for them to orient themselves, seconds that Chuck used to full advantage.
He remembered his lessons well.
Bartowski, first you select your target and then establish a sight picture. Chuck picked the one nearest the door. He didn't want any one of them getting away and maybe doubling back and nailing Hansen before his handlers got there.
Take a deep breath and hold it. Maintain your sight picture. Slowly release the breath you're holding and then hold it and begin drawing back on the trigger. The shot should come as a surprise if you're done it right and don't jerk on the trigger, Moron. The report from the muzzle of the small-bore pistol was loud and it came as a surprise. The projectile exited the barrel and buried itself in the head of the first target.
Once the target is down, numb nuts, move on to the next one and repeat as often as needed or, in your case, until you've pissed your pants and let out some girly screech because of the noise and Walker has to save your ass again. The second drug runner fell as did the third, all headshots.
'These aren't people. They don't have families, hopes and dreams. They don't feel a thing. It's a video game. They're just pixels on a monitor. They're not real, they're not people.' He told himself that over and over until he almost believed it.
The leader turned, shock and surprise on his face, and brought his own piece up into firing position. Chuck knew it was a druggie's choice, either a Tec-9 or a MAC-10. Either way, an automatic weapon versus a small caliber pistol with 3 cartridges remaining changed the possible outcomes of the engagement. Even as he repeated Casey's mantra and lined up his shot, his mind was busy screaming at him that he better shoot fast and be on target or he was dead meat. Where the hell are my handlers?
Notes: I'm bored. He's fishing. Totally unauthorized posting. Too bad. What's his is now mine.
APR's WIFE!