Scene XXXIII – Casey's Apartment
"Perhaps my instructions were unclear, Intersect?" the general asked Chuck pointedly. "The team was to remain inactive while Carina is assigned to your detail?"
"I can't control when I flash, General," Chuck answered.
"But I assume you can control when you randomly blurt out things like a moron?"
"Not as much as you'd think," Casey grumbled.
Ignoring Casey, Chuck thought about this for a moment, trying to sort through his past flashes.
When he was tied up in a warehouse with Sarah, he had flashed on the device that turned out to be transporting Bryce. However, that had been a weird flash where the information was incomplete. There really wasn't anything to blurt out. That didn't help.
There had been at least two other times, both with Bryce around, where he was able to control the outbursts. In the elevator at the CIA facility, he was able to avoid revealing he knew about Fulcrum to Tommy. Later, in that very apartment, he had not babbled what he learned about Operation Sand Wall.
More and more, he realized that he was capable of controlling the outbursts. When he had discovered the counterfeit money on Lon Kirk's boat, he had largely contained what the flash revealed. When he saw Victor Federov in a hotel bar, he had completely restrained the results of the flash to avoid outing himself and Sarah to the swarm of mob members around them.
He realized he did have the capability to control his outbursts; he just hadn't mastered how to do it yet. He said as much to the general.
"I just got off the phone with the director of the DEA," the general replied. "Carina filled him in on what you told her. He's asking some questions that are a little difficult for me to answer. What am I supposed to tell him?"
"I don't know, General. But I am sorry."
General Beckman seemed a little surprised by the outright apology. Maybe she didn't get those very often from her agents, or maybe she didn't think Chuck had it in him. Either way, the response seemed to moderate, though certainly not eliminate, her anger.
"Luckily, Carina likely has no way of knowing about the existence of the Intersect. Nobody in the DEA has any knowledge of the system; their information was incorporated without their knowledge."
Casey said, "Yeah, but Carina's a snoop. She knows a lot of things that she shouldn't."
The general frowned. "Keep an eye on her. If she gives any indication that she knows about the Intersect, we may need to take steps."
"Roger that."
Chuck shivered. He was still amazed how quickly things could turn deadly serious. All Carina was doing was paging through one of her file folders, and suddenly a general was talking about taking steps.
Beckman gave an exasperated sigh. "All right, Bartowski. Fill me in on the flash, every last detail. I need to find a way to mend fences with the DEA and somehow explain how you knew about all of this."
Chuck gathered himself, trying to push thoughts of Carina out of his mind. He stared to the side of the monitor for a long moment until his thoughts were organized, then looked back to the general.
"The flash was caused by a photograph of Jaime Veron. In Los Angeles, he's known under the alias Jamie Greenwood, nicknamed Jamie Limelight because of his love of being in the spotlight. If there's an A-list party or event, he likes to be there."
"The DEA has conducted four operations to try to catch Veron smuggling drugs from South America into Los Angeles, although Carina is only aware of three of them. All four operations came up completely empty. His elusiveness led to him becoming a permanent fixture on the DEA's Most Wanted list."
"After the fourth failed operation, Drew Jennings, the U.S. Representative from the California 46th District, publically apologized to Veron. The Port of Los Angeles lies in Jenning's district, and he has helped Veron in his efforts to become a more highly regarded shipping magnate. From what we can tell Veron still doesn't import all that much in the way of legitimate goods; it's just a weak front.
"Since then, Jennings has used his position on the U.S. House Permanent Committee on Intelligence to squash three subsequent requests by the DEA to investigate Veron, including one where the DEA spent nearly three months getting a mole close enough to Veron to gather significant evidence of his dealings. The mole was subsequently executed by Veron and his men."
Casey mused, "Odd that a U.S. Representative to take that kind of interest in a single businessman."
The general replied, "Not necessarily. Politicians don't like the implication that drugs pass into their district, especially through a large port like Los Angeles."
Chuck said, "Well, Jennings hasn't forgotten about Veron. The two have been spotted having lunch or dinner meetings on three separate occasions, and Jennings arranged for Veron to give a speech when the Los Angeles Harbor opened a new set of docks designed to speed the off-loading of cargo."
"While Veron's social calendar may be interesting, that really doesn't seem to matter here. What about the drugs?"
"The DEA was close to getting to Veron because he had a huge amount of cash flow that he had no way to explain. However, his operations were airtight enough that they could never catch him in the act, and the money trail dried up about four months ago. Either business got real bad in a hurry, or he found a way to launder it that the DEA couldn't detect.
"Also, the DEA captured two of Veron's men, about three months apart from each other. Both were willing to strike deals to verify the drug operations in exchange for certain considerations. Before the deals were finalized, both were assassinated in their jail cells at secure facilities."
The general said, "I can see why the DEA wants this guy so badly: he's given them a series of black eyes." She paused to think for a moment. "Let me get an analyst or two on this and see if there's a way to throw a bone to the DEA. We'll meet again in one hour. Go ahead and bring Carina in for the next briefing." She signed off.
Chuck felt slightly nauseous. He had managed to trigger a messy situation by his simple inability to control the verbal outburst at the end of his flash. If Carina happened to know about the Intersect... He collapsed on the couch, staring blankly into space.
Casey opened the door to the apartment; Carina was sitting on the edge of the fountain. Her posture and movements conveyed her irritation as she walked over to stare Casey dead in the eye from close range. "Let me guess; the file was lost in the last twenty minutes," she said.
"Actually, no. We're getting analysts to do a bit more research; we're to be briefed in an hour."
Carina looked a little surprised at that, but that didn't prevent her irritation from returning. "Good," she said indignantly. She pushed past Casey into the apartment; Casey shut the door.
Noticing Chuck's vacant expression and defeated demeanor, she asked Casey, "What's with him?"
"He just got chewed out by General Beckman for revealing what he knew about Veron. He'll be fine."
Casey turned and headed for the kitchen, so he missed it when Carina's expression softened a bit as she regarded Chuck.
Scene XXXIV – Merida, Hacienda, Room 12
Sarah examined the map of the estancia where the COPEI fundraiser would be held from the comfort of the wicker chair. The sprawling, two-story main building was located high on a hillside above Ejido, less than ten miles away from their current location.
"What do you think?" Bryce asked, reclined against a stack of pillows piled against the headboard of the bed.
"I hope we won't need to leave in a hurry," she replied. "We'd be in real trouble."
Bryce nodded his agreement as he stood up and crossed the room.
The tricky thing about the location is that there wouldn't be a good escape route, should one become necessary. The house was accessed from the main road using what appeared to be a long, winding driveway, at least two miles long.
There was also a narrow road leading up to the cell phone tower perched on top of the hill, but that was pretty much a dead end because of the thick forest behind it. Still, if they turned west at the tower, they could wind their way back to the main road - if they could find a way to safely navigate the woods.
Bryce placed his left hand on the back of her chair as he leaned over the map. "I'm guessing that they'll valet park the cars here, he said, pointing to a small side road forking out from the driveway a couple hundred yards from the house. "That means we won't have easy access to the car, so any escape likely means a nice little three-mile run back to the main road. The nearest cover is the trees here and here," he added as he pointed out two different locations on the map.
"Well, let's just make sure that isn't necessary." Sarah said drily. "I'm not a big fan of sprinting through trees at night."
Bryce smiled. "What, like in Panama?" Early last year, the two had been conducting surveillance on a rebel encampment in the jungle. Trying to get a little closer, the pair had startled a small flock of birds, which attracted the attention of the sentries. The alarm was quickly raised, and the pair had no choice but to flee through the dark forest at top speed – on foot.
It had taken four exhausting hours to elude their pursuit. They were nearly captured several times, lucky to escape with only the cuts and bruises from taking countless branches to their faces as they fled.
She grinned, "Exactly like Panama. I really don't need another night like that."
"That was a tight one, that's for sure." He chuckled fondly at the memory.
Sarah began to scrutinize two other pages, each depicting the interior design of a floor of the building. She scribbled notes in pencil as she tried to determine the function of each room.
While what she moved onto was important, her ulterior motive was that she really didn't want to reminisce right now. Reminiscing took her out of the safety of planning for the mission and led her back into wondering which assignment she wanted to choose. With the upcoming mission that night, she wanted that as far from her mind as possible.
Hell, she wanted it as far as possible for other reasons, too. She was still shaken by just how much Chuck was affecting her without her realizing it.
"So, have we found out who owns the site?" she asked.
"Ramon Martinez, a prominent COPEI booster. We don't really know much about the guy, other than he donates a lot of money to COPEI. Could just be a party member that's hosting the party."
"Any pictures?"
"You forget; we're deep under cover down here, so it's not quite as simple as phoning an analyst. I had to bribe a guy at the city planning department more than he makes in a year to get my hands on these blueprints and the name of the home owner. We'll have to search out Martinez at the party."
Bryce leaned in the slightest bit closer for no apparent reason; Sarah suddenly found herself hypersensitive to his every movement. She was probably being paranoid, but the last thing she needed right now was Bryce trying anything.
Wow, she thought. You are all over the place.
She suddenly needed a little distance between them.
Handing the blueprints to Bryce, she got up and walked over to the dresser. Bryce followed her with slightly disappointed eyes.
She popped a grape from a basket of fruit into her mouth and poured herself a glass of water from a clear pitcher. "Have you been able to make any guesses as to which of the rooms might be an office or a study? A place where Moreno and Varela are likely to meet?" she asked, taking her eyes of the glass for the briefest of moments.
Forced to focus, Bryce regarded the maps of the building. "I really don't think they would do it on the first floor. Too much of a chance of somebody seeing the people go into the same room."
Finishing a sip of water, Sarah said, "I agree. If they meet upstairs, there are three different stairwells they could take: the two on either side of the foyer, and the servants' staircase in the kitchen. Heck, Moreno and the mystery guest could both be smuggled up that back staircase."
Bryce stood up, pacing as he thought. "That could make things tough, especially if they close off access to the upstairs."
"Well, we'll just have to figure it out, won't we?"
"We always do," he said with a familiar smile.
Damnit. Even the simplest little comment led to an opening for him.
She really wanted to tell him to stop, but she didn't know how to do it without having it lead to a larger conversation, one with the questions that she wasn't ready to answer. If she did that, the likely result was that they both would be off their game that night.
No, she needed to find a way to push through it without having an emotional confrontation.
She desperately searched for a safe topic. Cover story? No, that was too easy to turn flirtatious. Equipment list?
That might be safe.
"Let's go over our equipment list for tonight. What kind of firepower do we have?"
With a smug grin, Bryce walked over to a large black duffel bag in the corner. "Well, with a little bit of searching, I managed to secure this for you." He came back and offered her a Sig Sauer 228 pistol.
Damn the man. He had gone and found her favorite gun, probably because he saw her look distastefully at his spare Glock 22 that she had borrowed that morning.
She couldn't help but test the balance in her hand and sight the gun along the barrel; it was a beautiful piece.
Sarah sighed as she let the hand holding the gun to drop to her side. Apparently no topic was going to be safe. Bryce was working every angle.
Scene XXXV – Casey's Apartment
"Before we start, General, I'd like to say one thing," Carina said.
Casey groaned. This hadn't been one of his better days.
"Go ahead," General Beckman allowed.
"I think it's bul… bogus … that this intel has been withheld from the NSA. This is no small-time smuggler; this is Jaime Veron, one of the top drug smugglers in the country. The fact that the NSA has…"
The general interrupted, "Agent Carina, let me ask you something. Do you think a general has better things to do with her time than to be chewed out by an agent?"
Carina's stance straightened. "Yes, ma'am."
"Yet here you are, doing it anyway. Your director already told me exactly what the two of you think; I have neither the time nor the inclination to listen to it all over again."
"Yes, ma'am."
The general forced herself to calm down. "However, today is your lucky day. Our analysts have discovered that Veron will be attending a function tonight, and we have arranged for the three of you to attend as well."
Carina immediately brightened.
Casey immediately protested. "What?! But General…"
"Casey, this opportunity is too important to pass up. It turns out Veron will be attending a party held by Drew Jennings at his estate in Huntington Beach."
Carina looked confused until she looked at Chuck and Casey, whose faces showed that they understood. "So, you think there's more to Jennings and Veron than just the apology at the port?"
"We're not entirely certain," the general said, "but I'm sure you understand that it's important that we find out if there is a larger connection."
The agents silently nodded their agreement.
General Beckman continued, "Ground rules for tonight, Agent Carina. And to save time, I'll tell you now that they are non-negotiable should you wish to remain involved."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Number one: Casey is the mission leader. You obey what he says, when he says it. If he says abort, you will abort. If he says cluck like a chicken, you will cluck like a chicken. Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Number two: this is a surveillance mission. I don't need to tell you that Jennings is powerfully connected, so should you disobey any of Casey's orders or embarrass this agency in any way tonight, you'll be looking for drugs in the bags of migrant workers on the Mexican border in the morning. Clear enough?"
"Crystal clear, General."
"We've gotten three names added to the guest list: Chuck and Carina Carmichael, a married couple, along with Chuck's older brother Casey."
"That's a whole lot of C's in the names," Chuck observed.
The general didn't seem to care. "Tonight is about surveillance, and only surveillance. Let's do this right."
"Not much chance of that," Casey muttered just before the general signed off.
Carina whooped, "We're going to get that S.O.B." She looped her arm around Chuck's. "I feel like celebrating. Want to consummate our marriage?"
"Carina!" Casey said warningly.
She let go of Chuck's arm in a hurry. "Just joking. Sheesh."
Chuck, for one, was pretty sure she wasn't joking.
Casey said, "We've got a lot of planning to do. But one thing before we do."
"What's that?" Chuck asked.
"Carina: cluck like a chicken."
Chuck gaped at Casey.
"Oh, you are so going to pay for this," Carina said bitterly, folding her arms across her chest.
"One time: cluck like a chicken."
Her eyes aflame with anger, she unlocked her jaw just enough to emit, "Bwawk. Bwawk."
Casey grinned. "Looks like my day is finally looking up."
