When Lee closed the door to Charlie's room, he stared her down. "What the hell was that? You don't want to be on his bad side."
"That's easy for you to say, you came here on your own free will, not me. He's using me to get the list and if you don't see the urgency in the situation, then something is wrong. I refuse to be a pawn in the death of CIA agents and their families!"
"My team is working on that, in the interim you sit tight and play nice."
She looked at him. "Play nice? I'm done playing games. I'm tired of his sick way of having me talk about my father, a man I never knew and will never know because he got killed in combat years back. At first, I thought it was one of his tactics to break me, but the more I think about it, the more I feel it is an obsession and I don't know why."
"Are you done?" asked Lee. He knew that the camera was recording, and it simply looked as if she was mad at him and telling him off, which considering what she felt for O'Connor was not such a surprise.
"No. I'm not done, because amidst of all of this, I have to refrain myself from looking at you, wanting to touch you and needing your touch on me. I don't think you have any idea at how hard that is."
"I have a pretty good idea, trust me."
She sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. She laid down and turned her back to him. Initially, he thought that she was really upset and ignoring him, until her soft voice reached him.
"I'm sorry. I feel so helpless, I wish I could do more."
She had turned her back so that she could talk to him without it being visible to the camera.
"What you are saying is that if we hand over this chip to Church, we're risking the lives of decent CIA agents who are trying to get rid of all the atrocities in this world?" asked Gunnar.
Barney nodded as they sat around the table. "Yep. Which means that everything is resting on Lee getting Charlie off that plane."
"What if we replace the chip with a similar one and put in fake names?"
"If it were anybody else but Church, it could be an option, but not only will he want to try the chip we hand over, but I have the impression he has a way of verifying the veracity of the intel on that chip."
"What if Lee can't get Charlie off the plane?" asked Cesar.
Barney looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know Cesar. I guess the shit will hit the fan. Losing Charlie is not an option."
The phone in Charlie's quarters rang and Lee answered it. It was early evening and they had spent the entire day cooped up in the room. They had talked a bit but mid-afternoon, Charlie had fallen asleep.
"Yes, sir."
He hung up the phone as Charlie turned and looked at him.
"Church is requesting your presence in his quarters."
"His quarters?"
Lee nodded but said nothing, but it didn't mean he didn't think anything of it.
As Charlie stood, Lee had a look at the screen of the map. They were flying over Mexico and heading South, it was obvious that Church was heading down to South America, and it was no surprise. Most of the criminals that would be interested in the list would be in South America, then the Middle East, Russia, and Asia.
Charlie walked as Lee followed her. She swallowed as they reached the door. "I don't like this one bit," she said whispering.
Lee said nothing and she knew he couldn't.
She knocked on the door and Church opened it and let her in. "Thank you, Mr. O'Connor. You can retire for the rest of the day. You won't be needed."
Lee's heartbeat accelerated, there was no way he wanted to leave Charlie in there with him for the rest of the day and night. He knew he could trust her, but he didn't trust Church.
Church closed the door and turned to look at Charlie. "I haven't been a good host and I need to make up for lost time. I have asked that we not be interrupted on any pretense."
"You're an extremely busy man, I wouldn't want to remove you from business obligations. Please don't feel obligated to do so on my account. I can spend the rest of the evening in my quarters."
He walked to her as she stood in the middle of the room. She had tried to find a neutral position in the room, but it wasn't that big and aside from an armchair and the bed there was nothing else.
"I'm faced with a dilemma Charlie, and I don't know what to do about it."
"When it comes to business decisions, I'm not sure I can be of any help."
"Do you think that business and pleasure should remain separate?" he asked as he circled and placed himself behind her. "Do you think it is possible for a man who is attracted to a woman to draw the line?" His left hand placed itself on her shoulder and he then let his fingers trail down her upper arm, making her extremely uncomfortable.
"I think that the two should never be mixed, because if they do, things get clouded, and you make bad decisions."
His fingers stopped as they reached her elbow and then drifted back up. She felt somewhat relieved. What she had said was making him change his mind. When his fingers reached her shoulder, they regrouped, and he led them inside toward her neck and then down her chest.
She lifted her hand and grabbed his finger as it reached one of her buttons.
She felt the nuzzle of a gun in her back. "Unfortunately, you're not calling the shots around here, Charlie. This isn't one of your missions. I've got the upper hand," said Church as his left fingers took the button in between them and unhooked it from the shirt loop, then proceed to the next button.
She closed her eyes and tried to send herself somewhere else, anywhere else but there, with his hands on her.
"Get your hand off me."
"You had a vastly different attitude last night with Mr. O'Connor... and yet it appears as though he's not your type."
Her eyes flung open. He knew!
He felt her tense up and he knew it wasn't from the fact that he was unbuttoning another button.
"You really think that I don't have a camera in my quarters? For a CIA agent, I have to say that you disappoint me."
He then tilted his head to the side. "Or maybe you knew there was one, and you wanted me to know."
He separated the shirt and let his hand slide underneath and inside of it. "I have to admit it was quite exciting to watch. Now, it's my turn to show you something I find quite exciting!"
He pushed her toward a screen. "Turn it on!"
On the screen popped up a picture of Lee with another man. "Mr. O'Connor is not Mr. O'Connor. His name is Lee Christmas. He's part of group of mercenaries called The Expendables."
"A name is just a name. Yours isn't even Church. Why would this change anything?"
"You see the man with him? Take a good look at him. Allow me to present to you Barney Ross, the man in charge of the Expendables. Your father, Charlie."
Charlie blinked as she looked at the screen. "You're lying! My father was killed in action before I was even born."
"Swipe right," simply said Church.
When she did, Charlie suddenly felt a pain in her gut. There were multiple documents and pictures on the screen. Barney's file with The Expendables, his file in the army, indicating that he had finished his military service, and an old picture of Barney and her mother.
"The truth hurts don't it, Charlie."
The door opened, and two of Church's men escorted Lee inside, at gun point. The first thing Lee saw was Church's hand underneath her shirt, and he took a heated step in their direction.
Church instantly removed his hand from underneath Charlie's shirt and placed it around her neck as he placed the gun against the side of her head.
"I'd think twice about trying anything, Mr. Christmas. I think you don't want me to kill Charlie, at least not just yet."
Charlie heard nothing of what Church was saying. Her eyes were glued to the screen.
"And here you thought you could trust Mr. Christmas, but he lied to you. He kept valuable information from you."
Lee turned his head and noticed the screen.
"Charlie...", he said, seeing her eyes still paralyzed on the screen, trying to get her attention. "Charlie, please look at me. It's not what you think."
Slowly she removed her eyes from the screen and turned her head slightly in his direction. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because unlike Church, it's not for me to tell you that your father is alive. Your father sent me to make sure you remain safe, because he never knew about your existence."
Charlie's eyes welled up as she shook her head. "I don't believe you."
"Charlie, you've got to believe me when I tell you that Barney didn't know, and that he found out just a couple days ago. I was there when he did."
"You lied to me. How do I know you're not lying now?"
"Because I'm not asking for anything in return. If you think back to me getting on board, you know what I'm talking about."
"That will be all gentlemen, you can very nicely and quickly dispose of Mr. Christmas."
The men took Lee out of the room against his will, but he needed to be careful, one bullet through the fuselage and it was catastrophic.
Once the door closed, Church let go of Charlie and took a step back to look at her, his gun still aimed in her direction. She was CIA and trained and he wasn't stupid.
"It's awful when people you trust let you down. Hence why you should never mix business and pleasure."
"Because you think I trust you? I know men like you Church, and the people that trust you usually end up dead. Excuse me but I'll pass. If my father is indeed still alive, I intend on doing the same, and having a chance at getting to know him."
Church sneered and Charlie noticed.
"This is personal amongst other things. Let me guess you've found yourself on my father's path a couple of times and he almost got rid of you. Nice payback to kidnap his daughter, and blackmail him into doing your dirty work. I was right, you are a coward."
Before he could answer her, there was a commotion coming from the hallway. He grabbed again Charlie and headed toward the door his gun pointed in her back.
"You try anything, I promise that I won't hesitate to shoot you. I'll still get what I want because your father won't know I killed you."
He opened the door and pushed Charlie into the corridor. The two men that had been charged with taking care of Lee, lay lifeless on the floor. Charlie smiled content with what she was seeing. As they continued their walk down the corridor, Church kept his eyes on Charlie all the while trying to see where Christmas had gone off to. If he had known who he was, he would never have let him on the plane.
When he least expected it, Lee grabbed the gun out of his hand, with ease, and turned it on him. He took Charlie's hand and led her behind him, out of harm's way, as they backed up.
"You'll never make it off this plane alive," said Church as more of his men joined him.
Lee gave Church a condescending smile. "You see Church, that is the problem with men like you. You think you have the upper hand, but you underestimate your opponents. I guess that's why you hide in the air where they can't reach you. Your men gave me a way out of here."
"There is no way out of this plane," said Church as one of his men handed him a gun and he pointed it in Lee and Charlie's direction.
"The thing you don't know Church, is that your tech guys talked to me about a little thing called a video loop. They knew I wanted to have some alone time with Charlie and so they looped all the cameras on this plane. Which means that when I left your quarters this morning, I had a nice time touring discreetly this plane without being seen."
Church armed the gun his men had given him.
"If you miss your shot Church, everyone goes down with the plane. Are you willing to take the risk?"
"I'm going to kill you Christmas, and all the others."
Knowing full well that Church could take the shot but wouldn't risk his own life for it, Lee opened a panel in the wall as he smiled. Charlie looked inside and stared at it in disbelief.
Lee kept walking backward shielding Charlie as he led her inside.
"I guess this is our stop!" said Lee as he too entered, closed, and locked the panel door from the inside.
Charlie looked around.
"Strap in," said Lee.
Charlie sat down in one of the seats and strapped herself in, just as Lee did the same. When they were both settled in, Lee pushed on the release button. The escape pod was ejected from underneath the plane. The freefall lasted for approximately 30 seconds before three parachutes deployed above the pod, slowing down the descent.
Even though they were off the plane, Charlie was worried about where the pod was going to land. She hadn't seen out the window, she only hoped that Lee had, then again, they hadn't really had a choice.
A few minutes later, the pod settled down with in a heavy thud and tipped over. Charlie's head hit one of the bolts on the side of the pod and started to bleed.
Lee unbuckled and stood over her. "Are you OK?"
Charlie touched the side of her head and seeing the blood applied pressure. "Yeah, I'm good."
He unbuckled her and helped her stand up. He opened the door of the escape pod and looked outside. They had landed in what seemed like a tropical forest.
"We're not in Kansas anymore," he said as he looked back at her.
He jumped out then turned and helped her out in turn.
It was hot, humid, and muggy. "Where are we?" she asked.
"Last time I checked the screen we were flying over Mexico, we didn't change course, so I don't think that's changed."
When he turned to look at her, she slapped him across the face.
"What the hell was that for?"
She pushed him fiercely with both hands on his chest. "You lied to me!"
"That's not true. I didn't lie to you. I withheld information because it wasn't the time or place for you to process the fact that your father is still alive."
"Same difference. You should have told me, I deserved that much after we slept together. I thought you were different."
She started to walk away.
"Where are you going?"
"Trying to find civilization and somewhere I can reach out to the CIA."
He looked at his watch, then went after her. He placed himself in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders, making her stop.
"You're right, I owed you the truth, but I was there when Barney found out the truth about you. I saw the look in his eyes. He suddenly realized that what he had always longed for and never had, had always been. I saw a man torn by secrets and guilt. If anyone had a right to tell you the truth, it was him."
"Guilt? But why? You said he didn't know I existed. Or was that also a lie?"
"It's not a lie and if you don't believe me, you can ask Drummer. As for the guilt, from what I know, when he returned from deployment your mother had disappeared, he thought that she had been transferred to another base and since she hadn't left any letter for him, he let it go. But I know him, and I know that he feels guilty that he never reached out to her. If he had, maybe things would have been different, for all of you."
Charlie inhaled and looked around, trying to cut off the eye contact with Lee. "Ok. Let's just get the hell out of here before we get eaten alive by mosquitoes and whatever else roams this place."
She bypassed him and started walking.