Casey waited until be could no longer hear Malkova's car engine before opening his eyes.
Idiots.
Still laying on his side and still attached to the chair, Casey ran the rope tied around his hands up the wooden bar, in which it was looped through, as high as it could go. He then kicked at the flat surface of the chair to push it as far away from his feet as possible. Then with surprising flexibility, Casey grabbed the vertical bars of the chair from behind him, tucked his legs as high on his chest as he could, hunched forward over his knees and swung the chair upwards towards his chest. He stretched out as his legs and his body passed in between the hole his arms made.
That's the thing with bad guys. All muscle and no brains.
Casey stood up lifting the wooden chair with him. Looking around, he wasn't able to immediately find anything to cut the rope with, so instead, he made his way towards the same door Malkova had used.
As Casey approached the door, he heard voices speaking in Russian from the other side. He opened the door slowly and quietly, chair in hand, taking note of their positions. They were both standing no more than a foot away from the door, smoking cigarettes.
Casey inhaled and held it. He threw open the door, and with the wooden chair, swung it downward from over his head to the closest guy. The chair broke apart on impact on the man's head and back, with the pieces stinging Casey's arms and hands. The chair produced the desired effect of knocking the man unconscious, and without so mush as a grunt.
The other Russian realizing what was going on, was reaching into his jacket in mid-turn, about to face him. Casey, who was now free of the chair, swung his arms over the man's head, trapping him between his arms, and into a choke hold. The man struggled to get out of Casey's grip, but by then, one of Casey's arm had found the groove of the mans neck and the other arm was steadily keeping it in place. Casey held that position, applying heavy pressure, until the man ceased in his struggle.
Casey loosened his grip and let the man's body fall to the ground. He quickly wiped at his forehead before kneeling on one knee to pick up a lit cigarette that had fallen to the ground in their fight. Casey put the lit end against the rope, taking care not to set it on fire, but to singe it in numerous places. When he was satisfied, he took a deep breath and pulled his wrists apart, breaking through whatever was left of the rope.
After shucking off the remainder of the bondage, Casey pat down both men, ridding them of their weapons. He found keys on the inside pocket of one of the men along with a pack of cigarettes. He produced both and stood up. Casey dropped the pack of cigarettes on the floor by the man's head and stepped on it.
With that, Casey headed to the direction of a lone car in the lot with a smirk on his face
--------------------------------
Back at the club, Chuck sat on one of the couches attempting to over hear any mention of the auction. He was having a hard time though, because his attention was being pulled in two different directions. One were the conversations around him, and the other was the one Sarah was having with Pax. Pax had invited Sarah to escort him to the bar to talk privately, much to Chuck's chagrin. Chuck had then purposely positioned himself in an unobstructed spot to where Pax and Sarah were standing.
"You look ravishing my dear," Pax said placing his hand on her arm in a caress and eyeing her frame starting from her head to her toes. Sarah smiled, looking away but leaning in... A little too close for Chuck's comfort.
Sarah had looked over towards Chuck's direction when she leaned in and noticed that he was intently watching her and Pax. She also noted that there was a slight furrow in his brow and his mouth was slightly agape. Sarah felt a little girlish pleasure from Chuck's apparent jealousy.
"I would… very much like to discover your hidden talents," He said running his finger down her shoulder.
Chuck's furrow deepened and he made a move to stand up. Sarah saw his movement from the corner of her eye and discreetly motioned for him to stay in his place with her hand.
"As much as I would love to," Sarah cooed sweetly, "I am currently in Dimitrios' employ."
"I'll double whatever he is paying you..." Pax extravagantly motioned with his hand "And I'll give you all the jewels in the world if you..." He added breathing into her neck.
Sarah felt disgusted when he finished his proposition. And she desperately wanted to kick him in his jewels when he placed his clammy hand er neck.
Chuck; whom with great misfortune; also heard the proposition, sat emotionless. "That's... That's just wrong… I feel very violated..." He said for Sarah to hear,
Sarah wanted to laugh but contained herself as Pax seemed very serious in his proposal.
"Too much? You can't get too much of this," a voice called out from his side.
Chuck looked to the man whom the voice belonged to and made contact with the vaguely-familiar man. He was sitting no more than a few feet from Chuck and was keeping company with three women, one on each side and the third hanging over him from behind the couch.
Like vampires ready to feed.
"It's a lot more fun when you're participating... I promise, you won't mind the violation," The man joked.
"Pete," he continued, raising his voice over the loud, booming music, and holding out his hand.
"Dimitrios," Chuck half screamed in return, taking his offering. He was about to turn back to resume his observation of Sarah and Pax when Pete asked, "How do you know Pax?"
"We just met," Chuck replied.
"Well, Pax is a friendly guy… Especially with women," Pete said nodding towards the direction of the bar.
"I noticed," Chuck mumbled, looking back towards Sarah.
"Your girlfriend has the patience of a Saint it seems, I'm a polite guy… but Pax would be my breaking point," Pete said noticing Chuck's scowl.
"She's not... She's not my girlfriend..." Chuck responded, looking at Pete "She's... I'm just a job to her." Chuck added, finding it ironic that for once his real life was actually matching his cover.
Sarah, who had been listening to the exchange, got lost in her own thoughts for a brief moment after hearing Chuck's response, a frown visible on her face. But it quickly passed as she realized that Pax had just said another disgusting joke and that she still had a job to do. She looked at Pax and laughed.
"Ah... Even better!" Pete exclaimed beckoning with his fingers. Chuck, who was too busy looking at Sarah, failed to notice two women make a beeline towards him from the corner of the room. "While the cat's away..." Pete said with a nudge of his elbow.
Sarah who was in the middle of gathering more Intel about Pax's friends directly from Pax himself was distracted by noises in her ear.
"Ooohooo... Ah... Hi... Hi..." Sarah heard Chuck say.
He's cutting out...
She reflexively bent her head down in an attempt to better hear, when she heard a female voice breathily say, "Hello handsome…"
Another frown formed on her brow, surprised at the voice. Then a second voice came on, "What's your name big boy?" followed by Chuck's uncomfortable laughter.
Sarah's head snapped up towards where she had last spied Chuck. There she found him, on the couch with two leggy half- clad brunettes, one on either side, hands roving over his suit.
"Uh... Chu.. My uh... My name is chu... Dimitri….ooos!" Sarah heard Chuck respond. "And you... Are?" Chuck looked from one woman to another.
"I'm Tina," the one on the right replied. "And... I'll be who ever you want," the other whispered in Chuck's ear, with a gentle bite on his earlobe.
"Oooohaaahahaha..." Sarah heard Chuck say in a pitchy voice.
Sarah wanted to hit someone, preferably Chuck. I'm going to have to talk to him about his... Methods.
"Chuck focus!" Sarah whispered into her mic, then quickly returning her smiling attention to Pax who had been oblivious to the whole thing.
Chuck heard Sarah's voice in his ear and turned as much of his attention as he could back to Pete. "Soooo you... How do you know Pax?" He asked, still fidgeting. The women, it seemed, were unstoppable in their exploration.
"We're somewhat of business associates," Pete responded after downing a shot of vodka. "Good stuff," he said to none in particular. "What line of work are you in?" He asked Chuck, but resuming his friendliness with the women.
"In...uh... Trading and exporting... of sorts..." He replied, leaning away from the woman who insisted on being so close, only to find himself closer to the other too.
Sarah continued to watch as the women caressed his neck and started running their fingers through his curly hair. Desperately stopping the urge to inflict damage.
"Ah... That kind… So I'll definitely be seeing you at the auction then… I hope you brought your checkbook, because this will definitely be worth your while" Pete stated with a smirk
"Oh... Oh yeah?..." Chuck stuttered "Good... I was… wanting to buy something big... You know... Like a.. ah… a boat... or something..."
Pete looked at Chuck and broke out into a grin, "You're a funny guy Dimitrios."
"Ah..hahaha..." was Chuck's response, "Thanks" he continued, grateful that his cover had not been blown. "So... So.. Obviously I know they're not auctioning boats..." Chuck said with an exaggerated shrug, "What was it again? Aaaahohoho..." He asked in a voice an octave higher than his usual, while stopping the girl-with-no-name from climbing all the way up his inner thigh with her hand.
Pete leaned in and Chuck smelled the alcohol oozing from his pores, "It's something they call the Cipher" he whispered.
Chuck's heart dropped. "The Cipher.. ?"
"Yeah, ever heard of it?"
"Yeah... Some..." Chuck weakly replied, staring at nothing in particular, reeling from the shock.
Sarah, who was still listening, also froze.
"And... I..." Pete said leaning back on the couch arrogantly, "Made it happen."
Sarah's head snapped up at the same time as Chuck's. They looked at each other from across the room, both realizing the meaning behind Pete's words.
He's Fulcrum!