Chuck Versus Agent Insanity
Chapter VI
Let's Watch A Movie - Part I
Carina was an excellent cook. That much he knew about her now.
After eating a light snack she asked him what he felt like doing tonight.
'I don't know, I have no plans, to tell you frankly,' he frowned, thinking about what was obviously missing from this entire picture. Sarah. She still wasn't answering. At least he saw her with Beckman.
Carina suggested that they watch a movie and he didn't mind.
'What kind of movies would you like to watch, Agent Carmichael?' she smiled.
Chuck was still thinking about this new Carina. What kind of game was she playing?
'Why don't you pick something?' he replied, 'You are the mysterious one. Maybe that's how I'd learn something about you. Like what kind of movies you like. It tells you a lot about somebody ' He smiled back.
'No, No, Chuck, I'm not good at movies. Never had the time to watch many. You pick.', Carina insisted. Her eyes were half-closed now. She was staring at him.
He realized that she wanted him to play along so he suggested a few names. Science fiction.
Good, she wrote the titles on a piece of paper, all 5 movies, and then asked one of the agents to go and buy these from the nearest DVD store.
Chuck had proposed 3 movies. She added the other two. Two James Bond movies, with Roger Moore. He was her favorite Bond. She found the humor in Moore's movies most entertaining.
Once the agent had brought those, she would replace one of the Bond movies with a special one.
It was a film about the New York mafia. While it was just a movie, not a documentary, it was following historical events pretty strictly. One of those who started with a caption, informing the audience that it was based on actual events. One of the characters there, Vincenzo Mazone was who she hoped Chuck would flash on. That was the man who was behind the murder of her family.
Her problem was that Vincenzo had cut his own deal with the government and was hiding somewhere. Same witness protection she had been with. Some irony.
She could find him in other ways of course. She still knew people within the witness protection system. She could seduce whoever had to be seduced, hack their system and get Vincenzo's location.
But that way she would leave traces. Once she snatches Vincenzo, the FBI would figure out who was after him because of her enquiries. It was next to impossible to do it without leaving traces. She didn't want to take that chance so early in the game. She was crazy, but not that crazy.
She might choose to kill the witness protection officer right before she gets Vincenzo, and thus cover her tracks but she couldn't do that.
It was witness protection people who did their best to protect her. After her parents and sister were killed, those people were her family. They took good care of her. They supported the idea that she be hired by the government. Carina would never hurt any of them, not in a million years.
If she had to leave traces while locating Vincenzo through the system, she would.
But first she should try to get to him via Chuck. It would be the perfect solution and she had worked so hard on this operation.
She had been praying a lot these days that her man was in Chuck's database.
As usual, her plan was very thorough.
First, they needed to watch another movie. She would tape the sounds in the living room. So would Casey's microphones.
Then, on another night it would be her turn to pick a movie. And they would be watching the mafia movie this time. By the time they start doing that she would hook Casey's audio monitoring system to the tape from the previous day. So Casey of whoever is listening, wouldn't hear Chuck flash. They wouldn't know what info she was after.
She would get Casey drunk before that, add a substance to his drink that will knock Casey's brain so badly, that he wouldn't remember what has happened. Even if he later noticed that there are two identical audio tapes for two different nights, she still had several options how to deal with that. Could be a computer glitch. The content of the second day with the flashes would remain unknown anyway. And who would waste time reviewing 2 hours of some movie audio, with people eating popcorn in the background.
Carina smiled again. That's why she was stretching naked in her room. So Casey could watch her. She could always get to him using her sex magic. In case there were glitches in her almost perfect plan.
The NSA agent was now back with the movies.
"Thank you Marvin'.
She looked at the two DVDs she had chosen. She took the one with Roger Moore on the cover in her hands. The Man With The Golden Gun. It was her favorite Bond movie.
"Sorry Roger, you're my favorite, but we won't be watching you any time soon. It's strictly businessched."
She got up, all the DVDs in her hands and went to the kitchen. When she reached a spot where she knew she couldn't be seen by Casey's cameras she opened the case of a Bond movie and damaged the disk with a laser flashlight. She had already experimented and knew the method was effective. Then she replaced the other Bond movie with the mafia one and returned them to the living room.
There was a serious reason why she didn't order the mafia movie through the agents. Once Vincenzo was snatched and they start investigation, somehow the info that she ordered this mafia movie for her and Chuck may end up in the wrong ears of the investigators. If the investigation reaches her, they may talk to the NSA guard and then they could see what movie she had ordered. Another base covered well.
Only Chuck would know that they watched the mafia movie but she already knew how to deal with that later.
Tonight they would watch Chuck's movie. Tomorrow, it would be her turn.
She would insist on watching the James Bond movie. But it wouldn't work. Well, then, like it or not, they would have no choice but to see how life was around all those mafia folks.
She would be taping Chuck all the time so when and if he flashes, she would be recording it.
Please God. Let Chuck flash on Vincenzo, please!
Not that Carina was religious. She didn't know whether she was. She never had the time to think about such issues. Her granddad was Catholic, as most Italians. Her mom and dad were Catholics as well. They took her to churches of course but at the age of 9 her normal life was over. She wasn't exactly the forgiving type, so she wondered if she would qualify.
Xxx
Carina and Chuck were watching a movie later. One of Chuck's favorite science fiction things. She wasn't excited about his choice but followed it thoroughly. Paid attention to his comments. Tried to remember everything he said. He was revealing his thinking, his preferences. She was learning a lot. It may get useful later. Somehow.
After the movie Chuck felt sleepy. Carina was business-like, no flirting, no nakedness. Once Chuck went to bed she went out. To get some fresh air, she told the NSA people outside. 'Stay vigilant folks,' she said.
After making sure she wasn't followed and there was nobody around, she took out a mobile phone. It was not the one she used during the day. This one had a built-in secure chip, encrypting her voice using an algorithm nobody had yet heard about. It was made for her only by a NSA nerd she seduced and made so happy. Several times.
Actually, she had seduced several NSA geeks, each providing her with priceless devices, software, hacking and signal intelligence knowledge. She made all of them very, very happy men.
Carina had let them find out that she was also a US government agent so they weren't committing treason. She needed this knowledge and devices to survive during her missions on behave of the same US government they worked for, she told them.
"Dave, dear, do you want me to die there in the jungle, because I was unable to securely encrypt my messages, or fail when hacking what I need to hack?' she would ask her hesitating NSA geek lover, while still lying in his bed.
No, No, No, Dave wanted her alive and doing all these magnificent things here under his sheets. So the nerd would get up and sit down on the computer and start writing a new code only for her.
Carina dialed a number. Tens of thousands of miles away, in the capital of a certain Asian country, a man picked a mobile handset with identical secure chip and answered it.
'Hello, shall we now proceed, Miss?'
'Not yet, maybe tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, at the latest', Carina replied. 'I just wanted to make sure you are ready with everything you need. Right? Are you ready?'
'Of course, Miss. That's what I do for a living.'
'Good. My next call will set it off. Over.' She hung up.
Carina removed the cover of the mobile as she was in the dark and removed the secure chip from the socket. She had already done this many times in the dark, practicing it. Then she inserted another, identically looking secure chip, which contained a different set of encryption algorithms.
She moved a little switch to the left to change the wave band and dialed another number.
Hi,' said Sarah Walker on the other side, talking on identical handset. 'Everything OK there?'
'Yeah, don't worry.' Carina replied. 'How are things in Washington?'
'Don't ask. When I get back I'll tell you as much as I'm allowed to, I promise.', Sarah responded dryly.
'How is he', Sarah continued, her heart pounding now. Carina could sense that.
'He's fine. Nothing to worry. We watched a movie, some science fiction stuff. He told me that you two had watched it so you must know what I'm talking about.'
'Yeah', Sarah remembered it only vaguely. She wasn't into science fiction.
'He went to bed and is sleeping now. I left him with the guards five minutes ago, don't worry. I'll be back there in 5,' Carina went on.
'Please be careful with him.' Sarah struggled for words to justify her concerns, 'Nobody knows how this new thing will affect his head.'
'I know. I'm very, very thorough,' Carina said firmly.
'Oh, one last thing.' Carina pretended to have just remembered it, 'Chuck was talking in his sleep last night. Something about Barstow. He was mentioning your name. I have to know what it is about. I checked it. There is a small motel next to this Fulcrum base you were at. What happened there, Sarah?"
Sarah was blushing like never before, not knowing what to say.
'Sarah?' Carina inquired as Sarah was not responding.
'Listen, it is very private. I really don't …"
"But I have to report it, it could be connected to the Intersect, he might have seen something in his dream and this could have caused a flash … I really have to be assured… ."
'No,' Sarah interrupted her. 'No need to report it, please. I'll tell you... We were on the lam, looking for his father. We rented a room for the night there. And in the morning we were still in bed, just about to make ….'
"Yeah, I get it,' Carina rushed to interject, 'so what happened?'
'Chuck decided to go look for protection.' A slightly relieved Sarah went on. 'The condom he usually had in his wallet was missing. So he went out to look for a vending machine or something. And then Casey snatched him. He had already tracked us down."
'I see. I'm very sorry for having to ask you about this, Sarah. I hope everything will soon be ok with both of you."
"It's ok," Sarah said very quietly. She started crying, silently.
"Everything will be ok, … sis, I promise.' Carina said.
Carina pressed the disconnect button. 1 minute and 41 seconds. That was really bad, bad, bad but it was a very important conversation. Damn!
She walked around thinking, then sat down on the grass. She was on some lawn, adjacent to the hotel.
Why did she call Sarah sis? What's with these slip-ups? Was she trying to fill her void with Sarah? Because she couldn't take care of her little sis, the real Carina?"
She started crying. She was trying to stop but she couldn't.
Thousands of miles away, back in her hotel room, Sarah Walker was lying in her bed. Unable to let her mind off Barstow, she couldn't control her tears, either.
xxx
Chuck tried but couldn't sleep. He got up, no Carina. He checked the entire suite. Nowhere. The NSA people were in the next room or suite. Two were outside, disguised as cleaners, he could see them through the spy hole.
Why wasn't Sarah answering, again? He went to the window and looked out.
At about 40 yards away, on the lawn in front of him, he saw a tall and slim female figure. Was that Carina? He half-closed his eyes. Yeah. Was she talking on the phone? He realized that she wouldn't be able to see him as the lights were off. So he stayed and watched. Then he saw her sit down on the grass. She looked so unhappy, with her head down, between her hands. What was going on with Carina?
Chuck decided to wait for her. He sat in the kitchen, with his laptop, wondering what game to play. He suddenly realized he didn't feel like playing.
Xxx
Carina recovered after about 15 minutes or so she thought. She had lost sense of time. She checked her watch and rushed back to the hotel, went into a restroom and washed her face. Thank god she wasn't wearing make-up. Crying with make-up is never, never a good thing.
She checked herself out in the mirror. Her eyes were a little red but Chuck must be sleeping. She walked down the hallway and carefully opened the door of their suite.
Chuck wasn't in bed. Where was he? She found him in the kitchen, in front of the laptop, with a can of beer.
Damn, she didn't have here one of those Visine eye drops to clear up the eyes.
'Can't sleep?' she inquired.
"You guessed right, super-duper agent Falcone', Chuck was in his usual bantering mode. 'How did you come up with this name? Falcone. I guess it means falcon? Something mysterious about it you want to share with me?' Now he looked at her and tried the Bartowski brow dance.
Carina laughed. She could see why Sarah would fall for Chuck. She had guessed that right a year ago, during their joint operation, stealing the Afghani diamond. She told Chuck then that Sarah would fall in love with him. She was the first of several people who told him about Sarah's feelings. She decided to remind him that little fact now.
"Chuck", she started.
'Agent Carmichael is all ears, shoot Falcon', Chuck sipped some beer, and cheered at her. 'The rest of the beer within the premises is all yours..', he added, looking at the fridge.
'Do you remember what I told you one year ago? About Sarah and you?'
Chuck hadn't expected this. He tried to signal her with his hands – are you out of your mind, Casey is listening.
'Don't worry Chuck, I'm gonna take care of that. Actually, I'll pay him a visit after I tuck you in bed.'
She repeated. 'I'll take care of him. Casey is still sleeping by the way. "
Chuck was stunned. "How on earth you know that?"
He bugged us, but I bugged his flat, remember? I heard everything, your kicking his ass.' She smiled.
'Don't worry.'
Chuck felt relieved. Now he could speak freely.
'Carina, there's something I need to ask you. I saw you on the lawn outside 10 minutes ago. Talking on the phone. I respect your privacy. But then you sat there and looked so unhappy. And now your eyes are red. Have you been crying? Is there …'
Carina tried to deny but Chuck was raising his voice: 'No, no, Carina, remember, you told me to trust you. I do now. But you have to trust me as well. So no more lies. Have you cried and why? Is there anything …'
There was no point for her to lie now. She would lose the little trust she had been able to gain so far.
'Shut up Chuck.' She had raised her voice. 'Yes, I cried. Everybody has personal problems, you know. You, Sarah, Casey. Don't you all?'
'I'm a woman, so I cry sometimes. I have my problems as do the rest 7 billion people on this planet. It's not easy for me, but I'm perfectly capable of dealing with it. OK? I can handle it', she stressed on handle. 'It's OK.'
She sounded very convincing indeed.
Chuck felt relieved. He was thinking.
'Ok. But if there's something super-duper agent Carmichael can do, just call me, OK? Now with this new Intersect and kung fu mode, I might be able to help.' He was playful again. 'Here is my number in case you don't have it. He started writing his phone number on a napkin.'
"Yeahhh', Carina shook her head. 'No wonder Sarah is so hooked up.'
She nodded at him. 'Ok, I promise. If there is something you can do for me, I'll let you know immediately. We got a deal now, super-duper Carmichael?'
'Deal. Intersect, version 2 is at your services. Memorize my number, then burn the napkin. That's an order. As you know I'm now in charge of operation Visine. Red Eyes never again.'
Carina laughed.
"Sweet. But I'll get what I need without you knowing it, Chuck. It's in your head, I hope. It's better for both you and me this way. You, with your childish morality just wouldn't understand."
Instead, she said, 'I was talking to Sarah when I was out there 15 minutes ago. She says "hi"'.
'Really? Why isn't she picking the phone? I've been calling her all day.'
"I know. We talked via a very secure line. Sarah is involved in consultations about something super-secret. Even I don't know the details.' She sighed and went on.
'She is not allowed to talk on the phone while there. Besides, you heard from her while you were talking to Beckman, remember? I told you I'd had Casey bugged.'
'Yeah, right.' Chuck remembered. 'Did she tell you when she'd be coming back?' he asked.
'No, nobody knows. They are still deliberating something there. But it has something to do with you, as well, I mean the Intersect. That much I could guess. So we have to be very vigilant. Go get some sleep. Now I need to pay Casey a visit.'
Xxx
25 minutes later Carina was at Casey's front door. It wasn't locked.
Yeah, he was still there on the couch. She took out a bottle from her bag, poured something on a cloth and put it on Casey's face. She needed him sleeping a little longer.
Then she looked around. Ronald Reagan's statue. She was too young to remember him but from what she studied at school and read later, she was open-minded to his ways. Peace through strength, toughness, strong will. She knew he was right.
If you aren't strong and don't project your strength, some shark will eat you alive before you know it.
She looked back at Casey. Poor John, having money worries, she thought. Maybe she should send him a 500k check after all is over. He obviously liked her. Not once but twice she had seduced and then left him hand-cuffed in her bed.
'Where is you private hiding place, Casey?'
It took her 20 min to find it and pick the lock of the safe. She scanned its content and took several items, including the CD with the video feed. On it, Casey had written with a marker, "Carina".
Carina smiled. She was naked especially for him there in this feed. He obviously liked her. Maybe they should get together sometime, when the dust finally settles.
After she installed some more bugs in Casey's apartment, her job was done. She drove back to the hotel.
Chuck woke up when she entered the room.
'Hey, Carina, maybe I should move to the couch?'
'No Chuck, don't worry.' She lied down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
'Let's play another game for a change. Obviously, we aren't going to end up lovers. Imagine I'm your sister and you are my brother. And we take care of each other. Deal?' this time Carina was in full control of herself.
Chuck was thinking.
'Yeah, that will work, that will work. Eventually. Welcome to the family, Carina! I think Ellie will like her new sister. Provided you are in one of those less wild-ish modes. Could you stay longer in one of those less wild-ish modes? At least when Ellie's around?
Carina was laughing really loud now.
No, she couldn't. Sorry, Chuck.
Xxx