Chapter VII

Let's Watch A Movie - Part II

The next day was uneventful for both Carina and Chuck. They played some computer games, ate the food she cooked. She was able to get him promise her that they'd watch her favorite movie in the evening. It was her turn after all.

Right before they sat on the couch to watch, Carina disabled all of Casey's microphones except for one. He attached a device to it with the two and a half hours recorded the previous day.

They were about to watch now. Chuck was looking at the two DVDs she had picked. 'Which one you pick?'

'Bond, of course. Remember, I'm a spy. We are spies now. It's funny by the way. Haven't you seen it?'

He hadn't.

'And why did you pick the mafia movie, anyway?' Chuck asked casually.

She was ready for the question, of course. She had always covered her bases. Especially now. For her it was SHOWTIME.

"Well. I'm an Italian American remember? It's part of our history, how we got here, how we established our presence. It's not something I am proud of, but it's a fact of life. As a little girl I read a lot about the Mafia as it's part of our history. And I picked it because you asked about me, something about my past, remember?"

It was a brilliant answer.

'Well, then maybe we should watch the mafia movie, you got me so intrigued, sis.' Chuck was playful again.

'Nah,' she waved her hand. 'I'm not in the mood. I'd prefer something light and funny for the night. Put James Bond on, OK?' 'We're gonna watch the other movie some other time anyway.' She felt so happy now. He called her sis, and she was in full control of herself. ' She exhaled silently.

Chuck was already in front of the DVD player. He inserted the disk and pressed the play button. Nothing happened. The screen was blank. He pressed 'play' again, then 'eject', then inserted it, 'play'. No luck. He tried again, to no avail.

'Ha,' Chuck said, 'I guess something's wrong with the disk. The player was working yesterday, remember?

'Yeah, it was. Right.', Carina agreed. 'Strange.'

'Maybe I should try another disk then.'

He inserted the disk with the mafia movie. It started.

'Well,' Chuck said, 'we have no choice it seems. Do we watch this one?'

'Yeah, why not', Carina casually replied. 'After all, we were going to see this one anyway, right?' 'I know I'm going to be embarrassed for my fellow Italian American Mafiosi, but I'll live, I think' she allowed.

She stood up. 'Chuck, do you want another coke?'

Yes, he did. So Carina went to the kitchen, opened two cokes and put some drops in the one she would give to Chuck.

She wanted him to be only lightly sedated while watching so he wouldn't get too excited while flashing.

Xxx

During the entire movie Chuck flashed 13 times. There were 13 people with government files that happened to be part of the Intersect. Number 8 was her man, Vincenzo. Chuck had uttered his full name, positions in the mafia hierarchy, the fact that he was under witness protection now, and his current location.

Carina spent the entire time motionless. She was far away from Chuck, on the opposite end of the couch. Hand on the chin, she was watching without reacting to Chuck's flashes. She memorized all flashes, number 8 included.

After some of the flashes he would continue with a comment or two about what had just happened. After the first she said: Sure, those people must have FBI dossiers. We can watch or change the disk if you like?'

Chuck didn't mind watching.

Toward the end of the movie the slow tranquilizer she gave him was finally taking over.

She helped him lie down on the couch. Soon, he was sleeping and snoring. Carina smiled. Well, Sarah is a resourceful agent. She'll find a way to deal with this issue eventually.

She took out the memory card from her recording device and made several copies. All heavily encrypted.

Then she went out of the hotel, smiling while passing by the agent. Fresh air again.

Outside, she took out her secure mobile handset, returned the first chip into the socket and dialed the number of her Asian contact.

"Hello again, Miss."

"You may proceed now." She hung up and changed the secure chip again.

Then she dialed Sarah's number.

'Hi, how are you today?'

'Hi, I'm fine', Sarah, replied, 'everything OK there?'

'Yes, everything.' Carina hesitated. 'I wanted just to check on you. Oh, there is little problem, you know.'

'What', Sarah was visibly worried.

'Your Chuck is snoring on the couch here. Did you know that? You gotta find a way to deal with that, you know. Grrrrrr.' she exaggerated his sounds'

Sarah laughed out loud, relieved now. 'Yeah, I know. It's sort of soft and cute-ish, not that irritating kind of snoring you know. It won't be that bothering to me.'

'Yeah, yeah, no wonder pigs can fly. Over.' Carina hung up.

Both were now laughing at the expense of poor Chuck who was still snoring peacefully.

Carina went back to the suite. She decided to sleep. Now that she knew Vincenzo's whereabouts there was a lot of planning to do. She was going to make good use of the next weeks until Sarah was back, planning her next moves – how to snatch Vincenzo without being detected by the witness protection people, and how to extract from him the information she needed. Then she'd probably have to kill Vincenzo.

It was the least she could do for him.

While Chuck was snoring, Carina was smiling in her sleep.

Thousands of miles away, in Washington, DC, Sarah Walker was wondering in her bed how to safely inject Chuck in Tehran and then get him out of there. Or preferably, how to get him off this disturbingly dangerous mission.

Finally, thanks to a couple of pills, she managed to fall asleep. There was no smile on her face, however.