Honour Among Spies #VisualRetelling #Homeland #DiverseLit

Chapter V

Carrie was at the clinic within the American embassy. She was naked except for a hospital gown when Quinn burst into the examination room.

"Where have you been?" She sometimes disappeared on private assignments. He saw the prescription in her hand.

She told him of the security breach at the embassy. The medical lab confirmed the capsules she took for her bipolar disorder was substituted for 25I a potent psychedelic drug.

"Certainly explains your overreaction at the airport," Quinn mused.

"It does. At least we know there's someone on the inside working against us. Have there been any developments with Saul," she was eager for an update.

"His situation just got worse," Quinn replied.

"How could it?"

"Haqqani is demanding five prisoners be released in exchange. Here's the list of names he sent us."

Glancing at the list of names, she threw her hands up in disbelieve, "If we release this five, Haqqani will have his entire command structure restored. He'll be able to exert control from Islamabad to Kabul creating regional instability the scale of which we can't fathom."

"I think that's the point," Quinn agreed with Carrie's assessment of the situation. "Carrie, what really happened last night?"

"I spent the night at Aasar Khan's residence."

"The ISI Counter Terrorism Chief," Quinn's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, he said the police got incident reports that I was a danger to myself and others. I was taken off the streets and put in a drunk tank of all places. Aasar had me released into his custody and espionage charges dropped," Carrie finished lamely.

Quinn winced. Carrie was on a first name basis with Khan. "Jesus Carrie, are you sleeping with him too?"

"Come on, he's an uptight guy who believes in truth and honour, obviously in the wrong profession since the ISI is abducting and killing us off one at a time. Anyway the dose of 25I in my bipolar capsules was so potent, I experienced visual hallucinations. If Aasar interrogated me, I would have been incoherent."

"It was f*cking low of him to take you to his house in that state," Quinn was righteously angry. "Why do you think they drugged you then?"

"There must be a big terrorist attack in the works for them to paint a target on Sandy, Saul and I."

"Khan could be playing you."

"I trust Saul's instincts. He trusted Bunny and reached out to him. I'll find a way of working with Aasar Khan."

"Saul's been behind a desk too long. His instincts delivered him right into Haqqani's hands. Having you seated at Lockhart's side, at the meeting later today should rattle the Pakistani delegation."

Carrie was lost in thought. The shrink said her hallucination was a manifestation of medically induced psychosis. She had cast Quinn, her inner morality gauge, as a security guard who pulled her away. She cast Aasar as Brody, the highly placed double agent she had tumultuous affair with.

***

Carrie walked out deflated from the operations room co-ordinating Saul's daring late night escape. The Taliban thwarted her plans by tracking the drone she sent to locate Saul and offer aerial support. Ironically terrorists had found a way of using their drones against them. Quinn accompanied Carrie to her apartment. They sat on a sofa chair, drinking a nightcap.

A pensive Carrie said, "This time I tried to do the right thing, to save Saul's life instead of sacrificing him for the greater good."

"You kept him alive."