“Stop it, mother,” Carmen moved away and glanced towards some of the family members who were preparing food for the party. “I have to leave soon and I won’t be back until morning…”

“But your cousin Maria will be so disappointed that you left her party…she is turning fifteen and it happens only once.”

“She’ll live but I might not,” Carmen sounded very determined and her mother was silent for a moment before replying, “Don’t ever joke like that, Carmen…you’re scaring me.”

“Sorry, mama…it’s a big game tonight and if I win, I will be free of debt and it’s very important to me…I hope one day Maria will understand.”

“I hope one day we all understand…now, go back to your family before they begin questioning you too.”

Shane kept the headphones on but she knew that this is as much information as they were going to get for now and she quickly opened the laptop, logging into their secure network.

“Did you get all of that?” she asked Mark while entering the information into the name database and cross-referencing it with the identified gamblers and con artists in DC area.

“Yep…all recorded. We better check the database,” Mark glanced at Shane as he took his headphones off, unable to pick up Carmen’s voice any longer.

“Doing it already,” Shane was looking at the computer search screen, nervously tapping her fingers on the dashboard. Before Mark could ask why she was so edgy, Shane smiled, “Bingo.”

“What have you got?”

“Well, let’s assume that Catherine is a local gambler, which I think she is because it seems to me that Carmen owed her from a long time ago and in the past three years she has been working for the Senator in DC. So what are the odds that this mysterious Catherine and well-known local casino regular, Catherine Rothberg, are one and the same person?”

“I’d say the odds are pretty good.”

“And you would be absolutely right.”

“How can you be so sure, though?”

“Remember we investigated counterfeiters’ case two years ago and one of the casinos was involved?”

“I remember the casino investigation but that was the one case I didn’t work as your partner. I was away on another assignment with Dickenson and the Commander in Atlanta.”

“Oh, right…anyway, Catherine Rothberg was one of the witnesses in that case. We had evidence that the casino was using counterfeit money to avoid bankruptcy and then Rothberg volunteered to provide some information, claiming that she had received some of her winnings in that said counterfeit. We did a thorough background check on her. She came out clean as far as any illegal activities go but she was involved in a few private gambling parties and a lot of people owned her money. She’s our girl.”

“Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” Mark replied as he turned towards Carmen’s family house. “The subject is on the move.”

They followed Carmen’s car to the casino she frequented, according to the initial FBI report. After a brief debate when Shane pointed out that Mark looked like a government official in his impeccably pressed black suit and couldn’t easily blend in, the younger agent went inside.

She came back out in less than twenty minutes and got into the car.

“So…” Mark prompted when the silence was getting too weird.

“Well, Carmen didn’t even stop by the slot machines. She went straight upstairs where they have a few private rooms. I didn’t want to be spotted in case the Commander will need me on the inside so I didn’t follow but I asked around…”

Shane paused again and Mark asked impatiently, “And…”

“No wonder Carmen is in debt…Catherine Rothberg never loses because this casino is privately owned by her family and the house never loses,” Shane replied quietly, trying hard to keep her emotions under control.

“Wow,” Mark whistled. If he noticed Shane’s reaction to the news he didn’t commented on it. Shane was glad because she didn’t want to explain something she couldn’t understand herself yet. She decided to talk to Commander Porter in the morning and ascertain if this situation with Carmen needed to be handled differently or by someone else.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Carmen has been Rothberg’s personal slave all this time,” she said after another pause. “I’m positive that this situation has no connections with the assassination threat but I had been wrong before.”

“Oh, yeah? When have you been wrong, Yoda?” Mark laughed, deciding to pretend that he didn’t notice that Shane was nervous and somewhat unfocused when talking about the subject of their investigation.

“A few times…” Shane shrugged her shoulders. “We have to be hundred percent sure though that there’s no connection. Money and politics are synonyms of a word dirty in my book and Catherine Rothberg looks like someone for whom money means everything, so she could be using Carmen for her own agenda. We just need to find out what it is and I have a plan.”

Meanwhile, at the lesbian bar

From preliminary FBI report Bette knew that every Friday, during the times when Senator Grisham was working or visiting Washington D.C., Tina went out to the same lesbian bar on 1435 P Street, called Halo and they easily followed her there tonight after she finished her work in the Senator’s office.

Bette parked further down the street, turned off the engine and faced her partner for the evening, who looked a little nervous since tonight was his first time doing the surveillance routine.

“Max, I know it’s your first time and it’s a lesbian bar but I don’t want to go inside…unless I absolutely have to. I can’t let the subject see me yet because it can blow my undercover story when I will approach her later. That’s what we gonna do…you will go inside…you’re a tourist…you’re looking for a good time and all you want is a drink…you have no idea it’s a lesbian bar, see if you can get any information from a bartender but be as casual as possible. According to the report, Tina is a regular here so the bartender might know something we can use but don’t approach the subject. We don’t want her to recognize you when the team will begin Senator Grisham’s security detail next week.”

Max swallowed and nodded anxiously, placing a small digital camera on his neck.

“Just relax and be yourself…you would do just fine,” Bette smiled at Max and patted him on his back as encouragement. “Be creative but don’t overdo it.”

“Right…” Max’s face registered all his anxiety but he smiled, got out of the car and went to the bar.

He walked in as casually as he could manage and ordered a beer. The bartender, a tall and slender blonde, asked what kind he preferred and in a few seconds Max was seated on the bar stool, drinking beer and looking around. The bar wasn’t crowded yet and he easily found Tina at one of the tables, having a drink with a young and a very cute brunette.

Drinking slowly, Max was contemplating on the course of action and taking a big swig of his beer, he leaned towards the bartender and asked, “So when is your shift over?”

“Who wants to know?” the bartender, who’s name tag said ‘Princess’, smirked and looked expectantly at him.

“Well…I just thought…you know…” Max felt instantly intimidated by the stare of her cold blue eyes and continued lamely, “I have a weakness for blondes and I thought I’ll take a chance…I’m feeling kinda lonely.”

“I ain’t the one to cure your loneliness.”

“What about her?” Max pointed discreetly at Tina who was going towards the dancing floor that was mostly empty. It was still early for the usual crowd to come in.

“This is something you have to ask her.”

“Do you think I might be her type?”

“Dark, handsome…you could be if you were the right gender,” Princess grinned, wiping the counter.

“You mean…she’s…a…you know…”

“A lesbian? Oh, yes…unless she’s a curious straight girl who comes to this lesbian bar on Friday nights and leaves each week with a different brunette. Maybe she’s taking them to the public library to talk about arts and literature, for all I know. She usually keeps pretty much to herself.”

“Oh…I’m just visiting DC…I had no idea…I just wanted to have a drink…and maybe some action…I…God…” Max stuttered, trying to appear embarrassed and nervous, which was easy because he really felt that way already. ‘I’d better stick to computers because I suck,’ he thought, fighting a mild headache, ‘I should leave this undercover stuff to the Commander.’

“It’s okay, honey…beer tastes the same in any bar. Do you want another one?”

Max nodded in agreement and asked for a bottle of Heineken. He glanced at Tina one more time and leaned towards the bartender, asking casually, “So, she likes brunettes and she only likes them once?”

“I couldn’t have put it better myself, so if you have a sister…” the bartender winked at him and went to help another customer.

Max hanged out in the bar for a little longer, drinking beer and watching Tina dancing with the same cute brunette she was talking to at the table. He paid for the beer and went outside, walking quickly towards their car.

“What have you got?”

Max described his conversation with the bartender, emphasizing the information about Tina’s preferences in women and that she never goes out with the same person twice.

“Perfect,” Bette whispered, twisting her own dark curls into a ponytail. She asked again, “What else can you tell me before I go in? I want to check the situation myself.”

“Right when I was coming out a bunch of college girls came in. It looked like they were having some kind of a sorority party.”

“Wonderful…wait for my instructions and be prepared to follow her in the car,” Bette said before exiting. Max adjusted his earpiece and Bette checked the mike that was connected to her wrist watch. Her voice came through perfectly clear and she left her partner in the car, walking leisurely towards the bar.