Ethan Hunt: "...I don't care what you do, but you have to make sure they're safe in the end."
FBI Employee: "I can guarantee that."
Ethan Hunt: "Thank you."
FBI Employee: "You're welcome. It's a pleasure working with you."
Ethan Hunt: "It's a pleasure working with you."
Morin closed his phone and did a skid to park his car in the yard. Ethan's words in the text messages, though they seemed a bit rude, were actually completely fine.
Otherwise, Morin wouldn't have been so patient in his replies. After all, Morin was the one who was blackmailing Ethan.
The adult world isn't a fairy tale, nor is it that simple. The most appropriate way for Morin to protect Ethan's parents in Wisconsin was to either arrest them himself or take them from the CIA.
Either way, Ethan's parents would end up in Morin's hands.
The only difference was that Morin wouldn't make it public, unlike the CIA.
Morin and Ethan were just partners and didn't trust each other.
So how could he be sure that Ethan wouldn't suddenly choose to do the "right thing" and hand over the ten million dollars in the end?
If he didn't get the ten million, how would he ever get it back? And it was ten million that could be converted into experience points!
So, Morin would, of course, use any leverage he could to protect his interests.
Ethan understood why Morin was doing this.
He knew Morin just wanted a guarantee. As long as they didn't fall out and continued to work together, it was just a guarantee.
And compared to the CIA's overt threats, Morin's guarantee was the better option.
So, after getting a guarantee from Morin, Ethan thanked him again, because he knew that if their partnership worked out, Morin's actions would be seen as simply protecting his parents.
A few words, and a lot of information was exchanged between the two of them.
"My lawn!"
As Morin was thinking about the messages and planning
how to protect Ethan's parents, the villa door opened and a man's howl could be heard.
Morin: "..."
"Don't get worked up, Director, your lawn..." Morin looked at the green lawn with two black skid marks he had just made. He paused.
"Doesn't it look more artistic now?"
"Artistic my ass!" Chris was going crazy. "Don't think I didn't see you do a cool skid just to show off!"
"Oh..." Morin nodded thoughtfully. "How many times do you want to try it?"
"Try it a few times?" Chris almost laughed in anger.
"Do you think I'm a kid? I wouldn't care about a few... of these fancy moves that are completely useless..."
"I'll teach you."
"Deal!" Chris's eyes lit up, and he quickly agreed, as if he was afraid Morin would change his mind.
What was a lawn anyway? Did the Director of the IRS care about a little grass? It was just a minor expense.
Chris was obviously interested in Morin's skills. He had asked Morin about it several times before, but Morin had always refused.
Until today... wait a minute.
Something's not right! Chris had a sudden realization and became wary. Why did Morin agree so easily this time, when he had refused so many times before?
"He's up to something!"
"Who are you going to arrest this time?" Chris asked cautiously.
"How can you make such baseless accusations?" Morin's eyes widened.
"Why would I be arresting someone? Do you think all I do is arrest people?"
"..." Chris was silent for a moment. "Isn't that what you do?"
"Hmm..." Morin thought about it. "I guess so. All right, you're right. I do need to arrest two people."
"I knew it wouldn't be that simple!" Chris said.
"You only called me ahead of time when you were going to raid CIA headquarters. But this time you're using driving lessons as a reward. Tell me, are you going to raid the White House or the Pentagon?"
Morin rolled his eyes. "When did I ever raid CIA headquarters? Please don't slander me! And don't make me sound like a terrorist. I have a legitimate job!"
"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Chris said, humoring him. He then asked in a low voice, "I forgot to ask, how did it go?"
It was only now that Chris realized he hadn't asked about Morin's trip to CIA headquarters.
"It went all right..." Morin said. "The CIA guys kept stalling, so I didn't get to say my purpose until my partner got the item."
"..." Chris was silent. So, he actually got it? The list of all the CIA's agents was just taken?
He mourned for the CIA for half a second before putting
it out of his mind.
"So what did you say afterward?"
As for what Morin would do with the list, Chris didn't care. That thing was a hot potato and wouldn't do him any good.
So Chris would rather not "know" where the list was.
Besides, he had helped Morin, so he had to trust him, right?
"So, on your behalf, I reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with Director Brown of the CIA for a friendly, comprehensive exchange between the IRS and the CIA," Morin said, listing the points.
"Including things like technology and equipment... you should know more about these things than I do, right?"
"There's something good like that?" Chris was shocked. Chris knew what a "friendly exchange" meant.
In reality, it was a large-scale exchange of interests where both sides could benefit. But this time, Morin had stolen the other person's list of agents!
It was like one person had robbed another person's house,
and the other person didn't even know it, and they were still patting each other on the back and calling each other friends!
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