Don't own Chuck
Inside the town lockup Whitey and the two men with him were shooting the breeze waiting to get sprung. They were a little concerned by the town mob but after Carl stepped in they knew they were going to be taken care of. Now all they needed to do was to keep their heads down and soon they'd be free. The only question they had was how long was it going to take before they'd be out. They had money now and a dry throat that needed watering.
"Hey, Carl how long before you spring us? We can slip out the back and lay low in Alice Springs until things blow over."
"You idiot! You killed that guy. Now there's going to have to be a trial. The Sheriff's deputies should be here for you soon to take you for arraignment in Alice Springs."
"What? Hey we only did what you told us to do," said one of the men. "It was Whitey that had to land that last blow."
"I know...," said Carl as he started to explain what was going to have to happen but Whitey cut him off before he could say anything.
"I see how it is; you're all ready to throw me under the bus. But like you guys I only did what I was told. I can't help it the guy had a head like an egg shell."
"Will you guys pipe down and let me finish. The Boss knows you guys were only following orders and he wants you to know he hasn't forgotten about you. I can't spring you here without it coming back on him but maybe we can do something on the road before you get to Alice Springs."
"Okay that sounds better. What do you want us to do lay low but how will we know when the coast is clear to come back?"
"Don't worry you'll each be given a burner phone and cash to hold you over. Keep your head down and for goodness sake don't get in any trouble because if you get picked up you'll be headed straight for the Berrimah Hilton. If you get sent up the Boss won't be able to help you and you'll be on your own."
"I'm not sure I like those arrangements," said Whitey as everyone looked at him. "Well I don't. Doc, Ted how long have we been able to stay out of trouble."
"Well not very long," said Doc. "You know Whitey's got a point. We're liable to screw up an hour after we get out. Especially if Whitey starts boozing and running his gob like he usually does. Maybe that's the key we all need to separate and go our different ways."
"Every dog for himself is what you're saying," said Whitey. "I can see you've got my back mates just while you're back there are you going to be twisting those knives?" As they were arguing one of Carl's men came and gave him a signal.
"Listen you guys need to work out your own plans. I told you what I needed to tell you and now the Sheriff's deputies are here to take you with them. Just remember to keep you mouths shut if you know what's good for you."
"He's back here with the prisoners," said one of Carl's men as he led the two deputies back to the cells and loud enough for him to hear they were coming. "There he is."
"Thanks, we can take it from here. You're the acting Town Ranger?" asked one of the deputies. Carl nodded his head. "Good this says we're to take the prisoners in custody then to transport them to Alice Springs. If you just sign here and turn over all the evidence we'll take the prisoners off your hands."
"Sure," said Carl. He signed the document. "I'll send a man out with the evidence and statements. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No once we get shackles on the prisoners we'll need for you to open the cell so we can take them out to our vehicle," said the Deputy then he turned to the men in the cell. "Prisoners approach the bars one by one with your hands behind your backs then extend them through the bars."
Carl watched them put shackles on each man's wrists then afterwards they signaled him to open the cell. They went inside and put leg shackles on all three.
"Okay, now were going out to the van. You're going to walk one in front to the other and don't even think about running. First you can't with that iron on your legs and secondly you don't want to piss us off. It's already hot and if you make me break a sweat well... I'll give you something to sweat about. Now let's move it."
Carl stood there watching them get taken out and put in the van. It looked like a regular seven passenger van with bars on the windows and a divider between the deputies in the front and the prisoners in the back.
"Get yourselves situated back there ladies. It's a long drive to Alice Springs and the air conditioned craped out on the way here but if you behave we'll give you some water."
One of the town rangers came out with a box full of evidence that they locked up in the van then they said their goodbyes to Carl and they were off. The van kicked up a dust cloud as they drove out of town.
As soon as they were out of sight Carl ducked into his office as Chief Town Ranger and closed the door. He took out a phone and called a number.
"Okay they just left and should be coming by you soon. ... That's right no one walks away not even the deputies, especially not the deputies. ... Right call me when it's done. I'll be out with the Boss doing visitations as he calls them but call me anyway to let me know it's been done. ... Yes I want confirmation. Okay I need to go and remember no excuses failure will not be tolerated." With that Carl hung up then walked out and got a couple men to come along with him. They drove out to the mining camp to pick Mr. Blanchard up.
"Is everything taken care of," asked Blanchard as he got in the Defender.
"Not yet but it soon will be."
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Casey was sucked out of the plane along with everything else that was loose. The next thing he knew he was free falling through space. He tried to make himself flat extending his arms and legs to created drag to slow his descent. At the rate he was falling there was nothing that could cushion his impact but he wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet.
"There you are," said Casey to himself. Farther down below him was José and José had a chute. John knew that this wasn't going to be easy but it wasn't impossible either and what the consequences would be if it didn't work, splat.
"Okay we're almost there, three-one thousand, two-one thousand, one-one thousand" said John as he hung above him in the sun. John was counting in his head his rate of descent to figure out when José was going to pull the chord and with a good safety margin he saw José go for the rip cord.
"It's now or never," said John as he tucked his arms by his side and put his feet together becoming a human projectile. He dove in on José like a falcon after its prey.
"What the..." said José as John ploughed into him like a freight train. They both went tumbling but John held onto him as they struggled in mid-air.
"Get off of me man," yelled José as he tried to shake Casey loose but John had his legs locked around him. José was swinging wildly and rolling. He pulled a boot knife stabbing John in the leg but John blocked the pain putting José in a headlock then with a jerk there was a loud crack. José dropped the knife and stopped fighting.
"Crap," said John when he realized how close they were to the ground now. He yanked the rip cord and held onto José's body. The chute deployed but they were too close to the ground. John's last thoughts were 'this is going to hurt'. He was right.
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Chuck and Sarah landed on time at Bob Hope and deplaned through the terminal. They met up with Morgan and Alex at the baggage claim area. Morgan and Chuck took care of the luggage while Sarah tried to calm Alex down reassuring her they'd do everything they could to find John starting with breaking into Verbanski's headquarters.
"You sure you guys wouldn't like to go home first?" said Morgan. "You know rest up and change before we go?"
"No, we've waited too long as it is. Once we get the intel we can go back to Echo Park and look it over," said Chuck as his stomach growled.
"Maybe someone ought to grab something to take with them. It's a good thing I'm going in with Sarah. Didn't you eat on the plane?"
"Gee thanks Morgan, never mind it's a long story and no I didn't," said Chuck. Sarah caressed his face then kissed him. "Yeah I think I deserve a couple more and you know why."
"My poor, poor malnourished sweetheart," said Sarah as she kissed him again. Morgan coughed as he looked in the rearview mirror.
"So what's the plan again? Do we scale the wall and climb inside or do we tunnel our way inside and take them by surprise. You know if we had jetpacks..."
"Morgan, I'm pregnant so no jetpacks or scaling walls. How long do you think it would take to tunnel in? No none of that we're just walking in."
"And they're just going to let us stroll in because?" asked Morgan as he looked a little perplexed in the rearview. "That is unless you've got some super cool Ninja skill I don't see how that's happening."
"Just follow me inside and I'll show you," said Sarah as Chuck wired her up for video and sound. She saw the look of worry on Chuck's face. "Don't worry; we'll be in and out in no time." Just then Chuck's stomach spoke. "I'll throw something together for you."
"I thought you said you loved me. Now you want to poison me what did I do?" said Chuck as he smiled then kissed her. She hit him in the shoulder. "Ouch!"
"Really, this is what you tell your poor pregnant wife before she goes on mission. I still have that flight attendants number. I'll call Peggy and tell on you then you'll be in big trouble."
"I hope I never see that woman again. It would almost be worth flying coach to get away from her but joking aside be careful in there if anything goes wrong..."
"Nothing will go wrong," said Sarah then she kissed him as Morgan walked up behind them with Alex following along.
"Well are we ready to do this," said Morgan in full tactical gear. "Let's go take them. If lead starts flying just stand behind the Cobra."
"Great the bullet magnet," said Chuck. "Morgan, get rid of all that crap. This is supposed to be a covert mission. How many people do you see walking around with Kevlar on and carrying a M-4?"
"Have you been to Venice Beach lately dude?"
"And they push a shopping cart with all their things inside and wear an aluminum foil hat so aliens or secret government agencies won't steal their thoughts. Strip now, besides you're not allowed bullets."
"Oh come on dude, John's not here so I thought..."
"Well you thought wrong, hand them over now. Morgan, I mean it we're going in to gather intel not to see how many of Verbanski's men we can take out."
"But what if they start throwing lead we should be able to return fire," said Morgan as Chuck promptly took his Beretta and his holster.
"No Morgan, they'd be doing their job where if you answer that's manslaughter or even second degree homicide. Here take my dart gun and put it in your belt," said Chuck. "Okay, throw on a jacket and follow Sarah's lead. Sarah, if Morgan acts up tranq him then leave him in a closet the maid can worry about him in the morning."
"Oh dude and I thought I was your BFF. Why are you treating me like this?"
"Twenty six years of experience Morgan. Now go before I tranq you and I want you both to come back safe," said Chuck.
"Thank you," whispered Sarah then she kissed him. "I love you."
"I love you too and I'll be monitoring you guys. The first sign of trouble I want you guys out of there on the double. If not I swear I'm coming in."
Sarah and Morgan walked right up to a side entrance. Morgan motioned Sarah to step aside then he entered his access code but it didn't work the light on the alarm stayed red. He held up his hand for her to hold on then he tried another code and again that didn't work either.
"He guys I don't want to make you feel stupid but did anyone check to see if the door is even locked?" radioed Chuck.
Morgan grabbed the door handle and sure enough it wasn't but before Morgan could open the door Sarah put her hand on it shaking her head no. She grabbed from his pocket a stick of gum then carefully removed the aluminum from the paper slipping it between the sensors at the top. She tapped him on the shoulder and they were in.
"Chuck, I just want to thank you guys for dropping everything and coming. I really appreciate this. Mom is a wreck I don't know what to tell her."
"Don't worry you guys are our family too. We'll see it through together the way families do," said Chuck as he noticed a guard coming around the corner. "Guys watch out, you've got a bogie coming around the bend. Morgan went for his dart gun but before he could pull it Sarah cold cocked the guard with her Smith & Wesson.
"Good work Sarah. Morgan, make sure the safety's on or your liable to dart yourself. Okay you're clear, proceed with caution."
"This way I know a short cut to Verbanski's office," said Morgan. "Just follow me it will take us half the time."
"What? No... No Morgan, don't go that way. Guys hold up... Guys, do you read me? Come in guys. Crap we lost their signal. I'm going in stay here and monitor my..." Chuck was going to say 'progress' when the side of the van opened and a detail of armed me stood there pointing H&K MP5A2s at them.
"Are you having trouble with your television reception? We got a call from a client here in the neighborhood who said his cable went out."
"Can you both please get out and follow us? Our Boss wants to speak to you," said one of the men as they made a path for them.
"Good, it's about time I've been trying to get in touch with her and she's been ignoring my calls," said Chuck as he stepped out then helped Alex out. As they were walking Chuck's stomach began to growl again. Verbanski's men snickered as they marched along.
"What? I just flew here from Montenegro and this woman on the plane tried to force me to eat Plat du Jour and I just couldn't."
"What? You couldn't eat the dish of the day because why?" asked Alex. "You usually get two choices?"
"The first one everyone ate and the attendant had it out for me so I got stuck with what no one else wanted, rabbit with prunes. Oh and Plat du Jour is the name of Sam's pet rabbit is Kotor so my only option was to starve."
"What did Sarah do? Don't tell me she ate the rabbit or did she get the other choice?"
"No she went vegan. She told the flight attendant her daffy husband who is me forgot to order a special meal for her which ticked the flight attendant off and got me Peter Cottontail." As Chuck was talking some of Verbanski's men gave a stifled laugh. "Go ahead and laugh out loud but I want to see you guys stuck in a tin can for eighteen hours with bad service," said Chuck as his stomach growled again.
In the meantime...
Sarah and Morgan lost radio contact with Chuck and Alex. But they didn't have a chance to try to raise them because almost as soon as they took Morgan's short cut they ran into a patrol of Verbanski's men.
"Hey where are you two going? Where are your visitor badges? Who let you in," said one of the men as the other started to radio them in.
"I'm sorry we got turned around. You see I'm supposed to pick up a document from Gertrude that's rather urgent. We had an appointment with her for today and no one called to cancel."
"I don't know what to say. She's not back yet but they should've told you that at the front gate. She was due back but a few days ago but got held up."
"Crap I wish they'd told us that at the front gate. It would've kept us from wandering around in here and getting lost. You don't think it would be possible for us to look at her desk to see if she left it for us to pick up."
"I'm sorry no one's allowed in her office when she's out. Hey don't I know you," said the guard to Morgan. "You're famous."
"Yeah you might remember me," said Morgan. "But I wouldn't go so far as saying I'm famous besides I wasn't around that long."
"Oh dude, you were in the whole series. Hey don't you recognize him he's the guy that played that Dwarf in Lord of the Rings. What was his name?"
"Gimli," said Morgan as he shook his head.
"Yeah that's him. Man, I loved your work, do you think you could give me an autograph," said the guard as he held out a notebook and pen. Morgan tranq'd them both.
"Is that anyway to treat your fans," said Sarah as she smiled. "Come on, we need to get a move on it. I can't raise Chuck or Alex."
"I know all about your pact with Chuck but just for this once don't say a word of this to him. He'll never let me live this down."
"What that you were mistaken for a dwarf king or you tranq'd two of your fans," said Sarah as she smiled. "Shush," she said before Morgan could complain. There was an armed guard outside Verbanski's office but what caught her attention was the bio scanner on the outside of the door.
"That wasn't there before," said Morgan as Sarah walked around him. "Hey where are you going? Wait up for me."
"Halt, what do you want here," said the Guard as he looked menacing pointing his H&K MP5A2 at them. "Who are you and where are your passes?"
"Like I told the other guards I was sent to pick up a document off Gertrude's desk. It's urgent she sent me to pick it up."
"She's not in and you don't have a pass so I can't let you in. You're going to have to go back to the front gate and get authorization or I can't let you in."
"First of all can you point that thing somewhere else can't you see what state I'm in. Listen, I don't know if you know anything about pregnant women but when I tell you I've got to go that means I really have to go. I needed to go when I got here but I thought I could wait until I got here to use Gertrude's bathroom. I'm not saying anything but I really don't like using bathrooms that guys have used if you know what I mean."
"But I can't..."
"Well I really am sorry if I stain your carpet but you can explain that to your Boss," said Sarah as she held her stomach and grimaced making a low moan. "I just hope this doesn't induce early labor. I don't want to give birth here."
"Hold up lady just one moment," said the guard. He touched the scanner with his hand a light passed over it then looked into it and the same thing happened to his eye. The door opened and they were inside. "You just need to hurry before I get into trouble."
Sarah reached up under Morgan's jacket grabbing his dart gun and tranq'd the guard. Then they went inside.
"Wow that was a great act," said Morgan as he dragged the guard inside. "I really thought you had to go."
"What acting? You start looking I'll be right out, the joys of pregnancy a two second bladder. But it comes in handy sometimes." Sarah went in Gertrude's private bathroom. "Morgan, we need to grab what we can get then get out," said Sarah as she came out to find Chuck, Alex and Morgan sitting around Gertrude's desk with her on the monitor.
"I hope you like the scented soap I had put in. I had it made for me in a little shop in the Rose valley in Bulgaria using Damask rose oil."
"I don't know about the soap but your chocolate bonbons are good," said Chuck as he sat there popping one after another.
"I was saving those."
"Don't worry I put them in the vault," said Chuck as he dropped the empty box in the trash can. "Sarah's here now so you can start by telling us what happened to Casey."
"Yes John, I'm afraid I have some bad news."