NoMoreNextTimes10
A/N: [Yawn] My interest is flagging. So is Nik. Imagine threatening me if I bump her character off. I warned her not to invest herself in Deena. Chuck always finds his way back…unless it's Lou. Now, I want to hurry and finish this before the show is cancelled or they do something to bump the Stump off.
This is for TW200 and NickyR who seem to be almost beside themselves with worry. Nik says I should post all 17 and be done with it but that's because she has other interests...LOL Lucky me...
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Chuck ordered breakfast for them and as they drank coffee Deena started in on their cover.
"We're going international for a while but first the General wants both of us to run through the quickie course at FT Bragg. Normally it's taught at Benning but there's a full cycle going through now so it's Bragg and the 82nd. We'll be staying off-post in a motel since it's a civvies course, and our cover is as newlyweds. Beckman's got a weird sense of humor."
She knew it was to keep Chuck from asking questions about his former handlers. They'd meet up with Casey sometime in the next few months but the whole initial operation was geared toward avoiding Walker and getting Drake trained and acclimated to life in the NSA.
Chuck swallowed his coffee carefully. Newlyweds? Beckman normally just issued common-name passports and let the agents figure out their own game plan. She was taking far too much personal interest in one intersect host for his liking.
"That's fine with me if you can handle it. It's not like…hell, Deena; I'm the new kid on the block. I'll need you to guide me through this spy/relationship crap. I don't have a clue how it should go."
"Um, newlyweds? Just married? Hanging all over each other? Never apart? It's ideal for the 24/7 aspects of your cover and protection. Once we finish the 3 days at Bragg we'll get new orders and head out to parts unknown. Aren't you excited, Chuck?"
"Yeah, I guess. Just a little uncertain how you feel about all this. I'm used to being 'told' to play up the cover role and I'm fine with it but you don't have the same deep cover experiences. Are you OK with this?"
She reached across the table and grasped his hand and looked into his eyes. "More comfortable with this than I think you are, big boy. Chuck, we've already had the most important aspect of our relationship defined by us back at Desert One. I trust you and feel safe with you. What else matters?"
Rico Residence
Miami, FL
"Dad, this is Charles Drake, my partner in crime. Chuck, this is former Command Sergeant Major Tony Rico, US Army, retired and NSA secret agent, retired." She giggled and her dad shot her a glare.
"Deena, you should show a little more respect for your elders. So Charles, Charlie, Chuck? Which do you prefer?" He like this tall man and it was obvious that his daughter really liked him. He was the first guy she'd brought home since her freshman year in college. What a disaster that kid had been!
"Chuck, sir. I answer to almost anything anymore but Chuck works best." Tony Rico was tall, broad and about 60 years old. And it was obvious that Deena was his 'baby girl' and someone like Chuck brought up the defense mechanisms automatically.
"So you work directly for Diane, huh? Watch her, Chuck. She's meaner than a pissed-off rat by nature and worse if she doesn't get her way. I know that from experience. Still, she's a military strategist and politician and plays the game well in a man's world. Always keep that in mind. She'll spend you like loose change if she has to but always with the best of intentions." He saw Chuck's eyes narrow and then he slowly nodded his head. This 'boy' knew from experience what happens when she's thwarted.
"I'll keep that in mind. The General and I have had an interesting relationship these past 3 years. Like the Chinese curse, 'May you live in interesting times' interesting."
The elder Rico clapped Chuck on the back and laughed. "You'll do, Chuck, you'll do. Now, let's slip inside and steal some beer from the refrigerator while Deena goes in and prepares her mother for the good news."
"Good news?"
"Yeah. You can stay in the house. Not like the last butt hole she brought home. Tattoos, long hair and a ring in his fucking eyebrow! Disgusting. And I let her know it, too. He found himself a motel room. So, let's get the beer and we can swap lies."
"Daddy! He wasn't all that bad and I told you about him before I brought him home."
"Yeah, but you forgot to describe him, baby girl. Now, scoot! We'll be on the sun porch getting drunk before your sisters arrive. Chuck, you got to be drunk to put up with her sisters. Like geese. They sound just like a gaggle of geese."
On the Road to FT Bragg
6 Days Later
Chuck's stitches had been removed the previous morning and they'd headed up to jump training at FT Bragg with Deena driving and Chuck napping as a defense measure because she drove way over the speed limit.
Chuck had enjoyed his time with the Rico family. Deena's three sisters were all married to servicemen. Her younger brother was at the Air Force Academy and her older brother was a platoon leader in Iraq. They did sound like geese when they all got together and prattled on about things. Tony had been right.
"Deena, what is it with girl spies. You all speed. Walker used to hit triple digits on the interstate and drove like a banshee. Is it a perquisite to girl spy school?"
"No, but it helps. Maybe they'll let you take the driver's course some time. Now, go back to sleep, baby, and let momma drive.
The 17-hour trip took 13 hours and that was only because they stopped to eat.
"See Chuck, I told you Daddy could grease our way past all the B.S. and you didn't believe me. Well, say something."
"OK, you were right, Ms. Drake. As always. Your dad taught me that, too."
"Bite me, Chuck."
"Later."
FT Bragg, NC
Special Warfare Center
When Chuck registered at the motel desk he got the strangest look from the clerk on duty when he asked if he had a room with two double beds.
"Nope. Most people who stay here are visiting soldiers and believe you me they do not need two double beds so no, sir, don't have any."
Chuck sighed and agreed to a single with a king-sized bed. Maybe if he kept enough distance between them…
They reported in to the Staff Duty NCO who placed a phone call and a burly Sergeant Major wearing a green beret met them before they had a chance to draw their equipment.
"So you're Tony's little girl? Last time I saw you was in '93. So how's the old man doing? Still complaining about everything?"
The entire process had been 'greased' and instead of standing around waiting to be in-processed their packets were taken and completed while Chuck was fitted out with BDUs, boots and TA-50 gear. By 2pm he'd already completed several 'blocks of instruction' and was scheduled for his first jump in 30 minutes.
Over Normandy Drop Zone
FT Bragg, NC
The jumpmaster screamed in Chuck's ear to 'stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door' even though Chuck was the only jumper. Some things were tradition and were not to be flaunted. When the pilot toggled the jump status light to green for 'GO' he went.
Two hours later he did it again.
Ninety minutes later he repeated his actions from a lower altitude jumping only the reserve to simulate a 'main chute deployment malfunction'. He landed badly, shook it off and gathered his chute into the bag and waited on his pickup.
Three hours after that he had his first and only 'night jump' in the waning light of the day. It was dusk when he 'egressed the aircraft' but dark as a banker's heart when he landed. Deena was in the jeep that met him as he bundled the heavy nylon into a bag provided for the purpose. By 10pm Charles Drake, NSA was a jump-certified agent-in-training. His reward was a toe-curling kiss from the missus.
When the jeep dropped them off at the car park where they'd left the pool car, Deena broached dinner. She was starved since the last meal she'd had was breakfast and she lost that to nerves when Chuck made his first jump.
"What do you feel like having for dinner, Chuck? Ribs, steak, fish? Lots of choices here in Fayetteville."
"You choose. You're the one who's always right. You choose. Just nowhere I have to get all dressed up. I'm in a grunge mood, OK?"
They pulled into the motel lot and Chuck was shedding dirty and sweat-soaked BDUs and Deena trudged along behind him picking things up.
"Fine. I'll pick…Ribs, fries and beer."
"You're going to be so fat some day, Deena." Chuck was in the shower already half clean when the ice bucket full of cold water was dumped over the curtain.
"I know where you sleep at night, Rico. You are so going to pay for that!" Actually he didn't mind the cold water. It took his mind of his partner who was probably standing naked outside the shower curtain waiting impatiently for her turn.
"Chuck, hurry up. I stink and I should have gone first because I'm a girl."
He mumbled under his breath "Yeah, like I could ever forget that…"
"What was that, Charles? Speak up. Sound off like you got a pair." She'd been listening to those damned drill sergeants marching recruits while he went through the 12-foot tower review. He'd heard it too and thought it was funny because all the trainees for airborne in that group were women. He laughed.
"What's so funny, Chuck?"
"Those trainees being yelled at were all women. They 'ain't got no pair'." He laughed and that was his mistake. She pulled back the shower curtain and he saw she was naked and his mouth hung open and then closed when she said innocently "Maybe he meant a pair of these? Whatcha think there, Chuckles? Now, out, trainee Drake and let the experienced agent lose her stink then we eat."
He walked into the bedroom and yelled "Deena Rico, would you please stop doing that. I am only human, y'know. Now hustle and let's get going. I'm hungry." 'And now I need another shower – a cold one. I will resist. I will not submit. I will resist.' He repeated what was fast becoming a prayer spoken to himself and hopefully overheard by some Higher Power. God but she was beautiful and he was, after all, a guy.
FT Bragg, NC
Escape and Evasion Exercise
Three burly Green Berets stopped Deena Rico at the entrance to the briefing building. The smallest of the trio smiled and apologized but informed her that only 'participants' in the exercise were allowed beyond that point. Chuck just smiled and told her he'd see her later and followed his instructor into the building.
"Now listen up, troop, I'm his partner and my orders are to go where he goes. Now, step aside before someone gets hurt." The larger Green Beret laughed at her and nudged his partner. "Oh, dear. I'm frightened." He laughed again but stopped when Deena stuck a 9mm Beretta in his crotch and said 'Move it or lose 'em. I got orders."
The smaller Green Beret grinned and said, "I'll go get the boss. It's up to him." He understood orders.
He returned accompanied by a short major with a bad attitude. "I don't care if you're the Queen of England, orders here are that Drake goes through the course, not Drake and his babysitter. He makes it on his own, Agent Rico, or not at all. Besides, what can possibly happen to him in the middle of a US Army exercise area?"
Deena snorted and then laughed. "Major, if only you knew. I guess I'll have to appeal to a higher authority in order to comply with my orders." She took out a cell and speed-dialed General Beckman. She got his Chief of Staff who said he understood her predicament but could do nothing about it and she should 'stand down' and await his return. He also reiterated the Major's comment about 'what could happen…?'
The instructor carried the plastic bin of 'contraband' items not permitted to be carried on the exercise and shook his head as he returned them to Drake's partner.
"Agent, here are the contraband items he was carrying. You can return them to him when he returns day after tomorrow…or sooner if he's caught and cracks. Only had three agents every elude capture and they were all CIA not NSA so be here Wednesday morning bright and early to retrieve him. He sure did carry an arsenal."
Rico took the bin and looked through the contents. 9mm pistol, silencer and 3 spare magazines, belt knife, a thin dive knife given to him by Master Chief Madison as a graduation present and the enemy dive knife he'd 'carried' in his thigh until it was removed in the dispensary. There also was his newly issued cell phone and his wallet.
She glanced up and watched the Blackhawk helicopter carrying her partner head off to the interior of the FT Bragg Military Reservation. She felt sick to her stomach that he was going alone.
Her cell rang twenty minutes later and she answered professionally. "Rico, secure but in public."
"Beckman. My Chief was wrong, Agent. Drake goes nowhere alone. Hand the phone to the Major and I'll settle this now."
"Ma'am, he's already departed for the exercise area. His Blackhawk left 20 minutes ago."
"Well then, what's done is done. Apparently the people there interpreted their orders instead of following them. Contact me when he's either apprehended or evacuated. He's a trouble magnet, Deena, and I don't doubt for one minute he'll be caught, probably after falling from a tree or something equally preposterous. Well, at least this time Fulcrum and the Ring are in the dark."
Hotel Bienvenu
Lisbon, Portugal
"Daniel, stay on your side of the bed. I told you to get a double but you had to have your way so get this through your head, I'm not going to have sex with you. I'm done with it. I told you that back in Burbank. I lost any interest in making love when I lost who I loved. So for your own safety, stay on your side of the bed…the far side."
And to emphasize her commitment, she placed one of her throwing knives under her pillow beside her 9mm.
A/N: I may just post the thrilling conclusion and be done with all this writing. I'm getting too old for this.
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