A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you had a good week and fortunately things appear to be OK with the site. Now, we go deeper into what pretending to be Hans Lichtenstein entails for Chuck, plus a little twist I decided to throw in, just for kicks.
One more time, thank you for your very kind words and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too.
Good thing Bryce is great at this finance and business administration thing, Chuck thought as he closed another file. Right now he was in Lichtenstein's spacious penthouse apartment in Munich. The trip from Basel had been easy to arrange, and to all intents and purposes Hans Lichtenstein was following the doctor's advice by taking it easy for a few days. Of course, he was bringing himself up to speed with the day to day routines of Lichtenstein Enterprises. A surprising number the mark's ventures were legitimate business deals, which Zarnow had helpfully put in a separate pile. Although the team was first and foremost interested in the shady undertakings, Chuck still had to appear knowledgeable of everything and be able to make important decisions hence the need to study all files diligently.
"I think we're done for the day, Chuck," Bryce told him.
"About time," he replied. "I think I can't stand to look at another graph. Did we at least learn something useful?"
Casey butted in on the conversation. "Nope. There is nothing in those files that we don't know already."
"Then what the hell am I doing here?"
"Listen Chuck," Sarah said, "we were aware of Lichtenstein's involvement only because someone on the other end of those deals screwed up and we got wind of it. This is how we got on to him in the first place. Interesting as it all is, we need to go after the major players, the ones too good to make elementary mistakes."
"And this is where I come in," Chuck said.
"And this is where you come in," Sarah confirmed.
Chuck got up from behind the desk in the spacious study and went to the kitchen to refill his coffee cup. Since he didn't have to be at the office yet, he was casually dressed in jeans and a shirt. He kept up a running commentary through his watch communicator, mentioning that he was going to try and find all the files on the illegal deals as soon as he got the chance. It was safe to talk to the others from the penthouse, as he'd let Casey in to do a full sweep for listening devices the first night he'd been there.
"Um, Sarah, there is something else you should know. I instructed Frau Apfelbaum to publish an ad for a new personal pilot for me."
"We know, Chuck."
"How stupid of me. Of course you know, since I'm always wired."
"Still, it's nice of you to remind us."
"Just make sure you have your references in order. I really want to hire you instead of Casey."
"Why's that? You can tell me, he just went to check in with the bosses."
"I'm still learning to decipher the unique way he sometimes uses to communicate," Chuck said diplomatically, referring to the older man's grunts. "I don't have that problem with you."
Sarah actually laughed. "Thank you, Chuck. I admit I also want to be the one hired. I got you into this, so I should be the one watching your back."
"Speaking of your pending application, what's your cover going to be?"
"Oh, I think I'll be keeping that as a surprise," she replied playfully.
Bryce and Jill exchanged a meaningful look. They'd never seen Sarah Walker so excited about going undercover. This was definitely something to talk about between them later.
-o-
"This Frau Apfelbaum may be a dragon lady, but she's efficient," Bryce remarked. Over the past few hours ads had been popping up all over specialist sites, Craigslist, etc, letting people know that Lichtenstein Enterprises were looking to hire a pilot on a short notice.
Jill, passing behind him on her way to the kitchen, glanced at the computer screen. "The sooner the better," she said and went on to leave a tray with a bunch of empty coffee cups in the sink.
Bryce shrugged and went to find Sarah and Casey. The team had been lucky enough to find a reasonably priced two-level, four bedroom loft for rent not very far from Lichtenstein's outrageously expensive penthouse apartment. He knocked on Casey's door first and informed the older man of the latest developments. Regardless of what they knew about Lichtenstein's personnel hiring process, both he and Sarah were going to apply for the job. After giving Casey the heads up, Bryce went to tell Sarah. He knocked and entered after getting permission. He found her sitting at the dresser, putting the finishing touches on her resume.
"Hey," she said, looking up at her partner.
"The game is on," he said. "The ad is online. Now all you and Casey have to do is apply."
"I'll get right on it," she assured him.
"For what it's worth, I too want you to take the job," Bryce told her. "I know you'll be looking after Chuck."
"Like I said, I'm the one who got him into this mess. It's only fair that I be the one to keep him safe. He's doing great by himself, though."
"If this were a movie, I bet he'd end up being nominated for an Academy Award," Bryce chuckled.
It broke the seriousness of the conversation as Sarah laughed as well.
-o-
The sleek Mercedes SLK AMG Blackbird's tires screeched as Chuck cranked it into a tight turn at the entrance of the Lichtenstein Enterprises building underground parking garage. Seconds later, he was yanking at the parking brake to bring the car to a skidding stop at his personal spot.
"Show time," he said to himself in the rear view mirror just before he checked his tie and opened the gull wing door to get out. Taking the executive elevator, he was in his office within minutes to find Frau Apfelbaum waiting for him.
"Guten Morgen, Herr Lichtenstein, wie geht's?"
"Sehr gut, Frau Apfelbaum, und dir?"
"I'm just fine, thank you. We missed you here, sir."
"Thank you. What do you have for me today?"
"I got a call from Herr Von Vogel, he said he's happy you are better and wishes you all the best. He also said that he'll be in Munich in a few days and wants to talk to you about a new business venture. He didn't elaborate though."
"I see, thank you. I suppose everything else I need to look at is waiting on my desk as usual, correct?"
"Correct, Herr Lichtenstein. Would you like me to get you anything?"
"Not right now, thank you. By the way, how's it going with Jurgen's replacement?"
"We have received a number of applications already. They are in the appropriate folder on your desk should you wish to review them."
"Of course. I'll let you know which ones I'll shortlist. Then you can invite them for an interview. I want this one to be over as soon as possible."
"As you wish. I'll send a thank you message to Herr Von Vogel and make arrangements for the meeting he wants."
"Chuck," Sarah's voice came into the earpiece he was wearing. "We looked up this Von Vogel character. We don't have anything on him, so it's up to you to figure out if his association with Lichtenstein is legitimate or not. In any case, he's mentioned as having a pet Bengal tiger. You are allergic to cats, so make sure you meet up with him somewhere he cannot bring it along."
"You do that, Frau Apfelbaum. If you'll excuse me, I have some work to do. Also, you may remind Dr. Zarnow and Herr Panzer that they are still on paid leave and I'll call them only if something requires their attention."
"You'll need someone to do the security vetting of the pilots you shortlist," she pointed out.
"Mauser is here, isn't he? He can take care of it himself without bothering Hugo. Just let him know he's going to have an extra task to work on."
Helga Apfelbaum just nodded. She was good at her job and had everything ready for her boss. Chuck went into the lavishly furnished office, shutting the door behind him. Sitting in the comfortable high backed office chair, he saw with satisfaction that the computer was on and checked to confirm that the webcam was off. The first order of business was to sort through the piles of file folders covering the surface of the massive desk. He placed the stack of employment applications closest to him and then proceeded to see what the rest were about. All files in the second stack appeared to be about Lichtenstein's above board dealings. Chuck hit paydirt with the last stack. He recognized a couple of names from the progress reports Zarnow had submitted the other day. Skimming through them, he simultaneously used his custom tweaked smart phone to take pictures of the documents and send them to the others for analysis.
"Well, Von Vogel is apparently a bad guy," he whispered into his watch communicator after finding the man's name in one of the shady deals folders.
"Go on," Casey urged him impatiently. "You're doing great so far, so let's see what else we can uncover."
"Easy, big guy. We have until closing time. I won't be disturbed unless it's an emergency."
Just then he remembered to inform the others of something else as well. "Hmmm."
"What?" Bryce asked.
"The dragon lady must have Lichtenstein's password. The computer is on. Don't worry about the cover, I checked the webcam and it's off."
"We'll need to copy the files in the hard drive," Sarah said.
"I'll take care of it. In the meantime, I'll see if I can hack the system and retrieve his password, so I won't appear completely clueless if I ever have to use it."
"The Great Stanford Hack-Off comes to mind," Bryce mused.
"The what now?" Casey asked.
Bryce took it upon himself to explain, since he knew Chuck needed to talk to them as little as possible, so as to minimize the risk of being overheard. "Some guy boasted about having developed an unbeatable firewall and challenged a number of guys known in the school community as good hackers to try and overcome it. It took Chuck all of two hours to bypass it. He even provided proof. Needless to say, the guy was humbled."
"Carmichael is a hacker?"
"He has the skills. But the Piranha, that's his handle by the way, never did anything illegal."
"And if he'd done, even the NSA wouldn't have been able to catch him," Jill added.
"Guys, I gotta go," Chuck whispered urgently, hearing a knock on his office door. "Come in," he called out in German.
It was Helga Apfelbaum. "Herr Lichtenstein, the foreman of the construction crew at the Hamburg docks just called."
"The Hamburg docks?" Chuck echoed.
"Yes, we won a contract to construct a new building there last month. Don't you remember?"
"Frankly, no. When I got sick, I apparently hit my head when I lost consciousness and fell, plus I was warned by the doctors that the coma I was in may have affected parts of my memory. This falls under that category, I suppose. Is there anything wrong in Hamburg?"
"There is going to be a delay in the project. While they were digging for the foundation they found an old unexploded bomb dating back to the war."
"This is inconvenient. I suppose the client will show understanding for the delay though."
"The authorities are evacuating a large area as we speak. There will be no problems with the deadlines, unless you want to authorize overtime for the work crews."
"No one will ever tell that Hans Lichtenstein was late in delivering on his contracts. Prepare the necessary documents and bring them to me."
"They are all here, sir," she said and handled him a folder, obviously proud of her ability to anticipate her boss' orders and act accordingly in advance.
Chuck used the Intersect to call up the ability to perfectly replicate Lichtenstein's signature and after reading the documents signed them with a flourish. "I have a lot to catch up on. See to that I am not disturbed unless it's another emergency, please."
"Of course, Herr Lichtenstein."
When his assistant left, Chuck busied himself with compiling a short list for the pilot selection process and read through a few more files. He left earlier than Lichtenstein used to, but not a soul raised an eyebrow, knowing that their boss was following doctors' orders.
Chuck drove back to the penthouse, where the first thing he did was kick off his – Hans' – shoes. They were close to his size, but they were a little tight. He made a mental note to ask his team to obtain replacements, if possible. He then proceeded to order a pizza from Lichtenstein's favorite Italian restaurant.
-o-
"So far so good," Bryce said, while he and Jill were relaxing in their room. "Chuck has really sold it."
"Are you going to work on preparing tomorrow's business brief for Chuck?"
"It can wait a little," he replied as he changed into a set of sweats.
"Chuck and Sarah are great together," Jill remarked, out of the blue.
"Yes, I don't think we could pull this off so well. Even people who know Lichtenstein were fooled."
"They do very well on a professional level," Jill agreed. "They even finish each other's sentences all the time. But they also have this unique chemistry between them."
"Hold on," Bryce said and sat up straight from his reclining position on the couch. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"If you think I mean they are a match made in heaven, yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about."
Bryce was incredulous. "You want to play matchmaker?"
Undeterred, Jill plowed on ahead. "Do you know why Chuck's previous relationships failed?"
"I have a feeling you are about to tell me."
"Yes and I'm gonna put it in guy-friendly terms. Chuck is, say, a Mustang. He needs a Corvette... or a Porsche. Lou and Hannah were good girls, but, let's face it, they were subcompacts trying to keep up with a sports car. Sarah, on the other hand, is everything a guy like Chuck needs and nothing less."
"Well, he does like her and I can tell she likes him back. All the time we've been working together, I've never seen her enjoying herself while on the job the way she's doing on this mission."
"So, what do you think? Should we become their facilitators?" She wagged her eyebrows at him.
"Why not?" He grabbed her, ignoring her yelp as he pulled her on his lap. "And the car analogy thing was really hot."
"I could have used a biochemistry example, but I don't think you'd have appreciated it," she laughed.
He just kissed her.
"Since you agree, how are we going to do it?"
"I think for the moment we could continue to regale Sarah with stories from Stanford. I noticed she's interested to learn more about Chuck," Bryce replied.
"And since she's met Ellie and Devon, we could tell her even more."
"Exactly. This way she'll get to be more familiar with Chuck and be even more at ease around him. Naturally, we'll sing the man's praises every chance we get."
"Oh, I like this. But let's not overdo it and tip our hand. Carina Miller once told me that Sarah gets pretty defensive every time she tries to set her up with acquaintances of hers, claiming she can take care of her love life herself." Jill and Bryce knew Carina from an old mission involving the CAT Squad among others.
"Duly noted," Bryce agreed. "I'll try and steer Chuck in the right direction as well, although the way I see it he won't be needing much convincing. There is one more thing though: Should we get Miller in on this?"
"Not yet," Jill shook her head. "Carina means well, but she'll want to push them too far too soon. I for one don't want to ruin it for Chuck and Sarah. We'll involve her when the deal is about to close."
"Looks like we have a plan, babe," he said happily.
"We have the beginnings of a plan. A good one, if I might add," she replied.
Just then Bryce's phone rang. It was Chuck. "Hey buddy, did anything come up?"
"No, I'm just calling because I'm about to send Ellie an email and I wanted to make sure you haven't sent her one already."
"You are clear to email her."
"Okie-dokie. Bryce, do me a solid and from now on save the emails you send on my behalf in the sent items folder. This way I'll know when you've beaten me to it."
"Sure thing. Is there anything else you want to report?"
"As a matter of fact yes, there is something." Chuck paused and went out to the balcony. "I have a slight wardrobe problem."
"Explain," Bryce requested.
"His clothes fit perfectly, but his shoes are mostly half a size too small for me. It's not much of an issue with the sneakers, but with the dress shoes and boots it's rather uncomfortable."
"I'll talk to the others and see what I can do to obtain replacements for you, pal."
"Thanks. I'll send you photos of the shoe section of my closet. Oh, it's probably overkill, but please see if you can change the labels and tags to show his size and not mine… just in case anyone who knows him happens to look at them."
"We'll talk to Casey about it. Good thinking there, too."
"After all the trouble we went to, it would be a shame to have the mission blown because of an insignificant little detail."
"About the mission... how's it coming?"
"I gave Helga the short list I compiled for the pilot interviews. Both Sarah and Casey are included... or should I say Ms. Anderson and Mr. Coburn? Other than that, I'll need to prepare for tomorrow's board meeting."
"I'll get on it," Bryce assured him. "And I'll be with you every step of the way. You'll do fine."
"Hold on, someone's calling on the landline." He kept the line open with Bryce and picked up the cordless phone. "Hello?"
"Herr Lichtenstein, Mauser here. I just finished the security check of those who applied for the pilot job."
"And?" Chuck asked impatiently.
"One of them was fired from an airline for drinking on the job."
"Who was it, man?"
"It was the Englishman, Smythe. I already told Frau Apfelbaum not to invite him for the interview."
Chuck recalled the picture of a ruddy complexioned man with unruly blond hair in his early forties from the employment application. "Good job, thank you. What about the others?"
"They all checked out. The invitations have already been sent, as Frau Apfelbaum tells me."
"Excellent. I'll see you at the office tomorrow. Until then, Mauser."
"See you tomorrow, sir."
When Mauser hung up, Chuck picked up the cell phone again. "You guys heard?"
"Everything," Jill confirmed.
"I'll call you later to go over the specifics for the board meeting," Bryce added.
"OK. Have a good evening everyone." The call over, Chuck activated the email app on his phone and began typing: 'Hi Ellie, it's late afternoon here. I'm getting the hang of the new job faster than I expected. Sarah sends her regards, too. She and I are a great team and the bosses are happy with what we've done so far. I hope that by now you will have received the chocolates I sent you from Switzerland. Say hi to Devon for me, will you?' He pressed send and then composed and fired off a second email, this time to Morgan, telling him hi and asking him how things were going back in Burbank. Since he had time to kill until Bryce called to help him prepare for the board meeting, he sat down on the sinfully comfortable couch and turned on the humongous TV, hoping to find something worthwhile to watch.
-o-
The meeting with the Lichtenstein Enterprises board of directors went even better than Chuck's most sanguine expectations. Part of him even felt guilty for helping the mark's business remain profitable, but, as he rationalized, first of all he was pretending to be the man and secondly it was all about legitimate business deals. Apparently the entire board was in the dark regarding Lichtenstein's more nefarious schemes. And then it was time to interview candidates for the personal pilot position. He'd finished with the first seven, Casey being among them, when Frau Apfelbaum called him on the office intercom. "Frau Anderson is here, Herr Lichtenstein."
"Send her in, please." The door opened and it was all Chuck could do to keep his jaw from dropping wide open. Sarah entered the office, looking amazing in a tailored pantsuit that hugged her form in all the right places and her hair pulled back tightly into a bun. He cleared his throat and switched to English. "Ms. Anderson, welcome. Please, take a seat. Can I offer you anything?"
"I'm good, thank you, Mr. Lichtenstein," she replied in a beautiful Australian accent and took a seat across from him. Chuck knew from her application that she was supposed to be from Sidney Australia, but her acting skills still managed to knock him on his ass.
TO BE CONTINUED