Don't own Chuck
The communications station was set up in the master bedroom with the equipment Casey brought with him. They connected using Miles' Sat dish for his television to create a secure direct link with Langley through a geostationary satellite overhead. Dawn was breaking on a new day when Sarah and Mary walked in. Casey was already briefing the General about what had happened and was almost finished.
"So there you have it. Agent McCord was compromised by Frank and Hydra. He's currently handcuffed in the bathroom, a little dinged up but he still has a pulse and can stand trial."
"I'm thinking more about taking him to a dark site and doing some extraordinary rendition... Oh Agent Carmichael, Sarah and Mary," said the General are they walked into the room. "Nice that you could make the briefing."
"What the..." Sarah started to say but Mary took her hand and squeezed. "What's going on with Chuck and why isn't anyone answering my calls? Is everything okay? I thought Kathleen was supposed to be with him?"
"I can't answer about Mrs. McHugh. Chuck is in LRMC waiting for the antitoxin from MI6. They ran into some difficulties synthesizing the antidote due to equipment failures but I've been assured by Sir Reginald that all efforts are being made."
"What does Dr. Dreyfus say about Chuck's condition? Is he still stable," asked Sarah as Mary put her hand on her shoulder.
"There was a problem with Chuck and the sedative," said the General trying to be sensitive. Realizing it wouldn't take much to set Sarah off. "The Doctor was having to continual up the dosages to get the same effect but he has devised a new protocol which seems to have eliminated that necessity through fear management."
"I don't like the idea of Chuck being treated like a laboratory rat for the doctor's experiments. This new protocol had better yield results or the Doctor and I are going to have a discussion about new protocols. My old ones work just fine, you can ask Miles if you doubt that."
"Agent Carmichael..."
"General Beckman, now that we've gotten titles and names out of the way. You tell the Doctor, I don't want Chuck experimented on and whatever he decides there will be ramifications and consequences."
"You have to hand it to Chuck even when he was insubordinate he was nice about it..." Sarah cut the General off again.
"I'm not Chuck..."
"Sarah stow it," said Casey. "The General's doing her job like the rest of us. You aren't helping Chuck like this. General, we think that Agent McCord was planning to move against the Ambassador today but he's tied up at the moment in the bathroom."
"I'll go over to State and try to get them to put the embassy and the Ambassador on lock down. However, judging from the wind direction these days I wouldn't be so hopeful. They're most likely going to say this is just one of the many plots and you've eliminated the threat."
"Oh crap, did we?" said Sarah as she interrupted the briefing. The General definitely thought some of Chuck had rubbed off on her. "Lieutenant, didn't your guys find another phone?"
"Yeah, we found it in here when we tossed the room. I gave it to the Colonel," he said looking over at John. He pulled it out.
"Here it is," he said as he passed it to her. "We figured it was a burner phone he used to communicate with Frank and his Hydra contacts."
"But Miles used his own phone to call Frank with remember. What if... yes here there's photos of the Ambassador that was sent to this number. General, you need to track down who this number belongs to ASAP. Miles wasn't operating alone he was in collusion with someone who is going to carry out the attack."
"Give it to me," said the Major. He wrote down the number and read it back to her. "Hold the line and I'll get right back to you."
"What are you thinking? Frank has a cohort somewhere with a contract to take the Ambassador out? Why wouldn't he do it himself, unless it has to look like an accident and McCord was afraid he'd get caught so he arranged it when he'd have an alibi?"
"Diane," said Mary. "You're overlooking the fact that Mile is the RSO. One of his jobs it to oversee the personal security of the Ambassador. The more diabolical play would be madman shots Ambassador dead then wounds Miles who kills madman. Ambassador is dead. Miles is a hero and the gunner is dead and can't talk. Miles advances his career and Hydra has an asset deep within the State Department."
"You're right diabolical, but the smart play," said the General as the Major came running back into the room.
"The phone is a burner, so no registered name. It was part of a shipment of phones that went missing in Turkey a week ago. However, it's still on I was able to ping it at a coffee shop close to the Mineral Baths then it went dead."
"Who takes a phone to a bathhouse," said Morgan as everyone looked at him. "Not that I've ever been to one but I hear the messages are relaxing. Hey guys we're forgetting something what would Chuck do?"
"Troll pipe down," said Casey. "Adults are talking. If you haven't noticed Chuck isn't here. Sorry Sarah, but we were doing perfectly fine before the intersect and I think we can do perfectly fine now."
"Really, you know a killer is going to whack the Ambassador who's sitting in a coffee shop but you don't know who he or she is or when or where he or she's going to do the whacking sounds like everything is perfectly fine."
"So Troll let's hear what you have to say. Go head mister big mouth shoot, we all want to hear what would Chuck do?"
"He'd check Miles' schedule off his computer then hack the embassy computer and find out the Ambassador's schedule and see where they intersect, sorry for the pun."
"Morgan that's not bad, that's not a half bad plan," said Sarah. "Way to go Morgan looks like some of Chuck's rubbed off on you."
"Yeah, yeah nice plan but the hacker on our team is in Germany in a coma. General, I don't suppose you could ask State for the Ambassador's schedule."
"They probably wouldn't even give me a paperclip right now with the way they feel. You could go ask Miles for the passwords politely Colonel. I'll work from here while you work from your end. Beckman out."
"I'll come with you and give you a hand," said Sarah as she started for the bathroom but Casey block the door.
"No, I've got this. I need for him to be able to talk," said Casey as he opened the door while keeping Sarah out then he turned to go in. "Gez, he's gone."
"That's impossible I cuffed him tight there's no way he was going to break his thumbs to get out of that," said Sarah as pushed by looking inside then she saw what Casey meant. Miles had taken the easy way out. "Looks like cyanide. Crap now what?"
"I hope there's another bathroom," said Morgan. "Wait guys first of all let's see if we even need a password." Morgan switched on Miles' IPad and it came straight on then he clicked on agenda. "There I've got his schedule for the day. Looks like he wrote down everything, I can't believe this he even scheduled 'take out trash' talking about OCDC."
"There's too much here for us to cover in the time we've got. We need the Ambassador's schedule from the Embassy."
"Maybe not," said Sarah. "If they want this guy to appear like a crazed loner then he should be able to gain access to the schedule without hacking. Morgan, bring up the Embassy website check to see if the Ambassador is doing something special today."
"I've got two things that overlap one is she's laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier which is in front of Sveta Sofia Church and she's going this morning to the Mineral Baths to cut the ribbon on an exhibition of young American Bulgarian artists."
"The ping didn't die. The phone was turned off because the hit was about to go down. The killer's getting into position," said Sarah as everyone grabbed gear.
"Let's not forget this," said Morgan as he grabbed Miles' burner phone. He thought about using the bathroom but when he looked inside he changed his mind.
"Come on we need to go," yelled Casey as he hustled everyone out the door and into the ventilate van.
"You have to admit it's a little airy."
"Shut up Troll or you can ride on the hood. I bet it gets really airy out there."
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Back in Ramstein, Kat was having her own difficulties her phone died and she didn't have a charger so she went over to the base PX to get a new one. But she found she need a military ID to make purchases so she went out in town and after stopping anyone that looked like they might speak English she was directed to a phone store. Finally she was able to get what she needed. The shop assistant spoke perfect English and sold her what she wanted.
"Okay now I need to get back to the hospital," she said to herself then she headed back but when she walked back on post the guard stopped her.
"Identification Bitte," said the guard so she handed the man her passport. He went inside a guard house and came back.
"I'm sorry but you're not on the base access. You need to go over to pass and Identification so they can call and have someone escort you on post."
"I came in with a patient who's being treated in the hospital," said Kat but the Guard wouldn't budge and directed her over to the building next to the gate. She walked over there to begin the second part of her odyssey.
Walking up to a thick glass window she was waved by a man on the inside to come up. He mumbled something but the intercom didn't work well and the glass was too thick to hear so she had to lean close.
"I need to go see a patient who's being treated in the LRMC. His name is Charles Carmichael we flew in together last night. I'm supposed to be watching him for a friend."
The man held up a finger indicating one minute then he called. She couldn't hear a word he was saying other than there was a lot of head bobbing.
"I'm sorry they say they don't have anyone by that name at the hospital and no patient was admitted last night. Are you sure you've got the right hospital?"
"Gez, I'm not crazy, of course I do. Listen, have them page a Dr. Leo Dreyfus he's Chuck's Doctor he'll vouch for me." The man went to his computer terminal and began typing then came back.
"Lady there's not Dr. Dreyfus, Leo or whatever stationed here. If you don't go away I'm going to have to call the local police and have you arrested."
"Crap I know he's not stationed here. I told you we came in on a C-130 last night with a patient, Charles Carmichael from the Sixth Fleet Flag ship the Mount Whitney in the Black Sea. Call someone in charge and verify what I just said or I swear the next time you look out a glass window you'll see polar bears."
"What's going on," asked the Security Officer as he was walking around the offices and noticed the woman on camera.
"She says she's here with a patient in LRMC but I called over there and they say he's not there. But she says she and this Doctor flew in with him last night on a C-130 from the Sixth Fleet Flagship but I don't think you can fly a plane off it, can you?"
"No but there was a secret... I can't talk about this with you. Ask her... No buzz her in and let me handle this." Soon Kat was sitting in the security officer's office. He got up and closed the door.
"Would you like a cup of coffee? Ms...?"
"McHugh, Kathleen McHugh my... well I don't know how to qualify him. My partner's name is Colonel John Casey NSA. He's on mission and I was given the task of watching over Chuck, Charles Carmichael that is. It doesn't seem like I've been doing a very good job. But that's about all I can tell you other than his doctor is Dr. Leo Dreyfus and as I tried to explain to your man he's not stationed here but flew in with me."
"Right about that flight, it didn't start from the Mount Whitney but from Romania. I received pass down from my boss the Garrison Commander about a secret flight."
"That would've been us. I'm sorry for the hassle but my phone died and I needed a charger. I couldn't get one in the PX so I had to go in town then I couldn't... well you know the rest."
"Come with me and I'll get you a temporary base access card in Admin. I know you want to get back to the hospital but this will take only a little while I promise. Then I'll drive you straight over to the hospital myself.
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They drove over to the Mineral Baths located in the Gradina Tsentralna Banya behind the Banya Bashi Mosque. Casey already didn't like it as they walked through the park out front. There were tall buildings that lined the bathhouse and any half descent sniper could get a shot off from any of the windows or roofs. The only thing that comforted him was if this was supposed to be a madman he'd probably opt for something up close and personal.
"I wish Chuck was here he'd like this," said Sarah as they approached they walked past the fountains. The water shot out in gentle arcs creating a beautiful silvery transparent image before the steps for the baths which added a visual display to the constant sound of running water. Then the magic atmosphere was broken.
"Look at that mess." What Sarah was referring to was the crowd of people mainly journalists, gawkers and security personnel gathered on the steps. The Bulgarian President made a short speech then passed it over to the American ambassador.
"Look alive," said Casey as he had everyone fan out. "This could be it so stay sharp and Grimes if you see anything find one of us don't that action." He was already regretting not having him wait in the van.
"As I cut this ribbon let it symbolically open a bridge between our nations. A thoroughfare for democracy and freedom leading us together into the new century," said the Ambassador to a hearty round of applause.
"At the Ambassador's six," radioed Casey. "There's someone coming up fast. I see something shiny in his hand it could be a knife. Someone take him out. Stop him!"
"I got him," radioed Morgan as he moved into place to intercept.
"I correct myself someone other than Grimes take him out," radioed Casey but Morgan was tracking his target.
"Time for the Cobra to do his thing," said Morgan as he took a glass of water then accidently spilt it in front of the man then as he walk by Morgan bumped into him making him slip and fall. The crowd let out a loud sigh as the man rolled over with scissors stuck in his chest.
"Wow Dude, your mother never told you not to run with sharp objects in your hand." The man had been bringing the scissors for the Ambassador to cut the ribbon with.
"Well that was a bust John. Think we've got the wrong location," radioed Mary as she followed the crowd inside grabbing a canapé as a tray passed in front of her.
"I don't know let's stay as long as the Ambassador does then if nothing happens we can regroup and check out the new location. Grimes try not to kill anyone else unless they deserve to be killed."
"Don't blame that one me, you ordered the Cobra in," radioed Morgan. He heard Casey grunt in his earbud. "You know I really wasn't into mineral water all that much but this is pretty good stuff. John, did you know you're supposed to drink ten glasses of water a day?"
"Grimes you idiot, don't clutter the radio with useless chatter and as an oh by the way, you do know mineral water is also a diuretic."
Alex walked around the reception with Mary and Sarah; they took turns getting close to the Ambassador. Women would seem less threatening than men so the security personnel present wouldn't go into lock down while Casey, his men and SEALs hung in the back observing.
"Alex, can you check on the Troll he's by the buffet line," said Casey as he walked up to her. "It looks like he's doing the Duck dance and starting to draw attention."
"His name is Morgan, Dad and yes, I'll go check on him. By the way that accident before was on you. Morgan was just following your orders," said Alex as she went over to Morgan.
"Hey have you tried the caviar canapé they taste a little fishy," said Morgan as he stood with his legs crossed and his face red.
"You look like Sam when I ask if she needs to go to the bathroom and she says no but really means yes. We both know how that ends. Why didn't you go before we left?"
"I couldn't, not with Miles in there looking at me. That glassy look and his stare, no way could I perform under pressure like that."
"Morgan, he was dead what could he do? You're just being silly now go there are bathrooms over there before you have an oopsie at your age. Then my Dad really won't every let you live it down."
"Okay but have you seen the Walking Dead? You go use the bathroom them that's it," said Morgan as Alex shook her head. "Okay I'm going."
Morgan walked into the bathroom even in there he could hear the sound of running water. He ran inside one of the stalls and the door closed behind him.
"Aaah," relief but as he was inside he heard someone come in. Whoever it was he sounded like he was in a panic.
"Listen, he's not here I tell you. I looked everywhere for him and he's not here. What do you want me to do? Do I go ahead? He was supposed to have my back and get me out of here. ... Okay you're right Frank he could be late, I'll try him on the other phone. Hey I've got to go," said the man realizing he'd forgotten to check the bathroom to see if it was clear then he heard Morgan flush.
"Hey dude they ought to put a label on the bottle or something," said Morgan as the man gave him a look. "You know like they do on cigarettes. The Surgeon General warns that drinking too much mineral water can cause you to produce... I don't know, water?"
"I really need to make a private phone call," said the man looking over Morgan. He seemed harmless enough.
"Oh I get the hint. Just let me wash my hands then I'll go," said Morgan as he started to wash them. But the Man was really impatient.
"No, I really need for you to leave," said the man as he begun to get even more nervous than what he already was.
"Sure," said Morgan as he dropped water on the bathroom floor trying to dry his hands but the man was rushing him. "I don't know about you but these hot air hand dryers are just useless. They take forever and never really dry your hands."
"I really don't care," said the man as he growled. Morgan was about to tell him that he sounded like Casey when a series of events happened.
First the man pulled out a phone and dialed a number. Miles' burner phone began to ring in Morgan's backpack. The man reached into his jacket to pull out a suppressed Glock while Morgan dropped into the Morgan. The man stepped forward hitting the wet spot on the floor from the water Morgan tracked while washing his hands and the man slipped. His feet went up in the air as he fell backwards head first. There was a dull thud as the man's head hit, cracking his skull and he discharged a round into the overhead.
"Grimes, Morgan talk to me" radioed Casey as he and the rest recognized the sound they heard. Everyone converged on the bathroom going inside.
"Wow, look out for the little guy," said the Lieutenant. "This makes two hits in one day and it's not even lunchtime yet."
"Don't encourage him," said Casey. "Gez, Grimes I was hoping to take him alive so we could interrogate him."
"Morgan, are you all right," said Alex as she kissed him then punched him. "What were you thinking? You were supposed to call for backup. Don't start acting like Chuck." Everyone got silent as Sarah turned around and walked out.
"Okay let's clean up in here," said Casey as he grabbed the man's phone and handed the Lieutenant the Glock. "Ladies, I suggest you leave before you have some explaining to do like why you're in the little boy's room. Let's put him in a stall then lock it."
Mary walked out to find Sarah standing watching the Ambassador and the President mingle among the guests oblivious to what almost happened.
"You know Alex didn't mean anything by what she said," said Mary as she walked up behind her. "I know some times it makes you want to scream. They go on with their lives without knowing the sacrifice we go through to protect them." But before Sarah could answer Casey came looking for her.
"Sarah, it's for you," said Casey. He handed her Miles' burner phone. "It's Frank and he wants to talk to you."
