Don't own Chuck
Rebecca was out of position to cover Mei and she knew it. Down on the airport floor was an assassin and he as hunting the Ambassador. She looked down at all the people scurrying about and she had no idea who she was looking for. Recovering the sniper rifle and Ming's radio, she could hear a man below radioing in telling Ming he was clearing shop after shop but there were too many people moving below and she knew time was running out. Suddenly that became all too clear.
"Ming, I've got him," she heard over Ming's radio. "I can see him now in the electronics store. I'm going inside and handle him myself be ready if he makes a break for it then head back to the van."
"Ambassador, you need to get out of there right now," radioed Rebecca. "Don't ask me how but you've been spotted."
"But who," said Mei as he looked at the men who just came inside. "Do you know who it is? There are a lot of people in here and they all look like they could be him. What happened to Sarah?"
"No, I don't and don't panic. You just need to get out of there right now. Exit as quickly as you can and let me try something. Head towards the exit and trust me."
"I hope you know what you're doing," said Shang as he hurried out of the shop and out onto the main floor.
"I do too," she said as she watched Mei leave the electronics shop and walk towards the exit some of the people who had walked in walked back out again.
"Ming take the shot… take it now. Why aren't you shooting? He's got to be in your line of fire now. What's wrong with you?"
"Well, I'd say a lot of things," radioed Rebecca. "Starting with the fact that his body is at room temperature now. You see I punched his e-ticket to hell like I'm about to do to you."
"Who are you? You're the one who's been picking off my people and now you think I'm going to be dumb enough to look up at you so you'll know who I am."
"Well I have to admit the thought had occurred to me, but I figured you might be the bright one in the litter. So how about a deal, I let you walk out of here alive and you forget about the contract. If you stay I will have to take you out."
"You know I can't do that. That would be unprofessional and if the word got out that I backed out of a contact at the first sign of danger... well I might not get very much work. That is if the person who issued this one doesn't take me out for not fulfilling it."
"Then it sounds like we've come to an impasse. You know I could offer you protection and witness protection... even in another country if you like."
"No, I don't think you can afford my lifestyle and I quite like what I do but that brings us back to our conundrum. If I shoot your Ambassador then you'll see me and you will probably try to take me out. But if I don't do anything… well that can't happen."
"You do know there's a third option which you haven't thought about," said Rebecca as she turned the gain up on Ming's radio placing it close to hers causing feedback. There was a very high squeal over the air waves. She watched the floor and saw a man pulled out his earbud rubbing his ear then he looked up at her with terror written on his face.
"Option three is always a killer," she said as she squeezed the trigger. The man's head jerked back and he fell to the floor in a pool of blood. There was a loud scream and people came running to the man.
"Head for the exit and wait inside the doors," radioed Rebecca. "I'll meet you there then we'll drive for the safe house."
"No, I need to get to the Premier."
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A little while before in the Sanitarium, Minister Wang was demanding Ettore deliver to him what he said he could give. There was no more time to wait around and Wang needed what Ettore had promised. He could've kicked himself for believing him but Ettore had been so convincing and he had shown him proof. Now was show time. He'd managed to navigate the dangerous waters of the Cultural Revolution by pointing the finger at other people to seize his piece of the pie. Now he saw an opportunity to take the whole pie and he wanted it.
"Time for talking is over Ettore. You don't seem to understand that I have enemies closing in on me from every side. You should keep in mind that if I go down I won't go down alone," Wang said. Jian heard him from the other side of the room and realized that he wasn't safe either. His horse was tied to Wang's wagon too and if Wang went down so would he.
"Well, we wouldn't want that," said Ettore as he took finished off the last of his scotch then calmly sat down the glass. "Then let's go down to the server room and get these hooked up for the download," he said as he patted his pocket with the glasses inside.
"You mean upload," said Jian. He never really trusted Ettore and after what Chuck had said he was even more sure he didn't trust him.
"Do you know anything about computers," snapped Ettore as he looked at Jian. Jian just looked over at Wang but got no help. "I didn't think so. Well, lucky for you two I do. Now let's go and get this over with."
Somehow Jian didn't like the tone in Ettore's voice but didn't say anything. He'd wait for his turn which wasn't going to be long. They left Ettore's study then headed down to the server room. Inside was Bao standing by with his team ready to assist Ettore.
"Sir, I'm happy to report everything is up and running as you asked for. It wasn't easy but I managed to get it done," said Bao to the Minister and Ettore.
"We'll see about that. You know what they say proof is in the pudding," said Ettore as he attached the glasses then sat down at the console. He looked at the monitor then flashed. It was another big one. His head felt like it was going to split open as he white knuckled the sides of the computer desk. But slowly it went away and he knew what he had to do.
"Go get that American doctor," yelled Jian to one of his men. "She's in detention. Go get her and bring her here right now."
"That will be hard to do," said Chuck as he stepped out of the shadows. "I got her out and by now she's somewhere safe. Ettore, I don't know why I care so much about you but this isn't too late."
"Oh, but it is," said Ettore as the flash passed. He pushed the 'enter' button and the program came active. Lights flashed rapidly on the main frame as an indicator bar appeared on the monitor counting down the percentage of the download.
"Quickly, Bao," said Chuck. "You need to cool down the main frame or it will melt down. Turn up the air condition to the max and pray we don't go into China syndrome... but being in China..."
"Chuck's right," yelled Ettore. "Not about the China syndrome but the AC... Oh, just do it. If you're cold put on a coat. You have to bring the temperatures down so we can complete the download. What's this Chuck? You've decided to help." The indicator bar jumped to twenty percent then thirty as the main frame started to knock and rattle.
"Come on baby hang in there," said Ettore as the indicator went to fifty percent. The lights started to flicker before they went out then the emergency generator kicked in.
"We're at seventy-five percent now. Just hang in there a little more," said Ettore. "Crank up the air conditioning... by pass everything else and feed the emergency power straight to the compressors. You heard me do it or we'll lose everything."
"But we'll be in the dark," said Bao. Ettore shoved him out of his seat then typed on his console doing what he asked Bao to do. The emergency lights went out and the only lighting they had, came from the monitors and the lights on the computer equipment.
"I'm at eight-nine percent... ninety. We're almost there," yelled Ettore like a wild man. Jian looked over at Wang who shrugged his shoulders. Both knew this had to work but both were having serious doubts now.
"Ninety-nine percent," yelled Ettore. "It's alive," he screamed as all the lights went out and they were left in pitch blackness.
"Light idiots... get the lights back on. Ettore, what the hell have you done? I hope for your sake this has worked," ranted Wang in the dark but when the lights came back on Ettore, Chuck and the glasses were gone.
"What the?" said Jian as he went over to where the glasses had been connected and touched the leads as if to make sure they were gone.
"What are you looking at? Mobilize your men and find them. This was obviously some CIA trick," said Wang as he played everything out in his head. "Yes, and that's how we're going to sell this if we have too. This was a CIA trick to steal our secrets... right, remember that. But first we need to find Ettore, he has some explaining to do and a download to complete."
"You mean upload. I hate to be the bearer of bad news," said Bao. "But no one is going to be using this equipment. The download fried the main frame and what you see here right now is just a lot of scrap metal ready for the junkyard."
"Geez, are you sure," said Jian as he looked around the room. "This stuff cost millions... oh I don't like that look. What else is there?"
"Well, from my calculations we fired the main frame back at HQ too and most likely the whole network. The system just wasn't built for this type of download."
"So, what are you telling me exactly? We fried the internet?"
"No, that would be ridiculous," said Bao with a little laugh then he caught the minister's look. "I mean no of course not. We just fried all the government servers. No one will be able to communicate with anyone over the secure net until we can get everything back up which could take days if not weeks. But the good side is... well there's... no there isn't one."
"And we're responsible," asked Wang. Bao nodded his head. Wang pulled out a Colt and shot Bao in the head. He fell backwards on the floor. "Execute the rest of the lab rats then find Chuck and Ettore for me. I want those glasses back."
"You know this is the quietest I think he's ever been," said Jian as he looked down at Bao. "I suppose this folly gets buried in the backyard."
"Don't get cute just do what I ordered you to do," said Wang. "We can still pull this out. Tien needs to die while resisting arrest along with Chuck. We take Ettore then squeeze him like a lemon."
"Now you're talking my kind of language," said Jian as he waved for his men to go. They heard the sound of screams, gunfire then silence. "Lab rats taken care of now for Chuck and Ettore."
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Tien went to meet his friend Henry Woo in the Yuexiu park near the Five Rams statue after he dropped off Alex, Ellie and Morgan at the American consulate. He looked at his watch wondering if this had been a big mistake, but it was too late now to back out. The sun was high and he was starting to get nervous when Henry and his team rolled up.
"Tien, keep your hands where we can see them," said Henry as he walked up to him then frisked him down taking his weapon from his shoulder holster. "Now, can you tell me what's going on? I would've never pegged you as a traitor."
"That's because I'm not. I've been set up and I can prove it. In my jacket pocket is a recorder if you hit play you'll understand everything. But do it quickly because the real traitor is selling all our secrets as we speak."
"What are you talking about?" said Henry as he put cuffs on Tien then reached it his pocket and pulled out a voice recorder. "What's exactly on this?"
"Take my word for it, it's big. Listen to it and I swear everything you hear is true. You might not want to believe it or you might think it's a fake but it's not. You've known me for a long time is there any scenario where what I'm accused of sounds plausible?"
"So what is this? You're dumbing a hot potato in my lap," said Henry as he looked at the recorder. "If I push play I won't be able to unhear it."
"Sorry but I didn't know who else to turn to," said Tien. But as Henry was about to begin listening the recording a black Nissan pulled up and other men in black got out.
"Were you expecting someone else?" said Henry looking at Tien as the men walked up to them. "Can I do something for you?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. Aren't you a little outside of your jurisdiction? I'm here to take charge of your prisoner and transport him to our headquarters per the Minister's orders?"
"What orders? I don't have any orders. My men and I came here because we heard there was a vendor here who made good noodles so we came to check him out. But before we found him we discover Tien here. Now if you don't mind I'm going to take 'my' prisoner back to 'my' holding cell in Hong Kong."
"I think you need to clean out your ears. Didn't you hear me? I said the minister ordered us…"
"You see that's just it. The minster ordered you. He didn't order me to do anything and right now all I have is your word on that."
"I can call him up and you can talk to him if you like," said the man as he pulled out his phone. "I've got his number on speed dial."
"I hope that is a secure line you're about to dial on or I'd hate to have to arrest you for violating security protocol. But then again that's going to be hard to do since all the government lines are down right now some sort of computer problem. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"From what I was told you can blame Tien for that…"
"Tien? I just happen to know and have known for a long time. His computer skills end at the on button. If you want him you need to go get a written warrant then come back and see me in Hong Kong. You know where my offices are," said Henry as he and his men he pushed by heading back to their SUVs.
"I don't know what've you gotten yourself into but it's deep. Just tell me your plan doesn't include drowning me in it too?"
"Have a little faith and listen to that recording. I should tell you a copy is being sent to Beijing as we speak with a little help of some agents I met who work for the ROC."
"You really do hate me, don't you? This had better be good I've already got my head on the chopping block next to yours."
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Casey and Mary made their way back into the sanitarium through the access tunnel that Tien and Ellie had used to escape. They followed it back under the wall and into basement of the hospital then came out in the old sewage treatment facility. The treatment facility was little more than a holding vat for raw sewage before it was pumped out into the countryside to be used as fertilizer.
"Phew, you sure can tell what this was used for," said Casey as they came out in the vat before climbing out. "It still stinks after all these years."
"That's fear you're smelling and it will take a lot longer before that smell goes away," said Mary. "Come on we need to keep moving. I hear people yelling up ahead."
They made their way farther into the compound and heard more people yelling and running. Mary and Casey stayed in the shadows as a group of men ran by then they stopped right in front of them. John reached for his Ka-bar but Mary grabbed his hand and shook her head as she listened.
"First he's the Minister's friend now we've got to find him. I don't get it why did he trust him to begin with. Who can trust these Americans," said one of the men.
"You'd better make sure that neither the Minister nor Jian hears you talking like that or that will be your end. Already they've taken care of the IT people and what fault did they have?"
"Yeah they just blew a few fuses. Remember that you keep up talking like that and there will be one more grave to dig in the back and you'll be in it."
"Okay, okay but enough standing around. Come on we need to find Ettore and that American before we're all fertilizer in the back yard."
The men walked off disappearing in the darkness. Mary quickly gave Casey a recap of what the men said as they continued walking.
"When did you learn Commie," said Casey as he looked at her. "Is there anything else I don't know about you that I should?"
"Will you shut up and let's get back to searching for Chuck. By the way it's called Mandarin Chinese not Commie and I believe you know a little Russian... Comrade."
"Don't you call me that? That's one thing that no one not even you can ever accuse me of being. I'm no Bolshevik and I hate the color red. Did they say why they were looking for Ettore? That doesn't make any sense. The last time I checked he was on their side."
"I haven't got a clue but maybe when we find Chuck he can explain it to us. Maybe Ettore is trying to pull a fast one on the Minister. Not that he wouldn't be up to doing something like that."
"He might've done the download but then what? Ellie did say he wanted to reboot himself whatever that means."
"I have no idea. I never did really understand all of Stephen's explanations about his invention. I just remember how he went on about it helping people..."
"Yeah like that's really happened with it. If it's not frying people's brains it's making them sociopaths. Chuck's the only one that it's really worked on."
"You're forgetting Sarah. I will admit at the beginning it got off to a rocky start but now it seems to be working fine. I think it takes the original traits of the person and magnifies them. Chuck was always good so he became better while Sarah had to grow into it. But the others... well other than Hartley they were real jerks and that came out. However, Hartley wasn't that bad but I think his problem was a programming error."
"There was no error there. I saw a copy of his service jacket that hadn't been redacted," said Casey as Mary gave him a look. "Don't ask how I got it. But I hate to tell you what was done to him was done on purpose..."
"Are you saying Decker messed with the code somehow for the intersect to make Hartley into Alexei? So he manipulated the intersect to... to do what?"
"I'm not sure exactly but Riley was his man in the Volkoff organization. I guess it was handy to have someone who could manipulate Alexei and have him work on projects that the CIA wouldn't sanction."
"Plausible deniability... there was a lot of that going on back then not there isn't now. Decker could get someone else to do his dirty work for him and he could get away with it."
"Keeping his hands clean and throwing everyone else under the bus... yeah that was Decker's style. I for one am glad he's dead."
"I'm not. I wish he was still around so I could kill him but slow... very slowly. He made Stephen think he made his best friend into a homicidal maniac."
"Shush, hide in the shadows I hear someone coming," said Casey. They moved close to the wall thinking they could let the man pass.
"Crap, whoever it is he's hanging close to the walls too. I'm going to have to take him out quietly," he whispered as he pulled out his Ka-bar out of its sheath then held it down by his side. John waited for the footsteps to get closer until the man was near enough so he could pounce.