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Chapter 492 Chuckie Goes Undercover
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Chuckie could barely control his excitement as he rode with Jax, Kozik and Chibs in the van. He found life was less boring if you pretended it was something more exciting. When he swept the clubhouse floor, he liked to pretend he was looking for a portal into another world and if he could sweep the floor just right, he would find that portal. It was harmless and it made an ordinary task almost fun. Now he was pretending he was in a Mission Impossible movie.
In his mind, he was Ethan Hunt—he reasoned that he and Tom Cruise were almost the same size—his mission if he chose to accept it (and he did accept it) was to plant a GPS tracking device on international terrorist Esai Alvarez. Should he be captured or killed, SAMCRO would disavow any knowledge of his activities.
While he waited for the guys to finish their meeting, he had studied pictures of Esai that Juice had sent out with the bounty info. He was going to need to ID Esai in order to plant the GPS chip on him. He was Ethan Hunt studying the pictures he was given to complete his mission
Kozik and Chibs stayed with the van when they got to Oakland Park Mall, a mall just outside Oakland. It was once nice, new and beautiful but it had gone downhill so much in the last five years that more than a third of the stores were vacant including two of the four department store anchors.
Chuckie had a phone that was conferenced in to all the other phones so the guys could stay in touch. They had had to run into a convenience store and pick up one for him.
Chuckie walked into the mall the Mission Impossible theme playing in stereo in his head. Jax, Tig, Happy and Juice used different entrances so they didn't arrive as a group. The others would remain in their vehicles ready to pick up the guys from the mall as soon as they left, so they wouldn't waste time walking to the vehicles..
Jax, Tig and Happy were going to help ID Esai and Juice was going to make sure the GPS was working on at least one of the devices. The plan was to follow Esai and take him in an out of the way place without cameras. Depending on where they grabbed him, they might finish their task there or take him to another location. The goal wasn't just to kill Esai; it was to get away with it.
Happy wearing an out of character bright red baseball cap in an effort to look less scary was monitoring from a distance the second floor escalators that were located near the food court where the meeting between Esai and one of his exes was to take place.
Jax had his blonde hair stuffed in his black beanie while he looked at jewelry in a window near the food court where the meeting was supposed to take place. Tig wandered the mall, his curly hair tucked into a Dodgers baseball cap, mirrored sunglasses masking his bright blue eyes.
Juice had also concealed his distinctive hairstyle with an old yellow baseball cap with "Legalize It" and a large drawing of a pot leaf on it. He was drinking a cold brew coffee and eating a piece of cherry pie from Slice of Heaven Pie Shoppe a new addition to the food court as he used his tablet to track the GPS that was in the new ID for Esai.
They were early but Juice could follow the ex as she came closer and closer to the mall. It looked like she was going to show up for the meet. The important question was would Esai show himself.
Chuckie was also sitting at a table in the food court drinking a chocolate shake and trying to contain his excitement. In his mind, his mission had assumed a life or death urgency which might not be much of an exaggeration if he botched this and gave away the fact that the Sons were staking out Esai.
Chuckie wasn't under any delusions about where he stood in the SAMCRO pecking order. He wasn't a member and he knew they would never even consider him for membership because handling a big Harley scared the shit out of him. If you don't ride, you can't join any MC.
Juice reported that the girl was at the mall and moving closer. A short, slender Hispanic young woman with long dark hair and warm caramel colored eyes appeared. She went to a burger place, picked up her order for two burgers, fries and two Cokes before finding a table in the food court a few tables away from Juice. He confirmed that this was the ex because she had the ID with her for Esai.
A few minutes later, Happy reported a possible Esai sighting. Esai like Jax was wearing a black beanie, jeans, a gray T shirt and a blue hoodie that were filthy. Life on the run wasn't a good look for him. He sat down at the table, grabbing the burgers and fries and eagerly wolfing them down. He drank one of the Cokes The girl looked worried so there must be some feelings left between them. She handed him the packet of money. He slipped the packet into a pocket of his hoodie and left, heading for the bathrooms.
Chuckie decided not to follow him into the bathroom and attempt to plant the GPS tracker on Esai. He might get the wrong idea if Chuckie bumped into him in a bathroom and, given how macho the MC guys were, he might beat the shit out of him thinking the bump was a pass. Chuckie guessed that Esai was going into the bathroom to count the money because that's what he would have done.
A few minutes later, Esai returned and took the phone from his former ex and made the call that was supposed to go to Alvarez telling him that he'd gotten the money from his ex. She'd get her finder's fee now from Alvarez.
Esai got up. He was on the move. This was Chuckie's time to shine. The Mission Impossible theme music once again played in Chuckie's head as he stood up looked at his phone and Esai and plotted an intersecting course. He bumped into Esai and planted the tiny GPS tracker in the pocket that didn't have the packet of money. It was flawless. The theme music swelled.
"What the hell asshole?" Esai said furiously. He tried to grab Chuckie by the shirt front but Chuckie slipped out of his grasp.
The music in Chuckie's head stopped.
"Sorry I was looking at my phone."
"Midget watch it or you might get stepped on," Esai sneered the words.
"Sorry," Chuckie apologized again and shuffled away.
Juice reported that the tracker was planted and transmitting.
The Mission Impossible theme music began to play louder in Chuckie's head as the movie credits in his mind began to roll.
Who needed Tom Cruise or Ethan Hunt when you had Chuckie Marstein?
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Author's Note: I know I've been neglecting this story a bit because I've been working on outlining Taming Ava hoping to wrap the story in a few months or more likely six months but I'll see how it goes. I've also been busy with other things, but I will update this more frequently because I miss this story. And this whole thing with Esai is complicated and difficult to write so once I'm over the next couple of chapters, the writng will be easier and I'll do less things to avoid writing and more writing and posting.