A/N: I don't understand the blockchain ownership discussion any more than ownership of Chuck.
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Team B, together with Zondra, had decided to decamp from Castle to Chuck and Sarah's apartment while they waited for Carina's plane from Manila to land at LAX. They planned to order some dinner when the group was all together and then get to work.
Casey had gone to pick her up and he had already texted that they were on their way back. Meanwhile, Amy, Zondra and Sarah were talking happily, reminiscing about old times. Chuck was happy to see that. From everything she had told him, Sarah had not had many friends before Burbank. He was glad to see her bonding with Zondra again and delighted that the frank apology Sarah'd offered had been so readily accepted by the other woman. To his mind, that spoke highly of her character.
Amy was saying, "Cole Barker. Total badass. Ex-SAS. Decorated and everything. And just so yummy. He's got that really sexy British accent..."
"Oh, you do love those accents," said Zondra. "What was that guy in Bogota that time? Aussie?"
"No," said Sarah. "The guy Amy was with was a Kiwi, from New Zealand. Carina picked up the Aussie."
"My God," said Zondra. "How do you remember that stuff?"
Chuck, bringing a newly opened bottle of wine, to replace the bottles already consumed, said, "She's amazing. She has a pornographic memory."
The women laughed, although Sarah gave him a gentle swipe on the arm.
"Naw," said Amy. "That's definitely Carina."
At a knock at the door, Chuck said, "Speak of the devil."
He opened the door to Casey and Carina. She greeted him with a hug, wheeling her bag behind her, "Hey, there, Chuckles. Or is it Mr. Chuckles, now that you're best friends with Dubya?"
"Actually, Carina, I prefer Your Highness," he said with a grin, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Ah, I think you'll have to be satisfied with Sarah calling you 'Master' in the bedroom," she said, grinning wickedly.
As used to Carina's sense of humor as he was, Chuck still blushed at that. "Oh my God. Stop. You won that round."
Patting him on one cheek, she giggled happily and marched past him into the living room, declaring "Ok. CATS are together. Bartenders and single men brace yourselves...except you, Blondie. You're spoken for. But the rest of us."
Casey followed in after Carina and he and Chuck shared a look.
Amy said, "The Clandestine Attack Team is here to be reckoned with."
"That's not what it was called," said Chuck.
"Um, yeah. That's what it was called," said Carina. "CAT Squad was a stupid name, but..."
"No. It wasn't. Check the files. It was called the Covert Action and Tactics Squad."
"No," said Amy. "It was..."
Sarah was the first to understand. She looked at him with surprise, mixed with a little concern, and said, "What did you do?"
"I thought the 'team' 'squad' thing was stupid. So, I fixed it."
Zondra said, "What do you mean you 'fixed it'? It was what it was."
"Not anymore. Not that anyone will ever be able to show...I mean, maybe the stray piece of paper or something..."
"Bartowski..." said Casey with a warning note in his voice.
"What? I just dropped a program into the IC systems. It changes to the new name whenever it encounters the old name. No big deal."
Chuck was walking into the kitchen to get takeout menus for them to order dinner.
Sarah, mostly amused, said, "Sweetie, you can't go around changing official government records because you don't like them."
Over his shoulder, laughing, Chuck said, "La, la, la...not listening."
"Chuckles does it again," said Carina, laughing.
Even Casey was laughing at that point, shaking his head and mumbling "Bartowski."
Amy, with a big smile, said, "Well, I don't feel silly when calling it the CAT Squad anymore."
They ordered dinner and, while waiting for the delivery Chuck got started with his briefing.
On the TV screen appeared a picture of Augusto Gaez. After a moment, it shifted to another picture of him and began to run a slideshow of pictures of Gaez over the years.
"Ok, ladies, I think most of what I'm going to be talking about is probably a just a refresher for you, but it may shake something lose as we discuss it. In fact, much of this intel was gathered by you four. For Casey and me, though, this is new.
"Augusto Gaez seems to be in his late thirties and he first shows up in the City of Belo Horizonte with an arrest for assault when he was a teenager. It's the first of many arrests around that time. Looks like he was part of a local gang and was getting in trouble with them. But then, a few years later, he seems to straighten himself out and finishes high school.
"After high school in Brazil, he applies for and enlists in the French Foreign Legion. He served with them in Africa, both in the Central African Republic and in the Congo. He appears to have made a good soldier. His service record was excellent and he was discharged with the rank of sergeant. It is believed that he made extensive connections with the international mercenary community through his time in the Legion."
"Yeah," said Casey. "A lot of mercs come out of that unit. Some of those guys seem to like being soldiers."
Chuck continued, "By the late '90's he had begun to organize mercenary operations, mostly in Africa, but also some in South America. A lot of governments don't hire mercenaries, and many of his clients were what we might call insurgents or rebels...or terrorists."
Casey interrupted, "Did he fight? Was he a mercenary?"
"In the beginning he did, but as time went on, he stepped out of the actual combat roles and acted more like a broker. Putting a team together from his contacts and taking a cut," said Chuck. "Acting as a middleman."
"And making a fortune doing it," said Zondra.
"Yeah. He made a ton of money. A broker of mercenaries isn't going to draw the ire of Uncle Sam, though. Hell, we have the Blackwater guys ourselves at this point..."
"Private military contractors," said Carina. "The new euphemism."
"Exactly. But Gaez gradually moved to more dangerous work. And much more lucrative work. He began to organize actual terrorist attacks for his clients. Not just a sudden ambush of some government soldiers in Africa someplace...as bad as those things might be...but real attacks against civilians. A car bomb in Sudan that kills an ambassador. A mass shooting at a mosque in Yemen."
As he spoke, the pictures on the TV changed to the aftermath of deadly attacks.
"The Bakersfield attack was his first against a western target. An aberration. Mostly he operates in the middle east or north Africa. He is an equal opportunity contractor, working for both Sunni and Shia and back again. But only for cash up front. He's become very wealthy. He mostly subcontracts the work out, but he does have a cadre of ex-mercenaries who will do a job if necessary. We don't have a list, but we have identified a handful."
"There are about thirty of them, total," said Zondra.
"Yeah, that's still the latest," said Chuck. A swarthy face appeared on the screen, thick eyebrows under a bald head. He looked to be in his mid-forties. "This is Nikita Borodin. Russian Army vet. Service in Afghanistan. Now part of the Gentle Hand and, we think, one of Gaez's top men." Another face appeared. Dark with Arab features and a thick beard. "This one is Mustafa Farrar. Iraqi. Used to be with Saddam's Army, hunting dissidents. Now with Gentle Hand." The next one was a handsome, blond man with a happy smile, incongruous in the circumstances. "Albert Jackman. American. Ex-Special Forces. Service in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now with the Gentle Hand." Next up was a black man with a scowl. "Abebe Usman. Nigerian."
"Gentle Hand is like the UN, for crissakes," growled Casey.
"The amoral pursuit of money," said an unsmiling Sarah.
"Totally," agreed Chuck.
Zondra said, "You missed one. There's a German, named Wannersee. I forget his first name."
"Yeah. He actually died last year," said Chuck. "Stomach cancer according to the records."
"Ah," said Zondra.
Carina said, "How did you know that, Z?"
"I've kept track of Gaez and his crew. But I guess I'm not as up to date as Chuck is," she responded.
Chuck continued. "Anyway, we know Gaez generally lives in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, but the IC thinks he's got a base somewhere to house is men and equipment and to plan operations. The four I just showed you and probably some of the others, all live in Rio, but the location of the Gentle Hand base is a mystery."
"Yeah. We were looking for that for a long time. We believed we could get all the evidence we'd ever need to shut him down from that spot, but no joy," said Sarah.
"Well, still no joy. Sorry to say," said Chuck. "Anyway, we know Gaez lives in Rio, but, in addition, he's been known to travel to Europe frequently. France most often, but other countries, as well."
"Well, France makes sense given his service with the Legion," said Casey. "Even with all we've got on him, we can't arrest his ass? Hell, we have an extradition treaty with Brazil."
"Brazilian national, so extradition treaty is a no-go," said Chuck. "And anyway, while the IC's info is high confidence, too much is based on confidential assets and methods to stand up in court."
Sarah said, "So, that's where we come in...came in."
"Yeah," said Chuck. "The CATs came the closest to taking him down, but something kept going wrong. I've looked at those operations and can only conclude that someone was feeding him information. I think he's got a mole inside the IC. Yours was a joint team, so there were a lot of fingers in your command and control. One of them must have been on his payroll."
"Not to mention close to us," said Zondra. "Someone planted a transmitter in my boot heel to throw suspicion on me."
Sarah looked uncomfortable, but then Carina said, "And it worked. The CATs split up afterward."
"Yeah," said Zondra. "It worked." She didn't sound upset or emotional, stating what had happened as if it had happened to someone else...to a group of other spies.
"Well, there's a different cast of characters this time around," said Chuck.
"And we'll keep an eye on it," said Casey.
"Exactly," said Chuck. He proceeded to finish his briefing to the team. Gaez had no known family. No known steady girlfriend or boyfriend. The man owned and operated a night club in Rio. He had a luxury apartment overlooking Copacabana Beach. Chuck talked about his banking arrangements, both the legitimate ones and the offshore hidden accounts he'd been able to unearth. He talked about his charitable donations, almost entirely in Rio and mostly centered around the foster care system for children (which led to some bitter comments from Zondra regarding the number of children killed in his terrorist operations).
By good luck, their dinner arrived just as Chuck's briefing ended. They assembled at the dinner table, opened some more wine for the ladies, some beer for Chuck and Casey, and continued to work while they ate.
"Ok, guys. That's the latest info we have. What do you think?" asked Chuck.
"We head to Rio and begin to surveil the target," said Casey. "Can you do some of your tech magic to see if he's there before we head down?"
"I can't really. So far as we can tell, he only uses burner phones. No exit visa necessary in Brazil, so I can't tell if he's left the country. We could head down there and not find him home."
Sarah said, "Better to flush him out. Get him to be somewhere we can predict."
"Ok, how do we do that?" asked Carina.
"Why don't we offer him a job?" asked Chuck. "Try to hire him to blow something up?"
"I don't think he'll believe we are some of his usual middle eastern client base," said Amy.
Casey said, "SVR. They might want to cause some trouble. Maybe in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is about to throw Abbas's people out on their asses. Maybe the Russkie's might want to hire Gentle Hand to stir the pot. Between Sarah and I we could be a couple of Russian spies."
Amy said, "Now that's a great idea."
Sarah said, "Chuck, do we have any leads as to how his clients get in touch with him?"
"Not off the top of my head, but let me think about it," he said.
Zondra said, "We should go to Rio anyway. We can try to flush him out, but while we are waiting for that to work, we can just look for him. He might be there, he might not, but it can't hurt. If we are waiting for it to bear fruit, we can be waiting on his doorstep."
"Makes sense to me," said Sarah.
Chuck said, "Yeah. I think that's right. Let's head to Rio tomorrow while I try to figure out a way to contact him with a business offer."
Amy said, "Um, guys? I don't mean to piss on the plan, but I don't love it. Look, at least four of us have pretty busy lives here in LA even without the hunt for Gaez. Hell, Sarah, you have wedding plans that you are running around with on top of everything else. To have all six of us sitting in Rio in the hopes Gaez puts in an appearance for...what?...a week? A month? More? It just doesn't sound like a good use of our time."
Nodding, Casey said, "OK. Fair point."
"Amy's right. How about we just go down for a few days. See if he's there or we spot any clues to where he might be. Try to figure out a way to flush him out otherwise." said Chuck. "If we end up dangling bait and waiting for him to bite, we can wait in LA."
"Ok," said Sarah. "Sound good?"
"Right then," said Zondra. "Rio it is."
They finished dinner and began to clean up the table.
Sarah said, "Ok. I'll get the jet ready to leave in the morning. We'll have to stop a couple of times on the way down to refuel, but that can't be helped."
Zondra said, "You have a jet and crew for your team? Seriously? Jeez. Talk about teacher's pets." She was grinning.
Amy said, "Aw, don't be jealous, Z. If you saved the world as often as we have, you'd get one too."
Zondra gave Amy a look that made her smile.
Sarah turned to Carina and Zondra. "You guys want to sleep here? There's a spare bed in the office... a pullout couch."
"Naw. We'll go the hotel. Leave you old married ...almost married people here," said Carina. "What do you say, Z? Want to hit a club after we get checked in?"
"I don't know, Red. It's been a long day," she said.
"Aw, I'll bet I can convince you," said Carina with a toss of her long hair. "Hey, Chuckles, what's the number to call a cab?"
"Naw, forget it. Here," said Sarah, handing over her car keys. "Take my car. Chuck and I will go with Casey in the morning. You can meet us at the airport. I'll text you where."
"Oh, maybe I'll just cruise around for a while tonight trying to pick up cute guys with my hot car," Carina said with a grin.
"Good luck, girlfriend. I'm sure if you do, I'll hear all about it tomorrow," said Sarah.
"You know it. Kissing and telling is the best part," said Carina.
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A/N2: The name-change for the CAT Squad is entirely the genius of my good friend Marc Vun Kannon. I think we can all agree with Chuck that the old name was pretty stupid as it was.
A/N3: Gaez sounds like a real horror show. I hope our heroes can take him and his buddies down. What do you guys think? As usual, love to hear from you. On the road for the next few days and might not be too responsive, but I still love you all.