Don't own Chuck
Alex parked near the compound then walked the rest of the way. This was the third possible location she was about to check out but after the other two fails and she was really hoping that third time meant charm. She made her way getting into position, avoiding motion and heat detectors. There very presence made her feel hopeful because neither of the previous locations had this much security.
"Oaky, it's just over the wall and I'm in," she said as she got into position then tossed a grappling hook over the top of the wall and started up. On top she flopped a piece of tarp over the barbed wire and broken glass imbedded in the top of the wall.
"You don't want anyone dropping in on you," she said to herself as she surveyed the grounds from her vantage point on top of the wall.
"Here goes nothing," she said as she went over. She landed in a ready position waiting a moment to see if she'd tripped any hidden sensors or of there were guard dogs that would make her go back over. However, there didn't seem to be anything and nothing happened so she quickly got out of sight hiding in some tropical foliage.
"I think I'm in the right spot," she said as she watched armed guards walking around the compound carrying AK-47s. Her father had taught her enough about weapons to notice they were the real things not any Chinese knock-offs.
"A few 47s doesn't mean I'm in the right spot," she said as she made her way down to the little inlet. But it seemed she'd hit pay dirt when she found a boathouse hidden from view by a grove of mangroves that had grown around and up over it. Tucked away the way it was it would be difficult to see from above even if the bird was right on top of it.
"If I were hiding a pirate boat that's where I'd put it," said Alex to herself as she recalled the legend of Black Bart and how he used to vanish and reappear.
"I need to confirm what's inside," she told herself as she made her way down to the mangroves. She was almost there when she had to duck for cover as two guards came by almost walking on top of her.
"I know I heard something over here," said one of the guards. "Just a little bit further then we can turn around and go back."
"You probably just heard a bird or a monkey. Be careful batting around the underbrush you don't want to piss off any of the monkeys."
"Why? Are they mean? I bet with those little teeth they could do some damage on you," said the other guard as he stopped vigorously beating the low-lying leaves and branches.
"That's not the only reason. I remember Duarte when he first came here he ran over one and they didn't give him any rest afterwards. First, during the night they formed a raiding party that completely destroyed the Rover he was driving. Then every time he stood guard duty they would throw things at him and let me tell you some of what they were throwing wasn't very pleasant if you know what I mean."
"I think I do but we need to check this out. Luiz isn't going to be very happy with us if we let someone slip by. I hear he's still pissed at those guys on the boat for what they did," said the one man. However, before he could say more Alex picked up a small stone then threw it at the man making sure she was well out of sight. "Crap, what was that," said the man as he rubbed the back of his neck then bent over and picked up the stone. "Who threw this and what does it mean?"
"Haven't you heard a thing of what I've been telling you? What this means is we're done here. We've looked enough and we need to get back to our posts or would you prefer to have them throw something a little warmer and smellier?"
Alex watched as the two men walked back down the path then out of sight. This was her chance and she was going to take it. She ducked inside the boathouse.
"Crap, it's empty. Wait a minute this doesn't make any sense," she said. But she didn't have any time to wait around so she ducked back outside and into the mangroves again.
"This has got to be the right spot. It just has to," she said to herself. But maybe she was just making herself believe she was at the right spot.
"You need to get back over the wall and talk with Morgan," she said to herself as she headed back the way she'd came. "Talk with Morgan and see if he can find something similar using the eye in the sky," she said but suddenly she stopped in her tracks and got out of sight quickly.
"This is all I need right now," she said to herself. She found as she was making her retreat that the guards were now patrolling the very place she'd come over the wall. At first, she was worried they were on to her but soon she realized they'd just rotated to new posts.
"Now, you've got to find another way out or wait for them to switch back one again," she said. Waiting didn't seem a viable option so she moved up towards the main house. She figured if she could get around it then she could get out the main gate but as she looked at it another thought popped into her head.
"If I were going to hold someone I'd hold them in there," she said but as she started to try to make her way up to the house she heard a loud noise coming from behind her. It sounded like a large diesel engine chugging away. When she looked back at the boathouse she saw a yacht sail up the water inlet and into the boathouse.
"Crap, I've found it after all. This is the place," she said as she pulled out her phone. "I've got to let someone know right away. The General could be on that boat." But she discovered that her phone didn't work and she had no signal.
"A signal jammer, they have to have a signal jammer blocking all calls in or out. I could go get help then come back but that would take time and in that time, they could get away with Dad and the others. No, I can't let that happen. I'm sorry Morgan, I hope you can see me and forgive me but I've got to do what I've got to do," she said as she made her way back to the boathouse.
"After all the General and Roan have to be onboard and soon they'll be bringing Dad. If I can liberate them then together we can take the boat and these dirt bags too." Fools rush in where angels fear to tread and what she was about to do made sense in her head because she didn't know the General was in the Waldron nor did she know that Roan and Casey were in a holding cell in the villa.
"I need to wait a little bit until the boat has been tied up for a while and everything calms back down. Then I'll make my way onboard but how?"
Her break came when a supply truck pulled up outside the boathouse and workers starting unloading boxes and crates carrying them on board.
"This is your chance," said Alex and she didn't think twice as she jumped into the line and grabbed a box holding it up to the side of her head so no one could see her face then she followed the line onboard. But her heart stopped when she heard loud voices coming from the dock. She wasn't sure what was going on but she knew she wasn't going to wait around to see either.
"Crap where is everyone," she said as the men in front and behind her vanished as everyone ran off the boat to the pier. She didn't like this but she wasn't sure what to do either.
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Natasha left the building by the fire escape as Anatoly pulled up outside on the road in front. They got out of the Lada and looked around. They'd been driving all day and well into the night. The morning sky was beginning to clear with the first rays of day reflecting in the Neva. In the distance they could hear a ship's horn signaling the vessel was getting underway. The air was crisp and cool so cool they could see their breathes.
"What did Ivan have to say about Natasha and whoever's in this building," asked Anatoly as he got out of the Lada and blew on his hands to warm them up.
"There's a former embassy co-worker who lives here. His name is Walter Malinovsky," said Stefan was putting away his phone. "He's supposed to be some lawyer who specializes in defending dirt bags. He has an apartment on the fifth floor," he said as they walked up to the front door and Anatoly rang the buzzer but no one answered so he tried again with the same result.
"Well, either no one is at home or they're not able to answer either way we need to find a way inside," said Anatoly as he looked over the names of the other occupants but nothing jumped out at him.
"Try this," said Stefan. "Find the name written on what looks like the oldest piece of paper then ring it." Anatoly was a little suspicious of Stefan's plan to get them inside but he tried it just the same and it worked. It didn't take long to get a reply from a cranky old man.
"Do you know what time it is? People are normally asleep at this time of morning and you come disrupting my sleep. What are you and what do you want?"
"Listen old man, this is the FSB," said Anatoly. The man quickly got silent. "Open the door so we can come inside. We're here on official business then you can go back to sleep."
Much to Anatoly's amazement the man buzzed the door without uttering another syllable letting them inside. Anatoly looked puzzled over at Stefan.
"And just how did you know that man was going to let us in," said Anatoly. "He could've easily told us to take a hike or he wanted our badge numbers or something else like that."
"That's a man who knows what it used to be like and survived it. As long as we don't have business that involves him he'll sell out everyone else in the building to save his own hide which is how he got to be as old as he is today."
"And those are the days Natasha would like to bring back. Somehow that old man opening the door for us is a sort of justice if you think about it," said Anatoly as they went over to the elevator calling it back down.
"Please, I prefer not to and don't go getting all philosophical on me. I can only put up with that talk after a couple of good stiff drinks or more. Here's the lift now. I hate old lifts they make me feel like... well, they want to break at any moment letting me fall to my death."
"Well you know you always have the option to take the stairs. I can wait for you on the fifth floor as you walk up."
"No, that's too much like real exercise. Come on let's get this death trap moving," said Stefan as he got onboard first. Anatoly followed him inside closing the doors then pushing the button for the fifth floor.
"Geez," said Stefan as the elevator took off with a jerk. "I just might take the stairs down once we're finished in the flat."
The elevator stopped and they opened the door as quietly as they could. However, once on the floor they noticed the door to Malinovsky's apartment was opened. They both drew their weapons then posted on the door. Anatoly looked at Stefan's pistol with a puzzled look.
"I go high, you go in low," Stefan said but Anatoly kept staring at his weapon. "Did you hear me? What's wrong with you?"
"Where did you get that?" said Anatoly. "That's the new MP-443 Grach the replacement for my Makarov but only a few people have gotten them issued."
"I know a friend of a friend but is this really the place or time to be talking about this? If you want when we get back to Moscow I can see if I can get you one too."
"No, I like my Makarov. I've had this one since the academy and I don't think I'd like to replace it. It's almost a part of me now."
"Geez, then why did you bring it up in the first place?" said Stefan as he shook his head. "Can we get a move on it now or would you like to talk about something else?"
"Well you don't have to get all bent out of shape. I'm high you're low, now on the count of three," said Anatoly. Stefan almost told him he wanted to go high but Anatoly was already counting. On three they both went inside and started clearing room after room.
"I've got a man down in the study. He's got a bad bump on the back of the head but he's alive," yelled Stefan. "The vent cover is off the air duct in here too. It looks like she came here to grab something."
"I've got a guy down here in the hallway same situation... a bad bruise but he'll live. I'm clearing the rest of the flat," yelled Anatoly. "The bedroom is clear and bathroom are clear. What have you got?"
"I'm in the kitchen and it's clear but I don't like what I found," said Stefan. "There's an empty roll of aluminum foil lying on the kitchen table. Looks like we need to wake up our sleeping beauties and see if they knew why Natasha was here but we can't hang around her too long."
What Stefan feared happened. Natasha used the aluminum foil to wrap around her midsection like a girdle which dampened the signals from the microbots which allowed her to go dark. If they couldn't pick up the signal from microbots then they had no idea where Natasha was or where to look for her.
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Chuck went and got the General and Mary then brought them into their room to see what they had on the flat screen. In the meantime, Sarah put Sam in bed after a good dose of Pepto-Bismol and a tummy rub. When she came out of the bedroom she found everyone standing in front of the television.
"What have I missed since I've been gone," asked Sarah as she walked over next to Chuck. "Where's Marley and General Thomas at and why aren't they here?"
"They're in the General's room. Marley is trying to grab resources from Puerto Rico and the General is trying to help. We decided we don't want to use local forces like the police because we're afraid they could've been compromised by our perps and are on their payroll. At the moment we're waiting for things to develop at that compound," said Chuck as he pointed to the television.
"No, we can't wait for things to 'develop'. We can't stand around here and do nothing," said Morgan in a nasal voice as he poked his head out of the bathroom with an apron on, a toilet brush in his hand and a clothes pin on his nose. "We can't wait around here when Alex could be in danger in there."
"If you two had done as you were told to do then she wouldn't be in danger now and my grand daughter wouldn't have a tummy ache. But I should've know Alex would've done something like this the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"But is that a bad thing? Look Mom, we also wouldn't have known about this compound or that they have a boat hidden out of sight either. So, I think you need to cut Alex and Morgan a little slack. General, I know you've been through a lot but look at these images of this yacht. Is this the pirate boat that boarded the Annabel Lee and took you and Roan?"
"I'm sorry I can't be sure. The colors are the same but there are hundreds of yachts painted with the same colors. I think it is but I can't be sure not without board it."
"Then we're going to have to wait," said Mary. "I'm sorry but we just can't risk it. We can't get a search warrant on what we have now and if we raid the place and it's not the right one then we risk tipping our hand. Then who knows what they might do to Casey and Roan especially if they think we're closing in on them. No, we have to wait."
"Come on Chuck you can't go along with this. If that were Sarah down there you'd be the first one out the door and you wouldn't care what anyone said."
"You might be right but we've got to think about Casey and Roan too. What mom said is right and if these people think we're on to them then they'll get rid of any evidence linking them to acts piracy. When I say get rid of that means also eliminating any witnesses. I'm sorry Morgan but what we need is for Alex to check in and let us know what she's found."
"And what if she can't because she's been caught or worse. No, I can't stand around her and wait for who knows what to happen. If no one is going to go then I will and don't try to stop me. My mind is made up."
"I'd leave the apron and toilet brush here before you leave," said Chuck. Morgan gave him a look. "Oh, come on I was making a joke. Look little buddy there's just nothing that can be done right now."
"I expected more out of my BFF Chuck. I expected you to have my back and be out the door with me. I'd do the same for you."
"Morgan don't be like that. You need to trust Alex. She's been trained and she knows what she's doing. Look, I'm sure we'll hear from her soon and if we don't hear from her with the next half hour I'll go with you. Right Sarah... What do you think love? Sarah? Where'd Sarah go she was right here next to me a moment ago?" Chuck looked around but Sarah was nowhere to be seen in the room.
"She might've gone back in to check on Sam," said Mary as she gave Morgan a look. "I should go check on her too. But first we need to hash this out."
"I think it's been decided," said Beckman. "We need to wait. I wish Marley was here to tell us how long it's going to take to get that team in here from Puerto Rico."
"While we're waiting for Marley I'm going to check on Sam and Bunny. But Sarah was on the other side of me and I don't remember seeing her come past me to... oh crap," said Chuck as he realized where she was.
Sarah knew what Chuck said was right under normal conditions but this was about Alex and her relationship with Casey. Sarah knew what she'd do if it had been Jack they'd taken and that's what scared her. When emotions got in the way, reason and caution would go to the wind and that would leave Alex vulnerable and not thinking clearly.
"I need a set of vehicle keys right now," said Sarah as she bumped into Marley and General Thomas in the hallway. "You can tell everyone inside that I'll phone in as soon as I have eyes on our target," she said. She saw the looks on their faces. "Don't worry, they'll know what I meant and they'll brief you on our current situation."
"Okay, but have things changed," he said as he tossed her a set. "I need to know because I've got a full team that will be here in about two hours and I've got the Mohawk arriving at full speed to block any escape route."
"Good, but I don't have time to brief you. They will when you go inside. I'll see you on the other side," she said as she pocketed the keys then turned to leave.
Both men stopped and watched her as she left taking the elevator down. They both stood there in the hallway for a moment looking at each other.
"You know that was strange," said the General. "I would've thought she would've have taken Chuck with her. But I guess it doesn't matter we need to go before you have an angry General to deal with."
"And I don't need that... sir," said Marley but before either could say anything else Chuck came running out.
"Have you seen..." he got out.
"If you're talking about your wife. Yes, but she's long gone by now," said General Thomas. "What the hell is going on with you people?"