Don't own Chuck

Luiz's plane landed then taxied off the edge of the apron and waited there. The people he'd expected to be there was nowhere to be seen. They waited on the plane for nearly half an hour before an old jeep pulled up. At first, they thought this was their ride but instead a man in an officer's uniform got out then walked towards the plane waving for the grounds personnel to bring over a ladder.

"Crap, I don't like the looks of this," said Luiz as he watched through a window what was going on outside. "I need to head this off."

"Where are our people? I thought they were supposed to be here to meet us," said Donna Rosenda. Luiz didn't answer he just went to the hatch, opened it up then went down to greet the man on the ground before he had a chance to board.

"Buenos días," said Luiz as he held out his hand. "I think there might be some sort of mistake. We were precleared for customs when we left Saint Thomas and we're returning expats… native Hondurans that is."

"Buenos días Señor," said the officer as he shook hands with Luiz. "Then can I see your passports and if you've been precleared then I should have the paper work here," he said as he looked through papers on his clipboard but started shaking his head. "Yes, I see Señor that you were precleared in Saint Thomas but there is a landing fee you still need to pay."

"A landing fee? I see," said Luiz. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet pulling out three c-notes and handed them to the officer.

"I can't take that from you," he said as he handed Luiz his clipboard. "People might think it's a bribe or something. How every you're a few Mr. Franklin's short," said the man as he gave Luiz the clipboard.

"I see," said Luiz then he clipped five hundred bills on the clipboard then handed it back. "I hope we're all good now."

"As far as I'm concerned we are and welcome to Puerto Lempira," said the agent as he handed back Luiz his papers. "But if I were you I'd try to get out of here as quickly as possible. Not everyone around here sees or doesn't see things like I do that is if you know what I mean."

"There was supposed to be people waiting for us," said Luiz but the officer wasn't going to hang around. He jumped back in his jeep then left.

"And welcome home," he mumbled to himself as he took out his phone and called their contact but as the phone was ringing two black Land Rover Defenders came into sight heading towards them.

"It's about time," he mumbled as wiped the sweat off his forehead as he walked towards them. It was morning and already heat was rising from the tarmac. He led up his hand and stopped the lead vehicle while the other one circled around and parked below the ladder. "What took you so long? And why'd you keep us waiting?"

"Sorry but it couldn't be helped. There was some custom's officer who had us held up at the gate for over an hour. We just got permission to drive through."

"You say a custom's guy held you up," said Luiz as he put things together. "I think I just met him but how does one guy dare hold us up. Things didn't used to be that way back in my mother's day. A man like that wouldn't have dared to try to stop us let alone ask for money."

"That was what I was trying to tell you over the phone. Things aren't the way they used to be and we need to be careful. I don't know what's going on but the Americans have reactivated their secret compound just outside of town."

"How do you know they're Americans and not someone from somewhere else," said Luiz. He was hoping they weren't because if they were he knew why they were there.

"Well there's no Nazi skin convention in town and with those haircuts and their unmistakable accents there's no mistaking. They sound like they came straight out of one of those American Westerns."

"Okay, let me get our prisoners loaded up and you can run them to our cave. You do have that up and running like I asked you?"

"Yeah, we could go there but like how everyone knows where the American's secret compound is, well the government knows where our cave is too. There's an old warehouse on the outskirts of town that they used to store sugar cane. We could use it to hold them there until you decide what you want to do with them."

"Good idea and Miguel thanks for coming," said Luiz. It was obvious to Luiz that he needed to be careful for now and feel his way around until he understood what was what.

"Don't mention it. After all we were almost family," said Miguel. Luiz gave him a look of surprise. "I take it your mother never mentioned me to you? Well, I guess that's understandable she did have it bad for Pablito. You never knew him... of course not well you were a baby. Well, between us he never really did deserve her."

"She mentions him all the time but she's never really told me anything about him. I'd like to sit down and talk with you sometime about what kind of man my father was."

"Was? She told you he was your father? Look, I don't want to get you angry but back in the day there was no certainty. Don't get mad but we never knew if we were going to live to see tomorrow so things happened," said Miguel. Luiz wished he continued speaking but he stopped talking abruptly when he saw Donna Rosenda at the top of the ladder looking down at him.

"Miguel is that you," she called to him. He took off his hat and sunglasses then went to meet her at the bottom of the ladder. She held out her hand. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Too long but you're every bit as beautiful as you were the day you left if not more," he replied as he took her hand and kissed it. "Welcome home."

"Yes… well Miguel was telling me that the cave might not be a good option anymore. It seems that it's become common knowledge that was your hideout and he's also said that the Americans are back too…"

"But there's a villa on the outskirt of town near the warehouse I mentioned that I've arranged for you. I'm sure you'll find it to your liking. If you follow me I'll take you straight there while Luiz looks over everything here."

"I don't think I'm needed here. Our men know what they need to do and they can work with yours," said Luiz. He wasn't sure what was going on between Miguel and his mother but he wanted to keep an eye on both of them.

"Very well vamanos," said Miguel as he held the door of their Land Rover open for Donna Rosenda then helped her inside.

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Natasha arrived in Puerto Lempira airport. The short hop across the country from the capital was only an hour. But she was chomping at the bit to get off of the plane and out of the airport. She was close now and she could feel it.

"Don't let your guard down," she reminded herself. "You've come too far to get stopped now," she said to herself as she walked outside the airport. She made her way over to the bus stop and looked at the bus numbers and their destinations. After that she walked over to the taxi stand but as she did she suddenly turned back around making a mad dash for a bus that was pulling out waving it down.

"Lady, you're supposed to board the bus before we pull out," yelled the bus driver but Natasha apologized.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize you were getting ready to leave," she said as she handed the driver the money for her fare. "Keep the change for your trouble," she said taking her ticket stub then finding a seat. She smiled as she sat down because she knew exactly what she was doing and she left nothing to chance.

[Not far away]

"Let her go don't follow," yelled Anatoly yanking the headset off the man sitting in front of a monitor watching Natasha. "Everyone stand down. She's checking to see if she's got a tail."

"Let me get one of my men to flag the bus down and board it," insisted Tatiana. "If we don't we'll lose her."

"And if we do that she'll know we're watching her. We won't lose her if you listen to us," said Stefan. "Tell your people get back to the van as quickly as possible then we'll beat the bus to the next stop and put a man on the bus."

"I'm sorry if I butted in but when you've been at this game as long as we have certain things become second nature," said Anatoly as he handed the man back his headset. "And you learn all the tricks like what she just pulled. We need to keep our eyes open because the closer she gets to where she wants to go the more she'll be doing things like she just did."

They quickly got everyone loaded then sped off heading towards town. A few miles down the road they caught up with the bus then at the first time the road opened up they passed it. They reached the next bus stop ahead of the bus and stopped.

"Listen up and look at me Vlad," said Anatoly, "keep your comms open and sit where you can see her but don't let her catch you looking at her. Act like a lost tourist and don't let her know you're Russian or this can go sideways quickly."

"You don't have to worry about this I've got it," said the tall well-built man. Anatoly had a bad feeling in his gut about this which was made worse as Vlad continued to speak. "This is going to be a piece of cake. I don't see what all the fuss is about. If you've been on her since Russia and she hasn't seen you then she mustn't be that good. She doesn't impress me."

"Look at me and clean your ears out! Sure, she doesn't have to know we're here but she's going to assume she's being followed and about to be captured which is going to make her that much more dangerous. This isn't a training exercise, this is the real deal and if you screw up here there will be no do overs. I don't know how to get this through to you other than just to tell you that you'll be dead because she will kill you and you can bank on that so be smart or as smart as you seem to think you are."

"I'd like to see her try something. I'll teach her a thing or two," said Vlad as he let out a laugh under his breath. Anatoly had to use all his self-restraint not to bounce Vlad's head off the side of the van.

"We've come a long ways to get here so don't muck it up for us," said Anatoly as they put Vlad out. Once he was out they drove down the road a little further then parked where they could keep an eye on the bus stop.

"Good the bus is here and our man just got on. What's the matter Anatoly? You don't seem very happy that we got Vlad on the bus. You think he's going to screw it up, don't you?"

"I feel like I should tell you about what the bear does in the woods but we don't have time. We need to come up with a plan B. Tatiana, where does that bus go once it reaches the city," said Anatoly. He caught her look of disapproval. "I'm sorry if your man didn't give me warm fuzzies but that condescending attitude of his is going to be his downfall and I just hope not ours."

"The bus goes into a depot at the end of its route which is near the center of town. But look at the monitor we can see your target in his body cam. He's doing good so far."

"I want to see on a map everything there is around that bus depot. There has to be a reason she boarded this particular bus."

"Vlad is reporting that the target is getting up," said the man Anatoly had taken his headset before and who was sitting in front of the monitor. "False alarm she's sitting back down."

"Tell him we can see her and there's no need for him to report in what we can see. We'll let him know if we need anything from him. Let me see what's in the center," said Anatoly. Tatiana pulled out a map and they were looking over it. However, Anatoly couldn't help but feel that something was wrong… terribly wrong.

"Did you see something on the map?" said Stefan. He caught Anatoly's look. "There are a number of places she could be heading to. Maybe we should get there first and setup surveillance in advance?"

"I don't know something's not right," said Anatoly as they watched Natasha get up walk past Vlad then a few minutes later she went back to her seat and sat back down.

"What was that all about," said Natasha. "Did she get tired of sitting down and wanted to stretch her legs?"

"I don't know but maybe. Let's jump ahead and do what Stefan suggested we can still watch her on the monitor. Radio Vlad and tell him what we're doing and he should only contact us if she gets off before the last stop other then that there should be radio silence."

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Casey and Roan were loaded up in the back of the Defender along with the luggage. One man rode shotgun next to the driver while two more man rode in the back seat to keep an eye on them. They were told in broken English to sit down and keep quiet or there would be consequences. However, Casey saw this the opportunity he'd been waiting for.

"Roan, this is it. This is our chance to get out of here. The way I see it we have an opportunity for us to both get out of here with acceptable losses…"

"I remember what your acceptable losses are," said Roan as he shook his head. "I have to tell you that I've grown accustomed to having all my limbs. I've had them since birth and I'd like to continue holding onto them for as long as I can."

"Don't whimp out on me now. Okay this is what we're going to do. It all starts with us breaking our thumbs when I tell you then we overpower our guards…" said John but one of the guards turned around and yelled at them.

"Pipe down you two or you're not going to like it if I have to make you," said the one guard in broken English growling and barking as he spoke.

"You know where I am so come on back here," said Casey taunting him. "If you want to put action behind those words more power to you. I'm not going anywhere so come on tough guy let's see what you've got or are you just hot air?" The man growled at him some more but his partner shook his head then said something to him. They both turned around and laughed.

"Yeah, turn around and look the other way or you'd get one of the worst beat downs you've every had. Roan get ready, it looks like the jungle is just up ahead. We can do this."

"But I don't want to break my thumbs. If I break them how am I going to be able to hold anything like a Martini glass. I know this might not be important for you because you drink from a trough but it does for me."

"A trough? Why you… remind me I want to kick your butt when I get us out of this mess you got us in," said Casey. However, as he was talking Roan used the toothpick he'd palmed from his last Martini with Donna Rosenda to pick his cuffs.

"I don't want to break my thumbs because I don't have to," said Roan as he held up his cuffs. "This is skill versus whatever it is you say you have."

"What the devil," said the driver as he looked up in the mirror and saw Roan was free. "The prisoners are…" He never got out the rest because a fight broke out in the back that spilled over into the front.

The Defender began to swerve back and forth in the road. There was the sound of gunfire and screaming from the inside. The windows were covered with blood splatter then the vehicle ran off the road and rolled over on its side with its tires still spinning and steam coming up out from under the hood. The back hatch flopped open with Casey immerging climbing out over luggage.

"Come on Roan. What's holding you up in there? We need to go," said John as he checked the Tokarev he took off one of their guards.

"A hand would be appreciated," said Roan as he tumbled out over the lose luggage. "Okay, now where do we go?" he said as he got up and brushed himself off.

"Now we're in my element. Let's have a little chat with that loud mouth guard and see where your lady friend went so we can pay her a little visit. But this time I'll do the talking just stand back and watch me operate."

"Just don't try to seduce he because let's face it you don't have any seduction techniques," said Roan as Casey went over to the side of the Defender reached in through the window and yanked the dazed guard through it.

"I'm only going to ask you this once where did your boss and that woman go," said John as he put the barrel of his weapon in the man's mouth. "Maybe you need a tonsillectomy?"

"Can I have a minute of your time? I just have one thing to interject," said Roan as he raised his hand. Casey growled as he turned to him.

"What? I'm kind of busy here if you haven't noticed," barked John. "Can't it wait until I'm done and we have some answers."

"I just wanted to point out that it is difficult for the man to speak with the barrel of your weapon shoved down his throat. Besides how do you know he even understands English or is able to speak it."

"Oh, don't worry, he knows enough to know he's in it deep if he doesn't give me what I want," said John. Casey shot the driver in the back of the head through the door window. "Next is you so spit out information or blood. The choice is yours."

The man immediately gave up all he knew about where Donna Rosenda, Miguel and Luiz had gone as well as anything else he thought Casey might want to know.

"Por favor Señor, I've told you everything I know so please don't kill me," begged the man. "I have a dog… yes a nice little dog… Oh and I have a mujer… a wife… Yes, I have a wife and niños, lots of niños who all depend on me. Even the dog, Señor he depends on me… well not as much but yes he depends on me too."

"Then why are you here?" said Casey as he pistol whipped to man. Laying him out unconscious next to the Defender.

"Now that's your seduction technique," said Roan. He'd found a half a bottle of water and a flask of something that smelt like medicine. "Well you know what they say waste not want not," he said as he took a swig.

"Give me a hit of that," said Casey. He took it from Roan smelt it then took a hit. "It's called Guifiti. I had this before here. It's a blend of herbs and spices produced from medicinal herbs like chamomile, pericón, anise, allspice, cloves, garlic, jicaco negro or wheat and optional honey or liqueur of your choice which from the taste is rum. They put it in the sun for eight days to ferment. They also said it has healing and potency powers so you might want to drink the rest. Now let's get walking we've got a ways to go and I know a short cut."

"Shouldn't we try to find help," said Roan as he took off after Casey. "We should make contact with our Embassy…"

"Once they find out we're missing that will be the first thing they think of. No, we need to take care of this ourselves by cutting the head off the snake and we can't trust anyone here."

"I don't suppose you've got a plan?" said Roan as the foliage got thicker.

"We'll think of one once we get there. Now pipe down and save your breath where we're going isn't exactly around the corner."