Don't own Chuck

The African Queen glided across the still lake to the other side. Water fowl screamed as the boat disrupted their attempts at fishing. Chuck thought he could see every color in the rainbow in their wings as they took flight. Sarah pointed out the crocodiles that lined the banks basking in the sun. Anyone falling in would quickly become a tasty snack. Seagulls greeted the Africa Queen when she pulled up alongside the pier. On the other side was the ferry with workers offloading cargo. The crew threw lines over to men on the pier then they tied the boat off. Adama left the boat in the hands of his first mate as he went with the visiting party.

"So Gertrude, this is where the mission will set up," said Sarah as they stood in a square with men working around them. But instead of Gertrude answering Adama did.

"Yes, this is used by the Park Services when it's Safari season but the rains and storms will start soon so they've moved farther inland. On your right and left are two prefabricated buildings. One has been set up as a dormitory with small rooms and beds. The other building is all open so you can set equipment up in there that needs to stay dry."

"I had two trailers brought in," said Gertrude taking over the briefing. "After I was told how much gear you have I figured what we had here wasn't enough. One's been off loaded and set up. The other is still on wheels but we hope to off load it tomorrow before the team arrives."

"Would it be too much trouble to leave it on wheels," said Chuck as everyone including Sarah looked at him wondering why. "I know just humor me but we might want something mobile if you don't get the lightning strikes you're looking for."

"Chuck's right," said Roberta. "Something like that could come in handy and if we need it's ready to roll. We'll save time in the long run."

"If that's what you want then we won't off load it," said Gertrude as she turned to Adama. He nodded his head.

"I'll make sure my people know," said Adama as he yelled to one of the workers that were still setting up the camp. There were a number of workers doing various tasks around the site to make sure it was ready for the team's arrival.

"Where's Chuck," said Sarah just realizing he was gone. "Crap, has anyone seen Chuck," she asked. But Adama had been interpreting for Roberta and Julie while Gertrude looked on. No one saw him walk off.

"Great the first person to get lost is Chuck," said Gertrude as she gave Sarah a look. "I thought you trained Ward better." Sarah was about to let Verbanski have it when there was a loud cry from the dormitory building. Sarah flashed and understood some of the workers; they were screaming something about a Black Mamba and something about a white chiyang'a, a white witch doctor.

"Oh Chuck," she said as everyone ran to see what happened.

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Mr. Brown stopped a man on the Campo Road taking his car then he headed off for Mexico. Crossing the border he drove straight for the safe house. But as he got nearer he could see a plume of smoke so he pulled off the road and made his way on foot trying to cover the distance without being detected.

"We're about done here. You can call and ask if we can go." He heard someone say inside as he got up to the wall.

"Make sure everything is destroyed then we can go. They don't want anything lying around that can come back on us." Mr. Brown heard as he peeked inside and saw papers thrown about as a man feed others to a fire. But he couldn't tell how many people were inside.

"What to do," he said to himself. He felt like panicking and screaming but he couldn't so instead he made his way around the house to the back courtyard. He bit his tongue so as not to yell when saw what these people had done. His men were all dead lined up against the wall and executed. "Yousef you SOB you did this."

If a cell is diseased it's eliminated from the head down to the foot soldier so it can't contaminate others, he remembered Yousef telling him about this. But he never thought the organization would actually throw away that much life. But here was the proof that was exactly what they did. Something in him snapped, he made his way over to the bodies retrieved two pistols putting them in his belt then he took two more.

"Don't you people call before you drop over," he yelled as he kicked in the back door and started walking through dropping everyone he met. Going for head shots Mr. Brown wasn't trying to take prisoners. He didn't even try to find cover he just took a leisurely stroll from the back to the front. When he went out the front door there was a man trying to get to the Escalade that they had driven up in. Mr. Brown was out of ammo so he dropped the pistols he had in his hands and pulled the ones he had in his belt. Had the man turned and faced him he might have been able to take advantage of this moment but he was too busy trying to get away. Mr. Brown stretched his neck raise his weapon and dropped the man as he was about to opened the door. He stood over the top of the man and shot twice more then he took the keys from his dead hand.

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Chuck walked about observing the men working in the camp. He watched them as they off loaded material from the ferry taking it into the various builds. Walking behind one he wanted to see what the inside looked like. There were men inside receiving furniture then taking it to the different rooms. Certainly it wasn't Howard Johnson's but it'd do.

"Excuse me," said Chuck as he walked by. "Do you know which one is the largest?" He had an idea to stake that one out for Sarah and himself.

"No understand," said the worker. "Bossman go." He was politely telling him if he wanted information he needed to go talk to Adama then he returned to his job making sure each room was identically furnished.

"You should get a job in a Super 8," said Chuck as he smiled at the man and he smiled back revealing he was missing most of his front teeth. Chuck flashed.

"Zikomo Kwambiri, thank you very much," said Chuck not realizing he was speaking the man's native language. The worker stopped and stared at him. "What? I understand don't worry about it buddy," said Chuck then he went on. Behind him he heard the men mumbling something but they were speaking so low he couldn't hear.

"Okay whatever," said Chuck. He was still looking for a room for the two of them and he didn't feel like going and finding Gertrude's man but it sure seemed like she was more his. Maybe her break up with Casey had changed her. That was possible he almost went crazy when Sarah left him and if he'd admit the truth there was no 'almost' involved. "Gertrude, Gertrude what can I do for you," Chuck said to himself. "I know what you must've gone through."

"Pepani, sorry," said Chuck as he accidently bumped into a boy carrying some pillows for the beds. He was thinking about what he could do for Gertrude so he hadn't noticed the boy. "Let me help you." Chuck helped the boy pick up the pillows then patted him on the head. The boy just stood there and stared at Chuck. He was beginning to wonder if he had put his shirt on backwards or something. He couldn't be the first white man they'd seen.

Chuck started to complete his mission of finding a suitable room when a smell caught his attention. It was an earthen smell like dirt mixed with coffee grounds. He turned around it was coming from behind him. From the room the boy just went inside. Then it hit him where he'd smelt something like that. There was a guy in Stanford who had a boa that was that smell it was a reptilian odor.

"Get out of there," yelled Chuck as he ran in after the boy. The rest of the workers looked down the hallway way puzzled then they heard the boy's blood curdling cry and they came running. The boy came out white as a sheet shaking.

"That man," said the boy pointing in the room, "he saved me. I was moving the bed when he ran in to tell me to get out. How did he know it was there?"

"How'd he know what was there," asked one of the old men. Then Chuck came out holding a Black Mamba by the head.

"That," the boy said pointing at the snake, "I move the bed and it jumped out at my face. I saw its fangs and hear its hiss. I swear I felt its breath but he grabbed in in midflight."

"There's only one explanation. He's a witch doctor, a white chiyang'a," said the old man. There was a low round of voices around Chuck as the workers backed away.

"What do we do with our friend here," said Chuck. "He was just trying to find a place to sleep. I'll take him outside the camp and let him go. What's everyone afraid of? It's only a little snake?"

"Chuck, what are you doing?... Oh my God," said Sarah as she flashed on the snake. "Chuck, what do you have got in your hand?"

"What's it look like? It's a snake, one of the workers scared it while he was making up the rooms. Hey, I think I found us a room. It's down there to the right," said Chuck as he turned with the snake in his hand pointing out the room. The workers scattered, some even jumped out of windows to get away. "What's their problem? Did I ever tell you about the time Meredith Lester put a snake in Morgan's desk in the sixth grade. He had to go home and change his pants." Adama came in to see what the problem was.

"Why are the workers running out? Oh my God you've got a snake," said Adama. "Take it outside and put it down I'll kill it."

"No you won't I'm going to take it outside the camp and let it go. He just wants to be left alone," said Chuck as he walked down the hall to the door.

"Listen to him Bossman," said the old man. "He's a white chiyang'a, a white medicine man and he speaks to the snake king.

Sarah pulled her Smith and Wesson following him outside of camp. She didn't know why he hadn't flashed on the snake but she didn't dare tell him to now. The only thing she could think of was he flash to save the boy so he could catch it in flight. The intersect had channeled all his energy into that what kind of snake wasn't important at the time. Outside of camp he set the snake down and it slithered off disappearing in the brush. He stood there for a while watching it disappear in the brush.

"Sweetie, you do know what kind of snake that was?" asked Sarah. She wanted to verify what she had assumed.

"It was just your old regular snake I guess. I don't know why everyone was making such a fuss. Do you have any idea?"

"Chuck, remember the snake, you got it?" she said. "Okay Sweetie, now picture the snake in your head then flash." She took his hands then she felt him squeeze.

"Oh my God! I don't feel so well."

"Chuck, don't throw up and don't do what Morgan did."

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The C-17 had just made landfall after crossing the Atlantic. A KC-135 had given them enough go-go juice to make it to the airfield in Zamibia. Last communications with the team on station everything was a go. Transportation was lined up waiting for them on the apron. Ralph went around checking on everyone. They all gave him a thumbs up that was everyone except for Stan and Herman who were still asleep. Ralph wondered what they had done to be so tired they had slept the whole flight but everyone else was anxious to get to work.

"Master Sergeant how long before touch down," asked Dr. Ryder. "I want to make sure my people are ready to roll out. We can't afford to lose any time."

"Well we've got another four hours at least of air time. If I were you I'd go grab some coffee if I couldn't get any shuteye. I know it's not the greatest but then just chill out. I'll come and get you when we're less than an hour out."

"I'd appreciate it. It's just I'm a little anxious… well we all are… you see this mission is important for us. Okay I'll go chill and get out of your hair but let me know as soon as you know something."

Ralph went got coffee then went back to his seat. When he got back he noticed Holter wasn't in his seat. Looking around he didn't see him.

"Ross, have you seen Dr. Shepherd? I wanted to bat a few ideas I had off him but he's not in his seat. You wouldn't know where he went?"

"Ralph, he probably went to the bathroom or lavatory or little boys room whatever they call it. Did you find out how much longer before we land?"

"We've got at least four more hours of flight time or that's what I was told," said Ralph. Ross rolled his eyes and stood up.

"I'm going to stretch my legs," said Ross as he got up. "Do you think anyone would complain if I got a book out one of my crates?"

"I think the Master Sergeant will get pissed if you move his load around. But while you're up can you try to find Holter. If it's not the sleeping beauties over there sawing logs, it's Holter living in the bathroom."

"You know we still have four hours before we land. Okay if I see him I'll tell him you're looking for him," said Ross as he got up looking over the pallets trying to find his crate.

"Where are you," said Ross as he looked over the crates and boxes all wrapped in plastic and strapped onto pallets and then the pallets themselves were strapped to the plane. Like this there would be no cargo shift in flight and risk the aircraft's stability. But Ross had to have his book. It was the latest Danielle Steel and he was getting to the good part. He was determined and nothing was going to stop him, not even safety

"Hey, there you are," said Ross. He found the crate he'd packed it in, the only problem was that it was at the bottom of the pallet. In order to get at it he had to undo the straps holding it in place then rip the plastic wrap open and cut the bands that held the crates on the pallet. But none of that bothered Ross in the least he wanted his book. As he was about to get it, destiny struck and 100 ways to die became 101. The weight shifted and the whole pallet of crates came down on him.

"What the hell," yelled the Load Master as he ran to the aft section of the plane. The pilot was screaming back over through internal communications as she had to manually off set the imbalance. This caused the load to shift back and forth hitting Ross at least twice. "What idiot undid the straps," yell the Load Master as he desperately tried to get Ross out from under. Some of the airmen on board helped out until finally they got Ross out.

"Lieutenant, we've got a medical emergency. We need to sit down and get this guy professional medical attention."

"We can't sit down, we've got a mission to complete," said Dr. Ryder. "Ross will just have to hang on until we get to Yubala." The Master Sergeant couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Isn't he your friend?... I don't care protocol requires we to sit down in a medical emergency to get the injured person to proper medical care," said the Master Sergeant adamantly. "And that's what we're going to do."

"Master Sergeant you might want to check your patient," said Holter as he seemed to appear from nowhere. "I think you'll find he's dead."

"That ends your medical emergency. We go on to Yubala with no stops on the way. I believe those were your orders."

"I've got to file an incident report. Can anyone tell me what happened and why the pallet was unstrapped?" Dr. Ryder explained what Ross had told him just before the accident and what he thought was the cause. The Master Sergeant sent one of the airmen to get a body bag and they loaded Ross inside. They placed the bag on top of the pallet as they restacked it and anchored it down once again. As they were finishing the co-pilot came back sent by the pilot to find out what had happened. He and the Master Sergeant went back up to the cockpit to brief the pilot.

"Holter, where have you been? I've been waiting forever. Ross was supposed to tell you I wanted to see you."

"Well, I guess he never got around to it," said Holter as he looked at the body bag stacked on the pyre. "What did you want?"

"I tell you I don't understand it ma'am," said the Load Master. "Even if he had undone all the straps the crates on the pallet shouldn't have fallen off. There were no turbulences or air pockets to make the plane cause the crates to fall off the pallet."

"What are you saying someone pushed the crates and they fell on the man?" asked the co-pilot. No one wanted to believe they had a murderer on board. "Is that even possible? How strong would they have to be?"

"Not much," said the Master Sergeant, "the pallet is on rollers so in theory it would move easily once the chocks were removed."

"Which also means it wouldn't take much roll or pitch to cause the pallet to move too," said the pilot. "I'm sorry I'm finding it hard to see any of these types having the guts to commit murderer, especially something as cruel as what just happened. Let's just write it up the way it went down without adding our personal theories then we turn it over to competent authority."

"What does that mean," asked the Master Sergeant. He had a good idea but he wanted the Lieutenant to say it.

"We'll turn this over to the CIA team that's meeting us. They should have more experience in this type of thing and they can deal with it."

"Roger that Sir," said the Master Sergeant but he wanted to ask if they should now wash their hands but he held his tongue.

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Alex was down in Castle looking over at Casey as he was writing up their mission report. The General had already kicked it back once because she said it was too vague and she wanted more detail. Casey sat there scratching his head; the only lead he was really at ease with came out of the end of a gun not in a number two pencil.

"Crap," he said as the tip broke again and he shoved it in the sharpener almost grinding it down to the eraser.

"I don't know why you just don't dictate it to me and let me type it up on a computer. It would save you time and energy not to mention frustration."

"I got this," said Casey. "I'm just better at breaking them." Suddenly the General came on the monitor. "General if you're looking for my mission report, it's going to take me a little longer."

"As long as I get it before the cows come home. No Colonel I'm calling to give you notification of an accident."

"Did something happen to Chuck or Sarah or both," said Morgan as he walked in carrying the stuffed chimp. The General raised her eyebrow at the stuffed pet.

"Aren't we a little old to be playing with dolls Agent Grimes," said Beckman. "I hope that's not the newest member of the team."

"Funny Becky and I seem to remember a conversation we had where you told me you didn't make jokes?"

"Grimes pipe down and let the General finish. Ma'am you said something about a notification what happened and who was hurt?

"One of the men you put on the plane was crushed to death earlier in an accident on board when a pallet got loose and the load fell on top of him."

"General, it wouldn't be Ross would it?" asked Alex as she looked at her father. He knew what she was thinking but he wished she'd go cautiously.

"Why yes Agent McHugh. Is there something you're holding back that I should know? Now would be the time to come out with it."

"Well…" Alex started as she looked over at John. There was little he could do now but motion for her to go on. She told the General about the lab accident and the events around it along with her suspicions and thoughts.

"This is all very interesting but how does it tie into the death of this scientist? I mean I agree it's tragic but there is hardly any indication that the accident was anything but that an accident."

"General, you don't understand, Ross was the one who told me about the lab and the accident in it. Could it be someone was trying to keep him quiet?"

"I don't know but I will inform Sarah and Chuck to keep their eyes open. I was going to do that anyway. We got an ID back on the men with Carlos. It turns out that some of them were VAJA…"

"And God bless you," said Morgan cutting the General off.

"Grimes, why don't you take your twin brother down to the Zoo where you can hold a family reunion in the monkey cage," said Casey. "Ma'am you have to ignore him, please continue."

"As I was saying some of the men were identified as Iranian even if their country flat denies any operations here."

"Do we know what they were up do?"

"No that information died with them. The only person who can tell us that is the man who escaped. I've got a composite sketch out on him that's circulating among all the branches of law enforcement. Hopefully something will turn up. Beckman out."