Don't own Chuck
Pete and his crew drove across town. It was late but L.A. was a city that never slept that was why he liked it. The best creatures came out at night and he was one of them or he thought. They took their time driving to the safe house the last thing they wanted was to get pulled over by the cops then have them snoop around in the back. Finally they pulled up outside of what looked like a crack house in a rundown section of the city. Everyone in that part of town had learned a long time ago not to mind other people's business.
"Okay look alive we're here," said Pete. The garage door opened up and the Commandant stood just on the inside out of plain view. He waved for them to drive in to get off the street so they slowly pulled in behind a black escalade. Pete saw the bulge under the Commandant's jacket and knew he was armed.
"Listen up home boys our friend here is packing so check your weapons in case crap goes down. I don't expect it will but we need to be ready. But no matter what happens I'm the one who does the talking. You guys got that just keep your traps shut and your wits, because these people can be a little jumpy."
"Hear that Marty you got to keep your wits even if they're dim," said one of the guys and the rest laughed.
"Funny you want to take it out in the street and we'll see how funny it is when I kick your butt up and down the road."
"Will you guys cut it out," said Pete. "Now screw your heads on right and follow me." They got out of the van then Pete when over and shook the Commandant's hand while his two men went to the back and opened it up. The Commandant walked behind to discover they'd brought only one canister.
"Excuse me where are the rest? Don't tell me you let them get away from you and they got washed out into the Ocean?"
"No we got them there are nine more like this one we've got in safe keeping. We need to talk about money and profits again..."
"Wait we just had one and what are talking about nine more? There should be eleven not nine and what are you trying to do jack up the price on me?"
"We're trying to secure our financial future. You like that I heard a man talking about it the other day of television. He said you had to plan for tomorrow today."
"That sounds like sound advice," said the Commandant as he bit his tongue to keep from telling Pete what he really thought. "But I don't understand why there are only nine canisters and not eleven like there's supposed to be."
"Listen, buddy I hope you're not accusing us of stealing," said Marty. "But there were only ten. I almost got washed away trying to fish them out. Maybe your people need to learn a little English when they do their adding and subtracting."
"Your numbers are Arabic because the Romans couldn't figure out what to do with the zero or the decimal point," said the Commandant.
"Marty shut your trap," said Pete. "What did I tell you about talking? I told you to keep quiet and let me do the talking."
As Pete was dressing down his man the Commandant remembered sending the two morons up to the second floor but didn't remember seeing them come down before he had to pull out.
"Oh I think I owe you an apology for this misunderstanding. I believe I know where the two missing canister are. You're right there are only ten."
"Good I'm glad we've gotten that cleared up," said Pete. Marty looked like he was about to say something when Pete shook his head. "Now maybe we can talk about our money. I think that we deserve a fifty-fifty split. You give us what we're due and we'll turn over the other nine like reasonable businessmen."
"Did the guy on TV say that too?" asked the Commandant. Pete nodded smiling. "Well it seems you've got me over a barrel but I can't agree to anything. You might find this strange but I've got a boss I answer to or didn't I tell you this already. I'll go get him so if you'll follow me I'll take you to a room where you can wait. He'll be right with you then we can hash this out like... how did you put it reasonable businessmen.
As they were talking the Commandant looked up at the CCTV camera the pointed to the canister in the back. That was a signal for Zaid. He knew exactly what the Commandant wanted.
"Come on Gabir," said Zaid, "the Commandant needs us to do something for him." They went out around the house then came into the garage from the outside after everyone left.
"What are we supposed to do?" asked Gabir. Zaid waved for him to keep his voice down. He opened the door and peeked down the hall to see the Commandant lead Pete and his men away. The Commandant looked back at Zaid and nodded.
"Okay grab to end of this canister and help me. Be careful not to drop it but we need to hurry," said Zaid. He jumped in the back of the van then slid it forward so the two of them could get a good grip.
"Now follow me but like I said we need to hurry. The Commandant can't stall them for long," said Zaid. The two grabbed the canister and took it through the doors to a room next to the one the Commandant and Pete went into. Zaid started connecting the oxygen regulator to the canister as Gabir watched.
"What are you doing?" asked Gabir which was a stupid question. He could see what he was doing but it was the why he should've asked.
"They asked for what they deserved well that's what we're about to give them with interest," said Zaid as he smiled at Gabir.
"I thought you were the one who had reservations about us using this stuff?"
"These people are rats and I'm all for pest control. Go stand by the doorway the Commandant will signal you when he wants me to turn on the flow. I just hope we sealed up the room well. I'd hate for this to back flow in here. I'd hate to think that your omelet was my last meal."
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Across town Chuck finished loading the voice recording into the mainframe and it started processing the audio file. First by stripping ambient noise then by enhancing the voices all this was going to take time so he detached the recorder. Then it dawned on him this was the one he'd given Sam how was he going to explain to her that he couldn't give it back. She really was going to call him a bonehead luckily in his crisis he remember he had another one that was identical all he had to do was to move over what she recorded.
"Okay you can do this Chuck," he said then he hung his head. He'd have to use his computer in the bedroom because he had the computer in the living room tied up with the mainframe. He couldn't use his tablet because it was impractical. So he had no choice but to go to the bedroom to work.
"Quiet Chuck," he said to himself as he took out headsets plugged them in then fired it up. He looked back at Sarah sleeping soundly in bed.
"Chuck head in the game go to work," he said to himself. He could've stayed there for hours and watch her sleep but he had to get this done before a little angry girl go a hold of him.
"Okay all I need to do is to attach both recorders then copy the audio file over by playing it from the host recorder into the slave. Simple no," he said to himself. But nothing was simple he had to listen to what Sam recorded to know when to stop. There was no need and he didn't want her listen to the shootout over and over again.
"Mommy says don't call Chuck a bonehead," Chuck heard Sam say in the headset. "Find out from Uncle Casey what a bonehead is." Chuck had to fight off an almost uncontrollable desire to laugh.
"Mommy said to tell everyone we were late because of traffic but I don't know. They tell me not to lie but then they tell me to lie. Ask Nana to explain." Chuck felt a knot in his stomach. He could only guess what his mother would tell her.
"I thought you were going to come to bed after you got the mainframe working," he heard Sarah say from behind him. "What are you doing?"
"I'm sorry if I woke you up. I'll join you in a moment I just have to get this done first. It dawned on me that this voice recorder is evidence now so we can't give it back to Sam..."
"Oh I hadn't thought about that you're right we can't," said Sarah as she seemed to wake up all of a sudden. "So what are we going to do? She won't like that and at almost five I don't know if she understands what a national emergency is?"
"I remembered I had another one so I'm moving what she recorded over to it without the firefight. There's no reason she should have to replay that."
"You're a good father Chuck," she said as she came over behind him and kissed him on the neck. "Come on let's go back to bed."
"Am I a good father? I don't know I wonder if I'm not as crazy as my father sometimes. At least he had the good sense to keep this world away from Ellie and me."
"Hey don't beat yourself up. Take my word for it I'm an expert when it comes to bad fathers and you're not. Where's all this coming from anyway? Is it because of last night or tonight I don't know what time it is?"
"It was last night and yeah that got me thinking. Maybe Sam wasn't that wrong calling me a bonehead. By the way according to her recording she's going to ask Casey what it means. That should be interesting."
"Chuck you shouldn't be listening to what she recorded. That's like reading her diary," said Sarah as he turned and gave her a look. "Okay I will probably take a little peek from time to time. People shouldn't keep them anyway they're an open invitation for other people to gather intel about them. Talking about fathers, Jack used to tell me never write what you're really feeling or thinking in a diary. You make up things so you sow counterintelligence in case you have a security breach. What you really feel you keep to yourself."
"That sounds very sad and lonely," said Chuck as he turned and kiss her. "Jack may have his own set of unique moral values but he never got you in the middle of a firefight."
"Chuck, what happened wasn't your fault nor was it anyone else's except the people who pulled out the guns. Thank goodness we had the means to defend ourselves or we could've ended up with the hostages or worse. Chuck not everything that bad happens is your or the intersects fault and if we're doing a tally I think we've done a good job of making this world a safer place."
"Thank you I really needed to hear that," said Chuck as he kissed her. "I'm done here so we can go to sleep."
"Don't mention it. I think it's in the fine print on what a good wife is supposed to do for her husband when he's feeling low. You know I have a ring and a piece of paper to support that. However, I hate to tell you but if you're thinking you can just slip one recorder for the other and she won't notice the difference then I would think again. Your daughter has an eye for detail."
"You're probably right I should just tell her what I've done. She was questioning why we ask her to tell the truth then we asked her to lie. But then I wasn't supposed to hear that nor that she intends to ask my mother why that is like she's an expert."
"Crap, I so regret telling her that now. I forget how little she is."
"I know I'm guilty of that too. That's why I'm just going to tell her I had to substitute recorders and that I copied over her data."
"I would leave out the part about you listening to what she recorded."
"That goes without saying."
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In an office in Tehran, Banai went to work like any other day. The city was chaotic with traffic jams as every form of transportation moved about the streets. One thing the revolution hadn't taken care of was the traffic. He finally arrived at his place of work above the main entrance was writing in Farsi 'Vezarat-e Ettela'at Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye' [The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran]. He made his way to office walking in his secretary handed him his newspaper and his cup of tea.
"Thank you Fatima," said Banai. He noticed she was wearing her hijab in the office something he never pushed and most of the time she didn't wear it when the doors were closed.
"The director is waiting for you in your office," she said as she looked down. Suddenly he knew why but if the director was in his office that could only mean one of two things. Either he was in trouble or he was in deep trouble either way it wasn't good.
"Good morning director," said Banai as he walked in. "Can Fatima get you a cup of tea or something? I'm sorry I'm late but traffic is a bear this time of day."
"Maybe if you left earlier you could get to the office on time," said the Director. "No thank you I'm fine. Please close the door on you way out," said the Director as he dismissed Fatima. She gave a worried look at Banai but he dared not give one back.
"I'm sorry but I've got children and we had to do our morning Fajir together. I want my son to grow up to be a good Muslim so I must give him a good example."
"Indeed Banai, indeed, well I'll cut to the chase we intercepted this search on the internet," said the Director as he dropped a file folder on Banai's desk. "Naturally this is classified to the highest level so you can't talk about this to anyone although you might want to."
"I see... yes naturally," said Banai as he open it. Now he was curious and talking about curiosity killed the cat he took a deep breath when he saw the photo. "Is this who I think it is?"
"Yes your old friend the Commandant Ali Al-Najaf or as you called him in your reports the butcher of our people and I seem to remember other expletives."
"Yes and you made me re-write them. He used chemical and viral agents during our war that result in the deaths and maiming of thousands. I pushed to bring this evidence to the world's court to extradite the SOB from Iraq then just when I thought I had the okay he went underground. Where did we get this? I'll personally fly to wherever he's at and but a bullet in his head although I'd like to make him suffer a little first."
"I figured you'd feel something like that but it's not that easy to get at him. It seems he was sighted in Los Angeles where he led a team that raided a museum..."
"A museum... that doesn't sound like him. Are we sure this photo is real and not another hoax of his to throw us off his trail so he can escape being captured again?"
"The photo is real and the museum is real. It seems the Americans found some artifacts that belonged to our Iraqi brothers and were trying to give them back. They organized a Gala event then the Commandant jumped out of a cake in the middle of the party," said the Director. Banai gave him a look. "What can't I have a sense of humor?"
"So what is our Commandant up to? Who took this photo anyway? You said it was a reputable source," said Banai as he studied his adversary. "He hasn't changed much and he hasn't had any plastic surgery to hide his appearance. The man is bold and arrogant both will be his down fall."
"You asked where the photo came from. The CIA is now looking for him but the request came from an offsite not their downtown operation. Our people said it was impossible to trace it back to its source."
"You don't have to I know who posted this. There's only one person I know who could do that. You need to have our IT people run a virus search on our systems. If I'm right this photo came with a bug that searches the computers of everyone who downloaded it for pertinent information. Like fishing for a particular fish you use a specific lure."
"I have to admit that's extremely clever so who is this master spy?"
"Chuck... I mean Charles Carmichael. You might remember him he helped us out capture Izad and those traitors we executed up north in Khoy."
"The scientists I wanted but you two were quick to get rid of them. Strange how orders take so long to deliver up there."
"Isn't it," said Banai as he studied the photo. He wanted him and badly. "I wonder if I make contact with Chuck we can't arrange something a quid pro quo of sorts."
"Well the U.S. and Iranian relations are the best they've been since the revolution. But this Chuck even if he says he's willing to playball with us I don't think his government will allow you to operate on their soil and frankly I don't know if I want you to either.
"This is just conjecture until I've made contact with him. I'd like to fly to Mexico there we can have a face to face at a neutral site near the border. I could present our case then we can go from there."
"Okay I'll allow the meeting but this is off the books and if anything goes wrong you're on your own. I can't have this coming back on our government not now that the negotiations have taken off. Oh and if you leave right after Fajir you can make to work on time if you don't stop off zoolbia pastries on the way in. Your hands are still sticky from the honey remember I'm a spy too. I want you on the next plane for Mexico. Good luck and if you get the chance take the shot this SOB should've been put down years ago."
"Roger that," said Bandai as he closed the folder then took a sip of tea.
"You've definitely been hanging around too many Americans," said the Director as he got up to leave. "Good luck and happy hunting."
Now who'd been around the Americans too long thought Banai as reopened the folder one more time. He wanted another look at the man he hated and was studying the photo when Fatima stuck her head in his office.
"Is everything okay?" she asked. The director had already scolded her for not having her hijab on when he came it.
"Yes... Oh yes there is something I need. I need you to book me a flight to Mexicali I need to leave on the next available flight. Now wish me luck I've got to call my wife and tell her I'm going out of town on business," he said as he picked up his phone.
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It was now almost morning and the weather looked like it was going to be another gorgeous California day. The people at the storage yard didn't bat an eye when Pete's van pulled up. The man at the front gate asked the driver to sign in then open the gate waving the van through. The van drove around a row then backed in front of a storage container. But instead of Pete's crew climbing out Zaid and Gabir got out.
"Well this is the one," said Gabir as he tossed Zaid the keys. "I guess now we see if they lied to us. If they did there's not much we can do now."
"No this is the right spot. When we told them the cure was in one of the canisters they sang like a peacock," said Zaid.
"You mean canary. The idiom is they sang like a canary," said Gabir as Zaid tried the keys. The lock opened on the second try.
"How can you compare the sound of a canary to a peacock. The peacock cry is loud and piercing while a canary you can barely hear," said Zaid as he opened the door. They both smiled at each other then Gabir called the Commandant.
"Just let you know we hit pay dirt. The nine canisters are here and we're loading them now. We should have them loaded in half and hour then we'll be back… The bodies we dumped in a dumpster sealed like you said. I need to go help Zaid," said Gabir. He hung up and put his phone away.
"Come on Zaid you grab one end and I'll take the other," said Gabir but Zaid broke out laughing. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry but when you said grab one end it made me think about the dumpster…"
"And so?"
"Imagine the face of the garbage collectors when they dump the trash. I bet they heave up all over the place."
"You're sick," said Gabir. "There's definitely something wrong with you. Come on these canisters aren't going to load themselves."