Don't own Chuck

As soon as Chuck saw the bomb he knew Sarah and everyone on the plane were in trouble. He had to get to that phone before it was too late. Looking at the photo of the bomb he noticed a green light lit indicating that the bomb was armed. He flashed on the detonator. A type used by the IRA on a number of occasions to take out high level targets. In his flash he saw a man slip out on an unguarded boat under the cover of night and attach a radio-controlled bomb. The next day the boat went out on a fishing excursion then just a few hundred yards from the shore, the bomb was detonated.

"Crap," yelled Chuck as he ran. The bomb was built to be detonated by a remote device that by now had to have told the holder that the bomb was compromised. Chuck had to answer that phone because he knew who was on the other end.

"Out of my way," yelled Chuck as he pushed by. "I need to get inside. Move out of my way," he said as he hit the kitchen door running inside before Casey or anyone else could catch him.

"Chuck don't! Stop the house is contaminated. You can't go in there," yelled John as he ran behind him but Chuck wasn't listening. He knew what was at stake and what he had to do.

"I got to answer that phone call," yelled Chuck. The door swung open then slammed shut after him. Once inside he ran to where the ringing sound was coming from.

"Yuck," he said on the floor he found Dr. Mason a pale corpse in a pool of his own dried blood. He pulled the Brigadier's phone from his inside his jacket pocket. Then he answered pulling it on speaker as he walked back in the kitchen where he could sit down at the table to catch his breath.

"Brigadier I need instruction," said the caller. "The green light has come on the detonator. The bomb is activated what are my orders? Do I press the button?"

"No! No don't do that it's a glitch in the relay. I was warned that this was possible before it was put in the box with the mask. Just keep your position and stand down."

"Your voice sounds strange almost like you're a different person," said the voice on the phone. "Are you all right?"

"Of course I'm all right. My voice is a little hoarse from yelling at idiots like you all day. You're flying over Canada now at 30,000 feet we're lucky that you could get through. Listen go back to what you were doing. There's a lot riding on this I don't need you screw to it up and you don't want to find out what the consequences will be. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir, I'm sorry it won't happen again. Standing down like you ordered," said the voice then the line went dead. Chuck leaned back in the chair as he waved to Casey looking at him from the kitchen window. He took a deep breath then took his phone out of his jacket then called Sarah back.

"Chuck, did you have a chance to look at the bomb," asked Sarah. "Tell me you flashed and know how to defuse it?"

"I'm sorry but that's going to take time… time I don't know if I have now. But you have a more immediate problem. When you opened the pouch was there a small thin metal seal over the lock?"

"Yes I had to break it to get at the combination. I didn't have any tools with me or anything I could use to remove it. Why? You sound like I shouldn't have touched it."

"Yeah you probably shouldn't have touched it because when you broke the seal inside was a small piece of optical fiber that when you broke it the bomb armed itself. I just talked with the person who has the detonator pretending to be her boss, Dr. Mason, and told her to stand down but I don't know how long my ruse will hold."

"You're right. What are we going to do if the real Dr. Mason calls this person? If he does they'll figure out they've been dubbed."

"Well that we don't have to worry about because he's dead in the other room on the floor. It looks like he got a taste of his own virus."

"Chuck how did you get his phone? Don't tell me you ran in and grabbed it off his corpse?" There was silence on the other end. "Oh Chuck, please tell me you didn't get yourself contaminated to save me."

"I took the vaccine you didn't so if anyone had to be contaminated it had to be me. Remember I took the vaccine I'll be fine. Listen we need to smoke out the Brigadier's accomplice…"

"The Brigadier? Who's the brigadier?" asked Sarah as Casey banged on the kitchen window pointing at his nose. He took his hand and felt it. His fingers felt hot and moist holding them up he could see they were covered with blood.

"I'll explain who the brigadier was later on for now we have to hurry and smoke out this spy. Once you've secured the remote the bomb will be safe. But Sarah if you have to you need to take her out before she can press the detonator."

"Just tell me what you want me to do?"

"Well maybe we can make the bomb safe without trying to disarm it. Listen I've got an idea," said Chuck as he went on to explain what he needed Sarah and Harry to do.

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Marg was pushing a drinks cart down the middle of the aisle explaining why they only served Coca-Cola products and not Pepsi when her phone rang. She knew from the ringtone she had to take it so she unceremoniously excused herself from the great cola debates then ran to the galley to answer it.

"Brigadier have things changed," asked Marg in a low voice but there was silence on the other end. "Is everything okay or do I need to deploy the device?" She was getting nervous and in her nervous jitters she opened the drawer with her gas mask.

"No," said Chuck as he began to cough and wheeze. "No, not yet just hold on for a moment and standby. I'll be right with you."

"Are you sure everything is okay," asked Marg. Now she was really wondering about the Brigadier. He seemed to giving contradictory orders. Then she looked up and saw Sarah coming her way. Looking down the other aisle she saw Harry heading for her too. She knew in that instance she was made so she reached into her pocket pulled out the remote and at the same time she pulled out a gas mask from one of the cabinets in the galley.

"She's going for it," yelled Sarah. "We've got to stop her before it's too late." There was a loud murmur from the rest of the passengers as Marg stepped out from the galley with gas mask on and the remote in hand.

"Crap she's armed," said Sarah. She didn't hesitate or give Marg a chance to say anything. She grabbed a can of Coke off the cart then threw it catching Marg square in the face shield shattering it knocking her off her feet. She dropped with a low thud to the carpet but as she hit she press the activate button.

"Haven't you heard things go better with Coke?" said Sarah as she stepped on Marg's hand to take the detonator from her.

"Look what you made me do," screamed and cried Marg. "Now we're all going to die. Don't you see it's all over? We're dead."

"Like in your scenario we let you go them we all walk away. What? Did you have a parachute hiding in the hold? You don't impress me as the kamikaze type; no you seem more the material girl."

"I'm not talking without a lawyer," said Marg. "That is if we live long enough for me to get one pregnant lady." Sarah had taken about as much lip as she could take for one day. She punched her knocking her back down.

"We'll see about that. I'm rather an expert when it comes to making people talk. A little extreme rendition and we'll see if you change your tune. Remove a few of these fingers and you'll be singing."

"I don't understand why aren't we all dead?" said Marg as she looked around at all the healthy puzzled faces looking at her. "We should be dead by now or dying?"

"That you can thank my husband for... Oh Chuck, give me her phone," said Sarah as she scrabbled to see if he was still on the line. "Sweetie it worked you did it we're all safe… Oh Chuck answer me please," she said but all she heard on the other in was coughing and wheezing. "Hold on please, I love you."

"Well, well," said Marg. "I might've missed my mark but it looks like the Brigadier got his," said Marg which earned her a back hand from Sarah that dropped her back to the floor.

"If I were you I'd watch my mouth or stay down. For your information your boss is dead from his own virus seems there was a little mishap."

"I'm fine," said Chuck in a low voice. "It looks like the vaccine has slowed down the effects of the VHF so in a few days I'll be right as rain. But rain really is that right is it? It's all over the place."

"Oh Chuck I love you."

"I love you too," said Chuck as he started coughing and hacking then the line dropped."

"Not one word Marg or I'll forget we need your intel," said Sarah.

[Earlier when Chuck was walking Sarah through his plan]

Chuck had an idea. First he had them put the bomb in the microwave in the aft galley where he positioned Sarah. Then he had Harry stand in the front part of the plane. Sarah kept her phone on speaker while he used the Brigadier's to call his spy. When Chuck dialed the number Marg's phone rang. There was a lone phone that rang in the plane.

"I got her," yelled Sarah as she pocketed her phone. That was how Chuck unmasked the Brigadier's spy. Now she, Harry and Jamil were in the hold with Marg and the microwave. Sarah was on comms with Beckman. She called Sarah for a quick brief of the situation."

"General what's Chuck's status? Is it possible for me to talk to him? For the record he saved us all today with his idea to use the microwave as Faraday cage. Marg could've pressed her button all day and nothing would've gone boom. Maybe we need a new protocol for bomb handling?"

"I'll see to it. We can call it the Carmichael protocol. But about contacting him I'm not sure you can. I'm sorry he's been taken to Westside memorial and they have him in a quarantine ward. The vaccine seems to have slowed down the effects of the virus but right now his body needs to do the rest. I'm trying to contact Mary to inform her but Chuck specifically told me he didn't want Ellie notified not until it was absolutely necessary. Agent Grimes has been assigned home patrol until your return."

"General what did you find out about Dr. Mason aka the Brigadier. "There has to be some connection between the Commandant and the Brigadier."

"Alex and Casey are investigating into Dr. Mason's background but it seems the real Dr. Mason was killed in Bagdad in car bombing. Our Dr. Mason is a fraud but that doesn't really help us. In Banai's dossier it talks about a mysterious section chief in the IIS called the Brigadier and the Commandant worked for him but even that is only hearsay. Evidence from the safe house seems to indicate that the Brigadier and his men walked in to a trap. The virus was pumped into the house after they entered and it worked so fast they didn't know what hit them."

"Interesting that there seems to be a rift in their organization. If this bomb was a present to the New IRA then there had to be contact at some level. We should comb the dark net and see if there wasn't some sort of transaction."

"You might ask your prisoner if she can corroborate any of this conjecture," said the General. "I'll do some digging from our end then we can compare notes. Beckman out.

"You heard that," said Sarah. "What can you tell me about the way your people are communicating with the Brigadier's people?"

"You can go to hell. I'm not going to tell you anything. Nothing you can do to me will make me talk. I know my rights."

"You don't have any rights here. It's just you and me. In a bit I'm going to send the men away so you and I can get down to business. I just hope you hold out long enough to work out some anger issues I've got going. You should go," she said the Jamil and Harry. "You're not going to want to be here for this."

"I'm not going anywhere," said Jamil. He looked over at Harry and he nodded. "We're not going anywhere so why are we wasting time?"

"Normally I'd insist but don't get in my way," said Sarah as she went over to a tool box that the grounds crew had left on board. Inside she found different tools she could use showing each to Marg. "Do you feel like talking yet?"

"An American agent on board a British aircraft would never use any of that. I'm not afraid," said Marg as she smirked.

"You might want to wipe that smirk off your face. I hate smirkers," said Sarah. "Okay, you're right.
Normally, I wouldn't threaten a subject with death by ammonia injection - burning somebody from the inside out. Doesn't sound like something that's in the Geneva Convention, does it? But this man that I was talking to…he loves me. We're married and this is his baby…"

"I see," said Marg. "It's amazing what a woman will do for a man. Even the toughest spies in the world are just raging hormones looking for maternity. Tick, tick, tick, tock. How many litters are you going to hatch?"

"You got me. I'm just a needy, love-crazed girl who's in love with a marvellous man who sacrificed himself to save me… to save us. But I'm also the woman who's trained in over 200 ways to kill you.
Afraid yet or do we begin this dance by a screw driver in the knee cap? That will have you limping for life but if we do both then you're on crutches. Or we can simple start removing toes," said Sarah as she showed Marg a pair of plyers. "You've got ten of them so one less won't matter much. No nothing yet? Guys if you're squeamish you might want to look away." Sarah pulled off her shoe then grabbed her little toe with the plyers and started to apply pressure.

"Augh, wait... wait," said Marg. "Hold up... Okay there was an art auction on the dark net and we won the bid for the Mask. There's a whole catalog and different pieces come up on different days. Organizations bid on them and the winner takes the prize after the money has been transferred."

"So how was this piece to be delivered?" asked Sarah. "Were you supposed to take it from Jamil in the airport?"

"No," said Jamil. "That I know. I was told by Mason that one of the IRA was to come by my apartment and pick it up. After that I don't know I was told by one of the Doctor's men that my wife would be put on a plane for London..."

"Fat chance that was going to happen," said Marg. "Your contact, the IRA man, was supposed to eliminate you as a loose end. That's all I know."

"I have friends in MI6 who will protect you when we arrive. They'll take in the IRA henchmen and that will end that but if we play our cards right we might get whoever is behind this to hold another auction.

"Where are they holding Noora and who's got her," said Sarah. She applied pressure to Marg's toe to reminder where she was.

"I don't know," said Marg. Sarah clamped down hard. "Augh! I told you I don't know. I'm not lying I don't. I know the man who's holding her is a close friend of the Brigadier's from back in the day. He's got a title not a name."

"They call him the Commandant?" asked Sarah. Marg nodded her head.

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The hospital staff was put on alert that a special priority one patient was coming in for quarantine. Only those with need to know were to be allowed on his floor. They loaded Chuck into a special decon igloo then drove him away in a special ambulance that rushed him across town. Now he was lying in a bed in a makeshift quarantine ward. Doctors began prodding and poking him. The first thing they got in was an IV then they started pumping him with whole blood to replace what he was losing.

"Doc can you tell me how he is," asked Casey as soon as Dr. McCoy came out after passing through the rigorous decontamination procedure.

"Well he's semi-conscious and that's in part due to his blood loss. We're trying to pump him with whole blood to build back up what he's lost but if you want my opinion it could go either way. What's going for him is he's got a strong will to live and I could tell he's fighting it but to say that's enough... well if I were you I'd try to get his next of kin here just in case. I'm sorry I wish I could be more positive but that's the situation."

"Is there any way I can go inside to see him," asked John as he looked into Chuck's room through a window. "I'd like to try to talk to him if that's okay."

"Let's let him rest for right now then we can see. He's been asking for a Sarah. Is there any way you can get her here?"

"Unfortunately not right away, she's on a flight to Heathrow but I'm going to have her turn around and come back as soon as her flight touches ground."

"Let's just hope she can get back here before it's too late. I need to go talk to someone in administration about support we're going to need but I'll be back in a little bit to check up on him."

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The Commandant pulled up to the new safe house not far from Griffith Park. The garage opened and inside they were greeted by four men who were waiting for them. The Commandant didn't like this he wasn't told about any one meeting them. He told Zaid and Gabir to stay in the van.

"Stay here with the hostage while I go see what this is all about. Keep the motor running in case we have to beat a hasty retreat," he said as he climbed out.

"Mr. Al-Najaf our boss and yours sent us here to greet you. He wanted to make sure you and your people were all right after the incident with Dr. Mason."

"Dr. Mason? Who's Dr. Mason? Oh the Brigadier, yeah it wasn't easy but it was either me or him in the end. I can't believe he'd betray our cause like that. Well we're here safe and sound so you can go back and report we're all fine."

"Good we'll do that but there is one last thing. I'm to take the canisters with me. We're afraid that they may not be safe here. Nothing personal you see just the boss wants them close at hand."

"Are you saying you don't trust that we can keep them safe? I don't see how I can take that anyway but personally."

"I was being polite telling you but we've been ordered to take them one way or the other. The Boss wants to know if you can follow orders or not and before we start a firefight here you should know there are lots more of us. Besides where do you have to go? Your picture is in every police car and has been plastered in the news. I've also been told the Iranians have been asking the U.S. government for extradition."

"It's nice to be popular. Okay you want the canisters take them but be careful the seals are kind of old and have been known to fail."

"Let's hope they hold up back to the consulate. Now tell your men to step out. You still have the hostage to babysit," said the man as the Commandant went over to the van and got everyone out.

"Where's your vehicle at so we can move the canister's over," said the Commandant still thinking if he wanted to give up his prize.

"You don't have to worry about moving them. We'll take yours," said the man as he took the keys from Zaid.

"This just gets better and better. What do we do for transportation if we need to sortie this place?" He didn't like the way they were leaving them.

"Another vehicle will be sent to you soon and if you need food there is a number next to the phone for a Persian takeout place called Alibaba's."

In the end there was little the Commandant could do other than watch the men pull out leaving them high and dry. This wasn't what the Commandant had bartered for.