Don't own Chuck
Ettore started to lead Alex out of their room but stopped checking the passageway first then came back inside. He took off his watch and took out his earbud sitting both on a table then he told Alex to do the same thing.
"We'll have a better chance of making it out of here if we leave our comms devices here. If these people see us talking with someone or catch us with our earbuds then they'll shoot us on the spot rightfully thinking that we had something to do with the missing canister."
"Where are we going to go and how are we going to get off this ship? It's not like we can walk off and call for reinforcements."
"They didn't explain to you the plan?" said Ettore. Naturally Alex shook her head as she wondered who this they was. "There's a chopper coming to pick us up. Now let's get a move on it we don't have much time."
"But what about the General and the Major, we should go down and free them then come up together to catch the chopper. We can't very well leave them behind."
"No… I mean yes… I mean there's no need she's already been freed and will be meeting us on the flight deck. Now let's go," said Ettore as they heard automatic weapons. They ran out in the passageway then went aft. From there they started to work their way up deck after deck trying to avoid both passengers and crew.
"Hey there he is," said the Basque man Morgan had a run in with at the dinner. "Let's go yank that beard out by the roots then we can take his girl."
"Morgan, let me handle this," said Alex as she pulled out her Beretta cougar. "You wait here this won't take long."
"No, you start shooting and others will join in. No you wait here and let me deal with these guys. All I have to do is reason with them then we can go just cover my back and make sure no one sneaks up on us from the rear."
"Oh Morgan be careful," said Alex. She gave him a good luck kiss then he walked around the corner to face three very large men alone.
Back in Castle Chuck was watching the whole thing evolve. He was worried for his little buddy as he continued to try to contact him but with no luck. He was about to turn off the lights to give Morgan an opportunity to run when something strange happened.
"You guys looking for me? My reputation isn't enough to make you quake in your boots? No, hum… well I guess it's time I give you a little demonstration. You with the big mouth you're dead but don't know it," said Ettore as he continued to move in closer and closer until they were arm's length away from each other.
"Oh I'm so going to enjoy this," said the junior mountain. "Guys move back a bit and give us some room. I'd hate to get you covered in splatter. You're mine…" The man started to say as he tried to grab Ettore but he was too fast for him ducking under his bear hug so he grabbed air. Ettore pulled his knife and slashed the back of the man's leg severing his femoral artery. Blood gushed out as the man tried to stop it but within minutes he bled out. Then Ettore came up throwing his knife catching the next one in the forehead while the other nervously fumbled with his weapon trying to get it out of the holster. Ettore retrieved the knife as the man pulled his Glock but Ettore was at the man's throat before he could raise it. All three were dead within seconds.
"Crap, that's Ettore," said Chuck realizing it couldn't be Morgan. Ettore looked up at the camera as he cleaned his knife wiping it on the first man smiling then waving before running back to Alex.
"How'd it go," asked Alex a little amazed. "I guess okay since I didn't hear anything. Oh Morgan you're the greatest."
"Piece of cake we worked everything out," said Ettore. "I illustrated our problems and they wanted to give me bullets but I gave them my point and it was done. We cut a deal then that was that. Follow me we need to cut through here they said other people who were coming after them weren't as reasonable."
"Oh Morgan, you surprised me. Don't get me wrong I always knew you had it in you," she said. "I wish Dad could see you now. He'd be so proud."
"Come on I can hear the chopper now," said Ettore as he pushed her along. They went through the passageway to the other side of the ship then up another level. When they opened the hatch they saw the helicopter a Blackhawk circling the ship laying down cover fire with a M134 minigun. It was keeping everyone's head down with its six barrels and two to six thousand rounds of hell a minute.
"I don't see the General," yelled Alex as the chopped came in to pick them up. "We can't get on without her."
"Oh but I insist," said Paolo as he came up behind them with his Beretta 9. "You both climb aboard and let's get out of here while the getting is good. You should say thanks I'm saving your lives. Drop the purse and get onboard."
"Why are you doing this? We're no good to you," said Alex."
"Shush," said Ettore as he held his arms out. "At least we'll be alive to get even. Just play along and let's see where this takes us. Who knows we might even like it."
"I really doubt that Morgan. But you're right," she said as she got on. Paolo tossed Ettore cuffs and a hood.
"I want you to do her first then yourself," said Paolo. "Pilot, take us out of here."
"Yes sir," said Ettore. Once he had the cuffs and hood on Alex he took out a syringe hidden between the seats and injected her. She was out like a light.
"What are we supposed to do with her and how much longer do you plan on keeping this act up for? You know you're playing with fire but why am I wasting my breath? You're not going to listen."
"I don't know amico mio just the heart wants what the heart wants," said Ettore as Paolo just shook his head."
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John came too slowly his whole body ached every muscle felt stiff and sore. He realized then he wasn't getting any younger. Rolling over of his side he pushed himself up his clothes were still wet and the saltwater on his skin made him feel dirty but he was alive. "Alex" he thought. He needed to get to her to tell her the man she thought was Morgan was an impostor and then… well no one was going to stop him from a little game of whack-a-troll not even the General.
"Okay you need to do an assessment of your situation," he told himself looking around in the life boat he discovered Ettore had put the canisters inside. Casey noticed Chuck's idea of throwing them over the side wouldn't work. Some sea spray was sloshing around in the bottom of the boat and the canisters were floating. "So much for the computer skin job being infallible."
He took a bottle of water and turned it up then grabbed a package of emergency rations. He needed to get his strength back and be ready because he realized someone was going to come looking for his cargo. As he ate he activated the bilge pump to get out the water that had seeped in from the storm.
As he pumped the bilge he looked around the life boat. He had to defend the canisters from being taken by the wrong people but how was he going to do that by himself.
"For all you know a boat load of cut-throats could be heading for you now. What are you going to do when they get here? Loud words won't stop them." He didn't see how anyone else was going to come to his assistance. He was Morgan's needle in haystack made of needles in the Pacific.
Taking out the fishing gear from the emergency survival kit John extracted line and hooks. Then he found the flare gun and secured it on the inside of the hatch pointing inwards with rope. Next thing he needed was something combustible with a low flash point. That he found in the first aid kit in the form of alcohol. Now he could finish rigging his hatch and come up with a way off the boat before it went boom.
"I'm so going to kill me a Troll," said John as he field stripped his fire arms drying them off on inside. Making sure they were working properly and that the slides did stick. The water itself wasn't the problem but the salt residue. It caused corrosion and degreased the working parts which increased the possibility that the weapon would jam. They'd need some TLC when he got them back to the armory but for now they like he would have to make do.
"Oh am I going to have some fun when I get my hands on that scumbag Troll. I'm going to tack his skin to the side of my house," said Casey as he housed the clip then cocked the slid. In the distance he heard something that sounded like a diesel engine looking out a porthole he saw a fishing trawler heading in his direction with no flag flying.
"Looks like I'm going to get to work out some of my anger issues. Boys, you're in a world of hurt this could actually be fun," he said as he started soaking everything down the inside with alcohol. He didn't want to do it too early because it would've evaporated but like this it would hang as a vapor in the air permeating the space. He maneuvered the rudder so the he could slip out the hatch without being seen pulling the fishing line with hook behind him securing it tightly to the hatch cover. After that he went into the water holding on to the side of the lifeboat waiting for the trawler to get closer.
"Watch out," he heard a man say with a thick accent. "If you run into it you might sink it then we'll lose our cargo. That's it bring us about slowly cut the motor and let us drift in. That's it. Stand by with that boat hook." Casey felt the two boats bump into each other then he heard someone jump on deck. That was his cue to swim around the bow of the trawler and come onboard the opposite side. He climbed onboard without being detected because everyone was on the other side aft dealing with the lifeboat.
"Maneuver around and lower the aft davit. Let's bring it onboard," he heard the man with the accent say then he heard some of the sailors speaking what sounded like Korean. John took out his two friends Heir Sig and Mr. Colt taking them out of plastic bags. He cleaned them before and wanted them to stay dry.
"Okay anytime now it's going to be a party," said John as he made his way up the bridge wing. He stayed out of sight on there waiting.
"Okay hold it there," said the man with the accent. He had to be the head honcho because he barked orders and everyone jumped. "Okay one of you up there go inside and let's off load those canisters then let's get out of here." There was a loud decision between crew members with a lot of head shaking.
"I'm sorry sir but no one wants to be the first one inside. What if one of the canisters leaked inside the air could be contaminated and toxic."
"You bunch of nancies," said the man in charge. "Out of my way and let me go in. After I go in though I expect someone to follow me," said the man as he jumped up on the top deck of the life boat. "Let me show you how this is done. I can't believe you bunch what kind of terrorists are you?"
The man yanked up on the hatch the fishing line tightened on the flare guns trigger until it fired. The alcohol vapors caught fire and in the confined space of the life boat exploded causing the pressurized canisters to explode. The ensuing fire ball destroyed all of the virus. Everyone aft was taken out by the explosion and shrapnel from the blast. John heard a lot of moans as he leaped into action.
"I'm sorry I need to call home, do you mind," said Casey as stepped on the bridge with his weapons in hand dropping every one present. He then grabbed the radio, set it for 406 MHz then broadcasted a call for assistance. He was still broadcasting when a bullet screamed past his ear. Instinct told him to dodge. The crew heard the broadcast too and they armed themselves. John dropped the man who shot at him before he could get off a second round.
"Time to clean house," John said as he started clearing the boat. He looked through a porthole and saw two men who were trying to circle around him. He shot both in the legs through an open porthole they dropped to the deck only to see Casey's muzzle flash as he finished them. Once he cleared the boat of hostiles he went back up to the bridge to try to call for help again. However, as he picked up the mic an old diesel submarine surfaced off his starboard side with a big red star on the conning tower. Men ran out on deck to man and turned what looked like two aircraft batteries at him.
"Geez can't I ever catch a break."
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Chuck got off the horn with Sarah and started trying to remote access Casey's emergency distress beacon. He patched the signal over the Pacific using their spy satellite but Chuck was concerned that the distance might be too great for the signal to arrive strong enough to activate it. What he needed was a way to boost the signal gain then it hit him. If he tapped into the computers at the JPL in Pasadena he could hijack the Mars Rover signal for a little while or at least until he got a hit.
"Chuck, you know if you do this you're going to get into trouble," he said to himself as he stood over a big red button. "I'll do it anyway."
Chuck pressed the button about the time Sarah got off the elevator. She came back as quickly as she could after they talked she wanted to be there to see if Sam's suggestion worked. If it did Chuck would need help convincing people to take action and if it didn't well she'd be there to support him when everyone got angry and wanted to lynch him.
"I'm sorry I got back as quickly as I could. Any luck," asked Sarah as she walked up behind him but he shook his head.
"No, but I didn't expect anything that fast. I can't believe Ettore fooled us like that. I've been trying to reach Morgan and Alex on the ship but neither are answering."
"You need to contact the General and tell her she's on her own. She's got less than an hour and half to get off that ship before the Hampton begins her attack."
[Over at the JPL]
"What's going on? We've lost the signal with the Mars Lander. Get it back up now," yelled one of the Scientists to the technician operating the remote.
"I don't know how we lost it. I'm rebooting now. Okay I'm trying to establish the comms link. Wait I've got something coming in. There we go I'm putting it up now." They all heard a mechanical voice.
"The number you have dialed is unavailable at the moment. Please check your number then try again later. Thank you."
Everyone was silent in the lab and looked at each other with perplexed expressions.
"Someone needs to call Huston and tell them we have a problem."
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The General touched her ear to listen to Chuck as he explained the situation. The Major stood in front of her as she was listening to block the view of their jailer. She looked up at the camera then pointed at the electronic lock on the cage.
"What are you doing lady? You got some sort of super powers that allows you to tell locks to unlock," said the Guard as he laugh. But all of a sudden the cage door popped opened. The guard stopped laughing and started scratching his head.
"What the…" was all the man got out before the Major rushed him. They fought but the Major spun him around and the General took him out smashing the Lady of Uruk Hamid had given her over the man's head.
"Major, we need to get out of here but first we need to pass by and get Grimes and Agent McHugh," she said as she handed him the guard's Beretta. As they made their way up through the ship they heard automatic weapons fire.
"Major, we need to hurry up things are coming apart at the seam," as they entered the teams cabin. Inside they just found a man they thought was Ettore so they started to leave but Chuck came up on the television.
"General, you need to take Morgan. Ettore has Alex. That man lying on the bed is Morgan," Chuck said as he was talking they heard a helicopter and more automatic weapons fire then silence.
"Hand me the weapon Major, you take Grimes," said the General. She found Alex's watch lying on a table. She grabbed it so she could have two-way communication with Chuck.
"General, I'll lead you through the ship. There's chaos in the passageways it looks like all the bidders are up in arms go aft then go starboard that will take you out on the weather deck. Go aft and get into a lifeboat."
"Wait, what's that sound?" asked the General as they opened the hatch and got out on the weather deck. "There's a chopper somewhere. Who's trying to get away?"
"It's Ettore he's making a break with Alex. She thinks he's Morgan. In fact Ettore has passed himself off as Morgan the past day if I'm right..."
"You haven't mention the Colonel where's he and why isn't he meeting us," asked the General as they got to the lifeboat.
"General, we don't have time now just climb in the lifeboat and hang on," said Chuck. As he was talking with her trying to get her to move an alarm went off then coordinates came up on the screen. "Sarah we've got a hit on Casey but I've got to deal with the General can you handle John."
"Sure sweetie what do you want me to do? Tell me you want me to use you connection with USSUBPAC and connect with the Hampton using their Quantum Key."
"No you can use the one I establish but you're Bob," said Chuck as he smiled at her.
"I've had a lot of aliases but this is the first time I've been a Bob."
"General, get everyone in the lifeboat and I'm going to launch them all. With the chaos going on right now on board you'll be able to get out of range then the Hampton can pick you up later."
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The Hampton had resumed course and was trailing the Serenity but from a distance. The Skipper was talking with the X.O. about how they wanted to initiate the attack when they received Sarah's call. The Comms officer went to the Skipper's cabin and knock on the hatch.
"Sir you've got another CIA agent on the horn for you. She says they've got the location of that missing agent and would like for us to pick him up."
"After we get done with our mission," said the Skipper. "Patch her through and let me tell her." He had Sarah put on speaker so the X.O. could hear her too.
"Commander, we've got the location of our man," said Sarah. But as he was speaking a man came into the Skipper's cabin.
"Sir, sonar picked up a surface explosion," said the duty officer. "These are the coordinates," said the man as he handed them to the Skipper.
"Let me guess," said the Commander as he read off the coordinates. "This is where your guy is."
"Yes sir and I'm willing to bet if there's a firefight that's where our canisters are. Commander what can it hurt to take a look. The Serenity has no defense system so you can attack her anytime but if I'm right then we risk letting that VHF gas falling into the wrong hands."
"You make a compelling argument but I've got orders to follow and those are…"
"Sir you need to come out quickly we just picked up another sub a diesel boat heading for those same coordinates. It's been identified as a whiskey class North Korean."
"Commander, there's your confirmation," said Sarah. "I can't tell you how to run your command but it's imperative they not get those canister."
"Skipper what do you want us to do?" asked the X.O. "The decision is up to you."
"Yes it is... flood tubes."