Don't own Chuck

Beckman and General Thomas were able to get everything wrapped up and sanitized early so they returned on an agency plane they had brought in to take them back home. The General had her Major ride in on the plane so he could debrief her on the way back and she'd be up to speed before the wheels touched down. Roan was sent to Saint Thomas to coordinate an after-action report with agent Marley. Diane knew Roan would be a distraction for her so until she was up to speed it was better to put temptation out of reach.

"You know Marley is a competent agent and you really didn't need to send Roan to help him to do his job or hold his hand."

"I know but there are some details Roan can fill in for him that he may not know or that have just escaped his attention. I'm not sending Roan to hold his had as you say but to assist him," said Diane but Tank wasn't buying it.

"Assist him or assist you? You know what they say too much of a good thing can be bad for you or said in an another way candy is good until you eat too much and that too much over time can lead to diabetes."

"You're just full of sage advice, aren't you? While you're lecturing me why don't you do something productive for me and get me a cup of coffee and while you're at it one for the Major too."

"No Sir, I can get my own," said the Major turning red in his face and started to get up but both General signaled for him to sit down.

"No sit, what you're doing is important and I don't mind. This isn't the first time I've been used as a goffer. How would you like it... cream and sugar?"

"Just black please... thank you General," added the Major. This wasn't the first time he'd been put in a battle between star for Beckman which made him wonder if he'd ever see Lieutenant Colonel.

"Now continue, I want to know how things are coming along in Montenegro. Is everything ready and on track for the upcoming tournament? Chief Silverman needs to stay on top of Jack Burton."

"It's getting coming together. I anticipate you'd want to know and had Chief Silverman give me an update before I left. All the invitations were sent out and the RSVPs are coming in. A surprise this year was when the Iranians said they'd send a delegation."

"The Iranians?" said Tank as he handed Beckman her coffee then passed the Major his. "That would be a first if they actually did show up. I guess they want to know what's going on with ISIS. I know I would if I had those people in my backyard."

"Whatever the reason I'll reserve judgement on whether it's good or bad depending what they bring to the table. This exchange of intel is supposed to be a two-way street. However, that being said it's good to see they're breaking out of their isolation."

"Baby steps," said Tank as he took a sip of his coffee. "Yes, it's baby steps and they're step in the right direction."

"Yes, is that it? I wonder what they loaded the plane with to eat? I haven't had anything decent to eat in... well since this misadventure started," said Diane but she noticed the Major's look. "What is it? I know that look you've saved the bombshell for last. Come on spit it out. It can't be Chuck because he was with us so what went wrong?"

"Well, first of all let me say this wasn't anyone's fault," said the Major but Beckman wasn't the only one who could read looks. But there was no way to spin what happened in positive light. "Okay... well you're not going to like this but Abe Bernstein contacted our office in Berlin or tried to make contact about wanting protection..."

"The same Abe who's money manager for the underworld. The man who knows where all the dirty little secrets are hidden?"

"Yes, that Abe, but when he showed up at the embassy he was direct to a State Department employee who told him he had to come in and file for refugee status but that it would take time..."

"Why didn't the idiot forward him to us? Didn't he know that's what he's supposed to do. Geez, we have protocols in place for this very reason," said Diane as she caught the Major looking away. "Oh no, don't tell me, he fell through the cracks not someone like him."

"I'm afraid so. However... however, once the Station Chief found out he sent out a team to bring Mr. Bernstein in but when the team arrived at his location they found he was missing from his apartment and the place had been tossed."

"Good grief, can it get any worse. If this happens when I take a vacation I'm never leaving again. We need to find who took him and quickly. Someone like him they won't keep around for long... It's a wonder they didn't cap him in his apartment."

"I'm afraid you're right. I was called a few minutes ago and his body was found floating down stream in the Danube. There were obvious signs of torture on the body. The preliminary autopsy report says he died of electrocution and there was no water in his lungs."

"Someone wired him up as a human lightbulb then flipped the switch. Do we have any idea what brought his fall from grace? Abe was protected by some pretty powerful people so they had to have given consent."

"I'm trying to find that out now but everything is still pretty sketchy. One rumor going around that seems to have some validation is he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar but I'm trying to get something more definitive."

"Well, that would do it but I would've thought Abe would've been smarter than touch his clients' money. He had to know that was a stupid move... I mean you don't fleece the kind of people Abe dealt with and not expect something like this to happen to you."

"Maybe that's why he reached out to us but he reached out too late. Either way, like I said, I've got feelers out trying to get at what went wrong for Mr. Bernstein."

"He didn't reach out too late but talked to an idiot at the embassy. I want his name then I'm going to call the Secretary of State. He likes rattling my cage well it's time I return the favor. Well, good, see if we can find out more about Mr. Bernstein and now I get first dibs on whatever is in the galley," said Diane as she started to get up but as she did the co-pilot appeared carrying a sat phone in his hand.

"Ma'am, it's the Department of Homeland, they want to talk with you," he said as he handed her the phone. She frowned back and raised her eyebrow but took the phone.

"This is General Diane Beckman, I was told you wanted to speak to me. ... Yes, I see and I understand but I'm not sure what you want me to do about your situation. By constitutional mandate we can't operate within the US. ... Okay, I'll put out feelers and we'll keep our eyes peeled but other than that I don't know how we're going to be able to assist you. One quick idea comes to mind you should really talk to the NSA. They've got satellites overhead. You could ask them to comb the area and look back over what they've recorded. ... Oh, you've tried and they say the satellite over southern California was off-line. Well, I still don't know what I can do for you other than what I've just said. ... I'll be in touch. Beckman out," she said as she hung up and handed the phone back to the co-pilot.

"What was that all about? Why did Homeland want to talk to you or can you talk about it," said Tank. Then he looked over at the Major who just shrugged his shoulders.

"ICE lost a team of agents in Burbank. They were looking for illegals and then they disappeared. How do you lose a whole team? I mean it's not like misplacing your keys or a sock in the laundry. I can understand an agent or two but a whole team. That doesn't sound like good personnel management to me."

"We could notify our downtown L.A. office to keep an eye out for them as well as Agent Bartowski... Mary not Chuck or Sarah... they haven't arrived yet."

"And thank goodness for that or I'd have to wonder if Chuck were involved. Yes, do that so I can call the Homeland Director back and let him know we're cooperating. To hear him on the phone it was like he was blaming us. I mean have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?"

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Sam sat at her desk with her arm propping her head up yawning as her teacher went over their math homework. It was simple addition and subtraction which took Sam all of five minutes to do and now she felt Nancy was wasting time hashing over it one more time. The longer this went on the more she felt like her fellow classmates must've arrived to school on the short bus this morning.

"Miss Bartowski, are we boring you?" said Nancy after she caught Sam yawning for the hundredth time. "You should go to bed earlier or you'll be sleepy the whole day."

"Well if you really want to know yes this is kind of boring for me. I've known how to add and subtract as well as divide and multiply since I was a child. I realize you have to teach everyone so I can suffer through this but I really need to learn to read. Once I can do that then I can move on."

"Really, well then you won't have any trouble telling me how much is one hundred fifty-nine time thirteen?" said Nancy. She didn't want to put Sam on the spot but she had to maintain control of the classroom.

"Two thousand sixty-seven," said Sam without any pause. "Mathematics, I know... it just comes easy for me."

"Crap," said Nancy as she had to check Sam answer with a calculator and it was right. "Okay, then answer this if two cars leave from L.A. driving north to San Francisco a distance of 381 miles but one car leaves a half hour later. The first car drives at seventy miles an hour how fast does the second car have to travel to reach San Francisco at the same time?"

"Is this some sort of trick question because your premised are faulty because neither car will probably reach San Francisco. First of all, the legal speed limit can be seventy but only where it's posted; however, from L.A. to San Francisco the normal speed limit is fifty-five and even thirty-five in town which means the police are likely to stop both cars and arrest the drivers so neither will reach their destination. However, there's another problem... you never said what time of day they're driving. If they're driving in the morning or in the afternoon when school buses are running then they would have to stop which would delay their arrival time. If they didn't stop... well we're back to the police arresting them. And we haven't factored in rush hour... "

"Sam, that's not the way these problems are solved. Okay well let's just say they leave from X city traveling to Y city and there is no speed limit."

"That doesn't sound plausible," said Sam as she looked puzzled at her teacher. "Every country has a speed limit one way or another. Then you need to take into account traffic patterns and even air density which can cause resistance. Depending on the time of day and the heat of the sun that half-hour difference could either give the first car a great advantage or disadvantage. I'm afraid I'm going to need more data to come up with a proper answer."

"Well, then just guess and give me an answer," said Nancy. This had gone on longer that she'd wanted it to and she could see it wasn't getting her anywhere. At first, she thought Sam was just being smart but now she could tell she really was just trying to answer her question.

"I can't guess. You don't guess with mathematics. Math is an exact science. Did Einstein just guess when he came up with the theory of relativity or Galileo, when he said the earth moved around the sun. Men guessed there were monsters over the horizon and thought the world was flat because they guessed that's what they'd find..."

Sam's sermon in the first grade was cut short. Buddy used the distraction that was going on to get up take the paper bag with George in it and tried to shake him out into Sam's open backpack hanging on the back of her chair. However, George had another ideas and anchored himself inside firmly in the bag.

"No, come out of there," said Buddy as he reached inside to pull the tarantula out but when he did George bit him. "Ouch," yelled Buddy as George fell on the floor then scurried off looking for a dark corner to hide.

"Sp...ider," yelled Tommy as the rest of the children screamed and jumped up on their chairs. Nancy grabbed a book then ran after George.

"No, don't hurt her," yelled Sam as she ran after the two of them. "Let me handle this," said Sam as she talked softly to George and grabbed the trash can turning it on it's side. "Here you go little buddy. I think this is what you're looking for." George ran inside then Sam took Nancy's book to cover the top. George was safe inside.

"It's hers... it came out of her backpack," yelled Buddy pointing at Sam. But when he raised his hand he noticed that it was swollen but not just the hand that was bitten but both. He felt his face it was starting to puff up too. "What's happening to me?"

"Lie down and do as I say," said Sam as she grabbed the pills off of Nancy's desk. She grabbed Buddy and shove him to the floor. "Open your mouth and take these if you want to live."

"Sam! What are you doing? You can't give him my medicine," yelled Nancy but it was too late Sam had gotten four tablets down Buddy before his throat start tightening up.

"You need to keep his airways clear," said Sam. "I'm going to get the school nurse. He needs to taken to the hospital right away."

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Gustav and Klaus landed in Tivat at the international airport where they rented a car and discovered the casino they were looking for was in Kotor. They drove straight over after checking in with their boss. Everyone agreed they needed to get a room in the hotel in the casino and use it as their base of operations.

"I just need your passports and I need to know how long you plan on staying with us," asked the receptionist as she smiled at them.

"No more than a week depending on how our business meeting goes," said Klaus as he handed her their false passports.

"I take it the casino is through there," said Gustav. He looked over at the sign next to the door that read 'Casino'. Klaus just shook his head. "What? Someone could've moved the sign as a joke in front of the rest room."

"Yes, that's where the casino begins but it's not open yet. It opens in the evening but at lunch the slot room is opened for our guests. Here are two complimentary tokens you can use on the two-euro machines."

"Thank you," said Klaus as he took their key cards and tokens. "Come on let's get settled into our room then check in with the boss to let him know were in the Casino."

"We just talked to him and told him we were coming here. No, I think I'd like to stay down here and do a little scouting on my own. Maybe I can get eyes on our target. We don't even know what this Jack Burton looks like."

"Why don't you come up to the room with me then we dump our stuff. After that we both come back down and hang out for a bit in the bar. It won't be long before lunch then we can grab something to eat in the restaurant."

"You just don't trust me not to get into trouble while you're up in the room. I promise I'll just sit in a booth and watch the people pass by."

"Gustav, the boss is already pissed with you over Abe. You don't want to give him any more reason to doubt you..."

"And who shoved me under the bus? If you'd kept your cool the boss wouldn't have been the wisher but he snapped his fingers and you tossed me under without a second thought. That's not what partners do, you know?"

"Don't try and turn this back on me. You knew what you were doing and you knew what the boss wanted. However, you had to do it your way and now you're reaping the consequences of your actions."

"What consequences? What are you hinting at? Is there more to what the boss said to you than what you've told me?"

"No there's nothing more... okay you want to stay down here then have at it but remember no screw ups. The boss is going to give you only this one chance, so don't mess it up."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you... You know we don't have to eat in the restaurant in here. We could go out in town where we can talk over our game plan without worrying about being over heard."

"If we talk it over in our room then there's no reason anyone should over hear us," said Klaus. He knew exactly where this was going and what Gustav wanted.

"Maybe but you never know how thick the walls are or if the people next door can hear you. I think we need to go someplace where we can have some privacy."

"And do tell where we can get this kind of privacy as well as have lunch," said Klaus. He knew exactly what Gustav had in mind and he wasn't disappointed.

"In this country I'm sure we can find a Turkish restaurant around here that serves good doner kebab and we can plot over a beer."

"Geez, not another kebab... look if you want you can go grab yourself a kebab and eat it. I'm going to eat in the restaurant here. We can meet back up in a couple of hours that will give me enough time to get our gear in the room and have a bite to eat."

"You're a scholar and a gentleman... sounds like a plan to me," said Gustav as he smiled then headed towards the doors.

"If only you knew that I'm supposed to cap you when this is done," said Klaus as he watched Gustav walk out the doors. "Well, you can say I didn't let you have your last meal."

"Let me get someone to help you with your bags," said a voice coming from behind him. Klaus turned around to find a man standing there is a black tux with bow tie. On his lapel was a tag that read 'casino manager'. "Looks like your partner left you high and dry."

"They're not that heavy and I'm used to his ways by now. So, you're the casino manager," said Klaus looking at the man standing in front of him.

"That's right partner. What was the giveaway? You know with those powers of deduction you ought to come into the casino and pick a game. I'm sure you'll do well."

"Well, you're wearing a name tag that says 'Casino Manager' so I don't know about those great powers you were talking about."

"Nonsense... I don't know why I'm telling you this because you're liable to bust the house tonight. But if you decide to come in and check us out," said Jack as he hand Klaus three twenty-euro chips. Take this that should be enough to get you a stake at a table and here's a coupon for a free drink in the casino, so I'd say you've got a couple of good reasons to come in and check us out."

"Jack, there you are," said a blonde headed woman as she interrupted them. "I need to talk to you in your office right away. I need some more info for..." the woman stopped as she suddenly noticed Klaus standing next to Jack.

"Right, I'm sorry but I've got to go. Barbara, get someone to help our guest with his bags. I know you didn't want anyone, but I insist. Margo follow me, and you can explain to me what grandma wants," Jack said then disappeared.

"Oh, I've got another reason to come by later and check you out," mumbled Klaus as Jack walked away with Margo.

"What's your room number, Sir," said the bellhop who appeared next to him. Klaus just stood there watching Jack and Margo as they disappeared inside the casino. "Sir, your room number."

"What? Right… the room number," said Klaus as he looked at the man in his hotel uniform. "Just one moment," he said as he had to pull out his key card and showed the man.

"Very good, this way," said the bellhop as he led Klaus to the elevators and pressed the button to go up. The bell rang then the doors opened and they got on.

"Crap, I'm such an idiot and a rude one too. I should've thanked that man I was talking with. What must he be thing of me. His name was Jack… something or other. I don't remember."

"Jack Burton… his name is Jack Burton and he manages all of this... that is along with that woman you saw Margo Silverman but the owners are his daughter and son-in-law who visit from time to time."

"So, that would make this a family run operation?" said Klaus. This would be interesting news for his boss.

"You something like that." The bell rang as the elevator called out the floor number. "This way Sir. You're right down the hall." Klaus followed him smiling.