Don't own Chuck
No one paid any attention to Carmen until it was almost too late. She circled silently around moving in on her unsuspecting prey like a large cat in the jungle but instead of the jungle flora Carmen moved behind floral arrangements and potted plants. She held her hand in her bag as she crept then when she was close enough she pulled out her weapon and took aim. However, just before she fired Oleg grabbed her arm which caused her to take out a Yucca plant instead of Jack. Margot was on her in an instant after that drawing down on both of them.
"Why? Why did you interfere? This was none of your business. This was my one chance and you make me blow it," said Carmen angrily at Olef as Margot put cuffs on her.
"I did it because I think I like you and I don't want to have to visit you in Super Max," said Oleg as he handed one of Margot's men Carmen's Beretta Bobcat.
"I don't believe you. You're just saying that because you want the ledger all for yourself. Just admit it that was your reason and don't feed me the line about liking me. Look around you no one is going to get the ledger now," snapped Carmen as she tried to shake off Margot's hand.
"Hold up a second," said Jack as he got up from his chair where the medic had been trying to patch him up and walked over to Carmen and Oleg as Margot was starting to take them away.
"Can you guys hold up a second I need to talk to them. This won't take long I promise," said Jack. Margot looked over at Sarah who shrugged her shoulders. "I hate to break it to you but there is no ledger. There never was one..."
"What are you talking about? There has to be a ledger or everything we've done was for nothing," said Oleg as he looked over at Oscar being taken away in body bag. "No, that can't be. If you're lying I'll regret stopping Carmen from shooting you. I'm going to need more than your word and the people I work for will too."
"You can't trust a word he says," said Carmen. "He's just a two-bit conman who swindled my father and mother out of all their money. You're responsible for what happened to them."
"There is no such thing as a two-bit conman. There is a two-bit thief but I can assure you madam I'm no two-bit thief. A thief has to run out of town..."
"But a conman can leave whenever he wants," said Sarah as she walked up behind Jack. "What do you mean there never was a ledger?"
"I opened this letter just before that man grabbed me," said Jack as he pulled it out of his jacket. "I recognized from the post markings it was sent from Germany but with the invitations coming in for the tournament from all over the world I didn't think much about it. But once I opened it I realized this was sent to me from Abe..."
"Should we be talking about this here?" interrupted Margot. "Look around there are all these people standing round who can overhear? Maybe we should take this somewhere more private?"
"No Margot," said Jack. "We can talk about this here because the only thing in the envelope was a letter to me and in it Abe apologized for getting me involved. You can read it for yourselves if you like," he said as he handed the letter to Sarah who started scanning it. Sarah flashed looking at it putting her hand on Jack's good shoulder to balance herself.
"It's hand written and this is Abe's calligraphy. He says he's sorry for getting you involved but he was ordered to by... wait a minute this can't be right. He says Jack Burton ordered him to but you didn't which means Chuck was right. I thought he was crazy when he said there was another Burton told him. Chuck told me that he suspected there was someone else using your name but I thought that was him just being him looking for the nice in people."
"Read on there's more that Carmen needs to hear. Ouch, take it easy on the shoulder. I'd like to keep it if possible. You know this is a family tradition we can do without... you shooting me."
"Stop your whining. Chuck's mother shoots him all the time and he doesn't complain as much. Just stand still and let the medic do his job or next time you'll have something to complain about," said Sarah as the medic tried to bandage Jack.
"Let's try to make sure there isn't another next time and Chuck shoots back. But continue reading our guests are getting anxious and you've left them in suspense."
"They aren't going to go anywhere. But all right," said Sarah as she held the letter up. "So where was I? Yes, right here so Abe says that you and a Marcus were used by this other Jack Burton too. Abe says he knew what you two were up to all the time and he didn't realize how deep he was getting involved until he was in too deep and it was too late."
"I guess Abe was honest after all but I can't wonder if he knew what was in store for himself or if he just got in too deep then everything unraveled on him. I guess I'm lucky that he had the time to write that letter."
"But none of this makes any sense whatsoever. What was Abe doing? Why were you targeted and who is this fake Jack Burton. This has only created more unanswered questions and unfortunately the person who could answer them is dead."
"I need to send a copy of this to Chuck. I can't help but think this could be important for him," said Sarah as she took a photo of the page. "I'll send it to him and hope he'll be able to see it's from me and read it."
"It doesn't matter what Abe wrote. That doesn't change the fact that you got my mother killed and for that I'll apologize for only not succeeding in killing you. Yes, I helped Abe finger you for the theft of the ledger and he might have been sorry but the hitmen coming after you won't know there was no ledger in that envelope. For that matter neither will the people who sent the Turk, Oleg, Black and White so they'll keep on sending people until you are eliminated permanently so I might not have succeeded but someone will sooner or later."
"But you won't be around to see it," said Mike as he moved Oleg and Carmen along. The Commissioner walked over with a frown on his face. He'd been waiting in the wings now he came forward.
"I know what you're going to say," said Sarah cutting him off before he could speak. "You're going to lay claim but until we can sort out who's who I'd prefer to hold those two where I can keep an eye on them."
"Then let's make a deal. You keep those two and leave me the rest. I need to show an arrest for the guys who took my men's uniforms. Lucky for them I found my two officers tied up in the boot of their car none the worse for the wear."
"All right, I can live with that. But wait a minute we're forgetting about White. He wasn't here so he's still on the loose somewhere."
"One of the men we took was quick to finger him. He was sent to the airport in Tivat and is waiting on their plane for them. I have men on their way right now to round him up and I'll hold him with the men I've got in custody. If there's nothing else have a good day and please our next meeting could it be over a glass of Rakia and not over a body?"
"I'd like that and I'll try," said Sarah as she smiled. "But I won't swear to it."
The commissioner just shook his head and laughed then left and everything went back to normal... well almost normal. Molly and Emma started waiting on Jack which he enjoyed immensely and put a spin on how he got injured where he was the hero who saved the day.
"Keep on telling it Jack. Every time you come up with a new part to the story," said Sarah as she smiled. However, there still was no word from Chuck and that worried her.
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Chuck didn't know that the Circle was pushing back in both Moscow and Langley but it wouldn't have surprised him. He was there to save Jack but like any animal the Circle snapped back to protect itself. In a certain sense Chuck was the mongoose and the Circle the snake locked in a macabre dance of death.
"Mom, I need you and Anatoly to go here," said Chuck as they huddled over a model of the village they'd made with the aid of nick-knacks the owners of the house had left behind. "Once you've freed Viktor from jail then I want you to meet up with John over here then head for the soccer field.
"You want me to do exactly what?" said John as he picked up the figurine and looked at it. "You want me to take out the troll? But Grimes is back home. You know there is a strange resemblance here."
"Funny John, and if you would put that back but it's nice to hear you call LA home," said Chuck as Casey grunted setting the piece back down. "That's their comms center and from there they're surveilling the town through their CCTV cameras. You take that out and they'll be blind as well as being unable to communicate with each other."
"Sure, I can do that. I prefer breaking things to fixing them and I can take everyone out. You know you've just made my day."
"Good, I'm glad I made you happy. Once you're done with that you three meet up just outside the soccer field here," said Chuck as he pointed to the grazing cow. "You're going to need to secure it for Imma to land her chopper. If not we're not going to go anywhere and they might not be too happy with us."
"Okay, Charles," said Mary. "But I'd like to free the towns people being held in the salt shaker. Once all hell breaks out they won't have any reason to keep them around and we know what they're planning on doing with them."
"Or said in another way they aren't going to leave any witnesses around. All right, I like that but you need to be quick about it or we won't have a way home."
"Okay so we know what we're going," said Casey. "What are you and your red friend going to be doing while we're having all the fun?"
"That would be me," said Stefan as he smiled at Casey. "You want another sip of Rakia to build your courage there Yank."
"No, and you should lay off the sauce too. Chuck, what I'm saying is I don't think these people will be in the mood to chat with you when things start to go boom around them."
"The time for talking is over. I'm going to drop in on Number One and invite him to come along with us. If we have him onboard the bird they'll be a little less hesitant to try to shoot us down and I'll get my chance to have that face time once we're in the air."
"And if you don't like what he says we can always dump him out of the chopper. I find people become very cooperative looking out a chopper at the ground 10,000 feet below. I don't know... call it a change in perspective."
"I'll keep that in mind but I'll have his full attention. Look guys any way we look at this it's not going to be a walk in the park. I'll understand if you don't want to participate. If you don't then once we're out of here head for the hills and don't look back. However, that said I've got no choice, but move forward."
"You know Chuck these little talks you give right before you go and do something stupid are better given when a person really has a choice. Look around us we're not just in the lion's mouth we're halfway down his esophagus on our way to his gut and looking outside at this town I'd say we're there."
"Sorry John but well... maybe you're right but there was no time to do this before now and to be truthful I didn't expect things to unfold this way..."
"Keep it in your pants and stop trying to apologize. I was only making fun of you and we're all here because we want to be so let's get on with the fun and festivities."
"I just wanted to point out that I don't know how the rest of the Circle will react once I grab One nor do I know what will happen. I'm hoping worse comes to worse we can use him as a human shield but like a lizard that sheds its tail. The circle could just as easily write him off then come after us. I'm going to try to make them think we want to negotiate so they won't have a reason to write him off but..."
"You're worrying too much about trying not to hurt their feelings. We just go in grab him then get out of here. Don't go over thinking it."
"I don't want to just get out of here but I want to get out of here clean. We piss the wrong people off and we'll be looking over our shoulders like Jack for a very long time. Okay enough talking Imma will be here at dawn and we need to be ready to get out of here when she lands. You three go to the kitchen and standby the back door."
Chuck went to the front door and opened it up then stepped out looking up and down the street. The people assigned to watch them were all saw him and wondered what he was up to and this gave Casey, Mary and Anatoly the opportunity to slip out the back. Soon afterwards a vehicle pulled up out front and a sleepy-eyed man got out rubbing his eyes.
"Twelve is here," said Chuck as he waved at Twelve from the doorway then he turned and walked back in the house to wait. "Stefan, our ride is here."
"And you think he's going to give us a ride? I don't think he's going to be too pleased with us after being tossed out of bed then finding Anatoly missing.
"Maybe or maybe not we just need to ask him politely," said Chuck as they heard a knock at the door. "Just wait and see."
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Imma landed in Chișinău and spent the night in a hotel near the airport waiting for just before dawn. She'd scouted out the airport during the night and easily found the helicopter Chuck had mentioned. A sleek Bell 525 that sat just off the tarmac with only a few men guarding it. This was going to be like taking candy from a baby or so she thought.
"Okay, I've got enough time to catch a couple of winks before I have to make my way back," she said to herself as she walked back into her hotel. She walked into the lobby then towards the elevator but as she walked over two men appeared behind her then another man appeared in front of her by the elevator doors and he pressed the button calling it.
"I see I'm not the only one who spent the night out," said Imma as she looked at the men around her. "I've got to take these off," she said as she took off her high heels. "You're lucky you don't have to wear these. Let me tell you they're murder on your feet."
The elevator doors opened and the one of the men held the door for her waving her inside. She looked back and the two men behind her stood there like a wall. There was no turning back.
"It's nice to see that chivalry is still alive," said Imma as she stepped inside holding a shoe in each hand. With one finger she pressed the button for her floor then the men stepped in and pressed the button for the roof.
"You guys going up to admire the sunrise? I've had nights like that but I think I'd like a better view than the one from here," she said as the doors closed.
"So, boys are we going to dance this dance," said Imma. The men looked at each other then reached under their jackets. But Imma was ready and it was over before it started. Imma took two out straightaway with stiletto heels from her red Prada's to the jugular. That left only one man standing who still had his hand under his jacket.
"Oh no you don't," said Imma as she grabbed his arm blocking it. The man swung at her but she stepped behind him and kicked him in the back of the knee buckling it. The man dropped to the floor and as he when down his weapon went flying across the metal deck.
"Crap" said the man and other insults in Russian as he tried to get up but Imma kneed him in the face and the man flopped on his back. However, lying there he looked over at his partner and saw the man's Makarov still in the holster. He looked up at Imma then kicked her as she bent over him knocking her backwards then rolled over to get it. Imma flew back on the floor next to where the man's weapon had landed and at that point it was who was quicker.
"Toad eater," yelled the man along with other insults as he fired at her but she rolled over holding the body of the dead assassin up as a shield. Imma shot twice catching the man once in the thigh and then in the shoulder. He dropped back and Imma was on him kicking away the piece.
"Go ahead end me," growled the man but Imma pistol whipped him into unconsciousness. When he came to he was light headed from the lack of blood and felt cold. Looking around he saw his partners lying near him and they were all on the roof.
"I'm glad to see you're still with us," said Imma as she walked over to him. "That's more than I can say for your friends. I bet you guys had a different plan for how this evening was supposed to end."
"You might as well shoot me because I'm not going to tell you anything," said the man as his wounds were starting to ache.
"I bet that smarts, doesn't it? Do you have any idea how much a pair of Prada shoes cost? I can tell you it's more than you can afford and you guys went and made me ruin mine. What am I going to do with you?"
"You can do me a favor and go walk off the edge," he snapped adding other insults in Russian but she didn't answer she just went to the edge and dropped a piece of gravel off.
"Listen," she said as she looked at her watch then they heard a ping when it hit a parked car below. "That was almost three seconds. You know you can do a lot of thinking in three seconds. Now, I'm going to ask you who you work for and you're going to tell me."
"Drop dead," he growled as he insulted her again then spit at her.
"That's the general idea and I would ask you to mind your manners. There's no reason to be vulgar or crass. So, I take it you don't want to answer. Well, that's a problem because if you don't want to talk then there's no reason for me to keep you around. You know there is the possibility that you might survive the fall then you'll just lay there waiting to bleed out a twisted piece of meat."
The man didn't say anything to Imma. He didn't have to he just stared at her with an intense hatred in his eyes.
"What's the matter? The cat's got your tongue but looking down from here it will probably be a rat. Maybe you'd like to get a closer view," said Imma as she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the edge.
"There have a look down below," said Imma as she grabbed him by the face and made him look down at the street below. "Is this what you guys had in store for me?"
A few hours later Imma was outside the airport ready to make her incursion but before she went inside she called Igor on a secure line.
"You have a problem somewhere I was made as soon as I got here. There were three men from my GRU waiting for me in my hotel. ... No, they were no problem but I'm going to bill you for a new pair of shoes. You'll read about them in the paper if whoever sent them doesn't try to cover this up. ... I'm meeting everyone in a little while and I'll relay your concerns. ... Yes, we'll be careful. I need to run there's a helicopter I have to catch," said Imma then she hung up.
"You weren't exactly honest with the poor director. But I told him what he needed to know the rest he can read in my after-action report. If I told him before he'd say no then I'd have to violate orders but if he finds out after the fact then I can just say there wasn't time to get his approval and all is forgiven."
"Keep telling yourself that but one of these days it's going to bite you. But right now, shut up and get a move on it. That chopper isn't going to fly itself."