Don't own Chuck
Earlier that night Rita sat by the window waiting for Marco and Raul to come home. She pulled her chair close to the open window and stared out at the night sky. The full moon was looking down on her as she looked at all the stars that illuminated the heavens. The city of Orléans looked like something out of an impressionist painting yet she couldn't enjoy it knowing what her brothers were up to. Somewhere after two in the morning she fell asleep. She knew it was two because she heard church bells in the distance ringing.
Suddenly it was daylight and she woke up with the sun shining on her face. She got up from the chair yawning and stretching.
"Raul… Marco why didn't you wake me when you came it," she said as she got up and looked over at the beds still made up. "What the…" realizing they hadn't come home but she didn't have time to react.
Suddenly there was a loud commotion out in the hallway with the sound of men yelling and feet stomping coming to her door. The door flew open and the gendarme came pouring in.
"My name is Captiane Clouseau. Are you Mademoiselle Rita Zorro," asked a young officer. Rita was in shock. All she could do was nod. "I have a warrant for your arrest. Please come with us to the Gendarmerie. Your brothers were caught earlier trying to break into a high rise apartment building. I'm afraid I have to inform you that your younger brother attempted to flee but lost his footing on the wire and plummeted fourteen floors."
"No, that can't be," said Rita as she collapsed into the chair and began crying. No that can't be it's impossible. Take me to see him now." She said.
"Take you to see who," asked Raul. She opened her eyes to find him and Marco standing over the top of her.
"Oh it was a dream," she said as she threw her arms around Marco and squeezed him. "I know I'm being silly but you're my baby brother. I love you and I don't want to lose you."
"I love you too Sis but you're cutting off my circulation," said Marco as she pried her loose. "Did you have a nightmare or something?"
"You could say it was a nightmare. I get in and find you two gone and the window left open. You know Alfredo is just waiting for us to slip up and you two idiots go out and give him ammunition. This ends here and I don't want to hear any more about it."
"Well you're going to have to. Papa was up to his neck in debts and now that he's gone his debt collectors are looking at us to settle. With the take tonight we should have enough to keep his debtors happy for a while but there's not enough to cover our overhead so like it or not we're going to have to do at least one more job."
"Here I got these for you," said Marco as he pulled out of his pocket a handful of chocolate truffles. "I remember they were your favorite. You don't have to worry about me I can take care of myself."
"Thank you little brother," said Rita as she caressed his face. "I can't help it I worry about you and for me you'll always be my little brother. You guys need to be careful like I said Alfredo is just waiting for us to slip up. We've got only this one shot to get Papa back."
"You're really not going to like this then," said Marco. "I was down in the hotel café where I grabbed a snack when Alfredo sat down across from me. He wanted to make the drop in the Park here tomorrow but I told him I'd have to talk to you guys so we came up with a drop in Monaco."
"I appreciate the fact that you think you know how to deal with him, but you shouldn't have talked with him," said Rita. "Raul, did you know about this?"
"No this is the first I'm hearing about this. Marco you should've come back up to the room and told me what happened. We have to stick together when we deal with him and say the same thing. You're right we couldn't do the drop tomorrow but like this you told him that we don't have it either. Now his people will be watching us and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have someone opening our mail."
"You can talk to Pierre about that but maybe we ought to let him," said Rita as her brothers looked at her. "Don't you see the more resources he expends wasting his time on us the more liberty we can have. Tomorrow I want to try something. When I get back from helping Giovanni we'll all go down to the lobby then separate in three directions. If he has men following us he'll be strapped to watch all three of us. At a certain point we'll lose them then meet back in the Park. There are places we can hide in there then we can watch his men go crazy looking for us…"
"I get it," said Raul. "Then we follow one of his men back to his lair and we just might find out where they're holding Papa. That's a good plan Rita. Let's do it."
"Okay so for now we all go to sleep tomorrow's going to be extra busy for us."
Rita waited until Raul went in the bathroom to get ready for bed that was her opportunity. She went over to Marco and whispered to him.
"I suppose when you went down to the café to have that snack there was that same waitress tending to tables that was there last year?"
"I guess she could've worked here last year but I really didn't pay any attention. I was just interest in getting something to eat…"
"And having her take you order. Brigitte, I think was her name if I remember correctly. So you didn't notice if she was there?"
"I really didn't pay any attention. But now that you mention it maybe I think I did see Brigitte written on her name tag."
"You're a lousy liar little brother. I wish you all the best and know you have my full support," she said then she kissed him on the forehead. "I hope your girlfriend realizes what kind of family she's marrying into."
"Hold up there one moment. No one said anything about girlfriend and certainly nothing about marriage."
"Like I said before you're a lousy liar. Good night Marco," said Rita as Raul came out of the bathroom. "Good night Raul. Pleasant dreams."
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Beckman arrived at work early the next morning she wanted to monitor Roan's progress. He'd left the night before on a charter out of Dulles and if her estimates were correct he should be almost two thirds into his flight to France. She was the first one in the office so she made coffee then went into her office to wait for it to perk. Sitting at her desk she began reading through reports again and that was the way Connie found her when she came it.
"General, you're in early," said Connie which after she said it she realized she'd just stated the obvious. "Would you like me to freshen your coffee for you?"
"Yes please. I decided to come in to tackle these reports and knock them out. They've been sitting around for too long. I want to see the Major as soon as he gets in."
"Yes, ma'am he should be in soon," she said as she checked her watch. Connie took her coffee cup then went outside to the coffee mess to fill it. As she was making the General her cup of coffee the Major walked in.
"There you are," said Connie. "I'm glad you came in on time. Today's not the day to be late the boss is already in. She was in when I got here and she's looking for you."
"Oh I should've anticipated this. She sent Roan out on mission late last night on a charter to France so she's in early to monitor his mission."
"She told me some cockamamie story about having reports that need to be gotten out and how they'd sat on her desk for too long."
"Well that part isn't altogether false but those reports are there because she hasn't wanted to bother with them. She said they were written by the kindergarten unit…"
"Major is that you I hear outside talking up my secretary. I told her I want to see you right away and this isn't right away. Get my coffee from her and bring it, and you, in here."
"Yes ma'am I'm on my way in," said the Major as he took her coffee from Connie then came inside. "I don't have much to report to you. Our men are going to talk to the animal handlers this morning and Agent Montgomery hasn't landed yet."
"Of course he hasn't its way too early but you realize he's not the only agent we're got in the field and I have to monitor them all without being biased or playing favorites."
"Certainly, we all know that so what is it you want me to do? I could walk down to the situation room and double check the status board."
"Major that would be highly unprofessional but you don't have to track Roan just track Colonel Casey. I sent him to shadow Roan. Before you think I did it because…well because it was Roan. No, I did it because this material is highly sensitive and we need to recover it at all costs. That was the reason and you can tell anyone who starts any sort of rumors. If I catch anyone spreading gossip the next person they're going to spread gossip about is what did the polar bear and the penguin do for the six months of night."
"But they don't live in the same habitat? Polar bears live in the Arctic and penguins live in the Antarctic so they'll never meet."
"And you missed the point of what I was trying to get across. Go take care of everything I asked you to take care of then get back to me. I'm interested in what those handlers have to say go find out then get back to me." The Major left the General's office stopping off to chat quickly with Connie.
"She's in a mood because she sent Roan out in harm's way so if I were you I wouldn't mention Roan unless she brings him up."
"Major," yelled the General. "Are you still here? Remember what I said I was going to do to the next person I caught gossiping? Are you volunteering to be an example?"
"I'm going to make those phone calls ma'am" said the Major. Connie smiled and walked him to the door before she returned to her desk.
"Connie, I could use more coffee in here," yelled Beckman.
"Yeah like a bullet in the head," she mumbled to herself as she went inside to get the General's cup. Connie knew the General would be like this until Roan was on his way home and God help them all.
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Roan was on his Lear flying across France approaching Orléans looking out the window with Martini in hand. The fasten seat belt came on and the flight attendant came back to check on him. The flight over had been smooth and they were flying into the sun so they left D.C. in the middle of the night to arrive in France during the middle of the day.
"Agent Montgomery," said the Attendant. "You need to buckle up and I need to take your glass we're getting ready to land."
"I'll buckle up but I'm keeping my Martini. Gina is it," said Roan as he read her name off her name tag. "There's no need to waste good gin."
"Agent Montgomery FAA rules state that I'm supposed to collect all beverage containers before landing. The regulation says that all onboard service items must be collected or stowed in an approved stowage location prior to take-off or landing. The seat pocket is only approved for soft items such as magazines, newspapers, basically paper items. So, you can't hold you glass for landing."
"Well, if that's the case…," said Roan. He took the toothpick out ate the olives then turned the glass up and downed it. "Here you go. You know what they say waste not want not."
"Your liver ought to get hazardous duty pay," said the attendant as she took his glass from him. "We should be on the tarmac in half an hour."
"Do you have any hotel recommendations for Orléans? Like where are you staying?" said Roan as he smiled at her.
"Sorry, Agent Montgomery but we're dropping you off then flying back up to Heathrow where we'll night over before flying back to Dulles."
"Too bad, what can you tell me about the Carlton?" asked Roan. He'd received intel on where some of the circus people were staying.
"That's over near the Parc Floral de la Source. It's a French garden situated to the south of the River Loire in the neighborhood called La Source, in the département of Loiret as the French call it. Actually the headwaters of the Loiret are in the park. Now you're making me wish I could stay I've always wanted to visit the park."
"Well you could throw off the yoke of your oppressor and spend the evening with me," said Roan as she smiled at Gina.
"Oh you are good Agent Montgomery and I suppose there's an invitation to spend the night too along with that."
"Well if it gets late you'll need a bed," said Roan as he smiled at her with a flirtatious grin.
"To sleep in?" she said acting coy.
"Among other things," said Roan. Suddenly the pilot came over the intercom breaking the mood telling Gina to prepare the cabin for landing.
"Here," said Gina as she took out a card from the inside of her jacket and slipped it to Roan. "That's my phone number. Call me and maybe we can hook up sometime in whatever city I'm in." Roan took it and smiled back at her as he slipped it into his pocket.
"I just might do that," he answered then watched her walk away heaving a sigh. "Yes, Roan you've still got it," he said as he patted the pocket where he placed Gina's card.
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Alfredo went back to his hotel which was in the seeder part of the city. He traditionally refused to stay near the other members of the troupe. If nothing else, he thought himself better. He turned over and over the conversation he had with Marco on the way back and was still thinking about it when they arrived at the hotel. His goon went off to his room while Alfred went to his. He opened the door and sitting at his table was his benefactor.
"What are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to be seen with me?" said Alfredo as he closed the door behind him.
"I came to see what you were up to and what progress you've made in recovering my data device. From what I can see you haven't make much headway."
"That's only because the Zorros don't have it with them. I was talking with the youngest one just a little while ago and he let slip that the device is not here yet."
"That doesn't sound right. Why would they let it out of their possession? Are you sure he actually said that? Or are you interpreting what he said?"
"Well he didn't use those words but when I told him two days from now to make the switch was too soon to get their father here he didn't balk."
"It sounds like me you're reaching. So when is this next drop going down? The people who commissioned this are anxious to get their goods and they know we have it so they are pressing me."
"The drop is set for when we're in Monaco. However, they want to see their father before they hand over the device."
"Okay, I see," said the man as he thought. "Okay I can make that happen just get them to agree to make the swap."
"How are you going to do that? We both know the old man is in the hospital after he had that stroke when you grabbed him."
"You mean when we grabbed him. You were in on that fiasco too. You just have to thank your lucky stars I need you to act as buffer because if I didn't I would've gotten rid of you a long time ago. What did I tell you about the girl? Didn't I tell you to leave her alone. Yet now I'm hearing you're stalking her. There are too many things I'm juggling now in the air to have to worry about another."
"I was just thinking that if we couldn't ransom the father we could grab her and use her the same way. They'd give up the device for her."
"Then what do we do with the father? Give him back to them in the condition he's in right now or hold them both for ransom. They'll press for both being turned over at the drop site and what will they do if it's only the girl there? We need for this to happen smoothly. Don't get me involved and take it from me we don't want the people who commissioned this to takeover. If they do they'll eliminate the middle man and go straight to the source. If you're wondering what that means it means they will kill you and probably me but they'll make an example out of you to scare the Zorros."
"Hold up a minute what happened to our agreement? I'm counting on you to cover my back. That was what we agreed on."
"I'll cover for you up until it's me or you and then it's sorry Charlie. Remember alphabetically me comes before you, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. We make the drop in Monaco and everyone is happy then we can all walk away."
"That would be everyone except old man Zorro," said Alfredo. "I don't see this drop going down with him. How are you going to get him here anyway?"
"That's for me to worry about and I never said it would be him."
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Casey didn't much like leaving Kat and the rest of the team in Acapulco but orders were orders. He grabbed the first flight that took him to San Diego from there he grabbed a taxi that took him to Camp Pendleton. There he got hooked up by a friend on a C-17 that was flying to Bangor then Spain. From Rota he was going to grab a rental and drive to Orléans where the tracing device had Roan pinpointed.
"Colonel, who did you say you were? And most importantly who do you know? The pilot just got his orders amended normally we stop in Bangor for refueling then cross the Atlantic but someone is sending us a KC-135 to do a midair refueling so we can continue on over."
"My boss wants me some place in a hurry and I guess she's pulled out all the stops to get me there. I'm not going to have time to hang around in Rota but I'll leave money and the first round of Sam Miguel is on me," said John.
The loadmaster looked at him Casey realized he was waiting for the answers to the rest of his questions but there was nothing else to say.
"I'll be passing out box lunches in a bit. Do you want turkey or turkey? That's what they gave us when we took off?"
"I'll have the turkey," said John. The loadmaster smiled then disappeared. He came back shortly afterwards with a white box in hand.
"Here you go Colonel," said the Master Sergeant. "Eat up and in a little bit we'll start our inflight movie." They both laughed.
"Casey ate his turkey sandwich on white bread and his peanut butter and crackers. He pocketed the candy bar and drank the fruit juice. He laughed to himself thinking about the beef fajita he'd eaten with Kat that seemed almost a lifetime ago.
"What's this I'm feeling," he said to himself. He was missing Kat and didn't know how to deal with it. He closed his eyes hoping to make it go away then with constant humming of the engines and being strapped in a canvas seat next to the wall just rocked him into a sound sleep.
"Colonel… Colonel," said the Loadmaster as he tried to wake him. "Colonel you have to wake up we're about to land. Colonel…" However, the Master Sergeant wasn't ready for Casey's reaction. John grabbed him by the throat popped out of his seat and pinned him against the bulkhead drawing his Ka-bar holding it to the man's throat.
"Colonel… Colonel, it's me… we're on the same side," said the Master Sergeant as Casey tightened his grip. Then he came out of it.
"Oh sorry, you startled me when you woke me. I don't like people sneaking up on me I have a tendency to over react."
"You can say that again," said the man as he rubbed his throat. "I take it you've seen a lot of combat duty. Well we're about to land and there's a man from the embassy at the airport to meet you."
"Roger that and sorry about the throat," said John. He'd hoped the hole he felt in his chest would feel better but it didn't. If anything it felt worse.