Don't own Chuck
Raul and Marco made their way straight back to their trailer after the last show. They ducked out right after the parade and after the final curtain call. Rita followed them shortly afterwards using the excuse with Giovanni that she needed to go check on Raul. When she walked in Raul was trying to stretch out his shoulder as Marco opened them both a beer.
"I'll take one too," said Rita. Marco passed her his then reached in their fridge for another one. "Thanks. Is your shoulder still bothering you? You should really have it looked at by a professional you might've torn a ligament or something when you had your near fall? I hope you learned something up there? Somethings you just don't do no matter how much you want to," she said then she took a sip from her bottle.
"Very funny but for the record it would've worked if it hadn't been for that Chuck guy and speaking about him. What are we going to do with him? He knows we're the cat," said Raul. Rita looked at him surprised. She knew this day would come but she hadn't counted on it coming so soon.
"What? Are you sure about that? I mean really sure and not just something you misunderstood. After all you were really angry with him and when you get that way you don't think straight," said Rita but Marco broke in.
"Raul's right Chuck knows. He might've come out and been clearer about what he knew if you and the rest hadn't shown up so quickly when he and Raul got down."
"But how? We've always been so careful. Do we know what he wants? Sorry you said you didn't have time to talk. Well, let's think this out if he was law enforcement we'd already be behind bars by now so he must want something else."
"So what are you saying he wants a piece of the action," said Raul as he glanced over at Marco. Marco responded by shrugging his shoulders then taking a sip from his beer. "Big help you are."
"You know I think he might be looking for a piece of the pie," said Rita. "I was talking with Giovanni and he told me that Don Rodrigo said that back in the day Chuck's wife and her father had this daughter father team that was second to none, maybe even better than us."
"Really," said Raul. "I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse. People like that are always looking for an angle. I guess we won't know what he wants until he gets here. But whatever he wants nothing is going to stop me from going down to that Marina this evening."
"What are you going to do with Chuck? We should hear him out first then go from there. I mean you can't shoot him after all."
"Says who," said Raul as he pulled an old Polish FB P-64 from a drawer loaded a clip then chambered a round. The slide made a snapping sound as the gun was cocked then he flipped the safety to the middle position to engage the hammer block before slipping it into his pocket.
"Put that thing away before you get yourself in trouble. Did you know he had that," asked Rita. Marco shook his head. "You're asking for trouble carrying that. Remember what happened to Papa and Zio." But as they were talking there was a knock at the door.
"Okay, this has to be Chuck. Let me start talking but remember I need to get down to the Marina as soon as we get rid of him. If it gets too late I need you guys to keep him busy while I slip out the back."
"And your shoulder," said Rita as the knock at the door continued with no signs of letting up. "How are you going to manage everything? Maybe you need to take one of us with you."
"Don't worry about me I've got everything under control," said Raul as he patted the pistol in his pocket. "Now answer the door and let him in. Let's hear what he has to say not that it will matter much."
"And you're going to get yourself and Papa killed," said Rita as she went to the door. There waiting were both Chuck and Sarah. "We didn't expect both of you but come on in."
"Things are becoming clearer," said Raul as he saw Sarah come in with Chuck. "You really are after a piece of the action. I just have one thing to tell you kiss off. We're not buying whatever you're selling."
"And good evening to you too," said Chuck as he looked over a Sarah. She shrugged her shoulders back at him. He didn't have to ask her opinion she'd already given it. "Well then there's nothing left for us to talk about with an attitude like that," said Chuck as he walked up to Raul and offered him his hand. Raul looked at it then at the others Rita motioned for his to go ahead and shake it so he did. As he shook Chuck's hand Chuck patted him on his sore shoulder causing him to cringe in pain. "Sorry, are you still sore?"
"Watch it. Geez, my shoulder is sore because of you," said Raul as he backed away from Chuck. This was Chuck's opportunity he let slip the data device so it fell to the floor as if it had just come undone from around Raul's neck. Raul quickly scooped it up and tucked it away in his pocket.
"I guess that's some of your other ill-gotten gains I assume," said Chuck but Raul just played it off. "I'm not easily impressed... we aren't," he said as he looked over at Sarah then back at them. "But your little enterprise has piqued my attention. You see we own and run a security firm that offers our clients protection from... well, people like you. That job you pulled off in Orléans well that was one of our clients..."
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Raul acting innocent. Rita and Marco both shook their heads and pretended not to know anything. "You need to get to your point. Up until now I've heard unsubstantiated accusations that won't hold up in court and if you had anything I have a feeling that would be where we'd be at now."
"On the contrary, I'd like to hire you... all three of you... I want you to come work for us. I'd like you to test our security systems. What better way to know they are effective if not tested by the very people who would try to breach them?" said Chuck he turned to Sarah and caught her look. He could tell she wasn't too happy with his idea.
"I think you're crazy," said Raul looking at the others. "How would we know what to do? We're circus people we could never work in an office from nine to five. That is hypothetically if we did know what you were talking about."
"Don't be so fast," said Rita. "Say for the sake of argument and I'm talking purely hypothetically like my brother said but if what you say is true then the police forces from different countries would be after us. Who did you say you think we were?"
"Okay, I can play this game so for the sake of argument and purely hypothetically I would throw out the name le chat or the cat as the French call you or this hypothetically person or organization."
"I think they're wanted by Interpol, the FBI and a long list of other law enforcement agencies. It would be difficult to accept any offer that didn't include an amnesty."
"Well as far as an amnesty is concerned, my office in Paris could work out a deal with the French. The U.S. might be a little more difficult but I'm sure I've got something to bargain with there too. Think about what I'm offering you. I'm offering you the opportunity to stop looking over your shoulder to see if the cops are after you."
"And if we say thanks but no thanks," said Rita as she looked around to see that Raul was already gone. Her questioning had given him the window he needed to make his escape which she didn't have to like.
"Please don't let it come to that. I have my clients to think of and I can't allow you to continue stealing from them. I admire your brazen courage or stupidity and I want to make this pleasant. You don't have to give up the circus. What I'm proposing is a side job that you could work into your schedule if that is your problem. The pay I'm offering is good," said Chuck. He took out a notepad and pen wrote down a number then handed it to Rita.
"What's this? How much you're willing to offer us a month?" she said as she showed the figure to Marco. The figure was good but they played it off.
"No that's per job. So it's in your interest to get the job over as quickly as you can then move on to the next and so on and so on. I think you can see how this is advantageous for you."
"We can't make a decision like this in a hurry. We're going to need a few days to talk this over together," said Rita. "I think you can realize this is a big step for us."
"I realize that so why don't you take a couple of days. Talk it over as much as you want but in the end you need to come to the right decision. Where's Raul anyway? He was right here a little while ago complaining about his shoulder," said Chuck as he and Sarah looked around for him.
"Oh he's in the bathroom... he's suffering from a... from a spastic colon. Yeah that's it, he's got a spastic colon. It sometimes acts up when he's stressed."
"I'm sorry to hear that but it does explain why he's so irritable all the time. Okay two days' time then you need to let me know and you can tell him there's medical included so he can have his colon looked at," said Chuck then he and Sarah left.
"Spastic colon," said Marco as he laughed at Rita. "Really spastic colon that was the best you could come up with. I can't wait to tell him."
"He has to come back from the drop first. But you try to come up with something on the spot like that. Besides, I didn't hear you say anything and for once the peanut gallery was silent. I just hope Raul knows what he's doing. I've got a bad feeling about this."
"I do too," said Marco as he put his arms around his sister and held her. "We have to believe he knows what he's doing or everything is lost."
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The General was waiting to drop the net over the two false doctors. She had men playing tag along the way to make sure they were herded into the trap. They were almost where she wanted them. This was the part that was the most critical and where things could go south. If she had them followed too closely she risked scaring them off so after one last visual she had her men break off close surveillance, then began the wait which was where she was at now.
"Why don't we have CCTV," asked the General getting anxious. "If I had known this was a dead zone I wouldn't have herded them in there."
"General, we talked about this. This is the area of the hospital where they're doing construction so we minimized the number of civilians that would be at risk of getting hurt in the crossfire."
"I don't like this they should've showed up in the trap by now. I'm getting a bad feeling about this. The idea was good but I'm afraid something has gone wrong."
"So what do you want to do? Do we continue to wait or start a firefight in the middle of the hospital? I don't know how you're going to be able to spin that with the White House."
"You know you're not giving me any good options," said the General. "You stay here and give it another ten minutes then move out. I want a team to come in from behind them to block their retreat then you can move forward between both teams you'll have them trapped in the middle."
"Hopefully they'll realize they've no choice but to surrender," said the Major as he studied the plans for the hospital. "What makes you thing that our friends aren't coming?"
"I don't know... I guess you could call it a gut feeling or a sixth sense. Major, it's something you develop when you've played this game as long as I have and it's something you grow to respect. I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't followed it on more than one occasion and right now it's screaming at me that something has gone wrong."
"Very well I'll arrange everything the way you want," said the Major giving one last glance at the blueprints. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"
"No, just follow my orders," said Beckman. "I'm leaving this operation with you while I take a few men and go back up to check on the Woodcombs. If they've figured out they've been dubbed that would be where our two doctors would be headed. Radio ahead to the men up there to be on their guard and they might give Ellie and Devon a heads up too but just as a 'by the way'. The doctors are jumpy as it is I don't want to overly scare them. I would evacuate them but I don't think they'd go and if we tried... well that would really send them down the rabbit-hole."
"Roger that I'll make sure everything is taken care of," said the Major then he radioed to the men they'd left on the floor where they conducted hyperbaric oxygen therapy. As he did that the General grabbed a couple of men then left.
[A little while before]
Mulder and Scully were making good time following the hospital signs then then they passed an electrician checking on an electrical out let. He was in fact the last of Beckman's men. They walked right past him Mulder didn't see it but Scully did. The man had an earbud in then after they passed him Scully saw the man in the reflection of some chrome molding touch his ear and speak into his watch. They continued on a little further then it clicked as if his brain just registered what he'd seen making Scully stop in the middle of the passageway.
"Come on what's wrong with you," said Mulder getting frustrated with Scully. "We need to get this over with and get out of here before someone questions why we're here and who we are."
"Tell me you didn't see what I just saw. That workman back there... the electrician had an earbud and when we passed by he touched his ear then talked into his watch. You know what that means we're being set up."
"Come on... Really, you're just imagining things. Can you please be serious? Do I have to remind you that you were the one who insisted on following the hospital signs? We even asked that orderly..."
"And what if he was in on it? Come on you. Think about it what if they've changed the signs to lead us away from our target to someplace else?"
"You're not making any sense. First of all, they'd have to realize we're here and secondly why this elaborate scheme to lead us where? Why play with us and not just take us out back when we came in?"
"I didn't say I had all the answers but I know what I saw. Besides they might not have wanted to start a firefight where there were a lot of civilians around. And come to think about it I haven't seen very many people walking about for a while," said Scully as he looked around them. "Do you smell that smell? You have to that's the smell of fresh paint this whole wing looks and smells like it's just been renovated."
"You're letting your imagination get the best of you. This is the right way," said Mulder as he pointed to a sign that indicated the BHOT was further down. "This is stress talking and you're going to make our friend outside angry."
"I don't give a rat's posterior what he thinks but maybe I am. However, what if I'm right? What if around one of the corners ahead there are a dozen Federal agents waiting for us?"
"And what if there aren't? You've got us in quite the conundrum." said Mulder realizing he wasn't going to get Scully to agree to follow him. "We can't be in two places at once. Listen let's do this you take the map and follow it while I follow the signs in the hospital one of us has got to strike pay dirty."
"And what if there are a dozen Federal agents waiting for us," said Scully as he looked at Mulder. His partner shook his head.
"Then we're screwed royally. But really one or two against twelve either way we wouldn't stand a chance. However, maybe I'll or you'll get the drop on them and that will even out the odds. Either way it's better than doing nothing."
"That sounds like as good a plan as any to me. First one to find out something calls the other one," said Scully. Mulder nodded then they split up each going in a different direction. However, as soon as Scully was gone Mulder rethought what Scully had said so he slowed down his pace trying to be more cautious.
"You're just letting him get to you," he said to himself. "But it can't hurt to take a few safeguard." He took out a mirror and used it to check out what was on the other side of every corner before he went around it. This wasn't his first rodeo and if he had anything say in it this wasn't going to be his last either.
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Chuck and Sarah left the Zorros' trailer and there waiting for them outside in the dark was Casey. He called to them then waved them over. He wanted to know how things went before calling it in to the General. Already he knew she was going to be angry with him for allowing Chuck and Sarah to become involved not that he had much of a choice. But the General he was sure wouldn't see it that way.
"Next time you decided to hire a consultant I'd like to be told first. Instead of having it dropped on me like you just did," said Sarah. She was not happy with Chuck.
"And if I had told you before you would've shot me down," said Chuck. "You're getting angry over nothing because I doubt if they'll accept which is too bad."
"Will you two hold it down," said Casey. "So were you able to palm off that fake data device? I need to call the General and already I'm going to be in the dog house."
"Yeah, I got it to Raul but I don't know Casey. What's going to happen if they check it and find out it's a dud. Alfredo and his friends are going to thing Raul was trying to pass one over on them."
"That's not my problem," said Casey. "I just needed to make sure the real one didn't get passed along and that we try to get the fake one in their possession. The GPS tracker in it will lead us back to their cove then we'll have them."
"There might be a problem with that John," said Sarah. "I noticed Raul was packing heat. He had a weapon in his pocket if I had to guess I'd say a Makarov or something similar..."
"See John things are going to go sideways as soon as Alfredo can't produce their father. Ellie's treating him back in the States isn't she?"
"Well it seems so," said John as he could see this all going to crap. "The one good thing is we've got the good device and that was the primary mission. Everything else was secondary."
"So you're going to let Raul walk into a firefight without backup when we know we can help him out. You said yourself once this is over and Alfredo has the device he and the rest of the Zorros become loose ends."
"Sweetie remember what we said before. You can't save everyone and you did try," said Sarah. "But you're not going to let this go are you?"
"I can't or I wouldn't be me. John, where is the drop going down at?"
"No Chuck, I'm not going to tell you so you can go off and get yourself killed. I won't and that's that. I talked to them. You talked to them but they just won't listen so now it's time for them to pay the piper."
"Sweetie, Casey's right. They made their bed now they've got to lay in it. There really isn't anything we can do. You need to drop it."
"Well if that's the way you two feel about it then there's nothing left for us to do here tonight. Let me go call us a taxi," said Chuck as he walked off.
"Now that's a change," said John. "I expected him to beg and plead. To come up with something like threatening to send Morgan photos of me in my clown garb to make me tell him the drop was going down at the Marina."
"You're right he took that way too well," said Sarah. "Why did he have to walk off to call a cab anyway... unless. John don't move," she said as she took out her phone and passed it over him until she got feedback. She pulled out of his pocket a EM-50.
"A bug and one of my own! Bartowski, when I get my hands on you you're dead," yelled John in the device.
"Come on let's go before Alfredo or Raul do it for you but I have first dibs."