Don't own Chuck
Ettore along with Don Rodrigo and Luigi climbed into a waiting SUV then sped away heading for the pier. They left just in time behind them was a sea of blue lights and sirens. As soon as they were far enough away Ettore signaled for his driver to slowed down and to begin to obey all the traffic signs. The last thing Ettore wanted to happen was to have an overzealous cop pull them over. Once safely away he relaxed in his seat looking over his new partners.
"I know this road," said Don Rodrigo. "This will take us down to the Marina. Shouldn't we be heading for the airport as quickly as we can and flying out of there for some safe haven."
"And that's exactly what Chuck would think. He'll have people waiting at the airport and we'd never get past the front doors before he'd have us in handcuffs. He's probably got a plane waiting to whisk us off to some dark site. I should've killed him while I had the chance but what can I say I like him. No… no my friends I've got another plan worked out for our trip out of Dodge. You should always plan for your extraction before your arrival and have more than one just in case."
"I want to thank you for giving us this opportunity," said Don Luigi. "This is an honor to be invited to sit down at the table with you and your friends. I've… we've got some ideas about future opportunities we'd like to propose when we all get together with everyone else."
"I'm sure you do," said Ettore as he looked the two over. "But first things first we have to get out of here then we can talk about your grand plans."
"Yes and we're looking forward to it. So how are we getting away," said Luigi. "We've done like you asked so now we deserve our seat at the table like you promised."
"Yes you deserve everything all right and I'll see to it that you get it;" said Ettore then he paused for a moment. "Okay this is what's going down. I have a friend of a friend who works in the Syrian embassy. He has a yacht at the marina that is registered through the embassy and so is considered Syrian sovereign territory. That's where we're headed and once we're onboard we're home free. No one can touch us… not without causing an international incident which neither the Americans nor the Russians want at the moment."
"Genius," said Don Rodrigo as Luigi nodded. "You are a master criminal Ettore. But you're right you should've killed that agent back there."
"Right, but it's not for you to tell me what I ought to or ought not to do. But let's forget that now I know, let's drink up to our success," said Ettore. He opened a mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of Dom Perignon then popped the cork bouncing it off the SUV roof. Ettore filled two champagne glass the passed them to them.
"Thanks," said Luigi as he took the two champagne flutes from Ettore passing one to Don Rodrigo. The clinked glasses then both drank up.
"Aren't you going to drink with us?" said Don Rodrigo. "Sorry we should've waited for you but we were just excited at this opportunity and we owe it all to you," he said as they both raised their glasses.
"No you two go ahead. Champagne goes to my head and gives me gas but you two finish the bottle before we get to the pier. You deserve every drop and besides there's more on board waiting for you so bottoms up."
"Here's to many more business opportunities together," said Luigi as he yawned. "Crap I forgot how tired I was. Just a little bit of alcohol and I'm feeling it."
"Me too," said Don Rodrigo as he yawned loudly. "Sorry about that but I can barely keep my eyes open. If no one minds I think I'm going to take a little nap."
"No that's quite all right go right ahead," said Ettore as the marina came in sight. Ettore looked at his watch and smiled as they drove into the marina parking lot.
"Sir, we're here," said the driver after he pulled in at the head of their berthing. The driver looked back at the two men out cold leaning on each other. One of the men meeting them from the ship opened Ettore's door to help him out.
"What are you orders sir?" asked the driver as he got out with Ettore. Ettore stood for a few minutes getting his balance.
"You can have my gear stowed onboard then tell the Skipper he can shove off and set a course for Genova. I'll get off there and by the time we dock my plane will be waiting for me at the airport."
"And what about your guests? What do you want done with them?" asked the driver as Ettore stopped and looked back at them out cold in the back seat.
"Tell the Skipper once we're outside the port he can dump our friends into the bay. They've served their purpose now it's time to move on. Big plans they said they had… telling me what I ought to do. No one is going to show me up and I mean no one. I promised them a seat at the table just it's Davy Jones' table they'll be sitting at."
"Yes sir," said the driver as he got out and a man in a captain's uniform walked down the gangway to greet them. Shortly afterwards when everyone was on board the boat slipped its moorings then made its way out of the port and into the open sea.
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Chuck was serving up free drinks and Casey was drinking them. There was no way he was going to pass up 40-year-old Glenfiddich. It wasn't in his DNA to pass up something like that no matter how mad and upset he felt. However, as he was drinking his worst nightmare happened when he heard Ilsa's voice behind him. She'd caught him still dressed for his cover story.
"…Now that is fine and smooth," Casey said as he held up his glass admiring the amber colored liquid inside and the way the light shined through it.
"Thank you Sugar Bear," said Ilsa as she walked in with a full tac team right behind her. "I wish I could say the same thing about you but you look like a reject from a Gay pride parade."
"Funny, but if you have to know I was undercover and you're a day late and a dollar short," said John as he downed the rest of his drink then turned to Chuck. "Barkeep, set me up with another but this time let's make it two fingers and don't get stingy when you're pouring."
"Those are big words when this stuff goes for over two hundred euro a shot. But I thought you said you were making a fashion statement," said Chuck as he slid John another glass. "Here that's for your coming out party."
"Keep it up and what will be coming out will be your eyeballs when I strangle you," said John as he lifted his glass to Ilsa.
"Sorry Ilsa but John's right, you came to the party too late. However, you can take everyone laying around," said Chuck as he set her up a drink. "Let me explain they work for Ettore La Barba. I know you know who he is and before you say anything yes he is alive. I talked with him face to face right over there," he said as he pointed to a booth. "As you might be able to tell I had a small run in with his men but nothing major. You will also be happy to know that La Chat left with him and with the way Ettore keeps his word the cat I think left with eight lives used up and the ninth almost gone"
"Very good but John, I need you to come with me to help give me fill in the details so I can write this up. My director wasn't very happy when he found out you were running an operation here without his knowledge. Pissed is an understatement..."
"John, can explain it better that us but we weren't running any operation. No none and as a matter of fact, we're supposed to be on vacation. Then the cat hit a client of ours in Orléans and we felt obliged to do something about it. You know you're only as good as your reputation in the security business. In our investigation we discovered the link between the cat and Ettore so I had you called in but everything went sideways. That's how we ended up with this. I knew you'd report it to your director but I know we can get this taken care of among friends."
"Yes, that's exactly what happened and if you want to take the credit for foiling Ettore's plan go for it. It's all yours we don't need it," said John as he downed the rest of what was in his glass. "It happened just like Chuck said."
"I somehow doubt that and you still haven't told me what this plan of Ettore's was but it's good enough for my report. However, John like I said you're going to have to come along with me still. You owe me that," said Ilsa as she smiled at him. "But we need to get you changed first. I can't take you back to HQ looking like that… not if you want to be believed."
"If you're going back to the circus can we tag along. We need to get back and get ready for tonight," said Giovanni. "The show must go on and besides we need the money to pay our debts."
"I know what," said Chuck. Casey did not like the look on Chuck's face. "Ilsa take everyone back to Monte Carlo and you can see John in his circus act as the Angry Clown. He's really great you'll be amazed and I know you'll like it. You can see John from a whole new angle. You can take my word for that," he said as he smiled at John.
"I don't know about that. I'm sure Ilsa's too busy for something as frivolous as that. I just don't think that's such a good idea," said John as he gave Chuck the look of death.
"No that's an excellent idea," said Ilsa. "I've got to see your act but if you don't want to I can't make you. However, I need to point out that while Chuck and Sarah have permission to operate in French because of their company, Carmichael Industries you John... well you know you're a foreign spy who's failed to register with the minister of interior when entering the country."
"Hold up a minute there. What are you doing? You can't do this that's called blackmail," said John as Ilsa smiled back at him.
"Yes, it is and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy the show. I also like popcorn… freshly popped with plenty of butter and salt," said Ilsa as she smiled at him. "So John what's it going to be? A night at the circus or a week in hoosegow?"
"You say that like I've got a choice. Come on let's get this over with," said Casey as his eyes shot daggers at Chuck. But before he could say anything Ilsa herded him and everyone else out the door leaving her men to round up Ettore's people.
[After Casey and Ilsa left Chuck turned his attention to the girls]
"You two are trouble magnets," said Chuck as he knelt down and hugged both of them. "We need to go up to the room so I... we can report back to the General. While we're on the line with her why don't you two order breakfast in the room or everyone? I don't see them serving anything here very soon."
"Maybe we can order up 'la Sam' for breakfast. I think you'll like it," said Sam as they got in the elevator and took it up. "They named it after me…"
"I'm afraid to ask what it is… ten pounds of trouble," said Chuck. Sam gave him a mean look. "Sorry so tell us what it is. I bet it's got ice cream in it."
"And you'd win that bet. It's really good not just because it's named after me but it's two crêpes with two scoops of Rocky Road glacée on top."
"Or as I called it the Rocky Road to Perdition," said Molly as she stuck her tongue out and made a face at Sam who did the same thing back.
"Sounds good to me," said Sarah as they entered the suite. "I'm always in the mood for Rocky Road." Chuck laughed but before she could ask what was so funny Emma ran up to them and hugged the girls.
"You two had me worried sick," she said as she hugged them both tightly. "And you two did too. You girls need to stop sneaking around like that or you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days."
"I can take care of that for you," said Sam as she patted her bag. "I've got the tools right here." Chuck and Molly laughed as Sarah and Emma looked at them.
"Everything is fine and everyone is okay," said Sarah as she looked at Chuck. There was something going on that she made a mental note to investigate later on. However, for now they needed to brief the General then eat breakfast followed by a short nap. Those were her priorities at the moment.
"What Sarah's saying is that it's over now. The girls want to order breakfast and they know what we want. Right now Sarah and I have to report back to the General. We'll be right out and explain what happened... well what we can explain. You know the unclassified parts but we can't talk about the classified ones. Even though technically speaking..."
"Get in the bedroom and let's get this over with," said Sarah as she grabbed him by the hand and yanked him in.
"Yeah like they're going to come out anything soon," said Sam as she shook her head. "But if they don't that's all right by me. It just means more crêpes and glacée for us."
"Somehow I so knew you were going to say that," said Molly.
"What? Waste not want not that's my motto. Especially if it means I can have more ice cream" said Sam smiling. "You scream I scream we all scream for ice cream."
"Now that's more like your motto," said Emma as she walked in holding Bunny. "But I thought your note said you went down for breakfast so haven't you two already eaten?"
"Well you know with all the excitement I don't remember," said Sam. "But to be on the safe side we'll go ahead and get more ice cream just in case."
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The General was back in her office in Langley. She'd just gotten off the phone with Roan and she told him to get on the next plane to come home. His part in the mission was over then she had her Major called down to the situation room and get a current read out from the transponder they'd embedded in the fake device. She wanted to know its exact location as she tracked it on her monitor.
"General, I've got agent's Carmichael on the line for you," said Connie. "Do you want me to patch them through?"
"Yes, you can patch it through to the squawk box on my desk. Major can you listen in with one ear as you take care that other task for me."
"Yes, of course Ma'am I can multitask," said the Major as the duty officer came on line and the Major told him what he wanted.
"Agents Carmichael, I can see from here we got the device off finally and you might like to know we're tracking it as we speak. It looks like they've put out to sea and are leaving the marina."
"General, you need to order a drone strike and take the target out," said Chuck. "I mean it. Call whoever you have to but we need to eliminate the target."
"That wasn't the objective of the mission Chuck and I'm surprised to hear you suggest it. We're following the bread crumbs back to their lair then we'll send in ground troops to seize valuable intel as well as the ring leaders. Let's not go off all half-cocked right now."
"Well you might not think I'm so half-cocked when I tell you who one of their leaders is. I had a nice conversation with Ettore La Barba a little while ago. He's a little upset that I blew his leg off as you might image but he's gone psychotic. He plans on making an army of intersect assassins like the Hashishin and he's just crazy enough to try it. You might have been able to slip him a fake trinket this time around but he'll be back for the real thing as soon as he finds out what he has doesn't work." Chuck noted a look on Beckman's face and so did Sarah.
"General, the device we pass off to Ettore was a fake," said Sarah. She didn't like the fact that Beckman looked away. "Ma'am, there wasn't any data on it was there?"
"Well I was talking with my advisors and we all agreed that if it were inspected it had to pass muster. You have to remember the objective was to get that tracking device to our targets secret lair so we could locate whoever was behind this…"
"Oh don't tell me you gave them a working copy of the intersect," said Chuck. "Please tell me that you weren't that stupid… I'm sorry that just slipped out but no I'm not sorry..."
"No, I wasn't that stupid and of course we didn't put the working version on the device. What's on the device is the other version…"
"By other version you mean the one that caused Morgan's melt down and Sarah's memory loss. I have always suspected it was the cause of Shaw's personality disorder. But really how could you? Volkoff didn't teach you people anything? If by some miracle Ettore is successful and uploads that we'll be fighting an army of intersect psychopathic assassins that no one can control. You need to order that missile strike now before it's too late."
"No we have to wait. If we wait a little bit longer, we'll be able to take out Ettore's whole laboratory and with it the people who are working on this intersect version for him."
"I wouldn't take the risk. He's on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel without any collateral…" But as they were speaking the Major interrupted.
"General, sat images just picked up something being odd. We've picked up two possible bodies floating in the wake of the yacht. I've notified our people to make the recovery but we're going to need someone to ID them."
"Chuck, I need for you and Sarah…" said the General but Chuck cut her off.
"You want us to go down to the morgue to identify them. I've got an idea who they are but okay I'd prefer to do it rather than putting their next of kin through this. Tell our guys they can pick us up in a couple of hours after they've recovered the remains. General, I can't help but feel you're making a big mistake."
"Your recommendation has been duly noted. Chuck, I understand your perspective but I need to think of the big picture and that is removing the cancer at its root."
"Or letting it become malignant and it spreads throughout the whole body. I'm tired of this... listen after we get done with this we're going to leave Nice and go straight to Montenegro where we'll stay for a little while."
"I can understand that... okay you've got permission to take a little more time off…"
"I really wasn't asking your permission. I was just informing you." And with that Chuck signed off. "I know I pissed her off but I really don't care."
"And I know what part of that was about. You're worried that one of those scientists that Ettore has working for him might be your father…."
"I don't know. It could be a long shot but if could be possible. He could be brainwashed or working against his will…"
"I know, I know," said Sarah as she held him close to her. "But whatever it is we'll sort this out together… the two of us you got that. Now let's get you cleaned up. We need to eat breakfast then go down and wait for these people. You really think Ettore got rid of Don Rodrigo and Papa Zorro."
"They made the mistake of correcting him once too often and that's something Ettore doesn't tollerate so yes I think it is them."
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In the northern area of Iran near Tabriz the ground began to shake violently and as it did the buildings began to crumble and fall. Everyone knew it was an earthquake as they ran out of their homes and building filling the streets. 6.6 on the Richtor scale but as quickly and abruptly as it began it stopped. Leaving destruction behind, the city was in rubble with dust and debris everywhere or that was the way Aljazeera was painting it all over the morning news.
"Here you go son," said Banai as he pulled up and dropped his son off at school. "Go and make you family proud of you. Listen you might hear about something bad that happened up North but don't worry everything will be okay."
"What are you talking about? Is this why you and Mom wouldn't let me turn on the television this morning?"
"No, no you just watch too much TV. Now get out of here and go get some good grades that will make you mother feel better," said Banai as he watched his son disappear in the mass of other students heading into school. He wondered if his son's school had been built to standards and could survive an earthquake like the one that hit up north.
"Go to work," he told himself. "If you keep up thinking like that you'll become a Bedouin and start living in a tent. But maybe they had something."
He drove over to the VAJA office through heavy morning traffic and as usually he was late by the time he arrived. As soon as he walked in the building he could hear radio after radio all tuned into the same government station as they talked about the rescue efforts going on.
"Morning Fatima," said Banai as he walked in the first thing he noticed about his secretary was she had her hajib on which could only mean one thing.
"Good morning," she replied then she gave him a nod towards his office. "The director is in your office. He's been waiting."
"How much trouble am I in," said Banai but she didn't get a chance to answer. He walked out and waved him to hurry up and get in.
"I swear you're always late. I don't know why I put up with it. And your secretary, why is it every time I walk in her she never has her head covered like a respectable woman. What kind of office are you running?"
"A productive one or you wouldn't be here right now. What's the matter that was so urgent that you had to come to see me instead of ordering me up?"
"You know I hate you sometimes but you're right. You've hear talk about the earthquake? Of course you have its what everyone is talking about and it's all over the news."
"Yes of course but what does that have to do with us? You haven't volunteered us for disaster relief have you?"
"That's not a bad idea but no. Look at these and tell me what you see," said his director as he handed him some aerial photos of the disaster area.
"What's this over here that's been exposed? This is one of our missile cities. Do we know what kind of missiles were stored there?"
"Most of them were Emad missiles. However, there was also a prototype for the new Emad missile capable of housing special warheads..."
"Are you saying that we have a nuke up there... and it was in the earthquake. Has anyone tested the area for radiation? What about the civilian population are they in danger from contamination?"
"You're jumping the gun. Here look at this photo," he said as he passed Banai another folder. Banai opened and looked at it.
"So this is an empty missile silo? It looks like the roof fell in probably from the earthquake. What does this have to do with the nuke?"
"You see that's where the missile was supposed to be. Sometime before the earthquake someone stole our nuke and if they use it against the Israelis or the West we'll get the blame. Now can you see what the matter is? I want you up there now."
"Don't you think we should alert someone? Maybe we could contact the Americans and bring them in?"
"No absolutely not. How do we tell them we lost a missile we've been denying we had all this time? No you need to go up there and find out what happened. Someone or some people up there are going to get hung and if I have to I'll hang all of them. Now go."
Continued in Chuck vs Broken Arrow