Author's note: Here's the latest installment. I wish I could write another tender love scene between Liv and Fitz in this chapter, but we've got to keep the main story moving along. No Olivia and minimal Fitz in this chapter as we get more background info. But we finally find out what happened to Huck after the highway ambush.

I threw in some British English words/slang in this chapter. Here's a brief glossary:

MI6 is the U.K.'s spy agency. (James Bond's employer.) In other words, the British counterpart of America's C.I.A.

A "spook" in England means "spy."

A "station chief" is the head guy in charge of a spy operation in a foreign country

"bloody hell" = A multi-purpose exclamation of surprise that would be equivalent to "oh my god" or "what the hell" in American English.

"wanker" = asshole, jerk

"old sod" = S.O.B. or bastard

"royal cock up" = huge mistake

Other terms mentioned:

TSA: Transportation Security Administration

jihad: Means "struggle" in Arabic but has come to mean Muslim guerrilla warfare in modern times.

mujahedeen: Literally means "people who struggle" but has come to mean Muslim guerrilla fighters in today's world.

Taliban: An ultra conservative radical Islamist movement of Pashtun tribesmen. Remember that Pashto was the language that Mohammed, the driver, was speaking on the phone when he was transporting Olivia, Stephen and Huck. The Taliban rule large parts of Afghanistan and have gained diplomatic recognition from three countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates. (SPOILER ALERT: That prior sentence just whittled down the list of possible countries that could be behind this plot to kidnap Olivia and bring down the POTUS.)

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS and HAPPY READING! :)

Chapter 14: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Huck was exhausted. It had taken him two days to get back to Islamabad after Olivia and Stephen had been kidnapped. Then another four days of stowing away in the back of trucks and sneaking on to buses to travel the 800 miles south to Karachi where he once had contacts from his former days in the C.I.A.

It had been five years since Huck had fallen off the grid, so to speak. There was no way for him to know now whether or not any of his former intelligence agency contacts were still in place.

In Karachi there was a nondescript café located across from the city's traditional bazaar that had been a popular meeting spot for spooks. If any of Huck's former contacts were still living in Karachi, they'd eventually show up there.

It took three days but finally, on the third day, Huck saw the unmistakable straw fedora of Toby Marwick. It was late afternoon and Toby looked around before entering the café and taking a seat in the front where he had a view of the street. It was late afternoon and Toby was there to have a proper English tea. He placed his order and then whipped out a newspaper and began reading. Huck, who was across the street in the bazaar, watched the man intently.

After a few minutes, Toby got up and went to the back of the café. Huck couldn't see what he was doing because his line of vision was blocked. When Toby didn't return to the table after a few minutes, Huck became concerned.

Then Huck felt the tip of a knife jabbing into his side.

"Make one false move and I'll gut you right where you stand," said the voice in a low, menacing whisper.

Huck turned his head slowly to look at the man holding a knife to his kidneys. "Toby?"

"DIEGO? Bloody hell!" exclaimed the Brit, calling Huck by his real name. He gave Huck a bear hug. "You old sod, you! What's it's been? Five years? Where the hell have you been?"

"It's a long story," Huck said. "Look, I need your help. Are you still in the Queen's Service?" he said, referring to the British Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6.

"Yes, I'm now Karachi station chief," said Toby, proudly.

"Wow, times must be hard. You mean they couldn't have found anyone else more qualified?" Huck said with a straight face. Toby didn't know whether he was kidding or not, so he playfully punched Huck in the arm and said, "Diego, you were always a bit of a wanker."

"So, what brings you to Karachi?" Toby asked, seriously. "There are rumors that you Americans are planning some new drone strikes here in Pakistan. You must know what a royal cock up that would be if you Americans did that now with everything that is happening in the region."

"No, I know nothing at all about that," Huck said impatiently. "Look, Toby, is there someplace we can talk privately? It's a matter of life and death."

The same day in Washington, D.C.

Fitz was eating breakfast and scrolling through the news headlines on his iPad when one jumped out at him: "Taliban block vaccinations in Pakistan"

A Pakistani Taliban commander has banned polio vaccinations in North Waziristan, in the tribal belt, days before 161,000 children were to be inoculated. He linked the ban to American drone strikes and fears that the C.I.A. could use the polio campaign as cover for espionage, much as it did with Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped track Osama bin Laden.

The commander, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said that the vaccinations would be banned until the Central Intelligence Agency stopped its drone campaign.

"Son of a bitch," Fitz hissed under his breath. He continued reading:

"Mr. Bahadur said the decision had been taken by the shura-e-mujahedeen, a council that unites the myriad jihadi factions in the area, including Taliban, Qaeda and Punjabi extremists.

The announcement, made over the weekend, is a blow to polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan, one of just three countries where the disease is still endemic…"

"Hal, can you come in here, please?" Fitz called for the Secret Service agent who was stationed outside the dining room door. "Hal, is the Chief of Staff in yet? Would you please tell him to report to my office in 15 minutes, please? Thank you."

Fitz quickly drained his glass of orange juice, wiped his mouth, stood up and put on his jacket and headed down to the Oval Office. It was the beginning of what was to be a very long day.

20 minutes later

"Cyrus, this situation in Pakistan looks like it is about to spiral out of our control. Did you see this article in the New York Times today?" Fitz said, tapping on his iPad to show Cyrus the story.

"Well, Mr. President, we knew that there was the possibility for this sort of fallout if we went ahead with the drone strikes," Cyrus said.

"I know," Fitz replied, "But I hate the fact that the Taliban is using U.S. media to paint our government as the bad guy when they are the real villains."

"Well, we can discuss a new plan of attack with Cam and Mac during our daily security briefing," Cyrus said, referring to CIA Director Cameron Reynolds and National Security Advisor Ian MacMillan.

"And Cyrus, we also need a new media strategy to get a handle on this. There's no way in hell I'm going to allow a couple of goat herding terrorists in the hills of Pakistan make the U.S. government look stupid in our country's leading news outlets. Get Olivia to come to the White House to discuss this," Fitz said as he continued to scroll through the NYTimes story on his iPad.

"Excuse me, sir?" Cyrus said, surprised. "I really don't think it would be appropriate…"

Fitz interrupted Cyrus while he was in mid-sentence.

"Cyrus, please, just once can you do what I ask without giving me a lecture on appropriateness?" Fitz said. "Get Olivia over here so I can talk to her about this. She's great at seeing all the angles and nuances in a crisis that other people can't. We need her on this."

Cyrus raised an eyebrow but said nothing else. He turned on his heel and left the Oval Office.

Four hours later

At lunchtime, Cyrus headed over to Olivia's office. When he entered the building, the front desk security guy recognized him and told him that Pope & Associates was closed.

"Since when?" Cyrus asked.

"They closed for vacation about a little over a week ago," the security guard responded.

"Vacation?" Cyrus asked, surprised. "Are you sure? Did they say where they were going?

"No, I'm not sure, but nobody who works there has been in this building for over a week, so I assumed that they shut down for vacation."

Cyrus slowly walked out of the building. He had known Olivia Pope for over 10 years, and in that time he had never known her to take more than a long weekend off for personal time. The idea of Olivia Pope taking more than a week off for "vacation" was unprecedented. He knew something wasn't right. Cyrus took out his cell phone and called his assistant. "Get me Eric Sherwood over at Homeland Security, now."

Two minutes later…

"Hi, Eric, Cyrus Beane here. How are you? Good. Listen, I need a favor from you. Can you have one of your guys over at the TSA check international flight manifests from the last 10 days and let me know if the name Olivia Pope pops up anywhere? Thanks!" Cyrus hung up.

A half-hour later Cyrus had his answer. Olivia Pope, Stephen Finch and Huck were all on the same British Airways flight that left Washington Dulles International Airport 10 days earlier. The trio had flown to London Heathrow and then took a connecting flight to Islamabad, Pakistan. "Pakistan?" Cyrus thought, puzzled. "What the heck is Olivia doing in Pakistan?"

Cyrus was still mulling over this information when a Google news alert popped up on his computer screen.

"Former Grant administration official rumored to have Taliban terrorist ties," read the headline.

"What the hell…?" Cyrus mumbled under this breath clicking the link that led to Wonkette, the D.C. gossip blog.

"Today's blind item is a juicy one: A little birdie has told me that someone with close ties to the Grant administration is actually a Taliban sympathizer! Details are sketchy but we're working our source to get more dirt. We had to post this little tidbit now because it was just too juicy.

What's a Republican doing in bed with the Taliban? Enquiring minds want to know! The Grant administration is going to go nuclear when the truth comes out. Who do you think it could be? Post your wild guesses in the comments section below."

Oh. My. God, Cyrus thought. It couldn't be, could it? They're talking about Olivia! He could feel his blood pressure rise. This was bad. Real bad. Despite the fact that Wonkette was a D.C. gossip blog, it was actually very well read by journalists in the mainstream media. If a story like this gained any traction, it would soon be all over the news everywhere.

Cyrus pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking about what to do next, when his email alert chimed. Incoming message.

The sender's name was "John Smith," which Cyrus knew right away was bogus but he opened the email anyway. Inside was a link to a private Flickr account. Cyrus' jaw dropped to the floor when he saw what was inside.

On the page was a photo slideshow of Olivia, Stephen and Huck at the airport in Pakistan getting into a car. Olivia was wearing a headscarf like a Muslim woman. Then there was a photo of Olivia, Huck and Stephen sitting with an unknown Pakistani man at an outdoor table along a highway. Then another photo of Olivia standing next to a man dressed in traditional Pakistani tribal attire. And then a final photo of her in what appeared to be a girl's school in Pakistan.

Cyrus opened the other attachment in the same email. Inside were Olivia's bank statements showing how much money she had been hemorrhaging in recent months. Then there was a receipt for a $250,000 money wire transfer deposited to Olivia's primary checking account on the same day that she had left the United States.

Cyrus was still trying to process everything he had learned in the previous 20 minutes when his email beeped again. Another message from "John Smith." He opened the email. Inside was a link to a YouTube video. Cyrus was afraid to look but he knew he had to. He clicked on the link and when the video started to play, a chill went down his spine. A bad day had just gotten worse.

Author's Note: Huck's real name is Diego! Can you believe it? He looks like a Diego, doesn't he? Do you think Huck's British spy friend Toby will help him out or not?

Poor Cyrus, the weight of this news is completely on his shoulders. How will he break the news to Fitz?

And Fitz, still in the dark about the fate of his Livi. But he's about to find out in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!