Don't own Chuck
Morgan walked out of the lavatory and looked around but Mary had disappeared. He looked back up the aisle then made his way back to his seat but he couldn't get out of his head what Mary had told him. He tried to forget it but he couldn't let it go. Was he being set up and was Anna the one setting him up? Mary had no reason to lie but maybe she got her facts wrong. He couldn't believe that Anna would do something like this to him.
"This is no way to start a marriage," said Morgan as he sat down next to her. He couldn't help but fidget with his wedding band and look over at her sleeping so peacefully.
"Morgan, please stop it. Will you sit still and stop fidgeting with your ring," said Anna in her sleep. She rolled over and took his arm. "Just close your eyes."
"Close my eyes, like that's going to happened. Geez, now what do I do," said Morgan. Just then he saw one of the flight attendants walking by. "Excuse me, but could I get another grape Crush on the rocks please?"
"Sure, I'll bring you one right away," said the woman and a few minutes later he was sipping on his grape Crush trying to drown his thoughts and his worries.
"No, this wedding isn't going to last like this founded on lies," he thought. But somewhere over the international date line and a third grape Crush Morgan's eyes became heavy.
"No, I can't fall asleep not when I'm rooting," he said to himself as he yawned. "Got to stay away, I just got to. Isn't that right Snap, Crackle and Pop? You guys had better be careful Mary's on this flight so if you don't watch it you'll end up in a Rice Crispy treat."
"Morgan, will you hold down the jabbering when we're eloping," said Anna as she suddenly was sitting next to him in a wedding dress. "I can't believe we finally tied the knot."
"What knot? I didn't tie anything. We're on a mission to save Alex and Ellie. This is just a cover story for our mission."
"Maybe for you it is, but I've got the wedding certificate with your name on it and we've both got wedding bands, remember? So how does it feel to be Mr. Wong?"
"Mister who? Yeah, how about my wedding band with the tracking device conveniently hidden inside. What's up with that? Who even does something like that?"
Spies do because we know what human nature is like and so I can keep what's mine, and keep track of mine. It's not that I don't trust you it's just I don't trust everyone else."
"What are you even talking about? This is a fake wedding. I'm not really married to you no matter what that paper says. Besides it looks kind of like the menu at Sizzling Shrimp?"
"Morgan, how could you?" said Alex as she turned around from the seat in front of his. "I get kidnapped and what do you do? You find your ex and write me off. That's so not cool, not cool at all. Just wait until I tell my father what you did. He warned me about you but I didn't listen. I thought you really loved me."
"No, I do… I do love you. This is just a big misunderstanding. I'm not really married to her I swear I'm not. We're coming to rescue you. I wanted to be your knight in shining armor."
"I'm going to give your armor a few dents," said John as he walked back the aisle towards them. "How's about a full body cast. I warned you not to hurt my little girl but you didn't listen now comes pain… lots of pain," said John as he cracked his knuckles.
"No John, you don't understand… No!" yelled Morgan then he jumped up but found he was still buckled into the seat so he flailed around like a fish out of water.
"Morgan, will you calm down. Everyone is looking at you. What's the matter, did you have a nightmare? I'll call a flight attendant and get you some water."
"Thanks but no, I need some hair of the dog," said Morgan as the flight attendant walked back to check why she was being called.
"Oh you," said the flight attendant when she saw who had called her. "Let me guess you want another grape Crush on the rocks to forget."
"I forgot… I mean yes please. Oh crap, I fell asleep… I wasn't rooting. Everything is all right with the plane? Please say yes."
"Please calm down before you scare the other passengers and yes everything is fine. Let me get you that drink." A few minutes later she was back with Morgan's drink.
"I'm sorry about before," said Morgan as he took the can and cup from her. "I must've dozed off and had a nightmare. How long before we land?"
"We still have a couple of hours of flight time. We'll be serving another meal shortly then we'll be close to landing. It will be after midnight local time when we touch down."
"Thank you, xièxie," said Morgan. The flight attendant smiled then left. "I haven't been eating all this time at Sizzling Shrimp and not learned something," he said as he continued to fidget with his ring.
"Will you leave that ring alone. You act like you can't believe you're wearing one. Is everything all right you look a little jumpy?"
"Who me? Why would I be jumpy. I mean I have an international bad guy who looks like me gunning for me. He's taken my fiancée and my best friend's sister. Oh, and my ex showed up out of nowhere and now we are pretending to be married. I think I've got a right to be a little jumpy. Especially since when we get off this plane Ettore's goons are going to be waiting for me…"
"How do you know that?" said Anna as she turned to look him in the eye. Suddenly it felt like the air condition went out. "I never told you he'd have men waiting. I told you I'd have people waiting."
"Well… I mean it only makes sense after our run in with those people in the restroom that there be more men in the airport besides them. I mean Rebecca basically told us the Central Government was operating with Ettore so it only figures that they've checked the CCTV footage and found what plane we boarded so they can head us off at the other end."
"Not bad Morgan. Chuck and Sarah have taught you well. We only have to get out of the terminal then we can vanish. It will be dark so it won't be difficult."
"I'll take your word for it," said Morgan as he sipped on his grape drink. He still felt his hands shaking but he played it off
"Just leave everything up to me and you'll be in good hands."
"I'm sure I will be," said as he finished his soda then looked around for the flight attendant to get another.
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Sarah drove everyone to LAX in a company van. Kat said her goodbyes to John in the parking garage at the terminal. John looked around shook her hand then gave her a peck on the cheek. While Sarah gave Chuck a proper send off.
"Come on Bartowski, before you make us miss our flight. You can do all that when we get back. Can you believe over a billion habitants in China that's more commies that you can shake a stick at."
"Remember we're going to Guangzhou as representative of Carmichael Industries to talk about a join cyber securities adventure."
"I thought we were going to Canton? And what do I know about computers and cyber security? If it doesn't work I smash it."
"Brute force is one approach and while I appreciate you're out of the box thinking let me do the talking," said Chuck as he took two bags out of the back of the van. "And Guangzhou and Canton are the same thing. Canton is just the romanticize name of Guangzhou."
"I knew that I just wanted to see if anyone else was pay attention," said John as he grabbed a bag out of the back too. "Don't worry we're going to get Alex and dish out some payback," said Casey as he looked over at Kat and read the expression on her face. "Ettore doesn't know it but his days are numbered."
"Right and we're going to get Ellie back too. I'll check in at least once a day," said Chuck then he kissed Sarah. Sam and Clara put their hands over their eyes.
"Come on you're making my stomach turn and there are kids present. We've got to go or we're going to miss our flight."
"John can I point out it's a charter flight. They can't go until we show up," said Chuck. He turned back to Sarah. "I love you and I'll keep you in the loop."
"You'd better or I'll come over looking for you and I'll kick all billion butts to find you. I love you too," she said then she kissed him again.
"Geez, come on," said John as he grabbed Chuck by his jacket collar and dragged him to the elevators. Chuck waved as John shove him inside.
"Okay time to go home," said Sarah as the elevator doors closed and she heaved a sigh. "I was thinking about stopping for ice cream on the way. Does anyone have anything else they'd like to stop for on the way home?"
"Yes, there's something I'd like to get," said Clara. "Can we stop at a Trader Joe's and grab some fresh kale for Dad for when he comes home?"
"Of course we can. That's a wonderful idea and his colon will thank you too. Let's get the ice cream first then stop at Trader Joe's. I'll swing by the Buy More tomorrow and grab a new blender. I saw they're on sale so he can break it in."
"And you can throw it in the trash when he leaves," whispered Kat smiling trying not to laugh.
"Shush, most ungodly drink I've ever seen," whispered Sarah as she smiled back at the girls. "How's Bunny doing in the back?"
"She's fast asleep as usual. I swear she sleeps all the time. You could drop a hand grenade next to her and she'd never wake up."
"But we're not going to try that," said Sarah as she looked at Sam in the mirror. "She's just little and babies do that a lot… I mean sleep. She's like her father. He can sleep anywhere."
"And me? What was I like? I bet I was different."
"You never slept. It was like you were afraid you were going to miss something so you stayed wide awake as long as you could until you fall over. We thought about shooting you with a tranq dart to get you to sleep."
"You didn't? No, you didn't, did you? What kind of treatment is that? I ought to call the child abuse hotline. You don't treat babies like that," protested Sam as Sarah and Kat started laughing. "Ha, ha, ha very funny. Let's mess with the kid's head. I can see the way this is going. For that Clara and I deserve four scoops of ice cream."
"You'll take two and be happy. I seem to remember someone playing poker in Castle after I told that individual I didn't want to see them playing cards again."
"That wasn't my fault. Clara was in a dark place so I was only trying to help her out. I was distracting her from her problems… I was being a good cousin."
"By taking everyone to the cleaners or am I missing something?" said Sarah as she drove by Dodger's stadium.
"Hey, the cards fall the way they want," said Sam as she shrugged her shoulders. "I've got no control over them. It's all in the luck of the deal."
"And naturally you were doing the dealing? I think you mean draw but I understand the Freudian slip," said Sarah as she glanced up in the mirror. Sam could tell this was a lost cause.
"Two scoops are okay not great or wow but okay. I wouldn't want to spoil my appetite but Freud is going to have to get his own ice cream."
"If you know all the tricks…"
"You'll never be a sucker. I know Mommy, I know."
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General Beckman flew into Hickam AFB next to Pearl Harbor. She switched out planes leaving her Lear Jet parked on the apron and boarded a Grumman C-2 Greyhound that was waiting on the tarmac. The C-2 is the Navy's workhorse shuttling personnel and providing fleet logistics as the primary carrier onboard delivery aircraft.
"Thank you," said the General as one of the petty officers of the aircrew made sure she was buckled in and ready for take-off. "You don't have to worry about me. This isn't the first time I've ridden in one of there."
"General Beckman," said a Lieutenant in a flight suite as he boarded. "I was given this case to hand to you personally. We've got clearance to take-off so we should be in the air soon. It will be about a forty minute flight more or less to the carrier. I say more or less because their steaming towards us so the distance is becoming less by the minute."
"Thanks Lieutenant. Once we're in the air I'm going to need to contact my office. Can you arrange a secure link?"
"Once we're at our cruising altitude I don't see why not. I'll inform the pilot and we'll make it happen for you. Just sit back and enjoy your flight."
She smiled at him but she thought he was crazy. No one enjoyed CODing out to the carrier. Coming in like a bat screaming out of hell only to jerked back in your seat when the plane catches the arresting cable bringing it to an abrupt halt. But necessary in case they miss the cables and have to take-off to come around to make another pass. Then the same thing in reverse when taking off being shot in the air going from zero to 180 kilometers an hour in under 2.5 seconds. Having your body pushed back into the seat. You don't want to experience that after eating a greasy meal.
"So what did you give me," said the General as she looked open the case. The documents inside were marked 'secret'. "Okay, this is interesting," she said as she flipped through the pages. She was so caught up in reading what was written that she hadn't realized they'd taken off and were now headed out to over the ocean to meet the carrier.
"General," said a Petty Officer who had made sure she was buckled in before. "Ma'am, the co-pilot wanted me to tell you that there is a Major from your office on the horn asking to speak to you."
"Good, I was going to call him anyway. Can you set up the call for me?" said Beckman. The Petty Officer plugged in a headset with mic and then handed it to her.
"I'll patch your party through shortly," said the Petty Officer then he disappeared. Shortly afterwards she heard her Major's voice.
"Major, it's me. I was just reviewing the folder you had waiting for me. Are we sure that these two men onboard the Chenxing are working for the Chinese MSS?"
"Yes ma'am, we've gotten a positive confirmation from facial recognition as well as a positive match from their fingerprints. If you can get a DNA sample we should be able to know something irrefutable. You've read in the folder how we have theirs on file."
"Yes, and we can hang that over their head if they don't cooperate. Though I'd like to know why they're involved with a bunch of human traffickers. It doesn't make sense but I guess I'll be able to ask them that face to face soon. Okay that's my question but you called me. What's going on? Don't tell me Chuck is up to something? Whenever you call me like this he's usually involved. I should've know he'd be up to something. That's why he didn't meet me when I flew through. So give it to me, what's he up to?"
"Well it's not just Agent Carmichael... Charles that is but it's also Colonel Casey... General, you're not going to like this so I hope you're seated."
"I'm on a bloody plane headed for the carrier so where else am I supposed to be? Wing walking. You know how I feel about your beating around the bush, so you'd better get to it. I met a wonderful petty officer here who's been taking care of me. I want you to know you can be replaced. So, what has Chuck done this time?"
"Ma'am, first of all Agent Grimes is on his way to China with Agent Wu. They are currently on a Cathay dragon flight headed for Shanghai."
"So Agent Wu persuaded Grimes to go with her. So much with not wanting to take the team because they'd stick out like a sore thumb. But I can see Grimes would be a good decoy for Chuck."
"Well this is where things get a little strange. Chuck isn't headed for Shanghai he's headed for Guangzhou or Canton…"
"I know what Guangzhou is. He and the Colonel are headed there instead of Shanghai? That means Chuck knows more than we do but how?"
"I'm afraid there's more news I have to tell you. He's travelling in a charter aircraft… he's chartered a Sukhoi-Gulfstream S-21."
"I thought that was still on the drawing boards? Well, it's good he didn't take the hypersonic. The Chinese have copied enough of our technology. Let them copy the Russians… but how did he even get hold of it?"
"My understanding is he calling in a favor from Director Igor and…"
"I don't want to know anymore.
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In the control room, onboard the Shang class submarine the Skipper and XO were looking over charts for their return home. The Dewey had been picked up on sonar and was steaming in their direction. The Old man was worried they hadn't picked up their scent and was now tracking them.
"If we can make it across the Central Pacific Basin we can lose them in the Mariana Trench," said the Skipper as he pointed it out on the charts. "We just half to wait them out and let them follow the scent of one of the boats. They can lead the American ship away."
"That will work," said the XO as he started calculating how long it would take them at full speed to reach the trench.
"It will take us just under two hours," said Ettore as he closed his eyes. He'd flashed on the XOs calculations and it came to him along with a blinding headache. "But we don't have time for this cat and mouse game. I need to get these people back as soon as possible so we can get to work. Do I have to tell you where my authority comes from?"
"Your authority isn't onboard this boat with us right now. I'm the Skipper and I give the orders. You, Sir, are a rider and as such will refrain from interfering…"
"You maybe Skipper now but we'll see about that when we pull in," said Ettore. "Look you're afraid of the American ship tracking us so what if it does? They won't do anything to risk starting a war. That my word for it if the launch an attack against us they'll have to justify it in the United Nations and if they do that they'll have to tell the world why it was important to stop us. You can trust me when I tell you they won't want to do that."
"So what are you saying we just sail straight on into Guangzhou and lead them into port with us? That's not what I was ordered to do."
"Orders change Captain and you have to change with them. Look, let's do this all three submarines stay together in a tight formation and we head towards China across the Pacific. When we reach here," he said pointing at the chart. "On the other side of the Philippine sea we split up. One goes on to Shanghai, the other one to Fuzhou and we go to Guangzhou."
"And that's your strategy… not to have a strategy," said the XO as he looked at the chart. "And you think that will give us enough time to make it to port before the Americans catch on? I'm not so sure."
"I think you call it Wu-wei action without action. And yes I do. Take my word for it, this will confuse the Americans long enough for us to reach safety. So Skipper what do you think? Do you want to be the Chinese sub captain that out witted the Americans or do you want to be the one who played it safe and waited them out? In the first case, you'll be remembered by your piers for a long time and if you go with the second you'll soon be forgotten."
"It just might work. Okay send a signal to our comrades and let them know the plan. On our mark once we cross this point," said the Skipper as he pointed a position out on the chart. We'll split up and everyone makes a run for a port. I hope I don't regret this."
"Take my word for it you won't"