Don't own Chuck

Chen put away his phone and started to walk away. He heard sirens in the distance and knew he had to get out of there. He was about to leave when he felt a sudden attack of heartburn. At first, he wondered if he hadn't eaten too much garlic but then he looked down and found a dagger sticking out of his chest. He dropped to his knees and looked up to see Lin walk over to him.

"It can't be you. You should've died with all the rest," he said as he tried to get up but his strength was leaving him. "I saw you die."

"You saw what you wanted to see. I dropped out of the trap door then rolled out. When the van exploded the blast pushed me to safety. I hope there's a special place waiting for you in hell," said Lin as stood over the top of him.

"You go to hell," he said as he coughed up blood. "I've been working for the central government since I was recruited and there are others besides me."

"You know what's the nice thing about believing in reincarnation? The next time I squash a roach I could be squashing you," she said as she pulled her dagger out. Chen fell face first bleeding out on the asphalt.

Lin could see blue lights now the police and fire brigade were near so she had to hurry. She grabbed Chen's phone then ran off. Not far away she hailed down a taxi and jumped in.

"Take me to Yuexiu park. You can drop me off on Jeifang road near the Yongyashan Room," she said as she got in. She knew she smelt like smoke but she needed to get to this drop site quickly and see if she couldn't rescue what Chen had ruined. She took out his phone then called Anna. It rang for a while and she was beginning to get worried she was too late when she heard Anna's voice.

"It's me Lin. I don't have time to explain but Chen was a traitor," she whispered as she kept track of the cab driver in the rearview. "I'm the only survivor but I took out the bastard. I'm headed for the Five Rams statue now in Yuexiu park… that's right on the hill. He sold you out too… Ettore knows you're on the train. I'll be careful," said Lin as she hung up.

"Miss, we're almost there," said the Taxi driver then he handed her back a box of disposable wipes. "You might want to clean off your face. You look like you stood too close to the grill.

"Xièxie, thank you," said Lin as she took the box and tried to make herself look presentable or the best she could. "Thank you," she said as she passed the box back.

"You're welcome," said the driver as he smiled at Lin through the rearview. "Are you from Taipei? I thought I recognized your accent when you were talking on the phone. I've got relatives there. I hope to visit them next month," but Lin didn't reply she just looked out the window a few moments later the driver stopped the cab. "Well, we're here."

"Here you go," said Lin as she paid him making sure to give him a good tip. "I hope your visit is a nice one," she said as she got out. Now she had to get her bearing straight before she took off.

"What were you thinking," she said to herself as she cut through the park. She had a dagger and a type 64 with one, seven-round, clip. She wished she'd had her sniper rifle then she'd set herself up a nest and kept rack of everything from above. But she didn't have that luxury and it was useless to think about. Cutting across the park she was there within a few minutes and she would've been there sooner if she hadn't stopped off in one of the women's restrooms to finish getting cleaned up.

"Okay Lin, you can do this. You just have to be smart," she told herself as she went over to the statue. She admired it for a little while walking around it. She had to look like a tourist just in case someone was watching. She grabbed a newspaper someone had left then found a seat on a bench where she had direct line of sight then pretended to be reading it.

"Okay Chen, your puppet master should be here soon," said Lin. By her estimates Chen's contact was late. Then she felt a cold chill run up her spine.

"Crap, what do I do if he doesn't show up? Maybe there was some other signal or challenge he was supposed to give that she didn't know. If that were the case there might be people looking for someone like her.

"All right now, just calm down and take a deep breath. If you act nervous you're going to blow it," she said to herself. "Look around there's nothing out of the ordinary or is there," she said. She noticed a man sitting on another beach not far away doing the same thing she was only he was a little more blatant about it.

"Is that your contact," said Lin. "I know one way to tell," she said as she suddenly got an idea. She took out Chen's phone then typed an SMS - 'Running late will be there soon' then she hit send. She sent it to the last call he'd received. It didn't take long before she saw the man touch his ear then looked over to a dark angle of woods out of sight.

"So, you guys have a little reception waiting for Chen. Too bad he's going to stand you up," she said as she got up dropped the newspaper in the trash. She started toward the man hidden in the woods when someone grabbed her by the hand.

"There you are," he said. "I've been looking everywhere for you. I thought we were supposed to meet at the Chinese restaurant… said like that I understand how stupid it sounds. Just about all the restaurants are Chinese," said the man as he pulled her along.

"I think you've gotten me confused with someone else," said Lin as she started to try to break loose but the man held her firm.

"Just calm down," he whispered. "I'm a friend. You've attracted the attention of the man who was sitting behind you. He noticed you when you sent that message."

"But how did you… who are you and how do I know I can trust you?" said Lin as she broke free or he let go. "It doesn't matter I need to go back and follow those men."

"You mean to follow them back to Ettore? I don't know if Anna has mentioned me but my name is Charles Carmichael. You can call me Chuck and if you go back there you'll risk getting yourself killed or worse if they capture you."

"How do you know about Ettore? And who are you again? Anna knows you?" said Lin. This was too much at once plus it dawned on her this Chuck person was speaking perfect Mandarin… too perfect. "You're not Chinese but you look Chinese."

"I'm American and no, I'm not Chinese. Come along I have to meet a MSS agent," said Chuck. Lin stopped and looked at him. "Don't worry I think he's on our side too. We all want the same thing… Ettore. You wouldn't happen to know where Anna has stashed my friend Morgan, would you?"

"Your friend Morgan? Oops..."

"No, please don't tell me she used him in a tiger trap," said Chuck. He saw her puzzled look. "I'll explain what it is on the way to the temple."

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[ Much Earlier before Chuck arrived in the park]

Chuck was changing up his disguise as Casey monitored activity from the MSS building. John thought they looked like ants swarming around the nest after they thought it was under attack. He looked back over at Chuck who was dressed like a beggar. He just shook his head then reached into his pocket and tossed him some coins.

"You look like you could use that," said Casey as he continued to shake his head. "I hope you know what you're doing because you've really got them stirred up over there."

"Everything is going according to plan. I need you to take my clothes and hide them in Yuexiu park. I'm going to meet Tien in the temple on the hill. If you go now you'll have plenty of time to get into position and hide my things. I need your eyes on Tien before I show up so I can to know if he's brought company."

"Roger that, but don't put too much faith in him. He's red to the core… I'll grant you he doesn't know any better. That was the way he was raised but he's still a rice fed commie."

"What do they say about the enemy of my enemy," said Chuck as he pulled out his tablet. Typed in a command and activated the camera on Tien's computer.

"Well, I'm out of here," said John as he grabbed a case. "I'll be waiting for you in the park and don't go poking the panda too hard. They do bite."

"I'll remember that," said Chuck as he picked up a burner phone then called Tien when he saw he'd hung up from his previous call. It kind of creeped him out watching Tien answer without knowing he was being observed.

"Tien, we never did get a chance to finish our conversation," said Chuck in English. "Before you answer you don't have to worry I made sure this call was secure."

"Well if you want to finish our conversation then why don't you come in and we can have that chat in person. There are a lot of people who'd like to speak to you."

"I'm sure there are but I only want to talk to you. Sorry, that came out sounding creepy. But you're right what I have to discuss is better discussed face to face. Oh by the way you might not want your tech people digging too deeply into how that virus got introduced into your network."

"What are you talking about?" said Tien as he remembered the conversation he just had and who was coming over. "I've got techs on the way. But you could save them the trouble if you tell me what you were doing in our archives."

"Looking you up of course but you need to know you brought the bug into your building. On the back of your security badge you'll find a piece of magnetic tape and on that tape, is a simple program with a global shut down command…"

"You wanted all the doors opened and the elevators off so you could make your exit from the roof. You did that knowing I'd have everyone out in the streets looking for you and then you just walked back in. Am I right Charlie Chan?"

"Very good. I knew you were the man I needed from the time we met on the plane. You're going to help me take down Ettore…"

"Hold up a moment. I can't move against Ettore. I received orders from Peking to leave Ettore alone. Chuck, do yourself a favor and come in before this gets any worse. I believe you when you said Ettore has your sister and I can understand what you feel but…"

"But nothing. I'm not a boy like you were when they took your father away. Believe me, you and I have more in common than you know. Your orders didn't come from Peking they came from you minister who is right here receiving Ettore as we speak in the old hospital on the outskirts of town. Your minister is being played or he's letting himself be played."

"Played for what? I'm going to need more than your word. Ettore has done something to make the minister like him and he's bending over backwards to help him. I can't touch him."

"You can't or you won't? Ettore sent him information that linked him to the gang of four. It was hidden behind a partition in your archive. The minister thought he'd gotten rid of it but nothing disappears off the net from people like me. Tien, your father was innocent. Your minister then your father's best friend changed the names making it look like your father was guilty so he could walk away."

"I've always known that but there's no proof. If I had found some I would've come forward years ago. The man is smart and good at pinning the blame on others… kind of like you. You know I'll probably go to prison for what you've done."

"Not if you meet me. You want proof… okay when your tech arrives have him look for what's running behind everything. I found a subroutine that is active when I was nosing around. There's a program… a sort of virus and it's a bad one. I've seen it before it's call the omen virus. There are very few people who know about it and even fewer who know what it actually does…"

"How do I know you didn't put it in when you were snooping around?" said Tien. "I mean you could've install it while you were here snooping around as you said."

"True but it has a creation date which is way before I got here and I think when you see it you'll recognize it as the date Ettore arrived or shortly afterwards. That will have to be proof enough for now. I'll meet you at the temple in Yuexiu park in a couple of hours and come alone."

With that the line dropped and Tien was left holding the receiver. Could this be what he'd been waiting for? Could he get even after all these years and vindicate his father? He hung up the phone then sat there thinking weighing his options as he was thinking his phone rang again.

"Hello," he said wondering if this was Chuck calling him back. But it was the front desk telling him that a Lee was in the lobby waiting for him.

"Have someone escort him to the vault. I'll meet him there," said Tien. He dashed out of his office and got in the elevator. He was stepping off when he bumped into Lee with his escort. "I'll take him from here. I need to talk to you inside."

"I came over as quickly as I could," said Lee as Tien punched in the security code then scanned his hand. The door opened and they both walked inside. Tien closed the door behind them to make sure they were alone.

"I found out how the virus was introduced into the building," said Tien. He held out his security badge then pulled the tape off the back. "Naturally, I didn't know about this."

"Of course," said Lee as he looked at him. He took the strip from him. "I'm going to have to analyze this back at my office."

"Of course, I was told by the creator that it was a simple shut down command. Once introduced it ordered everything to power down or that's the way he explained it to me."

"Ingenious, I could modify this for our people to use," said Lee as he looked at the tape. "I'd like to talk to this guy?"

"I'm sorry he called me and told me what he'd done." Tien saw the look on Lee's face. "I know what it sounds like but there's more. He says there's a secret subset of routines running in the background on our server. He also said that it was similar to something called the 'omen virus' he'd run into. Can you check it out or have you heard about it?"

"Actually, I know a little about it," said Lee as he opened his case. "I take it that the American who was here told you about it. The omen virus was written by Colin Davis when he worked for the collective," he said as he put his hand in his tool bag.

"It sounds like you know more than just a little," said Tien as he caught Lee pulling something shinny out of his tool case... a nickel-plated type-92 pistol.

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Anna looked up at David over her phone. He could tell from her expression that something was wrong. She quickly hung up then looked around as she put away her phone. The train began slowing down but she couldn't remember if this was a scheduled stop. She looked out the window as they pulled into the station and she had a bad feeling.

"What's going on? Is something wrong," asked David. She didn't have to answer he saw men in black waiting on the platform.

"Look you stay put. They don't know who you are so at the next station get off. Ditch your passport just to be sure then make your way back home. Chen sold us out. Don't worry about me I'm going to see this mission through."

"I want to..." he started to say but she was already gone. Men in black boarded the train then started combing the cars. One of them walked up to David as he pretended to read a newspaper.

"Identification, please," said the one man as two more stood behind him. David started to pull it out slowly. "Come on, I don't have all day. Where did the girl who was sitting next to you go?"

"I don't know she got up when you people came. I think she went forward but I wouldn't swear to it," said David as the man looked over his ID.

"So, you're a musician studying in at Guangzhou University. What instruments do you play? Any of those loud and noisy... some Cantonese instrument?"

"I play the flute," said David as the men laughed. "I have mine with me if you want me to play for you... that is if you don't believe me."

"No, we don't want to watch you..." the man started to say but was interrupted by one of his friend standing behind him.

"The ride from Shanghai to here was long did she say anything during the trip like where she was going or what she was up to?"

"I wasn't sitting next to a criminal, was I? Oh please, my mother can't find out about this. You don't know how much of hassle it was to get her to agree to let me come to Shanghai for the day. You see there was a special performance of the Magic Flute and I just had to see it," said David as he took his ID back from the man and let his hand brush across the man's. The man in black pulled it back like it'd been scalded.

"I'm sure you did. We're just looking for the girl to ask her some questions. It's all routine but if she comes back and sits next to you just get up then come look for me," said the man then they turned around and disappeared forward.

"Come look for you," he heard one of the other men say and the rest laughed. David watched the men until they were out of sight. He hoped Anna knew what she was doing. Now he had to sit back and try to relax. If he looked nervous it would attract the kind of attention he didn't need.

"How could Chen do this to us? We were a family," he said to himself as he sat looking outside. He wanted to help but what could he do.

In the meantime, the men who got on the train at the end and worked their way forward past Morgan and his guard. They looked at Morgan then at the men around him. The men exchanged pleasantries as they looked over their identification.

"Xièxie" said the one man in black then they started moving forward. Morgan noticed a pattern in their search. They asked everyone for identification but only really check the women about Anna's age.

"Crap, they're on to Anna," said Morgan. He had to do something and he had to do it fast. But as he was about to put his plan into action he noticed an elderly woman walking down the aisle. There was something familiar about her that made him stop.

"Old woman, let me see your identification," said the one man in black. She slowly started to open her bag. "Come on just because you're old that doesn't mean anything to me."

"Hey, butthole treat that old woman with respect," yelled Morgan as he stood up. The man turned around and looked at him.

"Yes, I'm talking to you. Where are your manners?" The man next to Morgan pulled him back down then shrugged his shoulders at the man in black.

"You no do that. They get mad then we have big trouble," said his one guard. "If we have big trouble you have big trouble." The man in black walked back and looked at Morgan.

"Listen foreign monkey don't get involved in things that don't belong to you or there could be unpleasant consequences," said the man in English.

"You mean like me being kidnapped as I came out of an International airport and being taken to see an evil lunatic who will probably try to kill me? I don't think you can match that and as far as being a foreign monkey at least I'm not some stooge's lap dog. What are you a Pekinese?"

The man turned red in his face but Morgan's bodyguard got in the middle. Words started flying back and forth as the man in black kept pointing at Morgan but his guard kept shaking his head signaling the man to move on. And just when things started to calm down Morgan stuck his tongue out at the man which started it all up again.

Finally, the man in black's friends came and pulled him away to break up the stalemate. Morgan smiled as they pulled him away. But he got what he wanted the old woman had slipped past them. He'd recognized the old woman as Anna. She'd dressed up like that one Halloween when they were dating.

"Hey you," said the man next to him as he shook him to get attention. "I talk to you. No more, you behave or I'm going to spank you."

"Said by someone else I might even let them," said Morgan. The man frowned at him. "No, no spanking I'll behave I promise cross my heart and... well can we pinky swear?"