Don't own Chuck

Ambassador Mei Sheng's flight was held over in LAX unexpectedly so he was met by an airport representative who escorted him to a special VIP lounge to wait until the plane was ready for takeoff. However, as they walked through the airport the Ambassador noticed there were fewer and fewer people around them until now there none. He never thought Wang would try to physically eliminate him but now he was wondering if he hadn't underestimated him.

"Excuse me Dewayne, I don't think I've ever been in this section of the airport before," said Mei as he started to get nervous.

"Yes Sir, don't worry I know exactly where I'm taking you. This is the exclusive part of the airport. One that is reserved only for VIPs such as yourself... a place where they can wait in peace. You know the kind of people who don't want to be bothered by intrusive journalists, photographers or the paparazzi who are looking to sell something to a national rag and get their fifteen minutes of glory along with a quick buck."

"I don't know it seems a little far from my departure gate. I'd hate to miss my flight because I didn't make it back in time. Maybe it would be better if I waiting back near the gate?"

"Don't worry someone will come and get you. Besides your plane won't leave without you. Just a little more patience and as an oh by the way, there's an open bar so you can help yourself. And speaking of the devil there it is just up ahead," said Dewayne as he pointed to a plain set of double doors just in front of them in the distance.

"I don't know about this. Maybe I would be just as well off if I waited at the gate instead of here. I hate to trouble you by you having you send someone to come and fetch me."

"It's no problem. This is what I... we get paid for," said Dewayne as he smiled like the cat who ate the canary while he opened the doors. "Just step inside Ambassador and have a rest."

"Thanks," said Mei as he looked Dewayne over. That was when he noticed a bulge in his belt under his shirt. He wondered if the rest Dewayne wanted for him wasn't eternal. "I think I could really use that drink."

"Very good Sir, just name your poison. How about a half a shot Absinthe with a half a shot of Cinnamon Schnapps? It's called 'Dead Man Walking'."

"Lovely," said Mei as he walked inside. He noticed a group of other men standing around the bar. They all looked like they ought to have their photos up in post office somewhere under the most wanted.

"Hold that door for me," yelled a young Asian woman behind them. "Phew, this is a hard place to find," she said as she walked in behind them.

"I'm sorry you can't come in here. This room is reserved for VIPs only," said Dewayne as he tried to physically block her.

"I'm with him," she said as she pushed by bumping into him. "Sorry, sir I tried to get here earlier but you're a hard man to track down."

"That's quite all right. I hear there's an open bar. Can I offer you a drink?" said Mei as they walked over to the bar where the other men were standing.

"I'm sorry we would've waited if I had known the Ambassador was traveling with a niece. It might get boring for you to wait here maybe I could show you around the airport?"

"Oh, Rebecca's not my niece, although I would be honored if she were. She's my bodyguard and believe me when I tell you she's very good at her job." There was some snickering at the other end of the bar.

"Well be that what it may. My friends and I were paid to do a job and to leave a witness around would be unprofessional."

"So, Wang has become this bold? He was always a cheeky bastard. Come on you can tell me, it was he who paid you wasn't it? You're not going to get away with this."

"Oh, I think we will. Because you see this will end up looking like a mugging in the airport. You wondered off to the wrong place and some vagrant took advantage of the situation," said Dewayne as he reached behind his back.

"Are you looking for this?" said Rebecca as she pulled out a Glock 9. "I lifted this from you when I shoved past you."

"Get them," yelled Dewayne. "Augh," he screamed when he found a jade dart sticking in his chest. He dropped to the floor.

"Behind the bar," yelled Rebecca as she laid down cover fire with Dewayne's Glock. "Take this," she said as she handed the weapon to Mei. "Stay down until I come for you."

"No, you take this. What are you going to use? Martial arts don't make you bullet proof," said Mei as glass exploded above them along with the deafening sound of gunfire.

"This is a BYOG party... bring your own gun. Now let's get this party rocking," said Rebecca as she pulled a type 92 from her ankle holster. She rolled from out behind the bar with her gun blazing. She wasn't fooling around she chambered amour piercing rounds that cut through the Kevlar vests the thugs had on.

"Crap," yelled the Ambassador as a body came flying over the bar landing on the ground at his feet. The man made a low moan before expiring. The noise died down until everything was silent then he heard someone walking around the corner of the bar stepping on broken glass. He held the pistol at the ready getting ready to fire on first sight.

"Ambassador, you can come out now," said Rebecca as she slowly turned the corner. "If you don't mind, can you point that thing somewhere else."

"Yes, certainly," he said as he got up and looked around the room. It looked like a war zone inside now with bodies strewn about along with broken furniture, shattered glass and a lot of blood.

"What was that drink again? One-part absinthe and one-part cinnamon schnapps," said Rebecca as she looked over the bottles that weren't broken. "No, it doesn't even sound good and besides I don't see anyone walking. How you doing over there Dewayne?"

"Is he still alive?" said Mei as he went over to him. Dewayne was stretched out not moving. "He looks dead to me. Rebecca walked over with two glasses of Johnny Walker Black and handed one to Mei then she kicked Dewayne hard in the side. His eyes opened up as he hissed at them.

"What did you do to me," he snapped. "I can't move."

"It's a special neurotoxin I put together from pufferfish poison. It's the thing that zombies are made of," she said as she bent down and took out the dart twisting it as she took it out. "That's going to leave a nasty scar. The Ambassador asked you a question before but you didn't answer. Who sent you?"

"Go to hell," he said as he spewed out obscenities but as he was spewing Rebecca discharged her weapon near his head then shove the hot barrel in his mouth.

"You might not feel that now but soon you will. If you keep this up I can make this permanent. All I have to do is shove a knife in between the right vertebrae and you'll be like this for the rest of your life."

"You wouldn't dare and even if you did he won't let you," said Dewayne now having difficulty speaking. "So, do you want a road map where you can go?"

"He's got a plane to catch which leaves me with you right here to continue our little chat," said Rebecca but Dewayne started laughing.

"And you think there won't be someone waiting for him in Beijing? If I don't call in telling them my mission was a success they'll have people waiting for him in the airport. He won't make it out of there alive."

"I thought about that and so I called in a favor," said Rebecca as Sarah walked in through the double doors carrying a metal case. She stopped and looked around.

"You should've called me sooner so I could've joined in on the fun," said Sarah as she walked over to Rebecca and the Ambassador.

"Dewayne is being obnoxious and refuses to tell us who hired him to try to assassinate the Ambassador. He did confirm there will be another attempt when he arrives in Beijing so I'm going to have to fly with him. Can I leave Dewayne in your hands and can you get a clean-up crew in here?"

"Consider it done," said Sarah as she laid out on the table the tools of her trade. She made sure Dewayne saw them all. "If you want to go I'll call you when I break him."

"Who are you? CIA from the tools your showing me. Stainless steel too bad it's all for show. A government agent wouldn't dare use any of that."

"You're right. Normally, I wouldn't threaten a subject with death by ammonia injection - burning somebody from the inside out. Doesn't sound like something that's in the Geneva Convention, does it? But there's this man... my husband. Wang grabbed his sister so he's trying to free her which means he can't come home to me until he frees her."

"I see. It's amazing what a woman will do for a husband. Even the toughest spies in the world are just racing against that biological clock. Tick, tick, tick, tock."

"You got me. I'm just a needy, love-crazed girl who wants her husband close to her and who's trained in over 200 ways to kill you. Afraid yet?"

Rebecca was in the waiting area with the Ambassador getting him another drink in the lounge when her phone rang.

"Yes Sarah, that was quick. ... I see. Okay keep me informed I'm going to board the plane with the Ambassador then I'll take him to a safe house when we land in Beijing. I'll ditch this phone when we land then I'll call you after I get him situated. ... Very good and you be careful too," she said as she hung up.

"You know I'm right here," said Mei as he slid her a drink. "That Macallan is older than you are. Now tell me what she was able to find out. And how do you interrogate someone who has no feelings?"

"I don't think you really want to know. He said he was contacted through a middle man in L.A. who Sarah is going to have a chat with. Dewayne was paid a quarter of a million through an offshore account in the Caymans half up front and the other half on completion so your death was worth half a million dollars."

"Well it looks like someone lost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and you believe him... I mean that they'll try again?"

"I'm sure of it and they just posted that the plane is ready for re-boarding and taking on new passengers," said Rebecca as she downed the rest of her Macallan.

"I need to say thank you and I don't think I say that often enough."

"Don't worry just you keep buying me this," said Rebecca as she sat her glass back on the counter then they hurried over to the gate to board.

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Ellie was sound asleep in her room while Morgan and Alex were in the other room. Alex was still upset with Morgan so he got the floor to sleep on. They were all sleeping well when there was a loud knock on the door then one of Ettore's men walked in. He told Ellie to get ready in broken English. She was to go down and have breakfast with Ettore.

"You really think you ought to," said Alex. She'd heard the man knock then came over to see what was going on and heard what he said.

"Do I really have a choice? No, I'll go down and have breakfast with him then as a sign of good faith I'll start some of the analysis I want to run. Maybe that will put him in a good mood or at least not tick him off."

"Be careful and remember the card I gave you in case you need to get him to back off," said Morgan from the other room.

"Morgan, it's all right to come in I've got my clothes on. I slept dressed," said Ellie as she got up out of bed. "Now I need to get ready so I'm going to need the bathroom to freshen up. What I wouldn't give for a toothbrush right now. Ettore provides us with clothes and things but forgets dental hygiene."

"I know what you mean. I think I have dragon breath," said Morgan as he breathed into his hand held near his face. "I don't know."

"I do and yes you do," said Alex as she pushed Morgan out. "Come on let's go back in our half and close the bathroom door. Ellie when you're out try to get a sense where everything is at and count how many guards you see."

"I will and I'll also look for a way out. Seeing Mom go over that wall we're going to need another way out or some of us aren't going to make it."

"Hey, I don't appreciate that comment," said Morgan. "Even if it's true but I still don't appreciate it. You know I was never very good at climbing. I was supposed to climb up the rope that was when Meredith Lester caught me. She pants me in front of the whole class. It's instinctive now when I reach up I feel like I need to pull up my pants now…"

"Morgan, don't take this the wrong way but you're just weird," said Ellie. "Okay I'm ready. I'll be back in a little while with news," she said as there was another knock on the door. One of Ettore's guards came in and Ellie followed the man out.

As soon as the door was closed Morgan walked over to Ellie's side and jumped on her bed. He was about to drift off when Alex yelled at him.

"Morgan? What are you doing?" she said as she got into position to listen in. "We need to follow along and listen in. There's not time for sleeping now. We can sleep when we get home. Right now, we need to keep our eyes on the prize."

"Yes, of course I was… I was just resting my eyes is all. That's right I was resting my eyes. But even if Ettore tries something what can we do about it."

"I don't know we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, this is the best we can do so let's make the most of it."

"I hope they bring our breakfast soon. I'm getting a little hungry and that container of chicken feet was a good starter but can hardly be called a meal."

"Yuck, that doesn't sound very appetizing," said Alex as she made a face.

"Don't knock until you've tried it. It's actually... well I can't say good but it is satisfying. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd want it every day but when you're hungry you'll just about eat anything."

"Within reason," said Alex. There was a knock on the door then cart was wheeled in with breakfast items on it. Morgan put cream cheese on a half a bagel as the man who delivered it left.

"Morgan," said Alex as she went back over to their listening post and gave him a look in the process of getting comfortable.

"Right, I know I should wait but I'm hungry. I'm right behind you," he said as he poured himself a glass of orange juice to go with his bagel.

"No, I want you to pour me a cup of coffee and bring it over with you. I could also use the other half of that bagel but with jam instead of cream cheese."

"You got it," said Morgan. Then he did up Alex a bagel and poured her a cup of coffee black. "Here you go. Have they said anything interesting yet?"

"I don't know Ettore sounds different like he's up to something but I don't know what it is. Thanks, he sounds like he's playing cat and mouse with Ellie," said Alex as they hunkered down and started listening.

[Meanwhile down in Ettore's study]

"Doctor, you have to forgive me for the early wakeup call but I wanted to get this show on the road. I took the liberty of having some bacon and scrambled eggs prepared for you along with toast and jam. Please sit down and let's talk about what you plan on doing for me."

"I was thinking about doing an electroencephalogram to get a baseline then induce a flash and do another EEG while the flash is going on then take a third one after the flash is over so see if there is anything different in the way your brain functions."

"That sounds like a responsible plan of attack," said Ettore as he motioned her to take a seat in front of his desk then his signaled a man to serve them. "There is no reason we can't be civil about this. If there's anything else you'd like just tell me and I'll see if I can get it for you."

"How about our freedom?" said Ellie as she picked up her coffee cup and took a sip. Ettore smiled at her from across the desk.

"I was talking about for breakfast. I thought you'd like to know Chuck has been sighted here and as you saw yesterday from your window your mother was almost caught lurking about on the grounds."

"That was the person we saw from the window? I guess I'm going to need to get my eyes checked when we get back home because that person didn't look like her to me."

"You can try to play it off but you and I both know it was her," said Ettore. But as Ellie was eating she noticed she had been given a knife. For a moment, she looked over at Ettore then down at the knife. It would've been fairly easy to do and over in a few seconds. But as she was daydreaming Ettore said something to one of his men and they came over and took her steak knife substituting it with a butter knife.

"Sorry, they gave you that wrong knife... to eat with. You know good help is hard to come by these days. So as soon as we're done here we can start the testing. I'll have the EEG setup and have a tech standing by for later. But can you really induce a flash?"

"Certainly, I can but let's eat first then we can get to work. Believe me after I've induced a flash, you won't feel like eating and you might want to go easy on the grease in case it decides to revisit you."

"Very good doctor, I think you're starting to see things my way."

"Not really, I still don't think a reboot as you call it is the way to proceed even if it were possible. I would recommend that you have the thing removed completely but you don't want to do that…"

"No, I don't. I need to keep this to have leverage but even if it wasn't for leverage I enjoy having it. I enjoy being the smartest person in the room and knowing things no one else knows as well as being able to do things others can't do. I wouldn't go so far as saying this makes me feel like a god but we're almost there."

"Ettore when you speak like this, I don't know if it's you or the intersect that's speaking. But like I said I'm not sure this reboot is even possible. I will monitor your brain activity and then when you see the damage the intersect is doing to you maybe you'll see why it has to come out."

"My dear doctor, I know a reboot is possible," said Ettore as he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a set of intersect glasses setting them on his desk in front of her. "I think you know what these are? And they aren't Ray Bans."

"How'd you get those? I thought they'd all been destroyed?

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Beckman had just gotten off the phone with Sarah about what she'd learned from Dewayne. Sarah also informed her that a cleanup was in progress at the airport. A cover story was being put out about a drug deal that had gone south and a shootout that ensued leaving a number of known felons dead. Beckman pulled out of her desk drawer a bottle of Macallan's she had hidden from Roan then spiked her coffee. She was just closing the drawer when Roan walked in.

"I've got us dinner reservations at Chez moi for this evening. It took some arm twisting and I had to talk to the owner but in the end, I got them."

"Roan, I appreciate the offer but I'm going to be working late tonight and besides I don't think I'd be very good company."

"Oh, come on, you need the distraction. Tell you what when this is all over with you and me we go on a vacation together. I'm thinking about St. Thomas island in the Caribbean. We get some of those drinks they serve in tall glasses with fruit and little umbrellas…"

"And a lot of Captain Morgan… you mean a hurricane," said the General but before Roan could say anything the Major came barging in.

"You were right ma'am. The glasses in the vault are regular sunglasses which means the intersect glasses are missing."

"Major, do you know how to dance the Limbo?" said Roan as he smiled at him.