Don't own Chuck

Chuck, Casey and Mary followed the secret passage as it twisted and turned underground. Chuck pointed to the single set of footprints in the dust that told them they were on the right trail. It was difficult to judge distance in the passageway but after some walking the dark damp tunnel the smell became even more dank with moss growing on the walls as well as on the overhead. Finally, they saw the light up ahead and just before they reached the exit they heard the sound of running water.

"We're at the Pearl River," said Casey as they walked out into the bright light of a late afternoon sun. "Ettore must've had a boat waiting for him here but which way did he go?"

"Chuck, he's gotten away. He's gone now and we don't know if he went up or down stream. The water's too murky to tell. Chuck, we need to let him go for now. But he won't get away he can't keep his head down for long. It's not in his nature."

"We can let go for now. It doesn't matter anymore I know where he's heading to anyway," said Chuck as he looked downstream.

"That's good but now we need to get out of here and in a hurry," said John as he walked back to the tunnel exit. "I hear people coming and they sound close. I guess my old trick is getting too old to use anymore."

"Come on we can find a fishing boat downstream. There should be some boats tied up they won't be going out until sunset so we have time to row ourselves back into town."

"I could do the back stroke right now if it means getting out of here. Those voices are getting near and I don't want to spend the rest of my days in a Chinese prison mining salt."

"You won't have to worry about that John," said Chuck as they walked out into the water then followed the river bank down. "If they catch us we'll be executed... probably on the spot."

"That makes me feel better," said Casey as he and Mary followed him in the water. They walked for a while in the water so they wouldn't leave any tracks. They walked for a little way making sure they didn't wade out too far. Soon the voices died down and were replaced by the sounds of the river.

"There we go," said Chuck pointing at a fishing boat tied up on the river band just ahead of them. They walked up to it and found the fisherman asleep under a tree. He didn't stay that way for long.

"You people aren't thinking about stealing my boat are you," said the old man as he got up. "That boat is my livelihood. You wouldn't steal the food off my table, would you?"

"I've got this," said Casey as he started for the old man. "I'll make short work of him then we can get out of here."

"Hold up John," said Chuck. "He's just trying to get by and who knows how many people he has to feed at home. Old man," said Chuck in Cantonese but the old man got upset.

"Who you calling old? And if you're thinking about taking my boat, think again," said the old man speaking English as he pulled up his shirt showing them a Black Star tucked in his belt. "I got this when I was fighting you people in Vietnam and I still know how to use it if you're thinking about doing anything stupid."

"Just getting by… who knows how many people he has to feed at home… Bartowski this is another fine mess you gotten me into. Listen to me you old…"

"Take my word for it you don't want any of this sonny," said the old man as he and Casey got into a staring contest.

"Everyone just take a step back and calm down. Doesn't look like you've had much luck here. What say I buy this rust bucket off you," said Chuck. The man started to protest until he saw how much Chuck was willing to offer him.

"Well I hate to give her up. She has a lot of sentimental value for me," said the old man but when Chuck upped his offer the old man held his hand out.

"Thank you, she's all yours," said the old man smiling showing his yellow teeth that looked like a picket fence with a few boards missing.

"You know as soon as Wang's men come downstream they're going to find your old commie friend and he's going to sell us out probably telling them we stole his boat so he'll get it back for free. Then Wang's men will radio ahead and we'll have a welcome party waiting for us when we hit the delta."

"I know that's why we're going to ditch this before we reach the city. We can grab a bus and ride it into town. That will be the last place they'll think to look for us. We need to make contact with Beckman and tell her what's happened."

"What did happen? You were in a hurry before to stop Ettore but now it seems you've given up looking for him. We could go straight to the port and look for his boat. Who knows we might get lucky and get him before he skips out of Dodge."

"He's used the glasses by now so the deed's done. Like I said I know exactly where he'll be heading next. You can say he's got a destination programmed into his head."

"Oh Chuck, what did you do," asked Mary. Chuck, didn't answer he just kept watching the river with one hand on the rudder as they made their way downstream.

"Chuck, you can tell me," said Mary as she drew close to him. "I've had to do a lot of things I regret doing but I did them because they had to be done."

"I really don't want to get into this right now. You're right you have but I'm not judging you and every day I keep telling myself there's a line I won't cross. But that's just a lie because let's face it who am I really fooling? Just myself. Ettore went after Ellie and indirectly Sarah as well as the girls, so no, I don't regret what I've done but he's not the only one on my list that needs to be dealt with."

"There pull in there," said Casey as he interrupted their conversation pointing at reeds growing on the river bank. "I parachuted into that and on the other side of the reeds is a road. There's a bus that passes that will take us where we need to go."

"Good job John," said Chuck as he turned then headed for the reeds. He had to cut the motor then they waded in pulling the boat into the reeds and cattails out of sight. "No one will find this here. Now show us where this bus stop is."

John took point and led them out of the reeds and to a road where they found a covered bus stop. They walked out of the brush as the other people at the bus stop looked them over with their wet trouser legs.

"Bird watchers," said Chuck in Cantonese. "We're bird watchers out trying to find the elusive black-winged stilt. Has anyone seen one around here?" There was just a wall of silence and stares especially from one small boy.

"Look," said the same boy as before. "Look, it's Agent K. He's back. Mom, look don't you remember him from before?"

"What are you babbling about? You watch too much TV and beside you know all white people look the same," said his mother as a bus appeared driving down towards them kicking up a cloud of dust behind it.

"You don't remember him because you had your memory erased. If he's here then those other people with him are either men in black or aliens."

"Or both," said the boy's mother. "Crap, look now you've got me talking like you and they can't be men in black because one of them is a woman. I'm never going to have grandchildren."

"But you're right, they could be both men in black and aliens," said the boy as he felt a sudden pain and everyone heard the whack as she slapped the boy in the back of the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"You know why. Mind your own business and stop talking nonsense. See they're getting on the bus for the city and if you tell me that's their space ship I'm throwing the TV out the window. There hasn't been anything to watch since they took that show about the guy with the computer in his head off."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jian and his men exited the tunnel to find the river in front of them. He realized immediately that either Ettore or Chuck or both was making a run for it downstream. He grabbed his phone and called their headquarters in town to have them coordinate with coast guard to close the delta down and to send a boat upstream to pick them up.

"Sir, I just wanted to give you a head's up," said Jian as he explained to Wang what had happened.

"Yes sir of course I thought of that," said Jian as he looked over at his men. "I'm going to send half down on the river bank and the rest are coming with me. I need to get off the phone now to get things done. … Yes, I know we're in the same boat. … No, I'm not joking. Look, I've got to go," said Jian as he hung up on Wang. He'd never been able to do that before and it felt good.

"Okay this is the deal, I want Yee to take four men and follow the river down. The rest of you will wait here with me for the boat that's coming."

"Sure, no problem," said Yee. "Just one thing how far down do you want us to go before we give up? It's a long way to town from here."

"You just follow the river bank down. I'll radio when to stop and look alive they could've put to shore anywhere then disappeared."

Yee nodded his head then picked his men before leaving. Everyone knew this was a needle in a haystack but no one wanted to tell Wang that. Not soon after Yee left the boat Jian had asked for showed up, they boarded then headed down stream. They hadn't gone very far when Jian got some good news.

"The Coast Guard found Ettore's boat. It's a small cabin cruiser found floating adrift in the delta. We know it's his or he's been on board because we found his finger prints on a scotch glass and a half-eaten subway sandwich... tuna with extra mayo and jalapeno... spicy tuna..."

"I don't care if he made it made it a meal as long as that meal was his last supper. I'll be right there," said Jian. "I don't suppose there was any evidence that the American was onboard too?"

"No, none," said the man as he looked around the boat.

"Something's finally going right," said Jian as they kicked up a wake heading down stream. Jian was trying to get his head around what had happened. He was missing some pieces of the puzzle then Yee radioed him.

"We found an old man by the river who said a group of Americans took his fishing boat. But from his description it was a rust bucket with an outboard," said Yee. Jian heard the protest of the old man behind him.

"I get it. Not something they could leave the delta in and not be seen. Okay, follow the river bank a little further then head back and finish clearing out the sanatorium. That will take the rest of the day. I'll see you people bright and early tomorrow."

"Now things were making a little more sense. Chuck wasn't in on this with Ettore but he was after him which begged the question who should he go after. However, he reasoned if he got Ettore then Chuck wouldn't be far behind.

They pulled up beside the cabin cruiser and the man who radioed him helped him onboard. He was taken him down below where he saw the half-eaten Subway sitting on a table and a scotch glass that had been tagged in an evidence bag.

"We found these in between the cushions on the sofa," said one of the men holding up a pair of dark Ray Bans in a plastic evidence bag.

"I'll take those," said Jian as he took them from the man. "I don't want these logged in. Did you find anything else of interest?

"Well, yes but we don't know what to make of it," said the man as he handed Jian a notepad. "If you look at the imprint someone sat here and drew this design but we don't know what it is." They'd used graphite powder to bring out the sketch. Jian looked at it and shook his head.

"I don't know. It looks like some sort of doodling… like one of those Japanese things. What do they call them? Manga, I think."

"No, they're different," said one of the men standing behind them. Jian turned and looked at him. "Sorry, but it's not. That looks like a Mandala. Tibetan Buddhist monks make them by using different coloured sands. Mandalas can be used to focus attention of practitioners and acts like a spiritual guidance tool, establishing a sacred space, and as an aid in meditation. Not that I believed all that of course, I'm just telling you what I saw and heard when I was working in Tibet. Is your guy a Buddhist?"

"Not that I know of and considering his lifestyle I don't hardly think so," said Jian. Ettore must be losing it he thought. "Buddhist, you say," said Jian as he looked at the drawing again. "Where exactly in Tibet where you stationed?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later Wang was in his office on the seventh floor of the MSS building in the center of Guangzhou looking out the window at the setting sun. It was getting late now on a day that had begun with such great hopes for him but now that hope was gone and he was desperately trying to tread water. He'd even been threatened by his friends in Beijing because they were afraid he'd pull them down with him and with good reason. He just had to weather this out storm and let them handle things in Beijing.

"You push me and I push back," he thought. "Chen, get in here," yelled Wang. Jian had sent Chen to be his new secretary but Wang needed more out of him much more then just typing and filing. "Chen, here is a letter authorizing you to take Tien into custody. I want you to go to Hong Kong and bring him back. If David Woo gives you any crap remind him he still works for me. One government two systems won't protect him from me and he should remember that."

"Yes, sir no problem but wouldn't Jian be better at doing this? He was just here," said Chen as he took the transfer order from Wang.

"He's going out on another mission for me and will be out of pocket for a few days. This can't wait but if you don't think you're up to this I can always find someone else who knows how to follow orders?"

"No Sir, I've got this," said Chen. He understood well what the not so veiled threat meant. "Consider it done but before I leave do you want me to call down and get someone to come up and sit at my desk until I get back?"

"No, just have all the calls forwarded into here and report in as soon as you have Tien in custody. You know it would be a shame if he tried to escape on the way back here and you had to shoot him two or three times. I mean no one would blame you for doing your duty. If you understand what I mean?"

"I understand exactly what you mean and you can count on me. I'll call you as soon as the deed is done," said Chen. He turned and left leaving Wang in his office alone.

"Get this done and things might be looking up," Wang said to himself. He went over and poured himself another scotch then walked behind his desk where the relief of the sketch Jian had brought him sat.

"Just a bunch of superstition," he said to himself as he wondered if he hadn't sent Jian on a fool's errand but Jian wanted to go and he had brought him the glasses. He picked them up and looked at them.

"With Tien out of the way and these, I can blame all this on the CIA then I can have our scientists backward engineer these and see what makes them tick. These will make Mao's Great Leap forward look like a baby step with none of the carnage... well not much," he said as he saw his own reflection in the lens.

"And they thought they were going to get rid of me with a few voice recordings. They have no idea how this game is played," he said as he finished his scotch then went and got another.

"You deserve this after everything," he said as he went back to his desk. He just had to be patient now and wait for Chen to call in then he could move forward with his play to get even with Mei Sheng.

"I'll brand you a traitor and wrap part of this around you," he said to himself as he thought about what he was going to do and how much he'd savor it. Maybe you savored it too much," he said because as he was sitting at his desk he felt a tightening in his chest that changed into heartburn.

"That's what you get for drinking on an empty stomach," he said to himself as he rubbed his chest. "You really ought to get something to eat that should help." He reached for the phone but found the lines were all dead.

"That idiot Chen, he forgot to transfer the lines in here. I need to go to his office and make this call," said Wang as he tried to get up. But the room started spinning so badly he was forced to sit back down. "I need to get help. If I have to I can crawl out of here." But just then he heard the outer office door open.

"Good, in here... I don't know what's going on I need help," yelled Wang but he didn't have much voice and the pain in his chest was literally killing him. It felt like his heart was about to explode in his chest.

"I can tell you what's happening," said Chuck as he walked in and sat opposite Wang. "You're dying is what's happening. You're about to suffer a massive heart attack and that will be the end of you."

"You... you... How did you get in here? No, you can't do this to me. You know who I am? You know what kind of hell this will cause? My people will get revenge... on you and on your people."

"Oh, I doubt that. Your friends in Beijing will be happy they don't have to defend you against the mounting proof of your and their corruption. If anything, they'll help sweep this under the rug to stop any further investigation."

"There will be an autopsy and they will have to do something because there will be an investigation whether you like it or not."

"I doubt that, you see you've ingested a massive about of liquid nicotine in your scotch which as you know will mimic a heart attack. If they do test you for poison they will just find a high concentration of nicotine which they will write off as you being a chain smoker."

"But I'm not and they know that so there goes your perfect murder... because that's what this is murder, Mister CIA and it will be tied to you."

"People will believe what they want to believe. You should know that you've built your whole career on it. Your people in Beijing will sleep easier and some will even say they warned you not to smoke so much. Then murder? I don't think so. This is more putting down a rabid dog."

"This won't work and even if it does. I'll have the last laugh I've sent a man after Tien and who's to say if my people are still outside your consulate? My reach is long even from the grave…"

"You should know that David Woo sent Tien to Beijing on request of your Premier and my sister along with everyone else in the consulate are safe by now," said Chuck as he looked at his watch. "Yes, they're already onboard one of our subs heading for home. Thank you by the way when you had the Coast Guard look for Ettore's boat in the delta I was able to get all our people out undetected. Did you know about the tunnels under the city?"

"Go to hell. Jian knows were Ettore is and soon he'll have him. Then all this will come out" said Wang as his breathing was getting heavier and heavier.

"I think you'll be there soon. Something else you should know I would've walked away from here and let you try to weather out this storm but you made the mistake of coming after my family... and well that's something I cannot allow… I will not allow. No one touches my family and gets away with it. Goodbye Minister Wang."

"Come back here, you can't leave me like this. I'll… I'll… Where are you going? Come back here. I order you to come back here right now!"

"Goodbye Wang," said Chuck as he collected the scotch bottle, glass and intersect glasses. "I'd say see you around but... well that won't happen."