Don't own Chuck

Chuck knew what had to be done and had everything ready. There was a calm that came over him as he felt himself acting but not thinking. He had to lock himself away if he was going to survive. He threw the vodka bottle into the sink breaking it, glass and vodka covered the papers. Then he lit the flare and tossed it in. Flames shot up in the sink as all the documents went up in ash. He hit the power button on the EMP and the lights in the whole campground went dark. Now he knew he needed to move fast because the men outside would soon make their move. He popped out the tracker from its aluminum shield like a piece of candy then swallowed it. The last stage of his plan was the most trying and difficult. He got up and walked outside with his hands up.

"Down on your knees," yelled Pepe as he pointed a pistol at Chuck. "What have you done?"

"I guess my microwave blew a fuse," said Chuck as he extended his hand out in front of him.

"Trying to be cutie, are you? Well we'll see about that," said Pepe as he zip tied Chuck's wrist.

"What's going on all our radios are dead," Rose said as she walked up to Pepe and Chuck.

"What'd you do?" yelled Pepe as he grabbed Chuck.

"It's called an EMP, it puts out an electronical impulse that fries circuits in a ten kilometer area, which means that the local power company will be looking for the source of the black out right now and it won't take them long to get here."

"Boss," said one of the men who came out of the camper, "Looks like he torched a bunch of paper in the sink."

"I ought to kill you right here," said Pepe as he pointed his gun at Chuck's head.

"Go ahead shot if you've got the courage. Pepe, is it? Well Pepe you remind me of a character I know on television. You ever hear of Pepe Le Pew? You know he was French too." With that Pepe hit Chuck with his pistol knocking him to the ground. Chuck got up slowly laughing.

"What's wrong with you," asked Rose. "You want me to let him kill you."

"No, it's just, well, Pepe wears his hair just like Pepe Le Pew and dude I don't know if anyone ever told you but your deodorant, well it isn't working for you." Pepe heard some of his men giggle in the dark.

"Why you CIA pig I ought to-"

"Yeah, I heard it before you ought to kill me, blah, blah, blah. But what to we have here Orwell's Animal Farm? A skunk talking to a pig but we all know you're not going to kill me."

"And why is that?" asked Rose.

"Because you want to know what we know and I'm not going to talk."

"Oh everyone talks. I've a man named Guye who's good at getting information." Chuck flashed.

"Guye the one that used to be in the French Foreign Legion, the same one who used to work for Alexei Volkoff, the same sniper who shot me. I just hope his torture techniques are better than his aim. Then again I could probably throw rocks better than he can shoot."

"Rose," said Pepe taking her aside, "see Guye is a plant, a spy for these pigs how else would he know all that information about him."

"You might be right. Take him back to the cabin we need to question him more. I want to stay here a little while longer to see if I can find out something we can use."

"Don't stay long he probably launched some sort of distress call before he surrendered."

Pepe along with his squad of five took Chuck back to one of the Escalades and pushed him inside then they got in.

"Hey, are you going to give me that dinner you two promised back on the trail. I didn't get a chance to eat supper and I'm a little bit famished."

"I'll give you a knuckle sandwich," said Pepe getting angry at Chuck's badgering.

"Sounds hard to digest but if you-"

"Will you shut up," said Pepe wanting to strangle Chuck.

"I thought you people wanted me to talk. I wish you could make up your minds one minute it's this then the next minute it's that."

"Do you always have to have the last word? You sound like my driver's wife."

"Who Jacque?"

"How do you know my name," said the driver looking back in the rearview mirror.

"The same way I know she's sleeping with Paul, the guy sitting next to you."

"What! It's not true. He's lying," said Paul.

"Really, then why does he reek of your wife's perfume and if you notice his jacket collar is covered with her hairs." Chuck really had no idea if the woman was sleeping around but he planted the idea in the man's head and giving him something even if it was fictitious or circumstantial would be enough to fool him into believing. And like Iago he guided the Moor into his trap.

"Look out," yelled Pepe as the driver almost ran off the road looking over at Paul sitting next to him. "Jacque get a hold of yourself. Mr. Chuck shut up," he said as he laid his pistol on his lap.

"Sure I won't say another word but do you have you ever see Shakespeare's Henry IV, "I'll starve ere I'll rob a foot further. An 'twere not as good a deed as drink to turn true man and to leave these rogues, I am the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth. Eight yards of uneven ground is threescore and ten miles afoot with me, and the stony-hearted villains know it well enough. A plague upon it when thieves cannot be true one to another!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"What Shakespeare was trying to say is there's no honor among thieves," said Chuck. "Take for instance you two behind us, Paco right? Well your brother Pietro was killed by the man you're sitting next to but I guess being a gun for hire family doesn't count."

"You killed Pietro and then you tell me I'm your friend! What the-"

"It was a job, a contract that's all and you know as well as I do when you get these you have to do them."

"But you didn't have to pretend to be Paco's friend," said Chuck. "What next? You want to whack the whole family. Paco, he's even got your brother's watch on."

The black Escalade was driving down a gravel fire road late at night. Suddenly there were flashes of light inside along with the sound of gunfire. Then the car swerved, running off the road it went down an embankment and plowed into a tree.

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Casey drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, traveling north on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, then turn right on Entrada Road. On their way to the park's main parking lot they were passed by emergency response team from the local power company out trying to fix a sudden power outage that blanketed the whole canyon and adjacent homes. Many of the rich and famous were without power and the hotline for the electric company was constantly ringing.

"There it is up ahead," said Casey. Seeing the camper come into view he turned off his lights and coasted in.

"How do you want to go in John?"

"Hot."

"Just the way I like," said Gertrude as she winked at him.

John leaned over to open the glove compartment and pressed a green button. The Gas gauge rolled up and switched to a thermal scan.

"There are no warm bodies inside," he said, "but we need to keep our eyes open just the same."

"Roger that," replied Verbanski. They got out of his car and went to the trunk where he handed her a vest then put his on.

"I'm glad to see you're wearing my gift. I feel like I'm protecting your heart," she said as she laid her hand on his chest.

"Yeah right. He handed her a shotgun and he took out his Desert Eagle."

"John, you going for size?"

"No, they'll be shooting around walls while I'll be shooting through them," he said ignoring her innuendo. They made their way to the front door and John went in high while she went in low. Quickly they cleared the trailer.

"All clear."

"Yeah all clear. Hold up a second Gertrude I'll be right back in." John went outside and Verbanski heard the sound of a gasoline motor start up and the lights came back on inside.

"I got the emergency generator going," said Casey as he came back in.

"The computer's fried and it looks like your friend Chuck burnt all the papers he could in the sink sacrificing some very good Vodka might I add," Verbanski said holding up a half melted piece of glass with a distinctive seal partially visible in the glass.

"Looks like he tossed in a flare, good work but I'll never tell him that with the high temperature of the flare and the vodka as fuel they didn't get anything there."

"Well your boy is smart so he'd left something here for you to find. John do you see anything out of place or missing?" John looked around the camper and at first he didn't see anything then he saw it.

"That magnet it was on the side of the fridge before now it's on the front."

Gertrude took it off and turned it around to find a Micro SD card taped to the back. She passed it to Casey who took out his phone and put it inside.

"There's a video file," he said then hit play. Gertrude got close so she could see it with John and put her arm around him then let it slide south. Casey jumped.

"Gertrude well you-"

"John, the beginning's a little jumpy there it's steadying out. Probably because he was situating the camera as he worked." Then the saw Chuck talk as he worked.

"Sarah Love, I'm about to be taken and there's no escape so I want to tell you that I love you. I'm scuttling the trailer. If everything goes well you'll be able to find me through the tracker I'm about to swallow. I don't know how this is going to play out. I wish I did so I could tell you but I don't. I just want to say I love you and I will love you for whatever is longer than forever." Chuck went on about his plans for her and Sam. He talked about his hopes and fears for Sam's future along with words of comfort. Then it ended.

"He really does love her, doesn't he?" Casey didn't answer he just wiped his eyes.

"There's a lot of smoke in here. Come on I can track Chuck from my car."

"We should call Sarah."

"We can't the EMP took out the repeater along with the electricity so there won't be any way to call until they come back up.

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Chuck felt someone grab him and yank him out of the wrecked Escalade and pushed him down on the ground. It was Pepe. Standing next to him a little worse for the wear was Guye. He heard a man in the back seat moan but there was silence, blood and body matter coming from the front.

"What do you want to do with your man in the backseat," asked Guye. Pepe pulled his pistol and shot him. "That works for me," said Guye.

"Move," said Pepe as he pushed Chuck.

"Well that's four down, how many more do you have to go?" asked Chuck.

"You keep it up and I'll start my questioning right here," said Guye.

"You'd like that wouldn't you," said Chuck.

"What do you mean?" asked Pepe noticing Chuck giving Pepe a strange look and a wink. "What's going on? Tell me or I'll drop you here."

"You know Rose wants him alive," said Guye. Chuck looked back at both of them then turned back around and shook his head.

"Don't worry Pepe I can keep your secret."

"What secret? I don't have a secret."

"Let me tell you two a story while we walk. Once upon a time there was a state that a man who used to live up here called the Evil Empire. This empire had secret agents that infiltrate other organizations and helped others that had similar goals. These men and women who infiltrated organizations were very good at their job and lived for years undercover assuming important roles and sometimes even taking control. However, the unthinkable occurred and that Evil Empire imploded under its own mass. Can you image what happened to those agents? Suddenly they were on their own with no government to sanction their actions or provide assistance in case of necessity. They were alone. Do you know what happened to these people? They cut themselves off from their mother country but they remained moles within their organizations waiting. What would they do for someone who knew their secret?" said Chuck as he looked back at them.

"Shut up and keep walking," said Pepe as he purposely slowed down letting Guye go in front of him so he could cover both. Then when Guy figured out what Pepe was doing he slowed down even more until Chuck was way ahead of both.

"Hold up," yelled Pepe, "this isn't working."

"Yeah," said Guye agreeing that something need to be done and he had a good idea what.

"If you want just tell me where I need to go and I'll wait for you there," said Chuck. They both growled at him just then the other black Escalade pulled up.

"What happened to your men?" asked Rose as she rolled down her window.

"We had an accident and well they didn't make it."

"Tell me you didn't just leave them there for the police to find. At least you set the car on fire, right?"

"Well there wasn't time, you see and-"

"I don't want to hear excuses put the prisoner in my car and you two walk back and torch that car. You better hope that no one has found it or I'll deal with you two personally." Two men got out and put Chuck inside then sped off leaving both men in a cloud of dust. He couldn't help but wonder which one would show up at the cabin and which one would have an accident. Rose caught Chuck thinking.

"I can't help but wonder if you didn't have something to do with the accident."

"Who me? How can I do you any harm? I appreciate the credit but I'm tied up and in your hands. However, I do appreciate the lift my feet were getting tired from all that walking. Hey, does anybody have any water, I feel a little parched. I hope that dinner invitation is still open Pepe told me you'd feed me when we got to the cabin."

"He told you about the cabin! Idiot," she said without thinking. She wondered how much else he blabbed.

"Yes, we all talked for a nice long time about your cabin up on the other end of the canyon." Chuck had learned some good lessons from Jack on how to read a mark and that sometimes the best way to take down an organization was from the inside or as Jack put it, 'fake it til you make it'.

"Suppose he even told you the cabin number too?"

"I don't want to get him in trouble but we both know it's not twelve." Chuck could almost hear her gnashing her teeth and with each dart he was putting a wedge in Rose's organization that he hoped he could manipulate later on.

"We're here Boss," said the driver.

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Sarah and Mary took her Lotus. They had driven up the Ventura Freeway and had already taken the exit for Topanga Canyon Boulevard and were about to drive south over the mountain crests when Chuck's blip became stationary.

"Sarah, they've stopped. We need to take the Entrada road it should be coming up in about three miles."

"I've got it. Try to raise Casey again we could use the backup but I'm not waiting." Mary tried again but this time it rang and Gertrude picked up. Mary put her on speaker so they all could talk.

"John, Chuck swallowed a track and we're following it."

"We know and we're doing the same," said Verbanski. "You couldn't get us before because Chuck fried the repeater with his EMP to keep hostiles from stealing your intel."

"How did you know about the tracker?"

"Chuck left a video as a back up to what he sent to Castle," said John as Verbanski switched to speaker.

"Was that the only thing on it?" asked Sarah. She caught something in their voices but not sure what it was.

"There is more but it's personal for you. I'd rather not go into it over the phone but let's just say he realized what his situation was."

"What? I don't understand?"

"He knew he up the preverbal river with nowhere to go and he wanted to get a personal message to you. Now do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, I do. Listen I'm only about three miles out. Mary and I are going in."

"Don't do anything stupid. We saw ten guys on the video plus there could be more. Wait for Gertrude and me to get there so we can back you up. You're not going to do Chuck any good if you get killed. Sarah do you hear me? Answer me! Listen you've got to be a spy now not his wife. You know I'm right. Mary talk to her." There was a long pause of silence and both kept glancing back at the other until Sarah nodded to Mary.

"Okay John, we'll do it your way but we're going to post within visual and Mary is going to have a M107 set up to take down hostiles fast if things go sideways."

"That sounds like a plan."

"John, if they've hurt Chuck none of them are walking out."

"Roger that," said Casey. Now that was the Sarah Walker he knew once upon a time and not one he'd liked to see again.

"What's this we've got up ahead," said Gertrude as they rounded a bend. Casey slowed down to look. "John let me investigate, you stay with the car," Verbanski got out and ran down a small embankment to a Escalade wrapped round a tree and after sticking her head in she came running back up.

"What did you see," asked Casey as he pulled away.

"There are four armed men dead inside and it looked like they shot each other. I wonder if your team member had something to do with that."

"There has been more than one occasion I've felt like wringing his neck so I wouldn't put it past him."

"Are going to call Sarah with the good news?"

"No, if she finds out that they're down four soldiers she might assume the odds are in her favor and launch an attack. She was after all Langston Graham's 'wild card enforcer'."