Don't own Chuck
Morgan was down in Castle cleaning up. Casey was on his way back Alex had gone to the airport to meet him. Morgan knew the Big Guy was anxious to get back even if he wouldn't admit it. He'd been tied up at Fort Meade and Langley filing after action reports from Nice. Everyone wanted more intel on Ettore now that they knew he was still alive. Morgan being on that list too considering their last run-in.
"Okay everything all cleaned up. Pizza boxes gone, water rings removed from the desks check," he said to himself then he ran his finger over the work station. "Humm not cool," he said as he looked at the dust on his finger.
"This isn't going to pass Casey's inspection," said Grimes as he imitated John. "What'd you do while I was gone coke and joke all day long. I thought I told you to keep this place clean." As Morgan was going to get the dust cleaner the phone in Castle rang.
"Geez he heard me," said Morgan as he jumped. He wouldn't put it past Casey to have a few bugs planted around to listen in on him. He walked over to the phone then looked at it
"Do I answer or don't I," said Morgan as he continued to look at it. "Crap, what if it's Chuck and he needs the help of the Cobra... no, he's got Sarah with him. What if it's Alex and her car won't start... no, she's got Casey. What if it's Kat and she needs me to pick up something... no she said she got everything yesterday and is cooking dinner for everyone." Morgan was going through all these scenarios in his head and the phone was still ringing.
"Well take the bull by the horns or the phone by the receiver," said Morgan as he picked up the phone. He waited but he only heard breathing.
"Buddy this is your dime who do you want to speak to I've got things to get done," said Morgan wondering if this wasn't some joke of Ettore's but if it were how'd he get the number. Then the man on the other end spoke something that sounded like Russian and he listened but couldn't understand a word.
"Buddy I didn't understand a word," said Morgan as he slowed down his speaking and raised his voice thinking the man might understand him better. There was some sort of conversation in the background he could barely hear followed by the man on the phone making a low groan. It sounded like he dropped his phone then the line went dead.
"Geez, what was that all about," said Morgan as he looked at the receiver. He was trying to figure out what had just happened when the door to the elevator opened and John appeared in front of him.
"That's a receiver you've got in your hand not a sandwich so don't bite it. It's attached to the phone... You know that's a device used for making and receiving phone calls Moron," said John. "What have you been doing since I've been gone... coking and joking," he said as he ran his fingers over the flat surfaces and held them up for Morgan to see. "I thought I told you to keep this place clean."
"Oh Dad give Morgan a break," said Alex as she followed in behind him. "He had the Buy More to run. Morgan, what's the matter you look strange?"
"Yeah stranger than normal," said Casey. "Were you making a call or receiving a call when we came in? Do you have an early onset of Alzheimer's or something going on?"
"Funny," said Morgan as he hung up. "That was a weird phone call. I thought at first it was a prank call from Ettore. He would have the resources to get this number and I wouldn't put it past him to pull something like that especially if he knew I was down here all alone..."
"Now you're just being paranoid," said Casey. "If he was going to bother someone I think he'd call Alex but then he knows I'd break his face."
"Like I said I thought it was Ettore but I'm not sure because the guy on the other end spoke Russian. I think he might've said something about Colonel Sheshenko and we all know who that is."
"Why didn't you run the voice through the automatic language translator," said Casey. Morgan looked at him like he was crazy.
"I thought they only have that in Star Trek? You mean it actually exists... and it works for real. Where's Lieutenant Uhura... sorry Commander Uhura?"
"Shut up Troll and let me see if I can undo your mess. Why don't you go in the back and get something and start dusting? I swear you'd strangle on your own spit if you didn't have me around to swab out your throat for you."
"You hear that Alex, John's back," said Morgan as he started back for the cleaning supplies. "Hey I put a pot of coffee on would you like a cup?"
"Now you're talking," said Casey. "Hey have you finally been using coasters I don't see any water rings," said John. Alex looked back at Morgan and he smiled back then disappeared into the back. They both knew that wasn't true. A few minutes later and John was done.
"Where's that coffee," yelled Casey as he looked around and saw Alex was MIA too. "Get up here Grimes with that cup. I fixed your mess and don't think I have noticed my camera in the storeroom is out. You won't have to worry about Ettore killing you I'll beat him to it."
"Dad, you don't need to yell," said Alex as she brought him his cup of coffee and handed it to him. "Here this is for you."
"Thanks but the Troll was supposed to bring it. Sloughing off your work on other people isn't the way to get on my good side..."
"I didn't know you had one," said Morgan as he handed John a coaster. "We wouldn't want you to leave a water ring with your cup, would we? So what have you found out?"
"All out going and in coming phone calls from Castle are recorded. I tell you that because judging from the logged phone calls you don't but we won't go into their content right now. My stomach has to settle down a little and at one point I really thought I was going to be sick..."
"Really they're recorded. How far back does that go?" asked Morgan as he looked at Alex and tried to remember all their conversations.
"Long enough to make me want to staple your tongue to your knee cap. In the future refrain from kissing the receiver other people have to use it after you. But we're getting side tracked here. Your phone call, is this it?"
Morgan listened to his voice asking the man who he wanted to speak to then the man started speaking but Morgan still didn't understand him.
"Yes that's him. But I thought you said this thing was supposed to translate what he said? He's still speaking Russian..."
"He's not speaking Russian idiot. He's speaking Chechen and he was asking for Chuck but he said Chuck didn't know him. He'd gotten his number from our friend, Borz Maribek. Now we've got friends of friends calling in. I'm going to have to have this number changed. There's some background chatter and a noise that sounds familiar so I'm sending it to a buddy at Fort Meade to try to enhance. In the meantime, I traced the call back to a cellphone in the port of Baku."
"Wow Baku, you don't say," said Morgan. "Now that's interesting. Don't you think so Alex? Wow Baku… sorry I haven't got a clue where that's at."
"It's the capital of Azerbaijan and the largest city on the Caspian Sea," said Casey as he shook his head. He brought up a satellite image of the city. "Fort Meade was able to do a little magic they triangulated the transmission back to this point in the port. Let me zoom in."
"What is that? A ferry port of some kind. It looks like they're off loading cargo," said Alex as she studied the image.
"Yes, it's not uncommon in that area to have ships with mixed cargo and passengers. The cargo helps make the voyage economically viable. But that ferry looks like it's seen better times. Geez, of all the names a boat can have…"
"Why what does it say," asked Morgan as he looked at the Cyrillic letters. He looked over at Alex and she just shrugged her shoulders back.
"The name of the ferry is the Red Star. This has to be some sort of joke," said John as Morgan snickered. "Don't you have some dusting that needs done or would you like to look like the Thanksgiving turkey when I get done with you and that feather duster?"
"I'm on it. You don't have to get all bent out of shape. I told you I thought this was a prank and I bet Ettore is behind it."
"Dad, you know Morgan might be right but he could also be wrong. We need to look deeper into the Red Star before we rule this out as a prank. Do you want to forward this on to Chuck and Sarah?"
"No, they're still on vacation and after the mess in Nice I don't think they want to hear about anything that sounds like work. I'll call in a favor from a friend of mine at Fort Meade. He can poke around and see what he can find for me about the Ferry," said John. "Grimes, where are those cleaning supplied I told you to get. Chuck and Beckman had a real falling out over her decision not to call in an air strike."
"Chuck wanted to call in an air strike? That doesn't sound like him. He'd be the last one I'd think that would want to blow up someone."
"That's what I thought too but he had good reason. Between you, me and these walls I think Chuck was right. We could've taken Ettore out clean at sea with no collateral. I think he gives Chuck the heebie-jeebies knowing he's still out there one leg and all. He's a slimy bastard and someone I think Beckman is underestimating."
"So what can we do about him?" asked Alex. Chuck wasn't the only one who had the heebie-jeebies knowing Ettore was still alive.
"Nothing for right now. We just need to keep track where this bleep is at," said Casey as he brought the tracking signal up on a global map. "Wherever that bleep is at you can bet Ettore will be close to it. Right now it's in Sofia. That's in Bulgaria Grimes for your information. You know one of these days you're going to break your neck trying to listen in on private conversation."
"I know that," said Morgan as he poked his head around a corner. "It's the capital city actually but how did you know I was listening?"
"He didn't until you spoke up," said Alex as she looked at Casey who smiled back at her.
"Now that's smart," said John. "You should take some lessons from her Grimes and maybe you'd learn something. Well I'm done down here. I need to run home for a bit and unpack then get cleaned up."
"You know you must be tried after that transatlantic flight. There's nothing here and you can talk with your friend from the apartment. You don't need to come back here."
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Back in Langley that morning the Major drove back to work. He pulled into his designated spot then got out and took a deep breath. He was a little late this morning because he'd lost time checking his car for explosive devices. As mad as the General was at him he didn't want to take any chances. He went down to the situation room got the clipboard then took the elevator up. As the elevator doors opened he knew it was time to face the music.
"Is the General in," asked the Major as he walked in the door and faced her secretary. "More importantly what kind of mood is she in?"
"You can breathe she's not here yet. She ran over to see the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. She said something about wanting to put out a fire before it got started. I suppose you know what she was talking about."
"Yes, I kind of got burnt by it you could say. Well I'm going back down to my office. Can you give me a buzz when she gets back I need to go over the morning briefings with her?"
"Sure no problem," said Connie but as they were talking they heard the General's voice out in the corridor. "I don't think you need to go anywhere."
"Morning Connie, Major," said the General as she and Roan came walking in together. "I'd like a cup of coffee in my office. Major, I'm sorry I'm late but I had an interesting meeting with General Thomas."
Connie looked over at the Major and smiled. He smiled back knowing he'd gotten away with coming in late at least for today.
"I should say so. You flirted with him over breakfast," said Roan. "It cuts to the bone after last night and you know he's married."
"I have no idea what you're talking about and you're a good one to talk. You couldn't keep your eyes off our waitress."
"I was only trying to get the check," said Roan as he went over to the coffee mess and made two cups of coffee. "Don't worry about making the General her coffee I've got it taken care of."
"Don't you have some place to be this morning," said the General. The Major looked at her then started to leave. "Not you, Agent Montgomery… oh both of you in my office. I want to hear about what's going on with our tracker. Where is the target now and do we have eyes on him?"
The three of them walked into her office. She took her cup from Roan then sat down at her desk while Roan went over to her booze locker and spiked his. The Major closed the door after them catching Connie holding up her fingers crossed for him. Some days he thought the only luck he had was bad but not today… today was starting to look up already.
"The tracker is still transmitting a strong signal and through it we've been able to follow Ettore from Genoa to Sofia. These photos were taken of him in a café at the airport shortly after he arrived a couple of days ago. The agent who took these disappeared shortly afterwards and a charred body was found in a burnt out car outside the city. We just got back DNA results I'm afraid they confirmed the body is his. A preliminary autopsy showed he had accelerant in his lungs. I'm afraid he was alive when the car was set on fire."
"Geez, I hope I was right not taking Ettore out when I had the chance. I want a star put up on the wall for our man. Give Connie the man's name and I'll tell her to do the write up," said the General as she looked up from the photos. "He died in the service of this organization and his country. Do we know who this man is having coffee with Ettore? There's something about him that makes me feel uneasy."
"I know it's his eyes they seem... I don't know strange. We've run him through facial recognition but nothing came back. I'd like to run it by the intersect and see if he can come up with something. I know it's kind of a hail mary. The man dropped out of sight after this the same time as our agent went missing."
"That's not a bad idea. If Chuck flashes he'll see the validity of my plan and even better if he doesn't. He'll see that we're unmasking Ettore's accomplices. We need to find him if we can track this new guy he'll lead us to others and so on and so forth until we have them all."
"It sounds like your plan is paying off. Too bad those photos cost a man's life I just hope they were worth it," said Roan as he took a sip. "But those are the risks if you get too close especially to men like those."
"I understand what you're trying to say and Roan's right Major. We should pull our people back and go with electronic surveillance. Tell our operatives to use street cams, traffic cameras, CCTV and whatever else they have to use. But they should avoid face to face contact at all costs. If our people start showing up all over the place sprouting up like mushrooms Ettore will figure out he's being tracked. It won't take him long to try to find out how and the first place he'll check will be the data device we slipped him."
"Okay I'm on that but I've got to play the devil's advocate. We pull our people back but we could also risk losing him and he could be long gone before we know he'd given us the slip. Then we would have nothing... no less than nothing. What would we do then?"
"I don't know but it's better than tipping our hand. He could take us down no telling how many rabbit holes before we figure out that's going on."
"He could be doing that now even if it doesn't seem so."
"Major, you're taking this devil's advocate thing to an extreme. No plan is fool proof and with whatever you do there will be risks. You just have to take a deep breath then run the play and hope the other team didn't steal your signals."
"Roan's right. The play is in motion it's too late to call it off now. Send those photos to Chuck with a request that if he recognizes our guy he contacts us right away. Tell him I would like it as a personal favor."
"Yes, ma'am," said the Major then disappeared. She waited for him to leave before turning back to Roan.
"See I'm willing to try it your way," said Beckman as she smiled over at him. "I'm not afraid to try new things."
"I already knew that," he said with a coy smile. Believe me if you ask Chuck for a favor he'll get right on it, but if you order him you're only going to piss him off even more than he already is then he'll just blow your request off."
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John was wrapping things up in Castle and was trying to leave but Morgan started acting odd. For Grimes even odder than normal. He couldn't help but think Morgan was up to something but he'd just gotten in and didn't feel like messing with Morgan's issues at the moment.
"Grimes put a sock in it until I get back. What's the matter with you? You're acting even more idiotic than normal. Did you take your daily stupid pill?" I'm out of here for now but I'll be back soon."
"Funny John, but jetlag is a real thing and you driving around when you're tired that can't be a good thing. Not for you or the person you have an accident with."
"Moron, I came back two days ago remember. I was at Fort Meade and Langley so whatever jetlag I had I'm over it. What's going on with you?"
"Nothing I'm just looking out for you. You know when you call me names like that it really hurts on the inside…"
"Dad, Mom said she wants us over at seven sharp," said Alex as she looked over at Morgan. She thought he was acting strange too. However, she decided to wait but as soon as her dad was gone she was determined to get down to the bottom of it even if was the last thing she did.
"Well, I'll be back here in a flash. I want to see what my buddy found out about that ship. Grimes while I'm gone you can use the time to do something you didn't do while I was gone… dust."
"Dad give Morgan a break he did his best. Okay if you want to go home then come back it's okay we'll be here waiting for you, right Morgan?"
"Yes, right here waiting," said Morgan as he smiled showing all one hundred teeth. "Just like the guy on death row but they get a last meal," he mumbled.
"Grimes, what's wrong with you? Never mind I don't want to know just remember I can access the cameras in here from home so use your hands to dust and nothing else or I will give you a break."
"Of course," said Morgan then he looked up in the monitor and saw Big Mike walking across the store floor. "Oh wait… you should finish your coffee first. You know Alex made it for you with her own hands and you don't want her see you pitch it. It would break her heart."
"Do you feel okay? You're even stranger than normal. Of course I'm not going to pitch it. I'll drink it when I get back. You know when you're out in the field sometimes you don't have the luxury of fresh hot coffee so you learn to make do. Alex, did he bump his head while I was gone?"
"No not that I know of," said Alex. "Morgan, what's the matter you're acting strange. Do you feel okay? Are you coming down with something?"
"I feel fine," said Morgan. He saw Big Mike go into his office. "Well so long and take your time coming back. We got this," said Morgan as he hurried John over to the elevator.
"Will you stop pushing. Okay I'm going but I've got my eye on you. Something is up," said Casey as he got on the elevator then left.
"Okay, Morgan what is it?" asked Alex then she saw Big Mike coming out of his office. "Oh no, Morgan don't tell me you told him about Nice."
"Worse he found the pictures."