Don't own Chuck
Chuck made his way forward on the weather decks. He had to be careful but it was a cloudy night and ship was running dark. However, even if he was making his way in the darkest of dark he still had to be careful because there were still lookouts topside, even if they were more concerned about what was going on far away than nearby. The deck itself was a danger. Nighttime humidity had formed dew making the deck slippery in spots where there was no non-skid and the last thing he wanted was to end up overboard.
"You go overboard and no one is ever going to find you," he said to himself as he made it up to just outside the radio room. Chuck heard Abu inside ranting to someone which told Chuck the signal jammer didn't cover all frequencies.
"What do you mean you can't find the girl? She has to be there somewhere around the pier. Check again with our guy in the control tower and make sure it was her on the plane."
"We will but there was another snag. Those two men you asked us to take care of... the American and the Iranian..."
"Oh don't tell me you let them get away. First you can't find the girl and now you can't do a simple hit. Go ahead explain to me what happened."
"What happened was a Seal team swooped in on a Blackhawk and picked them up but not before the bird opened up on us with twin .50 calibers. They took out most of my men out before we had time to react. You never said anything about these people having air support."
"Because I didn't know but you should've been prepared for the unexpected. It's a part of your training. You know I got rid of a team today for failing to grab that women at the airport..."
"But if she didn't get on the plane then there's no one for us to find and you had those people whacked for no reason. I don't think you want me to put that in my report to the Old Man of the Mountain."
"Are you threatening me? Because if you are you'd better have something to back up that loud talk with or... well there will be consequences. You don't want to stand against me."
"I could say the same thing. We're going to go back out to the airport and contact that guy then we'll go from there."
"No forget about that if she was there she's not anymore. She'll be coming for her husband so I'm the one who needs to keep my eyes open. I want you on the next plane for Tivat. I'm going to need some way to get Chuck to comply with what we need done and if I don't have the girl I can use his kids."
"So that's what you want us to do? You want us to go to Montenegro and grab his kids then we hold onto them until when? And then what? Do we just turn them lose?"
"Dead men tell no tales… but you don't have to grab them I was thinking something different but once everything is over we don't want any witness," said Abu. When Chuck heard him he made a tight fist. It was all he could do not to go inside and snap Abu's neck. Now it became imperative for him to bring down that signal jammer so Morgan could make that phone call.
"I need in there," Chuck said to himself as he took a peek in through the open porthole then he got an idea. He just had to wait until Abu left and almost on cue there was a knock on the door.
"Sir the Captain asked me to find you. We've picked up a ship that seems to be shadowing us. The Captain thinks it could be an American warship."
"I wouldn't be surprised that Blackhawk had to have come from somewhere," said Abu. The man looked puzzled at him. "Never mind is the Skipper on the bridge?"
"Yes sir. He's waiting for you and he asked me to escort you right up," said the man standing in the hatch.
"I hardly need an escort. Okay let's go," said Abu but in the hatchway he turned back. "If anything else comes up you can find me on the bridge. I expect you to come straight to me. Clear?" The man nodded then Abu left.
Chuck heard and saw everything he needed to. He made his way down to the galley where he slipped inside unseen and grabbed a fire extinguisher. At night this was easy because there was only a skeleton crew up while the rest were in their racks sound asleep. Chuck grabbed the extinguisher then went back up to the radio room. There he waited and before long the man was nodding off. Chuck opened the door then slipped inside slowly. Once inside he swapped out the fire extinguishers and now half his plan was ready.
"Now it's just a matter of science," said Chuck as he looked up and down the passage way. He reached up in the overhead and yanked out two power cables both were live. When he touched then together they arched and sparked glowing so brightly he had to turn away but they welded themselves together. Finally, they stopped after they kicked off a circuit breaker but not before doing what he needed.
The radioman woke up to the smell of smoke and heat of an electrical fire. His equipment had overheated from a massive surge. He reached up and pulled the circuit breaker but some of the equipment had shorted out and gone into melt down. Flames were still burning even if the power had been shut off so the man grabbed the fire extinguisher and hosed down the equipment. The purple foam quickly put out the flames but in the process fowled and corroded the circuit boards.
"Crap. Now what?" said the radioman as he looked at the extinguisher he had in his hands. "Who put this here?"
[A few minutes later on the bridge]
"Apology accepted," said Abu as he holstered his weapon. On the deck in the middle of the bridge lay the body of the radioman.
"Was that necessary," said the Captain. "It wasn't his fault there was a fire and I find it hard to believe that the wrong fire extinguisher magically got left in the radio room."
"Maybe you're right I was a bit hasty but today has been a very bad day. So you think someone sabotaged the radio. Humm," said Abu. "Keep me posted on that other ship."
"Like I said... well before this. At daybreak we should be able to see her on the horizon and hopefully identify her. Where are you going?"
"I have to go check on something I'll be in my stateroom if you need me," said Abu. He quickly left the bridge stepping over the body. Then he made his way down two decks then went aft. He came to Chuck's door. Along the way he kept hearing Ettore's voice in his head not to trust Chuck but he hadn't listened.
"Maybe I should've listened," mumbled Abu as he tried Chuck's door but found it locked. He took out his master key and opened it then went inside. He immediately flipped on the light switch but found Chuck fast asleep in bed.
"Is it time to get up? Are we there yet," asked Chuck as he checked his watch. "Geez, do you know what time it is? Unless like the Titanic we hit an iceberg turn off the lights and close the door wake me when the war starts.
"I just wanted to tell you... tell you that we're on track and should arrive at our destination on time in the morning. You can go back to sleep," said Abu as he left closing the door behind him.
"Well that was a bust," said Abu as he yawned. "Maybe the Captain was wrong and it was incompetency. Whatever it was you need to go get some sleep. Now with the radio down you can't call Abram until we get to the island. Ettore had better impress me or he'll be next. I need that intersect machine up and running. The missile needs to be assembled and the warhead install on it then the fun begins.
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Margo was up in the Casino getting some fresh air and a change of scenery when her phone rang. She took it out and looked at the number only to have Sam come up behind her and tell her it was Sarah's. Margo was about to comment that Sam couldn't read but she could tell her numbers quite will, if not too well.
"Why aren't you up above in your bed asleep. This isn't the time of night someone your age should be up and about especially in their pajamas."
"I couldn't sleep but that doesn't matter right now. Aren't you going to answer that before she hangs up? Please let me say hello... pretty please. I promise I'll go straight to bed afterwards."
"We'll see and does straight to bed mean you're going to stay there," said Margo. Sam smiled back at her as she answered.
"Sarah, you should know Sam is here with me... Oh it's you Morgan. ... No, I didn't mean anything by it. Just that Sam wanted to say hi to Sarah. Why do you have her phone anyway? ... Oh I see. You've seen both Sarah and Chuck. Chuck said what? ... Good to know I'll beef up security here and have people posted at the airport. No one will get in without me knowing about it. ... Did I know what? Yes, I did and you shouldn't be talking about it on an unsecure phone. I have no idea what you mean about the little fat boy who always gets picked last..." Margo felt Sam pull on her jacket sleeve.
"Unfortunately I do. I'll explain it to you later. Just tell Morgan to stay calm and everything will be okay. Chuck and Mommy know what they're doing. He has a tendency to get a little agitated," said Sam as she let out a big yawned.
"You should cover your mouth when you do that," said Margo as she looked at Sam. "No Morgan, I wasn't talking to you. But you heard the advice from the expert. Keep this phone on you in case someone needs to contact you.
"They think you're Ettore LaBarba? Well Morgan, I think Sam's advice is very appropriate. You need to walk the walk and talk the talk. Ettore is a bad guy so you need to be a bad guy or they're going to figure out something is wrong. ... he's got a prosthetic leg? Have you considered amputation as a possibility? ... Of course it's a joke Morgan. You're going to have to remember to limp and whatever you do don't wear short pants. ... no you can't hang around the side of the pool. Now who's cracking jokes."
"Tell him I can take care of that for him. They have an electric knife in the kitchen. I just have to have an adult present to operate on him."
"Of course she was joking," said Margo as she looked at Sam. "At least I hope she was. If not, you can get a fifty percent discount on shoes and your socks will last twice as long. ... Morgan, I have to go and get Sam to bed then put a call into Langley. Good luck Morgan and remember you're Ettore." Margo hung up then looked over at Sam who had a little sleepy face.
"Morgan's in big trouble isn't he?" she said then let out a big yawn putting her hand over her mouth after she'd already yawned.
"I think he is but your mother and father will bail him out. Now you need to come with me and I'll get you tucked in. Listen Sam things have to change. You can't keep slipping out… not now. I'm going to give you something tomorrow… all of you as a matter of fact."
"What is it?" asked Sam. Curiosity woke her up at least for a little while only to come back with vengeance.
"You're going to have to wait until tomorrow. I'll have it ready by breakfast time," said Margo. "Now we need to get you to bed."
"Okay, I'm too sleepy to argue," said Sam as she yawned. "But I'm going to need your help tomorrow on the internet. I'm going to need to do a web search on how to do an amputation. I don't think it's that difficult but it's always best to be prepared."
"Come on Bone Saw, I need to get you to bed," said Margo as she got Sam on the elevator then they both went up.
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Back in Tehran Banai's team with their Director were transporting Abram through town and they were almost outside of the city limits. It was just a few more blocks then they would be out on open road and some of their fears would be left behind in their rearview mirror. The Director didn't like the way Abram kept looking out the window. It was like he was looking for something or someone.
"If you think something is going to go down and you're going to walk away from this you've got something else coming."
"I have no illusions of anything. If anything my vision is crystal clear right now," said Abram as he smiled at the Director.
"You're up to something, aren't you," said the Director as he started looking around. Then he noticed it the streets were empty except for them. There was no other vehicle on the road and there weren't any pedestrians on the sidewalks. It was just them in the middle of the street an easy target.
"Crap this is a trap. Speed up," yelled the Director. "Drive like your life depends on it because it does. Just do it." The driver accelerated driving like a bat out of hell. They hadn't gone far before the first explosions rocked the SUV but the driver held it on the road.
"What the heck," he yelled as he fought to keep the vehicle on the road weaving back and forth. What was that back there?"
"It was a landmine and there are going to be others IEDs so don't slow down. They're set on timers so when you pass over one there's a ten second delay so that they catch the vehicle in the middle. But that's only good if you're driving the speed limit so drive!" It wasn't soon after that that a second explosion sent them sideways in the road but again the driver brought them back around.
"This isn't going to last much longer before they learn we're on to their tactics," said the Director. "Everyone needs to be ready for whatever..." He hadn't finished saying that when the driver saw an RPG come flying up his exhaust pipe. He swerved to the right and the rocket shot past them exploding up ahead. Then they started taking on small arms fire that seemed to be coming from every direction.
"I'm happy I went with the bullet proof option," said the Director. They'd almost cleared the city limits and the open road was in sight when a .50 caliber round passed through the vehicle. It entered through the rear window caught Abram square in the chest making a hole that could be seen through before ending its trajectory lodged in the engine block. The vehicle sputtered then died with steam rolling up around the hood.
"Crap," said the Director. "Who are these people? I swear I'm going to root them out one by one if it's the last thing I do." The Director was well aware that if their plan to assassinate him was still in play it just might be his last.
"Be careful," said the Director as they all got out and established a perimeter around the SUV. The Director took out his phone and called in for reinforcements along with a clean-up team. "I want you guys to get geared up and ready to take off again. I'm sending you to regroup with Banai and when you get there tell him I want Abu brought back here. If the Americans complain he can tell them that's the cost of doing business with us."
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Abu had been gone for about a half an hour and Chuck decided he'd done enough exploring for one night. He would've liked to have gone down to Sarah and be with her but it was too dangerous. Even if the ship was operating with a skeleton crew it wouldn't be that easy to pass through the inside of the ship without someone challenging him. Then what would he do if he were caught. What he could obtain was less than what he could lose if he were caught. Worse was he could give away Sarah's location and for now she was safe which was what mattered to him.
"Chuck, no you can't so do the smart thing you need to shut down for a bit," he said to himself as he closed his eyes. "Go to sleep and tomorrow will be another day." He closed his eyes but his brain refused to turn off. "What does Ettore's intersect, myself and the missile have to do with each other?" he asked himself but he got no answer.
As he was about to doze off he heard someone at his door. At first he thought he was dreaming but he quickly realized he wasn't. He opened one eye and saw the door open slowly then someone quickly came in closing the door behind them. He started to roll out of bed when he heard his name called.
"Chuck, Chuck are you asleep," said the voice. He got up walked over to her and kissed her as he turned the light switch on.
"You shouldn't have come here. It was too dangerous but I'm glad you did," he said then he kissed her again.
"I came up here to ask your help," she said as he pushed him away. "If we keep this up we won't get anything done. Have you talked with Morgan?"
"Yes, you're not the only one who's been out for a late night stroll. He should've been able to call Margo by now. I took out their jamming device and radio so they've got no comms at the moment."
"Good so they can't call ahead and talk to the real Ettore. But Morgan is going to get found out tomorrow when we dock."
"Not if you take him and keep him with you in the control room. Once you're inside you can seal yourself inside. Alexei designed it like a panic room. How much still works inside?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I think I can get the mainframe to reboot but I'm not sure," she said as she described what she found and what she proposed to do to fix it.
"You make nerd talk sound so sexy," said Chuck as he kissed her then she pushed him back. "Right work first... well you can cannibalize some of the parts from the minor systems to get it to boot up and later if you link up with Castle then the minor systems can be rerouted and brought up. What's important is when the system boots up you'll need to have it download this audio file then play it. That will give you complete access to the Contessa. Once you've done that in theory if the network is still intact you'll have full control of the ship and all its systems"
"If I lay back and wait I can catch them by surprise when I take over control," said Sarah. She leaned over and kissed him. "You're a genius."
"What did I do? The idea was yours," he said as pulled back. "You can not only take over control you can also lock them out. I don't know what kind of IT people they have onboard but it will take days if not weeks for them to figure out what's going on. The first thing they'll think is their system has been hacked and if Morgan is still around and they've uncovered him they will think he did it. If that happens..."
"I understand. Then I'll keep him with me in lockdown. I can grab him when I leave you and take him down to the control room. He can help me do some of the work that needs to be done."
"That might not be a good idea. Morgan and electronics don't get along. I don't know if you remember the Southern California black out that everyone blamed Edison for. Well the truth is that was Morgan working on Christmas decorations for the Buy More. For a long time, his nickname was Sparky and in time his beard grew back out."
Okay then I'm going to have to rethink what I can use him for. But what about you? Have you figured out what Abu wants with you? He's got to want something to go to all the trouble to keep you with him. He could've off-ed you a long time ago."
"Gee thanks for that pleasant thought. I'm going to sleep better now that I'm thinking about that."
"Oh you know what I meant and beside if he tried I'd kill him. So have you come up with any ideas?"
"No I haven't and I've been racking my brain on it. There has to be some link between me, the intersect, and the missile. Have you seen the missile? I did. It's in pieces in the cargo hold. Talking about Tinker toys but it would be great fun to try to put it together."
"That's it!"