Don't own Chuck
-Sarah and Chuck were talking about what Abu could want with Chuck. But they couldn't come up with anything until Chuck made a casual reference to the Iranian missile Abu had taken him to see. He showed him it disassembled in two containers in the cargo bay. Chuck told Sarah, "… 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 and put it together."
"That's it," said Sarah as she realized why Abu needed Chuck. She looked at him and he gave her a perplexed look back. "And does Abu have technicians who can put it back together for him?"
"I assume so why would he ship it disassembled if he couldn't? But I don't know I haven't met everyone that's a part of this merry band. By the way, Abu isn't the top dog, he's an underling who's taking orders from someone higher. From what I've learned he's not very well liked among the people here."
"I can see why. The price of failure is a bullet through the head. He executed the team that failed to grab me at the airport."
"Crap, I bet that poor radioman probably got whacked because of what I did. I really hadn't anticipated that."
"Chuck, don't beat yourself up. The guy was working for the other team... team bad and he made his choice to work for a psycho like Abu so he should've known the consequences. But we're getting off topic now. Question, how difficult would it be to put our warhead on their missile?"
"It wouldn't be exactly easy but it wouldn't be difficult either. I flashed on the missile components when Abu gloated over them in front of me and it's within the realm of possibilities. The couplers would have to be changed out or something rigged to make them compatible. But there could be a work around," said Chuck as he caught Sarah's look. "Okay too much information but what I'm saying is it wouldn't look pretty but it could be done. Why?"
"Don't you see that's what Abu wants you for. He wants you to put together his missile with our warhead. He must've been told about some of your exploits by one of his people's moles in Langley and he got the idea if he had the right leverage he could make you work for him. Chuck, he didn't get me so the girls could be next on his list," said Sarah as she realized what she was saying.
"Don't worry, I know," said Chuck as he put his hands on her shoulders to keep her from flying out of the room. "I thought of that too that's why I told Morgan to call Margo and have her set up extra security. Don't worry they'll be safe."
"Sweetie, don't candy coat this for me. If they could get to Beckman inside of Langley, then he will try something similar in Montenegro."
"Don't worry Margo knows what she's doing and she'll watch over the girls like a hawk. No one is going to get near them."
"Chuck, she needs to re-vet everyone that's working for her there and who has clearance to come and go from the dungeon... for that matter from the casino too. These sleeper cells can be anywhere and they can be hard to root out."
"I know," said Chuck as he reached over and put his arms around her. "But Margo knows what she's doing. We have to have trust in her and besides her there's also Razhib. He more a man than a boy and he won't let anything happen to them. It's going to be light soon and too dangerous for you to go back down below. Stay here with me and when we pull in everyone will be busy so you should be able to grab Morgan and go back down to the control room unnoticed."
"What do you suggest we do to pass the time," she said with a coy smile. "I've got an idea but I don't know if you're up to it."
"Oh I know that look and I'm game if you are. If I'm up to it just wait and see."
"Turn off the lights then come back over here."
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On an island off the coast of Bulgaria the real Ettore was hard at work making sure his techs had the intersect room up and running. As soon as the Contessa pulled in they could plug in the power cord and the first download could be done. He watched the engineer walk over with the data device and attach it to their server.
"Be careful with what you do with that thing," said Ettore as he came near. "You don't know what I had to go through to get it."
"We have to download the data off this onto our server so we can channel it through to the optical templates that will be transmitted during the upload."
"Are you sure this is going to work? I mean are you a hundred percent sure," said Ettore as he stood over the man's shoulder breathing down his neck.
"Well on paper yes but put in practice is another thing," said the engineer. He could tell from Ettore's look that hadn't been the answer he'd wanted.
"What I'm saying is there are a lot of unknown variables that can come into play. We won't know for sure until we try it but I'm optimistic that it will work. Just think how much this could save the government on education. There will be no more need for schools, teachers or the other money pits involved. No more mortgages to cover tuition costs you just march the kids in and zap them one by one then they come out ready for use…"
"Yeah and maybe you have them do the goose step as they leave the building. We'll talk about applications once we know the thing works," said Ettore. He could already see that some of his techs would have to be culled after machine had been proven.
"Zapping everyone... what an idiot idea. If everyone knows everything then there's no difference between them and us and I like being us."
"Mr. LaBarba," said an Operations tech walking up to him. "We still haven't been able to raise the Contessa on the radio. But we have them on our long range radar. However, we've picked up another vessel traveling parallel to their course."
"Abu never mentioned anything about bring someone along with him. Do we have any idea who it could be?"
"Russian MiGs challenged them and we intercepted their transmission. The ship is the USS Mason an American destroyer homeported out of Norfolk, Virginia."
"This is going to make life interesting. Work on trying to get comms back up with the Contessa. Did we happen to hear why they are here?"
"They told the Russians they were involved in some joint op with the Bulgarians. I cross checked with our contacts here and there is a training op being held so it seems their story checks out."
"Let me come with you and see for myself," said Ettore. "Walter as soon as the download is complete I want to know."
"Yes sir," said the man. He and his assistant stood there working finishing connecting the device to the console as Ettore left following the other man out of the lab.
"Who's Walter? I thought your name was Serge?" Asked the man as he connected cables and checked leads.
"It is. I just let him call me Walter so if this thing doesn't work when he orders me killed they'll be looking for someone named Walter and in the meantime I'll have time to get out of Dodge."
"You know that could actually work. It's a good thing we don't have a Walter on our team," said the assistant as he laughed.
"Be careful with those connectors we don't want to fry this thing. If we do, we might not have time to make it off this rock."
Ettore went with the man to the radar room on his way he looked over the work the men were doing running power cables. This had to be ready when the Contessa pulled in so they could run the intersect at full power.
"How comes running the cable? It seems you've still got a lot of work to do. Are you guys going to be ready to connect with the ship's power plant when they pull in?"
"We're working towards that deadline," said the supervisor as the techs worked on the cable. "We're doing the best we can do with the manpower we have. After all we're not ConEdison."
"You won't be anything if that connection isn't ready. You are being paid good money to have that up and running on time. I don't care what it takes but it had better be ready or you'll really find out you're not working for ConEdison."
"Come on take me to the radar room before I really go off on these guys and I can't whack them yet," said Ettore as he limped along. "Just because I have a bum leg they think they can take advantage of me. Will they're going to be sorely surprised when I take this prosthetic leg and..." Ettore was interrupted by his escort.
"Right in here," said the man as he held the door opened for Ettore. "I need the status of the Contessa and that other ship for the boss. Everyone look alive he's here with us," yelled the man. People inside turned and looked as Ettore walked into the darken room. It took a moment for his eyes to get used to the dim lighting. There were scopes oscillating and a glass status board in the center with a map of their island. It looked like they were plotting all the crafts that were moving around the island.
"The Contessa is still on track for Snake Island while the American warship has changed course and veered southward steaming away from the contested area at the last minute."
"Maybe she is just participating in wargames and this is some sort of show of force to the Russians. We can't take any chances I still want her tracked. What about contacting the Contessa? Have you had any luck yet trying to raise the Contessa on comms? I'd feel better if I could talk with Abu?"
"Sorry Sir, they aren't answering our calls but from this we can see they're still on schedule. Our latest ETA for them is 0755 pierside."
"Good, I want a welcome party put together to greet them when they tie up and I want to be on it. Make sure that everyone knows I expect status reports beforehand so I can report to Abu that we're ready. Anything less is unacceptable and will have consequences."
"Yes Sir, I'll make sure it happens," said the one man. "Are we all going over in one boat load or do you want to shuttle people over."
"We can all go over together but it probably would be better if we took two boats over. We're also going to need the barge to bring the freight over and have it brought in the staging area. You got all that down I hope because it all that needs to be lined up."
"Yes Sir, I'll make sure everything is taken care of," said the man as he made entries on a tablet. "Is there anything else?"
"If we could talk with the ship all this would be easier to coordinate but for now this is the best we can do. If you need me I'm heading back to the intersect room to see how Walter's progress is coming along. If he knows what's good for him he'd better not disappoint me."
"Sir, we have what appears to be a helicopter on the scope. It just took off from the American ship," said a man standing looking into a scope.
"You're sure it's a helicopter," said Ettore as he did an about face then went over the man to stand looking over his shoulder at the screen.
"Yes Sir, you can see it here," he said as he pointed to the bleep. There was a callout box next to the bleep that had both course and speed.
"Interesting," said Ettore as he stood there looking at the scope. "Can we tell where this chopper is heading to? Hey what happened it just disappeared?"
"I don't know it must be some sort of stealth technology. But from their last position and heading they were headed away from us to the contested area."
"So are they really going to go up there and stir up a hornet's nest or is this a trick to make us think they are. What's the position of the American ship again and the direction they're sailing?"
"They are steaming away from us but are now setting a course to skirt the border of the contested area. If I were the Russians, I'd be pissed. It's like they're daring them to do something but would they do that on purpose?"
"You're right that's what it looks like but looks can be deceiving. See if you can raise some of our people in Sevastopol and see what they say is going on. In the meantime, I'm heading back to have a talk with Walter." Ettore left and closed the door behind him.
"Excuse me," said the one guy on the scopes. "But who is this Walter? I don't think I've ever met him. What does he do?"
"Never mind just take care of your own job."
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Lieutenant March and Banai were up before dawn. Banai went through his Wudu, his ritual cleaning, before prayer while the Lieutenant stretched out. They walked back on the fantail together where Banai was greet by Petty Officer Dalir and three other men with Persian and Arabic last names. The sun was beginning to rise so they had to hurry. They laid out their prayer rugs on the deck and stood facing Mecca.
"As-salāmu ʿalaykumā" said Banai as he greeted the men. At first two of them seemed a little apprehensive of Banai but they went along.
"Waʿalaykumu s-salām," said Dalir. You have to excuse Antar and Abadi they weren't sure how you'd accept them being here.
"Why? Because they're Arab. I leave those things to other people. For me we're all the same when we pray. Now get ready the first rays can already be seen we need to start Fajir. Dalir, this is your ship so will you lead?"
"I'd be honored," he said as he began.
Lieutenant Marsh heard some of what went on and made a mental note to ask Banai later what the problem was. But right now was his running time so after stretching he started running around the outside of the ship.
Casey was already up too. The Lieutenant had briefed him about what had happened in the wardroom so he bent the ear of the Skipper who in turn had a talk to the XO. Now John needed to go apologize to Banai but the Skipper headed him off.
"Colonel, you need to come up to CIC we've got a problem," said the Skipper. John had to put off looking for Banai and followed the Skipper up to the bridge then went aft into CIC. Inside there was a flurry of activity as people were plotting something on a chart.
"What's going on? Why all the activity," said John. The Skipper waved him over to a chart and showed him.
"Our radars lit up like a Christmas tree a little while ago. Someone out there is radiating us. At first we thought it was the Contessa and she seems to have seen us but there's another radar that's locked onto us. Its signal is coming from over here," said the Skipper as he pointed at a group of islands off the coast of Bulgaria.
"You mean from Snake Island? That's where we thing the Contessa is heading," said Casey as he looked down at the map.
"That's what we thought too but as we started to look closer we found that it's coming from near Snake Island but not on it. If we continue following the Contessa, your target will see us coming and there goes your element of surprise. We need to come up with another tactic if this is going to work."
"I can take Banai and the seal team to Snake Island. We can use the Blackhawk in stealth mode so they won't see us coming and land in an unpopulated area. From there we hump it to wherever we have to go to or commandeer a vehicle. However, one plus is being closer to the source we can pin point its origin and take it out if necessary."
"Good that sounds like a plan. Once the chopper takes off we'll change course and skirt the contested area. That will tick the Russians off who will make a formal protest and our friends onboard the ship will think this is a part of our exercise."
"Not a bad plan I just hope no Russian jet jockey has an itchy trigger finger when they do their fly over."
"I'm not worried about that we've done this before. They radiate us and we radiate them but no one pulls the trigger."
"Geez that's it," said Casey. "What would happen in one of these maneuvers if someone accidentally did pull the trigger. Think about and what if that bullet were nuclear."
"The other side would immediately respond in kind unless there were mitigating circumstances that would keep them from pulling the trigger. But what evidence would be left? It would all be destroyed in the blast."
"Not if it were a two stage rocket. There still would be the first stage and the nuclear foot print. Scientist can examine the bomb site and from the nuclear isotopes they can determine the country or geographical origin of the radioactive material used to construct it. If Chuck were here he could explain it better than I can. We need to get going that nuke has to be close by," said Casey.
"I'll notify the pilot so he can get his flight crew ready and have the flight deck crew prep the bird for immediate takeoff."
"I'll grab Lieutenant Marsh and Banai. The Lieutenant can get his people geared up while I have a sit down with Banai and explain to him the situation. He needs to buy into this being our only option."
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Back in Bethesda Army Hospital the General was being anything but the ideal patient. As soon as she was moved out of the ICU she was chomping at the bit to be released. Devon was gone, he had to go back to Chicago and now the hospital staff had to try to manage her. In the end her doctors decided it was best to let nature take its course and this case nature's first name was Diane.
"Okay Roan, I'll buy into letting Banai tag along. There's not much we can do to stop him short of kidnapping. If we did that State would fit to be tied. I see their point about this being an opportunity to repair bridges. But someone should inform these people that all of this will come with a price," said the General as her doctor took a reading from her heart monitor. "Doc, I know that look but if this goes sideways it would be better if that flat lined."
"You just don't overdo it and I won't have to interrupt this… whatever this is," he said. She paused looking at him then the door. "Okay, I can take your not so subtle hint I need to go."
"It's you don't have the clearance to hear the rest of this conversation," said Diane as the Major's phone rang. The Doctor stopped and looked at the Major.
"What did I tell you people about bringing phones in here. I don't know about you but in my dictionary no means no and yes means yes and I definitely said no to phones being on."
"Ma'am it's the director of the Russian FSB Clandestine Service. He called your office and Connie patched him over to me."
"Put him on speaker," said eh General as she raised the bed she was in so she could sit up. "Roan this is about your mess in the Black Sea."
"Diane, this is Igor. I heard about what happened to you - shot in the heart. You're lucky it wasn't an important organ. I had our ambassador there send my regards."
"Yes, I can always count on you to lighten my day. But if I remember right you've fired a few rounds at Roan and me."
"That's right when we had that rather short incursion into East Germany. All we wanted to do was to see if the beer tasted better."
"And smuggle out a roll of micro film. I remember that quite well too. I might have been shooting at you two but you were returning fire too. I've got a scar to prove it and at the time a perforated lung. Yes, those were the good old days."
"I appreciated the walk down memory lane but you're not calling me about my health so we can cut to the chase. The Mason is running routine exercises in the Black Sea so there's no need in getting all bent out of shape over it. They will be done in a few days then leave."
"Routine exercises you say then can you tell me what to odd couple are up to? I'm talking about Colonel Casey and Agent Banai of VAJA. Talking about strange bed fellow but I think this has to do with a certain missing Iranian missile. You might've burnt your contacts in Iran but we still have ours."
"You've got me at a disadvantage being in the hospital I've been out of the loop for a few days and Roan was about to bring me up to speed. Let's do this after he's briefed me I'll call you back."
"Don't keep me waiting. There are people here who are nervous."