Don't own Chuck
Jack was just starting to sip on his drink when he set it aside. Drinking wasn't going to help and you don't find answers in the bottom of a bottle. He'd lived his life by his wits and they'd always brought him through. They weren't going to fail him now his only problem was he just had to think situation through and a solution would come. Maybe not the one everyone like or appreciate but he just had to put his mind to it and something would come. The team had, from everything Margo had told him, flown in without any weapons which meant if they were here to do what she said they had to procure them or use strong words.
"Come on Jack," he said holding up his glass. "The solution is right here in front of you but not in this glass. This is nothing more than another con and you are the king of conmen. You aren't going to let these armature upstarts waltz in and show you up are you?"
Jack set the glass down on his desk then looked over the ledgers. He glanced over the totals to see if he was making or losing money. It was a habit he started no long after he became manager that at least once a day he looked over to see how the previous day went.
"Crap just look at this. This crack down on guests is hurting my casino business," said Jack as he looked over the bottom lines. The amount of revenue for the casino was now less than money he made from hotel accommodations.
"If this keeps up soon I'm going to have to give rooms away to get people in to play but for now it's good. But I may have to rethink that idea of giving away room reservation to the right whale or I'll be in trouble," said Jack. His eyes fixed on the numbers then an idea hit him. "Yes, reservations... Oh Jack, you've done it again," he said as he darted out faster than he did when he came in before. He went straight over to the check-in clerk and stood over her shoulder as she was checking guests in. His breathing down her neck made her nervous until she couldn't take it.
"Can I help you Mr. Burton," said the girl feeling a little uneasy with her boss standing over her shoulder looking at her work. "Have I done something wrong?"
"I don't think so have you? I just want to have a peek at the reservations for today," said Jack. The girl looked at him strange but brought them up on the display.
"Mr. Burton one moment I've got customers to check-in," said the girl. "If you can wait just a few minutes I can take care of you but let me take care of our clients first.
"Certainly I don't want to interfere with your work but you do realize you work for me," said Jack. But looking up he caught the not so friendly look from an elderly couple standing on the other side of check-in desk.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting but here you go," Jack said as he handed them a stack of chips. "We're experiencing some computer difficulties so this is so you can go in the casino and play a few hands on the house. Although your husband is probably out of luck after he found you madam."
"Why thank you, young man," said the elderly woman. "Come on I want to spend some of that on the crap table."
"And what am I supposed to do while you're trying to hit snake eyes?" said the elderly man. "You're starting to make me wish I'd brought my wife."
"You know I told you she didn't want to come. She's perfectly happy in the urn over the fireplace where it's nice and warm."
"Ha, where she's at it's a lot hotter than over the fireplace but there are a lot of flames. Let's go I can watch you play for a bit then I can get us drinks."
"Here's another present," said Jack. This time he handed the man a card for a free round of drinks at the bar. "The first round is on me."
"Come on I'm feeling like I've got a hot streak going. I need to bet on something before it goes away," said the woman as she ran into the casino.
"She says she's got a hot streak… more like a hot flash. I need to run before she loses her shirt and buddy that's a sight reserved for me," said the old man as he followed the woman inside.
"Okay Darling let me have a look at that console," said Jack. "Yes... hum I want to move this reservation here and that reservation there..."
"Mr. Burton what are you doing? You can't go around and switch people's reservations like that. You're going to piss off a lot of people."
"Why? As long as the rooms are basically the same there's shouldn't be a problem. I'll hang around here and catch whatever flak they dish out but I have my reasons," said Jack. As he was finishing talking with the women he looked up to see the 'so-called' businessmen walk in and off to the side standing out of sight was Margo. Jack caught her look when she saw him behind the reception desk.
"We have a reservation," said the one with a thick heavy accent that Jack couldn't place. "The reservation is under Smith for a party of five."
"Yes I have you in my computer. Can I have your passports please then I can get you checked in. I have an American Express card on file would you like to use that to cover the rooms or do you have another one you want to use?"
"No, you can use that one," said the man as he looked up at Jack standing behind the girl. "Is there something wrong?"
"No... no the computer is acting up," said the woman as she glanced back at Jack. "Here you go these are your room cards. You can call down to have your meals sent up to your room or you can dine in the dining room. There's an information book in your room that explains all this plus numbers and times things are opened," she said as she passed them their room passes.
"Hey these aren't the numbers we were given when we made the reservations", said the man as he looked at the keycards. "We were..."
"Were what?" said Jack as he took over. "I'm so sorry for the inconvenience but as you heard we're experiencing computer difficulties but if you give me one moment," said Jack as he stepped behind the console. "Now what were the numbers you were promised?"
"502, 504, and 506... they were connecting rooms so that we could open them up for a... for a business meeting we're holding. Yes, that's it for a business meeting."
"I see but unfortunately we have guests in those rooms right now. Tell you what you take these rooms for tonight free and I'll see what I can do to get you in those rooms tomorrow. Since you're being so reasonable about this I'll throw in a free dinner in the dining room and a round of drinks in the bar." The man growled but looking around there was little he could do.
"We'll take the meal but we don't drink... it's against our religion," said the man as he took the voucher and left with their keycards.
Margo watched the men get on the elevator then met Jack in the middle of the lobby. She wanted to know what he thought he was doing. Jack could tell by Margo's look she wasn't happy but he motioned for her to calm down then he got her in the elevator.
"Jack, are you crazy? It's bad enough I have to watch the kids now I've got to put someone on you too. You shouldn't have had anything to do with these people and now they know who you are. What part of let us handle this didn't you understand?"
"Don't worry I've got everything all worked out just calm down and let me explain. It dawned on me if they could book their rooms in advance then then could also station their arsenal ahead of time too. Do you feel like doing a little exploring with me," said Jack as he held up his master room keycard.
"You really think they've already stationed their weapons in their rooms... but if they did that then you know what that means don't you?"
"Yeah, we've got a mole among us. But with everything we know I think that was to be expected," said Jack as the elevator doors opened up on the fifth floor. "They said they had 502, 4 and 6... I'll do two you do six then we'll do four together."
"It sounds like a plan," said Margo. What Jack said made sense and if they could find the weapons trove then they'd be one step closer to gaining the upper hand. She went into 506 and began looking around. She dumped the drawers out of the dresser then checked the back of the toilet. She tossed the mattress but she didn't find anything.
"Crap, nothing," said Margo. There was only one place left the look and it was hard to get to because it was up high. She moved the dresser over and placed a chair on it so she could reach the air conditioning duct. She opened the face plate but the only thing inside was dust.
"Did you find anything?" asked Jack. He walked through the adjoining doors to check on her. "You might want to be careful up there. If you fall you can get hurt."
"I don't know about you but so far for me this has been a bust," said Margo. Jack pulled out two H&K MP5Ks. "Where'd you find those at?"
"When you know all the cons you'll never be a sucker. Wait, watch, and learn," said Jack as he went over to the window pulled the curtains closed then walked back to the door where he flipped the light switch. Margo looked over and saw two of the same types of weapons hidden in the light cover.
"Give me those and retrieve the rest," said Margo as jumped down. She took the weapons and started field stripping them. "I'm going to remove the firing pins then you can put them back where you found them."
"There are grenades up there too what do you plan on doing with them?" said as he handed her two more MP5Ks.
"Give me a count and I'll see if we can come up with duds from our armory or substitute them with flash grenades that we mark as theirs. Jack you realize that someone in the hotel or casino is helping these people."
"I hate to admit it but you're right. I want to start looking through the people in housekeeping. They would have the easiest access to these rooms but the truth is it could be anyone on the hotel staff."
"Jack, do me favor and copy down the serial numbers from these. I want to take an inventory down in the armory and see if we have any weapons missing."
"What? You think these are ours... I mean yours? If they are it kind of makes sense, they had to have come from somewhere and to bring them in from the outside would be risky..."
"Let's not jump the gun on this so to speak. I just said I needed to check but I think this find we need to keep just to you, me and Mike."
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In Lubyanka square Igor was pacing back and forth in his office. Something was going on and he didn't like not knowing what it was. He had his secretary call for Stefan and Anatoly now he was waiting for them to show up which just aggravated him even more. His secretary brought him in a cup of chamomile tea to help settle his nerve.
"Why are bringing me that cup of... well disgusting hot water. You go back to the samovar and bring me back a descent cup of tea and take this cup away. If you like it so much you can drink it now go," said Igor. Stefan and Anatoly didn't have to ask what kind of mood their boss was in.
"You know your doctor told you to watch your blood pressure and getting angry over a cup of tea isn't going to help it," said Stefan as he made a face at it when the man took it by.
"If people came when I called for them then maybe I wouldn't be in this mood. I have a mission for you two... both of you," said Igor as he rolled out a map. "I need for you to go to Sevastopol and from there a submarine will take you two here... Snake Island. You will be accompanied by a squad of Spetsnaz..."
"What do you want us to do? Take the island from the Bulgarians," said Stefan. "Or does this have to do with the rumor that's going around about an Iranian missile?"
"Iranian missile? What Iranian missile," said Anatoly. "Can someone bring me up to speed?" Igor looked over at Stefan.
"It's best for everyone that rumors not be repeated until they are officially confirmed. But yes we have intel that says the Iranians lost a missile and we believe it was taken here. The CIA is hot on its trail with..."
"Chuck and Sarah are there. Good I've been dying to see photos of the new baby," said Anatoly. He shut up when he caught Igor's look.
"We don't know if they are there but Colonel Casey and the hairy one were seen on a pier in Butami along with Agent Banai of the VAJA..."
"Were they shooting at each other?" asked Stephan. "But how do we get from Batumi in Georgia to Snake Island across the Black Sea?"
"If I can finish without being interrupted all the time I'll explain and you're concerned about my blood pressure? Anyway it seems the two parties are collaborating against an unknown third party. A Blackhawk picked the Colonel and the hairy-one up off the pier and transported them onboard the Mason in the Black Sea. Then it shadowed another ship 'the Contessa' which pulled into Snake Island a few minutes ago."
"I take it we don't have any assets on the island," said Stefan as he and Anatoly studied the map. "Maybe it would be better if just Anatoly and myself landed on the island. It's probably sparsely inhabited and it would be easier for two people to move around then a whole squad. Let's face it Spetsnaz are good at breaking things. This is going to require a little more finesse if we don't want to start an international incident."
"We could go ashore establish a com link with the sub then once we know the situation call them in or handle the situation ourselves."
"That normally would be okay but not this time. I don't know I tried to get a straight answer out of Langley and I talked with their General in the hospital. She promised to get back to me but nothing and now when I try to call her back I'm getting she needs her rest and can't be disturbed..."
"Well the woman was gunned down outside her office so I can understand it taking a little time to mend," said Anatoly. "You might be making more out of this than it actually is."
"I could be but I don't think so. I've known Diane for too long... longer than you've two been wearing long pants. No, there's something else going on and it's bad enough to get the CIA and the VAJA in bed with each other. You're going to take one of the Spetsnaz with you..."
"Really? Come on please. We know how each other thinks and to break in a new person is going to take time we don't have."
"This is a three-person mission and I know just the person. Besides you won't have to break this person in they've already worked with you."
"Sir, the Major is here to see you like you asked for," said Igor's secretary. "I've got your tea too if you want it now?"
"Do I drink my tea cold? Of course I want it now. Serge, if you weren't my wife's second cousin I'd have you transferred. I hear they need people with secretarial skills in Yakutsk..."
"They just need people who still have their fingers and haven't lost them to frostbite," said Stefan as Anatoly laughed.
"Anatoly, I'd know that laugh anywhere," said a female voice from the outer office. Then they saw her in the doorway. "Major Stanasolovski reporting as requested."
"You two could learn something from the Major about being on time," said Igor as the took a flask from his desk drawer and poured some into his tea.
"Like following doctor's orders," said Anatoly as he spied him spiking his tea. "I believe you're supposed to lay off hard alcohol."
"Let me get one thing clear here and now. We spy on other people not on me and my medical record is off-limits from this day forward."
"So it's Major now congratulations on the promotion," said Stefan. "But we're going to have to get you out of that uniform." Igor looked up at him. "I mean you're going to need civilian clothes for this operation. But we can have them waiting for us in Sevastopol. If we're going to be able to do anything we need to leave now. Colonel Casey has the jump on us."
"Oh are we going to meet Chuck and Sarah," asked Imma. "I've been meaning to write."
"Will you three kindly remember who you work for and get out of my sight before I give you a tour of the basement."
"Come on we can catch you up on our way to the airport," said Stefan as he quickly got everyone out of Igor's office.
"I'm running a madhouse here," said Igor as he sat back down in his chair and looked at his tea. He pushed it aside and pulled the flask out of his desk taking a hit from it then he held it up. "Geez Chuck, this is Scotch you sent me."
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Casey waited in the timberline watching the patrol from below. He wasn't taking any risks he had the Lieutenant's men keep the guards in their crosshairs while they milled about in the area they'd landed at. However, the patrol seemed oblivious at being watched. They got off their quads then broke out binoculars and looked around like they were surveying the area.
"What's going on up there," said Marsh. "If they look down this way they'll see us. Shouldn't we go ahead and take them out?"
"No, just wait a few minutes," said Banai. "I've got an idea what's going on and you'll see you've got nothing to worry about. Being Muslim in a western country isn't easy and you'll see what I mean in a few minutes. There are so many temptations that sooner or later some people break down and give in."
"I think I see what you mean. You've got to see this they're breaking out beers," said Casey as he smiled. "Boy I could use one of those right now. Banai, how did you know what they were up to?"
"Let's just say I've seen this happen before. Like I said temptation is everywhere and not everyone can resist. Come on they're going to busy up there so we can make it down to the boathouse now. They'll be up there for a while they can't go back to wherever they came from smelling like a brewery. I wonder how they're going to justify missing prayer."
"That's their problem. Come on let's go you heard the man let's move out but keep the noise down. They might be partying up there but they can still hear," said Casey as he took up point with Banai by his side. Marsh hung back with his men as they made their way down to the water's edge.
"Don't worry we'll find Morgan and when we do he'll be okay," said Banai. "I know you're worried about him. But he seems like someone who can take care of himself."
"What makes you think I'm worried about him? I've got a mission to get done and that's what I'm doing. I don't have time to worry about one person. Besides if there's one thing he's proven to me is he can't take care of himself. Whatever is... is nothing I can do right now can change that. I'll translate that for you because you seem hard of hearing I'm not worried."
"Keep repeating that over and over. In the end you might convince yourself for a little while. But you don't fool me John Casey, I can see under that wall of stone you throw up when something gets too close..."
"Will you shut up. You're starting to get on my nerves and my finger is beginning to itch. Believe me you don't want it to do that. I think you're been hanging around Chuck too long you're almost starting to sound like him...a broken record. Keep it up and I really will break it."
"I hear you John. Yes, I hear you but we both know what's really bothering you deep down inside and what you're doing here... well it's called displaced aggression."
"I'll show you displaced aggression when I dislocate your jaw and finally get some quiet. Shush we're here," said Casey. "Lieutenant disperse your men around the boathouse."
"I think I hear something or someone inside," said Banai in a low voice. "What if they've heard us and have a radio."
"We can't afford to wait around with our hands in our pockets. We need to go in now," said Casey. "Everyone follow me in." John kicked the door in then charged in only to find a himself looking down the barrel of a Karabiner 98k.