Don't own Chuck
Chuck was led to a cell then unceremoniously shoved inside. Shortly afterwards two guards brought him his lunch on a try. Chuck looked at it and wasn't sure what he was supposed to do... eat it or use it to attract something tasty. On the tray was something that looked like a hamburger or a hockey puck, the latter probably being more tender, with a packet of ketchup and what looked like overcooked grey vegetables.
"Well, let's see how long before I have guests," said Chuck. "Now for a little finger painting. This is like being back in elementary school." Then he heaved a sigh, "…before Dad took off. No time for thinking about the past Chuck you need to get to work."
He dumped the food on the floor then used the ketchup packet to draw on the bottom of the tray using his finger as a stylus.
"Well not bad Chuck this should get their motors going," he said as he admired his handiwork. "Just a little more… wow let's turn this thing over." He was turning the tray over when he heard the key being inserted in the lock. Chuck looked up to see Ettore and Abu walk in with armed guards.
"Let me guess what's going on if you don't mind. You've tried your machine now you think you don't need me anymore. Did I hit the nail on the head?"
"Just tell us why we should keep you around? Because Ettore is saying why should we take the risk of keeping you around and I don't know why" said Abu. Then he noticed Chuck's dinner on the floor. "I take it your food wasn't to your liking."
"Let's just say I won't be sending my compliments to the chef. So you two didn't listen to me and went ahead and used the intersect. Don't deny it the flickering lights and power loss were a dead giveaway. Now that you know everything you're wondering why keep me around?"
"I think I've already said that and I'm waiting for a convincing argument and don't try skirting around an answer. That won't fly now… especially not now."
"I know that cocky attitude. I bet you're feeling like you're on the top of the world right now. You're starting to think yourselves better than everyone else. But have you noticed you're a little more on edge… some people might even say 'mean'. You fly off the handle over nothing."
"So what. If that's the only side effect we can live with that… maybe not everyone around us but that's their problem not ours," said Ettore. "See I told you he'd waste our time trying to save himself."
"Really, that's what you think I'm doing. You want to talk about side effects. Okay let's talk side effects… you haven't had the splitting headaches yet," said Chuck as he flipped his tray over to the design he'd drawn on the bottom. Both Ettore and Abu dropped to the ground moaning and groaning. Their men looked at each other then dragged them out slamming the door behind them. Chuck looked at his drawing.
"Wow let's turn that back over. Maybe I did exaggerate a bit." But a few minutes later they both came back in holding cold compresses on their foreheads.
"What the crap was that," said Abu holding a cold pack to his forehead visibly angry. "If you thought that was funny I'm not laughing."
"I warned you not to use the machine but you didn't listen to me. Certain geometrical shapes and images can cause the intersect to go into overload. Your brain can't process the information so you… well for a better term your brain crashes."
"Is there any way to get around crashing?" said Abu as he handed the cold pack to his goon. "There has to be something your father thought of. If you know about this, it has to have happened before."
"Sorry, but didn't you ever ask yourself why we weren't churning out super agents right and left," said Chuck. There was no way he was going to tell them anything about what he'd learned over time and certainly nothing about the governor.
"What about this Shaw person? The machine had his name in it as being the last person this was tried on. We should find him and see what he can tell us."
"Good luck on that because you're going to need to hold a séance. Let me explain Shaw was a puppet for the Ring. He tried to take over all the clandestine services worldwide and nearly did it but he went stark raving mad. Ultimately it was his insanity that brought the Ring down. He was arrested and tossed in solitary confinement in Federal prison. Leavenworth, if I remember correctly where he was shived by a fellow inmate. Remember I told you about your pleasant personality change."
"How could anyone get close enough to take him out. We know Kung Fu," said Ettore as he dropped into a fighting stance.
"But it doesn't make you bullet proof which is something you should keep in mind. You're experiencing the rush right now. But remember how you felt with I showed you that drawing. We don't even know if this this upload you guys got is permanent or if one of these days it just might wear off. One thing is sure the more you use it… I mean these flashes of information or abilities the more damage it will do to your brain."
"What do you mean by damage and how many times do we have to use if before we start seeing this damage."
"You probably can see it now. You're like a boxer who's always in the ring and can't keep his hands up. You're constantly getting whacked in the head to use a medical term and with each whack you'll get a brain lesion."
"Translate that for us in practical terms. What will this do to us in the long term?" said Abu. He wasn't sure if he believed Chuck but the headache had been real.
"Memory loss is one of the side effects of prolonged use. Your brain functions on bio-electrical impulses and like sticking a 110 light bulb in a 220 outlet it's getting fried. The difference is the brain is a little more elastic than a lightbulb so in the beginning it can put up with it and even repair some of the initial damage. However, every time you use it your brain becomes less able to cope with the overload."
"So what happens in the end," said Abu. "We become stark raving lunatics unable to feed and clean ourselves."
"If that were only it. In the end, it will kill you and don't say I didn't warn you or try to stop you but neither of you listened to me. I wish I could say it was nice knowing you but this couldn't have happened to a nicer pair."
"You can cut out the sarcasm and jokes. We're not in the mood. So what can be done now about this? There has to be a cure of some kind."
"There is but I don't know if you're going to like it. You're going to have to have the Intersect removed. There is a device at Langley that can do that. But I can tell you they won't give it to you unless you turn yourself in."
"I don't see that happening," said Abu. Ettore remain silent as he weighed his options. Turning himself in over dying wasn't that bad a deal and who can predict what the future holds. He just might be able to escape from prison to start his nefarious enterprises again. "Come on Ettore I need to make some calls. I haven't been able to check up on everyone yet."
"What did you say? Oh right you want to go," said Ettore as he followed Abu out but stopped in the door way and looked back at Chuck. "Looks like you're going to go without dinner tonight. Too bad it looked so appetizing."
"If that was dinner I prefer to go without. I'm not that desperate yet," said Chuck. The door closed and he was by himself again. He hoped he'd misled them enough that they wouldn't go looking for Shaw. But he wished he knew what happened in the Intersect room because they both carried a strong smell of smoke which he concluded that their intersect experience had to have been a hot one and their hopes of using it to turn out super agents went up in smoke.
"Chuck, you need to be careful with those two. One flash and everything could blow up in your face. But they haven't ridden the dragon as long as you have and you can use that against them."
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Casey, Banai and the Lieutenant were talking with Grigor trying to come up with a way to enter Abu's hideout without being seen. But as they were discarding the obvious possibilities Kowalski, who was on watch at the door, yelled for them to come and have a look. They peeked out through a crack in the frame to see the men who had been partying on the knoll coming down towards them on their quads.
"Crap they must've heard the gunshot and came down here to investigate. Okay this is my fault and I know we didn't want to take them out before but we may not have a choice anymore," said the Lieutenant. "Everyone get ready we'll let them get in close then take them out before they know what hit them."
"Maybe we can sneak out and avoid them finding us so we keep from tipping our hand. Grigor is there another way out of this boathouse? Grigor? Has anyone seen the kid?" said Casey but when they looked around Grigor was gone along with his Mauser.
"Crap, where's he at," said Casey. He found a hole in the floor boards behind some fishing net balled up in the corner.
"Come back over here," yelled Marsh. "He's outside walking towards the patrol. What's he trying to do? You don't think he's going to turn us in to get his father back?"
"Don't be ridiculous that kid is smart enough to know you can't negotiate with these people. They might agree in the beginning but in the end, they'd shoot us, him and his father. If nothing else as examples to what happens to people who collaborate with anyone from the outside.
"Can you keep it down I'm having a hard time hearing," said Banai as he listened in on Grigor speaking Bulgarian with the men on the quads. "He's trying to throw the patrol off our scent. They asked him if he as the one who fired the shot they heard and he said yes. He said he was shooting at a wild boar but missed and it got away."
"Do they sound like they believe him," asked Casey as he watched them dismount from their quads and circled around him. Suddenly one of the men slapped the boy knocking him to the ground then took his weapon. John started to pull his Sig but Banai turned around and stopped him.
"No John you can't. I don't like this either but Grigor is doing this for us and we need to let him run with this even if he's a boy. Unfortunately, on this island with those men he doesn't have the luxury of being one.
"I swear when I get my hands on that guy, and believe me I will, I'm going to tear him limb from limb from limb."
"He did it they're going away," said the Lieutenant. They watched as the boy got up dusted himself off then walked back to the boathouse. Casey was at the door when he walked in. He grabbed him and pulled him aside as the men were praising him.
"You guys put a sock in it. He could've gotten himself killed. And now for you… Don't you ever do anything as harebrained as that again or I'm going to put my boot... well just don't do it again. Marsh throw me a cold pack," said Casey as he looked at the boy's face. "You're going to have a shiner but you'll live which is more than I can say for the guy who did this to you when I get my hands on him."
"What the Colonel is trying to say in Casey talk is thanks," said Banai. "But getting back to our problem how are we going to get inside their camp if we can't repel down from the ceiling?"
"That used to be the only way in but not anymore," said the boy. "They had to make a tunnel run cable from their cave to above ground then they ran it back to the pier to connect with the ship. I don't know why but that's what they did."
"I'm guessing for power," said John. "To operate a missile base and whatever else they're doing down there requires a lot of power... more power than they can justify for use on a rock this big and the population it holds."
"You know what this means don't you," said Banai. "They might have some people in their pocket but they don't have everyone. Their moles probably told them if they started causing a massive power drain there would only be so much they could cover up and if the brown outs became rolling black outs then people would start investigating. That is something they couldn't risk happening."
"What you're saying makes sense so why don't we just go blow up this cable," said Marsh as he studied the map. "That's a long cable and if we serve their link that will slow down their operation and maybe give us more time to plan our attack."
"Time to do what? If we do that they'll know we're onto them then move up their time table and place guards on their cable if they haven't already. That's maybe what those guys on the quads were doing. But if we do what you're suggesting we give away our presence, we don't know whether it will be effective and we won't get a second shot. Worst case scenario they organize search parties and hunt us down."
"Don't forget," said Banai. "Thanks to Grigor we still have the element of surprise and we need to exploit that. Grigor, this tunnel they built for their cable is it big enough for us to walk through?"
"He might have to bend over," said Grigor pointing at Casey. "But the rest of you shouldn't have any problem. I have just one request before I show you where it is and that is I want to come along with you."
"No way... absolutely not. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is going to be? If they catch us there'll be shooting and not idle threats but lead flying. Let's make a deal If I can I'll promise you I'll try to free your father," said Casey. The Lieutenant shook his head walking away. Banai followed him.
"I can see we need the kid but I don't know if I agree with lying to him… not with everything the kid's been through," said Marsh as he looked back over at Casey still negotiating with Grigor. "I don't know maybe I'm getting soft."
"No, I wouldn't say soft… just human. But what makes you think Casey is lying? From what I know about John and his reputation if the man makes you a promise he keeps it. That's part of what's been eating at him ever since you picked us up on the pier. The man we lost was to be his future son-in-law and he promised his daughter he'd bring him home safe and sound."
"Geez, he promised what? Why did he promise her that? How'd he ever expect to keep a promise like that," said the Lieutenant as he glanced back over at Casey.
"And I can tell you've never built a tiger trap," said Banai. "It's not always the tiger that gets trapped." Casey looked over at him and gave him a frown then waved them back.
"Okay do you two mind coming back over so I can explain the deal," said John as he gave Banai a curious look. "The kid is going to take us to the entrance to this tunnel and only to there," said Casey looking back at Grigor.
"That's what I promised but you remember to hold up your end of the deal," said the boy as he rubbed his sore jaw.
"I said I would. Okay then from there we're going to make our way down below. Now I suggest everyone try to get a little shut eye we leave here at midnight and use darkness as our cover. So cut the chatter and get some sleep it may be a while before you get anymore or you might get too much if things go sideways."
"Do you have a blanket or something I can put on the floor," asked Banai. The boy looked at him like he was crazy but he handed him an empty gunnysack.
"Thank," said Banai. Then he went outside and got a bucket of seawater to wash himself for his wudu. Then he started getting ready for his evening prayer as the sunset.
"Do you mind if I watch," asked the Lieutenant. "I'm, let's say, a little curious after seeing you on the fantail on the Mason."
"No not at all. If you'd like you can follow along, I'll explain to you what I'm doing. But first let's get you cleaned."
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Anatoly, Stefan and Imma arrived on a military flight from Moscow to Sevastopol. At the airport they were met by a dark Lada 4x4 with tinted windows and from there they were whisked down to the port where they boarded a waiting submarine. A Severodvinsk-class the newest and the best the Russian navy had to offer. They shoved off as soon as they were below decks heading out of port then submerging slipping out of sight in the Black Sea.
"Okay we're at our running depth. Course and heading laid in and set for Snake Island," said the officer of the deck reporting to the Skipper.
"Very good maintain course and heading. Executive Officer, I want to see you in my cabin with our guests," said the Skipper as he stepped of the bridge into his cabin.
A little while later there was a knock on his door and after he said come in his Executive Officer walked in with his three guests. The Captain was standing around a table looking at a chart.
"Please have a seat," said the Skipper as he pointed to the chairs bolted down to the deck in his tiny cabin. "Sorry but space is at a premium onboard a sub. I'm not going to ask you your names so you don't have to lie to me but I haven't had an operation thrown on me like this in... well a very long time. I think the last time I had something like done to me I was a lowly ensign and we were flying a different flag back then."
"Sir, we're sorry but our mission is classified. I can reassure you the less you know about it the better off you and your crew are."
"I thought it might be something like that. We're heading on the course your people gave us but there is an American warship in our way. If they try to stop us, you have to tell me is this worth starting world war three?"
"I can tell you that our people believe it is grave. How grave we won't know until we get there but to get there we're going to have to get past that American warship."
"Well then I'm going to have to use every trick I know to get past her," said the Skipper as he studied Anatoly and Stefan.
"Skipper," said Imma. "You have your orders and we have ours. I think you can understand that. You can get us near the island then we can swim ashore and you get rid of us.
"That's not going to be that easy," said the Skipper as he waved for them to come and stand around the chart. "There are only a few places you can swim ashore at. These other places have strong currents that will take you out to sea. We could come into the port and surface but from what I was told you're not sure if they're friendly."
"We could use a water sleigh to fight the currents and land on this other side. They won't be expecting anyone there and we can make our way inland without being detected."
"Sounds like a plan to me," said the Skipper. "I'm not going to ask if you're dive qualified but I hope you are because what you're talking about doing is... well pure crazy." There was a knock on the Skipper's door then a man stuck his head in.
"Sir you're needed out here. The American ship... they're calling for us to identify ourselves," said the man then he went back outside.
"So much for trying to sneak by. Well, it was a good plan let's hope you can still use it and we don't provoke world war three. XO send that coded message back to Sevastopol while I play a game of cat and mouse. You're invited to stay on the bridge just don't get in our way."