Don't own Chuck

Anatoly was hiding out in the hold when he heard the security alert called away and realized they would be coming to look for him. He got up and started looking around for a place he could hole up in or at least some place he could defend. Already he could hear men coming and he knew he had to think and act quickly.

"Hurry up you need to get out of sight," he said to himself. "Find someplace to hide so they'll pass you by then you'll get on the other side of the search parties. If you can pull that off, you'll give a little bit more time to think if I want to stay onboard or take your luck on the pier." He heard men coming so he climbed up in the overhead.

"Down this way," yelled one of the men. "Call back up and see if the CCTV is back up. Never mind I think I saw him come down this way. Hurry up shake the lead out."

"Are you sure? I think we've already looked down here ten minutes ago and the place was clear then. Who is this guy anyway? I hope he's not Houdini."

"I don't know. But for sure he's not him. We were just told to grab him and take him up the Bridge. They want to question him up there. If you want to know more you can go up and ask for yourself."

"Remember what happened to the search party for that guy who looked like that Italian dude. I'm just saying if we don't find him he never existed."

"I'll second that," said another man. "I've no desire to become fish food. Yes, find him but I don't understand the uproar he's caused. We don't have anything left on board for the guy to steal anyway. You know he's probably a local looking for something to eat."

"Will you guys stop your complaining and keep up," said the one as they passed under Anatoly and kept on walking. "Come on let's go back to the hold and look around. That would be the place I'd hide out in."

"You mean other than that bar at the end of the pier. I believe I've seen you hiding out in the bottom of a few bottles there."

"Keep it down," said the man offended. "You know how these people feel about alcohol. That would be a quick way for me to take a midnight swim with chains wrapped around me and bricks in my pockets."

"You could always drink the bay dry," said the same man as the rest laughed. "Come on it was a good joke... lighten up a bit dude."

"You lighten up," said the man as he shoved the guy against the bulkhead. "You're laughing about me drowning. I don't have to like it. How'd you like me holding your head down in the toilet bowel and playing submarine."

"I'd like to see you try. But it won't be you who yells fire one," said the man as he pushed the man back.

"Hey you two pipe down or I'll toss you both overboard. Your making so much noise that our guy is going to hear us before he sees us."

"It's not me it's him. He's joking about me being tossed overboard by our riders. I don't appreciate being made fun of and especially when it has to do with me being thrown over the side like a bag of rubbish."

"You're right I'm sorry for insulting all the bags of rubbish in the world comparing them to you," said the guy. The other man took a swing at him. They grabbed each other and started fighting.

"Break it up now," said the leader of the search party. He got in the middle and pushed the two men apart. "You two hot heads take a breather and cool off. I want you to go back down to the security office and see what the status of CCTV is. You I want to see take a walk down the passageway..."

In the meantime, Anatoly thought the search party had passed him by so he climbed out of his hiding place in the overhead only to come face to face with one of the belligerent men.

"I got him," yelled the man as he tried to grab Anatoly by the shoulder to pull him back. But Anatoly spun around circling his arm under the man's arm popping it off his shoulder while blocking a punch with the other. Anatoly delivered a chopping blow to the man's neck that also slammed his head into the steel bulkhead. It made a loud ping then the man went down.

"There he is," yelled more voices behind him so he had to run again. He thought about drawing and firing but inside a metal box one miss and a wrong ricochet... he could take himself out.

"Run Anatoly, feet don't fail me now," he said to himself. But his fears were soon realized some of the men had broken off and ran down the other side of the ship to circle in front on him. He was now trapped with no place to go.

"Crap," he said. "Well if I've got to go I'm going down swinging." He looked at both sides trying to pick which one he could fight his way through then he charged. He ran down at them screaming and as he did he noticed they turned pale almost frozen in place. Taking advantage of their momentary distraction he plowed into them like a dreadnought pulling his pistol he used it is like a knuckle duster. He had the last one down and was getting to run when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately turned and swung but a hand gently brush blocked his blow then he realized he was looking straight at Sarah.

"How'd you get here? And what's going on?" said Anatoly disoriented. But she grabbed him by the coveralls and pulled him along.

"There's no time to explain we need to go if you want to live," she said as they ran past the other men she'd taken out before. "Morgan, I need you to guide me through the passageways and keep an eye out for bogies behind us. I don't want any surprises," said Sarah into her watch.

"What's going on? Where's Chuck?" asked Anatoly as they made their way down into the bowels of the ship. "Shouldn't we be trying to get off this rust bucket."

"I don't remember you being so talkative before. Is this a new trait? If so... shush," she said as she put her hand over Anatoly's mouth. "I see them Morgan. Okay on the panel take the mouse cursor and point it at the hatch… Yes I mean the door in front of us then tap 'close watertight hatch'."

The men on the other side of the hatch were startled when the hatch behind them suddenly closed. Sarah and Anatoly heard them on the other side banging trying to get it to open but it wouldn't budge.

"Come on we can make it back to... well for a better term is home at least for the time being," she said as they made it down the passageway to the Hydra vault. She typed in the code and the hatch opened. "We're safe in here," she said as they closed the hatch behind them.

"Wow," said Anatoly as he looked around at all the computers and machinery. "This reminds me of when I watched 2001 Space Odyssey... Hal the onboard computer."

"In a certain sense there is a similarity," said Sarah. "Where's Stefan? I've been tracking you since you boarded through CCTV and blocking their reception so they wouldn't see you."

"Thanks… well about Stefan… I don't know. Imma, Stefan and myself were brought here by sub. The best I can figure out we were attacked as we launched by another vessel. Probably a hidden sub waiting on the seabed…"

"Waiting for what? We've got control of the ship but that's all we have. I can't see off this rust bucket because I don't want to draw attention to us... at least not yet."

"There was an American warship on the surface hailing us but we couldn't answer. They were blocking our path here to the island. It was the same ship that picked up Casey and Banai from Batumi. Any way we had dispatched a squadron of fighters from Sevastopol and the ship moved away. We made our run to here then boom. I came to under this ship. So you haven't told me, where's Chuck?"

"Chuck was taken by Abu and is being held on this rock somewhere. He's been playing along with them to gain intel…"

"You mean about the missing Iranian missile. We know about that but Igor thinks it's much more to get the Iranians to cooperate with you on this mission."

"Listen we can neither confirm nor deny," said Morgan as he spoke up. Sarah looked over at him and gave him a look.

"The only time I've ever heard that phrase used it had to do with… holy crap, so that's it. Igor was right this is much more. They want to put it on the missile then what?"

"We don't know. Let me explain to you what we do know about these people," said Sarah as she briefed him on everything they knew about the Hashishim, the Hashish eaters.

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[Meanwhile outside the vessel]

Abu's organized his men from inside a shop at the end of the pier they'd commandeered. They were arranging for the reception of a fishing boat from the mainland that was supposed to arrive in half an hour loaded with VAJA agents. Their man in the port at Varna had steered them to his boat. Then once underway with the excuse of getting permission to leave the port he had contacted Abu letting him know they were on their way.

"Okay, I want you guys to set up the trap then as soon as they're ashore we take them. But I want them taken unharmed if possible," said Abu.

"We should just go ahead and shoot them. Why pussyfoot around with them when they are executing our brothers in Tehran."

"No that would be the easy way… no we'll use these people to help us ransom back our brothers in prison. Now get out of sight and get ready the fishing boat will be here anytime now."

"We assume you've cleared this plan with the old man of the mountain," said one of his men. "We've noticed you've been acting funny lately and some of us are concerned."

"Have I? I haven't noticed," said Abu as he walked up to the man. "Of course I've been in touch with the Old Man. He's our leader after all not me but I'm not going to bother him with every little detail. That's why he put me in charge here and why you work for me or do you have a problem with that?"

"I didn't mean anything by it… I was just pointing out what the rest of us have noticed. Maybe you're just tired and you need to rest. When was the last time you slept? Everyone needs to sleep sooner or later."

"There'll be plenty of time to rest when you're dead," said Abu as he planted a knife in the man's chest then twisted it. "I'm moved by your concern for my health but you should've been more concerned about your own." There was a knock at the door and a man stepped in. The man froze for a moment seeing what he saw. "Well you knocked what do you have to pass on?"

"Right sorry Sir but there's a boat coming. You can see it entering the port now," said the man as he stared down at the body then he looked up at Abu. He wasn't sure what he thought or felt in that moment other than pure fear.

"Good, let's go get this over with," Abu said as he stepped over the body. "Afterwards can you get someone in here to clean up. We wouldn't want the owner to think that we are a group of dirty birdies. I want to leave this place the way we found it."

"No sir we wouldn't I'll get right on it," said the man as he stood there staring at the body and the blood. He felt a little nauseous.

"Well aren't you going to hurry up and come along or do you want to join him," said Abu as he stood in the doorway.

"No sir… I mean yes sir… I'm coming right now," said the man as he tripped over the body falling face first on the floor.

"Just catch up when you can," said Abu as he shook his head. "I hope the rest of you are better than the guy who just came to get me or we're in trouble."

The fishing boat putted into port with its running lights off. They pulled up alongside one of the other boats and tied off. The VAJA men crossed over onto the other boat then made their way down the pier.

"I don't like this," said the one agent. "It's too quiet and there's no one around. Name one port where there's not some sort of nightlife."

"Let's stay together and get down to the end of the pier as quickly as we can then look for cover. There really isn't anywhere else for us to go."

"I still don't like..." The man didn't have time to finish saying he didn't like this when security lights came on the pier and men circled them with automatic weapons. They were in a trap.

"Drop your weapons and raise your hands. Nothing will happen to you if you follow my orders. You are now my guests on Snake Island. If you disobey you'll be cut down where you stand. Don't try my patience."

"What do we do," asked one of the men as they looked around at their desperate situation. But there was no way out and nothing they could do other than comply."

"We'll play along… at least for now," said the one as he dropped his weapon and ammunition belt then held his hands up. The others did the same. "But keep an eye out this isn't over yet."

"Good, I'm glad you've got some common sense. Secure them," said Abu to his men. "Then load them in the launch. We'll take them back with us and put them with the workers we're holding in the cells," said Abu as he looked over the men he'd captured. "Crap, I don't see Banai in the lot of them. I wonder where that pain in my side could be. Something tells me he's skulking about nearby."

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On the backside of the knoll the team came to a metal wire fence and there halted for a moment to catch their breath as well as to survey the area. On the other side of fence they could see some prefabricated buildings, a group of quads and parked utility vehicles. Inside the compound they spotted armed guards milling about as well as people who looked like prisoners the guards were shoving to get them to work.

"I know those men," said Grigor. "They used to live in the village in the port close to us. They owned shops and stores we used to go to before those men arrived."

"Don't worry the fat lady hasn't sung yet," said Casey. Grigor gave him a look. "It's a metaphor… never mind it means don't worry it's not over yet."

"It would've been easier if you'd just said that," Stefan remarked. "I have trouble following you sometimes and I've lived in the States. Think of these poor people who've never set foot there. What fat lady and what does she have to sing about?"

"Are you going to do this the whole time you're here? If you are I can easily dump you in the bay and let you swim home."

"You have to forgive John. He's a little preoccupied at the moment," said Banai. Then he caught Casey's look. "But I won't mention what he's preoccupied about."

"It's like I'm surrounded by Chuck on every side. I'd never thought I'd say this and I'll never admit I said it but for once I miss Chuck. Now if you guys can keep you yaps closed for a little while we can move out."

"The fence is electrified," said Marsh pointing at the insulators on the posts. "We can cut it but we risk tripping any alarm attached to it when we break the circuit."

"You don't have to just look over there," said Grigor as he pointed at an apple tree inside the compound. He caught their looks. "Just wait for it and you'll see." Out of the shadows the mother boar and her little ones appeared out of nowhere then started chowing down on the apples that had fallen off the tree.

"How does that help us?" said Stefan. "Although a ham steak would be nice." The mother boar stopped eating and looked around as if she heard him. But it was one of the guards who was walking back around. She and her little ones scurried off heading for the fence then went under it in a place they'd dug out.

"I think we just found our way in," said Casey. "Good work Grigor but this is as far as you go. And before you protest here take this radio we'll keep in touch with you through it. Don't worry I haven't forgotten our deal and I always keep my promise."

Grigor didn't like being left behind but he had little choice. The rest of the team went over to the dugout area under the fence then enlarged it a little more before they made their way underneath and beyond. Following the boars example, they hung in the shadows getting themselves oriented.

"Over there," pointed Imma. She spotted cables coming out from what looked like a service tunnel then they went into building. "That's probably their substation before the cables go back underground."

"Okay this is it," said Casey as he put a suppressor on his Sig. "Keep the noise and your heads down. We're going vermin hunting."

"You mean, 'be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits'," said Stefan smiling at Casey. Some of Marsh's men stifled laughs.

"Keep it us and you'll be a victim of unfriendly fire. Now princesses can we move out," said Casey. They ran over to the access door, picked the lock then they were inside.

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Back in Montenegro Sam was bored out of her mind sitting in the suite all day long. She was fed up and one way or another she had to get out so she came up with a plan of her own. All she had to do was to wait until Molly and Razib were busy with their lessons and Emma went to take care of Bunny. This was her window of opportunity and she took it.

"Time for me to break bad," she said. She opened the door carefully then she was out in the hallway. She went to the elevator but found that it was on its way up.

"Crap this can't be good," she said as she thought of what Margo would say to her if she found her there waiting to go down. "No not hardly," she said as she hit the stairs and started down. She went down two flights of stairs then entered on the floor. There she could take the service elevator down.

"I'm almost home free… free at last," she said but she heard someone coming out of a room. If any of the casino or hotel staff found her they'd turn her over to Emma. "I can't get taken to the Warden yet. Think fast."

"Yes Sir, thank you for the tip," she heard a man say coming out of a room. Sam dove under the white cloth that cover the service cart. She heard the man putting plates and dishes on top. Then she felt herself being wheeled away.

"This may be my ticket to freedom," she said to herself as she was wheel towards the service elevator. She heard the bell ring then the doors opened before long she was onboard heading down. While they were going down she heard the man's phone ring. It seemed to ring for a long time.

"Geez, hurry up and answer it already," she wanted to tell him. "What the heck are you doing out there that you can't answer." But finally, when it was clear they weren't going to stop he answered.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't answer right away I was in a room and if you continue to call like this you're going to get me burned. ... What do you mean you don't care? I do. ... Okay calm down I'm on the phone now so what is it you want? Didn't you get my presents I left for you in your rooms? ... So wasn't that enough? You know how hard it was for me to get those from down below without getting caught and now you want Semtex. You know that stuff doesn't grow on trees. ... Okay, okay I'll see what I can do but if I can't find Semtex will C-4 do? ... Okay I'll get it for you but this is it," said the man as the elevator rang. "Listen I got to go. I'll call you when I have what you need."

"Crap now what do I do?" she said as the man pushed the cart off the elevator. Sam got a glimpse of his shoes as she was rolled into the kitchen and parked. She heard the man walk off.

"Time to go," she said as she rolled out from under the cart and hit the deck running. "Jack, I need to talk to Jack."