A/N: Chuck? Yeah. Whatever. Somebody owns it. I mean, I guess somebody does. Deal with it later, folks.
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They were wearing sunglasses, as the bright California sun beat down upon them and sparkled off the blue Pacific over their shoulders. The ocean wind blew Sarah's hair into her face and she brushed it back over and over again, vaguely wishing she'd brought a headband to hold it in place. She was sitting on the hood of the Porsche, next to Chuck.
To distract herself from her nerves at seeing her dad again, she said, "Will you and the guys have any issues with the Microsoft work?"
Chuck chuckled lightly. "Naw. That'll be fine." They had had the long-awaited business meeting up in Redmond and it had been very successful. Microsoft had hired Carmichael Industries to attempt to hack into a standard Windows XP set up (not their newest operating system) as a demonstration of their abilities. Chuck had known that the task would be child's play for CI, however, that didn't stop Sarah from negotiating a jaw-droppingly mammoth fee for the work. Chuck had promised a report before the end of the month. Most of his effort would be directed at cataloguing the myriad ways in which that particular software was vulnerable rather than searching to identify the vulnerabilities.
He continued, "Lot of work, but not too complicated at all. And with the fee we'll get we can hire more hackers."
"That's good. You're busy enough, I think," she said. "Be good to get you some more help. With the wedding coming up, you're going to have to think about that too. It can be time consuming."
"Umm," he said, watching a convertible pull into the parking lot. They were at the lookout point over the ocean in Palos Verdes. Although it was a beautiful day, the spot was almost empty this early on a weekday.
Jack Burton, smoking a cigar and wearing a suit with an unbuttoned dress shirt, got out of the car and came over to them. His brown hair was swept back by the wind and he wore a big smile. He looked pleased with himself.
"Hey, Angel. Damn, you are so beautiful. The view behind you is jealous." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks, dad," she said, giving him a quick hug in return.
"Hey, Chuck," said Jack, reaching out to shake his hand.
"Hey, Jack," said Chuck.
"I know that look, dad. You look pretty happy. Did you pull it off?"
"I sure did. Six hundred and fifty gees. Minus the C&C fee. I told them to deduct that before sending me the money."
"Serious score," she said.
"Well, we negotiated for another 650 to be put up when due diligence is over," he said.
"Which will never happen," said Chuck.
"Sure, but a bird in the hand, you know. Anyway, can't be too greedy. Pigs get fat..."
"...but hogs get slaughtered," finished Sarah with a loving grin.
"Exactly, angel," he said, pointing a finger at her in confirmation.
"So where to now?" she asked.
"Well, I'm actually thinking about an island someplace. After ten years away, I think I have to work on my tan."
"I'm sure you'll get yourself bronzed in no time," she said.
"Thanks, darlin'." Jack's phone rang and he glanced at it but decided to ignore it. He looked to Chuck and said, "Good meeting you, Chuck. Take good care of my little girl for me."
Chuck shook his hand and said, "I'll do my best, Jack."
Jack reached out for Sarah and wrapped her in a hug. "Be happy, Angel. Be happy."
"Thanks, dad. I will. You stay safe. And don't be a stranger, ok? You know my number now. It's not a burner so it will work."
"I'll keep in touch." He turned and walked back to his convertible, checking the voicemail on his phone as he did so, his back to them. Whatever he heard made him stop dead in his tracks. He made no sound, but his body language indicated that he had received some very bad news.
When he took the phone from his ear, he stood immobile for a moment or two.
"What's wrong, dad?" asked Sarah, concerned.
Startled, as if he'd forgotten they were there, he turned back with a smile. Unlike the smile when he arrived, this one didn't reach his eyes. "Nothing, angel. Nothing. Everything's great. Love you. Take it easy, you two." As he walked the rest of the way to the car, he took the battery out of the cell phone he held and threw them both into the trash can along the side of the parking lot.
With a jaunty wave, he bid them goodbye and drove off up the California coast.
Looking at each other for a moment or two, Chuck went over to the garbage can and began to rummage for Jack's discarded phone.
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Back at Castle, Chuck had washed his hands in the men's room. Jack's phone had landed in the remnants of some old cheese nachos.
Chuck did his magic to the device and soon he and Sarah heard the message that had been left for Jack.
A man with a Russian accent said, "Shame you haven't answered your phone, Mr. Burton. I want you to get this message. But more importantly, Mike Souza hopes you get the message. You see, he's here with us right now. He's not uncomfortable at the moment. But you need to meet us tonight at seven PM sharp at the warehouse at 1221 Junipero in Long Beach. If you don't, he's going to be very very uncomfortable, until he's not. We want our money back, you thieving motherfucker. And we will get it. Be there and bring the money."
"Oh, shit," said Chuck. He typed on his keyboard for an instant or two and found a Michael Souza, a young attorney, recently out of law school and newly established in solo practice with a cheap looking website. He and Sarah looked at the man's picture. "He's younger than we are."
"Goddamn it," said Sarah.
"Think your dad will be at the meet? Think he'll show up to save Souza?"
"And give up the money? I wish I could say he'll do the right thing, but experience tells me otherwise," Sarah said sadly, shaking her head.
"Any other way to reach him? Any other number?" Chuck asked.
"Nope. All I had was that burner," she said, gesturing to the device on the table. "Now we just wait for him to reach out to me."
"Up to us then. LAPD? FBI?"
"Turns them onto my dad. He deserves it, but …"
"But he's your dad," finished Chuck. "Ok. So we figure out a way to get this Souza guy away from the Russians without bringing in the police," said Chuck. "Can't go in shooting. It would draw attention to your dad in the aftermath."
"Yeah, sure would. And...and..." said Sarah.
"The CIA asset," said Chuck.
"Exactly. Bondarev," said Sarah.
"Right," said Chuck.
It was only a few minutes later that Chuck and Sarah were on a video call with Agent Averbuck in Poland.
"Good evening, Agent Averbuck," began Sarah.
"Agent Walker. And you must be Carmichael. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He was a lean man in his early 60's, his balding hair cut short. Although it was after 8PM in Warsaw, he was still dressed in a suit and tie for work.
"We were working on another matter and we came across a fraud perpetrated on Dimitri Semenov. A conman named Jack Burton ripped him off for $650,000."
"Phew. Burton must be top notch. Semenov and his people aren't easy to fool," said Averbuck, shaking his head with admiration.
"Yeah. He's one of the best. But listen to this message," said Sarah. "We got it off Burton's cell phone." Chuck pushed a button and the message played for Averbuck.
"Who's this Souza guy?" asked Averbuck.
"An innocent who Burton got involved in the con," said Sarah.
"Where's Burton now?"
"In the wind," said Sarah.
"Think Burton will try to spring the guy?" asked Averbuck.
"Doubt it," said Sarah.
"And you're calling me because you looked up Semenov and found my asset Bondarev," said Averbuck.
Sarah said, "Yeah. Figured you might have some ideas. I would have expected that Semenov's days as a leg breaker are probably behind him. Icing some dude in Los Angeles … not even the guy who actually ripped him off...it's a lot of risk for very little reward. Semenov's an oligarch by now. Supposedly law-abiding. I don't want to mess up Badger's position, but I don't know the players like you do. We thought you might be able to shed some light on what the hell is going on. Maybe you'll have an idea or two."
Averbuck sighed. "Yeah. We can't do anything to mess up Badger. Way too valuable. Took us a long time to have him work his way up in Semenov's inner circle. And, given Semenov's access in the Kremlin, he's an incredibly crucial source. Especially now with the Russian invasion of Georgia. Helpful to have a window there to figure out what those guys have in mind."
"Not that it matters at the moment, but how did you get him to our side?" asked Chuck.
"Bondarev's an idealist. Believes in liberal democracy, capitalism, open societies. The whole shebang. He's a pretty good guy. In addition to being a great source, I happen to like the guy personally. He was born in Riga, Latvia of ethnic Russian parents. When the USSR fell, he chose Russian citizenship over Latvian. He was working his way up in the oil and gas business when everything turned to shit. He was a hopeful optimist that the 90's would be a rebirth for Russia. Turn it into a Russian version of the good ole USA. Instead, it was almost a decade of bloody mayhem followed by a few corrupt oligarchs taking the old Soviet industries for themselves and their families. Stealing obscene amounts of wealth. When Bondarev saw what was happening he walked into the US Embassy in Oslo and offered his services. I was the first case officer he met with and he's been an asset ever since."
"What would he have to say about Semenov's threats to Souza?" asked Chuck.
"Well, first of all, that wasn't Semenov on the message. He's not even in Los Angeles right now. He's with his mistress on a yacht off Capri. Anyway, I've listened to enough recordings to recognize the voices. That was Nikita Kozlov, another advisor to Semenov. He's a bit of a competitor to Badger in the inner circle. He's a tough guy. Comes from the GRU originally," said Averbuck, referring to Russian Military Intelligence. "He and Semenov speak the same spook language and look at the world with the same paranoid lens. Badger is more of a business guy. If anyone is threatening Souza, it's Kozlov. Badger would be trying to talk him out of it. Trying to get them to just go to the cops."
"Still seems pretty risky to me to do anything except go to the cops," said Chuck.
"Agreed," said Averbuck. "Grabbing this Souza guy is pretty insane. This smells of desperation to me. At a guess I'd say Kozlov is worried about taking the rap with his boss for sleepwalking into the con. That's the most reasonable scenario here. It would explain why Souza is sitting with them instead of with the FBI."
"Maybe Kozlov is just pissed off?" asked Sarah.
"I think it's much more likely that he considers himself at risk for being an idiot. If they were to go to the FBI, Semenov is gonna hear about it and blame somebody," predicted Averbuck.
"Might Kozlov try to throw Badger under the bus?" asked Chuck.
Averbuck gave a long sigh as he thought about that and finally said, "Damn. Yeah. He would. I don't know enough about who did what to get us to this point, but if it came to saving himself by tossing Badger off the back of the sleigh, yeah, he'd do it in a heartbeat. He'd do it to his mother, for God's sake."
"Well, shit. In that case, this just got more important than rescuing Souza," said Sarah. Seeing the look on Chuck's face she said, "Although we clearly have to do that too."
"Badger's valuable enough to protect however we can manage it," said Averbuck.
"Spoken like a true handler," said Chuck with a grin, knowing that he'd do all he could to protect his own asset, Yuri Gobrienko.
Averbuck chuckled, "Been at this a long time, Carmichael."
"Taking Kozlov down a peg or two wouldn't hurt Badger's position either," said Sarah.
"Not at all," said Averbuck.
"So, we have to figure out a way to save Souza and protect Badger and, maybe, tarnish Kozlov a bit," said Chuck.
"How about if Badger successfully negotiates the return of the stolen money?" asked Sarah.
"That would work. I can fund that if you need it," said Averbuck, "I have a large discretionary budget for dealing with Badger, but the negotiations would have to be handled pretty carefully. It would have to look real to fool Kozlov."
"I can handle that. We'll go to the meeting in place of Burton. Although we'd have to do the negotiation in front of witnesses. Just to make Badger the hero and Kozlov the goat."
"No issue, Agent Walker. They usually travel with some heavies. And if they are threatening violence against Souza, or Burton for that matter... if they could track him down, they will certainly have those guys around. Only problem is, they will only speak Russian probably," said Averbuck.
"Eto ne problema," said Sarah. [That's not an issue.]
With a chuckle, Averbuck said, "Khoroshiy." [Good.]
"You'll have to use a bank for the funds transfer that's on the other side of the world. We'll need something that is open to wire transfer the funds at that hour," said Chuck.
"Good point, Carmichael. Let me take care of that," said Averbuck.
"Before you go...can you get through to Badger? Tell him what's coming?" asked Sarah.
"I can try. We do have some emergency contact protocols, but we've never tried them. I'm not sure how quickly he can respond. I'll give it a try though."
"Excellent. Thank you," said Sarah.
"Good luck, Agent Walker, Agent Carmichael. You guys have a tricky tightrope to walk across."
"Thanks. Your funding the return of the money is a big help."
"Well, shit. Souza will never know he owes me a beer," said Averbuck.
"No, Agent Averbuck, but we will," said Chuck.
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At five minutes before 7pm, Chuck and Sarah got out of the Porsche next to the warehouse they had been directed to by Kozlov's message to Jack. The building was dark and quiet, but with several cars parked in the adjacent lot.
Chuck had his computer bag over his shoulder, but they had otherwise come without any obvious gear and unarmed. Sarah had her drugged throwing spikes holding her hair back.
Chuck banged on the door a few times and a heavyset Slavic looking man opened it. "Get lost," he said with a Russian accent.
Sarah spoke. "My khotim pogovorit' s Kozlovym." [We want to speak to Kozlov.]
The man looked at them with surprise for a few moments then nodded. With a simple hand gesture, he motioned for them to lift their arms. They did so and he quickly frisked them both. He took Chuck's bag and checked it for weapons. Finding none, he handed it back.
He grunted as he began to walk deeper into the building. From their long experience with Casey, they translated the grunt as 'follow me.' Except in Russian.
In a lighted area deeper in the cavernous building they found six men standing in a semi-circle. Among the men, from the pictures in the files, they recognized both Kozlov and Bondarev.
In the center of the semi-circle were two men bound to straight-backed chairs. Michael Souza and Jack Burton.
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A/N2: Jack is a weird character. Canon Sarah loves him so much, and in canon he's written to be somewhat lighthearted and charming. But come on, folks, he's actually a really bad guy. To my mind, the worst thing he did was to take Sarah from Emma. Not to minimize stealing people's hard-earned money, but that particular kidnapping was pretty bad. With my Jack Burton I am trying to walk a fine line given Sarah's love for her dad. It ain't easy. Luckily, I've had help. My dear friend Joe Watkins graciously took his time to work me through some ideas for Jack and to point me in a better direction. Thanks, pal. As usual, if you don't like it, I'm the guilty party, but if it's ok, Joe gets the credit.
A/N3: You know. Now let me know.