A/N: Ownership of Chuck may be on vacation to Mexico. I'd like to go on vacation to Mexico. The Riviera Maya is pretty cool. (Did you know the Mayans invented zero? Or I guess it's more accurate to say, also invented zero.)
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Ellie, Devon and Casey were bundled into the back of a van and driven away from the hospital. They were a silent bunch. They were driven around for a while, with the black hoods still on their heads. Casey did his best to keep their location relative to the hospital straight in his head, throughout the twists and turns. Only time would tell if he was able to do it effectively.
Finally getting out of the van they were taken into a building of some kind. Although they couldn't see through the hoods, the sounds changed and the ground under their feet became more even.
While still hooded, they were professionally frisked. Although Ellie and Devon's only spy gear were their watches (which were left in place), Casey had been loaded with weapons and equipment. Those items were taken from him. They missed a few pieces here and there, but found the bulk of his gear.
The hoods were removed from their heads and they were left alone sitting on the floor in a small plain room with no windows and a heavy looking door. Their hands were still zip tied behind them. the could hear the murmur of conversation on the other side of the door.
Casey was pleased to see that neither Ellie nor Devon was panicking. He said, "They are probably listening to what we say."
"Ok," said Ellie.
"Do you know who they are?" asked Devon.
"Nope," said Casey.
With Casey's prudent warning about the lack of privacy they made no mention of the trackers in their watches.
"OK," said Devon. "Listen, guys. I don't like what I saw with Lime. I think he needs an echo. I'd order one if he were my patient."
"What's that?" asked Casey.
"Echocardiogram. It's essentially an ultrasound of the heart. Watching it pump. I'm afraid the docs here might have missed something. Can't be sure without the echo, but it's worrisome."
"If the echo confirms your suspicions, then what?" asked Ellie.
"Immediate heart surgery. Immediate," said Devon.
"Or he dies?" asked Casey.
"Well, yeah. That's the risk," said Devon.
Casey gave an unhappy grunt.
The door opened and the two men from the hospital stood framed in the opening with guns pointed at them. Silently they gestured for Ellie to stand up.
Devon said, "Oh, no you don't. You can't..." In his anxiety, he forgot to speak in Spanish.
"Leave it," said Casey to Devon.
Ellie looked back and forth between Casey and Devon, then stood up and looked at the men in the doorway steadily. She took a few steps towards the door and turned back to Casey and Devon.
"Don't worry, guys," she said.
"OK, babe," said Devon.
Casey gave her a tiny smile and said, "I'm not."
As the door closed behind her, and they heard the noise of the lock being engaged, Devon said to Casey, "What are they going to do to her?"
"Interrogation," said Casey, leaning back against the wall.
"Torture? Are they going to hurt her?"
"Naw. Totally the wrong vibe. They don't know who or what we are. They aren't going to start with anything heavy until they have an idea," he said, trying very hard to stop from laughing out loud.
"So why pick Ellie?" asked Devon. "And why do you look so happy?"
"They looked at the surface and decided you and I were too tough. So, they went with the weakest link on the team. The one most likely to break," said Casey, with a tight grin.
Devon looked at Casey for a few moments and then sat back against the wall next to the older man with a grin of his own. "Gonna be a bit of a learning curve out there, John. Just a bit," he said and began to chuckle. Soon, both men were laughing out loud.
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The two men walked Ellie out to the main room of the house. The room was furnished like a typical suburban house, but without any personal effects. No photographs or books or knick-knacks. Ellie assumed it was what the spies would call a safe house. Used for work and not otherwise lived in.
The men escorting her were book ends. Clean cut, athletic, neatly but casually dressed. Tough. Smart looking. Mexican features. In the main room were the nurse from the hospital, now wearing jeans and a blouse, and another man. The other man was sitting at a small table against a back wall, in a kitchen area. His dark hair and heavy moustache had gray sprinkled throughout and he appeared to be in his late forties, with a burly build.
One of the men from the hospital led Ellie to a straight-backed wooden chair in the center of the room. Ellie sat.
"¿Cómo te llamas?"
Ellie said calmly, "I understand that it's rude to be in a foreign country and expect the citizens of that country to be able to speak your language, but the truth is, I do not speak Spanish. Sorry." She actually sounded contrite. "Having said that, I do expect that you speak English, so we will save everyone time and effort if you interrogate me in English, please."
"What is your name?"
"Thank you. I appreciate the courtesy. So long as we are being courteous, I trust you will not mind if I further expedite things by speaking directly to your leader." Ellie looked behind the man standing in front of her to the older gentleman in the kitchen, who was silently watching the proceedings. "My name is Elizabeth Belson. Liz, for short. And, if I may ask a question of my own, do you want to kill Harry Lime?"
The younger man standing in front of her looked and sounded angry as he said, "You seem to be confused about the power dynamic here, Liz. We are the ones who ask the questions, not you."
Ellie didn't even glance at him, keeping her eyes on the older man, who hadn't moved. "Do you want to kill Harry Lime?" she asked again.
The man in the kitchen said, "Why do you think that?" His English was slightly accented.
Ellie smiled pleasantly and said, "I never said I did. The question was neutral and did not presume an answer. In fact, though, I believe I know the answer, but the balance of this conversation will go differently if I am wrong."
"No. We do not want to kill Harry Lime," the older man said.
"Thank you. Good. That's what I thought," said Ellie.
"And why did you come to that conclusion?" the older man asked.
"Well, mostly because he's still alive. Your team is obviously competent. You picked us up without too much drama, after all. You arranged for a member of your team..." Ellie used her head to gesture at the woman who had been the floor nurse. "...to be integrated with the hospital staff. Undoubtedly, she isn't the only one. If you wanted him dead, it would be a simple matter of an injection into his IV line. No one would even suspect, as he's already in bad shape. So, if he's still living, you don't want him dead. Which makes this conversation easier. At least easier for me."
"How so?" asked the older man.
"Because we don't want him dead either. So, for that limited purpose, at least, we are on the same side. With that established, we need you to order an echocardiogram for Lime. Stat."
The older man frowned and said, "That is a matter for doctors. We aren't going to interfere with something like that...even if we could."
"Yes. I couldn't agree more. It's matter for doctors. Here's the thing, though, I am a doctor and the big blond man inside is also a doctor and, more importantly, a cardiologist. That's why he's here. He examined Lime this morning. To confirm what he fears, Lime needs an echocardiogram. Stat. Stat means right away. As in now. Can you or can you not make that happen?" Ellie didn't seem at all cowed by the circumstances and spoke with calm authority.
The other men and the woman in the room were looking back and forth between Ellie and the older man with surprise. This interrogation was not at all proceeding as they expected.
The older man looked at Ellie silently and then said, "We cannot."
"Alright, then. We can. My team can. A member of my team can get inside the hospital's computer system and place the order for the echo. Once that test is done, we can take it from there."
"Your team? Well, the rest of your team is being brought here. I sent some of my men to capture them and bring them to us," the man said.
Ellie smiled at him and said, "I think you are probably half right. I'm sure they are on the way here." She stood from the seat and crouched down, bringing her bound hands below her butt. Sitting back down, she scooted forward on her chair so only the back of her butt was on the chair. She leaned back and brought her knees up to her chin, pulling her hands out in front of her. They didn't stop her. She wore a neutral expression throughout the maneuver, as if she were doing nothing of particular importance.
With her hands now in front, she touched her watch, brought it up to her face and said, "Chuck? Are you there?"
She paused for a moment and said, "Good. Are you bringing your computer?" Another pause. "Excellent. When you get here we have to order Lime an echo...yeah, I'll explain later...okay...okay...yeah. Oh, and our hosts here sent a team to pick you up. What happened to them?...okay. Yeah. I'll tell them. Good. See you soon."
Ellie turned back to the now speechless team in front of her. "The rest of my team is on the way here. Your team is in the back of their truck, sleeping off trank darts. We can order the echo when they arrive."
Three of the four Mexicans in the room made noises of anger mixed with disbelief. The older man, who Ellie had identified as the boss, just looked at her silently as she steadily held his gaze.
After a moment or two, he said, "Who are you, Liz?"
"I'd prefer not to tell you that. I know it's awkward, but so far we have only determined that we have in common the intention of keeping Harry Lime alive. If we have no other overlapping goals, I'm afraid we are going to be mostly at odds with each other. You don't seem to be too annoying..." She smiled to show that she meant it as gentle humor. "...so I'm kind of hoping that we are ...well, if not on the same side, at least on similar sides." She held up her hands to forestall what he was about to say, and continued, "And I fully realize that exactly the same calculus applies to you and your interest in what my friends and I are up to. Which puts us, I suppose, in a bit of a stalemate."
She fell silent and the older man studied her for a few moments. Finally, he said, "My name is Lunes. Pablo Lunes." He pointed at the woman and said, "This is Rosa Chavez." He pointed to one of the two men from the hospital. "This is Juan Kraus. This is Juan Soto. We call them Kraus and Soto, for obvious reasons."
Ellie stood from the chair and made her way to each of them, shaking hands (with her still zip tied hands) and expressing pleasure at the introduction.
Sitting back down and crossing her legs casually, she said, "The older man you took...," she said, looking at Rosa. "...is named Dan Bennigan. The other man, the cardiologist, is named Irving Pauling."
Lunes smiled a bit and said, "So, Dr. Pauling and Dr. Belson?"
Ellie smiled a genuine smile and said, "Sounds funny, doesn't it? For me, please just stick with Liz."
"Alright, Liz."
"Now, as long as we've come this far, Mr. Lunes..."
"Please call me Pablo," he said.
"Very well. Pablo. Now as long as we've come this far I think we can establish some other things we have in common. Neither you..." she waved her hands around to indicate more than Lunes individually. "...nor my companions, are friends of Mr. Lime."
"Your thinking, Liz?" he prodded gently, with a gracious tilt of his head. "If you wouldn't mind."
"Your men were staked out in adjoining rooms to Mr. Lime's hospital room. If you were his friends, you would have been in his room itself. If we were his friends, we would not have had to perform the exam before the sun came up, pretending to be sent by his own doctor. So, if we are not...and you are not..." She paused and raised a hand to indicate she was being spoken to by someone in her earwig. "Ok, Chuck. That sounds like a good plan...Cordial so far, but definitely guarded. All we've managed to establish to this point is that none of us want Lime dead but none of us are his friends either. We haven't gone beyond that. OK. See you soon."
Ellie sat quietly in the chair for a few moments more, until there was a polite knock on the front door.
Ellie said, "Soto, if you could please open the door to some more members of my team. And please do not shoot them when you do so. I am very fond of them both."
Soto looked over at Pablo, who nodded. Ellie noticed Rosa slip a hand under her thigh and assumed that she had put her hand on her weapon.
Soto took out his pistol and held it with his left hand, hidden behind the door, while opening the door with his right. On the other side of the door were Chuck and Sarah. Sarah held her pistol in her hand, but it was pointed at the ground.
Ellie stood up and said, "Hi." Chuck smiled at seeing her, but frowned a little when he saw that her hands were still zip tied.
"Hi," he replied. "Our guys?" he asked her.
"Another room," she replied. "Let me introduce you. Guys, this is Charles Carmichael and Sandra Wilpon. Chuck and Sandra, this is Kraus, Soto, Rosa, and Pablo."
Chuck and Sarah raised hands in greeting, but did not attempt to shake hands. They stood near the closed door, and didn't enter farther into the room and kept their backs to the wall behind them.
Chuck said, addressing Pablo, "The rest of your team is outside with one of mine. Lime's real name is Rashad Ahmad, a Jordanian. He's a mid-level operator in Al Qaeda."
"Why are you interested in him?" asked Pablo.
"Naw. I shared first. It's your turn," said Chuck trying to sound reasonable.
Pablo looked at him for a long moment and said, "We are going to grab him when he gets out of the hospital, with his friends, and hand the whole lot to your country with wrapping paper and a festive bow."
Sarah said, "Mexican Intelligence?"
"CISEN," replied Pablo with a nod, referring to the Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional (Center for Investigation and National Security), the organization tasked with internal and external security for the state of Mexico.
Sarah sighed and holstered her weapon. Chuck looked at her and she shrugged and nodded, saying quietly, "Blue on blue."
"Aw crap. Aren't we supposed to let them know we're in town? Like Cole and his visit to LA?" asked Chuck.
"Yeah. Somebody screwed up," said Sarah.
Chuck stepped forward towards Pablo and said, "Pablo, I apologize. You and your team should have been notified of our operation. To avoid exactly this sort of confusion. Somebody screwed up. My team and I are American intelligence. I'm sorry your outfit didn't get the word."
Chuck reached out to shake the man's hand. Pablo stood up and took Chuck's hand, "Ok. No harm done, I suppose. We had considered the possibility that your team was CIA but dismissed it as unlikely. If you were, we assumed you'd simply give us a heads up on Ahmad and let us take care of him for you. The fact that you didn't, and yet were here,...well, we doubted that explanation. So, there's obviously something else going on."
"I understand your confusion. Suffice it to say, we want him in the wild," said Chuck. "Thank you for your good intentions, but please let him go on his way when he recovers."
Pablo frowned at that but didn't say anything.
Ellie spoke up, "If he recovers. Irving says he needs an echo...an echocardiogram, immediately. Pablo and his guys can't order it. You have to do it right away, Chuck."
"Ok. Kraus, can you go get my other guys, please?" He touched his watch. "Jody, you can stand down and come on in. These guys are friendlies."
Moments later Alex was at the door to the house. Led by Kraus, Casey and Devon came out of the back room. They didn't seem at all surprised to see Chuck and Sarah there. When Casey saw everyone making nice with each other, he flexed his arms and snapped the zip ties holding his wrists together. Sarah had produced one of her knives from thin air and was cutting Ellie's wrists lose.
Sarah announced to Forrest, Casey and Devon, "They are CISEN, Mexican intelligence. This was a misunderstanding."
Casey grunted.
"Irv, can you come over here?" Chuck said to Devon. "I want to get that echo ordered for Ahmad."
Sarah cut Devon's zip tie as he was crossing the room to Chuck.
Pablo said to Kraus and Soto, "Ve a buscar a nuestros muchachos de la parte trasera de su camión." [Go get our guys from the back of their truck.]
Casey growled, "I'll give you a hand."
At the table in the kitchen Devon and Chuck were looking at Chuck's computer and placing an order in Dr. Hernandez' name for Lime to get an echocardiogram stat. Although Chuck could make his way around the computer system, Devon could follow the medical and hospital jargon, even in Spanish.
Casey, Soto, and Kraus began to come in carrying the unconscious Mexican spies into a back bedroom.
The echo ordered and the teams reunited, if some were still asleep, the main room of the safe house was getting crowded.
Pablo said, "Chuck, you've asked us to let Ahmad go when he recovers, but that's not going to be possible. You see, his meeting in Tijuana is with members of the Los Equis cartel. They are negotiating a deal to bring men and weapons through our country and into yours on behalf of Al Qaeda. Ahmad cannot be permitted to attend that meeting."
"Oh, shit," said Sarah.
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A/N2: In 2018 CISEN was renamed the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia ("CNI"), the National Intelligence Center.
A/N3: Los Zetos (the "Z's") is an actual cartel in Mexico which was active as of 2008. Los Equis, on the other hand, is the wrong name for a really decent Mexican cerveza.
A/N4: Now we are getting to some plot. Took me long enough, huh? What do you guys think? Let him go and have a chance to find Bin Laden or don't and put the kibosh on an AQ/cartel smuggling arrangement?