A/N: Ownership of ...of...wait...it's on the tip of my tongue. And why did I come into the kitchen anyway?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When the call with the brass ended, Chuck and Devon checked the hospital's computers once again. The echocardiogram had been completed. Devon opened it and studied it silently for a minute or two.
"Yeah," he said eventually. "Ahmad needs surgery. Shit."
"What is it?" asked Ellie. "VSD?"
"Yeah, VSD. It's what I was afraid of," said Devon seriously.
"Ok, you two. Once more for the non-doctors in the room, please," said Sarah.
"Sorry, Sarah. Ventricular septal defect. It's normally a birth defect in a baby's heart, but it can come from a heart attack. It's a hole between the two ventricles … the lower chambers. It can happen when a heart attack causes a rupture," said Devon.
"And the Mexican doctors missed it?" asked Forrest.
"Yeah, but it's a very common missed diagnosis. Might have happened to anyone. It's no reflection on them. Not at all," he said.
"What did you see, honey? What made you suspicious?" asked Ellie.
"It was the murmur and the trouble breathing, but with clear lungs. Together...well, it didn't add up. I was afraid there was something missing...and I was right."
"What do we do now?" asked Casey.
"Well, we can't really march in there and tell them what we found. Tell them to clear the decks for Captain Awesome to operate..." said Chuck.
"His doctor is Hernandez. I see here he was sent the results," said Devon, pointing to a line on the screen.
"But he didn't order the test. He might not be looking for it," said Ellie.
"I'll mark it as important," said Chuck. "As an important email. Hopefully he'll check it soon."
"Yeah, Chuckster. Do that please. We can check later to make sure he's scheduled the surgery."
"Sounds good," said Chuck. "And I'll call Pablo and set a meeting with his team so we can tell them about Ahmad's condition and brief them on the conversation we just had with DC."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The six members of the American team entered the Las Vaqueros restaurant in the Nombre de Dios neighborhood of Chihuahua. The sign out front indicated that the restaurant was closed for a private party.
Pablo and his team were sitting in the center of the otherwise empty large room. In addition to the four who had spoken to Ellie in their safe house, there were three other Mexican spies in the room, the ones who had been sent to the hotel to pick up the rest of Team B and been tranked by Chuck. Introductions were exchanged with the new participants. Intermingled, the two teams settled down at one huge table. The Mexican team were seven and with the six Americans, there were thirteen people in total. Hopefully not an unlucky number for the dinner meeting.
Two smiling waiters and a waitress came out and spoke to Kraus who quietly gave them instructions.
Pablo assured the Americans of the discretion of the staff and that the room had been swept for listening devices only moments before they arrived. "You may speak in confidence, my friends."
"Thank you, Pablo," said Chuck. He was sitting next to Pablo, with Sarah beside him. Pablo had Soto on his other side, seemingly his number two with Kraus next to Soto.
Chuck started. "First of all, Ahmad needs immediate heart surgery. He has a hole in the wall of his heart, between two of the chambers. It showed up on the echocardiogram. We expect that Dr. Hernandez will see the results of the test he didn't order and schedule the surgery. Probably for tomorrow."
"And then?" asked Pablo.
"And then we wait and see. He'll be in the hospital for a while if he makes it through," said Chuck.
"Ok. So, we have time to decide what to do with him," said Soto.
"Yes, we do. Which gets me to the next point." Two pitchers of margaritas and glasses appeared on the table and Kraus began to pour for the people on their end of the table. When the contents of the pitchers were distributed, fresh pitchers appeared.
"Before we start, Chuck," said Pablo, raising his glass and his voice, "first let me welcome you and your team to my country."
Speaking loud enough to be heard at the other end of the table, Chuck said, seriously, "Thank you, Pablo. We stand together with you and your team as allies and as friends. And it is our honor."
Glasses clicked and the toast was drunk.
"Now, please, Chuck. Ahmad's future," said Pablo with a tilt of his head in invitation for Chuck to continue.
"Yes. We spoke to the bosses and have a new idea. While I'm telling this idea to you, Director Malone is having this discussion with Sr. Castellanos, your boss. If all are in agreement, I expect our President may speak to your President. So, the problem is twofold. What to do about Ahmad and what to do about the nascent alliance between the cartels and Al Qaeda. Let's deal with them one at a time.
"How do we convince the cartels not to deal with AQ? Well, the cartels are in business to make money. How about we convince them that it will be economically stupid for them...as a business matter...to deal with AQ? We can do that by making the cost prohibitive. As, for example, explaining to them that the US will deploy the military along the border to stop them. So far there has been the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol...law enforcement organizations. What if it were the Navy and the Army? With military rules of engagement?"
"You would do that?" asked Pablo, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.
"I don't know. It may be a bluff...just realistic enough to convince the cartels, though. We haven't had a military presence at the border so long as I can remember, and it would suck to institute one now. I sure hope it's a bluff. On the other hand, if we had to stop a flow of terrorists intent on mayhem from coming into the country, we'd be hard pressed not to use everything at our disposal. So, we get the cartels, all of them, not just Los Equis, to believe that."
"Ok, but that doesn't solve the immediate problem," said Soto.
"I know," said Chuck. The serving staff began to bring out a wide assortment of Mexican food, served family style, together with more pitchers of margaritas and bottles of beer. While Chuck, Pablo, and the others at their end of the table talked about the mission, the balance of the two teams just made friends, although Forrest was more reserved than the others. Casey was involved in a discussion of ballistics with one of the Mexican spies, which seemed to have interested Forrest somewhat.
Chuck continued, "So, the immediate problem is the meeting between Los Equis and Ahmad. Well, Ahmad is very sick, so we contact Los Equis and cancel the meeting on behalf of Ahmad. Tell them we'll reschedule for a later date and then we never do."
"We do? But Chuck we don't know how they are communicating with the Los Equis men. How to we step into that conversation? How do we take the place of Ahmad?" asked Soto.
"You've searched their hotel rooms and plane, right?"
"Of course," said Soto.
"How many laptops?" asked Chuck.
"One."
"So, you get it to me. We lift it from the room when they are out. Each of them has a cell phone?"
"Yes," said Soto.
"We get those to me too. Once I have them, I can put us right into the conversation and mess up their phones so they will only reach you when they think they are contacting the cartel guys."
"How do we get all their phones without them noticing?" asked Soto.
Ellie, who was near enough to listen to the conversation said, "We tell them after the surgery that there's a device in Ahmad's room that works on a bluetooth connection. Tell them they all have to leave their phones at the nurses' desk while they visit. So as not to interfere with the operation of the equipment. Like they do on a plane. Rosa, at the nurses' desk, can take care of that."
"Thank you, Liz," said Pablo with a smile.
Ellie gave him a big smile in return.
"Alright," said Soto. "Once you have access to the phones and computer you can modify them as you wish?"
"He can make them sing and dance and serve you coffee in the morning, if that's what you want," said Sarah with a grin and her hand on Chuck's arm.
Chuck took a big drink of his margarita and a bite of his shrimp taco and, once he'd swallowed, said, "Yes, Soto. I can do that. We use their phones and computer, or some combination of them, to blow off the cartel guys. Hopefully, by the time it occurs to them to try to reschedule, the word will have filtered out that they will face the 82nd Airborne and surface to air missiles on the border if they try to get in bed with these AQ assholes. Maybe they won't be so eager to renew the relationship."
"Ok. With luck this plan takes care of the cartels. Both short term and long term...as you would say, both tactical and strategic. What about Ahmad and his men? How do we convince them not to deal with the cartels?"
"We don't," said Chuck. "Soto, can you pass the salsa, please?"
"Oh?" asked Pablo.
"Nope. Do you have a few guys in CISEN who can pretend to be cartel guys?"
"Of course. My team has done that a dozen times. So ….so...so, we are the cartel guys that Al Qaeda will deal with. What if they know who they are to meet with here in Mexico?"
"Remember they are here in Chihuahua by accident. That guy is in Tijuana. He's not going to travel to Chihuahua. One of his local guys here can handle the meeting. And it also saves the poor heart patient the trouble of traveling farther."
"Ok, but to what end, Chuck?"
"If you grab Ahmad and his guys we get five guys. If they think this is the entryway into the US, we nail each and every one of them as they get here. They think you are the cartel to move them and, instead of Texas or Arizona or someplace they get sent to a black site in the Czech Republic or wherever. One after the other. A whole collection..."
"World War Two. What the British did to the Germans," said Soto.
"How so?" asked Sarah.
"MI-5 caught one German spy and flipped him. He radioed the drop location for the next German spy to be sent over. The British were waiting and caught him and flipped him too. In that way, they caught almost a hundred percent of the German agents operating in Britain during the war. One after the other," explained Soto.
"And you know this how?" asked Pablo.
"I read," said Soto. Pablo made a face. "Books."
"Humpf," said Pablo.
"Soto's right. That's the plan. Get a whole collection of AQ guys while they are thinking they are dealing with the cartel," said Sarah.
"These people are zealots. They will not flip," said Pablo.
"I agree. If we get extraordinarily lucky, maybe we get one...maybe two, to flip," said Chuck. "But overall, I don't expect it. But even without that, you might be able to keep the operation going for a while. Soto, how'd you do in school making up excuses for homework you didn't do?"
Pablo started to laugh and filled everyone's glasses from the pitcher. "You've got the wrong one there, Chuck. He would have been a top student. Teacher's pet."
Soto tried to look offended, but ended up grinning, "See how long we can keep making up excuses for why their men don't make it into the US and contact them afterwards? Sure. We can do that. A few months? I don't know. Maybe?"
"That's the plan. We scare away the cartels and replace them with you guys. You sucker the AQ guys into sending some more of their guys over here, pick them up and we see what we can do with what we get."
Pablo cut a piece of steak and put it into his mouth. He chewed silently for a while and said, "And, after the disaster they eventually realize dealing with us has become, Al Qaeda is turned off to the possibility of dealing with the cartels going forward."
"Exactly," said Sarah.
"It seems to solve both the tactical problem and the strategic one as well. And Ahmad gets to go on his way," said Pablo.
"Assuming he survives," said Chuck.
"Yes. Of course," said Pablo.
With a grin, Soto said, "I like it. I don't get to kill any of these AQ guys, but nailing their brothers should be fun too."
"Ok, Chuck. My team and I are on board," said Pablo.
"Excellent. As I said, my boss is talking to your boss, and hopefully they are in agreement too. If so, we can get started tomorrow."
"In the meantime, have some more," said Pablo with a grin, pouring from a somehow full pitcher once again. Chuck hadn't noticed a new pitcher being brought to the table. He smiled and drank with his new friends.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next few days were busy ones.
The bosses from both countries approved the plans.
Ahmad came out of surgery and seemed to be stable. After following his vital signs and charts on the computer, Devon declared Ahmad on the mend. With that portion of the mission ended, he and Ellie took the jet and flew back to Burbank. The jet would return for the rest of the team.
Pablo's guys obtained the laptop from the hotel room of the Al Qaeda guys and Chuck did some things to it. When he handed it back to Kraus and the man raised an eyebrow, Chuck said, with confidence, "I own it now."
Rosa, in her garb as a nurse on Ahmad's floor, collected the cell phones from all of Ahmad's visitors. A short time later, Chuck owned those as well. Ahmad's phone had been taken by Rosa and altered by Chuck while Ahmad was in surgery.
Pretending to be Ahmad, Chuck and Pablo cancelled the Tijuana meeting. Too sick. Heart surgery. Will reschedule for a later date. The cartel contact wished him a speedy recovery.
Then, pretending to be the contact from Los Equis, they reached out to Ahmad. Knowing that he was recovering from surgery, a local Chihuahua man from Los Equis would come to his hospital room to hold the meeting. It would not be necessary for him to travel to Tijuana.
It was a couple of days later that Pablo and Soto met with Ahmad. They had transformed from the professional spies into somewhat disreputable looking tough guys. Given how sick Ahmad still was, the negotiations were soft spoken, but nonetheless hard fought. Both parties arguing tenaciously. Finally, Pablo and Ahmad agreed to a fee for the services of the cartel. Of course, Pablo knew from the information obtained from Ahmad's computer the highest amount Ahmad could agree to on his own, without contacting a higher authority. More time was spent establishing procedures for the parties to contact each other going forward.
So far as anyone could tell, a successful business arrangement had been established.
The next day, Pablo and his team met Team B at the airport. Chuck stepped away to take a call on his cell phone, but when he came back to the rest he said, "Thank you, Pablo. It's been our pleasure to work with you guys. Not only top-notch professionals, but genuinely nice people. A delight."
"Thank you, Chuck. Be sure to look us up the next time you come to visit down here. We can share a meal again."
Sarah said, with a grin, "My head is still recovering from the last meal we shared."
"You just need more practice," said Rosa, to the general laughter.
"Safe flight, my friends," said Pablo.
Team B boarded the plane.
"Who was on the phone, Sweetie?" asked Sarah.
"Josh Bolten. About Molly." Sarah quirked an eyebrow at him. "Progress, I think," he said.
"Oh, thank God," she said and squeezed his hand.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
A/N2: I asked my cardiologist friend for Ahmad to have a condition such that our hero could come down to Mexico, examine the patient, and come up with a diagnosis that the Mexican doctors had missed. But I really didn't want to make the Mexican doctors look stupid either. A fine line. As Devon says in this chapter, the diagnosis of the VSD can easily be missed and is not at all a negative reflection on Dr. Hernandez and his colleagues.
A/N3: The Harry Lime mission is over, but I'm not moving on to the next arc until we find out what's happening with Molly. That's going to happen in the next chapter or two. Hope you approve of the resolution. In the meantime, what did everyone think of the plan to thwart the Los Equis/Al Qaeda partnership?