A/N: I guess Warner Brothers still owns Chuck.
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Early the next morning, Colonel Casey walked the four men from Colt's team into the empty warehouse. Team B had set up the briefing there, so as not to expose the secrets of Castle to the recently released men. Fitz and his guys stood off to the side. Bryce, leaning on his cane, Forrest, Chuck and Sarah waited in the center of the cavernous room near the display monitors Chuck had set up.
Folding chairs had been arranged so that the displays would be on full view. Chuck would be briefing all three teams in preparation for the stake-out of the hotel.
Colt came directly to Sarah and said, "Agent Walker, it's an honor to meet you again under such different circumstances."
Sarah didn't smile, but she did shake his hand. "Thank you for agreeing to help us, Colt."
He shrugged with a half-smile and said, "My guys and I had some free time on our hands. After all, I had to take some time to get my back into shape again. Concrete is … unforgiving."
Sarah nodded, still unsmiling, and said, "I expect it is."
"Please say hello to Dr. Bartowski...your future sister-in-law...for me. Between the two of you, you messed up me and my guys pretty comprehensively."
That got a slight smile from Sarah and she said, "I'm having dinner with her tonight. I'll be sure to tell her you send your regards."
Introductions to the rest of team B and to Fitz's guys were exchanged. Colt's men were greeted warily by the others. They knew that these men had been mercenaries working for the opposition and they weren't about to accept them with brotherly affection.
Chuck indicated that everyone should sit.
"Ok," he started. "Now that we all know each other, let's get started. The information we have is that the Sachem of Fulcrum will be in this hotel this afternoon," he gestured to the screen and an internet photo of the Disneyland Hotel. "Sachem is the title they use for the leader, the boss of the organization. Until this information came our way, we had no idea about the internal structure. No idea that they had a single leader. This is useful and gives us something to pursue. If we can get to him or her perhaps we can get a list of their members and unravel the conspiracy. It would probably be too much to hope for that we could end it just by taking him or her out of play, but I guess that's possible too."
Colt's man, Rostron, raised a hand. "Can you tell us where the tip comes from? Why we think it's good?"
"It comes from a family that has been hunting Fulcrum agents for months now. A bit like you guys, they have a bone to pick with them and are looking for payback. I hate their methods, and this is the first time they have shared with us, but given the success they have had so far, we have to believe that they are pretty damn good at getting information from the people they interrogate."
"Thank you, Sir," said Rostron, with a nod.
"Just Chuck. No, 'Sir'. I work for a living," said Chuck with a grin.
Rostron grinned back at him.
"Anyway, we were also told that the cover location we have been using for our operations here in Los Angeles has been compromised and that there are Fulcrum agents there. Those agents would know what my team and Fitz and his guys look like. So, although we will all be at the hotel, we will be wearing disguises. Colt and his team will be there too and are less likely to be spotted which is why we requested their help," said Chuck.
Sarah said, "Colt, you had dealings with Fulcrum. Any chance you or your guys would be recognized from that?"
The big man shook his head. "Slight. Most of my dealings with them were by phone or secured email. I only met a couple of them in person and none were on this coast. I guess one of them might be part of the shindig this afternoon, but it would be pretty bad luck."
Fitz said, "But you aren't exactly inconspicuous. You're like a rhino in a petting zoo. Pretty memorable. You should probably consider that when you try to blend in."
Colt looked at the big redhead and said, "I've been doing the same for almost forty years. I think I can figure that out."
"I hope so," said Fitz without warmth, the tone earning him a tough look from the other man, which didn't seem to bother Fitz in the slightest.
"Anyway," said Chuck, continuing. "Sarah and Alex were at the hotel yesterday while Casey and I were picking up Colt and his men in Idaho. They set up dozens of wireless cameras in the lobby and in the large meeting rooms. There are seven different events going on and we have to stake all of them out. We are told he will be at one of them. I'll have a seat in the lobby restaurant with my laptop trying to coordinate."
Chuck pushed a button on the computer and more pictures of the hotel began to appear. Some outside, some in the lobby or corridors. Some were of the meeting rooms themselves. Finally, he pulled up a floorplan of the first floor of the hotel.
"Taking me out of the count, that leaves a round dozen of us to cover the whole place. So, let's talk about who is going to be where. I figure Team Colt, Team C, should be right out in front of the hotel and in the lobby. The rest of us should hang back a bit mostly, maybe a couple in the lobby. Bryce, your leg is still iffy, so maybe we put you up here on the mezzanine, looking down at the lobby?"
Bryce nodded.
The meeting had gone from a briefing to a discussion of who should be where and why that made sense. After a bit of initial reticence, Colt's men eventually entered into the discussion as equal participants. Most of the others seemed to be fine with that, although Fitz was invariably critical of the big man and his ideas.
Bryce's phone buzzed. He glanced at it and nudged Sarah, sitting next to him. He showed her the screen and she nodded without expression.
Finally, with the locations settled, Billy said, "Chuck, what do we do when we find him? When we ID him? Snatch?"
"I don't know, Billy. Why don't we play it by ear?"
"We kill him," said Forrest.
"I doubt it. Too many civilians around. That's a bad idea," said Chuck. "Maybe we snatch. Maybe we can get a tracker on his car and snatch later. Maybe we get brilliant and gamble on playing him. I don't know. A lot may depend on who he or she is. But, for today, we get there and ID the Sachem. No gunfights unless we are attacked...oh, Colt, you and your guys will not be armed...no offense."
Nodding his huge head, Colt said, "No offense taken, Chuck. It's a reasonable decision under the circumstances."
"Ok, then. Team C, the rest of us have to go get disguised. We'll meet you back here at 11:00. In the meantime, we'll leave you one of the cars. You can get something to eat or whatever. Do you guys have money?"
"Yes, Chuck. Colonel Casey made sure we each had ID and funds. Thanks," said Colt.
Fitz made a gruff noise in his throat, but wasn't looking at Colt when Colt looked over to the sound.
"Right. Later," said Chuck.
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Forrest and Bryce were in one car and Sarah, Chuck and Casey were in the Crown Vic heading to Castle.
Sarah said, "Do you think they'll try to escape?"
"Depending on how the operation goes this afternoon, yeah, probably tonight. But I think they will stick around long enough to finish the operation," said Chuck.
"Well, Bryce's contact confirmed. Got a text during the briefing," she told both men.
"Ok. That's it then. I still think we should do it," said Chuck.
"Agreed," said Sarah.
Casey grunted, meaning yes.
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Rachel Bernstein was unpacking a box of personal stuff at her new desk in Carmichael Industries on her first day at work. Her cellphone rang. "Hey...yeah, just unpacking. Ok... Ok... So, quickly? ... Ok, ok, ok, wait a second, I need a pad." She shuffled around until she found a pad and a pen. "Ok, give me the details." She began to write. "OK... Yeah, we can do something quick and dirty and back-date the docs to clean it up later, that's no issue. No biggie. I can get John to give me one of his guys out here...Right. How much?" She let out a low whistle. "Right. Name? Sure, why not? Ok, Sar. I'm on it. I'll give you a shout when we can pull the trigger...Later."
She grinned to the empty office. This was already more fun than she had ever had at her old job, and she hadn't even unpacked yet.
She looked at the phone in her hand and began to call John Neilson in New York and wake him up.
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Team B was in the make-up building of Castle Studios. Fitz and his guys would come in a bit later.
A pleasant middle aged woman named Bea Collins said, "How close? How close are you going to be to the people you don't want to recognize you?"
Sarah said, "Ten...fifteen feet? I think it's pretty unlikely that they will come up to us directly and chat."
"Ok, then," said Bea. "Light disguises it is. If you were going to be dealing with someone for a long meeting, for example, we'd use a mask. Alright, who's first?"
Sarah sat down in the chair. Bea started talking as she worked. "So, the general rules are that you can take a young person and make them old, but it's very hard to make an old person young. Just look at me, for example." Her audience chuckled. She took Sarah's hair and put it up into a small bun held with bobby pins. "Also, you can make a small person big, but it's impossible to make a big person small. We always assume that the person seeing you will write a description, so we want the elements of the description to be different each time. You, Sarah, have long straight blonde hair. So, we're going to give you short curly dark hair, maybe with some gray in it, age you a bit." Bea walked away and came back with a wig, which she tried on Sarah. "Ok, that works. Blue eyes. How do you feel about contacts?"
"No problem," she said. "I've worn them before when in disguise."
"Ok, here come some brown eyes," said Bea. Bea gave her some contacts to put in. "Let's give you some wrinkles to go with the gray in the hair." She worked on Sarah with a pencil for a few moments.
"Ok. Good. Get yourself some older clothes from wardrobe. Something with a high neck. Don't want the smooth skin of your neck to offset the good we did making you older."
Forrest was next. Bea and Forrest decided to make Forrest a man with a wig and a small beard. Bea said, "This is one of the extra tricks we can do with a woman. We can change a woman into a man. It's virtually impossible to change a man into a woman, though. We don't have too much time, so I'm not going to try to make any prostheses for your mouth, something that would change the shape and change your voice. Get some bigger clothes from wardrobe."
Bea kept working. Chuck became a long-haired bearded guy with glasses, but he refused the contacts. As he would be sitting for most of the afternoon, he wouldn't need too much more. Bryce, given the cane, became an older man. Casey also got a wig and glasses and intended to get a bellman's uniform for the hotel.
By the time they were finished, Fitz and his men were there for their turns. As the two groups passed there was some gentle ribbing. Team B immediately left for the warehouse to meet Colt and his men. Hanging around Castle in the disguises would just invite any Fulcrum agents present to identify them.
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The three teams were assembled at the warehouse, most with the disguises in place. They were intending to drive multiple cars to the hotel.
As they were getting ready, Fitz said to Colt, "Be sure to say hello to your Fulcrum friends when you see them."
Colt got right up to Fitz and said, "And what do you mean by that, Ginger?"
"I mean you and your men are traitors, Colt. That's what I mean. At least the Fulcrum guys are fighting for some misguided notion of patriotism. You and your guys are just mercenaries. Sell out your country for 30 pieces of silver..."
Colt interrupted him and said, "You know nothing about me or my men. And I think you have a big mouth, that's what I think. You want to have a go at me? Go …."
They were just about to start shoving when Casey stepped between them, "Stand down. Both of you. Stand down. We have a common enemy here. I want you both to save it for Fulcrum. Once we take care of them, you can beat the hell out of each other. I don't give a shit. I'll pop some popcorn and pull up a chair to watch, but this ain't the time. Stand down."
"Sorry, Colonel," said Colt, moving away, but giving Fitz a stink-eye as he did.
"Roger that, Case. Sorry," said Fitz, backing away himself.
Satisfied, Casey moved back and checked his equipment, but kept a half an eye on both men.
Soon it was time to go.
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Chuck sat in the coffee shop of the hotel lobby and looked out at the slice of the lobby he could see. His computer was open in front of him and a pot of coffee next to it. He made a mental note not to drink the coffee too quickly or he would end up making too many trips to the men's room.
Bryce was up on the balcony overlooking the lobby. Sarah and Casey were down the hallway off the lobby towards the meeting rooms. Colt's men Rostron and Frankenheimer (who everyone seemed to call Frankie) were outside the hotel in a car, hoping to spot something as the Sachem arrived. Forrest, looking like a somewhat older man, was reading the newspaper in a lobby easy chair. Colt and Hershey were seemingly working on some paperwork spread on a coffee table, both of them in business suits and ties. Fitz was busying himself pretending to work on the hotel's electrical system in the corner with Billy. Leo and Marco were down a different corridor leading to different meeting rooms. With all the agents they had there to watch over the hotel, they were comfortable that they would be able to spot the Sachem.
The lobby itself was busy, with legitimate hotel staff, guests and visitors milling around or coming and going.
Chuck was wearing headphones over his wig. He checked the various audio channels. He could talk to the three teams separately, or, at the flip of a switch, all of them. On his computer, he checked the various cameras they had placed around the lobby and in the meeting rooms. Everything was working fine.
He poured himself some more coffee and tried to relax. The Sachem would arrive soon enough.
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A/N2: Enlisted men and women in the US military, like Marty Rostron, address commissioned officers as Sir or Ma'am. If that title were accidentally to be applied to a non-commissioned officer, such as a Sergeant, the joke is, "Don't call me 'Sir.' I'm not an officer. I work for a living."
A/N3: Given that they are at a movie studio, I suppose I could have had a full-blown description of cinematic make-up work. We could have made Forrest a zombie and Casey a Klingon, but that might have been too close to their characters. Instead, I shared some of the "lore" of disguise presented by Jonna Mendez for spies in the field.
A/N4: Well? Here we go. The Sachem is on his or her way. What do you guys and gals think? Love to hear from you.