They were passing cars right and left; Sarahh was driving fast, even for freeway traffic. Not recklessly, nothing that would attract the unwanted attention of a police patrol car, she was a pro, but it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't been paying attention for some time. Now he realized he couldn't remember where or when they'd gotten on the highway and he couldn't recognize any landmarks. He was pretty sure he hadn't slept, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be closing his eyes anytime soon. He'd just zoned out, too much on his mind. No, that wasn't the problem. He had too much in his mind.
He could hardly fathom what they had just done. The government said he was out—at last. He was going to walk his sister down the aisle. He had his life back. Then everything crashed down, Sarah said run—and they ran. They had run from the government. You don't run from the government. Or you don't run from the government and get very far, alive. Sarah had disobeyed a direct order from a superior, which was probably treason. They used to shoot you for treason. Maybe they still did.
Chuck knew why they had to run. There was no other option. He couldn't just go away to that dark windowless room without at least trying to find him. His dad. The man he had thought had abandoned him and The man he had been angry at for so long. He hadn't even had time with everything that had happened to even fully comprehend new revelation about hid dad. He wasn't just some crazy guy. He was a brilliant scientist who hadn't left for some selfish reason, but to protect them.
Pancakes. The day his dad disappeared he had promised to make his special pancakes for dinner. Like there was something wonderful they should celebrate in the middle of an ordinary week.
They came home from school and no dad and no pancakes either. There was no anything, not even a note explaining why. Ellie cried for two solid days. He was devastated, but knew he had to be strong for his sister. He thought he could never forgive his father for hurting her like that.
3) But now, he knew what had really happened. He could picture it so clearly. He must have had to leave quickly. So, quickly that no warning or explanation could be given. He knew that it must have torn his dad up inside to completely have to walk away from everyone. Chuck understood now. He pictured his father feeling the same way he did know. The sense of impending doom and the feeling of the walls closing in around you. Knowing that you are going to be leaving everything and everyone behind. Knowing that they will never truly understand that there was no other choice. That you had to protect them. That if you stayed where you where the ones you loved would only become targets or possibly worse pawns.
The government had torn his family apart and continued to do so. He thought about Ellie. He'd planned to walk her down the aisle. Then their dad reappeared and she had been so happy that her father would do it. He had promised himself that he would never do to anyone what his dad had done and now he had. They had both bailed on her. She would be heartbroken. How could he keep hurting the people he cared the most about? Awesome was a great guy and would be there for Ellie, but it had just been the two of them for so long…to leave like this just killed him. Would the government ever stop tearing his family apart?
Chuck looked over at Sarahh. She had just saved his life, again, at the risk of her own. He didn't know how to describe their relationship. He briefly entertained the thought of what might happen if they did make it through everything alive and the Intersect was gone. The thought was fleeting and left as soon as it came.
Chuck looked over at Sarah and saw the tenseness in Sarahh's features. She had an intense stare as he looked straight ahead down the road. She wasn't looking to the left or right, but straight ahead. Chuck saw that hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly her finger tips didn't seem to have any color in them.
He knew that she was very aware of the seriousness of her decision even better than he did. He just hoped they could find his dad, and then figure their way out of this predicament. He couldn't help but think, "What next?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
She had always followed orders. She had gone along with all the schemes and cons that her dad had done. Sometimes the treat of rocky road ice cream had to be promised for her to go along, but she had always eventually gone along with the plan. The same was true of the CIA. She had always followed orders. She had been the good soldier.
Now, there had been times that the rules had been bent slightly to accomplish the mission, but she had always followed orders. That was, until she had meet Chuck.
Sarahh gripped the steering wheel so tightly as she stared out into the dark that she thought she might break the wheel in two. Her mind kept playing back the scene at the Buy More. "Sarahh, thank you. I was beginning to think the government was never going to let me go. You have always looked out for me."
She thought about the consequences of her sudden decision. She had just gone on instinct at the Buy More. She had turned back on everything she knew. She was Sarahh Walker. Her entire adult life that was who she had been. She had been so many different people growing up, running so many different cons it had been comforting in a weird way to have the same name for a time. The CIA had given her a sense of stability that she had not known before. To most people going on missions to far flung places and nearly being killed on a regular basis may not seem stable. But, it was the only life she had known for so long now. She had been able to help people, the world in fact, with her job. It was a long way to come from constantly trying to scam people out of everything they had.
Hearing Chuck shift in his seat, she glanced over at Chuck quickly. The movie of their encounter at the Buy More began to play again. The look in Chuck's eyes when he spoke; the honesty and trust that they held. How could she stand there and lie to him again? How could she be the one that walked him into that dark, windowless, room? How could she be the one to take him away from everything and everyone that he loved? He had everything that she lacked. Family and friends that loved him and would not understand why he left. How could she do that to them? She knew the same thing again.
Chuck deserved a normal life. He was a good person that genuinely cared for people and had people who cared about him. She had really enjoyed getting to know Chuck's sister and future brother in law. She had even enjoyed meeting Morgan. She had gotten a glimpse of how a normal person lives their life and what it feels like to be part of a family.
Sarah indulged herself for a few moments. and now the scene changed to a townhouse with a view of the ocean, of her laughing with Chuck as he tried to carry her over the threshold.
A sign above the door read "Just Married." A part of her so desperately wanted something like that in her life, but the other part knew it could never happen, especially with someone like Chuck.
Sarahh blinked her eyes quickly to bring herself out of the fairy tale playing in her head right no. She blinked back the moisture that was trying to build there. No, she was going to have to keep her wits about her. She could not let her emotions get the better of her if they were going to survive the near future. She knew exactly what they were going up against.
Sarahh knew from working with John Casey that he would not give up. She had heard about him even before she began this assignment. He was known as the NSA go-to man. If they wanted something infiltrated, recovered, or destroyed they called on him. If something went wrong and they needed someone to come and clean it up, they called on him. Unlike her, it seemed that emotion hardly came into to play while he was on a mission. Their past work together would not matter. He would come after them with the same tenacity that he used to track down all his other prey. He would have all the resources of the government behind him. Sarahh knew what would most likely happen next.