The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most
Chapter 1: Morning Calls
Chuck was asleep in his room when his cell phone went off…
"Nerd Herd After Hours, how can I help you?" replied Chuck in a groggy voice. He got up and searched for a pen and paper.
"Yes sir, I'll be there in 15 minutes." After getting the clients information he slowly gets dressed and heads out the door. In his disoriented haze he forgets to put on his watch, the watch that Sarah had given him with the GPS tracker, in case he got into trouble.
Minutes later Chuck was on the freeway when he notices a black SUV gaining speed behind him. He starts to switch lanes to let them through when they begin to ram him from behind.
"What the hell do they think they're doing? Someone could get killed, more likely I can get killed." Chuck was coming up to the exit he needed to get off at and quickly maneuvered down the spiral off ramp. No sooner had he taken the exit when the SUV was right behind him once again.
"Just my luck, I get lunatics following me at five in the morning. Unless Casey is taking a trip down memory lane." Chuck pulls out his phone and gives Casey a call. The phone started to ring but before Casey could pick up the black SUV rams into the Nerd Herder on the side causing it to run right into a utility pole.
"This better be good Bartowski!" grumbled Casey into the phone. "Bartowski?"
Silence.
"Bartowski! This is no time to be playing jokes."
Casey started to become irritated by now so he decided to sneak next door to Chuck's bedroom. Crawling through the window he finds nothing.
"Where the hell did he get himself to now?"
Casey quickly heads back to his apartment and uses the GPS tracking system to find Chuck.
"Funny, says he's supposed to be in his room… that can't be right."
Casey returns to Chuck's room, this time looking for the watch finding it on the night stand.
"Idiot" mumbled Casey to himself as he crawled back out the window. He pulls out his phone and calls Sarah.
"Walker, we might have a problem. Bartowski is MIA and he left his watch behind."
Sarah had worked a late shift at the Orange Orange and was now taking a much needed beauty sleep. When Casey had called she was a bit disoriented and didn't understand what he was saying.
"What? Buck is fishing? I don't understand what you're trying to tell me Casey, call me later I'm too tired for this right now."
Before she got off the phone Casey repeated himself, but this time much slower. "Walker, Chuck is missing. Get over here FAST!"
Sarah's eyes bolted open as she quickly got out of bed and started getting dressed.
It usually took Sarah 10 minutes to get to the apartment complex where Chuck and Casey resided; she was speeding so fast down the street that it took her half the time to get there. She took a glance at the rear view mirror before getting out; making sure no cops had followed her. She reached Casey's door and as she was about to knock he quickly opens it to let her in.
"I managed to track down the Nerd Herder, his last location is right off the Golden State Freeway. I don't want to alert the General until we find out for sure."
"Let's move then," said Sarah rushing out the door.
Casey grabbed his gun and followed behind barely managing to close the door before she took off. They were approaching the location when Sarah notices a piece of bumper in the middle of the freeway.
"Casey look…" Sarah said, a hint of worry in her tone.
"We don't know for sure if it's him, let's check and make sure we have our facts straight. There's the exit up ahead."
As they came around the exit ramp they both saw the car, wrecked, on the side of the road. Sarah parks right next to it as they both jump out of the car to check on Chuck.
Casey: "He's not in here!"
Sarah: "Well where else can he go?:
Casey: "I don't know but I'm afraid I'm going to have to call this in."
While Casey called to report the situation, Sarah continued to look through the car for any clues that would lead them somewhere.
"What if fulcrum has him and they're torturing him as we speak?" said Sarah to Casey. She had never felt this worried before for anyone.
Least of all an asset.
Her asset.