The next few days after New Year's were quite uneventful for Chuck and his team. They were given some time off by both Beckman and Graham but considering bad guys usually don't take holidays, Chuck was on alert for any flashes.
One thing bothered him though; Casey was gone for two days without notice. This was unusual considering the level of seriousness Casey placed into any job, even one selling appliances.
He quickly found Morgan, who was in the middle of talking to Lester and Jeff about how he won Anna back after their New Year's fight.
"I'm telling you guys, all I did was stand my ground and tell her it was all a big mistake. No fuss, no muss. I let her know who wears the pants in this relationship."
Lester and Jeff clearly looked impressed until Chuck added "Yeah and you clearly said it was Anna. Actually more like scream it….like a little girl after she put you in some weird choke hold."
"Dude, you were supposed to keep that between us amigos" Morgan implored.
"I think it's hard to keep it between us when the whole block heard you call her 'Big Mama'. Now, where's Casey?"
Now dejected, Morgan answered "no idea, he gave his resignation yesterday and took off. No explanations or anything."
"What? And you didn't tell me?"
"Sorry dude" was all Morgan came up with as Chuck walked out the store heading for Wienerlicious.
As he walked into an empty store to see Sarah in her German/Swedish/Bavarian something or another get up for work, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that she was a super spy cooking gourmet wiener dogs.
"Hey Chuck, your usual order for lunch? Weiner?" Sarah asked clearly still prodding him about the embarrassing scene at the party.
"No, not…have you seen or heard anything from Casey lately?"
"Not since the party. Why? What's wrong?"
"Its just that yesterday he quit from the Buymore without giving any explanations. I know he wasn't the emotional type, but I expected at least a goodbye grunt or two."
Now the gears started moving in Sarah's mind and she then realized the clue she missed; Casey was trying to give her a head start when he said he had to "clean up" at home. Sarah cussed at herself for missing the hint and even more at the fact she lost valuable time needed to hide Chuck away.
Several months prior, she would've thought nothing about eliminating the target. It was her job of course and CIA training taught her that sometimes the need of the many outweighs the need of the few, or one. Eliminating one target in order to protect thousands more seemed like an easy decision to make.
But this time, it wasn't that easy. Chuck willingly risked his single life in order to save the lives of many and he did this not because he forced to, but because he wanted to. He willingly gave his life to the cause, lied to his friends and family, and placed himself in harm's way in more than one occasion.
More than anything, Chuck introduced her to something she had been missing: family, friends, real love, and a normal life. Sarah normally pushed her feelings aside in order to make it easier to complete the mission at hand, not this time. No, this time completing the clean up mission was going to be difficult and she was going to make it so for anyone who got in their way. Casey included.
Sarah quickly went into action mode, grabbing Chuck and heading out towards her car. The only thing she could do now is head back to her place and grab all the supplies she would need to get him into hiding.
Chuck, slow in grasping the situation, asked "What, what are you doing Sarah? Where are we going?"
"Chuck, I think Casey received orders to eliminate the intersect. Eliminate you."
"Wha, Wha…why would they do that? I'm fully cooperating with you guys and clearly I'm too much of a chicken to do anything with the data."
"That's not it. They must've had sort of back up in place just in case the first intersect was destroyed. They're trying to clean up their mistakes and pretend this all didn't happen. What we need to do now is get to my place so I can get all the things we need to make you disappear for a while."
Now Chuck fully realized the enormity of the situation and his only hope was a CIA agent in a Wienerlicious outfit. I'm doomed…or in Quentin Tarentino movie.
"Trust me Chuck. I won't let anything bad happen to you."
"I do Sarah." As he said this, even he knew that this might be too much of a task for even her to pull off. Sarah was a great agent, but pitting her against a whole agency might be too much to ask.
They quickly left her place after getting all they need to fend off any attempts at Chuck's life. He was still in awe in how many weapons can be hidden in a small hotel room while they headed out in Sarah's Porsche. But as soon as they leave the garage, Sarah noticed a blacked out Ford Expedition following them around 30 yards away.
"Darn it, the NSA is already on us."
Chuck looked back, "Wow, and I thought that 30 yards was just an approximate distance for tailing. They sure follow protocol."
"Yeah and that protocol is why were in the mess we are today, Chuck."
Sarah repeatedly tried to shake them off their heels, but to no avail. The SUV sped up beside them and rammed into the corner of their car, causing them to spin out violently and crash into a telephone pole.
With both Sarah and Chuck groggy from their rollercoaster ride, the NSA agents would have no trouble in apprehending them and fulfilling their mission orders. They quickly turned their truck around and came in close to the smoking Porsche containing their target.
Just as they started opening their doors, another Expedition slams into their side, causing all the occupants to be thrown onto the other side and knocking them out.
Sarah, witnessing the events, quickly freed herself and proceeded to slap an unconscious Chuck.
"Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, wake up already."
"What? Ouch, quit that. Are you trying to complete their mission for them?"
As they extricated themselves from the wreckage, a familiar voice rang out to them.
"Agent Walker, Bartowski, get over here. Now."
Shouting out of the SUV window was Casey, who they realized had just taken out his fellow NSA agents. Casey was a career spy, loyal to the agency and even more loyal to his country. But still here he was, rescuing Chuck and Sarah from orders that he himself also received.
"Casey, what are you doing here? And more importantly, why should we trust you?" Sarah asked.
"I would think that a little gratitude for risking my life, abandoning my career, and missing a new episode of Law and Order would be the proper response, Walker."
"You didn't answer my quest…."
"Do you really want to do this when more guns will be arriving than even I care to see?"
"Gotta agree with Casey on this one. Sarah, get in the car."
Before the unconscious NSA agents could wake up, they were speeding off to an unknown destination. Things remained quiet in the car, until Chuck spoke up and asked the most obvious question for their current situation.
"Aren't you supposed to be trying to kill me, Casey? Not that I'm not grateful to be alive and not full of bullet holes, but you did receive orders to eliminate me."
"Yes I did and now I'm disobeying them. That's all that needs to be said; if you want more out of me, I can pull over right now and let them discuss it with you."
"Well that's all I need to hear, what's the plan?"
Sensing Casey's inability to answer Chuck's question, Sarah asked "you do have a plan right? Please don't tell me that all you came up with so far is ramming the agents with your truck."
"Well….I've had a difficult day ok? Besides, this disobeying orders thing is new to me. Maybe you should take the lead Walker, disobeying orders might come easier to you."
"Funny. Doesn't help us much in the current situation though."
Sarah knew that the NSA was slowly closing in on them and without any planned course of action, they'd be caught for sure. She quickly tried to run down their options: try to hide and be forced to live a cover for the rest of their lives; or take out the new intersect so that Chuck would once again be important to the cause.
She grimaced at the thought of either of these scenarios playing out; although as a spy she would be able to quickly slip into a new identity, Chuck on the other hand was a civilian and not used to shedding one. Besides, she would be taking him away from the things that attracted her to him in the first place, family and friends.
That left one viable option: take out the new intersect and establish Chuck's importance once again. Sarah knew this would only be a short fix; in six months another intersect will be built and the clean up order will go out again. But running out of choices, this was the one that could buy them more time.
Turning to the driver's seat, Sarah tells Casey "there's only one choice we can make here."
"I know, take out the beta intersect. I just realized the same thing; although we'll back to this same position in the future."
"We can't worry about that now; Chuck's safety is first and foremost. We'll deal with that when the time comes."
Sitting quietly in the rear seat, Chuck's mind was now grasping the risks Sarah and Casey took in protecting him. They were willingly sacrificing everything for him and he couldn't help but feel a little undeserving of the devotion.
Casey told him once before that they couldn't save one person if it meant that millions more would be in danger. Now Casey was contradicting what he said; now he and Sarah were in danger trying to rescue him. This did not sit well with Chuck at all.
"We need to head to the Buymore, Casey. It's the only place we can access the info on where the new system is located. Its probably gonna be a big risk; they might know we're coming" Sarah said.
"Oh well, I always wanted to end it in a blaze of glory."
They pulled up in the Buymore parking lot, scanning the area for any clues to a trap. After a few moments of looking around, Casey and Sarah nodded at each other, signaling that everything seemed fine for the moment.
Casey was the first to speak. "Ok, here's what we're gonna do. Sarah and I will run into the store and access all the data we need to destroy the beta intersect. We'll quickly exit the store, hopefully injuring some people who get in our way. Chuck, you…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stay in the car. Have you guys ever thought that the bad guys would look in the car first sometimes?"
Casey gave one of his grunts, which Chuck interpreted as one of the ones that signal his approval. Sarah, on the other hand, could only smile at how Chuck still remained fairly calm despite his safety being in their hands. She knew he trusted her with his life and that fact strengthened her resolve.
Sarah and Casey entered the Buymore from the back entrance and quickly scanned the room. As they walked near to the home theater room, the doors swing open and thirty NSA agents quickly surround them before they could even get a shot off.
"So much for blaze of glory."
Chuck was listening in from the microphone in Sarah's watch and a look of dread fell on his face. What he feared the most had happened: in trying to protect him, his friends will end up getting hurt.
Back in the Buymore, Sarah and Casey were disarmed and handcuffed when they see NSA General Beckman and CIA director Graham walk out. Sarah and Casey were surprised to see the higher ups actually get out into the field but they knew the importance of the intersect to everyone.
"Very disappointed in you, Casey. You're the last person I thought would disobey orders" Beckman said.
"Yeah, new concept to me too. Not very disappointed thought."
Graham turned to Sarah, "And you as well Sarah, you let your emotions once again cloud your judgment. Did you really think you guys had a chance of hiding the intersect?"
"This time, my emotions were telling me the right thing to do. I won't sit back and do nothing as an innocent man is killed."
"Very noble of you both and I understand the loyalty to Bartowski, but in this situation, the greater good must prevail. What he knows can hurt a lot of people should it fall into the wrong hands. And now that we have the beta intersect, we need to eliminate that risk."
Just as he finished he sentence, two agents walk in with Chuck in tow.
Turning to Casey and Sarah, "what did I say about the car?"
"Very well, we're sorry we have to do this Bartowski. But the information you know is…"
Chuck cut her off, "…too dangerous to have walking around L.A., I know. What happens to agents Casey and Walker now?
"Well they both disobeyed orders and went against their agencies. There are severe punishments for those who betray their government."
"They were just trying to protect me."
"Even though they were doing what was right, sometimes the right of the many outweighs the individual. They knew this would happen if they were caught."
"Look, I've done all the things you guys asked of me without asking for anything in return. Now I'm asking, please forget what they did here today and just discharge them or something."
"Fine, we'll consider it. As for the matter of you…"
Before she could finish her sentence, a call comes into her cellphone. Looking at the caller id, a look of surprise washes over the face of Beckman.
"What is it? What? How could that happen? Yes, we're on our way now. Evacuate everyone from the level and institute a lockdown of the building."
Graham, looking surprised as well, "what is it?"
"The beta intersect. It has independently instituted the fueling of all ICBMs in the United States. We need to head to the compound now. Bring Casey, Sarah, and the intersect as well, we might need their help."
