Chapter FOUR: Yogurt and Guns

EARLIER THAT DAY – ORANGE ORANGE

Chuck was late. Chuck was never late for anything remotely resembling a date with Sarah Walker. But now, during a convenient and government-sponsored overlap in their (cover) breaks, when Chuck was supposed to be meeting her here to talk about the all important 'where do we go from here now that our lives have some semblance of normalcy' question, he was simply not here.

Morgan could be responsible, but that was unlikely. He could be clingy, but he was also perhaps the most loyal person Sarah had ever met. He was sweet in his mild buffoonery, but he knew when to back off, and Chuck had been the one to stress how important this talk was.

Jeff and Lester could have pulled one of their stunts, except for the fact that they were currently on the run. No, they hadn't actually blown up the Buy More, and yes, there were no charges or investigations of any kind against them, thanks to 'Team Bartowski's' intervention, but one had to account for the fact that Jeff and Lester were, well, Jeff and Lester.

Beckman could have called Chuck in for a private briefing, but during a break on his first day back? Without her or Casey? It didn't seem right.

Looking at her watch, Sarah realized a full five minutes had passed since this train of thought started. Now Chuck was very late, by their standards, and that left one other option: trouble.

Taking out her phone, Sarah dialed Chuck's cell. No answer. She tried the Nerd Herd desk, where a very helpful CIA agent told her that she hadn't seen Mr. Bartowski for about twenty minutes. Now, she called Casey.

"Yeah?" came the gruff reply.

"Meet me in Castle. Chuck's missing." No other words were needed, so she hung up. Casey was the last one for idle conversation, and in a few minutes, she was joined by both Casey and General Beckman looking at a monitor that was tracking Chuck's watch.

"What was the Intersect's last known location, and when was it?" asked Beckman tensely.

"Approximately twenty-five minutes ago, heading out of the Buy More after helping a customer. Calling up the security tapes… Got it." Casey rifled through the footage until it showed a thirty-something brunette woman getting some sort of assistance from Chuck. "Running facial recognition sequences… Got it."

A file came up with several charges appended to it. "Sarah Connor, born 1965, sentenced to a mental facility after an attempted bombing of a computer factory, escaped in 1995, wanted for murder and terrorism charges dated shortly thereafter, blew up a bank from inside the vault in 1999."

"Wait a minute, Casey. That woman is way too young to be 45, and she's dead. So, what is she doing here and now, and what does she want with Chuck?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Walker. But, she hates computers. Chuck fixes 'em. Not much, but I'll take it over nothing."

Sarah couldn't help but notice that Beckman looked pensive, which was rare. She was usually a take-charge kind of woman, quick to speak her mind. "General?" said Sarah. "Is there anything you know about this woman that isn't in her file?"

Beckman stood up straight and took a deep breath. She looked troubled. "Sarah Connor was a target of a highly dangerous killer in 1984. This man, one man, mind you, followed her into a police station full of armed officers and killed almost everyone in the building, coming out none the worse for wear. He later appeared in 1995, helping Sarah Connor escape from Pescadero State Hospital. Connor was institutionalized there because she believed that man was actually some sort of sophisticated machine that was targeting her son. She was paranoid and delusional, and most likely still is. She also has a way of beating odds stacked heavily against her. Police casualties around Connor were almost always catastrophic."

"What, so she used a killer robot against them?" said Casey with his usual sarcasm.

"Connor might say something along those lines, and she would believe it. She is a fanatic as radical as the most zealous Al Qaeda operative. And if she has the Intersect..."

"Then Connor has enough information to do some serious damage on a large scale."

"Bartowski always did have a low threshold for pain," Casey agreed.

"The Intersect can withstand interrogation, to an extent," said Beckman, "but a rescue mission is already underway. CIA and NSA teams are following Chuck's homing device, and we will be taking a chopper."

"You're coming with us, General?" said Sarah, a bit unsure about this decision.

"This operation is my responsibility, Agent Walker. That means that Chuck's safety is very much my concern." Did Beckman's face just soften up a bit? No, that just wasn't physically possible.

Sarah immediately went to the weapons locker and suited up. "Well, what are we waiting for, then?"

LATER – UNMARKED WAREHOUSE

Casey hopped off the chopper with Walker and half a dozen other agents alongside him onto the roof of the warehouse where Chuck was being held. They walked to the door leading inside, and after a silent countdown, Casey kicked in the door and led the team downstairs. The other teams were also converging form all sides on the ground. After rounding several corners on a catwalk, they found a ladder that led down to the floor. Large crates bracketed them on either side.

Casey signaled to four of the team to go one way, and Walker and two others would follow him. Casey knew that Walker must be chafing at not taking the lead and charging in, guns blazing, but she was too attached to Chuck to lead the mission effectively. She could certainly take orders well enough, and quite frankly, she deserved to come along. In Casey's personal opinion, she deserved to take the lead, but it wasn't his call.

They rounded a corner, and came face to face with a teenage girl, dressed as a civilian. But, with someone like this Connor character involved, the kid could still be dangerous. She was unarmed, though, and seemed to just be standing there. "Federal agents! Don't move!" he barked to the girl.

She didn't move. She was standing perfectly still; far too still, though she did look at them almost curiously. Casey gestured for the two agents he hadn't met yet to arrest her. They moved forward, and suddenly, they were flying through the air as the girl picked them up and simply tossed them away as if they were garbage bags.

Casey opened fire at the girl with a short barrage that would quickly fell even a foe wearing a bulletproof vest. It helped that Walker also fired, and her barrage lasted a bit longer.

The girl, however, did not fall over dead. Nor did she move at all. She simply tilted her head sideways a bit, and then moved forward towards them.

"Fall back!" Casey ordered, though only Walker was with him anymore. The girl was practically herding them now, and what should have been effective suppressing fire against an armored vehicle only gave the girl mild pause.

All too soon, they found themselves backed right into a crate, the large and heavy door of which the small girl effortlessly closed, shutting them in.

"Dammit! What the hell was that?" Sarah hissed. Casey was thinking the same thing. What kind of person could take that kind of beating and not even twitch? Not even make a sound or move a facial muscle? "You don't think, Casey, that Connor might…"

"I don't want to think about that, Walker. We're locked in, so we're stuck until the others come to get us. Best not to stress out over what can't be helped."

ONE HOUR LATER

Sarah was more than restless; she was totally freaked out. Was Connor really not insane after all? Were there really killer robots that looked human out there? But why would she ally herself with something that tried to kill her son? Maybe she'd been captured and was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome? She was definitely mentally unhinged; her mug shot was practically feral.

The sound of the crate opening brought Sarah to her wits, and she and Casey trained their weapons on the door. It creaked open, and a team of friendlies came streaming in, led by Beckman.

"Did you find Chuck? Is he safe?" Sarah practically begged, not quite herself at the moment.

Beckman sighed and took off her glasses. "We found the tracking device, but not the Intersect. And Connor escaped. We assume that she still has Bartowski."

So that was it, then. This mad woman had Chuck, had her Chuck, and was able to take on a number of trained NSA and CIA teams working in perfect coordination, and escape.

"We'll get her. I'll get her," Sarah vowed with bitterest hate.

I own not a thing. Next chapter, back to the Connors + Chuck.