Chapter 4: Two Evils
A/N See I got this chapter up in no time. Well, kind of. That's not the point though. Anyway, I saw some reviews and they were answering my question in last chapter about making a sequel or ending it. I didn't mean for you to just answer it on that chapter, but to get the idea in your head and answer it in the next couple of chapters. Also, thank-you to Just Chuck for betaing this.
Don't own Chuck
Enjoy!
When choosing between two evils, I like to try the one I've never tried before
-Mae West
Sarah walks into the waiting room outside of Graham's office. She looks to the secretary who is typing furiously on her keyboard. Sarah clears her throat to get her attention, and the secretary's eyes snap up.
"Oh... yes, Agent Walker, you could just take a seat and the Director will see you after he is done with his meeting. It's been quite a rush around here lately, but everything is hush, hush." Sarah smiles politely and takes a seat. She sits there with her legs crossed thinking about the upcoming confrontation. He sounded very urgent on the phone, and her operation was supposed to be a top priority. Who could possibly be more important than talking about where all of the government's secrets are?
The door to the office opens and Sarah looks over. Graham is standing in the doorway. He doesn't say anything, but the look in his eyes tells her to come in.
She steps inside and is not entirely sure where to sit. A General is sitting in the only chair in the room besides Graham's. She stands there awkwardly, wishing for someone to tell her what is going on.
"Agent Walker, I presume," says the General as she gets out of her chair. She extends her hand and Sarah accepts it.
"Yes ma'am," she answers. The General walks around the desk and gets ready to sit in Graham's chair. What? You don't sit in the Director of the CI freaking A's chair and get away with it. Her eyes snap to Graham, who is looking out his office windows. As if sensing someone's eyes on him, he turns around.
"Take a seat Agent Walker," he says. She nervously sits in the chair the General was just occupying while across from her the General makes herself comfy. Graham moves behind her and begins to talk. "Now we have read your report of the incident, and you say that he was able to neutralize you as he escaped. Correct?"
"Yes," she says not wanting to bring forward the fact that she followed him into the cage.
"And you fought back?"
"Yes." He looks to the General and back to her.
"Would you say his fighting level was skilled?"
She thinks about it for a second. No one has ever beaten her that badly in a fight, no matter how distracted she was. She also had absolutely no way to get out of that lock. She pauses and then answers.
"Yes." The General and Graham once again share a look.
"Agent Walker, we believe that this man, Chuck Bartowski, has been in the espionage world for a while now," he turns around and opens a drawer to pull out a file. "We have ran his face and records through any possible system and found nothing. We have a list of files here. They are of incidents where nobody knows what happened. Nobody has a name, a face, anything about who committed these crimes. We want you to follow every possible lead until you find this man."
"Director," she addresses him, "with all due respect this seems like a bit of a shot in the dark. Nothing here is a positive. It's just... guessing."
"Yes, so you will need to do your best work to follow through on these leads," the shorter General finally speaks. Sarah finally has a chance to look her over. She is very shorter, much shorter than her. She has a deep red hair color, that reminds her of her friend Carina, except the General's hair is in a tight bun on the back of her head. She also appears to have more wrinkles than, well, anybody.
"I'm sorry, General, I never got your name," Sarah asks.
"General Diane Beckman of the NSA," she answers, and Sarah's eyes nearly pop out of her sockets.
"We're working WITH the NSA. Forgive me if I'm out of line Director, but most CIA agents, and NSA agents don't get along that well."
"You got that right," says a new voice. Her head snaps around so quick it's a surprise she doesn't hurt her neck. "Major John Casey," he finishes simply with a nod in her direction.
"Yes, come in Major Casey," says Beckman.
"Anyway, as I was saying, Agent Walker, you will be working along side Major Casey here, and will report to no one, but us." As if this couldn't get any worse.
"I have to work with Casey? He is a burnout, cold school killer!" Sarah yells in distress. Casey merely grunts at her in response.
"I ain't so happy about working with a CIA skirt either, so get over it," he says back in a gruff voice. "It's your fault we lost him anyways. Maybe if the CIA would teach their agents to fight like real soldiers." Sarah is standing now in an aggressive stance staring down Casey.
"At least I have regard for human life!"
"ENOUGH!" Graham yells in a deep booming voice. "You have your assignment. All of our secrets are out there, and who knows what could be done with them! Stop complaining and put your selfish desire aside so you can save the integrity of this nation from those rogue agents who want to do it harm!" Graham finishes and Sarah is taken back. Graham has never yelled at her before. Well, not like that. His voice is always calm, and fatherly. She smooths out her clothes and sits back down, staring at her superior. Graham has already schooled his features, but she knows him well enough that he is agitated, and has been for a while
"Major Casey, here are the files," he states as he hands over the folders that he got out earlier, "We would like you to review them tonight, while Agent Walker gets some rest. The rest, I am sure you guys can figure out," he finishes talking and Sarah stands up and heads out the door at a brisk pace. She can't believe how out of control she got. She started yelling at a fellow agent in front of her superior.
Today is just not her day.
She arrives at her apartment in D.C and steps out of her car. She was here not so long ago. She was here right before Bryce went rogue. She sighs to herself, finally feeling the exhaustion setting in. She smiles politely at the clerk manning the desk. She remembers hearing her name once before. Jenna, was it? She stands by the elevators after pushing the button and finds herself watching the numbers on the top of the elevator click down to 1. As the door opens she checks to make sure no one is inside, then steps in. She presses the '5' button and leans against the rails. Her eyes are starting to drift shut and she barely hears the ding, signalling that this is her floor.
She steps off and quickly makes her way down to her apartment, 514. She pulls her keys out of her purse as she walks down the hallway, and puts them into the lock when she arrives in front of the door. She turns the keys and opens the door when she feels something against her back ankle. She turns her head and looks down seeing the stray cat she has named, "Fluffy."
"Hi, Fluffy. You're back, now are you? Trying to steal some more food?" she says as she picks him up. "Good thing I bought some of that gross tuna crap that you like." She walks into the kitchen and puts the cat down on the counter. He walks along the counter following her around the kitchen. She opens up a cabinet and reaches on the top shelf to see a small pyramid consisting of approximately six cat food cans. She sets that down on the counter and smiles when Fluffy starts to sniff it. She goes to another cabinet and opens it up to reveal plates and dishes. She pulls out a small plate, and sets it next the small cat food can.
She pulls back the lid on the can and says, "Yeah... ummm... that's not the feast I think of when people say fancy." She tips the can over letting all of the food pour out onto the plate. She rubs his head and walks off saying to him, "I am going to take a shower Fluffy. I will be back in a bit," and leaves Fluffy to his not-so fancy feast.
Chuck sighs for the umpteenth time today and removes the backing on the picture frame. He pulls out a bug from his pocket and sticks it on the back of the picture.
A noise interrupts him. he puts the picture down and turns towards the door to the living room which is still open. It sounds like...
Keys.
Keys being put into a lock.
His eyes stay focused on the door and as it opens he sees a mass of blond hair.
Shit.
Chuck sets the picture down and runs across the room into the bathroom. He looks around for a place to hide, and sees a door. He rushes to open the door, still being as silent as ever, and runs into the room. Well, it isn't a room, it's a closet, with nothing in it. He looks around, and assumes it's for storing towels or something.Who puts a closet in a bathroom?He can hear the conversation going on in the other room and listens. He hears her say something.
"Good thing I bought some of that gross tuna crap that you like." What the hell?
"Yeah... ummm... that's not the feast I think of when people say fancy." What the hell is she doing? Who is out there?
"I am going to take a shower Fluffy. I will be back in a bit," Fluffy? Is she talking to... a cat... of course she is talking to a cat. What kind of a name is Fluffy? This woman needs to have more of a personality. I mean... no T.V, and a cat named Fluffy. Wait... shit... she said shower didn't she. Chuck suppresses the urge to bang his head in using the door in front of him.
Why couldn't she just stay in Burbank for another day?
Sarah turns around and starts walking towards her bedroom. The door is opened. I thought I had closed that. She carefully looks around and seeing nothing out of place, she puts it aside for another time thinking that maybe she is just too tired. She heads into the bathroom and turns on the water while stripping down into nothing. She stares at her reflection in the mirror, and can clearly see, even under all the make-up, the dark circles forming under her eyes.
Her back and shoulder are sore from the encounter with Chuck, and she is starting to second-guess everything she has ever done. Bryce betrayed me. How could I be so naive? And that guy, Chuck, he seemed so nice. I never would've thought that he was some murderer.
She pushes her thoughts aside and steps into the shower letting the water wash away her worries. She washes herself quickly, because all she wants to do is crawl into bed. She quickly shampoos and conditions her hair and turns off the water grabbing a towel from the rack. As she pats herself dry, she notices the shades to the closet door are slightly open. She can't see anything but the blackness, but wants to look inside. She finishes drying herself off as if she didn't notice anything then raps her robe around her and goes into the bedroom. While in the bedroom, she grabs her Smith and Wesson, and puts it in the back of her robe.
Sarah walks back into the bathroom as if she knows nothing. She walks closer to the closet and pretends to be heading for the sink. Then, she grabs her gun and kicks open the door. It slaps against the back wall and comes off of its hinges. Nobody is inside. She lowers her weapon and closes her eyes. Not the first time recently that she has been wrong. She rubs her eyes and puts her gun away.
Sarah walks back out and sees Fluffy sitting on her bed, sound asleep. She smiles again and changes into a camisole and underwear and slides under the covers next to him. She pets his head softly.
"You don't think I'm crazy. Do you?" and she falls asleep.
Okay, Chuck, think fast. There has got to be another way out of here. He looks all around, and comes to the sad realization, that he has locked himself, all alone, in a closet, in the apartment of a cold-blooded killer. He moves the blinds slightly so he can see out. She is in the bathroom and has turned the water on and now...oh crap. She's stripping. Look away Chuck. This isn't right. Chuck respectfully attempts to keep his eyes away as much as possible, and only catches a few glimpses of her in her naked glory. While trying to avoid looking at her... assets, he is looking at the ceiling. He notices a vent. Perfect. He opens the vent trying to be quiet which isn't difficult with the shower running. He reaches up and with his 6 foot stature, he is able to reach the vent. Then he uses all of his upper body strength to lift himself up into the ventilation system.
He crawls through the vents, not entirely sure where he is going, and finally finds an entrance to another room. He opens the vent and pushes it aside, and attempts to land gracefully on the floor. Keyword, attempts. After Chuck totally botched his landing, he stands up and tries to find the exit. He is in the living room.
He sees two doors in the room and goes for the one closest to him. He opens the door, and is shocked with what happens. There is a couple sitting on the bed with the girl straddling the man's lap. They are in a heavy make-out session.
"I'm so sorry. Please, continue," he says quickly and runs to the other door opening it and finding the hallway. He runs to the staircase and runs as fast as he can to his car to go to Bryce's apartment. He hops in the car and his head rests against the headrest.
One of the strangest 10 minutes of my life.
Chuck starts his drive to Bryce's apartment, which isn't so far from here. He doesn't get to go there often because it's the apartment where his 'government' friends hang out. So that means that there are no 'terrorists' aloud.
Chuck walks into Bryce's apartment, well, Bryce's 'government agent' apartment. He can navigate his way around this apartment easily, as when Bryce first got it, he brought him here. He takes two separate bugs out of his pocket, one for video, and one for audio. He puts the audio bug on the bottom of the coffee table and the video bug on top of the T.V.
Chuck sat on the couch and puts his head in his hands. This place brings back so many memories. Not of him, but of Bryce.
All of Bryce's stuff is here, everything.
Chuck gets off the couch and walks out the door. He doesn't bother to look back.
It hurts too much.
A/N Okay, so I've read a lot of stories where Bryce is a total asshole. Well in this one, he isn't, and Chuck and Bryce are actually very good friends. Do you want more random flashbacks about them, or no that is too much? Oh and I am thinking of writing a different story, which is completely different from this one. It will be about high school Chuck and Sarah, and some others. I won't start it until this one is finished though, but keep an eye out for it, just in case. Read and Review please! :D
