Chapter 4

Two nurses followed shortly by a doctor came rushing into Casey's room and over to Chuck. Casey moved away giving them room to work. As he did so he remembered the address that Chuck had given him, pulling out a pen and paper from his bag and writing down the street and number. After writing down the address Casey looked down at Chuck still lying on the floor. I really hope the idiot didn't get himself dead. The thought gave Casey a cold feeling. The rollercoaster events that had made up the past few days had shown him that his view of death had changed. He had always looked at death as an inevitable consequence of life, and if and when it came for the people around him or even himself, so be it. He no longer felt the same ambivalence towards death. He was around people that truly cared for one another, even cared for him. Death would bring actual loss. It had been a long time in his life since he had felt that way.

The doctor finally spoke to Casey breaking him from his thoughts. "He seems stable but we need to do further tests." A few other nurses as well as another doctor had entered the room and helped lift Chuck onto a gurney. They had wheeled Chuck about half-way down the hall when Ellie, who had heard what was going on through the nursing staff, met up with them. She was in full doctor mode and made no attempt to speak to Casey other than to ask what had happened. Casey had told her that Chuck had walked down to his room even though he had told Chuck to stay in bed, and when he found him he was barely conscious. Ellie had turned to the other doctors to get a report of Chuck's status as they continued down the hall. To Casey relief she seemed to find some comfort in what she was being told.

"John, it doesn't sound like the aneurysm has hemorrhaged, though Chuck's whole condition has been very strange. We are going to perform some more tests just to be sure, because we are not really sure what is going on with Chuck's brain. Either way it looks like he is going to be alright for now."

Casey could tell that she was telling the truth and he was relieved that Chuck seemed as if he were going to be okay. That is until I get a hold of him once he wakes up. Casey grinned as he thought to himself. He then looked at the paper in his hand. Well if the kid is willing to risk everything to get the address I may as well make sure it wasn't for nothing. Casey, satisfied that Chuck would be alright until he got back, walked towards the door of the hospital dropping his sling in the trash as he left.

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Casey had made it to the building relatively quickly and had made a few calls to some men he could trust. The building that Chuck had given the address for was an old brick building that had been the home of a number of businesses over the years. There was a front and rear door, as well as a window that could be accessed from the alley next to the building. A friend and three other agents were in route for backup and in the meantime had sent him a digital copy of the blueprints of the building as well as a picture of agent Masterson. It turns out that he was an agent from Nor. Cal, though he had never really stood out from the crowd. He had been in the agency for 22 years but had failed to advance in his career. Figures, some nobody that can't advance by doing his job is going to try to take a shortcut. He is probably going to use the intersect to climb the ranks of Fulcrum, or just sell it to the highest bidder. Scumbag! Casey thought to himself.

Now that Casey had some further information on the building layout the next thing he needed to know was how many men were in the building. He had taken one quick trip around the place and peaked in some windows before returning to his car. He had only been there for approximately 20 minutes before a small group of men exited from the building. The first man out the door was agent Masterson, followed closely by three other men. Masterson and two of the men climbed into a black sedan while the fourth man leaned into the window. Casey was able to listen into their conversation using a long range listening device.

"Don't trust the new guys. We needed to replenish our numbers thanks to Ms. Walker, but I don't know who all can be relied on just yet. Keep them out of the basement. They are all to be kept on a need to know basis in regards to our visitors, and keep an eye on Vincent. He is still pretty pissed about his nose. Let him have some fun but make sure he doesn't kill anyone." As Masterson finished his instructions the man stood and walked back up to the door and went inside.

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Vincent had grinned a very satisfied grin after smashing the toes on Bryce's foot. Apparently content with the amount of pain that Bryce seemed to be in he had left the room shortly after. Bryce had taken a few minutes to compose himself even enough to hear that Sarah was trying to talk to him.

"Bryce…Bryce listen to me…Bryce!" Sarah did not seem to have any compassion in her voice as she tried to get his attention.

"Sorry I am a little distracted by my foot being smashed!" Bryce was very short with Sarah, as he was unappreciative of her lack of empathy.

"If we don't get out of here they will be back to continue what they started, and now we know that they are going to do the same if not worse to Chuck."

Hearing Chuck's name had helped to bring Bryce back into focus. He was trying to suppress the pain as he had been trained to do, with only mild success. "Chuck," he had said this mainly to himself, almost too quiet for Sarah to hear.

"Yes, Chuck," her anger at Bryce was starting to build again, "since you so effectively brought an innocent man into this."

"I know…I should have never mentioned his name. It was a mistake."

"Yes it was." Sarah said through gritted teeth. "It was a mistake that an agent straight off of the farm would know not to make."

"Alright, I said I know it was a mistake." He had started to raise his tone which only enraged Sarah further.

"Well for being someone that is supposed to be such a great agent you think you would know better than mention anyone's name, let alone someone you claim is your friend, I mean…"

Sarah was interrupted by Bryce. "I'm sorry!" He nearly screamed in a hurt tone. "I am sorry." He repeated sounding very defeated.

Sarah was unable to respond. In all the time she had ever known Bryce he had never sounded so remorseful. He had apologized to her in the past for more things than she cared to think about at the moment, but he always had a way of maintaining his confident demeanor throughout. This was different. His shoulders had slouched, his head was hung. This was a man who was truly remorseful. "I don't know what happened. I just saw the way you looked at me, or more accurately the way you didn't look at me. You used to look at me like there was no one else you would rather be looking at. You used to make me feel…Things are so different now." Bryce was unable to put his thoughts into words. Sarah remained quiet feeling both anger at his involvement of Chuck, as well as awe for the side of Bryce she had never seen before. Bryce looked up from the spot on the floor he had been staring at. "I know the affect that Chuck has on people. You can't be around him for more than ten minutes without him working his way under your skin, but I never thought that you would fall for him. I guess I was…am jealous."

Sarah's anger was about to boil over as she realized that Bryce was admitting that he had mentioned Chuck's name out of jealousy. She was just about to begin a tirade the like of which Bryce had never known when he noticed her expression and quickly added. "Even though I am jealous I would never intentionally hurt you or Chuck. He is my best friend, really my only friend. I swear to you I just wasn't' thinking. It just kind of came out. I didn't do it on purpose."

"You may not have done it on purpose, but unless we get out of here, you may have just cost your only friend his life." Sarah voice remained even with a deadly chill to her voice. "And if that happens not even God himself will be able to protect you."

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"Blueprints show the stairwell to the basement is in the middle of first floor. I am guessing that is where they have our agents. There has been no activity in any of the upstairs windows of the building." Casey was explaining the layout and the plan to the four agents that had arrived for back-up. They had met about a block away in an empty 7-11 parking lot. "You two are going to go through the front and you two go in the back." Casey pointed to the two teams of men. "Don't worry about rushing in. I more just want you to engage the men inside so I can get in the window from the alley unnoticed if possible. That room should give me a straight shot down into the basement. I will go in grab our agents and get out. Getting out could be interesting unless Walker and Larkin are able to help out. We will have to be quick getting to them. If we take too long to get to them there is a good chance that someone could decide to cut there losses and put a bullet in their heads."

The three teams were in position waiting for the designated time to enter the building. Casey was mentally preparing for his portion of the plan. Enter the building quickly, shoot anyone not named Walker and possibly Larkin. One minute before go-time the young man that Casey had seen speaking to Masterson earlier came walking down the alley lighting a cigarette.

"Hey you, what are you doing up there?" The man yelled looking at Casey who was standing on a dumpster near the window. The younger man had placed his right hand under his jacket as he yelled at Casey.

"Hi my name is John. I was just wondering if you know if this place was for sale." Casey hopped down from the dumpster and walked toward the man with a smile on his face. "I just retired early and am looking to open up a fly fishing supply store…"

The man interrupted Casey. "The place is not for sale, now why don't you just get on out of here."

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to bother anyone. I guess I had better get going then." A small beeping noise came from Casey's watch as he started to walk up the alley towards the front of the building. His path took him directly past the younger man. Casey stopped a few feet past the man and turned back to him, "Oh, there is one more thing before I go."

The man merely looked at Casey and rolled his eyes. He had dropped his hand away from the gun he had hidden underneath his jacket. "Ya?" He asked as he slowly turned to face Casey.

The man had nearly turned completely facing Casey when a clinched fist struck him with such speed that he had no chance to block the blow. Casey had landed a right cross square to his jaw knocking the man out cold. "Learn to show some respect to your elders."

Just as the man fell to the ground, Casey heard gun shots from the front of the building followed a few seconds later by shots towards the rear of the building. He was supposed to be in the building and to the stairwell by now. Damn it. He leapt back on top of the dumpster drawing his weapon. He leaned against the wall next to the window and peered in. There was one man in the room though his full attention was in the opposite direction. Casey took aim shooting the man through window causing the glass to shatter and fall to the floor. He climbed through the now open space into the room and quickly made his way to the doorway of the room. From this position he could see the stairwell into the basement. As he suspected there were lights on in the stairwell and he could hear at least two men already running down the stairs.