Chapter 4

The mission at the banquet went flawlessly. Chuck identified the assassin, and Casey stayed behind to talk to the team leader after the arrest mumbling something about impressive firepower as he walked away from Chuck and Sarah. Sarah turned to Chuck. "You ready?" she asked. Knowing the full weight of the question, Chuck took a deep breath. "Yeah. Ready."

They drove in silence for several minutes before Chuck spoke. "So, where are we going?" "Denver" Sarah replied. "Of course. Yeah. Umm…whats in Denver? Are we gonna catch a rodeo or something?" Sarah glanced over at him as she handed him a map.

"No Chuck, The an FBI and the CIA both have a field office there." And someone I can trust – I hope, she thought. "For now we need to keep a low profile and stay under the radar until we get a better handle on the situation." "Uh huh…and how are we going to do that in a Porche?" "Well, that's our first stop," Sarah said.

"You're getting rid of your car? But you love your car…can't you just store it somewhere?" Chuck looked at her, shocked. "No. And I'd rather not talk about it" Sarah replied. "Got it, sore subject" he said as he turned to watch downtown fade into the distance.

Sarah pulled the grey Nissan XTerra into a local motel shortly before midnight. "We'll stay here tonight," she said, "and get an early start tomorrow morning" She handed him a license and $200 cash. "In case you need it," she said. "I had to use a different alias." Chuck looked at the license "Charles Borden…eh…kinda plain…but its ok, I was getting tired of Carmichael anyway," Chuck deadpanned.

"You need to put this on," Sarah said. Chuck stared at the simple gold band she held out towards him. "Seriously?" Chuck said, as he took the ring from her. "Is this really necessary? I mean, I don't want to seem old fashioned but shouldn't we at least go on a few real dates before we…" "We don't need anybody asking questions," she interrupted, as she slipped a similar band on her own finger.

"Chances are they won't be looking for a married couple so that's the cover we're going to use." "This is so weird," Chuck said, as he slid the ring on his finger. "Ok, so…I'm going go check in. You need to…" Chuck cut her off, "Let me guess. Stay in the car?" She smiled. "I'll be right back," she said.

Moments later, Chuck followed Sarah into a small room on the first floor. "Umm… there's only one bed in here, Sarah." Sarah busied herself with her bag. "Uh, yea. We're married, remember?" She turned around. "Okay Chuck, we need to go over some rules." Chuck sighed. "I'll sleep on the floor." Sarah shook her head "Chuck, you're not sleeping on the floor." "Well, I'm not gonna let you sleep on the floor!" Chuck said incredulously.

"Chuck! Nobody's sleeping on the floor! We're both adults, and we have bigger things to worry about than sleeping arrangements. Now I need you to listen to me. I need you to stay with me at all times. Do not turn on your cell phone and no calling anyone back home. I'm sure they'll have the phones tapped if they don't already. No credit cards either. And if anything happens, you call this number."

She handed him a piece of paper with a phone number on it. She checked the clip of her gun, laid it on the dresser next to the bed, and pulled back the covers. "We should get some sleep," she said, as she climbed into the bed.

"Sleep. Yeah. No problem." Chuck said dazedly as he sat down slowly on his side of the bed. Sarah turned to look at him. "No, I'm fine." Chuck said. "I actually find it's easier to sleep when I'm totally freaked out." Sarah rolled onto her side away from him to face the door and clicked off the light. "Goodnight, Chuck." "G'nite." he said, as he stared at the ceiling through the darkness.