Chapter 7
Still don't own Chuck, can't seem to find it on ebay to bid on it.
Thanks for the reviews. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Chuck was glad he didn't have anything on his stomach because the way Casey was having to maneuver was nausea inducing. Not to mention the fact that they were flying so low that Chuck had an urge to pull his feet up from the floor. Chuck's attention kept switching between the ground zipping by them much closer than he would like and the rapidly diminishing fuel gauge. "Ummm Casey as much as I love this roller coaster ride that you call riding in a jet we are starting to get low on fuel."
Casey replied, "Callsigns, Goldfish, callsigns. And I'm aware of the fuel situation."
Chuck shot back, "Yeah your Shark and I'm Goldfish. What's that all about? I'm at least a Piranha, maybe even a Barracuda. I can handle myself in a fight these days you know."
Casey shot back, "Fine you can be Barracuda. But only because of the fact that as girly as either one of the Wilson sisters ever were."
Chuck sighed, "As much as I love having my masculinity attacked by you I'm more interested in knowing if we have some sort of plan?"
Casey's terse reply came back, "Yes I do, but I'm unwilling to talk about it. They could have the comms in this jet bugged. Your just going to have to trust me that I do have a plan."
"Wait why do you think they would have the comms bugged?"
"This is a fifth generation fighter employing stealth concepts. Those F-22's would not have even known something had taken off from the airfield. They were tipped off that we were leaving."
"Oh great."
Chuck started going through his displays checking all of his sensors. Everything showed as clear at the moment. Ticking off things on the battle readiness checklist straight out of the handbook. He just needed something to do to keep his mind busy, its the only way he knew how to deal with the fear. Time passed and Chuck slowly started to relax, well as much as was possible considering the fuel gauge was inching down into what the manuals said was starting to become a dangerous level. Thankfully Casey spoke in the the comms, "Aquarium this is Shark, we are getting hungry any chance we could feed on route 104?"
Chuck was shocked momentarily when none other than General Beckman's voice came back, "Negative Shark that route is down, but 113 is in the air. From there take the scenic route to your originally planned feeding spot."
"Roger that Aquarium."
Switching back to private comms, "Remember Gold..... err Barracuda bugged comms so keep quiet and enjoy the show. If you start babbling about what's going on you'll only make it longer before you find out the name of your new handler, you get me?"
Chuck replied, "Roger that Shark."
Chuck sat back and enjoyed the show as Casey went through the process of mid air refueling the jet. He kept switching his attention between the refueling operation and watching his screens. "So far so good. Maybe we got lucky on this one." Suddenly a single blip came up on the screen at the very edge of Chuck's radar it had the same signature as one of the jets from earlier, "Shark do you see that?"
"Roger that Barracuda, kinda expected that."
"Just another day on the job eh? Any chance we could swing this through a Subway for lunch? Getting a little hungry."
"Sure thing, check your vest there's a 6 inch sub bar with all the fixings' in there and I bet the government paid at lease five bucks for it."
"Hmm its chocolate and peanut butter. I've been really missing peanut butter ya know."
"Well I make you a deal, if you shut your mouth and let me fly this thing I'll take you to the place that has the best peanut butter you've ever had."
Chuck answered with silence as Casey once again pushed the jet, no more radical maneuvers just cruising high and fast. Chuck really didn't have an idea of where they were eventually they made their way out over some water. It could have been any ocean in the world though cause Chuck had no idea where they were at this point.
Chuck diligently watched his readouts as they went through another refueling operation. But the thought of 'peanut butter' kept him from babbling. As they broke away from the refueler Casey broke the silence, "How we looking?"
Chuck took one last look at the screen, "All clear."
Casey smiled, "Amateurs. Lets go get you some peanut butter Barracuda."
Chucks face broke into a grin, "Roger that Shark, engage ludicrous speed."
In a way and a move that was so not Casey he replied over comms with what sounded like laughter in his voice, "Mel Brooks is a genius."
Chuck attempted to reply but quickly found that his comms had been disabled and even with the intersect he couldn't figure out how to fix them. Finally he just relaxed in his seat with a smile, "It's taking longer.... but maybe there's hope for Casey as well. Just maybe there's a human being hiding under there."
The rest of the flight was rather boring and eventually Casey came back over the comms, "Aquarium this is Shark are you ready to drop the chum?"
"Yes we are, swing by for a bite to eat and then you can start the feeding frenzy."
"Roger that."
Casey set the plane down easily and the two men climbed out. After leaving their helmets with the flight crew and getting some distance from the jet Casey reached out a hand to Chuck, "This is your stop, I have to make sure our friends are looking somewhere else for you. Oh and from now on I'm Reynolds. Casey dies tonight." Chuck shook his hand, "Thanks again and watch yourself out there. So where do I go from here?"
Casey point over to an approaching car, "There is your ride coming now. Oh and you'll need this I think." Casey reached into a pocket of his utility vest and withdrew a small velvet covered box. Chuck took the box and upon opening it his eyes nearly popped out of their socket. Casey pushed the lid closed with a finger, "Don't lose this one, the general was pretty pissed about the last one. Now get out of here kid, I've got a long night ahead of me."
Chuck saluted Casey crisply before turning and making his way towards the car that was parked next to a hangar about 100 yards away. As he walked he looked over the car in appreciation. It had the distinctive blue with silver stripes paint job of the new Mustang GT 500. Chuck may not have been a gear head but he could appreciate a nice car as well as the next guy. He walked up on the car and took a walk around it, the windows were blacked out so he opened the passenger door and looked in only to find no one inside.
Pulling his head out of the car he looked around and found that there was a woman standing near the door to the small hangar that wasn't there before. Chuck looked her up and down as he walked over, "Tall and athletic just like Sarah, but a brunette. Gotta admit while I love Sarah with all my heart I've always had a weakness for brunettes. Ah well I'm happy no matter her hair color."
When he was a few feet from the woman Chuck spoke up, "Miss! Hey Miss did you happen to see who got out of that car?"
The woman slowly turned around and slid her sunglasses up on her forehead as she did. Chuck stopped in his tracks a few feet away from her. The woman peered up at him with piercing blue eyes, "You looking for someone in particular fly-boy?"
Chuck broke into a huge smile, "As a matter of fact I am. I'm looking for the woman I gave my heart to. She was wearing it on a bracelet on her wrist last time I saw her."
The woman smiled back, "Well isn't that a coincidence, my boyfriend Charles Michaelson gave me a charm bracelet for Christmas. My name is Sara White by the way, its nice to meet you. So what do you say we get you cleaned up. Then maybe we can find the ones we love. They say time apart makes the heart grow fonder, I'm curious to see if that's true."
Chuck opened the door and motioned for Sara to enter, "Sounds like a plan to me."
