A/N: At long last! Part 3 is here! Sorry it took forever. It's just that I was having a lot of trouble with this part. BUT TROUBLE NO MORE!
Thanks again to dettiot for her invaluable ear. Her ear is golden. As is her brain. She gets me out of tight spots a lot. She has a golden crowbar that...Never mind. I made you lot wait long enough.
So without further ado, part 3.
Oh wait, Disclaimer I own absolutely nothing at all. And I especially don't own Chuck. Happy? (grumbles)
CON GAME TEXAS, Part 3
"Do I look like Carina even a little?" Chuck heard Sarah ask over the comm. "Because I honestly don't know if this will work, Chuck."
"It'll work," he said into his polo collar. "Remember what Carina said? Lorenzo hasn't seen her up close, only in blurry photos like the ones Gaup gave us."
"Just think of it this way, Walker," came the snappy reply from the DEA agent who refused to be kept out of the loop. "No matter what you do, this ass will always be hotter than that ass."
"Really, Carina? Really?" came Sarah's annoyed reply. "That's all you've got for me?"
"Yeah, well, it's hot and stuffy in here and my brain isn't working. When I'm breathing fresh air, I'm a little more eloquent."
"Maybe I should ship you off to Hong Kong. We wouldn't hear a peep out of you again." Sarah snorted over the comm. "Hear that, Miller? That was a good one. If I do say so myself."
"Oh God," Carina groaned. "I'm about to turn my earpiece off."
Chuck rolled his eyes at their bickering, looking over his shoulder and spotting the middle aged drug smuggler holding a tray of food, moving through the shopping mall crowd—a sea of cowboy hats. (And he'd thought that was just a stereotype.)
"Maybe we should stay on task?" he interrupted. "And I can't believe I just said that."
"Neither can I," came Sarah's amused reply. "Chuck, I have eyes on you. Look towards the frozen yogurt stand."
He glanced away from Raph Lorenzo for a moment and eyed the frozen yogurt stand near the escalators. He recognized Sarah immediately in her long, black wig and large glasses. She dressed in some of Carina's clothes and wore heels, making her look slightly out of place in a Laredo shopping mall. But then again, no matter what Sarah wore or where she was, she'd always be a little out of place. Even at the Victoria's Secret fashion show, where hot women were a dime a dozen.
"I got ya," he answered, quickly looking back at Lorenzo. The man was stuffing his face with a calzone, completely oblivious to anything and everything save the melted cheese and spinach spilling out of the flaky crust.
"I'm ready when you are," he heard Sarah say.
Taking a deep breath, he swept further into the food court and approached Lorenzo from behind. "It's go time," he murmured, going to the table directly behind his mark and plopped down in the chair that pressed against the back of Raph's.
"Raph, you're in danger." The man jumped when he heard Chuck's harsh whisper.
"What the—Jesus, I got grease on my new shirt, you ass hole." Raph began to turn but Chuck whipped around and grabbed his shoulders.
"No, no! Don't move. It's me, Piranha, the boss' new hire. He sent me here to look after you. And that's what I've been doing. But you're in danger."
"Piranha? How the fuck do I know that if I'm not allowed to turn around?"
"It's the girl the boss sent us after. Jane Cheetham. She's here. She has been following you for an hour. I've been keeping my eye on her."
Raph turned to look at Chuck, eyes wide. "She's here? What's she want with me? I ain't Marty. She don't have a bone to pick with me."
"She's watching, you damn fool! Turn around!"
Raph spun back to his table quickly. Chuck could hear him swallow thickly. "You don't look like Piranha. The guy had a beard."
"So I shaved. It's been known to happen," he snapped. "And anyways, I'm trying to keep her from knowing I work for the boss."
He felt more than saw Raph nod.
"Now, look," Chuck continued. "We gotta get outta here fast. But you have to trust me. And listen to me. You got it?"
"The boss sent you?"
"Yes, damn it!"
"Alright, alright. Where is she? She's watching now?"
"If you look over your left shoulder towards the frozen yogurt stand…South. Your eight o'clock. She's got a black wig on. Glasses. Cute outfit."
"Thanks, Chuck," Carina chirped. He ignored her as Raph slowly swept around and idiotically pretended to fix the nonexistent cuff on his jeans. Chuck resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he watched the pathetic maneuver. And this was the man Gaup trusted with details of his illegal organization? It had all the marks of a man thinking he was untouchable, especially with the way Carina had failed at taking him out the first time.
Chuck was pretty sure Gaup wasn't getting away this time. But first he had to get him out to the car. He turned back to Raph. "You see her?"
"Yeah. That's her, alright."
"Damn it, man. I know that. Didn't I tell you?" Chuck paused. "I'm going to get up right now and walk towards Bath & Body Works."
Chuck took a long slurp out of his smoothie, clearing the last bit of it from the cup and burping a little. "I'm gonna throw this away. When you see me put it in the trash, you get up and you walk towards the north exit. I'm gonna be right behind you. She's gonna follow, which is why we're gonna need to lose her. You leave the rest of that to me. Just follow my orders. Got it?"
"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I got it." The man's fear was seeping off of him. It was just as Chuck and Sarah had predicted. The man was prone to nervousness. Put him in a dangerous situation and he'd be like putty in their hands. Carina wouldn't haven a hard time getting details of Gaup's illegal dealings out of him. Especially when Lorenzo's family's safety was on the line.
"Alright, then. I'm gonna get you out of here and home to your wife and kids. Trust me, Raph."
"I-I-Okay. Okay, Piranha."
"Right." Chuck climbed to his feet and paused near Raph's table as he swept past, just for a second. "Oh, and uh…Walk don't run."
With that, he weaved through the salmon-like stream of shoppers towards the Bath & Body Works. He made a bit of a show, glancing over his shoulder towards Sarah.
"You got him, Chuck," she said, smirking.
"Not yet I haven't. Need to amp it up a bit. Wish me luck."
"Best of luck, Chuck," Carina interjected over Sarah. "And for fuck's sake. Hurry it up. It's hot in here."
He rolled his eyes and tossed the cup into the trash. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Raph hurry from his seat, leaving his calzone and soda on the table and walking quickly in the direction Chuck had advised him.
"Litterbug," Sarah groused into the comm. "More reason to punk his ass."
Chuck snorted and followed Raph. "Commence punking. Sarah, you're on."
"Affirmative."
Hurrying his pace a little, Chuck caught up to Raph and hung back a few feet. The man looked over his shoulder, his eyes wide. A patch of sweat began to appear on his upper back through the light green dress shirt he wore. They met gazes and Chuck nodded reassuringly.
Then his eyes flicked up to something over Raph's shoulder and he cursed, surging forward and grabbing the man by his arm, tugging him to the left. "She is trying to cut us off."
"What?!"
Both men looked behind to see Jane Cheetham walking calmly but quickly after them, having come out of nowhere from the east section of the mall. "Shit! Piranha, what do we do?" Raph whimpered.
"Walk faster."
They rushed around the rest of the shoppers until Chuck could pull Raph Lorenzo out of the store and into the mid-afternoon Laredo heat. "The car is on the north side of the building so we have to make our way around. You go and I'll see if I can't cut her off and take her out."
With a nod, Raph rushed towards the north, pressing himself as close to the building as possible. Chuck stepped back into the shopping mall and saw Sarah step out of the women's bathroom, the black wig and glasses gone, the short jacket she'd worn shirked and a pair of flats on her feet. She winked at him and turned away, blending into the crowd of the shoppers as he grinned widely at the back of her head.
God, he was in love with that wink. And the woman behind the wink.
"Carina, you ready?"
"Fuck! I've been!" she complained. "I've lost the ability to breathe!"
"We're almost done," Sarah reassured. "I'll meet you two at the safe house."
"Be careful," Chuck said as he stepped back outside and followed Raph's footsteps.
Carina scoffed audibly.
Chuck finally rounded the north side of the building and moved towards the entrance. Raph was literally in the planter near the door, crouched behind a potted cactus. For a man who wasn't necessarily the thinnest guy Chuck had ever seen, it seemed like a pretty desperate attempt at camouflage.
"Come on," he said, reaching up and helping the older man out of the planter. "I threw her off the scene for a bit. Called in reinforcements. But we have to get out of here."
"Where?"
"A safe house."
"Not the villa?"
Chuck strode towards a brown 1982 Impala coupe Sarah had found that morning in a Wal-Mart parking lot. She'd hot wired it and driven it back to the safe house with Chuck following in Carina's Escalade. It had been a trial getting the DEA agent to let him drive her car. But allowing Carina in public wasn't the smartest idea. Even she had to admit, and she seemed to be an incredibly impetuous individual.
"No, not the villa."
"Why not?"
Chuck opened the driver's side and started the car, reaching across to unlock the passenger door so that Raph could climb in. "I don't know, Raph. Marty's orders."
Just as Marty clicked his seatbelt into place, Carina surged up from her spot on the floor of the backseat and slid her hands around Raph's face, holding a cloth with ammonia against his nose and mouth. "Hello Raph baby," she said in a creepily silky voice.
He struggled for a few moments and slumped to the side, knocking his forehead on the window.
Chuck winced and put his seatbelt on, pulling out of the parking space and driving down the rows of cars towards the exit onto the street.
"So there's a reason why they say not to lock your pets in the car. That was the worst twenty minutes of my whole God damn life."
"You could have cracked a window."
"I did, smart ass. It was still hotter than hell in here."
"Well, you would know."
"Heh. I don't know why I like you." She lightly smacked the back of his head while taking her earpiece out. He followed suit and dropped it onto the console between his seat and the one Raph Lorenzo now occupied.
As he pulled out onto the main road, his cell rang in his pocket. He slipped it out and saw a picture of Sarah on the screen. She was snuggled up with her chin on a pillow, her bare arms wrapped around it, her eyes narrowed but her small smile belying any annoyance she'd had with him the moment he'd taken the picture.
"Uhhh…anybody ever tell you not to use your phone while driving?" Carina asked from behind him.
"Uhhh…I steal things for a living," he mimicked, screwing up his face mockingly as he glanced at her over his shoulder. "I'm not getting busted by the Laredo Police Department for using my phone while driving."
"This is a safety issue."
"I've also been shot at while driving a car. And way, way more distracting things to boot. So…" He blushed when he saw her gape in the rearview mirror. That hadn't been what he'd meant. He opened his mouth to say as much but was interrupted when she slapped his shoulder.
"Has Sarah really done that? Holy shit! While you were driving?" she quite nearly screeched.
"What are you—? Ew! You have a dirty, dirty mind! Seriously. And by the way, this is the last time I'll say it. Me and Sarah aren't…" He picked up his phone and glanced at the text.
Raph in the car?
He replied in the affirmative and suddenly his phone was ringing and the picture of Sarah appeared again. He surreptitiously glanced over his shoulder to make sure Carina didn't see the picture but she was still too caught up in her own gutter-drenched thoughts. Then he answered. "Yeah, Wolf?"
She let out an amused huff. "On the way to the safe house then, Piranha?"
"Fifteen minutes out. Raphael is sleeping like a baby."
"Good. I'm headed up to our hotel room right now to grab our bags. So I'll see you in twentyish minutes. Just sit tight and wait for me at the safe house."
"I know, I know."
"Carina is listening intently, isn't she?"
"Mhm."
Sarah sighed and he could faintly hear the sound of her swiping her key card to get into their hotel room. "Well, I know you can't say it back right now, but I love you. We're almost done."
"Mmmm," he said as he thought rapidly. He finally gave up. "I can't think of anything clever to say in reply."
She giggled. "Bye, baby."
"Bye. Oh, hey! Wait!"
"Yeah?"
"Check under the bed, will you?"
"I always do," she said with no small amount of amusement in her tone.
He slid the phone back in his pocket, fighting the grin and keeping a business-like mask over his face. He could feel Carina's eyes burning a hole in the back of his head.
"Now, let's see, Chuckie. What of yours might end up under the bed? Your boxers, say? Or are you a briefs man? Wait, don't tell me. Boxer briefs."
Chuck ignored her and drove on. It was going to be a long drive.
}o{
When Sarah showed up with their bags, Carina and Chuck were just finishing tying Lorenzo to a chair. The man hadn't shown signs of waking up anytime soon so Carina went into the bathroom to get some water.
"How do you deal with her?" Chuck asked quietly as Sarah dropped her duffel near his by the door.
"Uh, hi. Have you been here the last few days? I can't deal with her."
He snorted just as Carina waltzed back into the room.
"Sarah, just so you know, your boyfriend spilled the beans about how you distract him while he's driving."
Sarah's brow furrowed as she looked at her boyfriend. His lips pressed tightly together and his eyes widened significantly. He made a soft popping sound with his mouth and clapped his hands together. "I'm gonna scrounge up some firewood."
Carina's wet hand from the cloth she'd just wetted clamped down on his shirt collar and hauled him back. Sarah watched the exchange and glared. "Carina, I don't know what you're talking about," she said.
"I told you before," Chuck tried, "we're not dating. I don't know when you're gonna get that through your ginger head—" Thump! "Owww!"
Sarah sprang forward as Chuck collapsed to the ground, holding his stomach where Carina had just punched him, his breath coming out in pained rasps. "What is wrong with you?" he rasped.
"Oh come on, you big baby. I didn't hit you that hard." She turned to Sarah. "He had a tone."
Sarah helped Chuck sit up and made a face. "She has a point there."
"Sorry about the ginger comment," Chuck said, rubbing his gut and letting Sarah help him back to his feet. She was warmed a little by the sincerity in his tone and wanted to smooth back the curl that fell over his forehead.
"S'okay," Carina chirped. "Just wanted an apology."
"You couldn't ask?" Chuck muttered, pouting and walking across the room to sit on the table where he'd been placed after Carina had drugged him.
Sarah watched as Carina wrung the wet cloth out over Raph's face. The man sputtered and groaned but didn't wake up all the way.
As they waited, Carina turned around and smirked. "Oh, also…you better put a muzzle on this guy, Wa—erm, Wolf. He was coming onto me pretty hard in the car. Twenty minutes. I could barely stand it."
Sarah saw the special agent's eyes light up in glee when Chuck threw his arms up in frustration. "I'm getting some air."
She rolled her eyes as the back door slammed shut, leaving her in the room alone with a chuckling Carina. "You know, you could lay off him a little bit. He's trying really hard."
"Yeah, I noticed you're not trying anymore."
"Well, I could keep denying it, but I'd be wasting my energy. And that's energy I need to get Chuck and I out of here alive."
"This son of a bitch just won't wake up. Jesus!" Carina nudged his leg with her boot heel and shook her head. "Guess I'll just have to wait. In the meantime, him?" She threw a thumb over her shoulder towards the door Chuck had just left from.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Come on, Sar. The guy looks like a fleshy version of Jack Skellington."
"Oh my God," Sarah chuckled, "he does not!"
"Fine, I'm exaggerating. But I mean, he's kind of a dweeb."
"Nerd. And he's actually a genius. You didn't get to see him in action, but I'm telling you he's talented."
"What kind of talents are we talking here? Because if it's that kind of talent, I can see how you'd overlook some other things." She wiggled her eyebrows and smirked when Sarah laughed.
"I'm not talking to you about my sex life."
"So that's it, huh? You and the dw—nerd—Chuckie are sex buddies on top of being partners. Huh. Well, I can't fault you for it. There are worse ways to fulfill your needs than to jump your partner after a mission. I've done it before." She shrugged.
Sarah paused, looking at the door Chuck had just walked out of. Then she turned back to Carina who was watching her closely.
"Well hot damn, Walker," she breathed softly. "It's not just rutting, is it?"
"You use the dumbest words for sex, you know that?"
"It's called a dictionary, bitch. Buy one." Sarah made a face. "But nice try deflecting. I don't think I have to repeat the question."
"No."
"No I don't have to repeat the question? Or no you're not just rutting?"
"No I'm not answering any more of your questions."
Carina rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Maybe you just go out there and make sure brainiac isn't crying. He's kind of sensitive, isn't he?"
Sarah sighed and walked to the door. "He's just not used to you is all."
"I can change that," she shot back just before Sarah quickly walked out of the door and shut it behind her, pretending she didn't hear the quip.
She spotted Chuck sitting at an unused fire pit, drawing in the dirt with a stick. "You're not actually upset, are you?" she asked, standing beside him and leaning her legs against his side. She dropped a hand to his hair and stroked it gently.
He laughed. "Nope. I was just hoping you'd follow me out here so that I could do this." He dropped the stick and rounded her waist with his arms, tugging her expertly down to plop into his lap. She fit snugly against him and let him gather her in his arms to kiss her slowly.
When she pulled back, her nose brushing against his, she noticed he was grinning widely. She snuck a hand out from where it was wedged between their chests and lightly ran it down his smooth face. "I'm glad you shaved. Even though you looked kinda like a sexy lumberjack."
He pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow. "You into lumberjacks?"
She cracked up. "No. But if you were a lumberjack, I'd be into them."
"What if…I were a crocodile hunter."
"I would love crocodile hunters."
"Hmmm, I'm sensing a pattern," he said seriously, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.
"Oh yeah?"
"Mhm." He nuzzled her neck and tightened his arms around her, kissing her throat.
She sighed and shook her head, smacking his cheek gently. "Hold off there, cowboy. I actually came out here for a reason and…" She pulled away and he helped her back to her feet. "…Making out with you wasn't the reason."
"Unfortunately."
"Unfortunately," she agreed, beaming in spite of herself. "Chuck, I have to know that this is what you want."
His face clouded in confusion for a second. "What?" She didn't answer, knowing he would work out what she meant on his own. He finally met her serious gaze and nodded. "It is, Sarah. You know I want what you want."
"But that's not the only reason, right?" She moved to sit beside him on the small stone bench. "You aren't just going along with it because it's what I want. This is also what you want, too. Right? Because Carina…" Her voice petered out as she nervously rubbed her hands over her knees.
"Call me crazy," Chuck spoke up when she didn't continue, "but I think we can trust her not to send the feds after us. She's a little bit of a psycho but she cares about you. In her own…way. I guess."
"Mmm, yeah." She smiled and leaned into him. "But you didn't answer my question."
"Textbook subversion." They both grinned at that. "Why isn't it enough that I want something because it's what you want?"
She reached up to fix the curl she'd wanted to fix earlier on in the cabin. "Because if any of this goes wrong and we get arrested, Chuck, I might never see you again…and none of this is worth that. Nothing is worth that."
"Hey," he said softly, reaching up to wrap his arm around her shoulder and pull her close to place a kiss on her hair. "We'll be okay."
That was all she needed to hear. From the very beginning, Chuck saying "We'll be okay" in that steady, deep voice of his, was all she needed to hear for her to be sure of the mission, of herself.
"Okay," she whispered, nuzzling her face into his shoulder.
}o{
Chuck was placing the last of their bags into the backseat of the Impala as Sarah stood in the doorway of the safe house and watched him. "I have to admit, I don't feel at all bad leaving you here to deal with this whole mess," she said, turning to eye Carina as the agent got off the phone with her superiors.
"Yeah, I bet you don't."
Carina stopped at her side, her azure eyes widening in appreciation when Chuck bent down to push a duffel bag across the seat.
"Hey!" Sarah snapped halfheartedly. "Eyes off that ass. It's mine."
Her companion snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't know what you think you're gonna do about it." Sarah felt the air between them sober a little as Carina's gaze left Chuck and landed on her. "So are you in love with the guy?"
Sarah was silent for awhile. "That's for me to know and you to lose sleep over."
"You're a bitch, you know that?"
"Not nearly as much of one as you are."
There was a pause. "Actually, you're probably right about that one."
Sarah laughed and looked down at the wooden floorboards of the small porch. "Yeah," she finally said softly.
"Hm?"
"I love him." Carina's silence told her that the secret agent had already figured that much out. But to hear it come out of her mouth must have been at least a bit of a shock. It was a shock for Sarah, saying it out loud to someone besides Chuck himself. "I need him," she added quietly.
"That's pretty big."
"I know." And she did know. She was a little frightened even now thinking about how much she depended on him.
"You sure all of this is a good idea?"
"All of what?" But she knew what Carina meant. And Carina must have known she knew because she didn't clarify. Sarah sighed. "Carina, Chuck will never do anything to hurt me."
"You sure about that?"
"Yes," she answered without hesitation. "Chuck makes me sure. About everything."
Carina made a face.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just never thought I'd see the day, that's all."
Sarah smirked. "Me neither. But Chuck's…" She paused. Chuck was a lot of things. A lot of amazing things. And some weird things. But the weird things only made him that much more amazing. "He's incredibly special," was what she decided on.
"Okay, then. I'll take your word for it."
"Whatever. If I wasn't here, you'd totally try to tap that. Admit it, he's cute."
"Umm, I don't know what you're yammering about because I'm pretty sure I was trying to tap that while you were in the room, so…" She shrugged and started out towards the car.
"Maybe we can find you one, Carina."
"Oh God, please no."
Sarah laughed heartily and looked over to see Chuck's eyes shining as he watched her from where he leaned against the door on the driver's side. Everything in that moment felt unreal, like she and Chuck were a couple visiting an old friend of hers for a weekend and they were saying their goodbyes before making the trip back home. Chuck looked all schmaltzy, like the sap he was. And Carina was even smiling genuinely, instead of the saucy smirk she usually had on her pretty face.
It was strange.
And invigorating.
And in spite of everything, she did everything she could to hold onto this moment as she hugged Carina. She felt the special agent slap her on the ass with the palm of her hand. "You take care of yourself, Walker."
"You too, Carina."
She stepped back as Carina sauntered up to Chuck. She was rather pleased by the way he didn't stutter or blush or tense up as the woman came nearer. His confidence was impressive and his grin was infectious. And she couldn't help but feel a certain amount of warmth when she realized he actually liked Carina a little bit. As intimidating as she was.
"See ya, Chuckie." She lightly smacked the side of his face. "You take care of this one."
"You know I will."
"And eat some pasta or something. Protein shakes. Anything."
He shook his head with a laugh and climbed into the driver's seat. Sarah walked around to the other side, giving Carina's shoulder a squeeze along the way.
"Hey! Miller!"
"What?"
"Sorry."
Carina tilted her head. "For what?"
Sarah gave a cute shrug and wrinkled her nose, getting in the car and shutting the door. They pulled out, leaving Carina in the dust outside of the little dumpy cabin.
}o{
Secret Agent Carina Miller used some of the nastiest bluffing tactics she'd ever had to use on Raph Lorenzo to get him to take the deal. In exchange for every piece of information he knew about Marty Gaup's illegal operations, he and his family would be put into witness protection where Gaup and his affiliates would never reach him.
It had taken almost an entire day, but he agreed and she broke out her tape recorder after calling her superiors.
Carina spent four days of waiting, cutting through red tape, meeting with the director and her advisor, gathering a tactical team, securing Raph Lorenzo and his family, and a number of other things required by the DEA before moving in on Marty Gaup's Laredo villa.
It had been hell and she'd slept poorly, her muscles twitching when she finally got to bed, fuming in the darkness of her room. She was antsy. She wanted to go. She wanted to get him. But she'd been thoroughly chastised by her director for her unsanctioned pursuit of Gaup and if she blew it again she'd be kicked out of the DEA for good.
When she got the all clear from her superiors, it was all she could do not to march right up to Marty Gaup, laugh in his face, and kick him in the balls.
Instead, she led the tactical team into the villa grounds where they quickly and efficiently subdued the guardsmen, and even the unsuspecting gardener and the pool cleaner.
They cleared the grounds outside of the house within five minutes, piling the guards and henchmen into black, unmarked vans. There were no casualties; not that it mattered to her. The bastards would have gotten what they deserved for all the shit they'd pulled working for Gaup, protecting him.
Granted it had all been a bit louder than she'd wanted, especially with Marty still inside. But they'd done the job.
Carina slid into the main house and lifted her SIG-Sauer Tac-Ops. Three of her teammates followed her and covered as she hurried up the stairs towards Marty Gaup's bedroom.
She stopped at the double doors and tried the handle. "DEA! Marty Gaup, you're under arrest! Open the doors right now or I'll open 'em for you!" she belted, before stepping back and pointing her pistol at the door.
When she heard nothing on the other side of the door, she experienced a flash of worry. What if they'd taken too much time securing the grounds and he'd found a way to get out of the house in the meantime? He'd be in Mexico by now and once again, she'd be unable to touch him without going through the Mexican government.
That'd be a bitch and a half.
And she'd lose her job. At the very least, she'd end up at a desk for the foreseeable future.
But when she finally kicked in the door, she sensed movement from the bed and pointed her SIG at whatever it was. Marty Gaup was facedown on the mattress in nothing but his boxers and a pink dress shirt. He was gagged and bound, his wrists and ankles tied together as he squirmed on the giant, round mattress.
Carina stopped and narrowed her eyes, hearing the tactical support move in after her. "Reardon. Any of your guys come in here before we did?" she asked over her shoulder, seeing the man she addressed gaping at an enraged and growling Gaup, his greased hair falling over his red face.
Reardon shook himself, put a finger to his ear, and spoke into his comm for a moment. He lowered his hand and turned to her. "We're the first in the main house."
"What the hell?" she muttered to herself.
Shaking her head, she walked up to Marty and pointed her gun in his face. "We got ya now, Marty. No loopholes. No Mexico. You're done." She stepped away and holstered her pistol. "Take the trash out, boys."
She snerked to herself. It was corny, she knew, but she'd been planning it since the day before.
She rolled her shoulders and put her hands on her hips, watching as Marty Gaup's ankles were freed and he was forced to his feet beside the bed. They carted him out with guns at his back as Carina grinned to herself.
Two of her fellow agents stayed behind to case the rest of the room, opening drawers and looking in his massive walk-in closet, murmuring to each other as they did so.
She took a deep, satisfied breath and turned towards the short hallway that led into the secure room where Marty Gaup kept his most precious possession. It was a golden elephant statue that had once belonged to some Indonesian Maharaja in some past century.
As she moved to peek at the metal door that barricaded the statue in its highly alarmed chamber, she noticed the door was propped open. Tilting her head in curiosity, she turned to look at the others in the bedroom. They were still busy searching the place, so she moved closer to the door.
Pulling her gun back out of its holster, she snuck nearer silently and put her foot in the door, easing it open as quietly as she could. It was a feat in itself considering how heavy the thing was.
She swung her gun around as she stepped into the chamber and saw the smashed alarm system, the wires sparking and the lights on the ceiling flickering. When she turned to the middle of the room where the statue usually resided in its case, she dropped her gun to her side.
"Son of a—"
}o{
A brown 1982 Impala coupe sped north along Route 83 with no other cars in sight. Inside of the car, Chuck Bartowski grinned widely as he peered at the road ahead, one arm hanging out of the open window while his other hand clutched the steering wheel tightly.
Sarah Walker sat beside him, the tendrils of her hair that escaped the loose braid it was in being whipped about by the wind. She didn't seem to mind much as she laughed so hard her cheeks began to ache.
She turned to Chuck and held up the golden elephant between them. "Look at her shine," she said gleefully. "Like a beacon of hope."
"Hope?" Chuck shot back, fixing her with an amused look.
"I don't know! I just have so many emotions right now."
"The foremost of which is…?" He glanced at her beaming face for a moment and turned back to the road.
"Adrenaline."
"Still?" he chuckled.
"And utter bliss."
"Utter bliss. Oooh, I like the sound of that."
The con artist couple had spent four days holed up in a hotel near the Laredo airport, careful to keep out of the hair of Gaup's men. Wolf and Piranha were certainly wanted by the drug smuggler for ditching town without completing the task of killing Jane Cheetham. Not to mention, one of Gaup's right hand men was kidnapped, which aligned perfectly with the timing of the two new recruits' disappearing.
Chuck and Sarah knew they wouldn't be safe going anywhere near the villa, but Chuck had been more than efficient with his video recording device, which he'd planted near the main entrance gate, and another device closer to the main house; he'd done it weeks ago, when they'd first started working for Marty Gaup. This way they could keep tabs on Marty and his goons when they weren't at the villa by watching on Chuck's laptop. But after Carina's emergence into the fray changed their plans, those devices became even more important.
They kept tabs on Carina through the tracking device Chuck had put on her Escalade when he'd driven it back from dropping Sarah off at the Wal-Mart to hot wire and pick up a new car.
That morning, a number of black vans loomed into view on the video feed and Chuck knew that it was time. He and Sarah packed up, got into the Impala, and sped to the villa. Aware that the action would come from the front gate, they snuck over the back wall and used the distraction of the DEA tactical team's raucous infiltration of the villa grounds to gain access in the back entrance to the main house.
Sarah took the lead up the back stairs and weaved through the hallways with Chuck covering her back. They only had a handful of minutes to get into Gaup's room, immobilize him, take out the alarm system, and get the statue.
Chuck had done the sabotaging of the alarm system as Sarah hogtied the drug smuggler before he could fully awaken from his hungover stupor.
With the elephant tucked into a cloth sack and slung over Chuck's shoulder, they lowered themselves off of Gaup's balcony to the bushes beneath and slipped back over the wall.
It had been too easy with the way the tactical team had sat in their vans for at least twenty minutes before storming the villa gates. As focused as both sides were with battling each other, no one had paid any mind to the dark shadows slinking through the grounds, the house, and into the boss' bedroom.
Sarah had even heard Carina barking orders through the bedroom door they'd locked behind them, before she lowered herself the rest of the way off the balcony and into Chuck's arms.
But they were here now, the priceless statue between them, miles and miles away from Carina Miller and the DEA. Off the grid, where both Chuck and Sarah were most comfortable.
"How long until we stop?" Sarah asked, shining a fingerprint off the elephant's trunk before slipping it back into the sack and shoving it under the seat by her boots.
"Like bathroom slash fuel up stop? Or find a hotel room stop?" Chuck asked, slipping his cell out from his pocket and pulling up the GPS.
"Hotel room," she replied. Her voice sounded funny…a little strained, maybe.
He frowned and looked over at her. She was rubbing her hands up and down her black pants, some sort of nervous energy causing her to bounce her right leg as she stared out of her window.
"Uh…I can get us to Fort Stockton in four hours or so."
"Four hours?" she burst out. "Oh no, no. Maybe an hour…at the most."
Chuck lifted an eyebrow. "An..an hour? Near the border, we might find some shitty little dumpy motel we can stop at, but…why not get to Fort Stockton? Then it'll be closer to dinner and we can do some sight seeing or something…historical?"
"Chuck. For God's sake, we need to find a hotel and soon. It doesn't have to be for the night."
"What? Why?" He nearly pulled the car off the road. "Sarah, are you hurt or something? Are—Are we being followed?" He looked in the rearview mirror but saw nothing behind them.
"No. No, I'm not hurt. But we're going to need a place with some horizontal surfaces."
She met his confused gaze with intense, sparkling blue eyes, biting her lip and clenching her hands together in her lap. "Horizontal surf—" He stopped and his ears turned bright red as her meaning became so clear it was like it had slapped him right across the face.
Oh.
"At this point, vertical would work just as well," she said breathily, her lips suddenly near his ear.
Chuck's foot involuntarily pressed the gas pedal down as far as it would go, leaving a cloud of exhaust behind them.
Within fifteen minutes, he'd pulled into a roadside motel, and they were in a room two minutes later with their clothes strewn about the floor.
As Chuck found himself pinned to the bed under her weight, a thought suddenly struck him from days before and he closed his warm hands around her shoulders. She sighed into his kiss and sat up. "Chuck, seriously? What?" she asked impatiently, one hand tangled in his hair.
He licked his lips and furrowed his brow.
"Who's Bryce?"
A/N: (dodges a barrage of rotten fruit) I know! Oh my God, I'm sorry!
I'm actually not all that sorry though. (dodges more rotten fruit)
Hope you all enjoyed Con Game Texas! It was fun! Please review! (If you aren't too angry with me, that is. SNORT!)
And if you learned anything from these chapters, it's this: THERE'S NO BASEMENT IN THE ALAMO!
And with that, I wash my hands of this weirdness.
