Please leave a review and let me know how I am doing. If there is something that annoyed you from season 3 that you would like to see it changed and put in this story, let me know and I'll see if I can fit it in somehow. After all, that is the main reason I started writing this. I still do not own Chuck.
This chapter shouldn't be too bad, a little violence, a little death – nothing worse than what is in the previous chapters.
Chapter 9 – Chuck vs. Poker
Previously: "Remember when Orion mentioned I had a fiancé? Well I didn't know it, but she also has a daughter, my daughter. The Ring took them, they found out about me through your relation to Carina in Pakistan. We never thought to alter her mission files from back then." Casey says full of rage.
Castle
August 9, 2010
8:07 PM Monday
Sarah briefed Chuck on the drive back to Castle. By the time they got there, their minds were swimming with the complications that could arise from this mission. When they into Castle, Casey was already finishing his briefing with Beckman and Orion. Sarah and Chuck went and stood beside Casey facing the monitor.
"We'll talk about how your real name is Alex Colbern later, Colonel. Until then, do what you need to do, to get your daughter and her mother back." Beckman then terminated the conference.
"Dad do you have anything on where they have taken her?"
"I found some footage of their van. They took them to a Ring safe house about 20 minutes away from your location. Be careful, thermal imaging shows at least 20 hostiles. It looks like The Ring is trying to connect anyone to Sarah. They'll keep going through contacts; I'm still not sure how he found out about Carina." Orion responded and uploaded the address to one of the monitors. "You'll have to move fast, they will either be torturing them or move them after nightfall and do it someplace else."
"Any idea who is behind this in The Ring?" Chuck asked worriedly, already suspecting the answer.
"Yes. Vincent is out on a separate mission and was able to retrieve some intel on Shaw's whereabouts. Unfortunately it seems he got tired of chasing ghosts in Eastern Europe and has returned to the LA area. He has arranged for the team to take Colonel Casey's daughter and her mother, he was not directly involved in the kidnapping."
"Alright, we can't waste anymore time. Call us on the road if you find anything else out." Sarah says.
"Will do." Orion terminates his end of the call.
"We leave in 5 minutes, pack what gear you need. Chuck, you are authorized to take a M9, flash bangs, and a MP5-N, nothing else until more training, Beckman's orders."
Sarah and Chuck make their way to the armory and quickly pick out their weapons, S&W 5906 and a MP5 for Sarah, M9 and MP5 for Chuck. As Chuck starts to fill up a backpack with a back up pistol for both and extra ammo clips, while Sarah quickly loads a few more magazines, Sarah says, "No matter what happens, if you have to kill someone on this mission. Come back to me Chuck, don't shut me out. I'm here for you, both to protect you as a government asset and the love of my life." She then hands him a Kevlar vest and the usual mission clothing, along with two silencers for the MP5 and M9, she grabs two for herself.
Chuck looks at her reassuringly as he takes the offered items from her. "I'll always be that guy. I love you, now let's go save John's family," he says with determination as he loads both her weapons and gives them to her and then loads both of his. He grabs a few knives and slips them into place on his mission jacket.
They run to the back entrance and up the ladder to the rear entrance of the Orange Orange to meet Casey, who already brought the van around the back.
Ring Safe House
August 9, 2010
8:35 PM Monday
"Look Chuck, you aren't an agent yet. I want you to stay out in the van. You are still an asset, even though you are an agent-in-training and can carry weapons. We need you to take out their surveillance and direct us to the hostages. This was Beckman's order, not until you pass your spy training." Casey says.
Chuck looks for back up from Sarah but receives none. She just mouths I'm sorry before she shuts the door.
-X-
"Where is Alex Colburn? We know you are his daughter!"
"HE DIED TWENTY YEARS AGO! HE'S A WAR HERO!" Alex screamed.
"We know he is alive, he has been causing lots of problems for the organization I work for. Either you tell us now and save yourself and your mother a lot of pain or I start with your mother."
"NO, DON'T TOUCH HER YOU BASTARD!" Alex yelled trying to get his attention.
-X-
"I'm in their system. Whoever designed it really doesn't know what they are doing." Chuck says smugly.
"Shut it Bartowski, just find us a way in without alerting everyone." Casey whispers harshly.
"Yeah Yeah, I'm working on it." Chuck replies. A few minutes pass before Chuck speaks again, "Alright, I've got your area of the building on a loop and I can put the other ones on a loop when needed. I can see what you are doing but they can't. The door is locked electronically, I'm about to…never mind, it is unlocked. Four hostiles directly on the other side of the door, one on each side; the other two are sitting behind a security desk."
"Copy that." Casey says.
Sarah pulls out a flash bang before Casey opens the door. He makes a countdown using three fingers. 3..2..1 Casey swings the door open a foot while Sarah launches the flash bang in. Casey nearly closes the door and opens it when they hear the small explosion. Casey quickly takes out both men by the door, while Sarah kills the two at the security desk about to draw their guns.
"Head through the door directly to your right, it leads up stairs. Get out on the third floor."
"Copy." Casey replies.
-X-
Chuck notices a few vans pulling up outside, near his van. He instinctively grabs his MP5 and M9 and leaves the van after the men walk towards the office.
-X-
The man slaps Kathleen again and yells, "TELL ME WHERE ALEX IS, WE KNOW YOU REMAINED IN CONTACT WITH HIM."
"PLEASE STOP, I HAVEN'T SEEN HIM IN 20 YEARS. THEY SAID HE DIED." She half cries, half yells back.
-X-
Chuck approaches the men, six in total heading towards the building. All of a sudden a man in full black mission gear comes out of the shadows with a Balaclava. He opens up on them with a M4 Carbine, dropping 4 with a shot to the chest or head before they can react. He clips the remaining two in the legs and they drop. He walks up to them and shoots them in the head to make sure they stay down.
Vincent's voice comes out, "You're improving Charles, much quieter than before and good stance. Get back to the van and run over watch for Casey, Sarah, and I. Orion is patching me through to your comms. Our missions merged together, I was tracking this group."
Chuck worried about leaving Sarah and Casey in the stairs, so with a quick nod at Vincent, he rushes back to the van. Before he gets in, he hears a few more silent pops from Vincent's M4 as Vincent makes his way to the building.
-X-
"Where the hell is Bartowski?" Casey whispers angrily.
"He'll be there, just give him a few, we can't run in blind." She whispers back just as frustrated but also worried something might have happened to him. The van isn't exactly the safest place, I hope he's alright."
She is brought out of her thoughts as Chuck's voice comes over their earpieces. "Sorry about that, a few vans pulled up. I was going to see what I could do to keep them outside, but Vincent showed up and took care of them. He's currently making his way through the bottom and middle floor; Orion is patching him through to our channels. Once you get out that door, there is one hostile to each side of the door as before. Down the hall there are two more outside an office door, I assume that is where Kathleen and Alex are being held. Good luck."
"Copy" Sarah says before pulling out another flash bang. Casey counts down, 3…2…1 and opens the door. Sarah tosses the flash bang inside and they easily take out the four men.
-X-
"Charles, come in."
"I'm here" Chuck replied.
"I'm on the second floor, direct me to the computer terminals."
"Take the first door on the left, two men inside."
"Roger."
Vincent comes out of the shadows and heads to the door. He listens inside to hear two Ring agents talking about the upcoming elections. Vincent opens the door and quickly shoots each of the men twice, for good measure of course. He walks to the computer and pulls out custom made Orion Tech; he patches it into the servers and begins uploading.
"Upload will take about 5 minutes."
"Acknowledged."
-X-
"I was hoping to not have to get more violent, I really do have a thing against hitting women, but you two are forcing my hand." Just as he finished his thought and began to raise his hand, the door burst open and the man was instantly killed, with a bullet to the head. Sarah quickly shot the other man in the room while Casey rushed to get his daughter and her mother out of their handcuffs.
"Who are you?" Alex asked, obviously in shock from seeing two men killed.
"Not now, we have to get out of here first. I'll answer both of your questions later."
"Chuck?" Sarah asks as she leaves the room.
"Yes? I'm still in the van; this is a first I think."
Sarah smiles despite the situation they are in, "I need you to get a hold of Devon and ask him to meet us back at his apartment. They will both need a doctor we can trust to look at their injuries."
"On it, Vincent is almost done uploading their data; my dad designed some amazing hardware." Chuck says with pride.
"Yeah yeah, save your nerdgasm for later, we're heading out now. Bring the van up."
"On my way."
Kathleen looks at John and asks, "Do I know you? You look familiar."
Alex looks at John and tries to remember where she's seen him before too.
Everyone makes it out of the building within a few minutes.
Casa Casey
August 9, 2010
10:15 PM Monday
Alex and Kathleen's injuries are superficial and not too bad Devon declares after checking them out. Devon then packs up his bag and leaves, waving goodbye to everyone.
"Can you trust him?" Alex asked after Devon left.
"He's my brother-in-law" Chuck responded like that explains everything.
"So who are you people?" Kathleen asks, coming out of shock and her voice full of emotion.
"She's CIA, he's NSA, and I'm well, that's a little harder to explain," Chuck responds. "John, do you want Sarah and me to leave for the next part?"
"No…no that's not necessary," Casey says as he sits down and sighs. "You both need to hear this too, I should have told you before, but it is hard to trust anyone in this business as you know. Well anyways, about twenty years ago, I was a young hot-shot sniper in the Marines. I was hoping to make it into a Special Forces unit; I was too cocky for my own good. I had a woman back home that I was deeply in love with…but one night, A Colonel for a Special Forces unit approached me. He said this is my chance to serve my country and he offered me a spot in the unit. He would send me off to training, but for me to do what I would need to do. I would have to become someone else. I thought the woman I left behind in the states, might be better off without a soldier as a husband. Always wondering if he would come back and not being able to provide a stable home life. So I decided to accept his offer. That night…Alex Colbern died."
Alex gasped and Kathleen started to tear up.
"I did not know she was pregnant, I might not have joined if I had known." Casey slumps back in depression and thought.
Kathleen gets up and walks over and slaps Casey hard across the face and walks off to the kitchen to escape while she digests the fact her former fiancé is actually alive.
Alex is in complete shock and doesn't know how to respond and just asks the first thing that comes to mind. "Thanks for saving us I guess," then walks off to find her mother.
Chuck hopefully adds, "I'm sure they'll be fine, they just need to let everything sink in, John."
"I hope so. Look, you two had a very long day, why don't you head out and get some rest." Casey replied.
"Alright Casey, but we'll have to look into this. If Shaw is in town, we have to be careful. You should keep your daughter and Kathleen around here for a few days." Sarah adds.
"Night Casey" Both Chuck and Sarah said then left.
Casa Bartowski-Grimes
August 10, 2010
9:00 AM Tuesday
Devon, Chuck, and Sarah already finished their morning 10 mile run. At this point, Chuck can keep up with the other two, although he does like to drop back 10 feet when he finds himself needing a little motivation, much to Sarah's amusement.
"So what are we doing today Sarah? Chuck asks when they sit down for breakfast. Chuck made pancakes with blueberries.
Between bites and moans in contentment Sarah responds, "Well we need to finish up your weapons training and look at the new office. Orion and Vincent are looking into Shaw's whereabouts and going through the data Vincent managed to take last night."
Chuck finishes cleaning up while she talks and sips her coffee. "I'm going to go take a shower, since you already took one. I'll make it quick." Chuck says making his way to get some clothes and then heads into the bathroom.
Hmm…a second shower couldn't hurt. Sarah thinks to herself and makes her way to the bathroom. He actually locked it, damn. She quickly grabs a lock pick and unlocks it and strips down. She opens the shower door and starts kissing Chuck's neck and whispers, "I guess I'll just have to have two showers today…"
"Mmmm…"
Specialized Ranger Sniper Rifle Range
August 9, 2010
10:30 AM Tuesday
Chuck and Sarah made their way to the Sniper Rifle range, which was cleared out for them again. There is the standard range, with paper targets down range. Then there is a hill that Sarah is looking at through binoculars. She had the officer on duty reset up the cards up on the hillside. She then hands Chuck a M24A2 sniper rifle and then takes one for herself. She grabs a bunch of magazines and extra ammunition.
"Uh cards?"
"Yeah, time to play poker."
"You're kidding!"
"Nope, you're always complaining about us not having any proper dates!"
A very confused Chuck responds, "Do I?"
"No, not really but now you can't say we never have. Besides we're going to have a nice lunch after!" Sarah laughs at his expression.
"So how does this work?"
"Up on the hill there are four rows of cards at different distances, placed side by side, hearts being the farthest distance and spades being the closest. We each get five shots per round, the person with the highest hand, wins. If all we each have is crap, it is a draw. Highest number of wins in 10 rounds wins." Sarah explains.
"I assume without flashing too?"
"Yes. Just like with the others, you need a feel for it. We'll play a few hands without the Intersect."
They both make their way over to the grass which has a wall a few sand bags high. They both pull out the bi-pods and look through the scopes. Chuck tries to find the cards for the hand he wants.
"Oh I forgot to mention, we rotate who shoots first. First I want you to shoot at the target down range though. "
He takes a shot, amazed at the recoil and power of the rifle. He completely missed the first shot. There is wind and the target is 400m away.
"Wow, they really make sniping too easy in games. This is much harder than it looks." Chuck says while Sarah just laughs.
"Yeah they do tend to do that. Often you don't even aim directly at your target, but above or to the right or left of them. Especially if there is wind or elevation to consider, hell, even sea level plays a role. There is a lot of physics involved when you have to fling a bullet that far away. Of course some rifles are more powerful and make it easier, but even they have a limited effective range. The other rifle you will use eventually is a TAC-50, which has a 2000 effective range, but has a recorded kill of 2430m. Take another shot."
Chuck soaked everything she said in and then adjusted his shoulder around a little to look at the trees and shrubs around, taking into account which way the wind was blowing them. He sucked in his breath and held it, then steadied and squeezed the trigger. He missed again. He bolted another bullet into the chamber and fired. This time he hit the edge of the target. He continued until he was out of bullets. Out of the 10 shots from the magazine, he hit the actual target only twice, both times not even hitting the 'person'.
"It's alright Chuck, you're doing fine, keep trying." Sarah encouraged as she handed him another 10-round mag. This continued for another 40 rounds. Eventually he was able to hit the target more reliably. He refused to use the Intersect when Sarah insisted he give it a go after the initial 30 rounds. Sarah was proud of him for not giving in and for finally hitting the target.
"Alright Chuck, using the Intersect will help you, even when you don't use it. It will help your technique and get a better understanding of the different factors that are involved." Sarah tried to keep him thinking upbeat. He was quick to learn how to use his M9, MP5, and HK416; she didn't want him to feel discouraged by his inability to quickly pick up the sniper rifle.
"Thanks for the encouragement." Chuck grinned as the familiar feeling of a weapons flash overtook him. He looked down the scope of his freshly reloaded M24 and pulled the trigger, then bolted another bullet and fired. He repeated the process eight more times. Each bullet hit the target. Seven hit the chest, 3 hit the head. "Hey honey, ready to play poker?" Chuck asks as he flashes his smile reserved only for her.
An hour later, the couple is playing a very close game of poker. Sarah is in the lead by one hand and Chuck is catching up quickly.
"DAMNIT! I MISSED!" Sarah says angrily, her competitive side rearing its head.
Chuck fires and finishes off his hand, a four of a kind – four queens and an ace of spades. Sarah messed up her four of a kind, having four queens too, but she messed up the last shot and got a two of spades. Chuck narrowed the gap but had to wait for an officer to setup a new set of cards.
"I hate you by the way, Chuck. I've never lost playing this before." Sarah says with a pout.
Chuck just laughs as she glares back at him. Note to self: a very angry, very competitive Sarah Walker is very sexy.
About 5 minutes later, enough cards are setup for them to finish their game. Chuck was behind by one hand. Sarah finishes her round of shots, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, King of Hearts, and a King of Spades, forming a full house. She grins smugly in apparent victory. Chuck just winks at her and lines up his first shot.
9 of hearts
Chuck bolts another bullet.
8 of hearts
Chuck bolts another bullet
7 of hearts
Chuck bolts another bullet, Sarah groans.
6 of hearts
Chuck bolts another bullet, Sarah curses audibly.
5 of hearts
Chuck grins and says, "Straight flush. Last I checked, that beats a full house, honey!"
"DAMNIT! WE'RE TIED!" Sarah exclaimed, sending him an angry glare.
"What do you think Ellie would think if I told her we did this on a date?" Chuck asked while laughing.
"It would probably kill her." Sarah said with a chuckle. "HEY STOP TRYING TO DISTRACT ME, CHEATER! This is the last hand, either I win or we tie." Sarah says with her game face on.
So, so sexy. Time to go in for the kill, Sarah Walker.
Sarah goes first again, because well, Chuck isn't about to tell her he should be going first. Who would?
She lines up her shot, while Chuck watches in amusement as her brows scrunch together in concentration.
Ace of hearts, ace of spades, ace of diamond, ace of clubs, king of diamonds. Sarah removes the empty clip from her rifle and makes sure the chamber is cleared before turning and bragging. "HAH! FOUR OF A KIND, BEAT THAT!"
Oh my.
Chuck lines it up, the Intersect feeds his consciousness with the highest hand available to beat her and how to line up the shots. He fires off the first shot:
Ace of hearts.
He bolts the next bullet in.
King of Hearts.
The next bullet is bolted in.
Queen of Hearts.
Sarah moans and the next bullet is loaded into the chamber.
Jack of Hearts.
Sarah lets out a breath.
….
He adjusts his shoulder at the last second, changing his mind annnnd
2 of spades.
Sarah's eyes narrow dangerously, "YOU! Y-YOU LET ME WIN! YOUR ARROGANCE OFFENDS ME!"
"Really? Quoting Taken when your boyfriend wants to keep the love of his life's record intact? Besides I'm pretty sure I still am going to win." Chuck says with a grin and the Bartowski eyebrow dance.
Sarah calms down and stares at Chuck in disbelief while he empties the chamber and pulls out the remaining clip. As soon as he is done, she pounces on him and straddles him and leans down and kisses him, attempting to pour how much she loves him, into that kiss.
Chuck pulls back and comes out for air. "Sarah, you have to stop that, this is hardly the place!" He is cut off as she attacks his mouth again.
She finally pulls back and helps him quickly clean their rifles and they sprint to the car. As they get in she says, "We're going to skip lunch, sweetie. We have no time; we have to be back at the base for the explosive training in a few hours and I intend to give you your reward for winning."
"O-okay." Chuck says out of breath. I love poker.
End Chapter 9
I stole the poker idea from SWAT, I absolutely loved that scene. I also do not own SWAT.
