Don't own Chuck
While Chuck and Sarah's were gone Casey slept on their couch while Kathleen took their bed so Sam could sleep in her own and have her own things around her. They decided normality was what she needed so she wouldn't miss her parents. It was five in the morning when Casey felt the presence of someone in the living room so instinctively he went for his Sig he kept under his pillow. But as he was about to draw on the unsuspecting intruder he heard the sound of a rattler and knew who it was.
"Crap you're as bad as your father at trying to get yourself killed," said Casey as he looked down at his feet to see Sam looking back at him with her big blue eyes. She had Mr. Rabbit in one hand and a sippy cup in the other.
"Key see boo-boo," she said as she held out her cup with a look of concern.
"Thanks but I think we can do better," said Casey as he got up slowly hobbled over to the kitchen where he reached up into a cabinet and got her box of cereal then grabbed a juice box. Sam followed along behind him watching everything he did.
"Come on kid," said Casey as he went back to the couch flopped down and propped his leg up on the coffee table. "Here, sit here next to me." Somehow Sam understood and climbed up on the sofa throwing Mr. Rabbit up first then getting herself up curling up next to him. Casey opened up the cereal box placed it next to her where she could help herself then put the straw in the juice box and handed it to her. He looked down at her as she looked up as him took a couple of sips of juice and ate a few handfuls of cereal then cuddled close and fell asleep.
"Jesus kid couldn't you do this in your own bed," grunted Casey but deep down he liked it. This would've been what life would've been like for him if Alex Colburn had come home instead of becoming John Casey. He really never reflected on what he had given up and what he missed out on. He never had to but now it came crashing home.
"Thanks kid," said John as he took her juice box from her hands before she spilt it on herself and finished it off. Just maybe he could get some of what he missed out on through her.
"Hey you're up," said Kathleen as she walked into the living room. "There she is? How did she get in here? I know I set the alarm."
"Chuck told me he thought there was something wrong with the sensor. I'll look at it later on but she's a spy kid so what'd you guys expect."
"I'll put a pot of coffee on then I'll take her back to bed so you can lie down. I'm sorry if you're sleeping on the sofa but I told you, you could take the bed."
"No, I'm fine where I'm and you can leave her. She just fell back to sleep and it wouldn't be right to move her yet but I could use a cup of your coffee. Sarah and Chuck accuse me of making motor oil and maybe they're right but yours is always good."
"I forgot what a flatter you can be Mr. Casey," said Kathleen as she went about making coffee then bringing him over a cup.
"Eat your heart out Roan," said John as he took a sip thinking how he failed Roan's class twice at the farm.
"Who's Roan? Is he in Alaska with the rest of the team? When do you think we can call them to see how things are going?"
"We really need to wait for them to call us. We don't know what they're involved in so we risk blowing an operation if we call while something's going down."
"Going down! But I thought this was supposed to be an easy mission just a pickup, easy in and easy out. John I'm beginning to worry.
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Unidentified aircraft this is an automated recording you are violating restricted air space turn around or you will be destroyed. Not a very friendly recording meant to scare away stray unauthorized vehicles from venturing to close to Santa's Workshop but the Antonov had no intention of turning around. The closer they got the more frequent the transmission. Patriot missile batteries activated and fire control radars illuminated them as an intruder.
"Captain Perry I don't want to point out the obvious but that message sounds like Santa's checked his list and you ended up on the naughty side," said Morgan as he looked over at Alex.
"Alpha team we could use that key code any time now," radioed Perry and just then the data link came active and a group of lights lite up one at a time.
"Captain Perry, the data link is up… and the upload is complete. We're done here packing up awaiting…."
"Alpha team repeat your last over. Alpha team repeat your last." But there was only static then another voice came over the speaker one that Morgan and Alex immediately recognized.
"Captain Perry you can forget about that extraction request. Your team is down and just how many men do you have anyway? I counted ten in snow cat, and then there was Frank now you're down another eight. The pot has to be getting dry."
"Chuck I presume, my client was hoping you and your partner would be here with me instead of the two I've got with me."
"You hurt them and I'll end you. There won't be a rock you can hide under or a hole deep enough to get away from me. If you or your boss know me you know what I'm capable of."
"Chuck, Chuck I've got a deal for you. If you want your people all you have to do is come and get them. After we make our pick up I'll drop them off just I wouldn't wait around too long. They'll have a short shelf life."
"Where can I pick them up at? Just name the place and I'll be there. If it's me you want in exchange I'm yours just let them walk."
"Oh they'll walk all right," said a metallic voice that came on over the comm link. "But you and that partner of yours have to suffer too. I want you both the squirm. I want to break you. I want you to know what it's like to lose everything then you'll beg me to end you and I might, but not until then."
Chuck heard the sound of an automatic cannon blast in the background then the link broke off followed by static.
"Wow that guy isn't playing with a full deck. What did you people do to him? Do you have any idea who he is?"
"No but I've got an idea where he is or at least where he used to be. We need to get back in air everyone out now," said Chuck. He put the memory module in his back pack taking out two grenades then handed the bag to Sarah. "Fire in the hole," he yelled as he pulled the pins on both grenades shoving them into the satellite then they both ran. There was an explosion behind them destroying the satellite causing the tunnel to collapse in after them.
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The Antonov flew in a low circle over Santa's Workshop opening fire with its twin twenty-three mm Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannons before landing on the runway next to the secret facility. Men ran out the back taking out guards who tried to hold off the assault. With the automated defence system off-line it was up to a handful of paramilitary guards to defend the facility but they were out gunned and out matched.
"Captain the facility's ours," radioed one of his men. "We're in the process of locating the client and escorting him back on board."
"Your boss is here? He works for us," said Alex as she looked bewildered over at Morgan. "What kind of traitor is he?"
"The rich kind, now get up and come with me. You can ask him yourself he wants to talk to you two," said Captain Perry as he and one of his men escorted them out of the cockpit. Alex glanced once more at Ivan who shrugged his shoulders. They made their way out and down towards the aft section, the same way they had board. On their way off a group of Perry's men met them, one had his head wrapped in a bandage, in the middle of the group was a thin gangly man who seemed very nervous and hyper.
"So you must be Chuck's friends well I was too before he sent me away. Here take this," said the man as he handed them some sort of video playback device. "This is for Chuck and his partner Sarah. Tell them that I've had a long time of looking at nothing but white so much that all I see now is black which is what I'm going to paint their world."
"Mister you've got no idea what kind of bear you're poking," said Morgan but the man gave a nervous laugh.
"Well considering all I seen are Polar bears for the past four years. Tell me how do you like the digs," said the man as he motioned them to be pushed off.
"Alex and Morgan watched the Antonov turn on the flight line then slowly taxi to the runway where it took off leaving them.
"Burr it's cold," said Alex as she began to shiver, "let's get inside where it's warm before we freeze to death. Do you have any idea who that was or why he's got it out for Chuck and Sarah?"
"No but the guy is missing a few cards from the deck and his banana has definitely split but if what he said is true about being stuck up here I can see how that would happen. I always imagined when Casey talked about being dropped into a dark hole there was actually a dark hole not a snow bank," said Morgan as he tried the door into the super-secret facility but the door wouldn't budge.
"Morgan what's the matter? Stop fooling around open the door it's freezing out here" said Alex as she was beginning to lose feeling in her hands and her ears were burning.
"I can't it won't open. I think we're locked out. Crap that's why he told Chuck he needed to hurry and pick us up." Suddenly the missile batteries that were pointing at the ground suddenly powered up and swung around as they came back on line. "It's a trap and we're the bait all be it frozen bait we're still the bait for Chuck."
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The team was in the air and off as soon as they could but instead of heading back south the Elmendorf AFB the headed northeast to Ladd. Sarah piloted as Chuck got comms up with Langley he needed some answers and quickly. Captain Jones sat behind them trying to get his head around everything that was going on when Chuck's tablet pinged. His blood hound program had tracked down the NSA satellite hacker back to his hole.
"Crap," said Chuck. He was looking at the results when General Beckman came on the monitor. Sarah looked over at him and could tell he was about to give her a blast.
"Sweetie take a deep breath before you speak, we've still got Alex and Morgan out there who need us and we need Beckman's help."
"General, you'll be happy to know we recovered the memory module from your lost satellite and the satellite I personally destroyed and buried under a glacier."
"Good mission accomplished. I'll expect a full report when you get back. What's your ETA?"
"No not good General, Morgan and Alex are being held captive. I got the trace back on your satellite hack and guess what it came from the North Pole. It bounced off a relay in Papua New Guinea but the source code came from there. I believe that if you check you'll find that Santa's Workshop has been compromised. Further I believe Morgan and Alex are being held there. We are currently in route to Ladd. I want two F-14Es standing by fully loaded with extra fuel tanks and two flight suits in each plane."
"I'll have to verify our facility's been compromised," said the General, "before I can authorize your mission. You understand that?"
"Do whatever you have to do but I need those aircraft. The people that were ahead of us didn't want your precious memory module they already knew about your facility. What they wanted was something else. Your facility is equipped to defend itself I bet. What with? Patriot missile batteries and Anti-satellite weapons ASATs? What happens if one of our own accidently crossed over into its restricted airspace?"
"Oh crap," said the General as she figured out what Chuck was implying and this required immediate verification. "I'll get back to you ASAP. Beckman out."
"What was that all about," said Sarah as she was concentrating on not getting them killed just coming out the snow storm and in range of Ladd Tower Control.
"Yeah I've got to hear this," said Captain Jones as he got up and moved up close to hear better over the sound of the rotors.
"They never wanted that piece," said Chuck as he pointed over at his back pack. "They wanted the encrypted key that each of these spy satellites have embedded in them. Think of it like the IFF that aircraft have that identify them as a friend or foe to reduce fratricide. The base has an automated defense system so when a vehicle passes over head that it recognizes as authorized it stands down. This allows for a minimal defense force needed to guard the facility and less people means it's easier to keep it secret."
"That's ingenious but I'm not sure I like a machine shooting at me I've seen those Terminator movies and something there isn't right, 'Hasta la vista, baby'." Chuck and Sarah gave the Captain a look. "What you can't be on mission all the time? You need some way to relax."
"Okay, our mysterious bad guy needed to power down the weapons system to get his team inside to get something out, something that will hurt us," said Chuck as he looked over at Sarah.
"You don't think," said Sarah as she glanced over at the Captain then to Chuck.
"I think it makes sense if you look at the layout," said Chuck. The Captain realized they were talking in code and that this was probably above his pay grade.
"You realize if what you're saying is true then this is probably a trap and your friends are the bait."
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Casey was sitting on the sofa with Sam sitting in front of him staring at him. Every time he moved she followed what he did with attention. Kathleen had finished doing the dishes and was baking a batch of cookies when she noticed what was going on. At first she thought the whole thing was quite funny watching the two of them but then she felt sad. She didn't know why, there really was not reason she just had this sudden wave of uncontrollable sentiment.
"Can I get you more coffee," said Kathleen trying to snap out of it. "Cookies will be up in a bit so you might want to hold off on the coffee and wait to eat a cookie with it."
"Sounds like a plan," said Casey as he looked back at her. He noticed something off but could tell what. He turned back to the Sam. "What do you say squirt? You want a cookie?"
"Key see," said Sam as she pointed at him and giggled almost falling over then laughed at herself and giggled even louder.
"She's a happy baby," said Kathleen as she came over standing behind him. "You know Alex was like that when she was little, so full of life. Sam reminds me a lot of Alex at her age except Alex had red hair and a temper to go with it. You catch her on the wrong day and you'd wish you hadn't."
"Sounds like you had your hands full," said John as he reached back to take her hand. There it was now he understood what was going on inside her head. "I'm sorry if I wasn't there but I didn't know."
"Sorry for what you got what you wanted and well we would've just held you back. Maybe this was just the way things were meant to be."
"Alex is amazing. You should be proud. You've done a great job, Kat."
"Look at you. You're a soldier, you're a hero. You have everything that you've ever wanted."
"Sometimes you have to be careful wanting because you just might get what you want," said John as she squeezed her hand.
"Well I need to check on those cookies," said Kathleen as she pulled away. "I wouldn't want to burn them." Just then there was a knock at the door and John got up.
"I'll get it," he said as he hobbled to the door opening it he found a box on the stoop but no one in sight. His spy alarm went off and he went back to the sofa got his gun then went back to the door.
"John what is it? You're scaring me," said Kathleen from the kitchen as she saw him go into combat mode.
"Just stay in the house next to the phone," he said as he went outside to clear the courtyard. When he was sure there was no one he came back but the box wasn't on the stoop anymore.
"John can you tell me what's going on," asked Kathleen as he walked back inside slipping his Sig in his belt behind him.
"Later Kat, where's the box that was on the door stoop?" but he saw it as soon as he asked and his blood ran cold. Sam had gone and had gotten it. Since it was light she had no problem carrying it into the middle of the living room where she opened it.
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General Beckman picked up her phone and called her Aid to meet her in the situation room then she ran out of her office yelling back to Connie her secretary that she'd be out. She ran to the elevator bumping into a couple of officers that started to protest until they saw who it was.
"Crap, crap, crap," she kept repeating to herself as he got into the elevator to ride it down to the belly of the beast a room that was highly classified and secretly built in full cold war siege mentality deep enough to survive a nuclear attack and now against modern day surveillance devices.
"General what's going on," asked her Aid waiting outside the doors. She took him immediately in side where they heard someone yell 'General on deck'.
"Carry on. I hope nothing but just in case I need two F-14Es fully outfitted with extra flight suits for agents Bartowski at Ladd. Where's the watch officer?" asked the General turning her attention to the men and women in the room.
"Here General Beckman," said a man sitting behind a desk putting his feet down. "Can I help you with something?"
"When was the last time you had a comms check with Santa or one of his elves?" asked the General but the man started hemming and hawing around. "Come on man it can't be that long ago."
"General they're actually an hour behind schedule," said one of the junior officers who happened to be standing on the floor.
"Jesus, what's your name? Yes you," said the General asking the young woman who spoke up. "Speak woman you seem to be the only person who knows what's going on here."
"Melissa York, ma'am I've only been here a few weeks from the farm."
"Well Agent York you've got your first mission I need a situation report from Santa's Workshop and I need it now. Everyone here drop whatever you're doing and provide Agent York with support."
"Ruth, can you move a satellite for me over the top and Mark can you bring up a comms link," said Melissa as the General took up a seat watching people running around the room and the big screens overhead coming on.
"General they're not answering our calls and I've almost got a satellite overhead," she said as images started coming up on screen then just as the facility was about to come in sight the image dropped and static appeared on the screen.
"Talk to me Ruth what just happened why don't we have an image? Come on talk to me."
"The satellite's gone. I'm not getting anything from it anymore it went dead." General Beckman jumped from her seat looking at the static.
"Hold up, rewind the video we got before it went dead," said the General. "Ruth is it? Clean it up as best as you can then run it." The agent did her best then played the video. It showed a path of white as it got close to part of the facility then nothing.
"Back it up a bit there freeze that image," yelled the General. "Look the silo doors are open they shot down the satellite and look at the corner of the building it's blackened. They've taken our lab. Watch officer I want a list of all the people who were working there on my desk in ten. Agent York with me you're on my staff now."
The General took the woman with her down the hall and they rode the elevator back up to her office where her Aid was waiting for her.
"General the F-14Es will be there waiting," said the Major as he glance over at the obviously green agent standing behind the General.
"Good, see that Agent York gets everything she needs to work with us. The first thing you need to do Agent is to get the schematics for Santa's Workshop along with defensive batteries and up load them to Agents Charles and Sarah Bartowski. Major we need to take our facility back and God help us all."