Yay! Exams are done, so I have time to update. Things are heating up as time's running out for Agent Emma Parks. Will they be able to find the rest of them in time before its too late?

lol... in any case, ENJOY!

PLEASE R&R!

Disclaimer: Chuck (c) Chuck (c) Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak
: NCIS (c) Donald Bellisario
Claimer: everything else (c) me

Chapter Nine: Nightmares and a Single Phone Call

Bryce was really pissed off as for all he knew Emma could already be dead. Knowing that his allies were doing all they could to help him find her, he eventually told them all to go home and sleep and that they'd continue in the morning.

Even as he was given a new hotel room across from Team Bartowski's set, Bryce still couldn't find himself getting to sleep, and was rather pissed off at the thought that the others could possibly sleep knowing that one of their friends were in grave danger.

Dammit, I shouldn't be so worked up, he thought, sighing. After all, I was the one who told them all to get some sleep. Because I know that if they don't, they won't be able to work well tomorrow morning when we try again. Ugh… I've got to try to get some sleep…

- - - - - -

Bryce stood in front of a brightly-lit huge warehouse, the NCIS Major Case Response Team and Team Bartowski standing next to him.

"DiNozzo, Ziva, take back door," Gibbs ordered quietly. "McGee, you and me take front door. Casey, take Bartowski with you and survey the left side door."

"Great… I get the moron…" Casey muttered in annoyance.

"Suck it up, Major," Gibbs retorted sharply, "Walker, Larkin, take right side door. Call in anything suspicious. Go, go, go!"

Immediately, they hurriedly went to their positions, Bryce breathing deep as he and Sarah went to the right side of the warehouse, standing with his back pressed against the wall beside the door next to his ex-partner and ex-lover.

"Ready?" Sarah whispered.

He nodded before they both broke down the door, pointing their guns in front of them, surveying the area. The room was completely empty, with cream-coloured walls and two doors on the two opposite sides.

Bryce looked at Sarah and nodded towards the right-side door as he headed towards the left. Breaking down both doors, they shouted, "CIA!"

All of a sudden, a powerful force pushed Bryce into the pitch-black room and the door shut closed tightly behind him.

"Bryce! Bryce!" he heard Sarah scream on the other side, banging on the door loudly.

"Sarah!" he shouted back, trying to break through the door but failing to do so.

Now there was no sound coming from the other side of the door any longer, as if something had happened.

"Sarah? Sarah?!" he called out, but heard no answer.

Hearing a series of clapping, he turned around, gun pointed, as a spotlight was drawn upon the figure hanging by the hands from a rusty old chain.

"Emma!" he gasped.

The woman didn't stir, blood pouring from various wounds on her body, bruises on her face and hands. Her wrists were raw from the chains, her head hung limply.

As Emma's head lifted slowly to look at him, a small smile on her face, four gunshots rang out, and Emma's eyes widened and were filled with pain before her head dropped limply back against her chest.

"EMMA!" Bryce screamed, running to try and shoot at the person who had shot her, but whoever was supposedly there had vanished.

In a hurry, Bryce aimed a steady bullet at the chains, catching her body in his arms and lowering her down against him.

"Emma, Emma, wake up," he begged.

Weakly, her blue eyes barely fluttered open. "H-Hey… Bryce…" she whispered.

"Emma, Emma, I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I never meant for you to get taken in my place."

Her eyes shifted to the true golden that they were. "Bryce, I-I'm sorry…" she breathed, "p-please… tell… Bryce… 'I love him'."

Pain glittered in his eyes. "I will, I will," he promised, a single tear falling unchecked. "Please, you can't die."

"I love you, Bryce," she whispered.

Very gently, she used the last of her strength and leant up to kiss him before she dropped back lifelessly into his arms.

"No! NO! NOOO!!!!" he screamed, but it was too late.

Holding her lifeless corpse against his chest, blood continued to seep into his clothes as he pressed her cold forehead against his cheek, weeping tearlessly for his loss. He found that no tears could come, even for the woman he cared for deeply like a sister, and had fallen in love with as well. He gazed into her pale, lifeless face, only wishing that he had a chance to see those beautiful golden orbs again.

"Emma, I'm so sorry," he wept. "I'm so, so sorry. I'm so sorry…"

- - - - - -

"Ack!" Bryce choked as he snapped up from his nightmare, his hand at the gun he kept under his pillow. As he realized that it was all just a dream, he rested his hand on his forehead and found his skin tingling hot.

"It was only a dream," he muttered, crawling out of bed to go throw water on his face to calm down. "This is getting a little insane. We'd better find Emma soon, or else I'm not going to be able to make it through these next few nights. I'll be sure to take down those bastards that kidnapped her."

There was a quick knock at his door, and pulling out his gun, he walked over to the door and peered through the peephole to see Sarah on the other side of the door.

"Hey Bryce," she greeted after he opened the door.

"Hey Sarah," Bryce replied, trying to be calm as he put away his gun, "why are you still up this late? Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "I'm just worried about you and how you must be taking this," she admitted, gazing into his worried eyes in concern for her ex-lover.

He forced a smile, grinning. " Hey, as long as we find her and she's alive, I'll be fine," he assured. And as long as no one discovers her secret and my secret of knowing her secret, he added mentally. "Sarah, it's alright. Just go back to sleep. I'll be alright in the morning," he lied gently yet convincingly.

"Well okay…" she replied uneasily. "Good night, Bryce."

He dipped his head. "Good night, Sarah."

Bryce quietly went back to his bed before there was another knock at his door.

Who could it be this time? He wondered, his gun still drawn at his side. Peering through, he saw his old college buddy Chuck.

"Ah," he muttered, opening the door. "Hey Chuck. Why are you and Sarah still up so late? Is Casey up too, I suppose?"

Chuck shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure he's probably still confused about Lara's supposed-death, considering we all are. I ran into Sarah on the way here. I guess she was just as worried, I suppose."

Bryce nodded, putting away his gun. "Emma's a CIA agent, she'll do all that she can to prolong them from killing her. But that means we all have to do our best and save her as soon as we can. She'll eventually run out of tricks, and then they'll kill her."

"Well… when we save her, I don't have to exactly… be there when the shooting begins, right?" Chuck asked shyly.

The CIA agent shook his head. "Come on in, Chuck," he invited.

After Chuck walked into the room, Bryce looked around warily before closing the door.

"No, you don't have to be there. You're the Intersect, plus… Sarah will be worried if you place yourself in danger like that," he explained, sitting on the front edge of the bed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Chuck reluctantly agreed, sitting down next to him. "She's already hounded me once after I tried to save Lara's life by giving myself up to ransom for the antidote for the AY63 dart. She'd be more than pissed off if I did something like that again."

Bryce decided to let the topic of Sarah go, and looking up at his ceiling. "Hey Chuck, did you ever wonder whether it was true? Lara being alive, I mean," he inquired curiously.

The Intersect sighed, "I don't know. I want to believe she's alive, but… you know how I can be a coward, Bryce. I don't want to think on false hopes."

"Hmmm…" Bryce hummed thoughtfully, "Yeah, you're right. If she's dead, she's dead. Even if she was alive, she would have probably reported back to HQ already. But still… you can't help but wonder…"

- - - - -

The next morning, Team Bartowski (along with Bryce) arrived at NCIS, heading over to the team.

"Morning everyone," Tony greeted easily, sipping at his super-sweetened coffee, "did any of you get any sleep?"

"Not a wink," Bryce answered coldly. "What do we have? Any leads?"

Ziva sighed, "Unfortunately, no. No fingerprints, no DNA, nothing."

Suddenly, the Tony's phone rang.

"DiNozzo," he greeted easily, but suddenly snapped up in his chair from his relaxed posture. "U-Uh… yeah… hold on…"

Immediately, he looked at Bryce. "Bryce, it's for you," he said. It's the kidnappers, he mouthed, and Gibbs turned to Tim.

"McGee, link onto Tony's phone and track the signal," he snapped immediately. "DiNozzo, put it on speakerphone."

Putting the phone down and pressing the speakerphone button, Bryce took a breath and said, "Who is this?"

A deep, obviously masked, voice chuckled, "Agent Bryce Larkin, it's been a while…"

"What did you do with Agent Parks? Where is she?" Bryce demanded.

"Patience, Agent Larkin," the voice said. "After dosing her with Pentothal, she sang like a bird. Or else how else would we be able to get this number?"

Both Bryce and Sarah narrowed their eyes. They both knew it wasn't true, considering all CIA agents –as part of their training, were taught to be able to withstand the 'truth-telling' effects of Pentothal, so it was near impossible for Emma to be able to talk, unless they had dosed her a huge amount that would nearly kill her. But even so… she would refuse to be able to tell.

"In any case, she's alright… for now," the voice continued. "But… she won't be in about less than half an hour."

"Leave her out of this. You want me, not her," Bryce argued. "Let her go safely."

The voice chuckled. "As if. I want to see you squirm, and suffer, like you made me. If you want to know where to find her; listen well. These are your hints; one; a populous area. Two; 'Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain'."

Immediately, Chuck flashed on that single phrase.

"Good luck," the voice declared before hanging up, the phone beeping in disconnection.

Ziva looked at them. "What the hell does that mean?" she inquired.

"McGee, did you manage to get a number?" Casey demanded.

The computer nerd sighed, "Unfortunately not. The line seemed to be super-protected or something. I couldn't even get a trace."

Sarah looked at them. "But there's no way Emma would give them Tony's number. All CIA agents are trained to withstand the truth-telling effects of Pentothal," she informed them.

"They must have managed to get Tony's card from her purse or pocket," Gibbs guessed.

Bryce looked gravely at all of them. "We've got to find her before its too late," he informed them. "We need to figure out what the hell those clues mean."

"Guys, guys," Chuck interrupted. "'Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain'. It's often used as a clever code when it comes to entry codes and such. It's a popular memory trick in England."

"What's it mean, Bartowski?" Casey scowled.

"Okay, okay!" he defended, his voice half with fear. "It's a memory trick to remember the colours of the rainbow. I think 'rainbow' is the second hint, along with 'a populous area'."

Immediately, the dots connected for most of them.

"McGee!" Gibbs snapped, "List all the buildings and locations with 'rainbow' here in DC."

"On it, Boss!" he replied, quickly typing it into his speedy database search engine. "Uh… Rainbow Road, Rainbow Street, and that Rain Bow Mall downtown."

"That must be it!" Tony exclaimed. "Rain Bow Mall is really big… height-wise, as in."

Gibbs grabbed his equipment from his desk. "Gear up! We're heading there now!"

Sarah and Casey turned to Chuck.

"Chuck, stay here," Sarah ordered. "This is going to be dangerous. We can't let you put yourself in danger."

"But I want to save Emma too!" he exclaimed. "I can't just stay here knowing that the both of you are in danger, as is everyone else!"

"You're a good person, Bartowski, but we've gotta do our jobs," Casey said quickly.

"Weren't you the one that said you didn't want to be there when the shooting began?" Bryce scolded, "Well trust me, there's going to be a lot of shooting going on here."

"He's right, we have to secure the area and rescue the citizens inside the mall," Ziva agreed.

Tony looked at Chuck and added in, "Go down and find Abby. Let her know where we're going and then both of you keep us updated if something else comes up."

Before Bartowski could argue, they had already all dashed off to the elevator, fully prepared and eagerly awaiting to get their friend and comrade back, especially Bryce. Now all they hoped was that they weren't going to be too late.

Oooh... things are REALLY going to heat up in the next chapter. Will they be able to save Emma in time? Or will she be lost to them... forever?

PLEASE REVIEW! (and I'll try to update hopefully before the beginning of February, as a new semester starts for me.)