I still don't own Chuck. But one good thing. This story will never be preempted by a presidential news conference.
Thanks to Happydayz for the ideas and for holding my virtual hand through all the angst on the show. And, of course, thanks to BrickRoad for keeping me on the straight and narrow.
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Escape
- - - -
Even though Devon and Ellie were doctors in the same hospital, they hardly ever saw each other at work. After all, they worked in totally different areas of a very large hospital. Devon was a surgeon and Ellie worked in the Emergency Room. Oh, once in a while, Ellie would have to hand off a patient from the ER to have an emergency surgery. But that was very rare. On occasion they had consulted on a patient but you could count those on one hand. They tried to meet for lunch whenever possible. But even that was getting more and more difficult because of their schedules. So Devon was very surprised when Ellie asked to meet with him in a conference room.
"Hi babe," Devon said to Ellie as he closed the door. "Is there something wrong?"
"I have something to tell you." Ellie said, ignoring Devon's question. "And I can't do it at home."
"What is it?" Devon said as his eyes widened in alarm. "Is there something wrong with the wedding?"
"No, sweetie," Ellie said as she noticed the concern in his eyes. "Don't worry. It's not about us. Everything is perfect with us. It's about Chuck."
"Ellie," Devon said softly. "Chuck is welcome to stay as long as he wants. I hope you know that I think of him as a brother. He'll get back on his feet soon. I know…"
"No, sweetie," Ellie interrupted. "It's bigger than that. Let me tell you the whole story."
So as Devon sat in shock, Ellie told him the story that Sarah and Chuck had just told her. When she got to the part about Chuck being in danger and on the run, tears began to stream down her face.
"So," Devon said as soon as Ellie was finished. "Sarah is in the CIA, Chuck is a national security asset, both bad guys and the government are after him, our apartment is bugged, Chuck and Sarah are married, and Sarah is pregnant. Is that about right?
"Yes," Ellie whisper trying to compose herself. "I need to teach you how to contact them in case they are watching me."
"Way to go Chuckster." Devon finally said with a broad grin.
"And here you were worried that he wasn't living up to his potential."
- - - -
Chuck had seen this scene play out so many times that he was barely jealous. Of course he knew that Sarah was beautiful. You could see that from a mile away. But what always blew Chuck away was how easily she could get men that she had never met before to do her bidding. Men just seemed to lose all sense around her. Take this truck driver that she was walking out of the restaurant with. The smile on his face told the world that this was just going to be the luckiest day of his life. And she played the part so well. Her smile as she wrapped her arm through his would melt a glacier. Chuck almost felt a little sorry for the man. Almost.
"So, Earl," Sarah said as they walked towards the truck. "You actually sleep inside your truck?"
"Of course," Earl said with a grin. "The sleeper is nicer than my bedroom."
"This I have to see." Sarah said with a laugh.
Earl opened the door to the cab. As he reached his hand out to help Sarah up all he could see was the barrel of Sarah's Glock pointed at him.
"What the…" Earl said in surprise.
"Sorry," Sarah said softly. "I promise if you do everything I say you won't be hurt."
Sarah motioned for Chuck to join them.
"What's going on?" Chuck said to Sarah with the concern obvious in his voice.
"They know that we're here," Sarah said calmly. "Standard procedure is to put up roadblocks for a ten mile radius. If we can't get past those roadblocks we're going to be in real trouble."
Chuck glanced at Earl. He was visibly shaking.
"Don't worry, Earl," Sarah said with a soft smile.
"We just need a ride."
- - - -
Casey has assembled his team for a mid morning briefing.
"Are all of the roadblocks in place?" Casey asked firmly.
"Yes, sir," said the Captain from the California State Police. We have a checkpoint on every road for a ten mile radius. It was a lot easier since the bay already cuts off a lot of routes."
"Make sure that all the teams know," Casey said calmly. "That Walker may well decide to shoot it out. Everybody needs to be alert. I want every team to check in every five minutes."
"Yes, sir," replied the Captain.
"What about the story plant?" Casey said.
"We have leaked a story to the local media." the Captain said with a grin. "These two held up a convenience store and capped the clerk. We posted their pictures and asked that anybody with information call 911. They are to be considered armed and dangerous. We've already received a few calls. But nothing has panned out yet."
"Great," Casey said. "I want two person roving patrols checking out every business. Somebody has to have seen them. They can't lay low very long."
As the team broke up to perform their tasks, Casey looked at his watch. It was just a little after ten.
"Hopefully," Casey said to himself with a smile. "We can wrap this up by suppertime."
- - - -
One of the great things about Sarah was that she was able to command a situation without raising her voice. She quickly had Chuck take the license plate off their car and had Earl load it into this trailer. Then within just a few minutes they were on the road.
"Ok, Earl," Sarah said softly as she leaned her head out of the sleeper to speak directly in his ear while she gently rubbed his shoulder. "Please relax. Here is the deal. We're not looking to hurt anyone. We just need past this roadblock. If you can get us through that, this will all be over. If you make me shoot it out, a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt. You don't want that, do you?"
All Earl could do was shake his head.
"Great," Sarah said with a smile. "I know that you're not going to let me down."
For some reason that he couldn't begin to explain, Chuck was very relaxed lying in the sleeper compartment. Well, that wasn't totally true. There were some things he could explain. Even though he had never been involved in a car jacking before, the love of his life was lying next to him. And her smile was infectious. After all, Chuck was a man too.
And Earl was great at the roadblock. They never expected a thing. It was actually a good thing that Earl was a little nervous. It kept him from speaking. When the officers showed Earl the pictures and asked if he had seen anybody, all he did was shake his head and cough. Even when the officers told Earl that they were looking for the pair because they had robbed a store and murdered the clerk, Earl never wavered. After a minute, they were back on the road.
"Good job," Sarah said as soon as they were safely past the roadblock. "Where are you headed anyway?"
"Seattle," Earl replied nervously. "Why?"
"Just curious," Sarah said with a smile. "Don't worry. I'm just going to get my husband here to take a nap and them I'll come down and sit with you for a while."
- - - -
Chuck really hadn't been married to Sarah all that long. Just a couple days over two months. And for most of that time, they weren't even living together. So he was just beginning to be able to pick up her moods. One mood that Chuck had never had any trouble picking up on was when she was in the mood. And now was definitely one of those times. Chuck tried to close the curtain between the sleeper compartment and the cab but was stopped by Sarah's hand before he could close it completely.
"That's an odd way to get me to take a nap." Chuck whispered with a grin in between the passionate kisses that Sarah was planting on him.
"What can I say?" Sarah whispered back with a sly grin as she began to unbutton Chuck's shirt. "Escapes always turn me on. So it looks like it's either you or Earl here."
"Oh, it's definitely going to be me." Chuck whispered with a smile of his own. "But aren't you afraid that he can hear us?"
"I want him to hear us." Sarah whispered. "He needs to think about something other than being afraid."
- - - -
Chuck was lying on his back trying to catch his breath when he noticed that Sarah was getting dressed.
"What's going on?" Chuck asked inquisitively.
"It really would be a good idea if you could take a nap." Sarah whispered to him as she kissed his ear. "We are going to have to drive through the night."
"What are you going to do?" Chuck asked with his eyes narrowed.
"I'm going to go up and talk to Earl for a while." Sarah replied with a grin. "He needs to calm down a little. Look at him. He's scared to death."
"Don't worry, sweetie," Sarah said with a soft laugh as she recognized the look on Chuck's face. "I'm just going to talk to him."
"Don't you think you might need this?" Chuck said with a smile as he handed Sarah her bra.
"I wasn't really planning on it." Sarah said as her face blossomed into a full fledged grin. "But if you insist."
"I insist."
- - - -
Casey was on the phone with Beckman. It was already the fifth time today that she had called. She was obviously anxious to have this over with.
"Yes, ma'am," said Casey. "We have all of the exit routes blocked. There is no way for them to escape now."
"Do you think that she will try and shoot it out?" Beckman asked.
"It's very possible, ma'am." Casey said sadly. "She may feel that she has nothing to lose. If she's desperate enough, who knows what she'll do?"
"Let's give ourselves a negotiating chip." Beckman said. "Have the sister picked up.
"Do you think that's a good idea, ma'am?" Casey said. "I really don't think she knows anything."
"We need to have something to offer Walker." Beckman said harshly. "Right now, she feels that she has nothing to lose. Let's have something to offer her in exchange for her giving up. Have her picked up."
- - - -
Sarah was sitting next to Earl. By looking at them one would never guess that a hijacking was taking place. Sarah turned on all the charm to make Earl feel comfortable. And Chuck was actually able to fall asleep. Something about the rhythm of the moving truck. Sarah let Earl drive until they got a little north of Redding. Then she had him pull off onto a desolate road in the country. After waking up Chuck, she asked Earl to get their car off the trailer. Then she asked Earl to get into the sleeper compartment and climbed in with him.
"Are you going to kill me now?" Earl asked sadly.
"Relax, Earl." Sarah said softly. "I'm not going to kill you. I want to show you something."
"You're a CIA agent?" Earl asked as he looked at Sarah's ID.
"That's right." Sarah said with a smile. "I'm actually one of the good guys. So you don't have to worry. But I do need to get a head start before you talk to the police."
"I won't say anything." Earl said quickly. "I promise."
"Come on, Earl," Sarah said softly. "Of course you will. And you should. So I'm going to give you a shot. Don't worry. You'll just sleep for about six hours. When you wake up, feel free to contact the police. I wouldn't tell them about the CIA part. They're not going to believe you anyway."
As soon as Sarah injected Earl, she leaned over to him and placed a paper in his shirt pocket.
"This is a note that I would like you to give to the authorities." Sarah said with a smile. "They will know what it means. I am also leaving a thousand dollars just to compensate you for the inconvenience."
Just as Earl's eyes were starting to droop, Sarah leaned over and kissed him gently.
"That was to remember out little adventure." she whispered. "Thanks for the ride."
As soon as Sarah got out of the cab, she walked over to Chuck.
"Do you think you can drive for a while?" Sarah said with a grin. "We need to drive through the night. The farther we can get from this spot before he wakes up, the safer we'll be. I'll take a nap for a couple of hours. Wake me up when you get tired."
"Where are we headed?" Chuck asked as he pulled the car back on the road.
"East," Sarah said as she rolled on her side and closed her eyes.
"We're heading for Denver."
- - - -
Casey was just getting ready to order some supper. It was getting close to eight and there still was no word on Walker. He had just accepted the fact that he would be spending the night in the conference room when the FBI agent walked in.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news, sir." he said. "We just got a call from a car hauler. Walker and Bartowski kidnapped him and he drove them past the checkpoint at gunpoint. They left him a little north of Redding."
"Damn," Casey said. "How much of a head start do they have?"
"Over six hours, I'm afraid." he said sadly. "Walker left a note for you. I had them fax it to us."
Casey read the note that the agent handed him. Even though he was about to have his ass handed to him by Beckman, he couldn't help the smile that came over his face. He threw the note on the table so that it was plain to see what was written.
Casey,
Nice try.
Sarah
- - - -