The City of Masks
Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter as the action heats up as Chuck, Sarah, Chief Inspector Monroe, and his team prepare for not only the arrival of Cassandra Devereaux but the elusive Sterling Ford as well. Will they accomplish the mission and capture him or will it totally unravel under their noses with the MacManus brothers added to the mix? Read to find out.
Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment please leave a comment for this this one as well. Tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy the read.
I don't own Chuck and possibly never will. Hey, one could only hope right?
The Gang Is All Here
XXX
The Palazzo Pisani Moretta hall is bustling with music and masked individuals. Among those people are Chuck and Sarah who are masked as well. The couple are on the main floor of the hall standing near the farthest pillar with their focus on the font door. While they are standing there, they spot Monroe on the second floor scanning the area below and as he does he speaks into cuff of his jacket sleeve contacting not only his men, but Chuck and Sarah as well.
"Every one in position?" he asked.
A succession of affirmatives are heard in the couple's ear wig leading to the veteran C.I.A. agent to respond. "In position." responded Sarah.
"I just got word that Cassandra has left her hotel and is on her way here." stated Monroe. "So keep your eyes open people upon her arrival." he added.
"Got it." replied Chuck. As the couple stand there sipping a glass of champagne, mingling with guests every so often, and eating a few shrimp orderves a conversation begins between the two of them started by Chuck. "You know babe…" said Chuck looking around the room at the all the masked people. "…events likes these where everybody are in masks really freaks me out. It's like were in the movie Eyes Wide Shut but not so boring." added the unsettled brown haired man.
For Sarah, she has learned many of her husband's fears and/or phobias over the past 3 and half years. Heights, clowns, and Richard Simmons but his biggest fear that he is truly afraid of is needles. His fear was never more apparent during a highly volatile situation involving the Fulcrum Agent Alexis White who threatened to stick a needle in his eyes unless he gave her the whereabouts of the intersect.
Thankfully, she didn't get the information because Chuck passed out and she ended up committing suicide rather than let herself be captured. She later found out from her husband that Agent White was a professional at interrogations on both men and women suggesting that torture is her main specialty. In any case, the situation she is currently in doesn't resemble anything like what is going on causing her to try to get him refocused.
"Come on sweetie…"
Sarah doesn't get to finish her sentence as her husband interjects once again. "Don't get me wrong I'm a big Stanley Kubrik fan and …"
As Chuck rambles on about the movie and its director, Sarah knows she has to calm him down because they are after all on a very vital mission. True, the movie did creep her out as well but it didn't effect her to the point where it is causing her to feel absolute uneasiness. In her mind, its just a matter of getting him to focus on something other than the masks that are apparently freaking her husband out.
"Honey…" she interrupted reaching up placing her right hand on his righ shoulder. "…you just have to remember these are just regular people wearing masks." added Sarah in a reassuring manner.
"Yeah it could be that or at any moment it could become a sexed crazed orgy party with masks and that's why they're not only hiding their faces but their secrets too." he quickly replied.
The response Chuck causes her to standing next to her husband expressing a brief moment of silence towards him. "Now your just being totally ridiculous." replied Sarah shaking her head in disbelief.
"Am I?" he retorted.
"Yeah you are…" she firmly stated leaning into to look directly into her husband's brown eyes. "…because I've been to those kind of parties and they look nothing like this." said the happily married woman.
How does she know? Is what she just said true he thinks to himself. In that moment, a slew of thoughts begin running through his mind concerning the types of mission she's been on in the past that had to deal with masked parties or balls. Granted, his wife had another life before they even met immersing herself in an oftentimes seedy world of sex and debauchery.
He already accepted the fact that she has intimately been with Bryce but to have this bombshell dropped on to him blows his mind. Its considered so unbelievable that it causes him to shake his head in disbelief in order to wrap his brain around the fact that his own wife actually participated in something like that. Chuck restrains himself from freaking out and calmly responds to his wife.
"What…come again…really?" replied Chuck in absolute astonishment.
Chuck watches as his wife tilts her head slightly to the left as she gives her response to his noticeably freaked out husband. "Come one babe, do you think I would do something like that." she firmly stated expressing a smirk on her face. A brief moment silence is given as Chuck briefly stands looking at his wife contemplating the question posed by his wife causing Sarah to immediately respond. "Chuck!"
"I'm sorry. No you wouldn't." he quickly responded. The apologetic husband reaches down and takes her felt hand with his right. He brings it up and softly kisses the back of her hand and then peers up at her expressing a soft smile. To him, whether she did or she didn't is doesn't matter to him because it's all in the past and she was a different person back then. "Do you forgive me for overreacting?"
The understanding woman and wife that Sarah is responds to her husband by leaning forward and up in order to giving him a soft kiss on his lips. The kiss last for a few seconds and once its over she leans back expressing a grin on her lips. "You are forgiven." she replied. "Try not to let it happen again."
"How long have you known me?" he retorted with an amused smile on his face.
The conversation between the married couple is abruptly ended when the two of them hear Monroe's voice in their ear wig. "The target has arrived. I repeat the target has arrived." he emphatically stated.
Chuck and Sarah turn their attention to the front entrance and there coming through the door without a mask on her face is Cassandra Devereaux. "Here we go." responded Chuck glancing at his wife.
XXX
"We're on." Sarah said patting her husband's chest. "So let's split up and work the room." she adds.
"What?" replies Chuck. "Shouldn't we stick together on this?" he said watching his wife disappear into the crowd.
Chuck shakes his head but his disappointment would abruptly end when a waiter passes him with a tray of jumbo shrimp and dipping sauce. Hey, why not work the room and fill your stomach at the same time he thinks to himself. As he pursues the waiter all-the-while keeping his eye on Cassandra, the man who is deeply invested in this particular mission is watching from above.
A masked Inspector Monroe stands atop the 2nd floor of the Palazzo Pisani Moretta. His eyes are locked on the location of Cassandra Devereaux standing at the front entrance of the building. He intently watches like a hawk as she steps forward placing the mask over her face and in that moment his undivided attention is solely on her losing sight of where she goes or who she talks with.
"Stay alert because if she is here Ford is here too." stated Monroe. "Stick close and watch out for any contact that occurs because there are a lot of men within the vicinity." he added. "Be advised we have every square inch of this place bugged so wherever she is we'll be able to listen to who she is talking to."
After getting responses from Chuck, Sarah, and the rest of his men he continues observing Cassandra's actions. As he does, he knows that standing in one place for very long can be considered quite suspicious. It causes him to not only move around giving him the ability to still stay relatively hidden, but also enables him to keep a close eye on her from different areas of the 2nd floor.
Come on Ford show yourself. Monroe is thoroughly prepared anticipating a man who has eluded him for so many years. The one thing he knows for sure concerning Sterling Ford is connection with his partner in crime. In his mind, he wonders why a woman like that continues to have such blind devotion for a man who is clearly using her as a unfortunate pawn in his own sordid game of deadly chess.
So far, he has been making smart, calculated moves in order to keep himself from being caught. To him, the mistakes that have been made in the past by man in question were minimal but the veteran police inspector thinks he'll make one huge costly and grave mistake leading to his ultimate downfall. The one thing he most definitely didn't count on happening was involving 2 governments into the mix.
It's not so much his mistake but Cassandra's he thinks to himself. To him, she unknowingly made a grave mistake in choosing a man she thought was just another gullible mark. A mark she thinks she played to the point where he's wrapped around her little finger but it's the other way around as she is the one who is undoubtedly being played. Monroe expresses a small hint of a grin at that particular thought.
As he continues walk the perimeter of the 2nd floor, he watches Cassandra take a glass of wine from a waiter and then stands by a nearby table . While standing there, he notices the body language she is exuding as she takes a couple sips of wine from her glass. He notices the anticipation she has in making contact with the man she supposedly loves by the way she is clutching the glass with both hands as she sporadically glances the room.
Monroe is 100% certain that Ford will not pass up the chance to make contact with her in some way. He takes his eyes of Cassandra in order to maneuver his way through the seemingly tight crowd, which causes his view of her to be hindered. It takes a matter of seconds but in those few seconds he suddenly hears a male in his ear wig. "Of all the women in here you are by far one who look absolutely stunning." the unidentified man said.
In a matter of seconds, the chief inspector quickly make his way towards the rail and when he does he sees a masked man in front of Cassandra. He doesn't want to make any assumptions at this point because he wants to be certain that the man she is speaking to is actually Ford. He reaches up and speaks into the cuff of his sleeve informing everyone on what to do.
"Stand by. Possible contact has been made." he stated.
"Roger that sir."
Upon saying that, his full and undivided attention as he intently listens to the conversation between the two. "I'm flattered."
"You should be."
"Tell me…" she said. "…how can you tell without looking at my face?" Cassandra inquired.
"Your lips." the man replied.
"What about them?"
"They are very…" Monroe hears a momentary pauses on the man's part causing him to narrow his eyes directly at him. "…well let's just say they are very familiar to me."
"Really?" she responded.
It's at that point, Monroe decides that he needs to get a look at his face in order to see who she is speaking to. It's just a matter of properly identifying the man and even if it's not him they at least rule him out as Sterling Ford. "Listen up." he firmly states. "We need to get a look at his face." added Monroe.
It doesn't take long for him to get a response as he hears the familiar female voice of Sarah in his ear wig. "I'm on it."
His focus on Cassandra and the gentlemen in question is suddenly averted to Sarah approaching from the side. He notices that she is carrying a glass of wine in her right hand and in that instance Monroe knows what she is going to do. The dedicated police inspector watches as Sarah approach and accidentally trip causing her to throw the contents over her glass in the face of the individual standing in front of her.
"What the…" the man angrily responds.
"Mi dispiace." responds Sarah in Italian.
The incident causes a small scene on the floor leading her to grab a few napkins from a nearby table to wipe his face. As she is doing this, she makes sure to have her back facing Cassandra in order to not let her get a good visual. While she is busy with the displeased individual Monroe intently watches as he takes off his mask giving him the opportunity to capture a photo of him in order to find out who the individual is.
While listening to his new found ally continue to apologize for what she did, he is waiting for information he sent to one of his associates concerning who the man is. In a matter of a few seconds, he gets back a response from one of his associates. "It's not him sir." the man replied. "His name is Eliot Papadopoulos. A rich socialite and reputation for being a womanizer."
As much as he wanted it to be him he knew Ford wouldn't make it easy. Monroe turns his attention back to Cassandra but when he does the only people he sees are Sarah and the rich socialite. A concerned look is expressed on his face leading him to immediately contact everyone. "Where is Cassandra?" he stated scanning all around the room below.
XXX
"Watch yourself little brother." Colin said as he navigates his way across the peak of the roof of the Palazzo Pisani Moretta. "One wrong step and you could break your neck." he added.
The two siblings find themselves wearing masks carefully trekking their atop the roof like two amateur tight rope walkers. It was most definitely a slow process for the two of them because the roof itself consisted of terra cotta tiles. As a matter of fact, most of the roofs in the city have them and though considered to be an ornamental and distinctive design element for any building they can easily break with the right amount of pressure.
The oldest MacManus brother learned about this particular bit of information very quickly when he thought up the plan to scale the roofs of the building in order to get to their intended location. In his mind, since the Monroe and his team have the front entrance totally locked down then it would totally make sense to him that they get into the building by way of the roof.
Granted, his idea was sparked by the movie The Bourne Ultimatum and how Matt Damon's character easily traversed the roof tops in order to save someone from being killed by a fellow trained killer all-the-while being chased by the authorities all without carrying anything with him. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for the two of them as they were strapped with the supplies they acquired the previous day.
He knew one wrong move on either side would lead them both to either suffer possible broken bones hitting the ground below or find themselves not only soaking wet but arrested by Monroe's men leading to their personal vendetta against Ford to never come to fruition. His thoughts concerning their current situation is abruptly ended by a response from his younger brother.
"Shut up and move your arse." Shaun grumbled. In that instance, Colin suddenly stops and carefully turns around trying to keep his balance at the same time in order to face his brother causing his younger brother to narrow his eyes at him. "Why the hell did you stop!"
"Keep your voice down will ya!" responded a crouching Colin throwing his hands up in front of him. He tries to keep his voice down in order to not alert anyone that may possibly be able to hear the two of them because the last thing he wants is to attraction attention on where they are currently standing. "You want them to hear." he said emphatically pointing behind his brother."
Shaun reaches up lifting his mask up over his face responding to his brother. "Screw them." he replied back crouching down as well. "I've been sweating underneath this mask because you decided that it be best to be like Spider-Man or something." he added pointing back at him.
The response causes Colin to reach up lifting his mask over his eyes as well. "Get a hold of yourself."
"You get a hold of yourself." Shaun angry replied back.
"Look…" he responded. "…that was the plan remember." he quickly stated.
"Yeah I do." he retorted shaking his head.
"What's the problem then?" he wondered shooting a look of curiosity towards his younger brother.
"You're getting too big for your britches you know that. As a matter of fact you're a Charles Bronson wannabe." he said. "All high and mighty and such." added Shaun quickly wiggling his fingers at him in a taunting manner.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?" he said. "This." he added continuing to taunt him wiggling his fingers profusely at his older brother. "Oh, you're such a big man with your rope."
It's at that point, Colin responds by taking a swing at his brother but all he connects with is air. The failed attempt causes the youngest MacManus brother to get riled up leading him to shuffle slowly over to his big brother taking a swing of his own in the process. He too misses leading the two of the them to inevitably grapple one another with the two men exchanging body blows.
The fight between the two is suddenly halted when they feels themselves about to fall over. In that moment, the two siblings grab each other to keep from tipping over. A brief moment of silence is shared between the two as they regain their balance. "That was a close one." Shaun stated holding on to his brother as he leans over a bit to look down. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." he replied patting his brother on side with his left hand. "Why do you have to make this so difficult huh. Can we just get on with this." added Colin throwing his hands up. "Listen…" he said grabbing his younger brother by the caller and pulling him in closer. "…the sooner we get off this roof the sooner we can get our money back from Ford."
Upon hearing that, a grin is expressed by Shaun. "What are we waiting for then." he said pulling down his mask. "Let's go." added the feisty younger brother carefully moving past him taking the lead.
After shaking his head in response to what his brother just said, Colin pulls his mask down and then carefully turns around in order to follow his brother. The two of them finally reach the end leading to Shaun to peer over to see a terrace several feet below. "How are we getting down there?"
As soon as he says that, he suddenly feels a tap on his right shoulder causing to slightly turn behind him. "Name one thing you're going to need your stupid rope for." Colin chided expressing a smirk towards his brother holding the rope up in front of him.
XXX
Cassandra stands inside an elevator but she is not alone because to her left stands a masked man who may possibly be the man she loves. There is absolute silence on his part as he pushes the up button to the top floor. She briefly glances over at him and then turns her attention forward and as she does she reflects back on she ended up standing in the elevator in the first place.
It was during all the commotion with the woman spilling the drink on the man she was speaking to. While all that was happening, she suddenly felt being pulled back and when she turns to see the person responsible it's a man who immediately reaches up placing his finger over his lips telling her to remain absolutely quiet. At that moment, she felt a plethora of emotions well up within her but keeps them under control.
The two disappear into the crowd and discreetly make their way towards the nearest elevator. In her mind, it was the perfect opportunity to slip away unnoticed as the all the attention is on the man she was speaking with. Now that she is in his presence she can't bring herself to talk to him so remaining totally silent because she a bit afraid to speak up because its been 4 years since they last spoke to each other.
To her, there are so many things he wants to say to him but they're all jumbled up in her head in one chaotic mess that its impossible for her to pick one coherent thought to start with. It causes her to tightly hold her hands rubbing them together because she is somewhat nervous. She remains standing by his side giving sporadic side glances as they ride the elevator to the top floor in utter silence.
The elevator ride felt combined with the sheer silence between the two of them felt to her like its taking forever to get to the top floor. She continues tightly holding her hands together and as she does Cassandra notices that not once did he turn to look directly at her while in the elevator. It causes her to be not only concerned but somewhat fearful at what he's going to do or say for that matter once they reach the top floor.
The ride to the top floor would finally end causing the tortuous feeling of fear flowing inside herself to subside. Yet, it didn't diminish the anxiety that replaced it as the doors opened leading to the man standing beside to step forward making his way out into the floor. She still can't bring herself to say anything at this point but even her mouth can't quite seem to work her legs do. The woman who has been waiting for 4 years to reunite with the man she loves follows him out of the elevator.
It's relatively quiet where they are currently but the sounds of music can still be currently heard down below on the first floor. She briefly glances to her left and instinctively wants to look over the rail just a few feet away in order to witness the beautiful spectacle below. It's what anyone would do if they found themselves on the top floor. However, her focus is on the man in front of her who is continue to talk but to where she has absolutely no idea.
What she does know is that to her left are not only a number of doors but a bunch of paintings as well. There wouldn't be any time to stop and admire them she thinks to herself. As she turns the corner continue to following him, she can't help but think where he is taking her causing her to be on guard for anything that may possibly happen because there hasn't been any indication on whether or not the man in front of him is her partner in crime.
It's at this point, she takes a deep breath and resolves herself to open her mouth in order to ask what she considers is an important question. "Sterling is that you?"
The question she asks doesn't get an answer back as the man in front of her continues to not only be silent but doesn't turn around to even acknowledge the question. He continues walking with a concerned Cassandra cautiously following behind him. The concern she has continually grows until the man suddenly stops in front of door. He takes out a key form his inner left coat pocket, sticks in the lock, and after a quick turn he unlocks it.
What Cassandra witnesses next is the masked man opening the door and motioning for her to enter first. She complies briefly looking at the man and then walks in to a somewhat dark but rather large room that is illuminated by the outside lights. Once she is inside she not only sees the lights turn on but also hears the door close behind her. The sounds of the door closing causes her to make the decision speak freely knowing they are in the privacy of an enclosed room.
"Sterling I want to know…" she nervously said. "…where have you been for the past 4 years?" added Cassandra turning around.
When she turns around to get an answer she finds that no body is there. A look of disappointment is expressed on her face but it would sound be replaced by stunned shock as she hears a voice coming from behind her.
"Hello my darling."
The instant those to words are said her eyes immediately widen. "Sterling." she muttered under breathe.
XXX