A/N: Now fortified with edits from Verkisto and GandalfTheFunky. Thanks!
Chuck and Sarah vs. the Ex, Chapter 10
Room seven, Restricted CIA area; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, 6:36am on a weekday
"It sounds like they're just executing everyone on the floor," Bryce said as he looked around the room for defensible locations. The staccato outbursts of gunfire kept moving closer. "I hear at least six, maybe eight."
Sarah clicked her pistol's safety off as she rolled a piece of equipment toward the door. "We need to get to room eight. Bryce, are there enough wingsuits for everyone? We can all go above the ceiling, like you did."
"Yeah, but we don't have enough time to get into the suits. They're coming too fast. How long until reinforcements?" Bryce estimated they had about twenty seconds until they had to start shooting back.
"Eight minutes," Vazquez answered.
Casey pushed another piece of equipment to the door to form a barricade. "Not enough time to wait. Walker, you and Nikki get next door and get out of here. She knows where Chuck is. You can't let Fulcrum get both Intersects." He pulled back on his pistol's slide and confirmed that a bullet was indeed chambered. "We'll buy you some time."
Sarah gave Casey a small nod and grabbed Nikki's arm. "C'mon-"
"Wait!" Nikki said. "If they're after me, they won't kill me, right? Can't we use that? I can go out as bait or something. They don't know there are five agents in this room."
"Bryce, can you get anywhere on this floor above the ceiling?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, pretty much. I think this could work. How about this, CIA up above, NSA on the ground. Buy us as much time as you can." Gunfire erupted very close to them making them duck.
"Thanks, Larkin. Make us the bait. Fine, we'll do the hard work. Get your lightweight asses up there now! What's the sign?" Casey barked.
"You'll figure it out."
In a flash, Bryce, Sarah, and Vazquez boosted themselves from a chair through a hole in the drop ceiling. Nikki, Casey, and Lee watched as the ceiling tile was replaced. The gunfire was so loud that the Fulcrum agents were probably standing right outside. They dropped to their knees and placed their hands behind their heads, with Nikki at the front. Casey and Lee had given their weapons to the CIA agents. Hopefully, they would get them back.
Casey leaned forward and whispered into Nikki's ear. "I hope they're here to take you alive and not execute you."
Nikki turned to look at him. He grunted at her surprised look. That thought hadn't crossed her mind.
The door opened and the agents reflexively closed their eyes to mitigate the effects of the coming flash bang grenade. Nikki didn't react in time and was both blinded and deafened.
Black Chevy Suburban; Falls Church, VA, 9:37am on a weekday
Director Graham scheduled an emergency meeting at the office and was already running late. He was extremely cranky and on his umpteenth cup of coffee in the last twelve hours. Fulcrum had moved faster and more devastatingly than anyone had expected. Their reach must go much higher than the latest analysis estimated. Was there anything higher than the White House?
"Good morning, sir," his driver and bodyguard greeted. He drove up in the black Chevy Suburban twenty minutes ago, and per usual custom, brewed a pot of coffee in Graham's kitchen. He knew just how strong the director liked it. After pouring himself a cup, he returned to sit in the SUV.
"I wish it was a good morning," Graham sighed. "We need to get into the office pronto. Where's our escort?"
"Just down the street sir. Do you want to light them up?" Graham glanced down the street and spotted two white Ford Crown Victorias without markings.
"Yeah. National security trumps traffic today."
Graham entered the back seat and placed his briefcase next to him as his driver radioed the escort vehicles.
"Escort, this is principal. Light it up today. We're taking the fastest route in."
"Copy that."
The three vehicles sped down the street, the cars bracketing the SUV. All three ran with their red and blue lights flashing in their grills, windshield, and back window.
Director Graham closed his eyes and massaged his temples. He had a feeling his headache would only get worse. He wasn't surprised when his phone rang. The caller ID indicated that it was General Beckman.
"This is Graham. Are you in the office yet?"
"I'm en route. You?"
"Same."
"Did you get the package?"
He hesitated. Package? "What package?"
"The one in the seat pocket in front of you."
Graham looked down and noticed the sealed brown envelope for the first time. He had been so distracted by his thoughts he never looked.
"Tom, what's this envelope here?"
His driver turned in alarm. "What envelope, sir?"
Beckman calmed him over the phone. "Don't worry, it's not a bomb. My bodyguards already checked. Fulcrum snuck them into our vehicles somehow. Open it up and tell me what's inside."
He gingerly pulled the envelope from the seatback pocket. It seemed to contain nothing but standard-sized documents. He undid the clasp and opened it. He turned it upside down, and the contents fell unto his lap.
He looked through the papers and photos. At the end, he found a plain typed sheet outlining Fulcrum's offer. Demand was more accurate.
"Fuck!" he yelled into the phone.
His driver turned around again. Radio microphone in hand, he was prepared to signal an emergency to the escort vehicles. He had never seen the CIA director so distressed before.
Room seven, Restricted CIA area; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, 6:37am on a weekday
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"
Nikki, Casey, and Lee were all screaming at the top of their lungs, though they couldn't hear themselves through the loud buzzing in their heads caused by the flash bang grenade. Nikki still couldn't see when two Fulcrum operators entered the room with their sub-machine guns trained on the kneeling subjects. They were yelling too.
"Get down! Get down! Down on the floor!"
Before they could lower themselves, the operators kicked them face down onto the floor. They were quickly searched for weapons, then lifted and taken to the hallway outside. Once there, they were pushed down to their knees again and ordered to clasp their hands behind their heads.
After room eight was cleared, Nikki and the kneeling agents were surrounded by six armed men in ski masks. They murdered the other patient-agents and the few guards. The medical staff was locked into a supply room, unconscious after being gassed with an anesthetic. The other four operators took positions at the end of the hall guarding the elevator and stairway. The CIA's desire for a secure area also made it easily defensible. Sergeant Davis, the Delta Force operator in room eight, was left in place. His injuries seemed extremely severe and he didn't appear to be going anywhere. They just pulled the plug on his respirator.
One of the operators rolled up his ski mask and took out a picture. He held it up and compared it to Nikki. Nikki immediately flashed on the man's face. He was a CIA interrogation specialist with several black marks on his record. More than a dozen enemy combatants had died by his hand in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. There were no links tying him to Fulcrum. She concealed her flash, but Casey and Lee still noticed when her head jerked slightly.
The man began to smile. "Nikki Johnson. Our bosses really want to meet you."
Nikki played it cool and tried to stall. Hopefully, the CIA was in place above them. She was alert for any kind of sign. "I'd like to meet them too. Why don't you tell me their names? I might recognize them."
"You might recognize them. That's why I won't tell you. Don't be rude. Why don't you introduce us?" He walked closer to Casey. "What's your name, tough guy?"
"Your mother," Casey sneered.
The man smiled before back fisting Casey. A cut opened up on his already bruised cheek.
Nikki didn't think taunting was the best way to buy time. "Why do you want me? I don't even work for the government."
The sadistic man moved in front of Nikki and took a knee. He roughly grabbed her chin. "You don't work for the government, but you're in a secured CIA section of the hospital. Did you get lost or something, my pretty? Did the CIA just let you walk in here?"
"CIA, really? Wow! I just followed his cute doctor onto this floor and was trying to get his number. I'm a shrink, from downstairs. Dr. Elizabeth Garner. Go check." She remembered seeing the name on a directory board and hoped Dr. Garner really was a psychiatrist. It should buy precious seconds.
The Fulcrum operator didn't buy it at all. "Nice try, Ms. Johnson. However, it's time for us to go now. You get to come with us. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to see what secrets you're hiding." He ran his hand down the front of her chest. "As for your friends, I'm afraid they have a date with a bullet." He stood and signaled his men to shoot Casey and Lee.
The three knew they couldn't stall anymore. They tensed their muscles preparing to attack. They wouldn't last long unarmed against six professionals with guns, but each was determined not to go out timidly.
As two of the men raised their sub-machine guns to Casey and Lee, three gunshots were heard. Blood sprayed against the walls as three of the Fulcrum operators slumped down with holes in their heads. Two more shots were heard down the hall as two of the men guarding the entry points were killed.
Before the Fulcrum survivors could react, Nikki, Casey, and Lee simultaneously leapt up and attacked the closest man to them. Casey and Lee were the closest to their targets as their would-be executioners were standing close.
Lee jumped up catching the sub-machine barrel with his right hand and deflecting it upward. With his left hand, he grabbed the man's neck and put on a blood choke, compressing both carotid arteries and jugular veins. He slammed his knee into the man's groin as he pushed him back into the wall. The shock of the attack coupled with the pain from his groin and the diminishing blood flow to his brain put the Fulcrum man at a severe disadvantage. Lee followed up with two more knees to the groin and squeezed his chokehold tighter as the man tried unsuccessfully to gain release. He squeezed off a few bullets that hit the ceiling. After five seconds, his consciousness began to fade. Lee delivered two more groin strikes. The man passed out a few seconds later and slumped down. Lee quickly took his weapon.
Two more shots sounded from down the hall. The final two Fulcrum operators guarding the entry points died.
Casey leapt up at the same time Lee did, catching the sub-machine gun's barrel with his left hand and pushing it upward. He held a height advantage over his opponent and decided to go for a head strike. Casey continued his upward motion as powerfully as he could and directed the top of his head at the man's face. His aim was true, and he heard a satisfying crunch as his head contacted the man's jaw, forcing his mouth closed and cracking several teeth loose. As he stepped back, he grabbed the gun's butt stock with his right hand and twisted the weapon to his left, snapping the other man's right index finger as it got stuck in the trigger guard. He then wrenched the gun away from the stunned man, stepped back, and fired three rounds into his chest. The already dead man crumpled into a rapidly expanding pool of his own blood.
Nikki wasn't as close to her target, the sadistic CIA traitor. He backed away from her when she stood to gave himself space when his comrades began dying. He pointed his gun at Nikki, and the two NSA agents, who were now pointing guns back at him. Knowing he was outnumbered, and that they had some kind of hidden allies, he began to back away, eyes darting about for an escape. Nikki matched his retreat, banking that he had orders not to kill her.
He didn't notice Sarah and Bryce, who had silently dropped from the ceiling and now stood behind him.
"I think you're surrounded, asshole," Nikki sneered.
He sensed she was telling the truth and began to turn around to the left for a glance when he was hit in his right kidney by a painful blow. After delivering the punch, Sarah disarmed him with the same method Casey used, twisting the sub-machine gun to the right and breaking his index finger when it got jammed in the trigger guard. He cried out in pain.
Sarah was about to put the man in a chokehold when she had to step aside to keep Nikki from hitting her. Nikki delivered a high front kick to the man's face, driving him back. As he staggered, she kicked him in his groin, broke his nose with two punches, and finally kicked his left knee with a low front kick. He barely maintained consciousness as he fell clutching his broken joint.
"I had him under control!" Sarah screamed.
"What am I supposed to do, assume that you were going to subdue him and miss a sure opportunity to take him down?" Nikki screamed back.
"Put a lid on the estrogen!" Bryce yelled. "Vazquez, are we clear?"
"All clear," she yelled from down the hall.
Sarah and Nikki continued staring at each other, both breathing heavily, and neither backing down.
Casey walked over and grabbed Sarah's shoulder. "Reinforcements will be here soon. It's time to go."
She blinked a few times and cooled down a bit. "You're right. Let's go." She walked past Nikki without looking and went to Lee. "Thanks for everything. What are you going to tell them?"
"Mostly, the truth. I'm not going to be sharing a jail cell with you guys," he replied with a laugh. "You better get a move on."
They shook hands. "Thanks," she said gratefully.
The two males and two females grabbed all the weapons they could carry, ran into room eight, got into their wingsuits, and jumped out the window.
Black Chevy Suburban; Falls Church, VA, 9:42am on a weekday
"I don't know where they got this intel, but it's accurate," Beckman said.
"It's the same on my end," Graham answered. "We're on a secure channel. It seems they're blackmailing both of us. Maybe it would help if we knew what leverage they have on the other."
"You go first," Beckman said after a pause.
Graham laughed sadly. "Fine, I'll be the bigger man." He closed the soundproof glass panel separating him from the driver. "They have everything on Operation Cinderblock. It's a CIA operation from back in ninety-nine. We recruited and set up the disappearances of several members of an opposition party in Egypt. The Egyptian government came to us with the request but didn't want a trail leading to them. It worked, and those in power stayed there. I was Deputy Director then, and I ran the op."
Beckman sighed. "Ok, I'll show you mine. Operation Robin Egg was an NSA operation in oh-one. I was in charge of stealing research that indicated a huge oil field had been discovered in Azerbaijan. It was located in an area where local and Russian companies had the land leases. We stole the research and replaced it with falsified data showing a bunch of dry holes. The foreign companies lost interest and some American companies were able to buy the leases at a discount. They're pumping a ton of crude now."
"Interesting," Graham replied. "So they have our dirty laundry. What was their demand of you?"
"That I quietly and smoothly retire and hand over the reins of the agency to Admiral Anders. Or they would go to the press."
"Same with me. Give my chair to Mike Jamison or the news reporters would be on my doorstep."
"Jesus, Anders and Jamison? Fulcrum? They're in the inner circle of our fight against Fulcrum!"
"I know-"
Graham nearly dropped his phone as the SUV suddenly sped up and began swerving. He lowered the privacy glass.
"Tom! What's going on?"
"Sir! I just got an alert that the directors of the NRO, FBI, and Secret Service have all been involved in fatal vehicular accidents. Foul play is suspected."
"General?" he yelled into the phone. He heard an animated discussion on the other end. "General?"
"I'm here. I guess you just heard?"
"Yeah. Fulcrum has hit us hard. We're in deep shit."
He heard a click. "Wait, I have Agent Lee on the other line. I'll conference him in."
Graham heard another click, and then Beckman spoke.
"Agent Lee, you're on a secure conference with Director Graham."
"Ma'am, sir. Fulcrum attacked the CIA hospital section. Damn near murdered everyone. The threat is neutralized now."
"Where is Nikki Johnson? What about Walker and Casey? Did you bring in Larkin?" Graham asked.
"They helped us set a trap for the Fulcrum agents. Fulcrum was trying to capture Johnson."
"Where are they now?" Beckman worriedly asked.
"After neutralizing the threat, Agents Walker, Casey, and Larkin forced Johnson to go with them. They escaped to go find Bartowski."
"You didn't stop them?!" Beckman raged.
"It was three on two, ma'am."
"So now we've lost both Intersects and three of our most dangerous agents have gone rogue," Graham summed up.
"That sounds about right, sir," Lee replied.
"This is a cluster fuck of the highest magnitude," Beckman hissed. "Do they know where Chuck is being held by Jill?"
"They seemed to have an idea."
"Hmm…" Beckman mused. "Director, can we get a Global Hawk back in the air?"
"Not after the havoc Jill caused earlier. The engineers are tearing into the avionics trying to find the holes. Global Hawk and Reaper operations are grounded worldwide."
"What if we rip the Intersect GPS tracker out of the remaining Global Hawk at Edwards and put it in an F-16? Would that work?" Lee asked.
"It might," Beckman answered. "Make it happen. Update me when you can. Make sure that F-16 is carrying Mavericks and JDAM's. Your priorities are to find the Intersects. Recover Johnson and eliminate Roberts and Bartowski. Arrest Walker, Casey, and Larkin. Do you concur, Director?"
"I do."
"Yes ma'am, sir." Lee disconnected the call.
"We don't have many cards left to play here," Graham observed.
"I know. Let's meet in the DNI office ASAP."
White Toyota van; westbound Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, 6:57am on a weekday
Casey ran two yellow lights as he struggled to maintain a fast pace to Malibu. He didn't want to attract police attention though. They were rogue agents driving a stolen van with multiple automatic firearms. Bryce sat in the passenger seat looking around for any trouble.
"So we all agree on the assault plan?" he asked.
He heard three yeses.
Sarah and Nikki sat in the third row checking and reloading all their weapons. Casey glanced in the mirror at the two women, who had spoken only minimally since their escape. As long as they had guns to keep them busy, he figured they wouldn't be any trouble. He wished he had a Rambo DVD to put into the van's rear movie player.
"So, is she really in love with Chuck?" Bryce quietly asked.
Casey was uncomfortable speaking about subjects like love and relationships. He was even more uncomfortable discussing the strange relationship Sarah and Chuck shared. "That's something you should talk to her about." As an afterthought, he asked, "How has being under such deep cover been?"
Bryce examined Casey and decided not to push any further about Sarah. "It's been a dream. I have minimal oversight, any resources I need, and can run operations as I please."
Casey grunted and smiled. Bryce truly had a spy's dream assignment. Something he might have been eligible for if he were ten years younger and not a burnout. Babysitting Chuck and partnering with the CIA skirt had worked out much better than he ever expected, though. Somehow, he felt more alive than he had in years. More human…
Bryce continued. "Let me tell you about the time-"
Sarah heard snippets of the conversation in front as she loaded a magazine and checked that the sub-machine gun cycled smoothly. She thought Bryce had asked Casey if she were in love with Chuck. She answered the question in her own mind. She was.
"Boy talk?" Nikki offered, trying to break the ice as she slapped a full magazine into a pistol and set the safety.
"Spy talk," Sarah answered. She decided to extend an olive branch. "I didn't mean to snap at you in the hospital. If I were in your place, I probably would have done the same."
Nikki stopped and looked her in the eyes. "Probably?"
"Yeah, probably." Sarah said. "Except that I would have done a side kick to his head followed by a punch to the nose, then a groin punch and probably a neck strike."
Nikki looked at her trying to see who would crack first. She did, and burst out laughing. Sarah joined in. Bryce and Casey stopped talking, looked back, and then returned to their spy tales. Their laughter died down.
"You really do love Chuck, don't you?"
Sarah thought of all the real life moments with Chuck. The best times were when they were spending time doing mundane, common things and they both laughed at every stupid, unfunny event. Everything was funny when Chuck was around.
"Yes."
"I believe you," Nikki replied. "And I know that Chuck loves you. But that doesn't mean that you're both right for each other. You're from a different world than him. You kill people for a living. He is the complete opposite. He is the kindest person I've ever known. He doesn't deserve to be in the spy world."
"Ever heard of opposites attract?" Sarah countered.
"That's a platitude and you know it. You first met him under cover. You lied when you first met him, and you have to keep lying to him to do your job. How can that ever work out?"
Sarah knew there were challenges to their relationship she didn't know the answers to. She deflected the conversation. "What about you? You have feelings for Chuck too. You may not have lied when you first met him, but you manipulated him."
"We do have some things in common you'll never have. We're both Intersects. There are things that only he and I can ever understand about each other. I'll never have to make a compromising decision about loving him or protecting him. We're on the same level," Nikki said confidently.
Sarah knew Nikki would play those cards. She knew that those were things she could never share with Chuck. She tormented herself every night before going to sleep with possible situations where she would have to compromise her love for him in order to complete her mission. Or would she compromise her mission to complete her love? It was an impossible situation she thankfully hadn't faced yet. She didn't know what she would do if and when an instance like that arose. She grabbed the nearest gun, slammed the magazine in, and cycled it with such force that the conversation between Casey and Bryce stopped again and both men looked back. Sarah stared at both of them, daring them to say something. They turned around and picked up their conversation where they left it.
She turned back to Nikki, who had a very serious look. Sarah couldn't deny the logic of Nikki's statements. She also couldn't deny the strong influence of her emotions, logic be damned.
"How about this," Sarah offered. "We do the assault, rescue Chuck, save the day, and pick up this conversation then? If you want to talk about it with punches and kicks, that's fine with me."
Nikki's eyes narrowed. "Deal." She extended her hand, which Sarah shook firmly. They both held the very firm grip longer than necessary.
Nikki smiled at the absurdity of the situation. "Let's talk about happy stuff. Like what I'm going to do to Jill when I get a hold of her-"
"When you get a hold of her?" Sarah looked offended. "You mean when I get my hands around her neck-"