Chapter 10

April 2007

Graham's Office

Graham was seated behind his desk looking over some mission reports. Today he could be described as the happiest man in the world. Bryce Larkin had been able to upload the Intersect and use it effectively. The initial test results were above what they had expected. He had been able to flash only the test cards that had embedded images and not on the others. Other than a minor headache Bryce was showing no ill effects. He was able to recall about eighty percent of the information that was contained in an image. Graham knew was time to send Bryce to the ISA to get his partner back. Graham figured that once Bryce had a chance to talk to Walker she would see the light and come running back to the CIA leaving the pencil pushing behind. After all they were partners with benefits before.

Bryce was the other happy camper. He was now the intersect host. Down loading the intersect was easier than he thought. When he pondered all the power he had at his fingertips the thought made him shiver with delight. After leaving the test area and taking some pain tablets he was on his way to Graham's office to get his first mission. The receptionist showed him into Graham's office and told him to have a seat and wait for the Director. It wasn't long before Graham arrived and the briefing started.

"Agent Larkin how does it feel to be the most valuable agent in the CIA?"

"It feels good, Sir. So what's my first mission?"

"Straight to the chase eh Larkin?"

"I don't see the need to stay here for any more tests; I'm not a Guinea pig. Fulcrum is out there and getting stronger every week. The longer we wait around the harder it will be to stop them."

"I like that attitude Larkin. We need to make a call first and bring your partner back where she belongs." Graham hit the connect icon on his computer that would establish his direct link to the ISA. A few seconds passed before the request was accepted.

"Good afternoon, Director, what can we do for you today?" queried the Agent in Charge.

"I need to speak with Agent Walker ASAP. I'm going to need to her for an urgent mission that starts tomorrow. Tell her I have her partner, Bryce Larkin with me as well." Bryce had moved to stand beside Graham by this time. When the Agent saw Bryce on the screen he pressed a button on the desk to initiate the secondary communications protocol. Chuck would now receive the same feed as he was. It would allow Chuck the chance to decide if he was going to participate in the call or not.

"I'm sorry Director, but Agent Walker went on leave a few weeks ago and will be gone for about a month. You have other agents here that you can use. Shall I get one of them?"

Royal Windsor Hotel, Belgium

Chuck and Sarah were relaxing on the couch of their hotel suite when his phone beeped indicating a text message. He opened the text and saw the message from ISA. Getting off the couch he made his way to the desk and brought up the video feed on his laptop. He turned to Sarah and said, "This should be good."

"I bet it will be," as Sarah saw Graham and Bryce together on the screen.

CIA

"NO, Agent Sanders, it has to be Walker. Give me her number so I can call her myself and straighten this mess out." Graham was about to continue when Bryce chimed in.

"Listen Agent, you are talking the Director of the CIA. Agent Walker works for him and not you. Now be a good little flunky and get your boss on the feed so tell him I need to speak with my partner." Bryce was not very pleased at the treatment he was getting. He, Bryce Larkin was being treated as an equal despite his being superior. Now that I'm the Intersect Bryce thought, this won't do. He was going to show them, he would show them all.

"I'm sorry Agent Larkin, Director Graham. Agent Walker's leave was approved two weeks ago and she left a few days later. She did not leave a number where she could be reached."

While Bryce was going off on the Agent again Graham pulled out his cell phone and dialed Sarah's personal number. The phone rang a few times and was picked up by the agent on the screen. "Agent Walkers phone, this is Agent Sanders can I help you?" The scream that Graham let out sent Chuck and Sarah into hysterics, and Bryce further into his rage.

RWH

Chuck decided to put an end to the nonsense that was going on between the two idiots and his Agent. His image replaced Sanders on the screen and he spoke. "Director Graham, Agent Larkin I see you have been giving my Agent a hard time." Sarah noted that the tone Chuck normally used had slipped away and Ghost was starting to assert himself.

"Chuck what are you doing on this call? It's for CIA personnel only. How and why are you hacking in?" asked Bryce.

"Well Bryce, I'm shocked your boss didn't tell you. The ISA is where I work. I handle all the Agents that work there. So are done accosting my people?" Chuck questioned back. "Now that we know each other, what is the reason for the call?"

"I want Walker for a mission. Bryce came back with some damaging information on the group he infiltrated. He needs Walkers help for the remainder of the mission."

"Agent Sanders did inform you that Agent Walker is on leave didn't he? And Mister Smith, my boss, also informed you that Agent Walker works for him correct?" Not waiting for an answer Chuck continued on, "therefore there is nothing further to discuss. Good day Gentlemen, please refrain from causing such a stir in the future, Bartowski out." Turning to look at Sarah he smiled and said, "I've always wanted to do that."

"Chuck Bartowski you are crazy."

"Yeah, but you love me anyway."

"I do love you, even if you are crazy."

They went back to the couch to relax some more and go over what they had just seen.

Graham's office.

Bryce was livid. Today's events just made things more clear. What kind of country was it if Chuck Bartowski was handling Agents? It was time to get back to work for the real people. He took his leave from Graham and headed back to the Fulcrum base he was working from.

Graham was beginning to panic. All carefully crafted plans were starting to fall apart at an amazing rate. He was sure his plan would work. Then Bartowski had to enter the picture and bring up Smith's name. He never wanted to meet that man again after the last meeting they had. He saw his dreams of grandeur were close to becoming a thing of the past.

RWH

Chuck and Sarah had returned to the couch after the talk with Graham and Bryce. Chuck hadn't seen Bryce since he left Stanford during his senior year. The man he saw on the screen was not the same one he remembered from college. He wanted to see if Sarah had the same thoughts.

"Did that seem like the same Bryce you were partnered with?" began Chuck.

"No it didn't, he almost seemed possessed. We both know he is high on himself but I have never seen him like that before."

"Neither have I. I need to talk to Ellie; if my hunch is right we may have a big problem."

"So what are you thinking?"

"Bryce uploaded the Intersect."

"Shit. What makes you think that?"

"A few things came to mind right away. First, the CIA has been working on their version of the Intersect for a while and was close to finishing it the last time we checked. Second, Bryce was borderline acceptable based on Flemings test. Third, Graham said before he wanted to use you to get his agent back. I figure that Graham believed that pairing you up with your ex-partner would be the push you needed to come back to the CIA. I think the Agent in deep was Bryce. He knew Bryce would jump at the chance to upload the intersect. My guess is that Graham told Bryce the intersect was ready to be downloaded into an agent and that's why Bryce came back." Chuck paused for a minute before he continued.

"There were a few flaws in the intersect program before we fixed it. One of the issues we had with the Intersect program was mental instability. It gave the host a feeling of invincibility. If they were using the basic program my dad created, and never fixed the bugs, we could be looking at that side effect."

"That makes a lot of sense, and you're right, Bryce would jump at the chance to upload it. What I can't figure out is why they didn't fix the problem before they tried to put it in an agent," Sarah said with a slight frown.

"My guess is they didn't know about it or didn't care. My dad and Ellie found the problem a few years back. It took my Dad and Ellie almost a year to fix the program. If the CIA did know about it and with the time it would take to fix the problem they probably thought it was worth the risk. You already figured out Graham doesn't give a fat rats ass about most of his agents. To him they are just tools to be used and tossed away when they are to beat up to be useful."

"I can't argue with you there. The more I see the CIA from the outside of it, the better I feel about leaving it."

"Kinda like a light coming on slow, like when a person uses a dimmer switch?" questioned Chuck.

"At times it feels like I was hit with a two by four. It's late and you have to get rid of the bug in the morning. So off to bed you go. I'll see you in the morning," Sarah gave Chuck a kiss and made her way to her room and closed the door. Chuck headed to his room to get some much needed rest and try to figure out what Graham and Bryce were up to.

The next morning the couple shared a breakfast of fresh fruits and waffles. When Chuck was ready to leave he gave Sarah a kiss goodbye and went to leave the room. Sarah had other plans however and began attacking his lips with more passion than usual. The kissing got more advance with hands moving and caressing each other's bodies. It was going well until Chuck bumped into the chair by the door and fell over it bringing Sarah down with him. The sudden impact of them hitting the floor ruined the mood they were in. After a shared laugh they both promised to pick up where they left off when Chuck returned.

Chuck's target for the day was a Belgian business man, William Schmidt. He was one of Volkoff's most important accountants. Schmidt had several major flaws that got him on Volkoff's shit list. He liked fast cars and expensive women. He also loved to play black jack, the higher the stakes the better he liked it. Even the most uneducated gambler knows you can't beat the house. They stack the odds in their favor. He would win big sometimes but he lost even bigger. He soon found he could not cover his gambling losses, so he borrowed more money in hopes he could win it back. He soon lost all his holdings and had to sell his houses to pay off the debt. Soon he was unable to raise the money he needed to pay off his debts and began to embezzle small amounts of money each month. One thing led to another and he was still broke and he owed Volkoff over three million Euros. He knew what the results would be if Volkoff found out. He packed up all his remaining things from the small farm house he still owned. He would leave the country and turn himself in to the American authorities and reveal every one of Volkoff's accounts he knew about.

Ghost had located his targets cottage a few days ago and spent the couple of days after it learning his targets schedule. After selecting his firing position and noting the distance, he selected his M89SR Israeli sniper rifle. It was small enough to be concealed and used the standard seven point six two NATO rounds. It was his favorite rifle for shots under five hundred meters. Attached to the underside of the weapon was the high tech camera he would need to record the kill. Ghost checked his watch and noted that within a few minutes his target would arrive. Right on time a small car pulled in front of the cottage. Ghost looked through his scope and sighted the driver. As the driver closed the door and took a step towards the door, Ghost squeezed the trigger. His aim was true and the target collapsed into a heap near the front of his car. A pool of blood was forming near the targets head. Ghost picked up the spent shell casing and placed it in his pocket. Grabbing the rest of his things he made his way back to his car. In route back to the hotel he took out his phone and dialed the number of his contact.

"Frost," was the hello he got.

"It's done. I'll send the conformation footage when I'm secure," and the call ended. Ghost was no fool; his definition of secure was an internet café well away from the hotel. If anyone somehow intercepted the e-mail, it would be well away from where he was staying.

Volkoff industries.

Frost put her phone away and turned to Alexi, "It's done. We should be getting the footage in a while. He needs to get to a secure location before he sends it out."

"This enforcer of yours is very good. I think after one more job I will offer him employment."

"That's good Alexi"

"I think I may have him take your place Frost, and then you would never have to leave my side."

"You say the nicest things Alexi." All Mary Bartowski could think was hurry up Chuck.

RWH

Chuck returned from his mission and was currently sitting on the couch wrapped in Sarah's arms. They started spending time like this after Chuck completed a hit. It was to reassure each other they were the most important people in each other's lives. For Sarah it was her way of telling Chuck that no matter what he had to do she understood and would stand by him. For Chuck it let him know that she would always be there for him. They soon drifted off into sleep wrapped in each other's arms.

Echo Park

Morgan Grimes room

Morgan had just finished off another marathon session of Call of Duty online. It wasn't the same as when he played video games with Chuck. He knew those days were long gone now. First Chuck moved away after Stanford, then there was the whole job fiasco and when he returned from Austin, he came back with a girlfriend that was best described as hell on wheels.

He let his mind drift to that fateful day several months ago that lead him to this point in time. He had taken some time off from the Buy More and went down to make some sense of his life. He just had another fight with his longtime friend and was trying to work out everything that Chuck and Sarah told him. He was just about to finish off some zombies when a man stepped up to him and began talking about the game he was playing. He introduced himself as Daniel Shaw. It wasn't long before they were playing as teammates and rampaging. Morgan, the bumbling idiot that he is, was eating up the praise he was getting from Shaw. Shaw told him he was a natural with a pistol.

They met up several more times after that to play video games. They even ended up in Morgan's place a few times. Morgan knew his new friend could never take Chuck's place but it felt nice being wanted again. Shaw, knowing what kind of person Morgan was and that the hook had been set, decided to reel his fish in a little more. He took Morgan to an indoor range to give Morgan lessons on how to use a real pistol. Shaw not wanting to endanger his life or Morgan's started him off with a Beretta nine Millimeter. Morgan had some trouble at first, but he soon got the hang of it. After about a month of hanging out and going to the range, Shaw revealed his true identity, a special agent with the CIA. He explained to Morgan that his job was to recruit and train people that the agency may have over looked in the past. He saw Morgan playing the game a few weeks before approaching him. He made his report to his superior that he may have found a suitable candidate based on the way Morgan handled the weapon from the video game. His boss had told to continue to observe him and see if he would be good agent material. Judging by what he had seen so far Morgan was a natural. After a few months of personalized training by Shaw, he was pronounced ready to become a full-fledged agent of the CIA. Several weeks later Shaw presented Morgan with his service weapon and credentials.

Morgan was excited as he had ever been in his life. He could hardly wait for Chuck to come back from his business trip so he could show him his badge and tell him he was a real CIA Agent attached to the covert division known as The Ring. He knew that being an agent would impress Chuck, maybe even enough to land him a job in Chuck's company. After all Morgan figured, who better to have working for you other than a real CIA Agent? Daniel told him working for Chuck would be the best cover job he could have.

RWH

It had been a few days since Chuck had completed his first mission for Volkoff. He was just waiting for Frost to contact him with the details of his next mission. Supposedly it was going to be his final one before he would be joining Volkoff industries. His laptop chirped indicating an e-mail had been received from Frost. It was his next assignment, Demetri Zukov, West Coast operations of Volkoff industries. Chuck quickly found out that Volkoff was a hard taskmaster. Zukov failed to complete several important business deals Volkoff wanted to get done. When Demetri was confronted by Frost about his lack of closing skills he made the mistake of insulting her. That was his kiss of death. Alexi would not tolerate the love of his life being insulted like that. For Volkoff the answer was simple, Zukov would have to go. Waytt would be perfect for this assignment.

Frost also explained in the email that the assignment would take him back to California. The west coast branch of Volkoff industries was located near Los Angles, in one of the suburbs. Chuck and Sarah were happy about the new location. They could go back home for a while and relax before Chuck had to begin work again. After this job for Volkoff was over it would be on to Moscow to begin phase 2 of their carefully planned extraction of Frost.

Morgan's room