Rage
Casey steeled himself mentally as the agents slid down the slope toward him. This is not going to work, he thought.
Grateful as he was for the warmth of Casey's coat, Chuck couldn't stand not being able to see anything. He slowly moved his left arm and rested it on his chest; by lifting his hand a couple of inches, he was able to form a small tent under the coat, the edge of which lifted enough to let him peer out from under it. He could only see Casey from the waist down, but he didn't want to lift the coat any higher and risk detection. This was bad. He was supposed to let Sarah think he was dead? Was that Casey's brilliant plan? This is not going to work, he thought, as Casey walked out of his line of sight.
Casey held up a hand as the agents approached. "It's over," he said. "The asset has been eliminated."
Cole and Watson stopped when they reached Casey. Sarah pushed past Casey and ran over to Chuck. She leaned over to remove Casey's coat.
"You don't want to see that, Walker," Casey warned.
Sarah looked at the blood-spattered snow and then straightened, leaving the coat untouched. She turned toward Casey and raised her gun. She blinked hard to clear her vision. "You killed him." It wasn't a question.
"Orders," said Casey.
Agents Cole and Watson backed away from Casey, drawing their guns and aiming at Sarah.
"You don't need to do that," Casey told them, keeping his eyes on Sarah. "Put the guns away."
Cole looked at Watson, who nodded his head; both men tucked their guns away. Watson decided that this was personal; Casey had a right to handle it himself.
Beneath the coat, Chuck was panicking. Sarah stood close to him, only a few inches away. He could reach out and touch her if he wanted. Stay calm, he told himself, Casey knows what he's doing.
Sarah's mind was reeling from shock and disbelief. Chuck was dead. Right at this moment, she realized what she felt for him, and it hit her like a punch in the gut. How many times had she rejected him? She had always pushed him away to a safe distance, reasoning that it was unprofessional to explore her feelings for him. The truth was, she was afraid to find out. Now she knew and Chuck was dead. Because of Casey. The profound sense of loss slowly faded as pure rage surged forward. Her eyes narrowed and she cocked her gun, aiming for Casey's heart.
Casey's eyes widened slightly. I knew this wasn't going to work, he thought.
Chuck didn't think; he simply reacted when he heard the click of Sarah's gun. He reached out with his hand and grabbed Sarah's ankle, pulling with all his remaining strength. Sarah fell forward into the snow as her gun went off. Casey stumbled backward as the bullet passed through his arm.
Cole and Watson stood dumbfounded as Chuck used a handful of snow to wipe the blood off his forehead. He crawled over to Sarah.
"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.
She sat up, wondering if maybe she hit her head or something. "Chuck," she said hesitantly.
"Yeah, it's me," he said, giving her one of his goofy half-smiles before fainting and collapsing into her lap.
He woke up a moment later, finding his head cradled in Sarah's arms. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, just a little dizzy" he said, sitting up. "It was all the excitement, I guess." He focused on Sarah's face, afraid that if he looked anywhere else he would see a very angry John Casey.
"Just what is this all about, Casey?" demanded Watson.
Casey gripped his injured arm, which was just a flesh wound. Lucky, he thought. He watched as Sarah and Chuck talked. It was hard to stay mad at him when he considered what would have happened if Chuck had kept his promise to stay quiet. He knew Sarah would be upset, but he had underestimated the depth of her anger.
"You don't have the full story," began Casey.
"That's right," Sarah interrupted, standing up and giving Casey a warning look.
"This mission wasn't about Chuck at all; I mean, yeah, he does some computer work now and then, and he enhanced one of our GPS devices, but that's it. You see, we found out that Fulcrum was sniffing around Chuck due to Chuck's past civilian association with a rogue agent, Bryce Larkin. There's actually no connection, but Fulcrum didn't know that. So, we allowed Fulcrum to think that Chuck was more important than he was in an effort to draw out their agents. It worked really well last month." She paused and hoped that they were buying into the story.
"And…and I couldn't take the heat anymore, I mean, I was almost killed last time, so I ran," said Chuck. He darted a quick look at Casey as he spoke. "I realized I made a mistake so I called Casey."
Cole spoke up. "So why the playacting? Why make the asset appear to be dead?"
"It was a mistake." Casey struggled for an answer. He certainly wasn't going to tell anyone the truth, at least not right now. "I was suspicious of Beckman's order to kill Bartowski. After all, he was just an asset. I decided to hold off on killing him, and I didn't want anyone to know about it just yet. I had him well in hand, he wasn't going anywhere."
"John Casey, the legendary assassin, couldn't take out a computer geek?" exclaimed an astounded Watson.
"He's only a civilian," snapped Casey. "I didn't want to kill him unjustly; convincing Beckman he was dead would buy me the time to gather more intel. I didn't count on an audience showing up."
Watson thought for a moment. "Funny, I never thought you'd grow a conscience. C'mon Cole, there's nothing left for us to do, unless," Watson turned back to Casey, "you need help taking your asset in?" He smirked.
Casey answered him with a hard stare. Watson and Cole left, making their way up the snowy slope. Cole allowed Watson to walk ahead, waving him on when Watson looked back. He pulled out his cell and dialed.
"It's me." Cole spoke into the phone. "Beckman wanted me to grab this guy, but his handlers are all over him. It doesn't matter for our purposes, anyhow. The guy's connection to Larkin is bogus. They planted the story and used Bartowski as bait." He listened. "My cover is clean, but it's only a matter of time before someone notices that Agent Cole was killed. I want to put some distance between me and this entire mission. Something out of the country would be nice." He pulled out a cigarette. "Fine, I can be there in two." He returned his phone to his jacket and lit his cigarette.
Cole noted that Watson was already in the truck when he reached the road. Passing Sarah's car, he realized she left her window open; the open laptop lay on the seat. He waved at Watson, reached in and retrieved the laptop. The screen was blank; she had shut down whatever she had been doing. Cole remembered the funny look she gave him yesterday at the restaurant. It was probably nothing, but he had to be sure no one blew his cover before his rendezvous. He tossed the laptop back into the car, turned his back to Watson, pulled out his gun and attached the silencer. Hiding the gun under the flap of his open jacket, he turned and walked toward the truck.
