A/N: Thanks goes to garnetflint and jaytoyz for being my beta readers on this chapter and to all readers new and old.

Chapter 21

The four of them stood in Morgan's kitchen while they waited for the connection to the General to be established. Anna had graciously lent the team a webcam so that everyone could be seen in the teleconference but even so they'd squeezed in as close as possible. Casey insisted that everyone be seen to avoid surprising the General and the Director, and to "give the illusion that the operation was professional and not the jerry-rigged mess that it truly was," as he succinctly put it. Chuck had managed somehow to convince Morgan and Anna to vacate the apartment for the duration to preserve what little secrecy remained so the apartment was void of the usual morning hustle and bustle. Sarah didn't know how he convinced the two to run errands at 6:00 in the morning so she attributed to one of those Jedi Mind Tricks© he mastered while dealing with the angry customers that frequented the Nerd Herder desk.

The image of General Beckman appeared on the screen alongside Director Mason. Despite the early hour both appeared to be as immaculate as usual, not even a hair out of place. Even so, Chuck wondered to himself if either had gotten any sleep since the Omaha Facility had been breached days ago.

Casey briefed them on the situation, excluding any mention of Chuck and Sarah's entanglement in the security booth and the fact that Anna and Morgan were now privy to Sarah's true profession. Once he was done Chuck mentally braced himself for the imminent explosion. He didn't know Director Mason but he knew for a fact that General Beckman didn't like to hear bad news. That frown she now wore usually was the prelude to something terrible in their immediate future.

"So I'm to understand that not only do we have former FULCRUM agents running around the island in possession of a nuclear device, but also the closest CIA base has been compromised and that you three have been implicated in murder?" Beckman summarized. "Is there more you'd like to share with us Colonel or does this fill your quota of bad news for the day?"

"I'm afraid that's not all General," Casey said. "I'm positive now that there's been a leak at the base otherwise it would have been impossible to carry off those last two points."

"Wonderful. That takes us out of the investigation entirely. There's no way we can get another agent out there in time without raising some red flags," Beckman bemoaned.

"There might be a way to check if the police had uncovered something, " Sarah offered. "Chuck's friend Anna does work for the upcoming festival and Chuck could have her see if something unusual was uncovered there without alerting suspicion."

"Not a perfect solution but it might work. Good call agent," Mason said to her. As Chuck had mentioned to his dad earlier, praise was rare after all in spycraft. "How are we on the leak? Do we have any suspects?"

"There are only two people that we're aware of that were privy to all of our movements on the island. The first is Jordan Black and the other is... Daniel Shaw, " Sarah finished hesitantly. She was loath to insinuate that the CIA's golden boy might have been a traitor the whole time. That type of thing could sink her career if she was wrong.

"Are you sure about this Agent?" Director Mason asked. "Agent Shaw's track record has been nothing but pristine to date. Surely he's not involved in the leak."

"But Agent Walker is correct to include him in the list of suspects. We cannot ignore the fact that your Agent Shaw was fully aware of our team's movements these past few days. He must be investigated as well as Agent Black, if for no other reason than to eliminate him as a candidate for the leak," General Beckman concluded firmly. In a funny way it was the closest thing to praise that Sarah had gotten from the older woman since Operation Bartowski began.

"Let me confer with my colleague for a moment, " Mason said briskly before the feed winked out. Chuck was unsure what the protocol was so he remained standing rigidly.

"He sounded angry," Bryce noted to the team. Casey was about to make a cutting remark but one look from Sarah silenced him. The look was a silent plea and not the warning like he expected so he held his tongue. The mix of sadness and pity looked out of place on Graham's Troubleshooter and Casey didn't want to give any more grief to the one of the very few people in the field he'd come to trust.

"Yeah, I'd be angry too if I'd just been told that one of my top employees might have been working behind my back too," Chuck replied.

A moment later the feed was re-established. Directory Mason looked like someone just kicked his puppy. "Alright team, we've discussed our next plan of action and here's what needs to be done. Mr. Bartowski, see if you can convince your friend to see if the police have uncovered anything. Once that is done, the three of you will have to question Agents Black and Shaw on their movements over the last 48 hours. For now treat both as being armed and dangerous."

"And what about Bryce er... Agent Larkin," Chuck brought up. "I don't think it's a good idea to expose him to anything that might cause him to Flash. The Intersect done something wonky to his mind so I don't think he'd be able to help right now."

"Unfortunately with the base lost there's no other safe houses available on the island. Since the end o f the Cold War there hasn't been a need to maintain one. You'll have to make your own accommodations for him during the operation. If you cannot secure him I'm afraid we'll have to take extreme measures," General Beckman explained.

Chuck didn't like the mention of "extreme measures". The higher ups only used euphemisms when killing came up.

"I don't think that will be necessary General," Sarah spoke up. "There are a few friendlies in the area we can recruit for help. If pressed for an explanation of his behaviour we can say that Agent Larkin experienced brain trauma during an accident. "

"And to be honest it wasn't far from the truth," she thought to herself.

"Very well, we'll leave the situation in your capable hands. Don't disappoint us agents," General Beckman said to them before cutting the feed.

"Well... that went well, " Chuck said out loud to himself and vowed to expand his vocabulary. That was way too many "wells" for one sentence. "I think," he appended. Feeling a vibration from his phone, Chuck fished it out of his pants and read a text from Morgan. "Hey guys, Morgan said he and Anna are done their grocery shopping. You still need them out of here?"

"Can't think of anything else that's Eyes Only," Sarah replied. "You can give them the all clear."

"Great." Chuck exchanged texts with his bestest best buddy in the world before looking up again. "Ok guys, they'll be back in a moment. And don't worry Casey, Morgan made sure to pick up some Hot Pockets. I know they're your favorite."

"You're all heart Bartowksi," the Colonel sarcastically responded. Even after all this time he wasn't sure if the nerd was being serious or not, at least he hoped he wasn't. He only ate those greasy pucks out of necessity and not preference. It would be wasteful to buy anything edible when you had to ship out at a moment's notice and Mrs. Casey didn't raise a wastrel. "At least tell me there's coffee in this place."

Minutes later Chuck handed Casey some of the best damn coffee he'd had in years. Walker told him he was in for a treat and by golly the lady spook was dead on. Knowing the eating habits of the ex-Buymorians (thanks to their proximity to his surveillance of Chuck) he was surprised that they'd know quality grounds at all. Grimes had the diet of a goat and Wu guzzled anything with caffeine in it. Neither displayed anything approaching discriminating taste.

The front door opened and out of instinct Casey reached for his gun. As his fingers brushed the metal a voice rang out, "Hey guys, we're back!" That was Morgan Grimes, no doubt about it. He couldn't forget that voice even if he wanted to. And oh how he wanted to.

A more tan than he remembered Anna Wu popped in before putting some shopping bags down and shooting Casey a salute. "Greetings Major Killjoy. How's the black ops business going?" she joked with him.

"That's classified Wu. You know, the I'd-tell-you-but-I'd-have-to-kill-you kind of stuff. And I've been promoted since I left Burbank, so it's Colonel Killjoy to you."

Undaunted Anna replied "Aye-aye Colonel sir." Out of all the people he'd encountered in this life, Wu was the one of the handful that he wasn't able to intimidate without a blowtorch in hand.

"Go to say, I'm surprised your boy-toy agree to let Larkin in here at all. Way Bartowski tells it, Grimes hates his guts worst than I hate rat-bastard commies."

"Well..." Anna began. "He still does but since Chuck explained things and Morgan owes him like a billion favors by now, how he could say no? Besides, look at him now. I never met the preppy before today but even I can tell that his brain is all out of whack. Being nasty to him now would be like booting a puppy into the stratosphere."

"If you spent any time in that jackass's presence before he ended up like that you'd reconsider," Casey informed her. He considered adding more but the entrance of Grimes and the others convinced him to change his mind. Grimes had at least enough sense to brief Wu on the punk sooner or later. "So where do you think we should start?" he asked Sarah.

Misinterpreting who he was addressing, Morgan replied, "Well... you can help with the groceries, but personally I think you better delouse the not so esteemed Mr. Larkin first. He smells like a zoo. Who knows what he's been rolling around in?"

"Morgan, cut that out! You make him sound like a dog," Sarah interjected. "But we should get Bryce cleaned up soon. I wouldn't put it past him to have been skulking around in dumpsters right now."

"And he didn't think to get cleaned up? Boy, whatever he did to his head must have done some major damage, like worse than headbutting a car speeding towards you," Anna noted.

"Yeah, Bryce isn't in such good shape right now, " Chuck told her. "But I hear that there might be something that can be done for him when we no longer have to worry about being blown up."

"Where is the little turd anyways?" Casey asked. Leaving Larkin unsupervised was like leaving a grenade lying around without the pin, in his humble opinion.

"Don't worry Casey, he's just playing Morgan's Super Nintendo. Trust me, having him parked in front of the screen with Mario Kart on is a million times more efficient than tying him up," Chuck stated with authority. "The siren call of Mario Kart is the only thing that could distract Bryce from the loveliest of co-eds."

"Still, best someone keep an eye on him in case he gets bored with your computer games. Who knows what that moron could get up to behind our backs?"

Morgan nodded along with Casey's logic. "Like framing Chuck for something nefarious, like the Lindbergh baby nabbing. I hear you Casey. I'll watch him like a hawk!"

"Thanks for volunteering buddy, I owe you like a million," Chuck told him.

"One million and four but who's counting?" Morgan replied. "Sounds like you guys got your hands full with stuff. Got a mountain of paperwork to sort through?"

"Something like that, " Sarah said. "We need to track down a co-worker of ours but I haven't been able to reach her cell."

"You been working with her long? Maybe she's just been wrapped up with one of her hobbies right now or something. Remember when we needed to track Skip down?" Anna asked Chuck.

"Yeah, he was with his guild at the time. I have to admit I didn't realize he was so much into LARPing."

"LARPing?" Casey mouthed to Sarah.

"Live Action Role Playing, Casey. Think of it like Civil War re-enactments but with foam swords and in your stereotypical fantasy setting, " Sarah filled him in. If nothing else her time in Burbank gave her an education on all things nerdy that she'd been deprived of all her life. "But still, I don't think any of us got a chance to really get to know her after only a couple of days."

"That's not true. We know she has a daughter that she loves a whole lot, " Chuck amended to her statement. "Hey, I just had an idea. You think she might be at her school?"

"Sorry man, school's been out all week," Morgan told him. "The Harvest Festival's basically an excuse for a week long break over here. That's why the lineup at the Arcade was heavy. "

"She might be home then. Hey Sarah, you think she might be in the phone book?" Chuck asked her hopefully.

Sarah thought about that for a moment. "I doubt it. Most agents wouldn't let anyone get a hold of their location so easily."

"But she hasn't been a field agent for ages, and from what I recall from her profile she only had one mission. She's probably lost most of that discipline by now," Casey noted. "Desk Jockeys tend to let those instincts go to pot fairly quickly."

"Give it a shot," Anna said as she tossed the local phonebook on the table. "I'd suggest looking her up online but I can imagine you're all too paranoid for that. "

"Thanks Anna, you're right. No need to create a digital trail if we can avoid it, " Sarah to her thankfully. It took her a moment to find Jordan's address but luckily having the last name "Black" was less common on the islands than anywhere else she'd been. Like Casey predicted her home address was in the book just before a William Blazkowicz but after Justin Bailey. Sarah tore off a piece of a nearby notepad and jotted down the address.

Sarah gave the address to Casey, "We lucked out. If memory serves right I think it's just 20 minutes away." At the moment Chuck's phone started playing Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, which meant one thing: Shaw was calling. Chuck had chosen the ridiculous ringtone for Shaw's burner and recognized it instantly. Without a word he passed the phone over to Sarah who instantly went into Agent Mode as soon as the familiar song began.

In quiet tones Sarah conversed with the stoic agent for a minute, her face a studied blank. Chuck began to envision several worst case scenarios in his head as he studied her reaction but before he could iron out the kinks Sarah clicked the phone off. "Our other missing agent just called me. He said he got some important intel to share but wanted to meet somewhere less visible."

"You mean like that cannery we dropped you off at last night?" Morgan asked. "I hate to say it but I'd be worried about meeting up in the middle of nowhere right now. If my intensive study of Slasher movies has taught me anything it's that people usually get off'ed when they're alone. Well that and stay away from Indian burial grounds. Those are always a magnet for trouble."

"Wise words my friend but sadly we also need to stay out of sight right now," Chuck told him. "But don't worry. Sarah's a lot more deadly than your garden variety Slasher movie teenager."

"Plus I'll be heavily armed. Don't worry Morgan, nothing bad has ever happened to Chuck while he was with me and I don't plan on changing that anytime soon, " Sarah added.

"Looks like we'll have to split up then," Casey decided. "Our first person of interest might rabbit at any time and there's no telling where #2 might get up to if we leave him in the wind for too long. Walker you check in with him and take Bartowski in case there's computer stuff . I'll see about the desk jockey."

"Okay, but what about the A.P.B. put out on you? Without a disguise you'll be spotted in a minute, " Sarah noted.

"Oh, we got some old costume stuff lying around. Morgie got a fake mustache that would look right at home on you and I got the perfect wig for you," Anna spoke up. "Trust me, when we're done not even your own mother would recognize you,"

"I know I'm going to regret this but the mission comes first. Alright Wu, let's see what you got. I'm trusting you here so don't try to make me look like one of those weird Japanese cartoons, " Casey muttered as he was lead out of the room.

"$10 says he ends up looking like Tom Selleck," Chuck said to Sarah as they stepped out of the house.

Sarah chuckled as she linked arms with him. "I wouldn't take that bet for a dollar. Shall we?"

0-0

Daniel Shaw alone stood in an industrial area, looking oddly at peace for once. Soon everything would be falling into place. Years of planning would come to fruition. Now to make sure that the situation has not changed.

Dialling in a number into his burner cellphone, Shaw raised the phone to his head and was soon greeted by a distorted voice. Obviously his contact would be using a voice synthesizer to obscure his or her identity. "Everything is in place and the football is almost ready for kickoff. How are things on your end?" the voice queried him.

"Nothing short of perfection, " Shaw replied. His lips slowly spread into a smile and for once he could actually feel the happiness behind it. "Just perfect."

A/N: I always hated the nickname of "Wildcard" for Sarah since it didn't reflect her at all and thus gave her the more apt "Graham's Troubleshooter". If anything, she's been consistent in her reliability on her ops and not unpredictable like a real wildcard would be. Carina would have been a better fit for such a nickname. It's just one of my pet peeves about the later seasons.

Oh, and Anna knew about Casey's old rank since part of his Buymore cover was that he was honourably discharged from the army and settling back into civilian life.