MayDecember21

Previously:

The last thing he saw was Jill's barefoot heading towards his face in a savage martial arts kick.

There were times in his life when he wished he were dead. This was one of those times. Sarah was dead. Either she didn't substitute the trank for the toxin in Jill's dart or Jill sensed a switch and used another toxin-laden dart. Either way, Sarah Walker was dead and he discovered that there was no purpose without her in his life.

Ellie was an adult and could fend for herself and she had Devon. He had no one.

He shook his head, clearing the thoughts of death for another time and then tried to stand but the plane suddenly banked sharply and resumed its dive. Something in the plotters' plan must have gone wrong. He heard Jill screaming at the pilot to "Do something!"

He heard the pilot curse and managed to pull himself up to his knees and then finally he managed to stand, hanging onto a seat and trying not to fall again. He'd really had his bell rung. He had a broken nose for certain and his tongue was attacking loosened teeth as if it had a mind of its own.

He glanced out the window to portside and saw the horizon begin to move slowly back to its normal position. Out the starboard side he saw a rocky shoreline and hoped the pilot was an experienced 'nap of the earth' flier because the plan seemed to be less than 100 feet off the ground.

Jill cursed the pilot and demanded he get control of the aircraft and get them on course for the Fulcrum base. Chuck couldn't make out what he said but Jill suddenly turned white and the walked shakily towards where he was standing in the aisle.

Chuck waited. If she came just a few feet closer he'd be able to jump her and twist her fucking head from her neck. No, that was too merciful. He'd settle for subduing her, then the pilot, and figure out how to send a message out to NSA about the situation.

Jill stopped just a foot or two from the imaginary kill zone and looked sadly at Chuck. She gestured toward Sarah and said, "I'm sorry, Chuck, but she was Fulcrum. She made herself known through code phrases in both the initial meeting and when she greeted me in the airport diplomatic lounge. I had to eliminate her."

"You're a real piece of work, Jill. You kill a CIA agent saying she was Fulcrum but gloss over how your pilot is Fulcrum. The copilot was CIA and he's dead. Walker was CIA and she's dead. So, I guess I'm glad I'm not CIA or you'd probably be wiping your knife off on my shirt. Liar. Fulcrum bitch."

She wasn't fazed at all by his accusations. "You're too valuable to us, darling, to have any harm befall you. Surely you can see the advantages of coming to work for us? We can be together. Ellie will be protected. You can work in complete freedom without restrictions and there will be no lack of volunteers to assist you in finally perfecting a downloaded intersect database. And we can be together again as a family, the three of us."

"You think I carry all that shit around in my head? Ten years of research notes, formulae, and programs all crammed into my head? Idiot! It's all on the mainframe in Arizona. And I did perfect the intersect. There was a host. You killed her, you stupid bitch! Sarah Walker was the intersect. You destroyed the project when you killed her. Happy now, Jilly? Will your masters be pleased?"

Chuck would have laughed if it hadn't been so sad. The look on her face ran the gamut of surprise, shock, and finally, fear. Oh, yeah. The key.

Unbidden, an image of Sarah came to his mind. The look on her face when he offered her the ring at Luigi's. He'd never see such joy again. He had to act.

Chuck turned and pulled himself back toward the rear of the bouncing plane using the seats as handholds until he reached his seat. He pulled his carryall from beneath the seat, opened it and removed his 'last resort' devices. The grenade was a flash bang, but configured to resemble a fragmentation grenade. His 9mm was just that – a 9mm using low-velocity ammunition such as air marshals used in commercial passenger planes. He'd smuggled them onto the plane. They were forbidden by regulation.

Grinning like the mad scientist George had once described him as, he activated the NSA emergency beacon and zipped the bag shut. When he stood and turned, Jill was almost on him, only a few yards away, a wicked ceramic blade held in high guard position and murder in her eyes. Oh, shit. He'd reduced his value to Fulcrum to zero with his lies about the project. Part of him was elated. No Fulcrum torture chamber. Just a brief moment of pain.

Sarah had been conscious for several minutes but waited until she could figure out the situation before acting. From the shouted conversation between Chuck and his ex-wife she figured out pretty quickly that he thought she was really dead and was goading Jill into killing him to protect the project.

Damn regulations for forbidding firearms on even NSA flights. She had to do something and do it quickly to prevent him from being killed. She had her knives…

The intersect was blasting Chuck with messages. Unbidden, analyses poured through his mind, slowing down his reflexes and responses. He shook his head to clear it but the final analysis burned into his brain, almost paralyzing him.

Probability of capture: 99.0%

Recommendation: Self-terminate Self-terminate Self-terminate.

He held up the grenade for Jill to see and she stopped dead in her tracks, a look of panic on her face. He pulled the pin and tossed the grenade almost lovingly to his ex-wife.

"Catch!"

Instinctively she started turning to run but it exploded a foot from her. Chuck had fiddled with the fusing, shortening the burn time between the spoon release and detonation. He'd turned away from her and ducked behind the seat but was still rattled by the explosion. Jill was deafened and thrown violently forward by the blast, temporarily blinded and losing her blade and her wits in the process. The cabin lights failed whether from the effects of the blast or some other reason was unknown. Only limited early evening light passed through the porthole windows.

The explosion galvanized Sarah into action. Chuck was fighting for his life and she had to help. Still a little groggy from the effects of the trank dart she made her way towards the rear of the aircraft. Sixty feet seemed like a mile but she pulled herself along the aisle using the seats just as Chuck had. She was terrified that he'd killed himself to avoid capture. How had he gotten a frag grenade onto the plane in the first place? And why were they still alive and the plane reasonably intact?

Chuck stood up and stepped out into the aisle. He aimed his pistol at Jill's face and started to pull the trigger when the plane suddenly leveled out and began a gentle climb. He looked down at Jill's tear-streaked face and grimaced. She was the mother lode of intel. He couldn't kill her. She was Ellie's mother.

He reversed his pistol and smashed her in the jaw with as much strength as he could muster and smiled cruelly. "That's gotta hurt, Jilly darling. Just a sample of the pain I'm going to bring into your life. You killed my future, my hopes and dreams. I'm going to take your life after I suck your mind dry of any information you might have, Jilly darling, but slowly and painfully. But first, I've got to take back my aircraft. Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back, Jilly darling. And then the real fun begins."

He looked up into arctic blue eyes he thought he'd never see again. He lurched forward, stepping over Jill and crushed Sarah to him. "I thought I'd lost you. I thought you were dead."

"I promised never to leave you. I don't break promises to you."

"Can you fly this plane, O' Queen of the CIA?" He was grinning and trying not to hug her again. No time for that.

"Sure can. You know you're not supposed to have a weapon on board, Chuck. I'll have to punish you when we get somewhere …comfortable."

"Let's take back our airplane and see what kind of a mess we're in. We'll see about who punishes whom later."

Chuck handed Sarah the pistol but she just smiled and pulled out a knife from a wrist holster. "Don't want to damage the instrumentation in the event I have to kill him. Where'd you get the damned cannon from, Chuck? Oh, the pencil-pushers are going to be so angry with you!" She grinned and he could imagine her thinking 'like either of us give a rat's ass right now.'

"Brought it and the flash-bang in my carry-on. Stupid regs get people killed, honey. And I have things to do yet before I shuffle off the mortal coil. Cool things. Wonderful things."

Sarah just smiled her 'I love you' smile and went forward towards the cockpit area. "Stay behind me. I'm going for surprise. Don't hate me, sweetheart."

"Wha?" He didn't know why she'd say something like that now but then he saw her shrug out of her jacket and unbutton her blouse to the waist and then flick open the front of her bra, letting her breasts free. Chuck was sure his eyes were bugging out like some cartoon character.

"I hope you'll always react that way when the girls are loose. Now I'm going for surprise and hope he doesn't shoot at me like he did you. That would ruin both our plans. Stay here."

She walked boldly into the cockpit, hiding her dagger in the palm of her hand. "Hi there!" The pilot turned his head and his reaction was both gratifying and predictable. While his mind was on her stunning attributes and all thoughts of shooting her vanished from his mind, she buried her dagger in his throat, stepping back to avoid any blood. She pulled his dead body from the pilot's seat and dragged it into the aisle and then she and Chuck tossed it into the galley out of the way.

"Go keep an eye on your ex-wife while I see about getting us back on course and in contact with friendly forces." She was buttoning her blouse and checking to make sure she hadn't picked up any bloodstains. This was Chuck's favorite blouse and that was why she'd worn it and she didn't want to get any stains on it. She liked the way he looked at her when she wore it. She'd gone right out and bought two more the next day. She really liked how he looked at her.

"Sarah, I activated a distress beacon I had in my bag. Maybe you can contact someone on the radio and get us an escort?"

"Sounds like a plan. OK, you go by the lav and get the blood off your face. Your nose is…broken and you're going to have two outstanding black eyes before long. Any other damage?"

"Just a couple of loose teeth. Caught a foot in the face but I think I broke her jaw so we're even."

"Don't mess her up any more, sweetie. We might have to walk or run and she needs to be able to keep up with us."

"I'd better secure the bitch before she causes any more mayhem."

"Good idea. There are some zip ties in my purse."

He secured her hands behind her back and dumped her into a seat, tightened the seat belt and then secured her feet to the stanchions supporting the seats. She was out cold but not having any difficulties breathing.

Sarah sat in the cockpit and surveyed the instruments. Fuel was dangerously low and the pilot had cut the speed of the aircraft to maximize the distance the aircraft could travel but he'd sacrificed some distance for altitude. The gentle climb indicated by the autopilot display had probably cost them 20 minutes of fuel so she immediately leveled the jet out.

Sarah changed the frequency on the transceiver to an NSA emergency channel and broadcast a Mayday call. The response was immediate and gratifying. After exchanging identification codes and giving a brief report, the controller directed her to a new course that would take them to a disused RCAF emergency airfield. She was instructed to land and await pickup by friendly forces within a few hours.

24 hours later

Sarah was angry. The mission had been flawed, sure, but it had been successful. Chuck had warned the General of the possibility of it being a 'false flag' exercise and she'd ignored him. Beckman was concerned that the 'host's identity' was widely known and was pushing for a relocation into a witness protection environment.

"Sarah, don't be angry. It's the way she is. Don't look for an apology or an admission of error on her part because it's not going to happen. Accept the fact and move on. In all the years I've worked with her she's never admitted to being wrong. It's her way."

"It's not that, sweetheart, it's her damned attitude towards you, the 'intersect host'. Damn it, you developed and downloaded the intersect…"

He stopped her with a gentle kiss; it hurt too much to be more than 'gentle'.

"I need to stop by the base dental clinic and see what they can do about the loose teeth. I can't get all widely passionate with them rattling around in my mouth. It's not the kind of distraction I prefer."

"Well, since you can't breathe through your nose either, I'd say the passion's on hold for a while. How long until the packing is out? And those are two of the most magnificent black eyes I've ever seen."

"A week to 10 days. I can lose the tape in a week but I have to have the packing removed 'by competent hands' and that means waiting until we get back to Sierra Vista."

"I called Ellie and told her we were back and that everything was OK. I didn't mention the raccoon look her daddy was sporting. I'll let you surprise her with that one. She's staying with the Casey clan. Carina's thrilled with the company and they're going to Tucson for a few days for some 'stress-relief'. I guess that's Carina's new term for 'shopping'."

"Sarah, about Jill…" He wanted to clear the air between them lest there be any doubts in her mind.

"If you're going to say what I think you're going to, don't bother, baby. I saw the rage in your face when you took her out. And I heard everything you said to her when I was playing dead before. I know she's nothing more than the mother of your daughter to you and I'm OK with that. Really."

"Good. I wasn't sure how I was going to make you understand that the only reason she was still alive was because she was Ellie's mother, not because I felt anything for her but hatred and contempt. I thought she'd killed you and I almost took her out."

"Beckman would have been pissed if you had but I understand, really, I do. I don't know if I could have displayed such…restraint if I had been in your shoes. I saw the bruises on your throat and face and I wanted to kill her."

"We have to sit in on the initial interrogations but we're free by the weekend. I don't think we'll be needed much around here. I want to go home, Sarah, and forget she ever existed."

"Amen to that. Now, remember my promise? The mission is officially closed out. Tomorrow we are getting married. We'll drive down to Virginia and have it formalized. We can do the 'big thing' in Sierra Vista, but I want us to be together, married, and starting our lives together. Don't fight me on this, Chuck. You'll lose."

"Why not get married right here in the base chapel. I'm sure Beckman can pull some strings and get the waiting period waived. Besides, it will be interesting to see how Jill handles it. Might loosen her tongue a bit."

Beckman could and did pull strings and they were married quickly and quietly by the base chaplain with Beckman and her aide as witnesses. Beckman was delighted with the marriage since it gave Chuck additional protection in the form of a deadly assassin for a bride. The marriage put paid to any notion of 'relocation'.

A/N: Bored, sitting in the motel. Erie is…never mind. Don't want to live here, either. The natural beaches here are all rocks and gravel but at least there's no oil. Next stop is Alabama. Heard it's HOT HOT HOT there.
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