A/N: It's been a long ride and I thank all you who are still with me. All you comments have been an inspiration, so thanks for that, too.
Don't own Chuck, nbc, Warner Bros., or any of the other people and places that we have visited in this tale. Those of you who do: please understand the joy you have given us and allow us to continue to explore this universe.
XXIX. Clean Up
Scene 122. February 3, 2013
8:01 pm (Cairo)
Inside the warehouse
As the gun battle raged, Chuck had been trying to clear his head. He tried one of Devon's meditations but it didn't help at all. He had never suffered a headache as severe as the one now overwhelming him. Please, oh please, Casey … save Sarah! Tell her I love her! It was the thought of Sarah that finally calmed him. He focused on her beautiful face, her eyes, bluer and deeper than the ocean, her smile that melted him into goo every time she unleashed it, the feel of her luscious body against his, the kisses that sent him into ecstasy. A smile actually came to his lips and he could feel his body relaxing as this vision of loveliness consumed his every thought.
Then he heard gunfire, seemingly at a far distant. As he continued to calm, the firing seemed to come closer and closer. Another stab of pain shot through his head as he remembered where he was. Crawling to the rear of the truck, he pulled the canvas flap up. He saw Ryker reach over to the bomb and press a button. The evil smile that came onto her face struck Chuck in the gut: she had just armed the nuke.
She moved over to Sarah, grabbed her legs, and spoke to her, all with an evil grin on her face. Moving back, she punched Sarah in the gut, and then headed for the truck. As she hobbled over, Chuck leaned back, out of sight, as bullets pinged off the side of the truck, and then he heard the engine start. Looking out the back again, his eyes met Sarah's and he screamed, "Saaaaraaaahhhhhhhh!" The year old sight of the bullet train separating, his Sarah being taken away from him, fired through his mind and tears formed in his eyes. Only this time, he was the one being pulled away.
The truck turned left, throwing Chuck against the side. But it wasn't moving very fast yet so he was able to pull himself back up and over the tailgate. It was accelerating now and he knew he had to get off before it gained much more speed. This is really going to hurt, was his last thought before lowering his legs until they touched the pavement and then let go. He tumbled over and over, grunting and groaning as the hard concrete ripped his clothing and burned into his skin.
Finally he stopped rolling and took stock: he could feel the warmth of blood trickling down the side of his head, his left shoulder hurt, and his left leg felt worse than it had since getting out of therapy, all those months ago. But he was intact, with nothing broken. He tried to stand but his left leg just wouldn't allow it. I've got to get back to the warehouse; must disarm that bomb.
He hadn't lain there very long when there was an explosion to the north, along the road the truck had taken. Chuck drug himself to the edge of the road and sat up, checking his various abrasions. He heard footsteps running toward him, but there was no place to hide so he just waited to see who was coming.
"Agent Carmichael! Hey, man, it's Jason Bright. You okay?"
Chuck tried to look up and smile but he was just too tired and beat up. As the agent knelt to check on him, he took a deep breath and said, through clenched teeth, "Nice to see you Bright. Get me back to the warehouse."
"But, sir, the bomb is going to detonate. We have to get you away; General Beckman's orders."
"Bright, as much as I appreciate that, we couldn't possible get far enough away now. So the only thing we can do is go back. I need to save Sarah." After a pause, as Agent Bright looked at him with a quizzical face, Chuck added, "And everyone else in there, too, of course."
Scene 123. February 3, 2013
8:08 pm (Cairo)
Inside the warehouse
Gertrude moved over to Marconi and McDonagall. Angela was still sitting with her back to the wall, in obvious pain, but fully conscious. "Agents, is there anything I can do for you?"
"No, I think we're okay now. I've called in a request for backup so we should be getting some help any time now."
Looking over her shoulder at Casey and Sarah, who were working on the bomb, she commented, "It may be a moot point soon."
The agents exchanged looks of concern and then Angela spoke for the first time, "Ms. Verbanski, I called Agent Bright about the truck departing. Has he called back or shown up?"
"No, Marconi, he hasn't. Let's hope he was able to save Chu … Carmichael." Looking down, she continued, "Let's get you over into some better light so we can see how those ribs look. We can't do much for you right now, but at least we'll know what to tell the EMT's when they arrive."
Gertrude patted McDonagall on the shoulder who knelt down and easily lifted her in his arms. He carried her over to the light sitting in the middle of the floor, near the bomb. Gertrude brought over a wooden crate for her to sit on and then pulled her blouse up to look at the wound. "Well, the bullet is still lodged in there and you probably have a broken rib, but it could be a lot worse." She tore a patch from the bottom of Marconi's blouse and pressed it against the wound, eliciting a hissing intake of air from the agent. "Hold that in place to get the bleeding stopped."
"Hey! Hey, inside. We need some help out here!" A voice from outside was calling into the warehouse. "Agent Walker, are you in there?"
At the mention of her name, Sarah's head snapped up and over towards the door. Casey lifted her up and gave her a small shove, "Go, Walker, go see if it's Chuck."
She was in a dead run within two steps; Agent McDonagall followed but at a discreet distance, in case it was an ambush. But Sarah just didn't care. Her heart had leapt into her throat and she just prayed it was Chuck. As she sped out into the street she saw two men, one obviously injured, and being supported by the other. Even in the poor light she knew the injured man was her husband, the man she intended to spend the rest of her life with, although with a ticking time bomb inside, that might be only a matter of minutes now. If this is really the end, at least I will be in his arms at the end!
Quickly, Sarah moved to the men and got in under Chuck's other arm to help support him. Her voice didn't want to work, but finally, "Chuck," came out, but only as a whisper. Together, she and Agent Bright, were able to move more quickly, and entered the warehouse. McDonagall now moved out from his hiding place and grabbed another box for Chuck to sit on.
They moved to where Angela was sitting and started to put Chuck down, but he waved them off. "No, no, no, no. I've got to disarm that bomb. Help me over there. Come on people, we don't want to die here."
Casey moved aside as Chuck and Sarah came up and began looking over the mechanism. The clock hit 01:00 and kept on ticking. Chuck pulled off a plastic covering from the nose of the bomb housing and looked inside. He flashed instantly and the schematics popped up in his head.
"I need a flashlight here." Casey pulled his out and handed it to Sarah, who shined it inside the housing where Chuck was looking. Now he could see the whirling gyro and the contact points. As the gyro continued to spin the points were coming closer and closer. He had to stop all this movement in order to safely cut the power wires. "Screwdriver … anyone have a screwdriver?"
It was Verbanski's turn to contribute: she didn't have a screwdriver but she did have an icepick. Casey stared at the weapon and then grunted. "What? It's just as deadly as a knife, and it fits in my fatigues better." She handed the icepick to Chuck, and he inserted it into a slot at the front end of the gyro. It made contact with the spinning wheel and began to emit a grinding noise. The further he pushed it in, the louder the grinding became until there was snap. Chuck smiled as the grinding stopped and everyone stared at him to see what he would do next.
"Sarah, now I could use one of your ever famous knives." Smiling back at him, she reached, this time, into her fatigue top, just below her left shoulder, and pulled out another vicious looking knife, the blade snapping open before she handed it to Chuck. A couple of wow's came from McDonagall when he saw the deadly beauty of the weapon, not to mention where she had been carrying it. Chuck took it and carefully threaded it through several wires. With a tug, the complete set of green wires all severed and … they all looked from him to the clock and back again … and they all saw that the clock had stopped … at 0:07 ... of course!
Scene 124. February 3, 2013
8:25 pm (Cairo)
Inside the warehouse
The four friends stood there, staring at each other. Each knew they had yet again dodged a very big bullet, and the feeling was just a bit overwhelming.
"Ungh. Nice job, moron." So it was Casey who made the joke that finally broke the tension. They all laughed and then the four of them were in a giant, group hug. Casey looked a bit uncomfortable at first but then pulled the two women close to him and Chuck wrapped his long arms around all four.
Marconi, McDonagall, and Bright just looked on, mostly in amazement. When McDonagall started to say something Angela waved him off, indicating she would fill them in later.
They were still embracing when two vehicles raced up outside. Eight men, all carrying automatic weapons, moved inside quickly, and were met by Agent Bright. Four of the men quickly began securing the building, checking the bodies strewn around the warehouse, to see if any were still alive. The other four came over to the others; two took up guard at the bomb, while the other two began to work on Marconi's wounds.
As the long embrace ended, Chuck started to lose his balance and Sarah grabbed him; she helped him move over to the other box. When he was seated, she squatted in front of him and grabbed his face. Looking deeply into his eyes she practically growled at him, "You. Will. Never. Ever. Do. That. Again. Do you hear me, mister?" And then she pulled him closer, crashing her lips into his. If the other agents had been surprised at their four person hug, they were completely bowled over by this PDA.
The kiss deepened further until finally Casey grunted once again, "Geez. Get a room, will ya? Can't be together for five minutes without doing that."
As he turned away from them he was met by Gertrude Verbanski, and he soon found himself in exactly the same position as Chuck. It took him a moment, but then he relaxed and pulled her tightly against him. It had really been a long time for these two!
Bright was standing near the bomb and his mouth was just hanging open. He knew he had picked up a vibe between Walker and Carmichael, but had no clue about Casey and Verbanski. Will this day get any weirder? And he just continued to stare in amazement.
Chuck and Sarah had broken their kiss but continue to embrace. Chuck pulled back slightly when a thought, other than how he wanted to get this beautiful woman alone, invaded his consciousness: "Hey, I hate to break up this love fest, but we need to call Beckman and Morgan. Casey, you have your satellite phone on you?"
Casey broke their kiss and had to take a moment to catch his breath. With a breathy quality to his voice he responded, "Ye-yeah. I'll contact Grimes; he can set up a conference call. Just give me a sec."
He pulled away from Gertrude and brought out the phone. It took several minutes to get all the protocols taken care of, and then they could all hear Morgan's voice as Casey pulled it away from his ear with a grimace. "Grimes! Hey, moron! Shut up a minute. Listen. To. Me!" Casey paused for a moment and when the noise on the phone had stilled, he continued, "Listen up: we are fine here and have captured the nuke. Set up a conference call with Beckman and call us back." He didn't even wait for a reply but hung up immediately. He knew it was the only way to get Grimes to shut up and make the other call.
The medic finished with Angela and moved over to Chuck. While he worked on his various bruises and abrasions, Sarah moved over to Angela and embraced her. "I am so sorry you've been injured, Angela. I really thought you had the safest approach."
"Sarah, it's okay. Can't get into this life and not expect a few gunshot wounds and mishaps." Her eyes brightened as she smiled and said, "It's my first battle scar!" The two girls laughed lightly and then she continued, "I'm just glad you two are okay looks like you and Chuck took the brunt of her wrath."
"We girls have to look after each other, too, you know." They looked at each other once again and smiled, knowing they had found kindred spirits in one another.
She did not want to get any further away from Chuck than absolutely necessary, so she began hovering over him while the medics tried to work. The second medic had given her a cold pack and she held it to her now swollen and discolored cheekbone. Ryker had hit pretty hard, but she used to get more bruises from a hard workout with Casey, although he had always avoided her face.
As they worked on his various abrasions from his encounter with the pavement, Chuck called out, "Agent Bright, did anyone call you about the truck that left here? The woman in charge of this operation was driving. We need to find a way track her."
A big smile popped up on Jason Bright's face, "Oh, yeah. Actually, we just need to drive back to our truck to pick her up." He continued to smile as everyone was suddenly staring at him. "Well, when Ang … er, Agent Marconi … called me, I started driving back here. I saw the truck coming and we played a little game of chicken with her ending up in the ditch, and the truck on fire. She tried to run but I grabbed a rope and lassoed her. Then I pulled her down and calf-roped her, just before her truck exploded." Mouths had dropped open around the room at this no-nonsense, matter-of-fact, description of his capture of Victoria Ryker.
"Lassoed? Calf-roped? As in rodeo … cowboys … big bulls and crazy clowns?"
"Yeah. I'm from Wyoming and rode the circuit for a few years in my teens and early twenties. I was National Calf-Roping Champion back in '08."
"Ungh!" It was Casey's wow, that's really cool grunt and he slapped Bright on the back. "Let's go get your little calf." They walked out, jumped in one of the cars, and took off in a cloud of dust.
They returned in about ten minutes, followed a very dirty, disheveled, and extremely angry, Victoria Ryker. Her hands were tied behind her back and Casey held the end of a rope, like a leash, that was also tied to her hands. The men had wrapped several layers of duct tape around her head and over her mouth. She could walk, but just barely, her limp even more pronounced than before.
Sarah walked over to her, and stood in front of her, hands on her hips. Rage poured out of Ryker's intensely dark eyes and she was ranting and raving, despite the tape keeping anything coherent from coming out of her mouth. Sarah was having a difficult time not going completely ninja crazy all over her, but the professional in her, not to mention the newly remembered Bartowski compassion, kept her reined in. Instead, she smiled, "Geez, Casey, put enough duct tape on her?"
"Had to. She chewed through the first piece. This is one crazy bi…."
"I get it, I get it. So, Miss Ryker, I know you can't talk, but we thought you would be pleased to know we have captured all your nukes and destroyed most of the other weapons. Sorry to spoil your little party." Turning on her heel, Sarah walked away.
Ryker started to leap at her but Casey yanked her back with the leash and shoved her to the floor. "Stay!"
Scene 125. February 3, 2013
10:34 am (LA)
Carmichael Industries
Morgan and Alex were on pins and needles. They had not heard anything in two hours and the suspense was making them both crazy. They hadn't expected to hear anything for quite awhile, but this was excruciating. They still had Chuck and Sarah's trackers and could see they were at, or in, the warehouse, but whether they were still working their way in, were in the middle of a battle, had taken over the building, or were being held captive themselves, they had no way of knowing.
General Beckman had called twice to inquire about the progress and was obviously aggravated with the lack of news. The last time she called, Alex suggested she try to get some rest. Despite the look of anger on her face, which had taken on a permanent set during the course of the past month, she soften her look just a bit and thanked Alex for her concern.
When the satellite phone signal sounded they both jumped in surprise. When she heard her dad's voice on the phone, Alex pumped her fist in the air and did a pirouette before letting a big "Yessssssss" come out of her mouth.
Morgan was beside himself and immediately began peppering Casey with questions, and running on and on about everything and nothing at all. Finally Casey had had enough and growled through the phone, "Grimes! Hey, moron! Shut up a minute. Listen. To. Me!" Alex grabbed Morgan in a bear hug and whispered a quiet "Shhhhhh" into his ear. Once it was quiet, Casey assured them they were okay and the nuke secured. He then asked them to set up a conference call with Beckman.
"Dad! When will you…." But he had already hung up.
Alex looked dejected, but Morgan kissed her cheek and reassured her that this was just Casey's way. "He knows, if he didn't hang up, we'd pester him to death with questions, and then we wouldn't be getting the call to Beckman setup. So we'd better get busy."
They placed the call to the General but her assistant answered. The General was asleep, she informed them, and did not want to wake her. But when they told her the news from Boosaaso, she relented and moved off camera. They heard some soft conversation and then the assistant came back in view. "The General needs five minutes, please. Let's go ahead and get the conference call set up. She should be ready before all the security protocols are approved.
Morgan got busy, on CI's end, to connect the call to Casey's phone. It had been exactly four minutes thirty-two seconds when the General sat down at her desk and looked at Morgan in her monitor. "Are we set Mr. Grimes?" She looked very, very tired, but Alex could detect a bit of relief in her eyes.
"All set, General. Casey are you there?"
"We are all here. Chuck even found some old computer equipment so we can go visual, although it will be a less than ideal connection. Chuck, hit it."
Suddenly a picture came on Morgan's screen and he was looking at his oldest friend, Chuck Bartowski. Alex gasped when she saw him because, even through the very grainy picture, he really looked tired and beaten up. "Buddy, what've you been doing over there? You like you've been run over by a truck."
"You have no idea, dude, you have no idea. I'll fill you in when we get home."
Morgan had been punching buttons and working his trackball while they talked. The monitor blinked twice and the picture split twice. General Beckman was in the upper lefthand corner, Chuck in the upper righthand corner and he could see himself in the bottom center. "General, Chuck, I've done a three way split of the screen. Do you each have the split as well?"
"Excellent, Mr. Grimes" and "Way to go, Morgan" came at the same time, from the two upper splits.
"Congratulations to one and all. Mr. Grimes informs me that you have secured the final weapon, as well as capturing Ms. Ryker. From the looks of Mr. Bartowski, it appears you are a little worse for wear."
"We're okay, General. Sarah and I ran into a bit of a meat grinder and Agent Marconi has been shot. However, it appears to be a minor wound, and she is still here with us. Otherwise, there are no casualties on our side."
"All good news. Now, we need to determine how to get all of you, as well as the weapon, out of country. It's going to have to be driven out. Any thoughts on your end?"
Casey stepped up to the camera, "General, we concur about driving the nuke out. Verbanski and I can take that on. We thought Djibouti would be the best destination, if you can arrange transport from there. However, we think Chuck, Sarah and Agent Marconi need to be evacuated sooner, due to their wounds."
Sarah started to protest but Gertrude took her arm and held her back. When Sarah looked at her she just shook her head and put her finger to her lips.
"I would feel better if you had more backup on your drive, Casey. Would you object to Agents McDonagall and Bright accompanying you?"
Casey looked at Gertrude who nodded her head and mouthed, good idea. He then looked at the two agents and they both gave a thumbs up signal. He turned back to the camera, "Excellent idea, General. We appreciate the help."
"Mr. Casey: ask the agents if their safe house can accommodate all of you for a few hours, while we set this all up."
McDonagall spoke up: "It will be a bit crowded, but at least everyone can get cleaned up and fed."
"Alright everyone, I will get the logistics set up and call back. I'm not sure how long it will take so keep someone awake for the call. Mr. Grimes, a word in private, if you please. Again everyone, my thanks, and the country's thanks, for a job well done."
Morgan broke the connection to Boosaaso but kept the General on the screen, "Yes, ma'am. What can we do for you now?"
"Mr. Grimes, Ms. McHugh, I can not tell you just how invaluable you have been to this entire operation. I have to ask you to remain on station for a few more hours while we set up the extraction. Once we have everyone in motion, you may stand down. You should insist that Carmichael Industries spring for a very long, very expensive vacation. And tell them I will split the bill. I will be in touch."
Once she was off the screen, Morgan turned, picked up Alex, and swung her around in a big circle. They were both laughing and crying with joy, knowing their friends and family were finally all safe. As he let her feet come back down to the floor their eyes met, and soon their lips connected.
A/N2: Two more chapters to come, in order to get our dear friends home again. Hope you don't mind a calm, relaxing Charah ending.
