I don't own Chuck

Two weeks and a half weeks ago

"I'm a criminal," Chuck muttered to himself. "I've committed Grand Theft Auto…is there an equivalent of Grand Theft Auto in the Czech Republic?"

"Does it matter?" Bryce asked, his head laid back against the passenger seat, bored out of his mind, having listened to Chuck go on and on about him now being a criminal. "Buddy, this is the spy life."

"If I leave gas money, will that be okay?" Chuck wondered aloud. "I was able to get in without damaging the car, hot wire it without damaging the car. Maybe they'll think it was a joyriding teen." He turned to Bryce. "They have those here, right? That's not just an American thing?"

"This is the worst ideas in the history of ideas," Bryce groused.

"Well, if you don't like it, you can just leave!" Chuck snapped, and suddenly he was all alone. "Bryce?" Chuck called. He had sent Bryce away. Chuck remembered how Bryce had told him to bring him back, but right now, he needed quiet, he needed to be alone.

In his head he now had access to all the safe houses Sarah had procured over the years with the Anderson cover. Apparently she had many others while she was with something called the CAT Squad (he really wasn't sure if he should ask her about that or not) but after there was apparently some distrust amongst the members, all the properties they had acquired were sold.

Sarah apparently understood real estate very well, because she made a huge profit. She used those funds, along with others the CIA had approved, to obtain various safe house and stock them with cash and other needed things. He had always known it, but he had more proof than ever that not only was Sarah Walker a certified badass, but also one of the smartest people he had ever met…and he had gone to Stanford, so that was really saying something.

His plan was simple, get to the first safe house in Tabor, borrow some money from Sarah (he hoped one day the CIA would reimburse him or it was going to take forever to pay her back), borrow a vehicle, and access the net to begin his reign of terror on the Ring.

He didn't understand the CIA and NSA. If you know where money is held by groups, why not freeze it? It was a bloodless attack and killed morale. Or better yet, send the money to needy kids or some other charity.

As he drove and the miles melted he hoped she understood his plan when she finally caught up with him. He was going to have to contact his dad for help with some of this, and he was going to have to convince him to convince Ellie. He sighed. Ellie was going to yell. She was going to yell so loud.

Ellie had a blind spot when it came to Chuck, and he knew it. If Chuck wasn't related to her, she would tell him this was the best idea because the only person it put in any danger was him…well, maybe Sarah, but Sarah was Sarah and Chuck was pretty sure this level of danger was something she would scoff at.

To be able to break an organization without ever having to fight or kill, or if they did, only involving minimum people…it was the optimal solution…except in Ellie's Bartowski's mind because it would eventually put one person in the cross hairs, himself.

He had to draw out the Ring leaders, that was the key, and Chuck knew, after reading report after report in the Intersect, that there were those in the CIA and NSA still that were working for the Ring. Chuck also knew by messing with the money, that would draw out those assisting the Ring, and by stopping them, they could began to slowly drain the Ring of all support. If they had no money, no suppliers, and no one to help, the Ring would collapse in on itself. At least that was the plan.

That was why he needed Sarah. While she always shook her head at his plans, she never told him they were so outrageous they wouldn't work. She would point out flaws and they could tweak them. He didn't know why she had resisted so much of what her fellow agents seemed to have ingrained in them. He didn't know why she seemed to be able to think independently and realize there were multiple solutions to most answers in life. He wasn't arrogant enough to think it was him, but he hoped, and he prayed that maybe, just maybe, he was a catalyst in changing her way of thinking.

Over the last few days on the train, when Bryce wasn't there, he had gone over mission report after mission report of Sarah before she came to Burbank, and he saw it even then. That spark of independence, of understanding that sometimes there was a different solution than point and click. Not that she didn't follow orders, but in spots where she could save a life, she did. In spots where others would take an easier way and not worry about casualties, she took the harder path, but the one that saved innocents.

He couldn't help but think about that drive from Barstow, where she admitted what she was doing could sent her to prison. Apparently he was worth it. As he pulled into the safe house he hoped and prayed she still thought so. If he was right, knowing the CIA and NSA the way he did after two years, he was certain if he were presumed dead, they would send Sarah to find out who had kidnapped him and why. That was what Chuck was counting on. That part he was certain. Sarah's reaction….he had no idea.

-ooooo-

Now

Stephen tripled checked the name Eleanor had sent him. Daniel Shaw. Special Agent Daniel Shaw, Ring expert. Stephen felt nervous about this. His instincts told him Shaw was dirty and Charles should run. But Charles never ran, never, even when he should. Charles always ran in to danger. He was so much like his mother, protecting his family, protecting others, at his own detriment. He couldn't do like Mary and Charles. It wasn't in him. He stared at the screen for a long time. Finally he opened a window and sent a message. Maybe it was a mistake, but this was about family, and it was time, it was time to start making amends.