Disclaimer: Don't own Chuck.
Okay here it is! Salami+part of Nemesis.
My last chapter before I go back to making computers sad.
I'm glad people are enjoying this story. Sorry if this is a bit rushed, I had a hard deadline before I have to prep to go back to work.
If anyone finds any flaws, feel free to let me know and I can fix it, normally I just review my stuff the next day, but that's not an option.
This is my first fanfiction, so I apologize, but how does one find a beta reader?
November 12, 2007 – Sarah's apartment.
Sarah grumbled as she woke, without Chuck was there her feet were cold, she woke up feeling discontent, the alarm was louder, and getting out of bed was slower. She got ready for the day and lovingly folded her purloined shirt, now that she'd seen the first? Fourth? Star Wars movie she recognized Darth Vader on the shirt, and the quote was much funnier now. "Come to the Dark Side, We have cookies."
Chuck was at NSA today and she had to go into Langley for weapon re-qualification, so she spent the night at her apartment.
Nothing in her life had prepared her for Chuck, after the realization that she'd been deficient as a girlfriend she threw herself into getting better at it. Making love with Chuck was incredible, when people said "Making Love" was different than "Sex" she'd scoffed, it was a pleasurable mechanical act that released hormones and relieved urges.
She was happy that she was wrong. Very happy.
She tried to understand relationships, communication was a challenge, but she was making progress. Chuck would happily devour every minor detail she divulged. She marveled at how he functioned, he noticed she never ordered olives on her pizza, so he'd made sure that whenever they were doing a team dinner, she got an olive-free pizza. Simple small things that all added up, she needed to be better at those. It still confused her when she thought about it, going from meeting someone to being so important to them and having them be important to you.
They were heading out to LA today, to sync up with the Navy, Coast Guard, and GRS elements that were going to intercept the package in three days. She was also excited because it would mean she could finally meet the mysterious "Ellie." Chuck's sister had called a few times while she'd been over, and the woman sounded almost too happy and enthusiastic, it was almost infectious over the phone, she could go from teasing Chuck to being proud of him in a sentence.
She wanted to see that live.
The agencies were moving into position, they were going to take the fight to the rogue agents. Or as Rob and Chuck called it, "The Rot." They alternated between busy and nothing to do. They made the determination that though the Department of Homeland Security would be harder to clean out due to the size, it would make for a good first agency, they could operate anywhere without legal issues.
She dressed and drove into Langley, she found a range and a re-certification officer and began the process.
November 12, 2007 – TAO
Chuck walked into Rob's office, he looked gaunt. To be fair the entire TAO did, Mark had 6 cups of coffee stacked on his desk. The center of the office had a collection of coffee cups that were stacked into a pyramid.
"Rob, you okay?"
"You know Chuck, I was happy once, it was nice. I would like to go back there."
Chuck laughed quietly, "Gotcha, and I assume this happy place was before we discovered a group of our own people plotting against us?"
"No, it was before my team started worshiping a pyramid of coffee cups and making offerings of caffeine to it."
"We all cope in mysterious ways."
"Shut up Chuck." Chuck laughed.
Rob smiled, "So what brings you in?"
"I'll be heading out west today, might not be back until after Thanksgiving, wanted to see if you needed anything before I took off."
"Nope, enjoy the time with the family. Happy Hunting out there. I'll see you afterward."
Rob paused, "You're introducing Sarah to them?"
"Yeah. I am."
"Good. Good, I'm happy for you."
November 12, 2007 – CIFA
Casey finished briefing everyone. "Okay, Bartowski, Walker, and I will be heading out west today. Stay safe and keep up the good work and enjoy Thanksgiving."
As soon as Walker and Bartowski got here they'd head out. Bartowski had asked for and been approved to see his family over Thanksgiving, Walker was going with him as his girlfriend, and he'd invited Casey along as well.
Chuck pulled into CIFA and went into the SCIF, Sarah and Casey were already there waiting for him.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm the last one, Rob says Happy Hunting."
"Sounds good, let's head out."
They hop in Casey's Crown Victoria and drive off. Chuck leans back in his chair and dozes lightly. He feels a tickle on the back of his neck. He leans forward and rubs it, he leans back and starts to doze, the tickle returns. He looks behind him and Sarah is leaning back in her chair staring out the window.
He settles back and when the tickle returns, he immediately snaps his head back and sees her teasing smile.
"Walker, can you wait until I get on the plane? That way I can be sick in peace."
"Nope"
Casey grunts.
They board the flight and take off. They're staying at a Marriott near the harbor. On the flight Chuck starts reading over the information again, hoping to glean one last insight before they go into their meeting, he takes his usual spot on the couch when Sarah takes the open spot and lays down with her head on his lap. By the time they take off she's asleep.
Chuck gently starts to shake Sarah awake, she makes a cute noise and ignores him, he rolls his eyes and pokes her side she squirms and sits up.
They deplane, grab a car, and go to the Coast Guard station.
After signing in they're escorted to a conference room, there they find GRS, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard personnel.
A Navy Captain stands up and starts the briefing.
"Whatever this package is, Yari has invested a great deal of money to get it here, he had his ship which departed Norway go through the Panama Canal and land here instead of docking anywhere on the East Coast, whatever is on that ship, they need it here."
He points at the Coast Guard Commander sitting in her chair, this is Commander Billing, she'll be in charge of the Hamilton which will officially be conducting the intercept. Our GRS colleagues will board the boat and find the package.
We'll have support from the USS Chosin should we need it. Also, there will be an RC-135 overhead, thanks to the gentlemen from the 55th.
The CIFA team will be on board the Hamilton."
Details and positioning are discussed, nothing is left to chance.
Chuck, Sarah, and Casey checked into their hotel. Casey went to bed, Chuck and Sarah took the rental car to a Mexican restaurant and enjoyed a quiet dinner together.
"So, since we're already done with work, we have a few spare days, why don't you give me the "Chuck Bartowski" tour? Take me to all the great places that you used to hang out?"
"We'll have to check with Casey, but sure! I'd love to. It's about an hour-ish away to Burbank."
They ate and chatted for an hour before heading back to the hotel. Officially Sarah had her own room, she did not plan on using it. They got ready for bed and Sarah changed into "her" Stanford shirt and she happily kisses him as she got in.
November 13, 2007 – 0700
She felt sated as she woke up, she hoped that she wasn't loud enough to bother Casey. Chuck was in the shower and she decided to join him. Saving water was a good thing right?
After saving neither time nor water, they both got ready for the day and Casey approved them using the car to go to Burbank, he was going to head into the local NSA substation.
Chuck and Sarah set off, after an hour they arrived in Burbank. "Okay, I told Ellie we're in town for some Forest Service thing, she's really excited to meet you. She said she and Awesome get off shift at 1900 tonight. So we'll be able to meet up with them and get dinner."
"So, you took me to a BuyMore?" Her face grows pensive, "Is this the BuyMore?"
"Yeah, I worked here throughout high school and the summers I would come home to have some money. It was probably where I spent the most time aside from home."
He looks nostalgic a bit, "But that's all in the past now! Come on let's go take a look, you can meet some of my old friends."
She's interested, what was a younger Chuck like, was he more open? Would that be possible? She's curious, almost hungry, she wants to know more about the lanky man that occupies her thoughts.
He grabs her hand and pulls her into the store, they walk inside and are immediately greeted by an abrupt Asian man, "Bartowski!"
She is surprised at the level of derision in his voice, who could dislike Chuck?
He just squeezes her hand and says, "Hey Harry, how's it going?"
"If you're here for the Assistant Manager position," At this Sarah has to keep from laughing. What level of delusion is this strange man experiencing? She realizes he's still talking, "… and any day now Big Mike will make me the leader of all these peons."
Huh, she's heard megalomania like that before, usually, she gets told to take care of them before they become a threat. Chuck is nodding and sees someone, he's excited. A bearded man runs up to him and hugs him.
Okay, this is new. "Chuck, my heterosexual life partner, you're back, you're really back."
Oh. She will forever use this to make fun of him, the problem with dating someone so charmingly sweet is you get nothing to tease them with. This makes up for all of that.
Who is this strange little man? "Morgan, this is Sarah." Ah, Morgan. Plays video games at 4 am and then calls Chuck to talk about them.
She's prepared to take his hand, but all he says is, "Nice to meet you." Oh okay, maybe he takes a while to warm up to people. Chuck looks at him funny, then throws an arm around the little man, "Morgan and I have known each other since we were kids, we went to the same schools and-"
"Then you left me to go work on tree radios."
"Not tree radios buddy, radios for… you know what never mind."
So this is his oldest friend, there is a wealth of Chuck related information, she wants to know it all.
A booming voice echos through the store, she's not entirely sure she's in reality anymore, this place is more of a monument to improv comedy than a retail establishment.
"BARTOWSKI!"
Chuck turns to the right, "Big Mike!"
"Good to see you Bartowski, good to see you. Government treating you well?"
"Yes sir, they are."
"Good glad to hear it, you were too good for this place, haven't found anyone with your talent yet. These nerds are nothing like you." Oh good, he recognizes talent.
"And who is this?"
"Big Mike, this is Sarah Walker, she's my girlfriend."
He shakes her hand, "Good to meet you, you've got a great man there."
She smiles, "Oh believe me I know it."
"I've got to get back to my sandwich, glad to see you're doing well!" he wanders off.
"Morgan buddy, you got time for lunch?"
"Yep! I've got a new place, Lou's. Replaced the old Subway."
"Perfect let's go!"
As they get there a harried tiny brunette greets them, "Morgan oh thank god, you work at the BuyMore right?"
"Yeah I do, what's up?"
"My phone keeps breaking, last time I took it there they said they fixed it, but it's broken again. My whole life is on this thing!"
Okay, the tiny sandwich lady is clearly losing it over the phone. How could someone as normal as Chuck come out of this environment?
Maybe there's something in the water.
Oh, Morgan is talking, "… he'll fix your phone for you."
Chuck looks irritated, "Morgan, I'm not-"
The tiny brunette is practically pleading. Chuck is too nice, he relents and takes a sandwich for his trouble. She watches him work, she notices the brunette staring at Chuck.
She does not care for that.
Chuck uses a little screwdriver Morgan brought from the BuyMore and tinkers with the phone for a few minutes. He hands the phone to Morgan, "Here give this to her, and no more volunteering me to fix things okay?"
The brunette runs out and is about to hug Chuck, he sticks his hand out to shake hers. She bats it aside and hugs him.
Do not kill the civilian. Do not kill the civilian. Killing civilians is bad. All she is doing is expressing gratitude.
Lou has stepped back and starting thanking him again. Chuck is clearly uncomfortable with the effusive praise, she decides to end this. "Hi, why don't you take a seat? I'm Sarah, Chuck's girlfriend." Lou goes bright red, "I am so sorry, just my life is on this thing. I am super sorry, I should have guessed he was taken."
"He is, very taken."
Lou awkwardly moves away. Good.
Now Chuck is grateful to her. She needs to teach him how to handle praise and politely decline hugs.
Especially from tiny brunettes.
Chuck is nervous, they're going to meet Ellie. She can tell that he hopes this won't be too embarrassing. They pull into the parking spot. "So, this is where we grew up." She looks around, it's nice, she can picture Chuck running around the fountain as a kid, granted, she can also picture him doing that now with the right motivation.
Chuck knocks on the door, a stunning woman opens the door and hugs Chuck, "I'm so happy you're here! Come on in! Oh, this must be Sarah, she's beautiful!"
Sarah sticks her hand out for a shake, she finds it batted aside and is pulled into a bone-crushing hug.
Ellie steps back, "It's so nice to meet you! Please come in, Devon is just getting out of the shower he'll be out in a minute."
Her boyfriend smiles at her, "so this is Casa Bartowski," He's giving her the tour of the place, It looks so alive but orderly. She can see a young Chuck doing his homework at the table there as Ellie helped him.
An ache makes itself known in her chest, a deep ache, She wants this, not now, there's work to do. But after. After this mission, she wants this.
He pulls her out of her thoughts and up to his old room. There are all kinds of stuff on the walls. It's been turned into an exercise room by the looks of it, but the décor was left intact. It's a more haphazard version of what Chuck has in his apartment in Maryland.
A tall man walks down the hallway, this must be Awesome. She expected Chuck to be exaggerating, he was not. How was he a surgeon instead of a male model? His voice booms, "Chuckster! It's good to see you." Chuck is swept up into a hug. The man turns to her, "BRO! Good job!" he high-fives Chuck.
"Thanks, Awesome." Chuck sounds winded.
These Bartowskis are so full of life.
She definitely wants this.
He sticks his hand out, "I'm Devon, nice to meet you."
"Sarah, same."
"Ellie's been cooking an awesome dinner, come on."
They go back to the kitchen.
Dinner is served, the conversation is lively.
"So Chuck said you're a Ranger?"
"Yep, I was assigned to keep an eye on him when he was helping us set up our new radio net."
"That's amazing! I still can't believe my brother works for the Forest Service, but he seems so happy there." Her expression is fond and slightly teasing.
"I am."
Devon interjects, "I can see why."
Ellie hits his arm, "Devon!"
"I meant being outdoors and getting to climb trees all day would be awesome, what did you think I meant?"
Ellie gives him a flat look.
Sarah laughs.
"So what brings you out here?"
Sarah looks a bit awkward, "Well… Technically Chuck is out here for a meeting to discuss some of our new monitoring tools. I officially speaking am on vacation. Government pays for a hotel room and we can enjoy the scenery." She ends the lie with a smile.
Ellie laughs, "Oh, Devon and I did stuff like that when we were just starting out. We'd find places that offered free hotel nights if you'd listen to a timeshare pitch. We'd go, take the vacation and decline the timeshare." She has a wistful smile as she remembers those days.
Devon nods, "Great way to get away for the weekend, and try new places."
They talk until late into the night, Sarah loves this.
How could anyone abandon these two?
They get back to the hotel, Chuck pulls out a small bag, he looks nervous.
"Sarah, I wanted to do this over Christmas, but I didn't want to wait that long…" He pulls out a small charm bracelet.
"This was my mother's, my father gave it to her when Ellie was born…umm... I wanted to give it to you because-"
She cuts him off with a kiss. He puts it on her wrist.
She'll never take it off.
They're on the Hamilton, everyone is tense.
"This is Burning Wind, we own the airwaves."
"Understood Burning Wind."
"Happy Hunting, Hamilton"
The plane goes silent.
They see Yari's ship, "Attention Motor Vessel Stavros, this is the USCGC Hamilton, stand to and prepare to be boarded."
The Stavros slows down. They see men on the deck panicking. The GRS team deploys in the RHIBs, there's sporadic gunfire from the Stavros. The Hamilton moves to recover the RHIBs,
"USS Chosin our boarders have taken fire, we are requesting support."
The Chosin fires flares, the Stavros sees her and that the helicopters take off from her deck.
Against the Hamilton she had no chance, against both the Hamilton and Chosin? The men drop their weapons.
The RHIBs go out again, this time the helicopters are supporting them. The coordinator watches the video of the GRS team as they board the boat.
There is no resistance, the crew is rounded up and arrested. They tow the ship into port. Casey, Sarah, and Chuck are taken to the van where they watch the GRS men start unloading the package.
They hear shouts over the radio, "Bomb."
"Command, this is Starlight, the package is a bomb, request EOD."
"Starlight, this is Command, EOD inbound."
The port is being cleared, alarms are going off, Sarah takes Chuck's hand.
A new monitor comes alive, the EOD crew is here, they move in slowly.
"This is Green, we are beginning analysis."
"Godspeed Green."
The two EOD men talk through everything, Chuck asks her, "Why are they saying everything?"
One of the van techs looks over at him, "Everything is being recorded, we need to know what went wrong if it goes off."
"Oh."
The timer starts counting down, the EOD men are methodical.
Everyone braces they are safe here, nothing happens.
"Command, this is Green, Timer is at zero, we have no detonation."
The video shows the pod opening, the words "failsafe" are flashing across the readout. The GRS men run back to the pod, the video screens from the GRS team and the EOD team show the same thing.
Casey's voice is first, "I killed him."
Chuck is silent, Sarah squeezes his hand.
Her voice is rough, "Not well enough."
Bryce takes a breath, his eyes open, Sarah speaks into the microphone before anyone can give an order. "GRS, detain subject."
There are no questions, she likes working with professionals. Bryce is restrained, a black bag is placed over his head and they bundle him away for interrogation.
Sarah can feel Chuck shaking, she pulls him outside and holds him, of course, it would be Bryce-Fucking-Larkin.
With his luck somehow the Constellation data would be on the PC of the Dean who authorized his expulsion.
Chuck and Sarah get back to their room after debriefing, they've been ordered to find out everything they can. Interrogation begins tomorrow.
For tonight, Sarah may not have the words, but she'll show him with everything she can just what he means to her.
The interrogation is going nowhere, Bryce refuses to talk with anyone. They moved him to a secure facility in LA and he has been silent since. Sarah had the Constellation cards brought out, Casey shoved the diagnostic one in his face. Nothing. Damn, she heard that one was supposed to be painful.
He hadn't looked at the data.
Bryce smiles at the camera and says the first words anyone's heard from him. "If you're done wasting time, send Chuck Bartowski. I'll talk with him."
Sarah wants to see if Larkin can withstand that technique she learned from an Algerian interrogator.
Beckman orders Chuck to talk with him.
Beckman is now on top of her shit list.
Chuck steels himself and walks in. The door closes.
Larkin says something in an unknown language.
Chuck looks exasperated, and replies in the same language, what the hell? He can't speak other languages, they talked about this.
Casey looks at her with confusion, "I don't know, I can identify most languages, but… this is not something I know."
"Something made up?"
"Maybe, but it's too structured for that. Unless they took the time to write out rules and sentence construction."
"Wouldn't put it past them."
She's watching, the shouting is escalating. Casey orders the orderly into the room to sedate Larkin, they'll try again tomorrow.
She hears the crash and spins around, the orderly is unconscious, Larkin is holding a needle to Chuck's neck.
Larkin is holding a needle. To. Chuck's. Neck.
She reaches for her gun and or a knife. She'd been ordered to surrender them.
She was going to hurt whoever decided that. The alarms start going off, the facility is entering lockdown.
Bryce is using Chuck's body to cover him as he goes to the elevator out. Why is the elevator still working?
"Sarah, SANDWALL. Tell them to look into SANDWALL, the people you're hunting are called Fulcrum. I'll see you later, once you know I'm telling the truth."
He winks at her and makes an air kiss.
Casey shouts after him, "You better hope I'm the one that catches you." Larkin flips him off with the hand around Chuck's neck.
He pulls Chuck into the elevator, she runs for the stairs. Due to the lockdown, the door to access the stairwell is locked. She's about to kick it off its hinges when the alarms shut off and it unlocks.
She runs up to the top, Chuck's body is lying motionless on the concrete, their car is gone.
She feels herself run over to him, she drops to her knees. There's a pulse, thank goodness. Medics and guards come out. The lead medic tells her Chuck will be fine, the sedative will wear off in a few hours.
Good, a lot can be done in a few hours. They report the information to Graham and Beckman, both of who promise to validate it.
"Walker, Stop!" She's taken the keys to one of the vehicles in the lot. The objections of the owner hadn't bothered her any.
Casey is running after her, he knows better than to try and physically restrain her.
"No! If this were anyone else, I'd let you talk me out of it. But this is Bryce-Fucking-Larkin, Chuck's nemesis, his bogeyman. And he just attacked Chuck, he hurt my Chuck. I don't know what he said to him before he used the sedative, but I am going to find out. You can follow me and make sure that I don't hurt him too badly, but you are not going to stop me."
Casey gets into the passenger seat, "I'm only going because we're supposed to take him alive."
"Alive is a very broad term Casey."
She chases him down, she knows him, she knows the way he secures extra documents, weapons, and the other tools of their trade. She enjoys the hunt.
This is old-fashioned spy work. It would have been easier with Chuck, he would have used some tool that the NSA made, or he would have made one on the fly and they'd have tracked him down using his laptop.
Oh well, Since it was her and Casey, neither of who the NSA would let near any of their nice tools. They had to do it their way. Badges are flashed and soon video cameras from surrounding businesses tell them the direction he went. Bryce was running effective counter-surveillance, but he still missed a camera here and there. It is painstaking work, the longer it takes the longer she's away from Chuck. They see the footage, Bryce is near a telephone pole, then he opens the utility box on the pole. That's where he hid everything. Good. He'll stay local then catch a flight out tomorrow.
She hoped Chuck didn't wake up while she was out, what would he think?
The phone call from Graham comes, Larkin's statements in the elevator have all been proven, SANDWALL was real, Fulcrum was able to slip a real operation in. This is terrifying, they are to detain him and return Larkin to a safe house, she happily notes the phrase "Unharmed" is nowhere to be found.
They canvas all hotels with new reservations and check-ins that night. Maison23 is the only one who reports a man matching Larkin's description.
Sarah flashed her badge at the night audit, the man says that he needs his manager's approval to give them a master key after telling them what room Larkin is in. Sarah has to count to ten in her head to prevent herself from snapping.
The audit can't get a hold of his boss, Sarah takes the key off of the counter and tells him to call the police, Casey stays behind to have a conversation with the audit. He hands her his cuffs.
She swipes the key and enters Larkin's room, Larkin awakens at the noise, he jumps out of bed in a ready stance. She subdues him easily. Had he always been this bad at hand to hand? She remembers their spars lasting longer than this.
She restrains him, between her cuffs and Casey's his hands and feet are cuffed to the chair and he's pushed up against the wall.
She needs to set the tone for this conversation, she throws the knife and it lands less than an inch from his foot.
He looks at her in shock, good. She would have preferred fear, but she can work with shock.
When he woke up in bed he thought he had no reason to fear her, then she'd been unnecessarily brutal in her takedown of him. Now the way she stood, the way she moved all reminded him of a predator about to pounce. She was once his partner, yeah he had knocked out Chuck, but she knew that it was nonlethal. All he had to do was explain the situation, evading corrupt CIA until they could prove he was telling the truth was easy to explain.
Then she'd let him free.
Why then did he get the feeling that his life was hanging by a thread?
He opened his mouth to explain, as he was about to speak he felt that same sensation that someone would feel standing on the ice and hearing a large cracking sound.
She growled, "You could have just taken the car, injecting him with a sedative was unnecessary. Beyond unnecessary."
"It was nonlethal, he would be fine."
She takes a deep breath and composes herself.
"What did you say to him? In that language, you were speaking. I thought I'd recognize every language on Earth, but clearly, I missed one. What was it?"
She's putting him at ease, which makes him more nervous.
"It was Klingon, we talked about Delgado and SANDWALL, I told him where I sent the data to. I would have sent it to him you know? Before I found out he was NSA."
"I would have gutted you like a fish if you had," her voice is matter of fact. This surprises him, she's treating him almost like a target, if that's the case, he'll need to be careful.
"Look, clearly something was miscommunicated here," He shakes one of his arms. "Why not let me out and we can talk this through."
"No Bryce, there is no talking things through, I will talk, you will listen.
You're going to tell me you're the hero here, you went deep undercover to secure the nation or whatever. The point is, you got to be the dramatic hero." She was pacing, "That's what you wanted so badly after you read my file wasn't it? What set you off? The French Assassins? Pakistan? Kabul? Belarus?"
He looks at her, he can't see any harm and the truth may buy him some goodwill, "All of it and nothing specific, your file read like an action movie, mine read like the trailers before one."
She chuckles, "You know, Chuck called me a superhero once. It's nice when he says it, makes me feel invincible." He's certain he isn't meant to hear that last part given how soft her voice is.
He comments anyway, "I mean he's right, you're like Wonder Woman. How'd you get paired up with him? Needed tech support? And once this… interrogation is done, what are you going to say?"
She looks confused, "What do you mean, what am I going to say?"
"We'll be assigned together to infiltrate Fulcrum, with how deep we're going…"
"Oh, you're mistaken, I'm not sure what will happen with you, but I know I'm staying with CIFA."
"Because of Chuck? Don't get me wrong, he's one of the bes-"
The knife flashes dangerously, he doesn't dare look into her eyes. The small bit of humanity that seeped into her voice as she was talking is gone.
"Best people you ever met? You know, I'm glad you said that, see. We had the opportunity to see something, a recording by Fleming…"
Bryce pales, "Look, Omaha woul-"
"Yes you're right," the knife tip is drug along his face he feels how sharp it is. Is that a charm bracelet on her wrist?
He starts at the words, "I'm right?"
"Oh yes, you were, Chuck is an incredibly kind man, a gentle soul really. And that would have destroyed him. But, Larkin, what your high-handed actions did was almost worse. You betrayed him. If Joyce hadn't found him, he would be stuck working at a BuyMore. A BuyMore!" her voice raises as she speaks, she's practically shouting. She calms down, "But that's not the point here, thankfully he isn't. As for you? Wherever you go, I wish you luck. Go take the good fight to Fulcrum. I'll be at CIFA, fighting them here."
She stared at him, "I know you Bryce, and let me make something clear. You think you can promise me a life of adventure, you think I'll get bored with Chuck. Nothing could be more wrong, but the issue is that Chuck thinks you'll steal me away, Chuck thinks that if a choice comes down between him and you, I'll pick you. I'm going to convince him that is not the case. I am going to spend the time, the effort, and the energy to make sure he knows that he is the center of my world."
She turned around and paced back and forth as she talked, the knife twirling in her hand, he looks carefully, it is a charm bracelet. "However, I know you, I know you're going to try and undermine that, you'll make him think that he's inadequate, that he's weak, or even that simply I'm trying to work him to get something. That will hurt him more, which will make my job of convincing him that much harder, I am not good at that, it may get to be too hard for me to succeed."
The knife blurred, it landed an inch from his head another appeared in her hand, "But! That will not happen, you know why?
Let me tell you a story, a girl gets approached by a man, that man says, "Your nation needs you."
That girl has no options. She becomes the nation's protector, she gets sent out on missions to defend the nation, she is sent out on a regular cadence defined by the best psych evaluators and mental health professionals that the CIA has, they say that a week between missions is enough to ground her. They design a program to keep her efficient. They say that her mental health will not deteriorate. They're right. But they forget something, that girl has nothing else, no family, no life, just work and because of that, she becomes cold.
She moves through the world protecting that nation in every way she can, all the while she gets colder."
Sarah is pacing as she talks, it's the pace of a panther or a jaguar, lethal grace. Her file talked endlessly about successful missions and completed objectives. How many men were in the position he was, how many thought with the right words they'd survive? How did he not know this side of her?
"She regrets nothing, because she has the privilege of being a protector, so that others can have a life, she is proud of that. She revels in her coldness."
Sarah's voice hardens further, "But then someone comes to the cold woman, and says someone has betrayed the nation she serves, someone she knows has hurt the nation she has spent her life protecting. She is told, hunt that traitor down." She looks at Bryce again her voice sharpens into a near snarl, "That would be you, in case you're not following along."
Bryce nods.
Sarah takes on a dreamlike tone, "When she starts that hunt, she meets a man, a wonderful man. That man, makes that cold woman feel warm. He makes her laugh. Not the edged laughter that you and I shared, over completed missions. Not the mocking laughter that Carina and I would share as the CATS broke yet another mark.
No, it's the warm laughter of a night in on the couch watching a movie. The comforting embrace of a stolen shirt that serves as a reminder for something more. The gentle burning of a friendship that deepens, the constant inferno that is the joy of having someone who wants to know you and care for you. He likes me, he wants to be with me.
He welcomed me into his home," her voice is even, another knife blurs it lands closer, he can feel the cold steel of the blade against his cheek. He can hear her draw another one, how many does she have?
"Please understand this, I like the way he makes me feel, I like who I am when I'm with him. I like getting to know his sister and her boyfriend. Hell, even his social disaster of a best friend is funny. I like this.You will not take this from me. I have given everything for this nation. I have obeyed every order, I have acted against all her challengers and I have won.
This? This is what I want, I want this warmth, I want this joy. I want my breaks to be spent watching movies and learning about everything that I missed, I want this life."
She holds up her wrist, the bracelet flashes, "This is my reward for a job well done, I get to be happy with him," her voice softens as she says that, it doesn't last.
"Should you try and interfere. Should I think you are trying to cause any problems, what I will do to you will make the horror artists in the hidden parts of Langley we don't talk about take notes. They will learn and they will retch at what I will make you feel."
Her eyes are flashing, he used to find that so attractive, now he knows better. There's nothing inside there that is capable of being attracted to him.
Was she always like this? How much of what they had was real?
He'd thought she was in love with him… was she even capable of love?
What was she like with Chuck? Did she laugh like she used to with him?
Did she actually smile?
Not the cold rictus he's seeing here, but a real smile.
Was she just playing a role when she'd been with him?
Should he warn Chuck that it might not be real?
"Does Chuck know that you're…" He wants to say insane, he knows that is not the safest word choice he could make.
She thankfully can't hear his thoughts, "He knows I am an assassin, he looked me in the eye and said that he was okay with that." She pauses, "Well that's not true, he said he needed time to process it, then he was okay with it."
She looks at him, "I am going to check on him now, when we next see each other, you will not mention anything that we said here. You will treat me just like another coworker, you will not tell old funny stories to subtly try and get under his skin. You will not use our prior cover relationship to remind him that he's not a field agent and make him feel inadequate. I want you to keep this in mind, "Would this hurt Chuck?" If the answer is yes, don't do it. Are we clear?"
He swallows, "Crystal."
The ice vanishes from her voice, "Good! I'll tell Casey. He'll take it from here," her voice brightens and she twirls happily and goes to open the door. Casey is standing outside, it surprises him just how happy he is to see the large man.
She looks at Casey, "He's all yours, I'm going to visit Chuck." Without a glance at him, she leaves.
Casey walks in and unties him, "Told you, you'd be safer if I got a hold of you first."
All he can say is, "What the hell was that?"
She sat down by the hospital bed, Chuck spent too long here. Larkin was an idiot, knocking him out and stealing the car when he could have just taken it. Hurting Chuck was unnecessary, she hoped that he got the message. She was prepared to deliver on all of her threats.
The hard part would be convincing Chuck that this was real, she was going to sink as much time and energy as she could to prove that point. Of all the people GRS could have found in that pod, it had to be Bryce-Fucking-Larkin. She tears up a bit, she wants this. She wants this so badly. It has to work.
She'd contemplated knocking her success rate from 100% to 99.995% and just having them shoot Larkin before he woke up.
The CIA team picked them up, Bryce wanted to keep talking with Casey, but a look from the older man silenced him.
He stared out the window until they arrived at the safe house. Casey escorted him in, two CIA men stood outside.
He looked at Casey and took the chance, "How long has she been…"insane, crazy, how many words fit into the space that he left at the end of that sentence. He'd known her, hadn't he? He'd certainly slept with her.
Casey looked at him, "What do you mean?"
Of course, he wasn't going to make this easy on him, there is no way that he would. Casey had never been his biggest fan, that was before Bryce blew up a major NSA substation.
"Did you hear what she said to me?"
"Yeah."
"If I report that, they'll take her in for a psych eval, she's…" doing laps in the crazy pool.
Casey laughs, "First off, if you think they'll take you seriously, you've got another thing coming, the only reason you were kept alive is that we needed to know where the Constellation data is.
Second, do you really think that she can't fool them into thinking she's fine and then come after you for interfering again?
Third, and I can't believe I'm saying this. Walker is fine. A bit protective, very in love, she has no idea what to do with either of those things.
If she was acting like that because of you, you'd be over the moon and you know it, because it's someone else you think she's gone nuts."
Casey looks amused, "Okay we need to get ready and talk with the bosses."
Chuck wakes up, the lights are too bright. He looks around the room. He feels a hand in his hair.
A soft voice pierces the silence, "You're in the medical wing, Bryce knocked you out and those useless guards did nothing."
He looks over at the blonde, she's been crying. Why?
"Why…" his voice is raspy. What was it with medications and drying him out?
Sarah hands him water, he drinks it down.
"Why were you crying?"
"I care about you, you got hurt, I couldn't do anything about it."
"What happened with Bryce?"
"Casey picked him up, his Intel checked out. He told Casey that he told you where the data was?"
"Yeah, he said he got ordered to send the data to a "Safe location," he said… whoever told him to do it, used Orion's old codes. Something went wrong and Orion never got the data, it's been out there all this time."
Chuck sits up and starts writing everything that was said between them, she hands him a highlighter, he highlights the activation codes, the IP Address that Bryce sent the data to, and the names of the people Bryce dealt with.
Sarah grabs the paper, kisses him, and runs to a secure phone. She will make this work.
McConnell runs his hand through his hair. He could actually feel it getting thinner with the stress from the last few weeks.
Generals Alexander and Beckman are in his office along with Director Graham.
"So you're telling me, in plain terms that Larkin was co-opted by our Cabal, and that they call themselves Fulcrum, they're after the Constellation data and believe it will let them accomplish their goals of securing the nation as they see fit."
"Yes sir."
"Okay, so what our options here, do we send Larkin undercover to get more information?"
"Sir, at this point we believe that Larkin would not be effective as an undercover agent, he's been in the wind too long and made no attempt to contact any of his Fulcrum handlers."
"We're certain he's loyal?"
"The consistency of his story checks out, the additional details make sense. If they have activation codes then we're in trouble. We can't just start terminating people without knowing if they think they're following lawful orders. Our counter intel sweep is moving into the planning and mission assignment teams."
"Bad day, getting worse."
"Yes sir."
Beckman speaks up, "Sir, I understand that Bartowski is off-limits, what about Larkin? He's the second-highest scorer for data retention. He'll volunteer. We can attach him to Major Casey's team and have him use the data to help us hunt down the traitors."
McConnell looks thoughtful, "That's… an idea…"
"Graham, I'll ask you the same thing I asked Alexander, you willing to let him make the choice?"
"Yes sir, we have a meeting with him and Major Casey in an hour, we can make the offer then, I won't coerce him, but I'll ask."
"Good man, that's all we can do. Make sure he knows it's voluntary. If this works, we'll embed him with Major Casey's team."
They finish and leave. McConnell looks at the ceiling, 'Fulcrum, nice to meet you.'
They started the video call, the bright red "Secure" label sat in the top right corner. Bryce could see Graham and Beckman she started talking, "Agent Larkin, we've reviewed the information you've provided. It was accurate and invaluable. We've cleared you of the destruction of the facility. However, we'll need to address the death of the ACS officer and the injury of several others, as SANDWALL was not a sanctioned operation your actions have possible criminal ramifications."
Okay, there was the stick, where was the carrot?
"We'd like you to host the Constellation data set. Per Perseus, the data set and encoding process are intact," her voice was impassive.
Ah, there it is.
"Will I be sent undercover?"
"No, the data set is too valuable to risk like that, you'll be assigned to a cleared team that will support your operations and protect you."
Casey narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Which team is that ma'am?"
"Yours Major Casey. Will that be a problem?"
"If I agree, all my actions taken during SANDWALL are forgotten?"
"That is correct Agent Larkin."
"I agree, I'll host the data set."
"Very well then, we'll discuss the preparation with Perseus."
"You know Diane, I think we were told to let him volunteer, not coerce him into it."
"He volunteered the minute he killed my man, injured several others, and blew up my facility. As far as I'm concerned the man's a traitor, this is just him serving out his sentence."
"You are making a critical mistake General, we have not guaranteed the safety of-"
"Perseus, enough! You have stalled us for too long, we have a waiver in place and the subject has agreed to host the data no matter the risk."
"I refuse to believe that Mr. Bartowski would agree to that."
"It's not, it's Agent Larkin."
"I thought we stopped medical experiments on prisoners."
"This is happening, regardless of your input. I could have him log into any computer and download the information."
Perseus sighed, "I understand, can you give us a few days to get monitoring ready?"
"That's more like it Doctor," with that General Beckman hung up. Finally. The proper tool would be in place, Fulcrum would be destroyed. No matter what.
He called Ellie on the way to the airport. "Hey sis, sorry, we got called back a bit early, but I promise we'll be back for Thanksgiving. I know, two cross country flights in a week is a bit much."
He smiles as she teases him, "I know, I'll see you then. Okay, love you!"
Sarah hasn't taken off the bracelet since he gave it to her. She was also being extra affectionate, he's trying to just enjoy it, but he's afraid that this means something bad.
Sarah smiles at him. "So we're sending Bryce on a prisoner transport, we'll meet him at the facility."
"I can't believe he's being ordered to join our team…"
"Well, we're the only ones who are cleared to know."
"I'm definitely seeing that shrink now. Rob is probably going to lose it," his voice gets a bit apprehensive, "Umm, about… you know… you and him…"
"What about me and him?"
"Is…"
"Nothing to worry about on my end, Casey told him I'm with you, I'm sure he'll be professional."
Chuck looks skeptical, "I know what he's like with women, but… if you say so."
"Yep! Trust me, Chuck. He'll be professional, if nothing else, trust me to shoot him down."
He kisses her, "I trust you."
They're on the plane, his head is in her lap, he's dozing she's playing with his curly hair. It relaxes her.
Carina had accused her of being in love, was she?
She looks at the bracelet on her wrist.
Appendix:
Burning Wind – Callsign for a RC-135 on operational mission (I got to use Rivet Joint! Was it overkill? Yes. Do I like that plane? Yes.)
GRS – Global Response Staff, if you saw 13 hours, or any movie recently involving the CIA you'll have seen these guys. They were also in the Jack Ryan TV series.
The coffee cup pyramid is based on a real architectural marvel. Only it was with Rip-It energy drinks and not Coffee cups… The people I know are not healthy.
I hope that the meeting between Ellie and Sarah went well, I tried to capture her thought process as she went through meeting the BuyMore crew and Ellie/Awesome. Also the bracelet!
A lot of people think the Coast Guard just rescues people and has some unarmed boats, those people are very very wrong.
The Coast Guard on its own has a pretty formidable Navy, The national security cutters currently in service are armed with the same cannon that the new Littoral Combat Ships are. The Hamilton mentioned here has a 5" cannon. That will ruin someone's day pretty effectively. As an example, Hamilton was involved in shore bombardment during Vietnam. They also have their own intelligence arm.
Hamilton has since been decommissioned and sold to the Philippine Navy.
Okay, normally I'd rewrite Sarah's rant a few times, I wanted her to kill any chance that Larkin may pursue her, but I feel like I went a bit overboard here. I have a lighter version, I was debating posting that one instead. On the other hand, she was recruited at 17, that's going to leave a bit of an impact on someone. Like Casey said, she's not crazy, just a ruthless spy who's now in love.
I have so many plans for the Marlin, since Crown Vic and Lover are both opportunity flashes, Chuck doesn't have them, and Bryce isn't working at the BuyMore (no matter how funny I find that) So next up is Marlin, I'm sorry, I ran out of time for Thanksgiving, I had a hard deadline set for myself. Next chapter will include it!