A/N: More spies.
Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy
Chapter Sixteen: Black-and-White-and-Red-All-Over
Sarah tried to make her stone tongue move. No luck. Shit.
The confusion of unspoken words in Sarah's heart was part of a din of spoken words in her earpiece.
"That's my wife!" Orion.
"Mom's got a knife!" Ellie.
"Who the hell is the woman in white? Mary? Mom? Wife?" Bryce.
Chuck looked at Sarah more closely. She saw his face shift, as it did in flashes, but faster: the shift was there and gone, almost instantaneous. Chuck reached out and grabbed the brooch. He pulled it off her dress. In a motion strangely like Mary's when she jammed the door, he dropped it and then stomped on it.
It shattered, blind and deaf.
For a moment, Chuck stared at it, as if it had been alive and he had killed it. Sarah thought she saw remorse cross his face almost as quickly as the flash.
"Sarah, who was on the other end of that?"
Sarah made herself say. "Your dad, Ellie, Bryce."
Mary grabbed Sarah's arm, hard. "Stephen? Ellie? They saw me?"
Sarah nodded. Mary looked at Chuck as he finally lifted his head. "That was not supposed to happen, Chuck."
"I know, Mom, but this is all insane. I have to get back out there and I am supposed to shoot Beckman and Holt when they take the stage and then get out of here. I needed more help, Mom. This damn parasite in my head…" He put his hands on his temples, closed his eyes. "The programming, it's getting harder...to resist as we get closer to H-Hour."
Sarah put out her hand to touch him, to comfort him. Mary knocked it away soundlessly and glared at Sarah. Chuck opened his eyes too late to see the exchange.
"What are we going to do, Chuck? You've never told me the plan…"
"That's because I am making most of this up as I go along, exploiting the nooks and crannies in this maze in my head. I think…"
"Chuck," Sarah said, "I know this isn't the time, but…"
He glanced at her, turning his face to her from his mom.
Sarah launched herself at Chuck.
She had done it once before, back in Burbank, in front of the bomb.
She kissed him with all that she kissed him with then, but now with so much more: all her still-deepening feelings for him, all the months-long ache since she left him, all the heat of her fantasies and desires, all, everything.
Everything.
His lips were soft against hers, but his body was stiff.
She did not stop. She kept kissing him, trying to kiss away Lou and Jill and Amy, to make him understand that Barstow had been real.
Too real.
She felt his body begin to yield. One of his hands moved, tentatively, to her back, open, and he began to press her into him…
And then Mary pulled them apart, a hand on Sarah's shoulder and a hand on Chuck's. "Fuck, this isn't halftime of the big game, doe-eyed cheerleader and star quarterback. This is life and death!"
Sarah did not look at Mary. She gazed into Chuck's eyes. They darkened. He flicked his eyes toward his mother and when they returned to Sarah, his gaze seemed only to contain discomfort — and annoyance.
"Sarah, we need to talk, but not now." She wondered if he had felt the same way when she said that to him as she did just then. Bereft. Lost. Alone. Dangling.
"Look, Chuck," Mary began...
Whatever she said was drowned in the sound of gunfire, a burst from an automatic weapon followed by a cacophony of screams and shouts.
"Damn it!" Mary turned and kicked the jam from beneath the door. She traded her knife for a gun. Sarah grabbed hers. Chuck looked at her with it in her hand. And then he followed Mary.
Sarah followed Chuck. There was another burst of gunfire and more screams. Then Sarah heard it.
Shaw's voice. "I'm here for justice! Justice! An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! Talion law!"
As Sarah stepped into the ballroom, she saw people on the floor, some prone, some huddled on their knees. Shaw was standing inside the ballroom entrance, a submachine gun under his arm.
White debris from the ceiling was on the floor, some still falling, snowy.
Mary ducked down and started working around the room to the left, her white dress blending oddly with the white table cloths on the now-jumbled tables, the white ceiling debris on the floor. Sarah ducked down too, working to the right, her black dress concealing her, a fitted shadow.
She looked back. Chuck had turned, checked on her, and then he turned, checked on his mom. Shaw was still standing just inside the entrance. He was standing awkwardly, favoring his left leg. His face was cut and had been bleeding, but the blood now was dark and dry.
A black tactical vest, kevlar, covered his chest and torso. He was looking around the room but seemed not to see anyone in particular, or maybe not the person he was looking for.
Chuck shouted at him. "Daniel Shaw — put down the gun!"
Shaw turned to face Chuck. Sarah stopped and watched over a table. She had a shot; she could take it, but it was risky. There were people on the floor outside the ballroom, huddled together behind Shaw. And Chuck was closing on Shaw, decreasing the distance.
Where is Bryce?
Sarah saw a red motion from the corner of her eye. Amy. The red dress. She was on the floor but had shifted position. She had her feet under her. Sarah saw Amy cast a glance about her. A gun was on the floor near her, but out of arm's reach. Sarah was unsure where Amy could have hidden it.
Amy stared at the gun for a second, then she turned back to Shaw. No, not to Shaw. Chuck. Amy was watching as Chuck walked toward the barrel of Shaw's submachine gun. Sarah saw a change occur on Shaw's face that mirrored the almost instantaneous one on Chuck's in the bathroom.
"Bartowski." Shaw's face shifted, his features...loosened. "The jokester. Take the ladies and run. Stay out of this Bartowski. You used to have it, but you don't have it anymore. Even if Walker couldn't figure that out."
Chuck frowned. "Let's leave all the fake women out of this, Daniel. Let's leave all these innocent people out of this. You don't want to hurt them. Take me."
"I am here to terminate Director Holt. And that is what I am going to do. And after I execute him, I am going to find Walker, and I am going to execute her...but much, much more slowly. I will take my pound of flesh before I send her into the dark permanently."
Sarah shuddered. Amy moved forward in a crouch. Sarah could see Amy's face now. She was not watching Shaw. She was watching Chuck.
The look on Amy's face. Love. Amy is in love with Chuck. Casey wasn't just tormenting me. Amy was terrified for Chuck – that was patent. And Amy was confused. She did not seem to understand Chuck, his actions. She kept staring at him.
The tango was not an act. Not for Amy. Not for Chuck?
"You don't need to do this, Shaw. Whatever is true of Walker, you know she had no idea who that was in Paris…She never intended to take your world from you. She did not know you, know her. You know how this job works, the kind of people who work in it. You've done the same, or would if you were given the orders."
Hearing Chuck say that made Sarah shudder again. Orders. The kind of people. Fake women. He lumped me with the blow-up dolls.
Shaw's lips curled. "I'm not here to debate ethics. I'm here for revenge. Motivations, excuses — I don't care, Bartowski. I want a life for a life. Stop where you are or I will kill you."
Chuck took another step. Sarah could see the tension in his shoulders, see the effort in the movement of his jaws. His programming was becoming harder for him to resist. He was there to do what Shaw was there to do — but with Beckman as Holt's programmed plus-one, his partner in death. Sarah had no idea if Shaw would spare Beckman, but he had not mentioned her.
Shaw gestured with the barrel of his gun. "Stop, Bartowski. I won't tell you again."
Amy was closer to Chuck than Sarah. In fact, Amy had scooted closer to Chuck and farther from her gun. Sarah peered past Shaw.
Where is Bryce? Where's my back-up?
Sarah saw Frost. She was crouched behind an overturned table. She made eye contact with Sarah and nodded. She pointed to Sarah to take the shot; Chuck was between Mary and Shaw.
Sarah looked back; Amy was still closer to Chuck and Shaw seemed not to notice. Sarah took careful aim. She was going to have to shoot Shaw in the torso. A headshot was too risky: she might miss.
And then Chuck took another step. Shaw's lips compressed into a line.
Amy threw herself forward, one step, two, and just as Shaw pulled the trigger, three. Amy was in front of Chuck.
A fusillade of bullets shredded the red dress and Amy. Sarah made herself refocus down the barrel of her gun as she stood, down along the sights. She exhaled and pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times.
Shaw spun, jerked, spun, went down. His gun clattered to the floor but, luckily, did not fire.
Chuck ran forward to Amy. He bent down beside her, ran his hands over her, the red of her blood seeming to clash with the red of her dress. It quickly covered Chuck's hands.
Everyone else was frozen.
And then Sarah heard Mary. "C'mon, Chuck!"
Chuck looked around. He saw Mary. Then he saw Sarah. His eyes were dark pools. He leaped up and followed his mom. Sarah glanced at the front again.
Shaw was nowhere to be seen. His vest.
Sarah leaped up and followed Chuck. She did not know whether he was trying to escape or on his way to kill Holt and Beckman.
Bryce, wherever you are, you had better be protecting Orion and Ellie.
Chuck had gone out a side door. Sarah went through it and saw him running along the hallway, just behind Mary. They went out an exit and Sarah pushed through it, gaining on them. Chuck was slowing. He kept swinging his head from side-to-side as he ran. His legs seemed as though they were resisting his efforts.
Mary jumped into a grey sedan parked on the edge of the lot.
The sedan was on the opposite side of the hotel from the van. Chuck jumped in the rear seat and Sarah caught the door just as he reached out to shut it. Their eyes locked. He squeezed his shut a second later and moaned, sliding back in the seat. Sarah got in beside him and shut the door.
Mary was staring at her.
"Drive, Mary. We've got to get him out of here."
Sarah saw a small motorcade — a lead car, a black limo, a rear car — pull out of another corner of the lot, tires screeching. Holt and Beckman.
Shaw was still nowhere to be seen.
Mary shook her head and started the car. With another moan, Chuck fell against Sarah and she could feel his violent trembling against her.
He began to sob in pain. She put her arms around him as Mary swung the car from the lot and onto the street.
Sarah still had her purse around her neck. She opened it and took out the watch from Orion. She grabbed Chuck's wrist and took the watch he wore off of him, slipping it into her purse. She put the other one on him.
For a moment, she thought it would make no difference.
But then Chuck's sobs quieted. A couple of moments later, he looked up at her, his face close to hers, his eyes red and wet. She reached up and wiped the tears from his cheek with her thumb, now trembling herself.
He caught her hand and pushed it away. He had Amy's blood on his hands.
"What's this?" He held out his arm, looking at it, displaying the watch she put on him.
"It's the watch your dad made. The governor. It should help with the programming, the Ring Intersect."
Sarah saw Mary watching them in the rearview mirror. Mary shook her head, made a hissing sound. "Stephen and his damn gadgets…"
A/N: Thoughts?