Even at my worst – You still loved me – Chapter one
Chuck Bartowski recently recruited for a joint CIA/MI6 partnership and is thrown into the new world of spying. He has competition but unbeknownst to him, she's not a threat but a colleague. Will they be able to work together? Let me know what you think, enjoy Mssupertigz
March 2005
Present day Paris
The wind continued to blow making the witching hour even creepier than it already was. Though he had no say, in the weather nor what his job sent him to do. His career choice did allow him to see his share of the weird, dangerous and the deadly side of being a spy. No matter what each mission brought, a spy had no say, and it was always for the sake of national security, this time it wasn't his home country he was working for.
This job also gave him time to think, more than he should on things other than what his goal was. It was those past memories that seemed to pop into his head at the most inconvenient times. But along with the memories it was the wind that when it made its cold presence it invited itself to put an end to those memories from lasting too long. In hindsight maybe it was a good thing.
He turned his wrist looking at his watch, the only thing that he had left of his dad's. He remembered when he got the watch, and his older sister got a bracelet which belonged to their mother. He inhaled slowly trying to remember the memory when he and his sister got into a fight and the bracelet broke. He remembered his dad walking away to fix the bracelet. He turned his face to stare out into the city, he sighed embracing that moment. His mind focused on the wind again, it was just another constant reminder and maybe a bit of a metaphor to how he defined his dad and his relationship. Calm and peaceful and welcoming and then total destruction and devastation.
The wind blew through her heavy coat that she was glad to be wearing. She had arrive in Paris a little over two months ago and this was her first mission since the incident. Well it was to them an "official" mission a so called welcome to the agency as the people around the water cooler would say. But for her it was the worst night of her life. She avoided taking the street near the Cédez Le Passage cutting her arrival at the tall brick house just under the wire. She didn't have time to any surveillance as this was her first mission back after she did her red test. All she knew was that she was to go in and retrieve a file. 'Simple for once.' She thought to herself. As she walked to the back of the house.
Chuck had been in Paris only for a few weeks after being recruited by the CIA. His roommate Bryce Larkin also was recruited and for the life of him he couldn't figure out how. Maybe it was his good looks or even the fact that he was on the track team and a gymnast at Stanford. Chuck knew it was because of his grades and his ability to retain a lot of information and his ability to crack puzzles. His sister was also gifted with the smarts as she had become a doctor and was seeing a doctor. She wasn't thrilled when he told her that he was going to become a spy. He did tell her that he'd could instead fly the millennium falcon or even work at Buy More with his best friend Morgan; neither of those other choices made her feel any better. But she had to let her little brother go and live his life. Her only request was that he'd stay safe as for Morgan, all he knew or what he was told was that Chuck was working for a computer firm as a Computer Engineer in London.
Chuck slipped his hand into his cargo pants pocket than he found useful, and comfortable. This allowed him to carry his essentials, conveniently in one place. He grabbed his lock pic case and found his favourite tool slipping the case back into his pants pocket. He crouched down to avoid being seen from the street, hoping that the rope he had tied from above him would hold him a little longer. He took one last look into the window hoping that this was the place and the right window. 'They all look the same from the street.' Chuck whispered to himself.
He inserted the lockpick along with its buddy into the lock of the French doors. In seconds, the door was unlocked. He slowly opened the door just enough to slip inside closing the door quietly. He had cased this particular place since his arrival in Paris and his surveillance told him that no one would be at home and that the intel was in a wall safe behind a hideous painting that the owner had spent too much money on. The intel said that there would be a plain brown envelope inside. Chuck had seen Pierre Langlois walking back and forth with it days, then as of yesterday he did not have it on him.
Chuck walked the room towards the painting. This was his fourth mission since he was recruited and sent to England and now Paris and was quickly earning a rep of being a highly respected spy. But this mission felt different as they all did but it felt too easy, way too easy.
Chuck walked up to the painting and looked around the frame for any trip wires sensors. 'All clear.' He said to himself.
He opened the frame which concealed the safe. Chuck was glad that he had known the combination of the wall safe, the passcode was a ten digit code along with a thumb print access system.
Chuck whispered to himself. "Step one enter the correct number. Step two thumb print."
Two days ago
Chuck had followed Pierre to his local café, needing a print. But Chuck just couldn't go and ask him for his thumb print, 'Could he?'
He had to be a spy, he had to be stealth, he had to be clever, Chuck had to be Chuck. Chuck waited for Pierre to finish his water as he always did, just before he left. He waited for Pierre to leave and then followed the server as she headed to his table to clear it. Then grabbed a large napkin as he came closer to the table, distracting her, he grabbed Pierre's water glass inside the large napkin and slipped it into his jacket walking out. Chuck headed to his hotel and grabbed his spy case of sorts and pulled out a latex finger cot and slipped it on a plastic thumb. The latex gelled thumb which was a perfect replacement and would hold the finger cot securely till he needed to use it. He dusted the glass with powder revealing a perfect thumb print. Chuck sprayed the print rolling the fake gelled thumb and the finger cot onto and over Pierre's print. Chuck rolled his thumb making sure that it had imprinted itself onto the finger cot, then laid it carefully into a plastic bag.
Grabbing the plastic bag from his jacket Chuck grabbed the latex thumb print it over the scanner. He held his breath as the fake finger was scanned. When Chuck heard the click he was surprised that it had worked. Opening the door he found the envelope and pulled it out. He opened the envelope slightly to see what was inside, he saw the name and nodded. He continued to pull the rest of the pages out to verify that this was the right one. Slipping the envelope into his jacket, Chuck shut both, the safe door then painting. He headed to the where he came in stopping suddenly as he thought he saw something pass down the hall. He wasn't sure what or who it was as he was convinced that he was the only one in the house. He didn't want to wait and see so he headed directly to the door closing it behind him. He saw a shadow as he sprang up towards the roof.
Reeling in the excess climbing rope he stuffed his back pack and slipped it on and leaped over to the next roof slipping behind a venting system. Chuck looked across to Pierre's house seeing a faint flashlight in the same room that he had just been in. The flashlight quickly went out as Chuck looked down at the street as local police drove up. Whoever this person was they must have triggered an alarm. Chuck didn't have time to wait and see the police drag the intruder out in cuffs. He got up and leaped over a third house and slipped down a metal staircase. As the individual slipped down a dumbwaiter to the basement then crawled out of a basement window.
Hours later London – Head quarters
Chuck slipped into his cubicle holding the envelope. He leaned against his desk which allowed him to see into his supervisors office. He was still getting to know his supervisor and didn't want to do something wrong. His name was Thaddeus McFadden, he had retired from the field but was promoted to run this section of MI6. He was still in the process of recruiting agents within MI6 when the thought was mentioned to him that he could also work along side the CIA. As they were the first agency that he had worked for when he first started out. He saw that there was a need to keep other agency's in your back pocket at all times even when they may not agree with you.
Chuck recalled while waiting to speak to McFadden that he was recruited just less than a month ago and was asked if he would be interested in working in England along side MI6. Chuck thought that working for MI6 was too good to be true. This would allow him to live out his childhood dream of being a spy, a spy like James Bond. He was told that there were others but he had not seen or met any of them as of yet. He looked up waiting to get the hand signal to join him McFadden in office, which reminded him of his high school principal. It was a distinct signal that when you saw it you knew it probably wasn't going to end well.
Chuck looked up and saw the signal. He held onto the envelope and walked towards the glass. Chuck looked up as he closed the door behind him. He set the envelope down on the desk and sat down. "Chuck."
"Yes."
"Do you know why I was glad that you joined our team?"
"No sir."
"Well, it wasn't because of your handsome looks."
Chuck surprised by the comment. "Ok."
"It was that you were good at your job, even before I knew what you could do. Plus General Beckman was adamant that I take you on."
A slight pause. "Thank you?"
"No need, to thank me."
Chuck wasn't sure where this conversation was going and he didn't dare ask him to clarify.
"Have you thought of a name?"
"I have a name?"
"Yeah but have you ever seen or heard a spy that was named Chuck?"
"No, but James was taken."
McFadden wasn't amused.
"Think about choosing a name that sounds the part."
Chuck looked at him.
"Now?"
The look on his face, Chuck knew that he wanted his answer now. Chuck looked around the room. "Charles Carmichael."
McFadden sat down. "Simple, dignified. Easy to remember. Why this name?"
"We share a small kinship, when I entered Stanford, it's kind of where I envisioned myself being by now, and where most of my class are right now and if my sister had her way it would have been the life I was suppose to live."
"Well, Chuck, I mean Carmichael. I believe that this is where you are suppose to be and I know that great things will happen to you." Chuck nodded.
"I will pass this file onto my superiors and you can go home and get some rest."
Chuck got up and walked to the door.
"Carmichael."
Chuck stopped and turned. "You like your place?"
"Yes, thankyou."
Chuck walked out and closed the door and headed home.
Hours later
The phone rang waking up a sleeping Bernadette La Fayette. "This better be good."
"It's not but you told me to call."
"Well did you get it?"
"No, it was gone and the security system was activated."
"Police?"
"Yeah, I slipped down the dumb waiter and left through a basement window. Someone else was there but I couldn't see who it was, and whoever it was, they were good."
"Okay, we will find another way."
La Fayette heard the discouragement in her voice. "Walker, it happens. Don't beat yourself up. We will find another way. Head back to London and we will talk when you arrive back."
Sarah hung up and slipped her cell into her black coat. She slid the collar up on her coat and headed to the train. Maybe a train ride back to London will clear her head.
Chuck walked into the office just about to sit down when he was given another mission. He grabbed the file and his to go bag and headed to the train station. He slipped out of the taxi and looked at his ticket. "Brussels. Well I haven't been there." Chuck slid his ticket out of his folder and gave it to the man in charge. He found his seat and slipped his bag into the compartment above his head. La Fayette had spoke to Sarah like she said she would and told her to move on. Sarah wasn't one to move on easily. Her dad was arrested in front of her eyes then a mane claiming to be CIA convinced her that he could add to what her had had trained her to be. At the time it sounded interesting, now she wasn't too sure.
La Fayette gave her a file. "This is not a time sensitive mission but the sooner you get there the sooner."
Sarah looked up. "The sooner I can move onto the next one."
"Right."
"I need you in Brussels."
"I see that." Sarah closed the file and headed to the door. "All you need is in that file."
Sarah reached the train station hearing the whistle blow as she boarded the last train to Brussels till the morning. She found her seat and sat down. She was glad that she was alone in her car as she stretched out tossing her bag onto the next bench. The train started to move, then picking up speed.
Chuck ordered a coffee and a bite to eat and opened the file. Jan Vasser 67 years old. Wanted for selling Government secrets to Russia along with his wife Ana Vasser age 42.' Chuck continued to read the file to memory for the next two and half hours. Then burning the file inside his fire place of his hotel. He was glad that he didn't have to freeze as winter in Brussel was worse than winter in London. How he wished that he were back home in Burbank.
Sarah leaned over her bathroom sink as she watched the file burn page by page. Sarah watched the pages burn erasing all evidence of one Jan Vasser and his wife Ana. Sarah turned the tap on running water over the ashes then wiping out the sink leaving no evidence.
Sarah crawled into bed as morning would be arriving sooner than later.
Chuck flipped his lights off and did the same.
Chuck arrived at the last known address of one Jan Vasser and by the looks of things he was long gone. Chuck slipped on a pair of gloves and entered the abandon house. It was clear that whoever was here left in a hurry. Chuck found some papers and slipped them into his pocket. He headed upstairs but found nothing. He came back down and decided to go to the next place on his list. Sarah headed to the post office hoping to get an address on Vasser. She knew her looks would get her somewhere but would these people be easy targets. Sarah walked up to the counter as an older gentleman turned and smile. He spoke Dutch which then Sarah chose to speak Polish hoping to find a way to communicate but they both ended up speaking English.
"Can I help you?"
Sarah nervously smiled. "Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. I am looking for this man."
Sarah slid a piece of paper with Vasser's name on it. "I was told that he could be my uncle. My dad just died and he gave me this man's name and said that he was family and that he'd take care of me. I'm not sure if he lives here or if you can help me."
The old man took the piece of paper as Sarah continued to perform. The old man walked to the back. Sarah slid over the counter quickly looking for anything that could give her an idea where he was. She slid back over when she heard the old man come back. Sarah pretended to wipe her face with her sleeve. "Dear, he moved but I do have an idea where he could be now."
Sarah faked a relief look, as the old man gave her back the piece of paper. He pointed to the back where an address was printed on it. Sarah leaned over and kissed the old man on the cheek. "Thank you."
Sarah walked out and slipped into her rental. She grabbed her laptop and typed in the address giving her a few possible locations. The closest one was a few blocks away and the next one was a two hour drive north to Netherland.
Chuck pulled out the piece of paper and that his wife had an apartment which spurred his curiosity. He drove over slipping into the back and parking down the street.
Chuck walked up the sidewalk and noticed a car parked near the house that he was heading to. The car seemed out of place for a neighbourhood like this and when he looked inside he saw a laptop in the back. Chuck wasn't one to break into peoples cars but since becoming a spy, everything, everyone was a potential threat. He eventually found a wire hanger and opened it then slipping the wire down the side of the front window. Chuck heard a click then opened the door quickly slipping inside. He leaned the seat back not to be seen by people passing by. He grabbed the laptop and in seconds he was looking at what came up on the screen. He saw the search of addresses including the one up the street. Chuck grabbed his phone and took a snapshot, then closed the laptop and placed it back onto the back seat. Returning the seat to the right position, he got out and closed the door. He looked up at the house, reaching for his gun.
Sarah slipped inside seeing nothing that gave her any idea if they were here recently or not. Except for a few photos of Ana and Jan together strewn onto the floor. Sarah knew that someone had ransacked this place recently as it wasn't clear who were after them now. Sarah knew that whoever was searching for them now, gave up on looking any further. But there had to be something that would tell them where they went or could be heading to. Chuck aimed his gun and headed up the stairs. He slipped inside looking around, he knew that they, whoever they were, were somewhere in the apartment. Chuck walked the front room coming to the bedroom and saw the mess that was left. Chuck bent down and grabbed a photo and looked at it, it was a picture of Jan and Ana outside standing in front of what looked like a bakery. Paying no attention to it he slipped it into his pocket. He heard a creak and stood up. He headed to the door, choosing to slip out and wait for whoever was in there to leave, taking what they had and moving on. Chuck slipped outside and waited as the person inside unbeknownst to who was waiting for her continued to look inside. Making her way back she heard the phone and heard a voice. She headed back towards the kitchen where she saw an old answering system. She listened to the message grabbing something to write on. Sarah jotted down the message and who called and headed to the door. Thanking this person for this wonderful intel. Chuck saw the stranger who was wearing black leave the apartment. He saw them slip something into their pocket. He covered his face and waited, taking no chances. He grabbed his gun and fired. He heard a gasp as the person fell to the ground. Chuck walked over and stood over the body. Sarah looked up, seeing someone standing over her. Chuck watched as the traq took affect. He leaned over slipping his hand inside her jacket and grabbing what they had slid inside. Sarah tried to hang onto the paper but her eyes where getting heavy. The last thing she heard was the stranger saying. "Easy breezy."
Chuck ran down to his car slipping off his tactical ski mask and driving off. He slipped into his hotel room and looked at what he had grabbed. Sarah sat up and pulled out a small traq, noticing that info she had written down was gone. She got up and stormed back inside and listened to the message again. Swearing under her breath she headed back to her hotel. She was furious that she was taken down and with a traq gun of all things. She knew that whoever that person was they weren't out for her, as she could have been easily killed. This person knew what they were looking for or knew that she had it on her. Sarah replayed the night over and over and was unclear to how they could have been there without her knowing. She kicked herself for not fighting back when the traq hit her. She closed her eyes only seeing his eyes.
Netherlands
Sarah sat down still fuming from the other night. "What happened?" Sarah grabbed a coffee cup and poured herself a cup. She wasn't planning to meet anyone but Carina, her best friend and fellow spy had called and that she was near by and wanted to meet. Sarah took a sip and looked at her. She was late and it was all his fault. "He did it again."
"Who?"
"Not sure. But whoever he is he's good. He grabbed the intel that I had found and took off. I chased him and he ran into the subway and lost him."
"Who does he work for?"
"Not sure but he's cocky and careless." But in truth he was good at what he did and it was starting to affect her. She looked up and took another sip. "This has been the fourth time, that I am sure about that we have been in the same town or location since this mission started. And this, whatever this is."
Sarah went quiet. They had done this tango several times and each time he had been there at the right time and she didn't know how he could. Sarah knew that she was good at her job. She was Langston Graham's prodigy, his wild card enforcer so how could be outsmarted by someone like this guy.