A/N: Thanks to those of you that left reviews or PMs. Much appreciated.
Beta thanks to MarkeyDeSad. He is incredibly busy and only had time to do that with the first two thirds, so you may find more mistakes after that. Of course, any mistakes in the whole chapter are all mine.
Casey's a comin' to join in the fun with Fulcrum.
The Novelist
Chapter 13: Casey and the Goons
It was a bit weird climbing into bed with Chuck, knowing that her dad was in the next room. However, she reminded herself, that Jake hadn't been part of her life for twenty years, so she should just think of him as she would the people in the room the other side of them.
However, Chuck seemed to think the same way. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, rather than lying there naked. So, she was matching him.
She lay down with her head on his chest and her legs intertwining themselves with his. This was nice in itself, especially as he wrapped his arm around her.
It was hard to imagine that she'd slept on her own until just recently and now the thought of that upset her. Lying like this on Chuck was wonderful. She could feel, as well as hear, his heart beating, along with his chest rising and falling as he breathed. The warmth of his body even through the layers of clothing between them, warmed her soul, as much as it did her face and skin. She hummed, happy in spite of this mission.
Chuck's breathing slowed and she realized he was asleep. All the concentration at the computer after the earlier activity had obviously taken it out of him. Sarah gradually drifted off herself.
Zondra was used to sleeping in difficult situations. It went with the job sometimes. However, sleeping in a luxurious hotel suite with Sarah's dad in the bedroom, snoring so loudly that she could hear him through the closed door, and with Chuck & Sarah in the room on the other side of her, knowing what they were probably doing, was still strange.
She was, however, happy for the couple. Chuck would quite likely never find a woman to share his life with, if it hadn't been for the chance meeting. He was attractive and charming, but hiding himself away allowed no one to see that. Sarah seemed equally insular, hiding from others, buried in her novels. They were a right pair, individually, but seemed perfect together.
Then she considered the instigator of their encounter. Eleanor Woodcomb. Chuck's sister and Sarah's editor. She was clearly very observant and, certainly a good editor, at least for Sarah's novels. She was obviously also good at managing her own life, having been without her parents from an early age. She was bright and quick to pick up the joint plan to get these two together. Zondra wondered why she had never questioned what Chuck did with them on their missions. Perhaps she deliberately did not think about it.
She rolled over to face away from the noise coming from the bedroom. Thankfully, Chuck and Sarah were quiet and she drifted off to sleep.
Chuck woke with a start. He had no idea what had wakened him. It wasn't the gorgeous body lying sprawled across him or her wonderful smelling hair tickling his nose. He hadn't woken her, so he just lay there enjoying having her with him like this.
His watch arm was not affected by Sarah's position, so he was able to check the time. 6:43. Zondra usually wanted to get moving by 7:30, or at least have breakfast then, but today they were just waiting for the cavalry to arrive, so there was less rush. Still, best to be prepared early. "Sarah," he said softly.
She stirred slightly. "What's the time?" she muttered.
She was adorable all the time, but waking up like this, even more so. "6:43," he replied.
"Early," she grumbled quietly, not moving at all.
"We should get up, have showers and breakfast before the Zondra cyclone hits us," he mentioned.
She raised herself to look in his eyes, the bleariness seeming to melt away. "Shower, singular, and you've got a deal."
Memories of the last shower they'd shared had fired her up. She was ready for that. In fact, she was ready for him before that. She sat up and stripped off her t-shirt. All that was left was her shorts which she quickly removed.
Chuck was lying there frozen in place, staring at her naked body. The look he was giving her, however, showed that it was only his brain that wasn't in gear yet. She helped him out of his shorts.
She snapped her finger in front of his face. "Wakey, wakey. Takey t-shirt off," she sang to him, then added in a sultry tone, "And make love to your horny girlfriend."
His t-shirt was off in seconds, then she pushed him down on his back and climbed on top of him. They managed to stay quiet to the end.
It was several minutes before either wanted to move, but then Sarah separated from him and got off the bed. She reached for his hand and pulled him toward the bathroom. And the shower.
It seemed that neither wanted to miss the shower that morning.
Casey was so glad to be able to head out again. He'd been going stir crazy being left behind. However, he'd been glad to miss out on Bartowski fretting over his new girlfriend's involvement in the mission. She had apparently successfully found her father and even persuaded him to help them. Of course, it hadn't all gone to plan, but his female partner had obviously coped well.
He sat back in his seat on the plane, his ribs still hurting, but he would cope. He had been impressed with Zondra Rizzo from the start of them working together. He'd always been a loner before that; often completely so, but since Bartowski had gone through his training with the NSA, sometimes he would join Casey as a field support analyst. When Beckman informed Casey he was to get a female partner, he had argued against it, but she had been insistent. Some missions, she insisted, needed a woman. Well, he knew some events did, but a local field agent was usually able to help, but he had to admit that the partnership had been better; more in sync. The fact that she was also a natural born killer was part of that synchronicity. Her reluctance to flirt with marks also felt familiar.
He had worried about Bartowski around her though. He had a weakness with beautiful women; falling for them, but not doing anything about it, not following through. However, being around Rizzo was going to test that. Casey wasn't sure how she'd react if the kid tried anything. Would she encourage it or would she cut him done to size? Maybe the latter and painfully so?
As it turned out, Bartowski had trailed around after Rizzo a couple of times, then suddenly stopped, so she must've straightened him out. Since then, the team had gelled even more.
That Tokyo mission had been an interesting one with Bartowski. His moping around thinking of the author had been painful; his latest crush that would no doubt end up unrequited as all the rest. But when they took him out with them, needing his skills, he'd more than stepped up. Neither Rizzo nor himself would have gotten out of that mess if it hadn't been for Bartowski.
He wasn't sure how much the kid had been involved in this current mission, but he was probably more use than Casey would've expected before Tokyo.
Rizzo had done well, with his help and now Casey was getting involved, along with an army of NSA operatives that he would meet when he arrived in San Francisco.
Fun times ahead.
Casey met the operatives at the NSA field office. Thankfully, the fifteen Beckman had sent were experienced men, in their thirties, mostly from the army, but three marines as well. The local resources, although vetted by Beckman's team, were mostly younger and probably less experienced, apart from the captain. However, Rizzo had already worked with the six, other than the captain, and had built up a rapport with them, so Casey trusted her views on them.
So, there would be twenty-four of them in total, including Rizzo and himself. He hoped that would be enough.
Rizzo met and briefed them and showed them the layout of the site. Casey had already studied this on the flight out, so once she'd finished, they were almost ready to go. However, as this group would split into teams of four, Casey pulled Rizzo, the captain and the three marines together. The six of them would act as team leaders. They agreed who would be in each team.
Bartowski would remain with Walker and her dad, but had Rizzo's room set up to act as a communications hub for the team.
Casey advised all of them of the departure in thirty minutes and to get themselves ready.
Chuck hated this sort of raid. It wasn't just because so many people would get killed, on both sides, but because he would be so little help. Sure, he could warn them if the Fulcrum guys got more help arriving but somehow they were jamming any video feed, so as soon as the leads had entered the compound, all his windows had gone blank. At first, he'd thought the leads had been shot, including Casey and Zondra, and the cameras hit, but then realized that couldn't be the case when Zondra spoke over the gunfire.
He'd called out that the signal was lost and Casey yelled to one of the guys with a camera to pull back so Chuck would at least have external visuals.
When one of the windows lit up Chuck could see the carnage. At least eight of the NSA operatives were lying in pools of their own blood, but there were no Fulcrum men moving, he counted fifteen of them down. The NSA teams had reduced from six to four. They reached the entrances they were tasked with and he watched them storm in, completely out of his sight again.
He sat back and watched the lifeless window as well as the traffic cameras in the area which was all he could do now. He was as tense as he could imagine. The thought that either of his partners might not make it out overriding his usual worry about all the rest of the people out there.
Two cool hands touched either side of his neck, massaging it, easing that tension. God, he loved this woman and her soothing hands. "I love you, Sarah Walker," he breathed out.
Sarah had seen how tense he was and had thought to ease that. His words got to her, though. She took her right hand away and bent down and kissed that side of his neck, then uttered into his ear, "Love you, too, Chuck Bartowski." Then, she kissed that ear gently.
This was helping him, but also giving her something to avoid looking at the screen of death in front of him.
Zondra pushed thoughts of the carnage outside to the back of her mind and focused on moving forward. They'd had to redistribute the teams. She had lost the three local guys with her, so had tagged along with the captain who had lost two of his men.
The captain seemed to be holding it together, but losing all six of his men that had come on the mission would be hard for anyone. Zondra planned to keep an eye on him.
Back in the room, Sarah asked Chuck, "Why don't they keep you informed by talking to you? Once they're discovered, that is. I understand why keeping silent is important before that."
Chuck smiled. Early on, when helping Casey, he hadn't been good at silence and had often talked when Casey needed to concentrate on listening for enemy movement. Of course, he wasn't out there with Casey, but even if he had been, his nervousness would have opened the floodgates and his babble would have been released, probably giving their presence away.
"However, when they do talk to you, Chuck, you must keep them all informed on how each other are getting on." Chuck looked at her with a nod. "You were going to do that before I mentioned it, weren't you?" He nodded again. "Can I help by keeping an eye on the screens?" She desperately wanted to be of some use.
He nodded and this time spoke, "Ok, you watch the ones on the left and I'll watch the ones on the right. If I get news for them, I'll have to concentrate on relaying that, so you might have to take over all the screens."
"Great. I hate being useless," Sarah replied. She sat to his left and focused on the screens in front of her.
There were gunshots heard from the site. Chuck noticed where the sound had from and told the other leaders.
"Took them out," came the words from the leader in charge of the team where the shots came from. Chuck relayed the information.
"We don't need a running commentary, Bartowski," Casey grumbled. Two other leads agreed.
"I appreciate it, Chuck," Zondra replied. "We think we've found it. Heavily guarded. Basement, central."
"Joining you," Casey responded. "Other two teams keep the way clear; we may come running."
Chuck and Sarah heard gunshots from all a minute later. Heavy gun fire along with at least two cries.
After five minutes, the gunfire stopped. "Lost three more men, but we're entering now," Zondra told them.
More gunfire ensued, then Zondra spoke again, "Checking what we've found."
Five minutes later she spoke again, "We've found three missiles, a canister containing pellets of uranium, and now three dead scientists."
"You take the uranium," Casey obviously directed one of the men, "and you take the three firing mechanisms. Once we have those secured, we can decide what to do with the missiles. Rizzo and I will provide cover in case of any more insurgents."
After looking over Chuck's shoulder occasionally for the last thirty minutes and only seeing the man there collect each of the vans from outside, Sarah had gotten bored with it, but now expected Chuck would watch movement as they emerged.
Watching the other screens, her screens as she now thought of them, had been more interesting up to this point. She'd never been that interested in other people's cars, but watching them drive away from the two intersections toward the turning for where the others were, was actually mesmerizing. Then Sarah spotted something on one of those screens; a black van just behind a black SUV and not far behind them was another SUV and a further two black vans. This was worrying. "Chuck, look at this."
He turned his attention to what she was pointing at. He activated his mic and directed it toward Casey and Zondra. "Looks like hostiles approaching from the south. A quick estimate is they will arrive in ten minutes. You better move fast."
"Loading the van now," Zondra told them.
The two in the room watched them load up and that van take off with two of the other ones, but leaving one behind. Sarah assumed that was for Chuck's two partners who they hadn't seen for a while.
"Where are you two?" Chuck asked.
"We're rigging up the explosives," Casey replied.
"Shouldn't you have held some of the men back?" Chuck asked.
"They need to protect what they've taken," Casey replied.
A minute later, Zondra told them, "We're setting off now."
Thankfully, the camera on the outside had been left on, so Sarah spotted the movement first. "There!" she pointed to the first SUV and black van arriving.
"You've got company," Chuck told them.
"We've found another exit, so going out that way and over to the trees."
Three men from the SUV and five from the van rushed into the building. One man stayed outside to check the NSA vans that had been left behind.
There was a loud explosion, then the screen died.
Sarah panicked about Casey and Zondra until they heard the latter. "We got far enough away. Circling back."
"Turn your cameras on," Chuck urged.
Two screens lit up, showing the remains of the building as the two ran around it. As they got to what used to be the front, they found their van, in flames with a burnt body next to it. The Fulcrum van and SUV were in the same state.
The two screens continued to bounce as the pair on site ran to the exit and to their own vehicles, Casey had a Crown Vic and Zondra her motorcycle.
"Going after the others. Any sign of them or their tails?" Zondra asked.
Sarah had been watching and spotted their own three vans pass the intersection leading north. "Seen our three heading north three minutes ago, driving fast," she announced.
Zondra chuckled which seemed out of place, but her words explained why, "Couldn't stop yourself getting involved, Walker?"
Sarah nearly replied, but then saw the second SUV and two black vans approaching the intersection. "The remaining Fulcrum SUV and two vans are approaching the intersection. They must be just over three minutes behind them."
"Floor it, Rizzo," Casey growled.
"You too, with that old tank," she replied.
"I'll get there before you," he snarled.
"You wish," she joked.
Sarah turned to Chuck. "Are they normally like this?"
"Competitive?" Chuck asked, "Yeah. All the time."
He turned back to his mic. "They had five in the original van, so, if the same in the other two, there will be ten of them in those two vans plus probably four in the SUV."
"Good use of your fingers, Bartowski," Casey replied.
"Our three vans have our ten remaining men, but four of those were wounded so less effective," Zondra added.
"I'm more worried that the Fulcrum men might have missile launchers," Casey commented.
"They wouldn't use those," Sarah declared.
Chuck turned to her with a raised brow and Casey snapped derisively, "When did you become an expert?"
Sarah confidently replied, "They don't know which van might house the uranium."
"Good point, Walker," Zondra replied.
"Probably means they won't try to crash the vans either," Chuck noted. "They'll try to stop them."
Sarah struggled to watch the view on Casey's screen. He certainly was driving fast. "What if they set up a road block ahead of our guys?"
Chuck looked startled and made a phone call. "Bartowski secure," he said.
"Beckman secure," she replied.
"The NSA operatives have gotten the uranium and the detonators, but their vans are being followed. We're worried the Fulcrum team might set up a road block."
"Which way?"
"Our men are heading northwest on the 84, heading for Livermore Airport for their flight out."
Sarah had been checking maps of the area. "Do you want a place to make a stand, away from the public?"
Beckman was surprised that Sarah was involved, but made no comment. "That would be best."
"Disused barn and grounds coming up on their right," Sarah replied.
Chuck looked excited to hear that. "Ma'am, Can you get the plane to the location Sarah is about to tell you?" he asked. "We could get them out of there, rather than them trying to get to Livermore airport."
Sarah gave the details.
"Get them there, I'll get the plane there," Beckman ordered.
"Get that?" Chuck asked the team. He got five affirmatives.
"Turning now," said the first driver. The other two followed suit.
A minutes later, the first driver said, "I'm moving the uranium into the hanger. We've parked the vans together so they don't try to fire at me while I'm doing that. The others will use the vans as barricades."
Chuck looked at the name of the person speaking. "Sounds like Custer, Agent Jones. Hope it doesn't end that way."
Jones chuckled. "Thanks for that, Bartowski. I won't get back to the others in time anyway, so I'll try to circle round."
"The Fulcrum teams have split up. Just seen the van's coming your way. I'm going after the SUV," Casey told them.
Sarah turned to Chuck and mouthed, "One man against four?"
Chuck switched off the mics. "That's Casey for you, but he is probably a lot smarter than them."
"But what if there's a blockade?"
"Good point. Let's check the cameras at the next intersection," he replied.
"For lack of movement?"
"Yeah."
"You may need to do the one after as well," she advised.
The first intersection was all they needed to check. No vehicles were approaching from their direction, but plenty were going the other way.
Chuck switched on the mic again. "Casey, Sarah's done some checking. You're heading towards a blockade. My guess is half way between the intersections, maybe three miles ahead of you."
Casey grunted. "Have to let this one go, then. I'll turn back."
"Their vans had already arrived when I skirted the border of the airfield," Agent Jones advised. "Heavy gunfire."
"I'm approaching the airfield," Zondra told them. "I'll use my rifle."
Sarah frowned and looked at Chuck.
"She's possibly the best long-range sniper in the NSA, but don't tell Casey that. She'll set herself up, lying down and take them out from behind. She'll probably get at least three before they realize she's behind them."
Sarah nodded. Another thing that was similar between Zondra and her character Rebecca.
As Zondra was, once again, wearing her camera, the two in the room were able to watch her line up her rifle as they looked down the barrel. Three men dropped before the remaining six realized they were being targeted from behind. They scrambled for cover, but Zondra managed to get one more before they were in the van they had all chosen and safe from her. She shot the rear windows out.
Sarah spotted movement within the van. "Zondra, I think they may have a bazooka or something like that."
"Yeah. Spotted that. Ready to roll. Will stay a target till they fire. Although, I might get him first."
Through her camera, they spotted someone rising to the van's window lifting something up. Zondra fired immediately and he dropped. That took them down to three men against however many were left of the NSA operatives and Zondra. They were obviously deciding what to do while out of sight.
The rear door opened and guns were thrown out.
"They're giving up?" Sarah asked.
"Looks like it," Chuck replied.
"I've got them covered if they raise guns, guys," Zondra told everyone.
The men climbed out of the van with hands up. The NSA team, including Agent Jones approached them and twisted their hands behind their backs.
Casey's car roared up and screeched to a halt near the men. He got out, pissed as hell. "You took them without me?" he shouted.
Zondra sounded amused as she replied, "Yeah, while you were maneuvering the tank."
Twenty minutes later, the plane landed to pick them up, along with the three prisoners, the uranium and the other equipment.
"So, it seems you were a useful member of the team, Ms. Walker," Beckman said as she looked Sarah's way during the conference call in Zondra's hotel room.
"Glad to be of assistance," Sarah replied.
"Between you and Chuck, I think you saved the lives of all those still with us," Zondra commented.
Casey looked reluctant to admit it, because he was still grumpy about missing out on the final showdown, but he spoke, "Thanks for the blockade advice, Walker. We saw it as we flew out."
Thank you, Ms. Walker," Beckman added. Then, she looked at Sarah more intensely. "How much of this will feed into your next novel?"
Sarah smiled. "Well, you told me that none could. Are you relaxing that?"
Beckman replied, "I think you deserve some compensation, but we can't have you giving secrets away."
Sarah nodded. "Well, I'd like to include some of what I've learnt about how brave the agents were, but only if you allow me to add NSA agents into the book. If not, some of the fighting and shooting would still be relevant, plus the surveillance. Of course, the CIA wouldn't do it as well."
Zondra laughed, Casey grunted, in an amused tone and Beckman nodded with a smile. "Good plan," the latter said. "I'll think about allowing you to have NSA save the day."
Sarah chuckled at that. "Rebecca still has to look good in it, though."
"Noted," Beckman replied. She paused before adding, "I may have to vet the novel anyway, before it gets released."
Sarah smiled, "An ARC?"
Beckman frowned, as did the three with Sarah, so she explained. "Advanced Reader Copy. Often used to ensure a novel is worth taking to the publishers. It helps, but it also gives the most helpful fans early access."
Beckman almost smiled before commenting, "Sounds like a good idea." Then, she ended the call.
"Chuck and I should vet it too," Zondra said with a wink.
Sarah laughed and nodded.
Sarah's last moments with her father were both tense and tearful, for both of them. He was being taken to a new location with a new identity. Sarah would not know where and they had both been advised that was best if tat to continue for at least a year. Chuck had set up an email address for Jake to contact in a year's time so they could re-establish contact.
"Take care, Dad," Sarah said after kissing his cheek.
"Will do, kid. You too. Been good seein' ya, Sarah." He had tears forming in his eyes. He pulled her to him and hugged her tightly, whispering into her ear, "'old onto this guy, 'e a good 'n."
She could feel tears forming too. "I intend to, Dad."
He stood back and said, "Talk in a year."
"Keep out of trouble, so you can," she replied.
He nodded.
"Thanks for your help, Jake," Chuck said.
Jake looked up at him. "You keep my, li'l girl safe," he told Chuck.
Chuck beamed. "Absolutely." He put his arm around Sarah who smuggled into him.
As they watched Jake being driven away, Chuck hugged her tighter. "Let's get you home, Sarah."
That sounded great to her. "Stay the night when we get there?" she asked.
"Nowhere I'd rather be," he replied, grinning.
She grinned back, then, on tip toes, gave him a kiss.
A/N: Mission success. Back to Los Angeles next chapter.
Thanks for reading this. Please leave a review.
