Ch. 8
A/N: Apologies to those looking for this to be posted in the morning. Early posting usually means getting the chapter out before the work day gets crazy. Well today the work day got crazy at 6am. Gotta love Mondays.
Chuck dodged a figurative bullet in the last chapter, ducking out before Sarah could bring the chase to a close. Let's see what progress Sarah makes after putting a face to the text messages.
Sarah led Carina back to her CIA provided apartment. Sarah knew she shouldn't cut class, but she had to check the security footage. Had to. She didn't notice Carina standing back, watching Sarah, almost manic, checking the feed. Sarah slammed her fist on the desk and turned to Carina.
"He should've been there," she told Carina, pointing to the screen. "Right there!" Sarah turned back around, checking the screen. She watched the footage of Carina approaching her after getting burned. "See! There's the tour crossing the quad." She pulled up the footage of the camera that covered the spot where her admirer had been. "Where in the hell is he?" She muttered. Carina watched, a grin growing as she watched Sarah become alive. Carina watched her replay the footage twice more. It was the third review of that camera when Sarah caught it. "AH-HA!" she exclaimer. She turned to Carina, bouncing in place. "See, see? The footage had been copied over, but in a hurry." She pointed to the bottom of the screen. "There! The time stamp on the bottom showed that it had been looped." She turned back to the computer, muttering in a low voice. "You were there. I wasn't imagining it. I found you!" Sarah's tone was triumphant.
"Now what?" Carina asked innocently, knowing she had just spurred on her friend with those words.
"Now what?" Sarah replied, pulling up another screen on her computer. "I'm going to check the student ID database for guys in his age range with brown hair and brown eyes."
"Not bad," Carina said, silently taking pictures of Sarah, working like a madwoman, sending the pictures to Zondra with the caption, She's lost her damn mind over a guy.
Sarah worked quickly, finding many hits, but no secret admirer. She refused to give up, accessing the CIA technology database to make a composite sketch. It wasn't a tool that she had used before, so it took a while to get an image that sort of resembled the guy who had tried to be a modern day knight in shining armor.
"What are you going to do with that?" Carina asked Sarah as Sarah held the printout both gently and possessively at the same time.
"I'm going to canvass the area, while you go trolling," Sarah told her. Carina nodded.
"I like it," she agreed.
The two left Sarah's room. Sarah went back to where she had last seen her secret admirer.
Composite printout in hand, Sarah began the tedious process of canvassing the area in the hope that she could develop a lead on her secret, and secretive, admirer. She focused on employees and student volunteers in the area.
She found herself talking to herself. This is just like spy-work. You have to sift through a lot of useless information to find that one nugget that is going to change anything.
}0{
Thirty minutes later Sarah wondered who she had killed she shouldn't have that justified her hearing some of the worst pickup lines in history. How the hell had that guy had gotten into Stanford with that line…he must have been a legacy.
She refused to give up on finding her chocolate-eyed nerd. He had called himself one, and he had to be, right? He had managed to watch her by surveillance, text her on a phone he shouldn't have known the number to, and in a matter of minutes he had hidden his whereabouts on camera. She stood in front of the library, a knowing grin on her face. She should have known he came here. She didn't know that he did, but her gut told her he had. She entered, saw the library reference desk, staffed by a woman, and thought she'd try there. She hoped she wouldn't be hit on.
Sarah approached the desk with a polite, albeit exhausted, smile only to hear the diminutive young woman grumble, "Great. Another tall, leggy blonde. Just what we need around here." But she plastered on something that vaguely resembled a smile and asked how she could be of help.
The smile disappeared as Sarah pulled out the composite sketch. "What do you want with Professor Bartowski?" The brunette said to her in an accusatory voice. "I'm going to need to see student ID or I'm calling security."
Sarah's patience had run out. As the ice-cold glare came unbidden to her face, she reminded herself that she shouldn't cause any scenes. As much as she wanted to teach this brunette to show some respect to a stranger, she didn't. She knew paperwork would be involved with assaulting a civilian and she despised paperwork. She also didn't want Roan to yell at her.
It became clear that Sarah was looking into the eyes of an enemy. Sarah sweetly, pulled out the student ID, watching the brunette deflate. Sarah pocketed the ID, picked up a pencil that was on the desk, and flung it, impaling a framed picture of the pipsqueak. "Have a nice day," Sarah said in her sweetest tone. She grabbed the sketch and strode away from the desk, keeping an eye on the brunette, watching her swallow. As soon as she was out of sight, Sarah raced back to check the information. She mentally cursed herself. She had been sure he was a grad student, and not old enough to be a professor. Now, she had a professor to find, and perhaps get herself some tutoring sessions. She shook her head to get that thought out of her mind.
Sure enough, a search of the faculty quickly showed a listing for Professor Bartowski as a professor emeritus in the Engineering College Department of Computer Science. She felt excitement building within her as she clicked on the link. "That damn pipsqueak!" she growled. "She conned me."
She stormed out of her apartment to head to class. The link had shown a gentleman with kind, brown eyes, but his light brown hair that was quickly turning more grey than brown. In her furor, she had failed to notice a link for a second Professor Bartowski in the Computer Science Department.
}o{
Sarah sat in her class, only partially paying attention to the lecture. Her mind was racing, wondering what was going on. She had been absolutely certain that the guy on the quad was her admirer. Identifying him had become much more difficult than she imagined. She was trying to ignore the disappointment bubbling up inside her. She flipped her notebook to a blank page and began to make notes.
She scribbled down what she knew. He could access the security cameras, even alter them. He talked like someone who knew IC lingo, but at the same time didn't sound remotely like some egotistical agent. She wrote down analyst and put a question mark by it. While that was possible, why was he linked with Stanford? She wrote down professor and put a question mark down by it as well. She tapped the eraser end of her pencil against her lip, thinking. She had gone back through the list of students again. Her search of the students established that he wasn't one. The mystery of her secret admirer was becoming harder to crack than she thought it would be. She didn't even realize how much she was grinning, thinking about how she was going to find him.
Sarah's phone buzzed. She quickly pulled it out to see that Carina had a mission and would be off grid again for a bit. Sarah found herself happy about that. There was something about this mission, well, all missions if she were honest, but especially this mission being hers and hers alone. Sarah was once again on her own to solve the mystery. That was exactly how she like it, solo.
She stared at the spy phone, as though a clue would jump out at her. She started to type when the lecturer moved on to a topic which was the focus of Sarah's upcoming term paper. She sighed, put the phone back in her bag, and shifted the search for her admirer to the back of her mind as she focused on the class discussion. Even though the government was paying for her education she didn't want to waste the money.
}o{
Sometime later, she was in her apartment. Her classes were over for the day, homework completed, but as she looked at herself in the mirror, she knew class was just about to begin. She was grinning like a fool, and she loved it. "Time for me to be proactive," Sarah said, starring at the reflection in her mirror. The grin took a wicked turn as an idea took hold. She picked up her phone and began to type.
*That was a close one. I nearly caught you. But Carina isn't a danger to me.*
Sarah looked at the message for a moment, and then added: mostly. She didn't know why she had to tell this guy the truth all the time. Something in her just wanted to. She hit send, and waited. She stared at the phone, and saw nothing. "Please respond, please respond," she muttered, looking up at her reflection again, noting the worry in her own eyes. Her phone vibrated, and it was all she could do not to pump her fist into the air.
*I should have known that you knew someone was following you. Word is that you are renown throughout the IC.*
"Hmm, interesting." Sarah began to think. "So, he knows information from the IC but isn't a part of it." She began to type again, wanting to continue the conversation…needing to continue the conversation. She hit send.
*Thanks for the glasses. They've been quite the game changer for me.*
She found she wasn't as nervous this time, waiting for him to respond. Her phone vibrated and it was all she could do not to giggle in happiness.
*I'm glad they help. I didn't mean to make it seem like I was buying your affection. I'm sorry if it felt that way. And I'm sorry they are so nerdy. Next time I'll find something more stylish. You can throw them away if they're too embarrassing.*
She read the text and felt her grin grow as she typed. She quickly hit send before she could over analyze what she said.
*So, there's going to be a next time? I like the sound of that. Gives me another chance to catch you.*
There were nerves this time waiting, but they weren't nerves worrying he wouldn't respond. No, they were other nerves…actually, she wasn't sure what kind of nerves they were, but she found that she felt them more and more frequently when talking to her admirer. It was beginning to feel like he wasn't a secret admirer anymore. Sure, she didn't know his name, but she was beginning to know him. Her phone vibrated and she looked down.
*You haven't caught me yet.*
Sarah paused before responding. She caught sight of her reflection and barely recognized the woman looking back at her. When is the last time I grinned where my eyes were shining like this? Never? She hit send with a flourish
*That's what you think.*
That's when it slammed into her. "Oh my god," she muttered. "I'm flirting by text. Does this qualify as sexting? I've yet to actually speak to this guy, and I'm flirting." She found her finger hovered over the screen. One tap and the call would go out to him. Would he answer? Do I want him to? With a frown, she moved her finger away from the screen and placed the phone on the credenza. She did what she always did before something big, if she could. She was going to sleep on it. She needed to. She needed to not do anything rash. She wondered if she would sleep a wink that night. She did, and she kept dreaming about a curly haired knight in shining armor.
}o{
At the end of her class the next morning, Sarah looked at the notes she had typed into her laptop unable to recall a single word that had been said. She had been in a haze ever since the text exchange the night before. As the class let out, she overheard two of her classmates talking as they packed up their gear.
"This computer is driving me nuts. But there's no way I would be able to keep up on my tablet." The speaker was a mousy looking girl who had likely gone straight for her masters after graduating from college.
Her friend teased her a bit. "Instead of talking to the Nerd Herd, you should go over to the CS Department and see if your crush Chuck is around. I'm sure that he could fix you right up." Her friend smirked while belatedly tacking on, "Your computer I mean."
The mousy girl flushed bright red. "It's Professor Bartowski. Just because I took a class with him doesn't mean that I get to be on a first name basis with him."
Sarah froze in place. Chuck? Who names their kid Chuck? Besides, the faculty directory showed Stephen Bartowski, not Chuck. As there were students for the next lecture waiting for the room to clear, Sarah threw her gear in her bag before heading out to the hallway. She suddenly stopped just outside the room, grabbing her phone. She brought the faculty directory up once again. There it was: Professor Chuck Bartowski, Department of Computer Science. She clicked on the link and soon saw the same caring eyes that had captivated her on the quad. Gotcha!
Sarah felt a fluttering in her stomach as she made her way to her car. A smile was on her face she couldn't stop if she wanted to. Thank god the Porsche finally got shipped out by the Agency. That four door rental car was so underpowered she was sure she could have jogged back and forth faster.
When she got back to her apartment, she used her secure connection to dig a little deeper. After a little searching, she sat back, stunned. He and his father are outside contractors to the NSA, with high clearance. Above her pay-grade level clearance. She pulled out her notebook she had been taking notes in and jotted down this info. As she jotted, she realized many things. First his clearance was so high, she couldn't access what he was working on. Also, it explained all the ways he could contact her without her tracing it. She found one question which wasn't answered: How did some guy her age become a professor, at Stanford no less?
Sarah thought back to her two classmates lusting over Chuck. That wouldn't do…that wouldn't do at all. He told her that she was to catch him. That meant that he was hers to catch. She pulled up the computer science classes to figure out his schedule. She pulled out her map that she had made of the campus security cameras, identifying all the blind spots.
"Time for me to surveil you Professor Bartowski," she said, a grin on her face and her eyes shining.
A/N 2: The chase is coming to an end. But this is only Chapter 8…that's weird. But the hunter has now become the hunted. And Agent Walker has made it her mission to catch her secret admirer. And we all know that Sarah never fails a mission.