CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #1: Hello everyone I'm back with a mid week chapter post! So this chapter was originally 7000+ words so I split it up into two chapters with the second chapter being posted on Friday at the normal time. This chapter is a major turning point for Sarah and is the first action i've written in quite some time so i'm interested to hear what you think about it.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #2: I've been doing a ton of rewrites to add more stuff to this story so expect a few more longer chapters before the chapters return to lengths more akin to what I laid out in Chapter 1 i.e. 1300-1700 words. Anyways enjoy this mid week chapter and let me know what you think, your reviews are always appreciated.
Contrition
A Story by
CharmingCharles2896
Chapter 4:
Saving Chuck Part I
Sarah was genuinely scared by how easily she'd made the decision to jump the night prior; she'd felt so at peace and almost happy as she looked down at the roiling waters of the Potomac. When she'd gotten back to her apartment she'd spent the entire night suicide proofing her apartment. She'd thrown away all her extension cords and anything else that could be used to make a noose. All high strength pain killers had been thrown away as well, anything she could use to do herself in was promptly disposed of. After she'd finished suicide proofing her apartment she tried to get some more sleep, but she found no such luck; she was too focused on the old lady on the bridge to sleep. Had that been a hallucination? Was she insane? Whatever that was, it stuck with her because it was all she could think about as she dialed the number for Dr. Dreyfus. She didn't have another appointment with him for weeks, but she knew she desperately needed to see him.
The sound of the other end of the line picking up gave Sarah a small sense of relief. "You've reached the office of Dr. Alexander Dreyfus, Candice speaking; how may I help you?" Came the voice of the perky brunette woman who answered his phones.
"Sapphire." Sarah said to the brunette, because of the secrecy of the agents seeking counseling only code names were ever used on the phones when referring to patients.
"Authenticate… whiskey?" Candice said seriously, her perky demeanor gone.
"Authenticate… November." Sarah said back nervously as she tried to resist the urge to chew on her fingernails. There was a long pause on the other end of the call as Sarah waited for Candice to authenticate that it was actually her.
"Roger that Sapphire, how can I help you?" Sarah let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and spoke.
"Yes, I need an appointment with Dr. Dreyfus as soon as possible." Sarah said quickly, there was a long pause as Sarah listened to the sound of Candice typing on her keyboard.
"I'm sorry Sapphire, but you're only permitted one visit per month." Candice said with a fake empathy that only made the former Ice Queen angry. Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing; she'd always just assumed her prescription was one visit a month; what did Candice mean by not allowed?
"What the hell does that mean, I thought I can request more visits?" Sarah said loudly to this Candice woman.
"I'm sorry Sapphire, but you're mistaken; the Agency is only willing to pay for one visit per month." Sarah saw red, those mother…
"Those cheap bastard, how dare they!" Sarah seethed quietly into the phone, Candice sounded nervous on the other end of the call.
"Sapphire relax, we can always move your next appointment up if you'd like, say October 11th?" Candice said trying to appease the very upset agent.
"Absolutely not, that would mean my next appointment after that wouldn't be for another 42 days! No I need another damn appointment with Dr. Dreyfus for THIS WEEK." Candice didn't seem phased as she replied.
"I'm sorry Sapphire, the agency is not going to pay for another appointment this month." Sarah simply rubbed her furrowed brow in frustration before she replied.
"I don't care, just schedule the appointment, and do your damn job!" Sarah said forcefully to Candice who replied equally forcefully.
"Do not yell at me, it isn't my fault you can't get another appointment." Sarah paused and though before she had a brain blast.
"Schedule the appointment, I'm willing to pay out of pocket for the visit." Sarah said calmer this time to Candice; she was upset because of how mad she'd gotten at Candice, it wasn't right to snap at the girl like that. It seemed her emotions were always on such a knife's edge these days; she was always ready to snap at someone, which was draining to be honest. There was a long pause before Candice replied.
"Are you sure, it's going to be expensive; Dr. Dreyfus charges $550 per visit?" Candice said to Sarah flatly, Sarah did pause thinking of her savings, but the decision was an easy one… she needed help.
"That's no problem, just schedule the appointment please." Sarah asked pleadingly, she heard typing for a long moment before Candice spoke again.
"Okay Sapphire, your new appointment is scheduled for tomorrow at 8:30 am." Candice heard Sarah audibly sigh in relief at that news; she was going to get to see Dreyfus and hopefully he'd be able to offer her some wisdom.
"Thank you Candice, 8:30 sounds perfect."
"Great we'll see you tomorrow." The line went dead and Sarah was once again left to her own devices, but unlike before a sense of relief washed over her. She wasn't completely alone; at least she wouldn't be tomorrow, but that was tomorrow. Today she still had to go to work, which she was dreading; she wasn't dreading work because it was hazardous to anything of that sort, instead she was dreading it because of how boring it was.
XXX
As Sarah walked out of her apartment complex towards the parking lot she couldn't help but admire the weather; Washington D.C. was truly beautiful in October. It was noon and the birds were chirping, some kids where playing on the sidewalk outside her apartment complex. Oh to be that young again, to live so carefree, to just be able to go outside and play with your friends. A part of Sarah was envious of those children; she'd never gotten the chance to live that life, to be a part of that world. The closest she'd ever gotten was the Christmas' she spent with Langston Graham and his family while the CIA put her through college at Harvard, but even then she'd known she wasn't one of them. They were nice to her, but she didn't belong in that world. Sarah pulled out her car keys as she approached the covered parking space for her Porsche.
"Chuck, Chuck!" Came the voice of a distraught mother, Sarah looked up from her car keys and glanced in the direction of the street. There was a woman likely in her mid 40's; she had a look of worry on her face as she looked frantically up and down the street. Sarah slipped her keys back into her pocket and jogged over to the front gate. After she'd made her way through the gate she went to the mother and spoke.
"What's the problem?" The mother looked at Sarah and gave her a quickly look up and down before she spoke.
"It's my son Charles, he's missing; he went out to play with his friends but he's gone." The mother was panicked so Sarah did what she does best and took command; with a calmness and focus that only came from years of spying Sarah spoke.
"Tell me about your son, age, physical description, nicknames, anything we can use to find him." The mother nodded and opened her wallet to show Sarah a picture.
"He goes by Chuck, he's ten years old; you can't miss him, he's tall as can be and has long brown hair." Sarah nodded and memorized the picture.
"Okay I'll go search that end of the street you go search the opposite, then we'll meet back here in say fifteen minutes." The mother nodded and then reached into her purse.
"Here's my card, if you find him just call me and I'll meet you there." Sarah simply nodded and the two of them walked away from each other to find the child. Sarah's spy senses were seeing anything and everything; the street had seven cars parked on it, there were five cars currently in traffic, ten houses, four children playing hopscotch. As Sarah approached the intersection she scanned all the buildings and all of the cars with her eyes; that's when she saw it, a flash of brown hair in the rear window of a red delivery van. Sarah's eyes widened in realization and she quickly memorized the plates of the van before she reached for her badge and walked out into traffic. A beige sedan was approaching so Sarah quickly got out in front of it and showed her badge. As the 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis came to a stop Sarah saw the old granny driving it and went to the drivers side window.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but I need to commandeer your car, there's been a kidnapping." Sarah said quickly as she looked back towards the red van.
"Get in I'll drive." The old lady said as she hit the button to unlock the doors; Sarah begrudgingly did as the old lady said and quickly hopped in the passenger's side.
"Follow that red delivery van." Sarah said as she pulled out her cell phone and the mother's business card; Sarah quickly dialed the number listed as personal and listened to the phone ring and ring. Finally the mother answered the phone with a palpable nervousness in her tone.
"Yes Mrs. Cameron, this is Sarah Walker I'm the woman you talked to about your son; I believe I've found him, he's currently in the back of a red delivery van heading east on Cumberland." Sarah's calm voice was well honed to mask the fear she was currently feeling.
"What, how did he get in there?" The mother asked frantically.
"I fear he's been kidnapped, but don't worry I'm going to get him back. In the mean time I want you to go home and call the police." Sarah said to the mother, she knew she needed to give the mother something to do to keep her mind occupied or else she'd spiral out of control like any mother would after hearing that their child had been kidnapped.
"Oh god my baby's been kidnapped." The mother sobbed into the phone; Sarah didn't have time for this so she spoke calmly.
"Listen to me Mrs. Cameron, I am going to get your son back safe and sound I promise, now I have to be going." Sarah said hoping to assuage the anguish the mother was feeling enough to let her focus, Sarah hung up her phone and reached back to pull out her gun, she pulled the slide back to chamber a round and looked over at the granny and spoke.
"Keep following that van Ma'am, but don't get too close to him or he'll suspect us." The granny simply nodded and spoke.
"Don't worry about me, this ain't my first rodeo." Sarah didn't know how to respond to that, so she simply let it lie and dialed a different number. After a long pause the phone stopped ringing and a man's voice answered the call.
"You've reached the offices of Caldwell, Irving, & Associates how may I direct your call?"
"This is Sapphire, I'd like to place an order for a single red rose." Sarah said obviously speaking in code, there was a long pause on the other end of the line.
"I'm sorry Sapphire, but it appears that product has been suspended." Sarah silently cursed her damn suspension and spoke angrily.
"Connect me to ops Jamie, this is an emergency." Sarah said cutting straight through the coded bullshit. There was another long pause on the line before another man picked up the phone.
"This is ops, how can I help you Agent Walker?" Sarah smiled to herself; she hadn't spoken to Calvin Bridger in years.
"Hey Calvin, I know I'm suspended but I'm currently in a civilian's car in pursuit of a red delivery van believed to be in possession of a missing persons, a one Charles Cameron, age 10. We're presently trailing the van heading east on Cumberland." Sarah said as she scanned her surroundings.
"Roger that Agent Walker, what do you need?" Sarah simply smiled to herself and spoke clearly.
"I need you to coordinate with local police, and I need to know I won't get in trouble if I have to go in loud to get this kid." Sarah said as she saw the red delivery van turn off of Cumberland into an industrial park. "Slow down a bit before you turn in, give us some space so they don't think they're being followed." The granny simply nodded and decelerated as Bridger spoke once again.
"Okay Agent Walker, will do; if you need backup just call TAC-9 and a swat team can be at your position in 20 minutes." Sarah quickly said her goodbyes and scanned the area once again, the granny was a real pro at tailing this van, they could see where the van was going, but it didn't look like they were following them. The granny drove past the large warehouse that the van had pulled into and parked around the corner. Once they were parked Sarah stepped out of the car and was surprised when the granny did the same.
"What are you doing, it's much too dangerous for you to go with me." Sarah said to the granny who simply gave Sarah a sarcastic look.
"I know that, but if you actually want to save the kid, why don't you take something a little bigger than that pea shooter you got in your hand." As the granny said that she opened her trunk to reveal a trio of brown paper grocery bags; the granny pushed those aside and pulled up on a lever to reveal a false bottom. Inside this secret chamber was a surprising amount of firepower.
"Is that a Falkor Alpha with a holographic sight, optional iron sights, flashlight, laser, and a fore grip?" Sarah said in aw as she picked up the nearly $5,000 AR308.
"Sure is." The granny said with pride.
"She's beautiful; this is a lot of gun for someone your age." Sarah said as she picked up the AR and examined it.
"Speak for yourself young blood, my grand daughter bought me that gun as a Christmas present, because she knows what her nana likes! Now go get that kid." The granny said as she handed Sarah a belt housing extra magazines; Sarah quickly stowed her Smith & Wesson 5906 in the discrete holster in small of her back and put the belt on.
"Wish me luck." Sarah said as she crossed the empty street of the industrial park and made her way towards the fence surrounding the warehouse. Sarah slung the Falkor Alpha over her back and went to climb over the fence; the climb was more of a struggle than she remembered it being, but eventually she made her way over to the other side of the fence and silently crept towards the warehouse. Sarah readied her weapon and peered in through a window, there were five children in total, three of them were little girls while the other two were both boys who looked to be about the same age. Sure enough one of the boys was Chuck, he looked terrified as one of the kidnappers slapped him hard for disobeying some order that Sarah couldn't hear. There were six men in the warehouse all carrying guns.
"They must be human traffickers." Sarah mused to herself as she made her way to the back in search of a rear entrance. Her heart was beating faster than it had in months, she hadn't done something like this in far too long and it showed because she was freaking out on the inside. Sarah spotted a rear door that was slightly ajar so she carefully pulled it open and crept inside. She was in a long hallway with many rooms on either side. At the end of the hall and to the left was a large opening that likely led to the main area. Sarah made her way down the hallway as quiet as a church mouse. As she got closer and closer she could hear the silent cries of five scared children; the six kidnappers were arguing about something in a language she hadn't had to speak in years. Sarah had learned how to speak Thai while she was stationed in Thailand at the US consulate in Bangkok for six months right out of the farm. They were talking about some man named Chen being late again, but that it was okay because he worked for Alexei Volkoff. As Sarah got to the end of the hall she saw two guards were lined up facing each other, it was too perfect a shot to pass up so she took it. With a squeeze of the trigger Sarah fired and watched two of the six men fall instantly as the powerful .308 caliber rifle round easily passed through one man into the second and then out the other side. Sarah fired several more shots at the four remaining men, but they all missed. She took the opportunity to move out into the main area and find cover behind a trio of wooden crates as the children were hustled away by one of the men. The other three were scrambling for cover and firing at her all at the same time.
"How did I miss those shots, I never used to miss those at this range?" Sarah said to herself as she fired several more shots in the direction of the scumbag kidnappers. The beauty of a powerful round like the .308 caliber S&W was it's penetrating power. One of her shots went through the cheap wooden wall of the office room at the back of the warehouse and struck a man who fell in a heap as his chest exploded into a red mist. Sarah saw the two remaining men make a run for the back hallway and the assumed safety of the various office rooms. She let off a series of shots that clipped one in the hip and completely missed the other. As the one disappeared into an office she got up from her cover and made her way over to the wounded man who was screaming for his mother in pain. Sarah reached back and pulled out her pistol, he looked at her in fear, but saw nothing but contempt from Sarah who quickly put the pistol up to his head and fired a single shot ending his life. Sarah stowed her pistol once again and reloaded her rifle. The one downside of the larger ammunition was a lower capacity per magazine versus the traditional 5.56 mm NATO cartridge. Silently Sarah walked towards the hallway and quickly spotted the windowless room with the door cracked open just a tiny bit.
These guys were sloppy and disorganized to be sure; Sarah silently pressed her ear against the cheap wooden wall and listened for the children. She finally heard a faint sound from the opposite end of the hallway so with a devious smile Sarah stood back and trained her rifle on the wall.
"Rot in hell." She said to herself before unleashing a hail of bullets at the wall, she heard the sickening thunk of bullets hitting flesh and stopped firing. She could hear the pained groans of a dying man inside the room, but she paid him no attention as she focused on finding the children. There were three more doors in the hallway before the rear door, she knew the children were in the last room at the end of the hallway, but she had to be sure so she approached the first door on the right and kicked it in… or attempted to at least. With a groan Sarah pulled back and tried again, once again she couldn't help but think that she used to be able to do that no problem. The room was empty so Sarah turned her attention to the next door on the left and did the same as before. Once again the room was empty so Sarah turned her attention to the last room at the end of the hall. She set her rifle down on the ground and took the belt off as well; the room was too small for a gun that big. Sarah pulled out her trusty pistol and pressed her back up against the wall, Sarah thought back to her days in Bangkok and spoke in Thai.
"I know you're in there, all your friends are dead so just give me the kids and surrender." The man she knew was in there didn't answer her; Sarah let out a silent curse and checked her pistol. It was at that moment that a massive fist came bursting through the wall; Sarah's eyes grew as wide as saucers as she felt the fist grab ahold of her and pull her through the cheap wood wall. Sarah was flung into the room and rolled over the cheap plastic table in the middle of the room and finally came to a rest with a loud thud on the ground. Sarah let out a groan as she tried to get to her feet; a swift kick to the stomach ended that thought as Sarah immediately collapsed back onto the cold floor. Sarah looked up to her left and spotted the towering Thai man with an angry snarl on his face.
"Damn you're tall." Sarah said as she felt him pull her up off the floor and hurl her back through the wall from which she came. As Sarah's back slammed through the wall and impacted the adjacent wall across the hall she saw the big man step through the hole in the wall to finally reveal his true height, he must have been seven feet tall. Sarah got to her feet and assumed a defensive stance as a lone strand of blonde hair fell out of her ponytail. He simply smiled at her and lunged closing the distance between them quickly; Sarah blocked his first punch, but mistimed the block of his second and took a hard shot to the right side of her face. Her head snapped around quickly as she stumbled backwards; he wasted no time and tackled her from behind sending them both through the wall into another one of the offices. After the two of them hit the ground Sarah caught him in the ear with a backwards-left elbow just as he tried to get up. The man rolled off of her in pain allowing Sarah to get up and put some distance between them. She was cornered in this room with a towering mountain of a man; thinking quickly Sarah reached for her right ankle where she kept a collection of throwing knives under her long pants. As Sarah pulled out the knife she saw his swinging foot out of the corner of her eye and lunged to the left so that his foot missed her head.
With his stance compromised Sarah took the opportunity to stab him in the leg three times eliciting cries of pain each time. Sarah went to stab him again when he lunged once again desperately. The force of his lunge carried them both through the wall again into the first office where Sarah had kill the one man. As she flew into the room she saw a wall covered in blood splatters and a dead corpse in the corner. When she hit the ground she heard the clank of her knife as it left her right hand. Before Sarah had a chance to grab another knife the large man was on top of her with his large strong hands around her throw; with her airflow restricted Sarah struggled against him for a long moment, her world was getting dark as she frantically felt around for her knife.
"Die American bitch." The man growled angrily; Sarah's mind was panicking in terror as her vision continued to darken and her world turned black.
"Where's the god damn knife?" Sarah though to herself as she realized this was the end…
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #3: Duh duh duuuuh... I know cliffhangers are mean, but you had to see this one coming right? So what do you think is going to happen? Is Sarah going to be able to survive this fight? Let me know in the reviews what you think will happen on Friday when Contrition returns with Chapter 5: Save Chuck Part II!
UNTIL NEXT TIME :D
