A/N1 This chapter and another, then an epilogue. I already feel myself fading from view, like Clint Eastwood at the end of High Plains Drifter.

Don't own Chuck.

Chutes and Ladders

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Go

Sarah was standing outside the clubhouse. The ambulance was gone. The vans, too. The course, while not restored to its earlier condition, looked almost playable. The coveralled men had done good work, quick work.

Morgan was checking the hazards on Holes 12-16, making sure things were still working or still rightly configured. Hole 18 was, of course, a loss; if he reopened, he'd have to cope with the demise of Chesko.

Chuck was helping Morgan, and Matthew was watching them, his arm preventing him from being any serious manual help. The three of them seemed buddies immediately. Sarah was watching them, smiling to herself, when Ginny walked up, her phone in her hand but her conversation with the CIA Director, Boosinger, evidently finished.

She stood beside Sarah and watched, an unconscious smile forming on her face.

"So," Ginny began, "you and Chuck? Watching you, seems like a new thing - but a big one, a serious one?"

Sarah nodded without taking her eyes off the man in question. "Yes, the biggest thing of the sort ever in my life. It's just taken me over. I never quite believed I could fall for a man, but especially not like this, a headlong plunge - a joyous, headlong plunge." Sarah sighed involuntarily.

Ginny responded, her smile still in place, "Mmmmhmmm. I know what you mean. I thought handling Matthew would be a piece of cake. Brainy, lonely, inexperienced: I'd have him under my control in seconds. I walked into Wilmore Laboratories, through the front doors with their thick glass and metalwork, expecting to enthrall him, render him pliable." She snapped her fingers.

"Instead, I looked into his eyes and the whole strategic situation reversed on me. I went in mentally spouting Sun Tzu, The Art of War: 'Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.' I guess I actually believed I knew what those were before I met him….

"But instead that's what he did to me, Sun Tzu-ed me. Forced me to reveal myself, my vulnerable spots. Starting right then and there...I don't think I ever had a fighting chance. Routed on the field at first contact." Ginny seemed lost in self-estimation. "Pride and falls, and all that. I sure fell. I'm still falling, years later. I can't manage to be the hardass I'm supposed to be; he softens me, and damn it, I like it."

Ginny was quiet for a moment, then she breathed in sharply, putting her hand over her mouth.

"Oh, God, did I just say all that out loud? See what I mean: it's all his fault." Her vexation was mixed with merriment. After another moment, Ginny shook her head and laughed. "You know that story, about the Memento Homo?"

Sarah looked at Ginny and shook her head. Ginny explained. "A gladiator slave who drove the chariot of a great commander and repeated to him: 'Memento homo - you are only a man.' Matthew doesn't tell me but that but he makes me know - I am only a woman."

"Funny," Sarah said, quietly, "it was sort of like that for me, with Chuck. I had this plan. It fell apart almost immediately because I fell immediately.

"When I was in college, I took this course in Women's Studies: Women of Power. One day we watched a film about Venetian Courtesans, Dangerous Beauty. Not a great film, really, but the woman at its center was a poet as well as a courtesan (and good with a sword). There's this bit of one of her poems - not great poetry, maybe, but not doggerel - and it stuck with me...and it's been in my head since the first day Chuck visited my class."

"Oh, is that how Sasha met him?" Ginny asked.

Sarah smiled at the memory, especially since Chuck currently was working on the frog on Hole 12. "Yes, he and Sasha colored together. A picture of a frog. Anyway, the poem goes like this, just about, anyway:

I find myself within his eyes,
And long for more myself to know.
He hears, it seems, my silent cries,
And makes my heart my reason's foe.
How can this be to love so quickly?
"Love does not wait," is his reply.
What magic weaves his touch to treat me
How can I now my love deny?"

Sarah finished and she felt her cheeks pink. She looked at Ginny hesitantly. But Ginny smiled at her, not scoffing, but in solidarity. "Yeah," she agreed quietly and intensely, "I get that. I really do."

Ginny turned to face Sarah. "So that was your knife in the bad guy's hand, Jessup?"

"Yes."

"I'm guessing there's a story there."

"Yes, an old one. Not one I'm proud of."

"I have stories like that. I once thought I would only have stories like that - until Matthew. Now, I have him, and I have Sasha, and…" she patted her abdomen, "a new little somebody who is going to join us."

"Matthew didn't know?"

"No, I had been planning to tell him yesterday, but...you folks showed up…"

"Sorry."

"Couldn't be helped."

"So, Boosinger?"

"She dispatched agents to find Foxworth. They found witnesses who say he went into FARMA around the time you two showed up at our place. He hasn't come out. But no agent has actually seen him today."

"Is there a plan?"

Ginny seemed reluctant for a moment, then made a decision. "Yes, she wants me to go to FARMA tonight and root Foxworth out, alive, if possible. Assuming he doesn't leave. I think even with his shoulder, Matt can run the van for me, locks and video feeds, that sort of thing. Boosinger doesn't want to go in with numbers - too many ways this could backfire politically. And this is the sort of assignment Langston Graham trained me for, used me for. I'm good at it." There was zero pride in Ginny's tone, only resignation.

"I met him once, by the way. Langston Graham." Sarah wanted to match Ginny's confidence with one of her own. "Years ago."

Ginny looked at Sarah hard. "Really? Was this just a bump-into-by-accident thing?"

"No. He came looking for me. He tried to recruit me."

Ginny frowned deeply. "I heard he did that, but I never knew for sure. He must have been eager to recruit you if he left Langley to try it. He was like the Wizard of Oz, always behind the damned Curtain. And you said no? To the great and powerful Oz?"

"I had been living...in the margins...for a long time. I did not want to get stranded there. No offense."

Ginny held up both hands, palms toward Sarah. "Go, Sarah! No offense taken. Believe me, I am no recruiter for my job. You did the right thing. Even if - if - there's a story to tell that morally justifies some things I've done," Ginny paused, taking stock, "it can't undo the personal damage they've done to me, lighten the load I carry, salve the hurt."

Ginny was quiet for a moment. "Matthew and Sasha and…" she dropped her hand to her abdomen again, "...and this newcomer...they are my attempt to redeem myself, repair myself, to find the woman, the human being, the job cost me. Memento homo. This job makes remembering that...all but impossible."

"But you are going to do it, you're going after Foxworth?"

"Yes, and I will bring him out alive as long as he is alive. And then that's it: I'm done. Matthew's work is done. The CIA or whoever gets the Intersect. We get the hell out of Tombstone. We find a permanent life somewhere far away from spies, from the Boot Hill of Langley. A good life, not one deformed by the Agency.

"Boosinger agreed - although I didn't quite explain it in those terms. But she knew it was coming if we could shake free of the Ring. Maybe tonight that finally happens. Take the head of the snake." Ginny looked hopeful.

Chuck and Matthew headed toward them, Matthew speeding up when he saw Ginny and saw that she was no longer on the phone. Morgan was still moving tires around on Hole 14.

Matthew arrived and put his hands on Ginny's arms, stared into her eyes. "Really?"

Her small grin became a satellite smile. "Really!" He hugged her hard and she hugged him back just as hard. "Look, I need to tell you about my conversation with Boosinger." She took Matthew's hand and they walked away to talk.

Sarah stepped to Chuck and took his hand. "Hey, are you okay? Everything with Jessup?"

He nodded tentatively. "I think so. It helps that he will make it. What about you? That was some knife throw - like you were a circus performer! There was even circus music and a clown - or the remains of a clown." Chuck got a daydreamy look in his eyes for a second, then returned. "But you're okay?"

She nodded, a bit tentative herself. "As you said, it helps that he will make it - and that he would have tried to kill you if he'd gotten to the gun.

"So, Chuck, are we done with this? I mean, we've solved the Sasha case, I guess, our part of it. And more or less solved Casey's - we helped, anyway. Are we done?"

Chuck glanced over at Ginny and Matthew. "What did Boosinger say to Ginny?" Sarah explained and Chuck listened. He looked at the Yema on his wrist. "So, she'll infiltrate FARMA in a few hours?"

"I'm not sure about the timetable. She said tonight. I assume it will be after business hours, probably after dark…"

"Sarah," Chuck began softly, a hint of pleading in his voice, "I want to go with her. I want to see this through to the end. It's my case or my cases...or my case…

"Anyway, I don't know how to count, but, still, mine. I need to finish. Close the book. I'm ready to take the shingle down after this, start the company we talked about. But, look, I've been thinking. I am almost sure that Jill got shot because she came to me, because she asked for my help.

"Maybe Bryce got caught in the blowback from that visit. I'm not sure. And I know - I didn't take the case. I didn't refuse it, either. And I feel sort of responsible - not because she was my girlfriend once, but because she asked for my help. I won't vouch for her motives, but she did ask. I want to help her, not as my ex-girlfriend, but as my quasi-client."

Sarah bit her lip, thinking. She held Chuck's eyes with her own. "Two conditions. One, I go with you. And two, you make it clear that you understand I am not your client, I am your girlfriend."

Chuck smiled. "Where would I go without my Girl Friday? Especially since she is not my girlfriend…" Sarah's eyes widened, "...she's my fiancée." Before Sarah could respond, he dipped her back and kissed her in good earnest. After responding, she began to laugh into his lips.

When he un-dipped her, she put her hand on his cheek. "'Fiancée', that's a good word, Chuck." She gave her head a brief shake. "Everyone's going to say we're crazy, you know."

Chuck grew pensive over his grin. "Not everyone. Not Ellie. Not Morgan or Alex. Not Casey or Rhonda. I suppose Jessup might say we are moving a little too fast…"

She smacked the cheek she had been holding her hand against. "Jessup doesn't get a say, buster. No one does, really, but you and me. And I said yes."

He nodded, beaming. "What else did you and Ginny talk about?"

Sarah shrugged. "Movies."

Chuck gave her a flat look.

"No, really, Chuck."

"What movie?"

"Dangerous Beauty."

"So Sarah Walker and Ginny Wilmore were talking about a movie called Dangerous Beauty?"

"Yes." Sarah narrowed her eyes. "And?"

Chuck looked pained. "I have no idea how to go on from that without getting myself knifed or shot."

ooOoo

Chuck and Sarah were seated in the back of a van with Ginny and Matthew.

Matthew had his arm out of the sling and was gingerly typing on a computer. Chuck was looking with fascination over Matthew's shoulder. They'd been talking in 1's an 0's for about half an hour.

Sarah was showing Ginny her knives and talking a little about throwing technique. Ginny was not a knife girl, but she was eager to learn.

A voice on the radio broke the silence. "Okay, building lights are out. There's still a light on in the corner office, top floor. That's supposed to be Foxworth. Looks like you are good to go."

"Thanks, Eagle," Ginny said as she put in her earwig. Sarah and Chuck did so too.

Ginny spoke. "Keep watch on us. Professor's in the truck. You let anyone get near this truck but me or Chuck and Sarah, I will climb to you with my bare hands and tear yours from your body."

There was a long pause. "Roger," came the fuzzy response.

Matthew laughed. "The mother of my children."

Ginny shot him a daggered look.

"Sorry, sweetheart. And you be careful. Chuck, Sarah, you've got my world with you."

Ginny smiled at that and kissed Matthew.

Ginny: "I called Sasha earlier. She seems happy hanging out with Alex and Morgan, but I wanted her to know we miss her."

Matthew leaned down close to Ginny's ear. "Come back to me, Ginny." She gave him a single tight nod.

Ginny got out of the van and led Chuck and Sarah up the stairs. The van was parked in the basement garage of the building next to FARMA. They crossed the distance between the buildings and stopped at an emergency door on the side of FARMA.

Ginny attached a small device to the lock. "Okay, Matthew. Go." The device began to blink. A few seconds later, the tumblers of the lock turned. Ginny, Chuck, and Sarah heard Matthew: "Unlocked. Alarm disarmed. Go."

Chuck looked at the device as Ginny slipped it into her pocket. "Genius! Gotta make me one of those."

Ginny pulled the door open and they stepped inside. Ginny got out her gun. Chuck had his gun in his shoulder holster, but he left it there. He was wearing the holster over a dark sweatshirt. He had on black jeans and had a small laptop bag on his shoulder.

Sarah, dressed similarly, had her knives on her calf, Chuck knew (he needed to make himself stop imagining them), but she also had a combat knife on a belt around her waist. She had a tranq gun in a holster on the opposite side of the belt.

Ginny was outfitted much as Sarah, except for the knives. She also had a small backpack on her back. From behind the two of them, Chuck had the eerie feeling of moving along with Sarah (her blonde hair on the right) and Ginny (her black hair on the left), his love and her...shadow sister. For a second, Chuck's mind drifted to Bewitched, to Samantha and Serena. He made himself focus.

It had not taken too much effort to convince Ginny to petition Boosinger for Chuck and Sarah to go on the op. Matthew had been very much in favor of it; he did not want Ginny going in alone. She was not able to refuse Matthew. She relented.

Boosinger's respect for Ginny made her willing to allow it. Being told that the new Intersect was ready helped. Chuck and Sarah had been read-in enough to allow their participation in the op. They already knew more than Boosinger would have liked, but that was how events had played out.

Ginny motioned for them to move. They hustled quietly down the long service hallway until they reached a door into the building proper. It was not locked. They went through it and to the elevator. Matthew had determined that the building's security cameras were confined to the top floor, Foxworth's floor. Even with Chuck's help, Matthew had not been able to hack into them. The hope was that Chuck could do it from inside the building.

Chuck had expected something else. They reached the elevator in the darkened building and faced no opposition. The building seemed empty, dead, very different than the days Chuck had been in it before. Chuck knelt down and opened the laptop bag. He worked quickly, isolating the security feed in for the cameras on the top floor.

For whatever reason, he was able to get into them. They showed the hallways of the top floor - dark and deserted - and the offices. All were dark except one, Foxworth's palatial corner office. But although it was lit up, lamps and desk lights on, no one seemed to be there. Chuck looked up at Sarah and Ginny. Ginny shrugged. "Up we go." Chuck cut the connection and stowed the laptop.

They got on the elevator and punched the button for the top floor. Ginny whipped the backpack off and grabbed something out of it. She saw Chuck and Sarah looking. "Flashbang, just in case. If I yell 'cover', close your eyes and put your hands over your ears. You'll probably still be affected, but not enough to be incapacitated." Her inflection was flat, precise, economical. She put the backpack back on her shoulders and stood watching the ascending numbers, flashbang in one hand, silver gun in the other.

Chuck felt Sarah's hand close around his, warm. He relaxed a little. With his other hand, he got his gun from his holster. He could not remember the last time he had handled the thing so much in so short a time. He didn't like it.

The elevator dinged its arrival at the top floor, the sound striking Chuck like the gonging of a great bell, announcing their arrival. The doors opened and Ginny was immediately through them, gun up. After a moment, she told them to come on. The top floor hallway was dark too. But there was a light showing beneath the door of Foxworth's office. They crept slowly toward it, Ginny leading the way, Sarah behind her, and Chuck in the rear, checking behind them as they moved forward. They got to the door and Ginny stopped. She checked the door carefully, scanning the frame, the knob. She opened the door.

Inside, everything was as the video feed had shown it to be. Lit, palatial, empty. Ginny and Chuck quickly swept the office - besides the main room, there was a bathroom and even a small bedroom - but there was nothing. The desktop was a mess, a jumble of papers. Chuck looked at several, but they just seemed to be FARMA paperwork of a pointless administrative kind.

"Chuck!" Sarah whispered pointed at a picture behind the desk. One side of it was extended from the wall. Chuck went over and examined it. It was hooked to the wall on one side by hinges. He examined it carefully but quickly, then opened it. It rotated out to reveal a panel with what looked like an elevator call button. Chuck looked first at Sarah then at Ginny. Neither stopped him, so he pushed the button. A panel in the wall slid back, and there was an elevator, small and gleaming. Ginny stepped on, followed by Sarah and Chuck. There was one button inside.

Ginny shrugged and pushed it, whispering as she did. "Down the rabbit hole."

ooOoo

The elevator dropped for an eternity. It seemed that way to Sarah. She was getting more anxious, filled more with a vague foreboding. She had found Chuck, found the prospect of a new life. They were together. She wanted to put her knives back in the closet and go back to her kids. (Sarah had called in sick early in the morning as they drove from the desert back into LA. She had already called in to tell them she would not be in tomorrow.)

She recognized that she could do what Ginny was doing, could have lived the life Ginny lived, but she also knew it was not in her nature to do it. She looked at Chuck, and then at Ginny, and then thought again of Langston Graham's offer.

I chose wisely.

The elevator finally stopped. Ginny and Chuck beside her, Sarah waited for the door to open.

Waited. Waited.

It slid back silently, opening upon a nightmare.

A/N1 And one final cliffhanger, just for kicks...Tune in next time for Chapter 25, "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots". Foxworth and FARMA.

Thoughts? Drop me a line, please.