A/N: Ok, I tried it. I buried ownership of Chuck in the garden. Nothing happened. No movie. Go figure.

A/N2: I just saw that Yvonne Strahovski is pregnant with her second child. Mazel tov, Ms. Strahovski and Mr. Loden, as we say in my neighborhood.

A/N3: My friend Marc Vun Kannon suggested that I rename the chapters that start an arc to add the name of that arc. Seemed like a pretty good idea to me. I'm up to 137 chapters and twenty arcs. This might make it a little bit easier to navigate. At least I hope it does. If so, thank Marc.

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Earlier, that same day

It didn't take Sarah and Casey too long to get the police to put the Russians from the night before into interrogation rooms. Casey took one and Sarah the other. Each spy talked to the Russians in their native language and asked a series of questions. Replying in the same language, the prisoners only said, "I want a lawyer." The men were experienced enough in the American criminal justice system (or merely had been given the right advice) to know that those words effectively shut down a police interrogation until the suspect's lawyer was in the room. The Russians didn't know that they were speaking to spies, but the bottom line was the same.

Sarah and Casey stepped outside the rooms and compared notes.

"Nothing," said Sarah. "Demands a lawyer and that's that."

"Shit," said Casey. "Same with my guy. Somebody trained them well."

"We can't start using spy techniques, drugs and stuff. This is still an FBI investigation."

"Yeah," said Casey. "How long would it take us to get FISA warrants on these two, you think?"

"What do you have in mind?" asked Sarah.

"Maybe Chuck could do something with their phones. Then we cut them loose and see what they talk about. Where they go."

"Hummm. Yeah, maybe. Let's ask him," she said.

They called Chuck and he agreed that he could turn the men's phones into mobile listening devices, as he'd done to Selenica in Budapest. It would take him a few hours, but he could do it easily.

Casey and Sarah collected the phones from among the men's personal effects and headed back to Castle. Once there, Chuck set to work on the devices while Casey got Beckman to rush through a request for FISA warrants on an emergency basis.

It was late afternoon by the time the warrants had been issued. Casey and Sarah went back to the police station. The men had had a preliminary hearing by that point and were on the verge of being released, but now they were being released with the phones Chuck had modified in their pockets.

Sarah and Casey were waiting outside. They had dubbed the two as Larry and Curly.

As Larry and Curly were picked up by some of their Russian friends, Sarah and Casey were listening and following in a couple of cars as the Russians headed north. They listened to the men tell of their experiences with the strange man in the men's room who had shot them both with trank darts and turned them over to the LAPD.

The first stop was near the restaurant from the prior night where Larry and Curly picked up their car. Sarah and Casey followed them from there to a nightclub in Hollywood called Boris's Place. The club was closed at the early hour, but Larry and Curly went inside with the men from the other car.

Sarah and Casey sat in their cars and listened as the men told the story of the man in the bathroom yet again. They heard as another man by the name of Boris screamed at them in Russian. He was repeatedly calling them idiots in a surprisingly imaginative number of ways. Why would they try to rough Ratner up in the bathroom? Anyone could come in and interrupt, which, of course is exactly what happened. He kept telling them that the client was going to be furious. There was a lot of money coming to them from the client when the deal went through and they had put it at risk.

The men on the receiving end of the dressing down didn't say much in response.

After a while, Boris seemed to get bored of screaming at them. He was called out of the room, allowing both of the newly released men to commiserate with each other in Russian about how unfair life was in general and Boris was in particular. Sarah and Casey listened as the men began to grouse quietly between themselves. It seems the life of a henchman was a somewhat thankless one. Long hours, angry bosses, constant risk of injury or arrest. The money was decent, and the available women were top notch, but those were just about the only upsides.

Sarah was silently shaking her head as the men spoke. [Loosely translated from the original Russian.]

Larry: "You know, I have a cousin who's an accountant. He really likes his job."

Curly: "Yeah?"

Larry: "Yeah. Good money too. Almost what we take home."

Curly: "No kidding? An accountant, huh? In an office and stuff?"

Larry: "Yeah. And with benefits."

Curly: "Like what? Like medical?"

Larry: "Oh, yeah. He's got medical."

Curly: "That's a good benefit. I wish we had medical."

Larry: "Tell me about it. Those doctor bills are crazy."

Curly: "Hey, does your cousin have dental too?"

Larry: "He does. For his whole family. Really great benefits."

Curly: "I wish we had benefits."

Larry: "Yeah. Me too."

Boris came back into the room and told a handful of men to come into the other room to get an assignment. While Sarah and Casey didn't hear what that particular job was, they saw six men leave in three cars. Larry and Curly were not among the six.

Speaking to Sarah through his watch Casey said, "Split up and one of us follow them?"

"I don't think so, Case. We don't even know they are on a job connected to the radar plans. Could be a totally different thing. And that only leaves one of us here if Larry and Curly were to split up."

"Yeah, I guess that's right. Ok. We sit tight."

It was about forty minutes later that Boris came back in and told the men that the client had called and wanted them to head up to Van Nuys.

Seven men, including Larry and Curly, filed out of the building and got into two cars. Sarah and Casey began to follow them.

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The Ratner residence, Westlake Village

The Ratners, who Bryce and Amy had a mission to protect, were gone. The spies were beyond frustrated. They assumed the attack at the front of the house had been a distraction for the disappearance of the married couple.

Bryce said, "Well, shit. Not the front door. Onto the lake?"

"My guess," said Amy.

"Taken?" he asked.

"I don't see it that way. Their boat is gone. If they were taken the crew would have showed up in their own boat and left the Ratner's boat at the dock. I'm thinking they saw a gunfight and panicked. Decided to get the hell out of Dodge in case you and I bought it."

"Makes sense," said Bryce. "It's a closed lake, though. No way out by water. They have to come out and get a car someplace."

"Chuck," said Amy waggling her phone in her hand.

"Go for it," said Bryce.

She called their partner. "Hey, Chuck. We're at the Ratner's house. We had a gunfight here. We are fine and we took out the shooters, but it might have been a diversion. The Ratners seemed to have bailed on us. Out the back way, we think. Their boat is missing. Can you look at security cameras to see where they might have gone? It's a closed lake, so unless they are wandering around out there or just sitting quietly, they have to land at some point."

"Ok. Let me check the last twenty minutes or so of footage from the cameras I can find around the lake. I'll call you back."

"Right," said Amy. "Good luck."

Bryce called for a cleaner team to come and take care of the bodies in front of the Ratner's house. After that they waited for the Ratners to come back to their dock or for Chuck to pull a rabbit out of his hat.

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Offices of Winthrop Keller, Van Nuys

Sarah and Casey followed two carloads of Russians to a small office park in Van Nuys. At the entrance to the empty parking lot was a black monument sign, declaring proudly that the tenant was WINTHROP KELLER AVIONICS.

It was a boring two story building surrounded by a sea of parking spaces and some well-tended grass and shrubbery. So as not to be seen by the Russians out front, Sarah and Casey drove past the entrance to the parking lot and entered the next lot in the park, with their headlights off.

The cars with the Russians had stopped in the parking lot. There was one car already there. Sarah and Casey recognized it as one of the ones that had left the nightclub earlier, but with a single occupant. All the men, now eight in total, got out and were milling around near their cars. Sarah and Casey saw the flare of a lighter and the small glowing orange tips of cigarettes.

"Waiting," said Sarah.

"Yeah, but for what?" asked Casey.

"Or who," said Sarah.

Casey said, "Yeah. They aren't going inside yet. How about we get ahead of them? Get in the building before them. Maybe we'll find something. Maybe we can ambush them."

"Makes sense," she said. "I'm going to tell Chuck what we're up to."

"Right," said Casey, opening the truck of his car to take out some tactical gear.

Sarah called her fiancé. "Hey, Sweetie," Sarah said.

"Hey," he said.

"We followed the Russians who attacked Ratner last night. They are hanging out in the parking lot outside Ratner's office."

"Huh. There was an attack earlier on the Ratner's. Amy and Bryce took out the attackers, but when it was done the Ratners were gone. Into the lake behind their house probably, because they didn't go out the front way. I've been trying to find them from nearby camera footage, but no joy so far."

"So it looks like these guys had friends on the lake?"

"That makes the most sense. Some of them got to the Ratners and they're bringing them there at gunpoint. Force Mark to give them the plans."

"Probably a crew we saw the Russian boss dispatch. About an hour ago, I guess. Got tired of waiting for the threats to work, it seems," she said.

"Yeah. Or we precipitated it. If they somehow had eyes on they'd know we would stop Ratner from giving them anything. We wouldn't let him out of our sight. We didn't leave them with any choice. Kidnap him and force him to do it."

"Ok. Casey and I are going inside. Get there ahead of the Russians when they bring in the Ratners. Why don't you let the FBI know what's going on?"

"I will. And Bryce and Amy too. But I'm going to leave those two at the house. If the Ratners only went into the dark lake to hide from the gunfight, they might yet show up. Of course, if that's the case, it doesn't explain what the Russians are doing where you are, but it could still happen, I guess."

"Ok. Love you," she said.

"Love you. Be safe," he told her.

"Always. I've got you to come home to," she said.

"And I will make it worth your while, lover," he said, with a chuckle.

"Aww, don't distract me. Bye," she said.

"Bye."

Sarah filled Casey in on the events at the Ratner's house, the fact that the FBI was going to get an update from Chuck and that Amy and Bryce would be left at the Ratner's house in case they came back on their own.

They donned black tactical gear and ran the long way through the office park so as to avoid observation by the men in the parking lot, approaching the Winthrop Keller building from behind. Sarah took a pick and tension wrench from her vest and unlocked the rear door to the offices.

They made their way silently through the still building until they arrived at the lobby. Through the glass walls they saw the parking lot with the milling Russians. They seemed to be in the same position they had been in before they had left their own cars.

"I'm going to look around the offices," said Sarah softly.

"Right. I'll keep an eye on the Russkies," said Casey. "Let you know if anything starts to happen."

Sarah left Casey near the front of the building and continued to move silently through it. It was easy enough to conduct a quick search, as it was mostly open bullpen type desk space with computer monitors sitting as rows of silent sentries, with only a single wall of enclosed offices along one edge. In the center of the floor were restrooms, a single elevator and a pantry space.

Once she'd assured herself that the first floor was unoccupied, except for her and Casey, she silently took the stairs to the second floor.

As she got higher on the stairs, she heard the murmur of voices. As silently as a shadow, she moved through the floor until she could get a look at the people talking. The voices began to rise in volume, not because she was getting closer, but because the voices were actually being raised. A woman's voice took on an angry tone.

There were no lights on in the large office area, but from the light cast by a single glowing computer monitor, Sarah saw a man and a woman talking.

She recognized them. Heather Chandler Ratner and her husband, Mark Ratner. Both were standing in front of the lit monitor and seemed to be arguing.

Sarah's eyes widened in surprise. Heather had a gun pointed at her husband. As Sarah watched, the other woman extended it towards him with a straight arm, as if preparing to fire.

Drawing her own gun, Sarah yelled, "Drop it, Heather."

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A/N4: Just finished Tomorrow War with Chris Pratt and our very own Yvonne Strahovski. Good fun popcorn movie. No spoilers, but I do owe Ancientgamer a dollar. She did a great job as a badass warrior commander and a brilliant scientist.

A/N5: As always, please leave me a review if you liked it. Or not, I guess. I suppose that might happen eventually, someone not liking my story. Naaaaw, never mind. That's ridiculous.