A/N: The action is picking up the pace in this chapter- thanks in part to a comment in a review by Deathzbreath who has been looking forward to the battle. The original draft had focused more heavily on Chuck and Sarah, but as the premise of the story is how the Team responds to an attack on Castle, I decided to expand the description of the battle itself. With that being said, there's still plenty of Chuck and Sarah. There are still a couple of chapters to go, as well as an epilogue that keeps getting longer every week.
As before, any words in italics represent the thoughts of that character
Chapter 9: Chuck versus the Battle for BuyMoria
Once separated from the plane, Sarah signaled to Chuck to spread his arms and legs, as she mirrored his position from his back. Given his bigger size, there wasn't a lot of air being trapped by her wing suit, but the lift generated by his wing suit was more than enough for the two of them. With slight pressure from her hand to Chuck's arm, or her foot to Chuck's leg, she was able to get him to steer their descent right to the perfect glide path for the roof of Underpants Etc. She yanked the cord to deploy her parachute at the optimal height, safely depositing them on the rooftop.
Just as they touched down on the roof, O'Neil flared to a silent drop only feet away from them. The SEAL was clearly skilled and experienced at these type of operations-although Chuck and Sarah were sure that he had to be a little out of sorts going on an Op inside the United States. O'Neil quickly secured his parachute, moving behind an air conditioning unit to look over the edge of the store to the parking lot between them and their objective.
"Ma'am," he began, keeping his eyes forward at all times. "Given the positions of the heavy gunners that Alpha and Bravo are tasked to take out, our best bet to get you two close to the store while minimizing the risk of friendly fire would be to position onto the roof of the shop."
Sarah still hadn't forgiven O'Neil, more for his insult to Chuck than for his boorish behavior. However, she recognized his professionalism and was grateful for his presence, at it should mean that Chuck would be safer. Sarah reached into the pack she had strapped to her chest during the HALO jump. Pulling out a piton gun, she waited for a burst of gunfire from the Ring troops towards the OO to cover the sound of the piton being shot into the side of the OO air handler on the shop's roof. No one had ever commented on the unusually large size of the air handler atop the frozen yogurt shop, but then no one likely suspected that the housing for the air handler also housed an air scrubber designed to clear Castle of any toxic gases released inside.
The size of the air handler didn't concern her at the moment. Its size would shield her and Chuck from the view of the mercenaries when they were on the roof of the OO. Despite Chuck's enhanced skills with the Intersect 2.0, Sarah was still uncomfortable with the fact that he would momentarily be alone in the heart of what was, in essence, a combat zone. Sarah handed harnesses to O'Neil and Chuck, while strapping her own harness on.
"O'Neil, you will zipline down to the roof first, and provide cover for me and Special Agent Carmichael," Sarah said staring hard at O'Neil while emphasizing "special". "Carmichael and I will then deploy down. You will then provide suppression fire so that Ch- Agent Carmichael and I can gain entry to the shop."
"Roger that, ma'am," Miles replied, keeping his eyes on the target and away from the woman he now feared.
Sarah turned to speak to Chuck about the plan, when she saw him struggling to put on his zipline harness. He was fumbling a bit while bent over trying to get the harness around his boots. Despite the fact that they were on a mission and about to attempt a risky plan to rescue Casey, she was still distracted while admiring how the BDUs showed off Chuck's ass…ets while bent over. She was distracted enough that she was a beat too slow in shifting her eyes away when Chuck glanced over at her in the midst of his struggles.
"Sarah…were you just…Did you just check out my butt?" Chuck asked with a surprised, yet somewhat pleased expression. "You did, didn't you? You cheeky little bum-looker you!" Chuck ended, while speaking in a horrible British accent.
A sea of emotions washed quickly across Sarah's face- from hungry appreciation, to embarrassment at being caught, to downright confusion. "Ah, 'bum looker' Chuck?" Sarah responded, thoroughly thrown at the phrase and the terrible accent.
"It's from Saturday Night Live, ma'am," O'Neil interjected, while looking out over the parking lot. "Simon, played by Mike Meyers."
"I don't remember him," Sarah said, although it wasn't too clear which man she was speaking to. "Is he new to the show? I don't think we've seen him this season, have we Chuck?"
"It was from the 90s, ma'am," Miles offered, trying to get on Sarah's good side-or at least off of her hit list. The hard glance she sent his way was a sign that he wasn't there yet.
Sarah felt a twinge of embarrassment, as she often did when her desperate lack of pop culture knowledge came up. It was such a contrast to Chuck's excessive knowledge of pop culture. Being a nerd, knowing pop culture was par for the course. In this case, however, the pop culture reference was such that a non-nerd SEAL trooper had been able to identify the reference immediately.
"Well, Carmichael. You, and your cheeky little bum, need to get ready to go for a ride on the zipline. The idea is to move fast and silently, so that we can get inside the shop quickly and grab the leader before he is able to get downstairs."
Shaw glanced into the OO from the outside. The recoilless rifle round had made a mess of the interior when it knocked the window inside, but most of the energy from the blast had still be absorbed by the window itself. Which was good. He needed to be able to get to the freezer to get down into Castle itself. He had spent a lot of time plotting and planning this attack, and he was within reach of his goal-the Castle computer systems database. He would be able to access all of the data held by the various US intelligence agencies that could be used to blackmail foreign heads of state and US politicians as well.
The Ring was looking for a power grab. Shaw was looking to burn the CIA to the ground. Once the secrets locked within Castle's computers were unleashed, the US would be a pariah and the blame would fall on the CIA. The organization that he had dedicated himself to had chosen to murder his wife. Shaw would make sure that they paid the price for that treachery.
He just had to get down to Castle. This would have been so much easier if those idiots had waited until Casey went to the BuyMore. No, these guns for hire figure they are unbeatable, so why not challenge the best. Three dead bodies…well, four including the one I shot…say otherwise.
This was going to seriously complicate Phase II of Shaw's plan. The destruction of Sarah Walker, the vessel that Langston Graham used to kill his beloved Evelyn. Yes, she was simply a vessel used by Graham, but she was a willing vessel. It was her finger that pulled the trigger that ended Eve's life and my future.
In the course of directing CIA operations against The Ring, Shaw had some interaction with Team Bartowski. Shaw had spent enough time with the Team to know that killing Sarah would destroy Chuck Bartowski. To a degree, he respected the younger man. He was inherently good, brave when necessary, and always trying to do the right thing. But Shaw's revenge would not be complete without the destruction of Sarah Walker. He knew that Bartowski would suffer from nightmares, he certainly did. But there was no other way. His revenge was more important than Chuck Bartowski's peace of mind. Nothing was more important to Shaw than revenge. And his hour was finally at hand.
Unaware of that his bad day was about to get far worse, Shaw ran from vehicle to vehicle as he approached the entrance to the OO. He was so close to getting to the database, but knew that geographically close and gaining access close were two different beasts. And to gain access meant getting past John Casey. If those damned overconfident idiots had waited until John Casey had left to start his shift at the BuyMore, none of this would have been necessary.
As he moved up to the mangled front door of the OO, Shaw pulled a grenade that he had liberated from the Ring soldier he had killed. Tossing the grenade through the hole where the picture window had once been, Shaw ducked for cover. After the grenade bounced off the register and down behind the counter, it detonated, rupturing the containers housing the frozen yogurt which then flooded into the store. Shaw hurdled through the window opening, not concerned with the mess but disappointed with the lack of any sign that Casey had been killed or at least injured.
What he did find angered him even more. The grenade had not just destroyed the frozen yogurt vats, it has also cooked off in the one spot where the shrapnel could hit the freezers. Shaw glared at the mangled remains of the retinal scanner, as though its destruction hadn't been of his own creation. He knew that he wouldn't have time to override the system, get past Casey and get the CIA server data before an NSA cleaner unit, likely disguised as a local SWAT team, would storm the NSA/CIA substation.
The SEALs in Delta squad ghosted through the BuyMore loading bay, slipping past the Cage and into the hallway leading towards the employee lounge. As they approached the double green doors that opened to the manager's office, Wenzel pulled a fiberoptic endoscope from his cargo pocket and patched the signal into the heads up displays (HUDs) built into the squad helmets. With a quick command, he toggled back and forth between hi-def and infra-red. Using the images, the squad was quickly able to pinpoint the location of each Ring mercenary inside of the store, each member identifying his initial target and memorizing the locations for the secondary target.
Up on the roof of the BuyMore, Jimenez set up his position above the store's main entrance. He unpacked his McMillan Tac 50 sniper rifle from the special case he used for parachute drops. In training he had qualified in shots nearly one mile in distance. Between the optical scope and supporting tactical computer, he could calculate atmospheric conditions, cross-winds, even the earth's rotation. None of that would be needed on this op. With just under 100 yards to the opposition, he could practically make the shots over iron sights in his sleep.
He scanned the threat area for the recoilless rifle, and was surprised find it on the ground next to a dead mercenary. His smile grew wicked as he realized that the weapon had been left on the satchel containing the remaining ammunition for it. That would make disposing of the recoilless rifle easy. He reached into the cargo pocket on his right leg and pulled out a container filled with .50 caliber rounds that he had hand loaded himself. He selected a round with an explosive tip and magnesium core. Just as he was sliding the round into the breach of his rifle, he heard Mancuso whisper into the earpiece.
"Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. Comm check."
"Alpha, go," Jimenez heard quietly spoken from the SEAL a few feet down to his left.
"Bravo, go." Although the only people on the roof with the SEALs were the other SEALs, they were responding in the same whisper that Mancuso had spoken.
"Charlie, go."
"Roger that. Jimmy?" Mancuso responded.
Also speaking in a hushed tone, Jimenez called out, "Green light."
Mancuso paused for a moment. His team was used to the routine, knowing Mancuso was making one last run down his mental checklist. "In five," he said.
Jimenez silently did a five second countdown, his finger tensing on the trigger as his internal clock moved towards zero. Right as Jimenez got to zero, all of the earpieces for the SEAL team could hear Mancuso's "Execute."
The loud report from the sniper rifle was almost instantly drowned out by the sound of the chain reaction explosion of the recoilless rifle ammunition as the white hot magnesium slug lanced through the pack. Before the chunks of asphalt from the four foot deep crater created in the middle of the Buy More Plaza parking lot started to fall onto the roof of the BuyMore and adjacent buildings, the SEALs in Alpha, Bravo and Charlie teams opened up with their silenced Sig Sauer 516 assault rifles on the mercenaries in the parking lot below.
It was hardly a fair fight. The mercenaries had been oblivious to the presence of the SEALs, and had barely processed the sound of the .50 caliber rifle before the explosion in their midst. Several were killed by the shrapnel and blast wave from the explosion. Another was killed when the minibus they had ridden in was flipped over by the blast, the battered vehicle landing on top of the Ring soldier of fortune. Out of the remaining mercenaries, only two survived the onslaught of fire from Alpha, Bravo and Charlie teams. The only reason for their survival was that they had been underneath sedans when the firefight broke out. That protected them from the hail of lead from the BuyMore roof, but also prevented them from being able to return fire-if they could have figured out where the silenced gunners were shooting from. As it was, neither of these men was a true Believer, and neither was willing to die for the mission.
Inside the BuyMore, using information from Agent Carmichael-while amazed at how he had known off of the top of his head the override code for the Burbank BuyMore tv wall (and silently agreeing that while Van Halen's OU812 was a good album, Fair Warning was far better), Wenzel had every tv on the wall start playing Must Love Dogs at full volume. Despite their combat training backgrounds, the Ring mercenaries were each distracted by the sights and sounds of barking dogs. The SEALs in Delta squad leapt out from behind the Guitar Hero display, their suppressed assault rifles tracking to the spot of their assigned targets. Before the mercenaries were aware of the threat, each man had dropped like a marionette with its' strings cut.
The mercenaries had been arranged in a circle surrounding the Nerd Herd desk, with the Nerd Herders trapped inside the circular desk, while the green shirts were huddled behind the counter for the cash registers. Before the Buy Morons knew what was happening, the intimidating guys with guns who had only spoken in grunts were down and a second group of men quickly moved up from the back of the store, silenced rifles tracking for any additional threats, their bodies in black, white and grey camouflage, with balaclavas covering their faces and goggles over their eyes. The new group quickly but silently moved through the aisles up to the Nerd Herd desk.
Ignoring the shocked civilians, each SEAL grabbed the body of the mercenary he had targeted, hauled them up in a fireman's carry and hustled out of the store to the back loading bay. The Ring mercenaries had been kind enough to leave their SUV unlocked next to the loading dock. Dumping the bodies in the back, the SEALs watched as their teammate Moudy quickly hotwired the SUV, impressed as always at the skillset that he had always been vague about acquiring. As the talent had saved their lives on more than one occasion, they were content with giving him a hard time while not disclosing his ability to the powers that be. As Moudy drove off with the bodies of the Ring troops, Mancuso and the remaining members of Delta squad re-entered the store, moving to the shattered front doors, taking up positions to storm Castle should the need arise.
Inside the store, Morgan stood with his jaw open having witnessed a take-down far more masterful than any he had pulled off in Call of Duty, by mystery troops who never spoke and were acting as though the BuyMore employees were not even there. Beside him, Lester kept tapping Jeff's arm saying, "What just happened here? Jeff? Jeffrey, what just happened?" Barnes ignored Lester, banging his hands to each side of his head, while saying over and over, "What did I take this morning? Why can't I remember so I can get more?"
"Jeffrey, focus. Morgan and I saw that too," Lester puffed out, thoroughly lost over what had been going on in his store.
"That stuff was so good it got you and Morgan to see it too? Man, I've got to remember what it was," Jeff slurred out as he slapped the side of his head in an effort to recall what he was under the influence of at the moment.
"You don't even remember what you took. How do you expect to get more? Wait, wait. What am I saying? This isn't another one of your pharmaceutical fantasies, Jeffrey. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with you."
"Cause no one else will do Bennie's happy hours with you?"
"Mmh. Fair point my friend," Lester conceded.
Morgan chimed in again, "Uh, guys? Can we focus on the fact that a bunch of yahoos with guns took over the BuyMore, and a second group of guys with guns just shot all of them and hauled them away?"
"Not now Morgan," Lester snapped. "Can't you see that Jefferson and I are talking here?"
Meanwhile, Big Mike, deciding that whatever the situation was that had just happened was over, opted to get back to his office to eat a bearclaw or two. He needed to calm himself before phoning corporate to advise them of the damage to the store and absence of customers, while hoping that they wouldn't think he had gone crazy with his description of the events.
A/N2: One of the SEALs in this chapter is named after an actual CIA officer who was killed in the line of duty in 2003. In 2009, then Director Leon Panetta publicly recognized his service.