A/N Thanks again to all who have read, reviewed and alerted this story. It is the only pay we writers get and I am very pleased with my new salary. This chapter is another long one. I knew the ending scene and needed to get everything just right to get it there. There are some shoutouts in this chapter, one obvious and a couple that are more subtle. I'm pretty happy with this one.
I want to thank a couple of folks. Aerox who gave me a great idea I used in this chapter and Esardi who gave me a lot of help both in checking this for plot holes but also just encouraging me to keep at it. I truly appreciate it and it has helped me get better and maybe write something a few people can enjoy.
The usual disclaimers. I don't own Chuck but if I did I promise I would never tell you the reader you don't put a book down after chapter 7. You absolutely can especially if it sucks. So if this chapter 7 sucks please feel free to put it down whenever you want. I'm not that big of a dunce.
Chapter 7
The Idea
Zuoz Training Facility
Chuck's room
22:50 CET
Chuck got back to his room after 3 more hours of classroom work. This evening's classes were on Foreign Law Enforcement Organizations and Enemy Entrapment. Chuck actually enjoyed these classes as it got him to reuse some of the study skills that had served him so well in High School and at Stanford. Chuck was a great student. He was disciplined, took great notes and was very focused in class. Something that Bryce had trouble with on many occasions. There was always something or usually a female someone his primary attention was on. But Chuck being his best friend at the time always let him use his notes and they studied together at exam time. Hell at least Bryce came to class unlike some of his other fraternity brothers. So Chuck was ok with him using his notes. That was his stipulation. Come to class and you can use my notes, stay in bed alone or otherwise and nothing.
Chuck was a scholarship student and with all of the sacrifices that his sister had made to get him into Stanford he felt an obligation to go to class and study hard. Even with his 1600 on his SAT's there were some things they were responsible for. To help pay the living expenses that his scholarships didn't cover he worked summers, had a small job for the school television network and even volunteered at the school radio station. There he got to share his love for music and technology. Chuck did a late evening "Alternative" music show on Sunday nights that was quite popular. Chuck really enjoyed those nights on KZSU-FM. It was his escape from the pressures of college life. He got to play so many of the great artists he had grown to love that didn't get much exposure on commercial radio. He also got to talk to some of his friends and fans that called in requests each week. To Chuck those 3 hours on Sunday nights were some of his favorite times of the week.
It was there during fall semester of his sophomore year that he met Butch Landers. Butch was a big time Jazz fan. He played trumpet in the school jazz band and had even performed at a few of the clubs in the Palo Alto area. Butch used to do the Jazz radio show that came on right after Chuck's. After the first 2 weeks they became good friends. Butch was a junior majoring in Astronomy and Physics. He had aspirations of working for JPL on deep space radio communications. He loved the idea of transmitting commands and having space craft respond to them millions of miles away. He also had particular love for the moon. He had so wished he could have been alive to see the Apollo astronauts walk on the moon. That must have been something. The awe it inspired in so many children at the time.
His father had worked for Boeing in Seattle and had worked on the assembly line that built the Lunar Rovers. The most expensive cars ever made but the coolest by far. "Can you imagine how much fun it had to be to drive a $38 million dune buggy on the moon?" Chuck remembered him saying one Sunday night when he and Chuck had one of their great conversations in the KZSU studio while Butch played Sun Ra's Space is The Place. That was Butch's theme song on many a Sunday night. It combined both of his great loves.
After Chuck finished his nightly pre-sleep routine in the bathroom he came back and lay down on his bed. His body ached because of the hike in the mountains earlier that day but it was a good ache this time. He wasn't sore because he had taken a beating but because he had pushed muscles on the trail that you simply don't use running on the track indoors. The rough terrain combined with the altitude was different than anything that the wicked bitch of the east put him through in the gym or in the ring.
But he loved it. It was great to be finally outdoors again in the fresh air and sunshine. It had been almost 6 weeks since he had seen the sun and for a California boy that just wasn't right. Chuck wasn't a sun worshiper who had to spend every waking hour working on his tan but he did enjoy the warmth and life giving energy of the sun on his skin, as long as he wore sunblock. If he didn't Ellie would have had a fit. Fortunately Agent Saunders contract with Satan allowed her to have a few small almost human responses and using sunblock religiously was one of them.
But what also got Chuck feeling better than he had since he got here was that he had the beginnings of a plan, albeit a plan that was very likely not going to be successful, but it was at least something. He just needed to put himself in position to put it into action and hope that the gods of Kirk, Skywalker and Armstrong were on his side.
While he changed into his t-shirt and jockeys for bed he had a curious thought. Could Agent Landers be related to Butch? Unlikely as everyone in the spy game used an alias but it was something maybe he could find out at some point. Hell maybe if he could figure out how to flash again he'd find out from the Intersect. Well if nothing else he would file that away for later use.
Chuck lay down on his cot and for another first since he got here, he actually thought he might get a half way decent nights sleep. The spark that thoughts of Sarah kept alive inside him throughout this ordeal had today turned into a small ember of hope.
Stuttgart Air Force Base
Germany
5 days later 06:30 CET
Colonel John Casey had spent the last 6 weeks re-certifying himself in all elements of combat and weapons. He had kept it up during his time in Burbank but there was nothing like being on a military base with thousands of your brothers in arms around you all dedicated to the same mission. It was one of the few things he had missed while a part of Team Bartowski. The excitement of an active Air Force Base always got his blood flowing.
John liked working solo but if he was honest with himself he liked working with the great small team he had in Burbank. Walker was the best partner he ever had but she was also the best Agent he had ever seen. What surprised him was how much the moron had grown over the past 2 years. Sure he was still way too into his "lady feelings" for Casey's liking but he always seemed to have a way to find an out of the box solution to a problem. From defusing a bomb with porn, to using an "ass man" sign to fly off a building, to using a twenty year old video game to disarm a nuclear satellite or to setting up a trap for a terrorist by having him enter his account number into a CIA laptop to return $10 million in stolen money. Chuck always found a way. But this was his biggest challenge. Could he survive it? Did he have the stones to be a spy? Casey had grown to begrudgingly trust Chuck but this was something that was going to test that trust.
But especially after spending these 6 weeks at Stuttgart he realized one thing. He liked being part of that team. They were the best and Casey prided himself on being the best. Though he loved being back on "active duty" if he had anything to say about it, it would only be a short deployment.
"Colonel Casey sir?"
"Yea that's me"
"Airman Patterson here sir. You have a message from General Beckman in the Officers Quarters."
"Thank you Airman"
Casey wondered what that was about. He had only heard from Beckman once since he got here and that was just to report that Bartowski had arrived in Zuoz. Did she have some new information and he was needed in Switzerland?
Casey headed to his quarters and got the message. 'Secure conference 14:00 communications center.'
'Hmmph, something's up with the nerd.'
Zuoz Training Facility
Saunders office
09:55 CET
Andrea Saunders sat at her oak desk going over the daily reports from the other trainers who were working with AIT Carmichael. So far it had been like he was 2 completely different people. In his classroom work he was exceptional, one of the best she had ever seen. His ability to organize tasks and his memory were second to none. He also had a very out of the box style of problem solving. He came up with some of the most unique ways of dealing with problems many times. Plus for the most part he succeeded where most trainees failed.
During a lab class he was given a live detonator that he was told had been pulled from a retired Russian R-29RM (Sineva) submarine launched missile capable of triggering a nuclear detonation if enough plutonium was in the casing to disarm. Every single prior trainee had failed at disarming it. Of course there was no actual detonation but they all were classified "DOA" after the exercise along with up to100,000 civilians depending where the detonation occurred. It was the classic suitcase nuke scenario that the CIA and all of the nation's security division worried about being the next best choice for terrorists like Al-Qaeda. But trainee Carmichael passed by doing something extremely unconventional. Realizing that this had come from a submarine launched nuclear missile he deduced that there were safeguards in the detonators design that would shut down the system in case of a salt water breech caused by the sinking of the sub. But with no access to any salt water or any other form of water for that matter he did the only thing he could think of. He stood up, urinated into a small container and poured his urine onto the detonator and disarmed it. He figured using the insulated cup was a better idea than just urinating right on it. He had heard about guys getting electrocuted by urinating on subway third rails or electric fences while drunk and didn't want to trust that the voltage in the detonator was low enough not to cause him any harm. He didn't need to be in the next edition of the Darwin Awards. Better safe than sorry when you are talking about precious equipment, oh and the detonator too. Besides all of this came without him flashing.
But Agent Saunders had a really different problem and "Agent" when it came to the physical aspects of his training. He still had not flashed on any of the self-defense or martial skills that he had displayed before. Mitchell had assured her that they were in fact in there and had sent her the surveillance footage from the Intersect room that the CIA had captured to prove it. But he continued to progress just like any other AIT maybe even a bit slower. Considering his awkward and less than coordinated physical being it would take over a year to get him into the kind of basic skill set that every field agent needed. But they simply didn't have the time to wait that long.
Mitchell wanted him ready in six months time and that only gave her a little over 4 months to go. But Mitchell wasn't her biggest problem. That dickhead was so worried about getting her back in the sack that he had neglected to check deeply into her missions prior to their last and most definitely only romp in the hay, before she was assigned to the Farm. She had been chosen to be in charge of Carmichael's training more because he hoped to exchange an Assistant to the Director's position in Langley for regular visits to the top or in some cases the underside of his desk.
But Andrea's bigger problem was her boss at The Ring. They wanted to watch the performance of the Human Intersect closely to see both how it operated so they could enhance the development of their own Intersect. Ultimately they intended to have Saunders tranq Carmichael and bring him to their facility in Honduras where they could keep him under wraps while they went after the sub-structure of the US Intelligence Services. They figured why pay for his physical training when the CIA could do it for them. They had infiltrated every element of the US Government both civilian and military and with the Intersect's help it would only be a matter of time before they took over and sent him off doing their bidding around the world.
Agent Saunders had joined the Ring when she was 27. She had spent 5 years working for the CIA in some of the most disgusting underbellies of this rotten world. She had been exposed to all sorts of horrible conditions, sickening deviants, and the mad crazed religious extremists bent on the destruction of western society. She had from her very first mission to monitor a terrorist leader in Pakistan who had a liking for the torture of the children of his enemies felt like her hands had been tied by the rules of engagement that the CIA had put upon her. By allowing him to live longer they felt like it could lead to some of the higher-ups in his Al-Qaeda cell, so they looked the other way as tens of young girls and boys were tortured, raped and sent into work camps in Taliban controlled areas of Afghanistan.
She had seen great Agents and those that in another occupation she would have called friends sacrificed with little or no gain just because it was more politically expedient to deny their existence or do what was necessary to achieve their goal of protecting her country.
Through various moles in the Agency, her name had been given to the Director as a possible recruit to the Ring. In 2002 he had sent one of his most trusted Agents to rescue her and bring her to a hospital in Bangkok. On a mission there she had been abandoned by her partner, captured, tortured and forced to fight for her very survival and the entertainment of paying onlookers in a camp deep inside the Thailand jungle. They loved westerners, especially American women in these cage matches. They received top dollar and their largest crowds when a new one arrived. She had intended to quit the Agency once she was recovered but the Ring Agent had convinced her that the best way to extract revenge was to rejoin the Agency and work for the Ring. There she would be serving 2 purposes, revenge and by becoming a trainer she could feed the Director info on new possibly outstanding recruits.
She gladly accepted the offer as she was grateful that someone cared enough to extract her from the hell she was left in by her partner and the CIA. Sure she knew it wasn't personal with them but she understood what their mission was and why the Ring felt she was worth saving. Hell they got her out and she felt she owed the CIA nothing. If she ever saw her douchebag cowardly ex-partner again she would put a bullet in his skull but only after she shot off his dick.
So she had to figure out what was holding the Intersect back. Carmichael would have made a great analyst without it but a field agent? Hardly. He just didn't have the ego, the killer instinct or the focus on mission first and nothing else that the great Agents had. If only Larkin had not been killed. He was perfect. The self-centered confidence, the charm, the physical skills and the great looks all great agents needed. Plus he lacked the one thing that Carmichael seemed to have too much of, heart. He didn't care about anyone really beyond himself. He had betrayed his best friend in college. Hell he even betrayed his former partner and girlfriend, that Walker bitch, without blinking an eye. Though Saunders had never seen any outward expression of emotion when she constantly insulted and berated Agent Walker in front of Carmichael, she instinctively knew that he wanted to smash her face in for talking about her that way. It had been obvious he had it bad for the blonde from all of the surveillance footage she had watched preparing for this mission. You don't turn away from that kind of love after just a few weeks of spy training in Europe. Anyone who thought that people would believe that was possible was an idiot and had never seen those two look at each other. It would take a very very long time for him to betray Agent Walker if ever. Mitchell was dreaming if he thought he could get him to push her away. It was completely out of character for one Charles Carmichael.
But Saunders needed a plan. She needed to figure out what the key was and she needed to do it soon.
She had noticed a definite improvement in Carmichael's performance when she had set the 8 minute mile goal so he could go outside. She decided to set another goal for him to attain so he go out again. This time he would be sent alone into the mountains, wearing a tracker and be swept for communications equipment of course before he left and have him shoot her with the laser rifle while she eat lunch at an outside café. This would test his marksmanship as well as his stealth and tracking skills. Also it would test his abilities to handle himself as a solo agent given a particular task. If he accomplished it hopefully his mood would continue to improve. If this worked she would set up a regular schedule to get him out of the underground facility as a bit of a reward for the improved performance.
Stuttgart Air Force Base
Germany
14:00 CET
Casey had arrived in the communications center of the base and was told to go to a secure room at the end of the hall just past the main server room. He had to go through 4 different checkpoints to gain access to the briefing room. Once his escort entered the code into the panel on the wall the heavy steel door opened revealing a small sparse dimly lit room with a simple desk, chair and computer monitor. As soon as the door closed behind him the lights suddenly brightened and the monitor came to life. The NSA logo appeared on the screen and precisely at 14:00 CET General Diane Beckman came into view.
"Good afternoon Colonel"
"Ma'am"
"I hope your stay in Stuttgart is going well?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Colonel, I assume you realize what the reason is I called for this conference."
Casey, always the soldier followed the old line of why speak when a nod will do.
"Bartowski's training has become a bit problematic. He is excelling in all his classroom areas. Actually he has performed in the top 3% of all other agents in the history of that location in those skills."
Casey stood at ease but he knew there was something else left unsaid.
"It seems that the Intersect has failed to flash even once since he has been at the facility."
Casey raised an eyebrow but didn't move another muscle.
"To be completely honest he has been taking a beating in his martial arts and defensive skills training. His conditioning has improved but we are concerned about his lack of ability to call upon those skills he would need as a proper field agent."
"General if I may?"
Beckman simply blinked, tilted her head slightly and nodded for him to proceed.
"So you are saying that ever since we left the Intersect room the mo.., Bartowski has not flashed even once?"
"That's correct Colonel."
"Damn he must be getting the crap kicked out of him." Casey said barely above a whisper.
"I am now of the opinion that it was a mistake for us not to have had you and Agent Walker train him in basic defensive skills prior to his downloading of the 2.0. But be that as it may he continues to show incredible dedication to succeeding in becoming an agent. Off the record I believe you and I both know the reason behind his determination."
"Walker"
"Precisely. I believe he is so focused on becoming an Agent so that he can pursue a sanctioned relationship with Agent Walker."
Casey nodded and said. "Seems likely ma'am."
"At this point I'm not sure how I feel about that but if turning a blind eye to their relationship gives us the 2.0 Agent we have been looking for to combat the Ring then it might be something worth looking into."
"General, what do you want me to do at this point?"
"Nothing, I'm afraid. Until we have a reason to extract Bartowski or proof that he is in danger then there really isn't much we can do. The asset will just have to figure out a way to complete his training and hopefully start flashing again."
"General, the one thing Bartowski has going for him that even I have to acknowledge is his brain and I don't mean just the Intersect. The kid's smart. If anyone can figure this out he can. And if the reason for his dedication is as you suspect, he will stop at nothing to make this work. Of that I am certain."
"Well I hope you are right Colonel. I will keep you informed of any other developments."
"Thank you ma'am. But one more thing. Do you want me to contact Agent Walker and let her know what is going on?"
"No, I think it would be best if we not let her know what is going on just yet. If she feels about him the way I believe she does then we might see Graham's wildcard enforcer return and make this situation even more difficult than it is right now. When the time comes we will contact her in Marseille."
"Yes, General"
With that the screen went dark, the lights dimmed again and the door opened with Casey's escort standing there waiting at attention.
Zuoz Training Facility
Dojo
Next day 09:00 CET
"Agent Carmichael your slight improvement in your stamina and success in breaking the 8 minute mile barrier has led me to believe that you may just be served better by giving you a new target goal to reach. Seeing you seemed to perform reasonably well on the Sniper test in the mountains I think its time for the next phase of your outdoor training."
Chuck's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. Hopefully not enough for Saunders to see but he had a definite reaction to the news. Maybe he would actually have a shot of trying out his plan.
"If you can land one punch or kick with sufficient force to plant me on the map and then force me into a position of submission you will be allowed to begin training to stalk a Mark and complete a Red op."
"Red Op?" Chuck asked with a slight bit of surprise ion his voice. He had heard the term before but wasn't totally sure of its meaning.
"Red Op as in Assination."
"Oh" Chuck dipped his head in reply.
"You will be using the same specially modified M-24 that you used in the mountains so as not to mistakenly harm any civilians. You will hit a target I will be wearing on my clothing to complete the test. But remember it needs to be a kill shot, hence the word Red."
"Yes ma'am."
"Ready?"
Chuck nodded and bowed as a sign of respect to his opponent.
"Begin!"
Chuck and Andrea danced around the matt for several seconds before either of them decided to throw a punch. Chuck broke the ice with a left jab to the face that Saunders easily blocked. She followed by dropping to the matt and catching Chuck by surprise with a leg sweep that took his feet out from under him and dropped him like a stone.
"Cool bitch 1 and loser geek 0" She replied after pulling herself back up.
Chuck then tried any number of different combinations but Saunders blocked every one. Agent Saunders managed to land quite a few jabs to the face and a combination to the solar plexus. Chuck was laboring and finding it difficult to breath but he continued.
After about 20 minutes of this dance both fighters were getting winded. Chuck more so than Andrea but he kept getting up. The room was rather warm that morning for some reason and both had taken a slight break to be rehydrated. But they were both still sweating rather heavily.
He was determined to get outside once again and hopefully contact Sarah. So he needed to find an opening. Then he looked down at the matt and saw a small puddle of sweat on the map just to the right of Saunders right foot. Chuck wheeled his body over so that Saunders would have to follow him. He telegraphed a left hook that Andrea saw coming a mile away and when she lunged to follow the block with her own combination she slipped slightly on the pooled sweat on the matt. This was the opening Chuck needed.
He saw her lose her balance and proceeded to throw a roundhouse kick to where he believed she was heading in order to keep herself steady. She tried to reach out to block the kick but only managed to lose her balance even more and when the follow up right cross came towards her head she had no defense. The cross landed and she fell towards her right side and she slipped even more and landed rather awkwardly on the matt. Chuck leap on top of her and quickly grabbed her wrists and held them both across her chest while he sat his larger frame on her thighs holding her in a submission pose.
"Well done Carmichael. You thought on your feet and used my slip on the sweat covered matt to your advantage forcing me make a mistake. You have passed this test."
"So are we going outside?"
"Yes but not till Friday. I want to see if this was real improvement or just a lucky break."
"Hey I'll take what I can get. Field Agents don't get to pick their surroundings or how their mission will play out so I see being able to think fast is an advantage."
"That it is Carmichael but don't go getting cocky. I still beat the crap out of you for 11 rounds. You just got lucky in the twelfth."
Zuoz Training Facility
Friday 16:45 CET
"Mr. Carmichael, your mission today is to use stealth to hunt down and assassinate your mark, me, at the sidewalk café just beyond the schools administration building. I will be wearing a target on my hat requiring you to make a head shot to complete your mission. You will be given a 2 hour head start to find a snipers nest, set up your rifle and put a bullet in my brain."
Even with Chuck's aversion to killing a small part of him liked the sound of that.
"At any time during this mission should I see you or any part of your equipment, the mission is over and you have failed. You will be wearing a GPS tracker and we will do a sweep for any communications or electronic gear you may be carrying. So don't try it! Do you understand?"
Chuck nodded slightly.
"Good. I will be taking you to the surface. I will arrive at 19:00 and sitting in one of the tables closest to the street. You must make the kill shot by 19:10. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Good, remember if you keep improving and pass this test you will be able to come out here every other Friday afternoon for a little fresh air. Now lets get moving.!"
As he jogged away Saunders really hoped that giving Carmichael goals to reach for his determination and dedication to the training would kick in and keep his performance improving and finally get him to flash.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena
08:30am PDT
Dr. Butch Landers was 3 hours into his shift monitoring some of the radio telescopes around the world that were fed live back into the JPL facility. He enjoyed radio astronomy work because it could be done 24 hours a day and he didn't have to sit in a cold observatory on the top of some mountain in Hawaii freezing his butt off all night. Also Radio Astronomy could be done remotely as it was data and not pictures you were collecting.
Today he was working with another colleague running the 70 meter antenna at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Robledo de Chavela, Spain. They were receiving telemetry from NASA's New Horizons long duration mission to Pluto. They were just monitoring the spacecraft's health as it would not be approaching its target till April of 2015. This gave Butch time to work on his other hobby, monitoring the orbit of the Moon as it slowly drifts away from the Earth at currently a rate of about an inch a year.
"Hey Danny, we are getting good data from Spain I'm going to do some calibration to their laser range finding gear for my testing later on this morning."
"Ok Butch, I got this" Dr. Dan Freeman replied. Dan had been working as Butch's partner on both his professional and personal projects for the past 18 months.
"Thanks. I haven't used the gear in Spain in a bit so I want to familiarize myself with it and do a recal."
"Ok I'll be ready in about an hour and we can do the testing at 10."
"Great!"
Zuoz
Mountains just north of town.
17:37 CET
After searching for just over an hour, Chuck had found a small clearing with some large boulders about 650 yards from his target's location. He began to assemble his modified M-24 Sniper rifle and mount it to the tripod. The tripod was mandatory for his other item on the agenda for tonight, trying to get a message out to Sarah. There was no way he would be able to pull this off without it. The fact that this was a training exercise allowed him to use the tripod as on many a real sniper assignation mission he wouldn't necessarily have that option.
Chuck set himself in a position that he could see both of his projected targets. All he had to do was wait till they both appeared. Fortunately the most important target emerged first from the clouds just over the mountains to his east. Chuck turned to his left and began to take aim. He adjusted the scope to maximum magnification and slowly began to find his target. Once he saw it he exhaled and began firing.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena
09:40am PDT
"Butch, you all done with the re-cals?"
"Yeah just getting lined up on the site now. I should be ready in about 5 minutes."
"Ok great just tell me when you are ready. I'll start the servers recording now."
Butch Landers began to fine tune his positioning of the Laser receiver while the transmitter was being chilled with liquid nitrogen.
"Flow is started on the N-2"
"Ok receiver is targeted on the first location."
"Which site are we starting with today?"
"Well seeing the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 is coming up in a few days we are starting with that reflector."
"Ok"
16 minutes later
"Butch you sure this gear is working right?"
"Yea, I checked it out yesterday and finished the re-cals a few minutes ago? Why is there something wrong?"
"Well we aren't transmitting and yet I'm already receiving something. Its very very weak just above the noise floor and broken up. I'm not sure what it is but it almost seems like it's sending a pattern. Here take a look."
"Wow, that's bizarre. Let me pan off just slightly and see if it goes away."
"Yep, pan back and see if it comes back." Dan replied.
"Ok back on target."
"Yes it's back again."
"Do you think its an amateur Astronomy club doing lunar range calculations in honor of the Apollo 11 anniversary?"
"Could be but why is it so broken up and repeating a pattern almost."
"Let me see that."
Butch walked over to the Spectrum Analyzer that Dan had been looking at and something hit him. The pattern was very familiar. His days as an Eagle Scout paid off.
"Dan we are recording this on the server aren't we?"
Dan nodded. "Good. You know what that is?"
Dan shook his head the other way now.
"It's Morse code. Probably some Ham Radio/Astronomy nerds on a bit of an outing trying some Laser Moon bounce. I'm a bit rusty but we can look at the entire message on the server."
After about 3 more minutes the signals stopped just as mysteriously as they began.
"Dan cue up that recording I'm gonna see if I can remember my code. Let's read what these guys sent and maybe we can contact them. Send them a confirmation we received their signals. Those guys love that stuff."
"Yea I know I had a friend whose dad was a ham. He had a whole room in his basement with all kinds of gear and there were cards from fellow operators from all over the world on the walls."
"Well I bet these guys would love one fro JPL."
"I bet you're right."
Zuoz
Mountains just north of town.
17:57 CET
Chuck had repositioned himself and his M-24 back aiming towards the café where Agent Saunders was talking to the hostess as she was leading her to her table by the street. He didn't want to kill whatever was powering the rifle's laser by firing it too many times. But he had repeated his message several times. He just hoped someone was listening.
Chuck had reset the zoom on his scope and turned back on the wind simulator on the rifle compensated for the effects of the wind and took careful aim. As Saunders sat down he saw her position her hat in such a way that the censor was now pointed away from the buildings and into the street.
'Carmichael you got 10 minutes, you better make it good.'
Chuck watched the flow of traffic on the street and waited for an opening. When he saw the light had changed and the pedestrians were crossing the perpendicular street this time he re-aimed his rifle blew out a cleansing breath and very slowly, very carefully squeezed the trigger.
Chuck saw Saunders react ever so slightly. The sensor in her had wet off with what sounded like an incoming text message. Chuck looked around and saw all of the patrons nearby grab their cell phones looking to see who texted them. But they all put their phones back down once they realized it was not for them.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena
10:10am PDT
"Well it seems to be over for now. Dan call it up on the server and see if we got the entire message."
"Ok here you go Butch."
"Damn it's been a while my Morse Code is rather rusty. Wait, there seems to be a gap for a few seconds every 30 seconds or so and then it seems to repeat itself. Cue up just that section. I think that is the entire message."
"Sorry Butch but I spent my youth playing little league and soccer. Never was a Boy Scout so I'm no help with this."
"That's ok. I'm getting some of it but the majority seems just to be jibberish. Ok one more time. Alright, stop it between each letter."
"BL DGF INSON….." Butch continued writing down the letters and was getting more confused by the minute. " LITHOCK CB DGF.
"What the hell does it mean, Butch? It repeats itself so its not just random letters. Could it be a code of some kind?"
Butch thought for a minute. Then he glanced over at the monitors from the tracking site in Spain and saw that they were still receiving telemetry from New Horizons. He still was on the clock after all.
Glancing back at the notepad in front of him a small feeling started nagging at him in the back of his mind. What the hell was this?
"Dan, there's something familiar about this but I just can't place it. Let's move on to finish up the New Horizons data dump and then we still have to check on Voyager 2. The guys upstairs are working on their Solar Wind Experiment and need some new data."
Dan gave him an eye roll. He wanted to go back to looking at the stuff coming from the Mars Rovers.
"Hey don't you think its cool that we can hear something from 14 billion kilometers away? It's the farthest reach of mankind."
"Yea but it's the same basic data we've been getting for the last 3 years."
"I know but that's what's on our schedule."
"Ok fine let me set the receivers to those frequencies and let them stabilize."
While Dan was reseting the receives Dan looked back at the notepad one more time. He kicked his feet up on the desk hoping that if he relaxed just a bit something would come to him.
"Damn, I know this from somewhere."
He kept focusing on the first 2 and last 2 "words" in the message. The repetition of DGF really stuck out for some reason.
He leaned back in his chair held the notepad above his head and repeated those letters one more time in his brain.
Then suddenly Butch dropped his feet off the desk back onto the floor and jumped out of his chair. He smacked the notepad with the back of his hand then turned to Dan and said."I can't fucking believe this. Holy shit, that frakking nerd." Butch started shaking his head back and forth with a big smile on his face as he walked around his workstation.
"What the hell are you talking about? What nerd?" Dan said with a look of total confusion on his face.
Butch shook himself out of his little stupor and simply replied. "It's just this guy I knew back in college. He along with another frat buddy of ours and I kind of developed this language."
"You developed your own language?"
"Yea, well the other two guys did most of the work but I helped a bit with the syntax and grammar."
"What a bunch of dorks you were." Dan shook his head again and tried to stifle a laugh. He failed.
"Hey I wouldn't talk if I was you after the costume I saw you wearing at Comicon last year."
"Wait Data was cool."
"Fine, he was but don't go slamming us nerds when you are as big a one as we were back in the day."
"Ok, so how do you know it's him and what does it say?"
"Well first off look at the first and last letters. BL DGF and CB DGF. BL that's either me, Butch Landers or its Bryce Larkin but he was an accountant in Connecticut and died a couple of years ago I heard. So in all likelihood its me. After all I'm the only one he knew could receive this. DGF stands for Delta Gamma Phi. That was the fraternity we all belonged to. The CB stands for Chuck Bartowski, the other guy I was talking about. Glad to see he finally got his life in order after what happened."
"What was that?"
"Larkin got him thrown out of college for cheating."
"Damn that sucks"
"Yea, I was in graduate school at the time as these guys were a year behind me. It was his senior year and just before graduation."
"Man that REALLY sucked then."
"Yea, those two were roommates and best friends. It killed their friendship. I never believed it though. Chuck wasn't the type. Just not in his makeup. He's probably the nicest guy I've ever known."
"Then why did his friend rat him out for it?"
"I don't know what the reason was. I mean Larkin was ok. A too much bit of a self-centered pretty boy if you ask me. But he did have his luck with the ladies. He could have had anyone he wanted and usually did. I even heard that he banged Chuck's girlfriend after she dumped him when he got thrown out."
"Man, that's against the bro code. Glad I never met that douchebag."
"Well he's dead now but Chuck called me about a year ago. Seems he had gone back to Stanford and been exonerated. He finished up and finally got his degree. He said he was thinking about the old gang and wanted to just check up with a few of us. He said he was writing software for his own small company and things were really starting to take off."
"Ahh I'm glad for the guy."
"Yea, but he also told me something that didn't make much sense till now. He said 'Maybe someday this thing will take off and you can send a message for me to a heavenly body.' Seems he was right."
"So what does it say?"
"I don't know. I don't remember the language very well. Chuck and Bryce used it mostly. But I do have a translation dictionary somewhere in my attic. I'll check it out when I get back home tonight."
"Ok, let me know what it said if you find it."
"Ok, so is the receiver stabilized yet?" Dan looked over at one of the screens in front of him and nodded.
"Ok good. V-ger what you got to say for yourself today?"
Dan let out a moan and grimaced. "Did you have to remind me of that disaster of a movie?"
"Sorry, yea definitely the worst but 4 and 5 kind of sucked too."
"Well at least we got Wrath of Khan."
"Yep nobody will ever come close to Montalban in that one."
"Definitely"
Port of Marseille
Next day
14:38 CET
Sarah and Carina were holed up in a warehouse at the Port of Marseille waiting for the arrival a few hours later of a cargo ship coming from Libya suspected of smuggling Opium from Iran. They had been working on this operation for the last few weeks and were hoping to get some surveillance on when the exchange went down. They weren't planning on grabbing the Opium or the Smugglers but were hoping that those who were meeting the ship would lead them back to Pierre Marchon. He had been suspected of being the money behind this operation but no one could ever make a strong enough connection to arrest and prosecute him. There were always 5 layers of dummy importers before you got to a hint of his businesses.
But this time they had gotten closer than anyone else had before. If the truck used to pick up the Opium went to the warehouse as they suspected it would, they were to photograph and record the transaction and then warrants would be issued for Marchon's associates. Then the trick was to get them to roll on Marchon himself.
"Carina, any movement yet from our buddies?"
"No but the ship is tying up on pier #6 as we speak."
"Good, I'm hoping we can wrap this up sometime before midnight. I'd like to try and get some sleep if I can. It's been a long week."
"Yea, I've been meaning to tell you Sarah but the makeup isn't hiding how little sleep you've been getting that well any longer."
"I'm fine. I just need to get to bed a little earlier than I have been. That's all."
"No its not. What you need is something warm next to you when you go to sleep and preferably naked."
"Carina! You still don't get it do you. There is only one body I want naked next to mine and that body is in a hole somewhere hundreds of miles from here."
Sarah looked away from her best friend and the tears started to well up just a bit washing away some of the makup not really hiding the bags under her sapphire eyes.
"Sorry Sarah." Carina reached over and placed her hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Still no word from Chuckles?"
Sarah shook her head ever so slightly.
"Well he'll find a way. You trust him and I believe you when you say he has never let you down. He is smart. The only dumb thing I've ever seen him do was turn me down, … twice." Carina said with a wink.
"Well for my money that just proved my point about how smart he really is." Sarah said with a twinkle in her slightly moist eyes.
Carina pulled back a bit faking being stunned and then they both let out a laugh. It was nice to see. Sarah hadn't laughed really since she got to Marseille.
Four hours later the shipment had been transported into the warehouse. After a few minutes the door at the other end of the warehouse opened and a large black Citroen sedan pulled in. Once it had come to a stop three "gentleman" in black suits with sunglasses got out of the car and the only one who seemed like he possibly had an IQ about 85 went to the other rear door and opened it for a another man to get out.
As Sarah snapped pictures of the arrival and the men coming out of the car, Carina watched as the 4 other men who had arrived in the truck with the Opium came out from behind some crates stacked up in front of the sedan.
Carina tapped Sarah on the shoulder and said, "Here come the Libyans. Looks like this is going down now.
The more distinguished gentleman who had gotten out of the Citroen was Marco Renaldi a known associate of Marchon from Rome. Words were spoken and after a sample was tested by one of Renaldi's goons, he signaled the man who had opened the door to open the trunk and remove 2 small duffel bags.
The leader of the Libyans took the bags and the driver of the truck signaled for one of Renaldi's men to grab the keys to the truck and then with a handshake Renaldi, the truck and his men all left by the entrance he had come in. The Libyans headed back to the ship to get ready to head back to Tripoli.
Interpol tailed the truck to a small factory building on the outskirts of Marseille while another team followed the Citroen back to Renaldi's hotel. Once all the evidence was back in the hands of the DEA and Interpol they would decide how to proceed and what the arrests would be made.
As Sarah and Carina were packing up their gear to head back to Sarah's hotel where they would file their reports and currier the memory chip over to the DEA headquarters to send to Interpol, Sarah was startled a bit by an incoming text. All of her contacts here in Marseille were with them and it seemed a bit odd that anyone of them would have contacted her. Carina was the only one she really received any texts from while in France anyway.
She had received a couple of texts from Ellie when she had returned from her honeymoon but she had Ellie's number blocked from her phone by some techs from the NSA before she left so as not to blow the cover story about her travelling with Chuck to "work on their relationship".
She reached into the side pouch of her bag of gear and pulled out her phone. After a few seconds Sarah gasped an inward breath that was so loud even Carina heard it on the other side of the room they had set up the surveillance in.
"Sarah, what is going on? Who texted you?"
Sarah was now frantically packing the rest of her gear, haphazardly throwing the tripod and extra batteries for the camera back into the case she had brought them in.
"Sarah, what the hell are you doing?"
"Carina I have to get back to my hotel now! Come on grab your stuff we need to move!"
"Fine but why? What was that text? Who the hell has got you so wound up like that?
"It was Chuck! Well not Chuck actually but it's a message from him!" Sarah smiled with a life in her eyes Carina had not seen since she was in Burbank.
"A message from Chuck? What did it say?"
"That's just it, I don't know. That's why we have to get back to the hotel! Come on move that skinny ass and let's get going!" Sarah finished closing the camera case and was now packing Carina's gear.
"Wait if you don't know what it says then how do you know its from Chuck?"
"Let's just go and I'll tell you all about it on the way ok? Now Carina!" Sarah's excitement and frustration with Carina was building to the point she was going to leave her where she stood if she opened her mouth one more time.
The two Agents headed down the stairs with their gear and made a mad dash for their car they had parked in an open shipping container.
St Charles Hotel
Sarah's room.
20:16 CET
Sarah frantically fumbled with the key trying to open the lock on the door of her room. Once she finally got it opened she ran towards the closet where the safe was hidden. She was in such a hurry that she forgot to check her little security measures she set out everyday in her room. Every spy knew you can never be too cautious no matter where you were but especially overseas. While Sarah was fumbling with the safe Carina backed up her partner and best friend by checking them out for her.
Convinced that everything was fine and there had been no intrusion, Carina told Sarah they were clean. Sarah opened the safe and pulled out a manila envelope with a three subject notebook in it.
"That's the key?" Carina asked.
"Well it's more like a dictionary. Like I told you in the car Chuck and Bryce wrote their language down in three notebooks that Chuck, Bryce and their friend Butch each had. There are something like a thousand words and maybe 250 phrases in here."
"Sarah I know you love him but man Chuckles is so different than any guy I've ever known. The only notebooks the guys I know keep have addresses to their stylists or some skank they banged once and kept on file if they needed a little fun while in town."
"I know. But that's one of the reason's I love him. Carina can you get me that pad and pen over on the nightstand please?"
"Sure" Carina went to the other side of the bed and grabbed the small hotel notepad and pen left by the house phone. She came back around and handed it to Sarah who quickly grabbed her phone and wrote the text down on the notepad.
She then grabbed Chuck's "dictionary" and began to translate it.
With each word she wrote Sarah's face turned from nervous excitement to a mix of joy and concern. Once she had finished she read over what she had written once again and then sat back in the chair and let out a sigh.
"So, what's it say?" Carina asked as she looked down at the notebook Sarah was now clutching to her chest.
"Well the text was from Chuck's friend Butch Landers. It seems Chuck used some sort of laser, bounced it off the moon and contacted Butch who works for JPL in Pasadena. I guess he has some obsession with the moon and the Apollo program. Chuck told me about him when he gave me the dictionary. "
"So what did Chuck say and why aren't you happier?"
"Well I'm happy he's ok but there's this one line here that worries me."
"And?"
"Carina, I'm sorry I can't tell you ok?"
Carina looked back a bit stunned. "Personal or professional because though I think Chuck's cute as hell I don't need to know anything intimate between you two."
"No it's professional."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Well I need you to cover for me next Friday. I need to take care of something ok?"
"No problem. Is that all you need from me?"
"For now Carina that's it. The less you know the better at this point. I'll let you know if there's anything else."
"Ok, well as long as you are ok, Sarah. I'll take the memory card and head back to the office to write up the reports."
"Thanks"
As Carina headed towards the door she turned back over her shoulder and looked at her best friend. Sarah was once again reading the message on the notepad.
"Sarah?"
Yea?" Sarah looked back towards the door.
"I'm really happy you heard from Chuck. I know how much you miss him. Maybe now you can get some decent sleep and get rid of those dark circles under your eyes."
"Thanks Carina." Sarah smiled a small smile but with just a hint of extra moisture in those seas of sapphire.
Carina smiled back at her partner and best friend and turned and left.
Sarah glanced back at the notepad and said out loud though she knew he could not hear her.
"Chuck. I'm glad you're ok. Thanks for contacting me. I never doubted you. I think I have an idea how maybe I can help. We will fix this I promise. I love you Chuck."
Sarah glanced back at the notebook one last time.
S. Miss you but ok. Getting stronger but no flash. Though now I get to go outside every Friday afternoon to train. ILY C.
Sarah took the notebook and dictionary and placed them back in her room's safe. She then took a long hot shower. When she came out of the bathroom she put on Chuck's old Stanford T shirt she had stolen from his room over a year ago because it helped her sleep better. She crawled into bed and was asleep in 30 seconds. It wasn't a great night's sleep but it was better than she had slept since Burbank. Chuck was ok and now she was going to try to help him.
A/N2 I have most of chapter 8 planned out and hope I can keep to my schedule of less than a week between postings. Not promising anything but its my goal.
