A/N As always thanks to all who read, review, alert, PM or just in general support this story. I hope you are still having fun with it. It certainly has grown a lot more than I originally envisioned. But all of you have been great and I really want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read my dribble.
This chapter has been fun to write. Chuck, Sarah and Carina together are a great team to write for. Don't get why Wootten kept her with Morgan and didn't send her off with Chuck, Sarah and the rest of the Cats.
Thanks as always to Esardi for his run through. Thanks to the other writers whose work I admire and discuss with them.
Still don't own Chuck but if I did at the ending of 5.07 there would be a pile of splinters and kindling!
Chapter 14
The Mole
Interpol Offices
Marseille
09:45 CET
Agent Walker and Agent Miller had easily passed through the security checkpoints and headed towards the ladies restroom. Sarah dressed in a charcoal grey business suit with a professional length skit, white blouse with high collar and black pumps took her laptop out of her briefcase once again as she had when she passed through security. This time instead of booting up the laptop for the Agents manning the checkpoint to see she pushed on the small button next to the PCMCIA slot. The cover of the slot opened and out popped a dummy card that contained both their earpieces and the video camera that was to be mounted in the small broach that Sarah had worn on her lapel. She removed the small Onyx gem from the center of the broach and mounted the camera in its place. The black lens of the small device matched the Onyx very closely and only someone with an extremely talented and observant eye would know the difference. She then activated the camera and replaced the broach on her left lapel. She took her earpiece, placed it in her right ear and as she had worn he hair down that day in a simple straight hairstyle its presence was completely unnoticeable.
Meanwhile Carina was dressed in a black form fitting pencil skirt that was at least four inches above the knee. She also wore a see thru white silk blouse with plunging neckline. Her white lace barely there bra was easily visible if she even moved slightly. The idea was for Carina to be the 'magnet' for all the men and a few of the women's eyes as they entered the meeting. Carina's beautiful red hair was adorned similar to Sarah's so as to hide her earpiece as well. Sarah's conservative dress would help her be less noticed as she scanned the arriving members of the task force. Well as little noticed as someone as beautiful as Sarah Walker could ever be in a room full of mostly middle aged men. But at least the contrast in attire would draw the attention away from Sarah and on to Carina. After all if Sarah Walker was a 10, Carina Miller was a 9.8.
Sarah then put the laptop back in her briefcase, closed the lid and left the stall. Carina met her at the mirror for a little makeup check. Sarah then pressed the button on her watch that Chuck had also modified the frequency on and said.
"Walker, comm. Check"
"5 by 5, Carmichael here."
"Miller, comm. Check"
"5 by 5, Carina"
"Ok Chuck, we are heading into the conference room. How is the video feed?"
"Rock solid but could you turn just a little bit. I don't think Agent Miller wants her 'assets' full screen." Chuck said as he was looking at a perfect view of Carina's cleavage reflected in the mirror as she leaned forward to touch up her makeup.
"Why Chuckles, you see something you like? I told you could check them out for yourself last time I saw you. You were the idiot that declined, remember?"
Sarah looked at her friend and partner with a glare that would stop a rushing tiger.
"Sorry Carina, but I have a quite 'ample' resource in that area. Thank you very much."
Sarah's expression turned from fierce into a big smile followed by a smirk as the two women looked at each other in the mirror. She then turned her self away so that Carina couldn't see her reflection and mouthed 'I love you' into the side mirror and gave him a seductive wink.
"Ditto" Chuck responded.
"Ok ladies, time to catch a mole"
"You ready Carina?"
"Yep, lets go."
Sarah entered the conference room and walked over to the head table. As she had called the meeting she began to set up to go over the briefing she had prepared. As this meeting was similar to the meeting they had every week since she came to Marseille, she felt comfortable with her presentation. She had chaired two of the prior meetings of the task force before and following the incident at the warehouse.
Carina stood over to the side near the glass wall that separated the room from the hallway. Once the meeting was to start she would close the curtains so as none of the information that Agent Walker was going to show on the 60" monitor at the head of the room would be seen by anyone outside in the hall. The closing of the curtains was the signal that the meeting had started and anyone arriving after that was late and that was something that would not be tolerated by the heads of the task force. All agents, advisers and analysts needed to be in the room and seated before the curtains were closed. The task force was run in a very military like manner that observed the chain of command.
As the members of the task force entered and either took their seats or stood quietly chatting with other members Sarah scanned the room as she walked slowly down the center aisle heading towards where a table with bottled water, coffee and juice was placed in the back of the room.
Back in the hotel room Chuck had called up the roster of members of the task force that Sarah had provided him and began to scan the database for pictures to match the faces to the names.
"So far I've called up about ten faces and all of their files check out so far."
Sarah knew that Chuck was telling her that he had not flashed on any of the members of the task force so far. But Carina assumed Chuck was just a great analyst who was quickly scanning through database files provided by the member agencies.
As Sarah headed back towards the head of the conference room she signaled for Carina to close the curtains. The door was then closed and all of the members of the task force headed to their respective seats.
Sarah hit the appropriate key on her laptop to show the latest surveillance photos of the Marchon compound that had been taken from the van she and the other agents had been manning everyday since the incident at the warehouse.
"Ladies and Gentleman. These are the latest photos from our team monitoring the home of our suspected target Pierre Marchon. Since the incident we talked about in our last briefing his compound has been under constant surveillance. Agent Miller, myself and two other teams of agents have been monitoring the comings and goings from this location and so far have shown no unusual activity." 'It's been too quiet'
Sarah paused and turned her shoulders to scan the room as all eyes were focused on her. Chuck then looked at the faces in the room. Other than a few small flashes with Agent's basic files that he had flashed on while entering the names in the database while Sarah and Carina were headed to the meeting he saw nothing unusual. He had planned everything in such a way so that Carina would not see him flash. He and Sarah trusted her but she did not have clearance for Intersect knowledge.
"Nothing unusual so far" Chuck said into their comm units. "Everyone I've checked comes up clean."
Sarah continued with her presentation while Carina began to walk back and forth slowly along the wall in front of the curtains. She was trying to do two things. Draw the attention towards her so that no one would notice Sarah's continued scanning of the assembled members but also to give Chuck the chance to see any members who were hidden behind other members of the team.
Sarah and Carina worked well together. They anticipated each others moves and even though Carina liked to improvise, like she was now, Sarah understood her style of operating and dealt with it perfectly.
Chuck then whispered into the mike as Sarah was speaking. He tried to catch her in between sentences so as to not have her stumble. It reminded him of a tour of a local TV station that the AV club took him on when he was in high school. He was trying to act like the Producer talking to an anchor person while they were reading the news. They gave them the info they needed in their IFB but didn't make them stumble or loose their train of thought.
"Nothing… wait, wait… there. The woman near the back, black hair, seated near the bald guy has not looked up this entire time and is focused on her Blackberry. She is the last face I need to check against the database." He paused as Sarah spoke about the teams monitoring the port for any unusual arrivals of cargo.
"I need to see her face." He said when she took a breath.
Sarah responded perfectly to Chuck's request in a voice full of authority.
"Excuse me, Agent Rosinni, I expect to have your full attention when I am conducting a briefing. What could possibly be more important on your cell phone than learning about the details and progress of this mission? Did you forget to update your Facebook status this morning?" Sarah glared at the woman with a look full of fire.
Back in the hotel room Chuck broke out laughing. She's come a long way since Chuck told her no one goes on Friendstir or Myspace anymore.
When the Agent looked up and glared back at Sarah, Chuck saw her face and the flash hit him.
Picture of Lake Como
A six inch stainless steel knife.
Carla Renaldi cousin of Marco Renaldi
200 kilos of heroin
A six inch stainless steel knife
Picture of Lake Como
"Sarah, that is not Bonita Rosinni from the Italian Ministry of Justice."
"Thank you for your attention Agent Rosinni. Let's continue." Sarah then resumed her briefing without any indication that they had found their mole to the people seated in front of her. She glanced over at Carina and gave the most subtle indication of how they were now to proceed. Carina blinked her eyes just a split second longer than normal indicating to Sarah that she understood.
Agent Walker continued for another twenty minutes going over their normal briefing materials. After she had taken questions and finished her presentation Carina asked for her to come over. Carina had moved to near where the mole was talking to one of the other members of the Italian contingent on the task force. Once Sarah got to her she leaned in to Carina's ear and whispered. "Agent Walker we have just received intel that there will be another shipment arriving from Libya tonight at midnight. Langley wants us to send a team to infiltrate the ship and plant some new tracking and surveillance devices. They also want us to take out the group in the warehouse permanently. They are tired of this taking so long to get Marchon. They want us to kill or capture Renaldi or who ever is charge of meeting the ship."
Carina leaned back and Sarah nodded. She had been keeping an eye on the reflection in the glass as the curtains had been opened signaling the end of the meeting to everyone outside the room. Sarah had seen their mole listening in on their conversation while trying to look like she was talking to her team. But her two glances over towards the two American agents and her tiny, imperceptible smile gave her away that she had taken the bait.
Saint Charles Hotel
Sarah's room
13:15 CET
Chuck had ordered room service for his two fellow agents and once they arrived back at the room they all sat down for lunch to go over the success from earlier that day. He had ordered two Chicken Cesar salads, baguettes, and fruit tray for the ladies and for himself he had ordered a French Dip sandwich, he was in France after all, cheese tray along with three bottles of Evian water. As the three Agents ate their lunches Carina finally asked the question she had wanted to ask since she left the meeting.
"So Chuckie, how did you know that the woman in the meeting was not Agent Rosinni?"
Chuck glanced at Sarah with a small grin on his face, picked up his napkin wiped his mouth and responded. "Well actually if you look here on the computer" he then turned the laptop screen so that they all could see, "you will see a photo of Agent Rosinni I found in an old archive from 1998. It's her graduating class picture from the University of Turin. If you look here you can see she has a small scar above her right eye. Plus she has beautifully developed earlobes. You'll also see she has a deviated septum. In this still from Sarah's camera you can see the woman posing as Rosinni has none of those and she does have a small mole just under her chin. So unless she had some major cosmetic surgery and they added a mole where no woman would want to put one, the woman in that meeting today was not Bonita Rosinni. They look similar but are not the same person."
"So if she isn't Agent Rosinni do you know who she is?"
"Ahh here's the best part." Chuck had a big smile on his face like he and Morgan had just beaten a new team in Call of Duty. Sarah grinned as she loved it when Chuck was excited about what they were doing and she loved that feeling of pride when her partner/boyfriend showed his stuff.
"Take a look at this next picture. It was taken by Interpol in Naples back in 2004. It's from a 'family' get together at the home of Marco Renaldi. Take a look at the woman in the family picture that was taken overlooking the harbor. I zoomed in and you can see the very same mole under her chin that the woman from the meeting had. I had been looking at all the files you had on the various suspects in the case this morning and found this one. I put it together and then did a search of the Interpol database through some CIA back channels and found out that the woman at the meeting today was actually Carla Renaldi, Marco's cousin." Chuck then looked up and smiled at the two beautiful women.
"Very impressive Chuckles"
"I told you he was good" Sarah said with pride as she reached out and snuggled into his arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you Carina, but no big deal, it's just what I do." Chuck's humble nature caused him to blush at the compliments of his two companions.
Though Sarah knew it was really the Intersect that had told Chuck who the mole was she was equally impressed how he confirmed it simply by using his brain. He put together a plausible story that convinced Carina and also showed an attention to detail that would have made him a great analyst if he didn't have that computer in his brain.
Sarah then stood up and picked up the remnants of their lunch and placed it in the trash. Chuck grabbed the room service tray and put it outside the door of the hotel room for pick up.
"Ok now let's get to planning how we are going to grab Marchon."
Outside Pierre Marchon's Villa
Marseille
23:16 CET
Chuck and Sarah sat in the surveillance van going over the last details of their attempt to break into Pierre Marchon's Villa on the outskirts of Marseille. It was located in a very exclusive neighborhood with beautiful views of the Mediterranean. While monitoring the surveillance cameras they had noticed that about 12 of the normal guards stationed had left in 2 black Mercedes Sprinter vans followed by the Citroen containing Marco Renaldi. They had taken the bait and were heading to the docks to meet the ship from Libya and what they thought was a covert team that was going to capture the ship and its cargo.
This had given them the hoped for result. Security at the Marchon estate was lighter than normal and where there had been four teams patrolling the grounds, now there was only one. Where the gates were usually manned by 3 guards now it was only 2. This meant that they would be relying more on electronic surveillance rather than eyes on the ground. That fact played right into Chuck and Sarah's hands.
Within twenty minutes of arriving at the scene he had hacked into both the security cameras and the card access system. While elaborate by criminal standards it was still a little behind some of the Ring and Fulcrum systems he had encountered. So he managed to get both eyes in the building as well as have granted himself administrator privileges for the card access system.
The plan was to enter the property at the exact time the phony raid at the docks was taking place. Carina was heading that mission along with a team of DEA Agents. She also planned to sneak off at some point to further the thought in Renaldi's mind that the information he had gotten from his cousin was in fact accurate. While the DEA agents were to be raiding the ship and warehouse, Agent Miller was supposed to apprehend Renaldi. He was expecting it and had set a trap but the plan was to actually head back to Marchon's to help Chuck and Sarah with the extraction of Marchon. Renaldi would be picked up once he finally realized he had been duped and tried to escape.
After having looped the cameras Chuck and Sarah headed over towards the rear gate where deliveries, hired help and others entered the property. Chuck turned on a jammer that cut off all radio communication from the gate to the security office in the basement of the north wing of the estate. With the rear gate being blind and deaf, Sarah stood up and signaled for Chuck to run towards the guard shack. When the lone guard saw movement he leaned out of the shack and from 90 degrees to his right Sarah fired two tranq darts into the neck of the unsuspecting guard. Chuck arrived just in time to catch him before he fell out of the shack and possibly alerted the patrol on the other side of the vast lawn.
Chuck then proceeded to use his card to unlock the gate and let Sarah onto the property to his left.
"You ok Chuck?"
"Yes, we have about 15 minutes before the loop on the cameras begins to look suspicious so we need to move quickly."
"Ok let's head over towards the pool and access the building through the showers. That should be the quickest route to Marchon's office. First we need to clone his computer, plant the link back to Langley and then we go after Marchon."
General Beckman had decided that the CIA would "detain" Pierre Marchon for as long as it took to gather the evidence to convict him before they handed him over to Interpol and French and Libyan officials. This would allow them to find out who in the French Governent was going to try and "intervene" before he got to trial. There were too many agencies involved to simply have him disappear. Each needed some positive press from this operation to go before their respective governments to request additional funding. Sarah picked the lock on the pool house as this didn't use the card access system. That was on the other side of the locker room area before you entered the main estate.
Sarah took lead and signaled Chuck to follow. The locker room was empty at this time of night and dark. Only the dim light of the hallway on the other side spilled under the doorway.
Sarah got into position and nodded for Chuck to access the card reader and open to door to the hallway. After hearing a small click release of the mag lock, Sarah reached up and slowly opened the door, carefully monitoring the outside.
They swiftly but quietly moved down the hallway towards Marchon's office. He had located it near the pool area as he often took breaks to go 'swimming' among other things with some of his female staffers in the hot tub following an evening of work.
Once inside the office Chuck went straight to work on Marchon's computer. "Damn, he's upgraded his password protection scheme to the newer one we saw at Rourke."
"Can you get through?" Sarah asked knowing what his answer would be.
"Yea, its just going to take a bit longer."
"How much longer? We don't have much time."
"Ahh hold on…one more thing… ok….there. Ok I'm in."
Sarah watched the door while Chuck attached the mini USB transponder that would copy everything from the servers and send it back to Langley. He also copied any documents stored locally on this machine to a small portable 1 TB hard drive.
After that was completed he called up the security cameras and saw 2 guards in the security office, the four patrolling the grounds and the loops of the areas they were planning to be in.
"Ok Chuck we need to go now. We've got 4 minutes left before they detect the loop on the cameras."
"I know just 30 seconds we are at 83% to the drive."
Sarah's attention was suddenly diverted when she heard voices coming from down the hall.
"Chuck! We got company!" She whispered.
"Ok 97, 98, 99 ….. done." Chuck grabbed the drive and he and Sarah went and hid behind the leather couch that was perpendicular to the desk along the western wall.
They heard a male voice telling a giggling young woman, "Aller se déshabiller et je vais vous répondre dans le bain chaud dans une minute. Je dois vérifier quelque chose dans mon bureau."
"It's Marchon." Sarah barely whispered. "He's coming to us."
"Shit, the monitor is still on."
The latch to the door began to move and the door opened followed by the lights being turned on. Chuck looked from behind the couch and saw Pierre Marchon walking over to his desk. Before he could notice the monitor was not in sleep mode they heard a phone ring.
Marchon reached into his pocket and answered it. "What's going on have they made the drop yet?... Damn nothing?... The Interpol team should be coming after you in a few minutes according to Carla… Marco your cousin better be right about this one….. Ok let me know as soon as they make their move…. Then get back here as soon as you can. I didn't like sending the team from the villa….. I know it was the only way…..Just get your ass back here as soon as you can."
Marchon, then turned his attention to his computer. "What the…." Before Marchon could grab his phone and dial the Security office Sarah signaled Chuck to stand up.
"Put down the phone, Pierre." Sarah said in a calm stern professional voice.
Marchon looked up startled and saw the two Agents both pointing weapons at him.
"We can do this one of two ways. Either I shoot you and you die, or my partner shoots you and you go to sleep and wake up in a deep dark hole somewhere on the planet."
Sarah was standing tall, legs apart one slightly in front of the other, in perfect firing position. Her gaze never left Marchon's eyes. Chuck began to walk slowly around towards Marchon's flank pointing his tranq pistol directly at him.
"Agent Walker, you and your friend here have me at a disadvantage." Sarah not surprised that Marchon knew her name as they had proven there was a mole on the task force earlier that day.
"I believe we do, Pierre. So I think it is in your best interest to turn around and my partner will give you some special jewelry you can wear around your wrists."
"Ahh too bad for me I guess but if I'm going to have to die it seems fitting to go at the hands of such a beautiful woman. N'est pas?"
"Well whether you live or die is really not my decision, it's yours. Do like I say and no one gets shot. Make one wrong move and it will be your last." Sarah then signaled Chuck to move further off to the side to more surround Marchon.
"Well when you put…."
Suddenly Marchon was interrupted.
"Qu'est-ce que vous prendre si longtemps Pierre?"
All three turned and saw a beautiful and very naked brunette young woman no more than 20 come walking into the office.
Chuck was startled for a second at the sight and Marchon used it to reach over the desk and hit a button sounding an alarm. Sarah jumped towards the woman pulling her in the room and slamming the door.
"Shit!" Sarah turned back towards Marchon who was now behind the desk reaching for a gun in the drawer.
Sarah fired from her silenced Smith and Wesson and shattered the drawer Marchon was reaching for. Marchon pulled his hand back but the destruction of the drawer caused his gun to fall by his feet.
The terrified naked girl froze and began screaming. "Mon dieu!"
Chuck realizing that he needed to do something or the girl might get caught in the crossfire fired one dart and hit the brunette just above the right breast. She immediately dropped to the floor in a heap.
Sarah ran around towards the other side of room to stop Marchon before he could grab his weapon. She fired another round that hit the floor just in front of Marchon's right hand. "Now Chuck!"
Chuck caught exactly what Sarah meant and leaped up to his feet, looked over the desk and fired two darts into Marchon's neck. Pierre was out cold in less than 1 second.
"Are you ok Sarah?"
"Yea I'm fine. Good thinking with the girl."
"Well I didn't want her caught in a crossfire."
Sarah then reached for her watch and pushed the comm. button.
"Carina, you in position?"
"Yea, right outside the gate. We just saw 4 men headed your way."
"We got the target. But he hit the alarm. We got maybe 20 seconds before they come crashing in the office."
"Ok we'll give them something else to think about. Blue team. Go. Go. Go!"
Suddenly three groups of two men in full attack gear overran the gate. Two of the men heading Chuck and Sarah's way turned to fire at the advancing team and were immediately hit by two shots each to the neck above their vests..
The other two men had already entered the pool house and were headed towards the office.
Sarah took a position beside the door while Chuck jumped behind the desk and got on his knees with his gun aimed at the door resting on the mahogany desk.
The guards were then met by two of the men from the security office. They signaled the first two to position themselves to get a shot when the second team opened the door.
"Chuck, you take the first I'll take the second" Sarah whispered.
"Yea but what if there's more than two?"
"Then I'll get the third and fourth too."
"Wait what?..."
Chuck had no time to finish his question when the door came crashing open and two guards came barreling in guns drawn.
Chuck fired and hit the first guard in the arm. It glanced off and didn't set the needle.
The guard reacted to the hit and fired at Chuck who had dropped behind the solid mahogany. The desk splintered but the bullets never penetrated the solid hard wood frame of Marchon's desk.
Sarah then turned away from who she had said she would take, to fire at the man shooting at the man she loved. The guard dropped with a loud thud. However, this change allowed the second guard to have time to turn and take aim at Sarah. Just as he was about to pull the trigger the front of his forehead exploded. While the shooting was going on in the office Carina and the blue team had reached the hallway. The team took out the remaining two guards and Agent Miller notice the second guard in the room take aim at her best friend. She went for the head shot so that she knew he wouldn't be able to pull the trigger if she had hit him in the vest he was wearing.
"Nice timing Carina."
"Thanks, I couldn't let you and Chuckles have all the fun."
Chuck stood up and smiled at the red head who had saved his girlfriend's life.
Carina looked down and saw the naked form of the 20 year old brunette on the floor. "Looks like someone else was planning on having more fun than us." She nodded her eyes towards the fallen girl.
Chuck then ran over and grabbed the throw that was lying across the back of the couch they had hid behind and placed it over her naked form.
Both Carina and Sarah looked at Chuck with small grins.
"What? No need for the cleanup crew to see her like that."
Sarah then smiled and walked over and gave Chuck a kiss on the cheek. "That's sweet."
"Ok back to being eight again." Chuck said as he rolled his eyes.
Sarah then focused her attention on the man behind the desk. "Carina you help with the cleanup crew. Chuck and I will take Marchon to the team at the airport. We'll meet back at my hotel room in two hours to debrief Washington."
"Where are they taking him?" Carina asked.
"Someplace safe till they figure out who in the French government is on his payroll."
"Ok. Let's hope we got enough to nail this guy for good."
While the operation was going on at Marchon's estate, Marco Renaldi had begun to head back after the bust at the pier. He had seen Carina break off from the DEA team but no one ever made their move on him. Once he realized he had been duped he tried to contact Marchon but it went straight to voicemail. They had been set up and he had to get back and see what was happening at the villa.
As he turned on to the street he noticed 3 black suburbans converge on the property. Just as he was telling the driver turn around a fourth suburban smashed into the rear of the Citroen. Four men in attack gear jumped out and surrounded Renaldi. Realizing he was caught he dropped his gun and reached his hands out the window in surrender. He was taken from the vehicle, his wrists were wrapped with zip ties and he was placed in the back of one of the vans the team had used.
"Agent Walker, we have Renaldi in custody." Sarah heard over her comm unit.
"Good, take him to the rendezvous point and we'll meet you there."
Saint Charles Hotel
Sarah's room
03:15 CET
Chuck, Sarah and Carina were gathered around Sarah's laptop for the debriefing with General Beckman. The raid had gone off without a hitch and they had both Marchon and Renaldi in custody. All in all it had been a very good night.
The NSA logo faded to black on the screen and was replaced with that of a confident and pleased General Diane Beckman. Chuck actually thought he saw the hint of a smile from the diminutive yet fearless woman.
"Agent Miller, Agent Walker and Mr. Bartowski, good work tonight."
"Thank you General" they all said in unison.
"The intel from the device Mr. Bartowski had linked to Marchon's servers has already begun to bring dividends. Bank records indicate payments to various officials in the governments of France, Italy, Spain and cash transactions to accounts believed to be linked to Kaddafi himself."
The three agents smiled at each other.
"General what is going to happen to Marchon?"
"Agent Miller, he will be kept sedated till we bring in all of his "protectors" in the French government and then will be handed over to Interpol for trial."
"So we have enough to put him away for good?"
"Yes Sarah, the operation was a huge success. And might I say it's good to have my best team or at least part of that team back together again."
"Thank you ma'am." Chuck and Sarah looked at each other with a knowing smile of pride and happiness.
"Agent Miller, you work well with Agent Walker and Mr. Bartowski and were a welcome addition to this team. I expect we will be seeing you again."
"Thank you ma'am, its always a pleasure to work with Agent Walker and might I say that Chu.. Mr. Bartowski is a very talented analyst. The best I've ever worked with."
Chuck nodded thank you to Carina.
"Duly noted. Agent Walker and Mr. Bartowski I expect you back in DC tomorrow evening. Get some rest. Your flight leaves at 10:30 your time."
"Yes ma'am."
"Agent Miller, you will stay in Marseille for a few more days to help go over the intel with the task force and your superiors at the DEA will give you your next assignment."
"Thank you ma'am."
As quickly as it went away, the NSA logo appeared once again.
"Is she always that abrupt leaving?"
"Hey that was one of her nicer exits." Chuck replied with a chuckle.
Sarah stifled a laugh and pushed her chair back and went to get the bottle of Champagne that was chilling in the ice bucket on the floor next to the dresser. She grabbed three glasses and handed one to each of her partners. With a resounding pop she opened the bottle and poured each of them a glass of bubbly.
"What's all this Sarah?"
"Just a tradition Carina and I started when we worked together back a few years ago."
"Yea, nothing like a post mission toast though post mission sex is better." Carina then winked at Chuck his face turning bright red.
"Ahhh well… um.."
"Chuck, trust me you're gonna have both and you can decide for yourself which is better." This time Carina winked at Sarah who blushed.
"Carina" Sarah snarled though she knew what Carina meant, but this time it was going to be a first for Sarah too. She wasn't going to have post mission sex but post mission love making and her pulse jumped with anticipation.
"To a successful mission!" Carina exclaimed with a smile. The three friends and partners clinked their glasses and then drank up.
"Well I better head back to my room. Great working with you again Chuckles" Carina walked over and threw her arms around Chuck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She then whispered in his ear. "She's my best friend and I told you she wanted you. She really loves you and I know you love her. But if you ever hurt her, I'll be wearing you balls for earrings." Chuck tensed just a bit as he knew Carina was serious.
Carina then leaned back and she and Chuck had a knowing acknowledgement between them. "Great seeing you again Carina and next time can you finally tell me what happened between you and Casey in Prague?"
"I'd rather show you but I don't think blondie here would take kindly to that." The three all chuckled.
Carina walked over to her best friend in the world and pulled her in for a warm and caring hug. She then whispered in Sarah's ear this time. "He really is a great guy Sarah. I'm glad you finally have someone in your life that truly loves you. I know it's what you have always wanted deep down."
Sarah then pulled back and smiled at her best friend. "Wielki współpracy. Będę tęsknić." Sarah said.
"Jag kommer att sakna dig också."
Carina then turned and walked out the door to her room. Sarah closed it, turned around and leaned her back against the door exhausted.
"What did you two say to each other?"
"Just another tradition we have. That it was fun working together and we'll miss each other."
Chuck walked over and put his arms around Sarah's waist and pulled her into his waiting embrace. "You're exhausted, you need some sleep."
Sarah snuggled into Chuck's chest for a few seconds but then looked up into eyes. "Chuck, we can sleep on the plane. I can think of a few things I'd much rather be doing right now." Sarah then stepped up on her toes and gave Chuck a deep passionate kiss on his lips.
Chuck began to respond with passion of his own. He reached down and surprised Sarah when he picked her up into his strong loving arms. She threw her arms around his neck and neither one broke the kiss. Chuck then carried her over to the bed and lay her down gently.
Sarah began to unbutton Chuck's shirt all while still exploring his mouth with her tongue. Chuck reached down and lifted her tank top up over her head and then threw it on the floor. He put his fingers into the waistband of her sweats and slowly pulled them down and off her feet.
As he looked down at the naked goddess below him he smiled at the love of his life.
"God you are so beautiful."
"Thank you Chuck, my handsome nerd."
"We do work well together don't we?"
"Yes, we do. I've said it before but we are always better as a team."
Chuck then leaned down and kissed her tenderly.
"I love you Sarah."
"I love you too Chuck."
"Let's go home." He said with a warmth that filled her heart with joy.
Sarah then grew an amazing smile on her face. For the first time in her life she wasn't just going back to an empty, lonely apartment or off to some other nameless place again. She was going home after a successful mission and she was going home with the man she truly loved.
"I like the sound of that."
Now it was her turn to kiss him tenderly. "But first I have some plans for us right here."
They both then crashed into each other's lips with a fierce desire this time. As they made love passionately through the night Sarah thought to herself 'post mission love making is so much better than post mission sex….. or champagne.'
Unknown location
Outside Washington DC
01:45 AM EDT
The tall dark haired Agent felt the tell tale vibration of the round communications device in his pants pocket. He turned down the Michael Buble CD on the touch screen of his Tesla, and glanced over at the most recent young brunette Agent he couldn't remember the name of who was sleeping in the seat next to him. She needed her rest for what he had planned for her later on when they arrived back at his loft.
He pulled out the device and held it up to his ear.
"Yes, sir?"
"I'm taking care of Prince. We need you to find out what Saunders knows and if she will be a problem for us."
"Yes, sir."
"We don't want any loose ends."
"Understood."
He heard stirring from beside him as the green lights on the device turned off.
"Where are we?" He heard a groggy female voice ask from beside him.
"We're about thirty minutes away. Go back to sleep because you won't be getting much once we arrive." He said with a smirk.
"Ok" the brunette turned back and snuggled against the door.
'God I love these eager young ones right out of the farm. Always wanting to impress their bosses with their newfound skills. Maybe one day I might actually try and remember one of their names.'
The Tesla sped off towards Georgetown. He just needed to make sure she was gone before sunrise. Awkward morning wakeups were not his style. Besides the walk of shame was best done while it was still dark out.
A/N2 Translations
Go get undressed and I will meet you in the hot tub in a minute. I have to check something in my office.
Why are you taking so long Pierre?
A/N3 Chuck and Sarah are headed back to the US finally. Next chapter they meet with Beckman. Plus Andrea and Chuck have a little chat.
