A/N Thanks again for all those sticking with this story. Sorry it took a bit to get this one out but I'm not going to bore you with a list of excuses. Stuff happens lol.
Thanks again to esardi for his read through and suggestions. It helped this chapter out a great deal as usual. This time Chuck makes a big discovery and Sarah is dressed in Victoria Secret cheekies, what more could any reader want in a chapter?
Still don't own Chuck, but I'm working on buying Dexter!
Chapter 23
The Dinner
Casa Bartowski
Echo Park
Monday 5:49 PM PDT
"Chuck when did Beckman say your clearance would arrive?" Sarah dressed in only a black lace bra and matching cheekies was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom applying her makeup for her dinner with Shaw.
"I already received it while you were in the shower." Chuck replied from the bedroom. He climbed off the bed and headed towards the bathroom while continuing. "I'll head to Castle before you head out to the restaurant. Casey and Carina will be in position to ... ah um...duh."
Sarah looked over as she heard him come into the bathroom with her and smiled at his dumbfounded look. "You can close your mouth now Chuck." She said after a few long seconds where Chuck seemed to be in an open mouthed trance.
"You ah you're not... he's n..." The blood flow that allowed for coherent speech was definitely being diverted.
Sarah turned her attention back to her eyeliner pencil and smiled at him in the mirror. "Don't worry Chuck. The only person who is ever going to see me in just this is standing there with the goofiest, most adorable look on his face right behind me. But I need to be a spy tonight and this is what a spy would wear for this kind of mission. It's a role and this is the proper wardrobe to play it."
"God Sarah, I mean I understand, but geesh you are the sexiest woman God ever created. Even Adriana Lima doesn't look as good as you in those."
"Adriana Lima?"
"You know Victoria's Secret Angel, model etc." Chuck was starting to blush and realized he might have not wanted to mention her.
"Oh, I know who she is. I'm just surprised that my boyfriend knows what she looks like in my underwear."
"Oh no it's not that,... I mean... oh oh.. right I lived with Ellie remember? She used to get the catalog." Chuck thinking he might get off the hook with that one suddenly noticed the gleam in Sarah's eye. 'Oh God, I'm doomed' he thought.
"So not only does my boyfriend know the names of Victoria Secret models he learned those names by looking at his sister's underwear catalogs? Really Chuck?" Sarah was desperately trying to hold her laughter. She loved teasing Chuck. He was just so easy to embarrass.
Chuck's face could not have been redder if he had dipped it in red dye #2. "I ahh No... It's not...oh jeesh I'll just shut up now and go crawl in the nearest hole."
Sarah couldn't hold her laughter any longer. This was just too much fun and he was too sweet. She set the eyebrow pencil down and turned towards the totally mortified, but wonderful man before her. She walked over and kissed him tenderly. After pulling back she smiled at the embarrassed man she loved and decided to let him off the hook. "Chuck, lucky for me I know quite well that you are a healthy, heterosexual, adult male in his late twenties. I'd be far more surprised if you hadn't ever looked at your 'sisters' Victoria Secret catalogue. Besides you did say I look better in these that Adrianna Lima so I've got nothing to worry about. Right?"
"Right, right. No worries, no a one, nothing..."
"Chuck you're babbling." She said chuckling. 'God he is so adorable.'
Sarah kept her arms around Chuck's neck and she felt his hands drop slowly down her back and end up cupping the cheeks of her perfect ass. The feel of his hands as they were placed across both the lace of her panties and the bare skin of her bottom sent her heart racing.
"Chuck if you keep caressing my ass like that I am going to be late for my mission." She took a deep breath and inched closer to his lips. The warmth of his hands causing a different kind of warmth in other areas of her body.
"And that would be a problem my sweet, sexy ninja?" He said in his best seductive voice.
"Chuck, you know I would much rather continue what you are clearly trying to start but I have to meet Shaw at 7:30 at the restaurant. Being late would not be a good idea. He needs to think I'm interested and eager to be there."
Chuck leaned in and kissed Sarah but did not open his mouth as he knew that is all it would take to end up blowing this mission tonight.
"You're right Sarah but promise me one thing."
"And what is that, boyfriend of mine?"
"When we get back here after the mission tonight, we pick up exactly in this position. My god the feeling of the lace and the softness of your skin is incredible."
"Oh I have every intention of doing just that. If you think the feeling is incredible on the outside, you should feel what it is doing to me on the inside." Sarah's eyes were filled with wanton lust at this point. "No way do I want to miss out on where this feeling will lead to." Sarah kissed him this time but quickly pulled out of his arms. As she turned away she looked seductively over her shoulder at him and said, "Just remember Chuck the only man who can ever start that kind of fire in me is you. So please don't worry about tonight, okay?"
"I know, but thank you for the reassurance. But maybe it's a better idea if I wait for you in the living room. I'm not so sure I can talk about the mission with you looking like that. I don't think my brain could muster a coherent thought looking at you in those."
"There'll be plenty of time to make you incoherent later. Give me a couple of minutes to finish my makeup, get dressed and I'll be in shortly. I love you."
"I love you too."
Chuck sat on the couch waiting for Sarah as he ran down the plan for tonight one more time. Sarah would meet Shaw at the restaurant and try to get him to open up to her. They would talk about the meeting and how they were going to set up Shaw to become a double Agent with the Ring. Carina and Casey would be outside in their cars monitoring and recording everything Shaw said and did. They would also act as Sarah's backup in case anything went south with Shaw. There was no way anyone on the team was going to allow Sarah to go on a mission alone with an agent of questionable loyalties. They were all too good at their job to let her take that risk if they were not they were absolutely certain. Trusting an Agent who's loyalty is in question can get you killed. Casey's hero Ronald Reagan said it best, "trust but verify."
While the four teammates were away from Castle, Chuck would access the secret files that Beckman was providing. As these files were at one of the highest levels of classified documents in the government, Chuck would only be allowed to access them using the US version of the UK's GCSx secure data connections recently installed at the upgraded Castle. He would be allowed three hours to view them and if needed Sarah would be allowed the same amount of time later that evening if necessary. Not only were these highly classified but there were also personal files covered by governmental rules of privacy and privilege. The President himself had given the approval for the access.
The part of this entire mission they were planning for the meeting with the Ring director that bothered Chuck the most was the idea of 'sacrificing' Sarah to prove Shaw's loyalty. They all knew that the Director would be very skeptical of Shaw's desire to defect, any good spy would be, so they needed something to show the Director to prove Shaw's loyalty. Chuck knew Sarah had a solid yet still somewhat risky plan but it was the use of the word 'sacrifice' that made him extremely uncomfortable and apprehensive. Sarah had always taught him that a great Agent would never 'sacrifice' themselves unless they were certain there were no other alternatives. Agents with ridiculous hero complexes that took unnecessary risks because of some misguided death wish or desire for vengeance usually ended up dead and getting their partners killed as well. She had seen too many agents make that fatal mistake rushing after them to try to save their misguided partners.
Chuck was awoken from his musings by the sound of set of high heel boots coming down the hall.
"So how do I look?" Chuck turned and saw the woman of his dreams standing in a black mini dress that showed off her legs well but not overly so. Her neckline showed just enough cleavage but again not too much. What made it beautiful though was who was wearing it.
"Perfect." Chuck stood up and smiled at her.
"Thanks, I wanted to give him the idea I was interested but not that I was overtly trying to seduce him. Shaw is the kind of guy who likes to think he is in charge so dressing nice but not too nice will hopefully give him the illusion he is not being manipulated like he is."
"I know, stroke his ego but just remember to not stroke anything else ok?" Chuck said jokingly and Sarah punched him in the arm."
"Goof"
"Hey that hurt."
"Oh I plan to stroke something else tonight but it won't be anything Shaw has."
Chuck stepped towards her and said seriously. "Sarah, you know he is going to try and get you to come back to his place tonight."
"I know, but don't worry about that. I've shot down plenty of men like him in the past. He won't even know I'm doing it. Just text me when you are done at Castle." Sarah stepped even closer to Chuck and put her arms around his waist. She looked directly into his eyes because she both wanted and needed him to see the sincerity in what she was about to say. "Chuck I know you are uncomfortable with this part of the job but the most important part to a good spy seduction that they teach you incessantly at the farm is to keep stringing the mark along for as long as possible. Make them believe that if they give you what you want you'll do what it is that they want enthusiastically. Believe me I've left many a case of blue balls over the years."
Chuck grimaced. "Ouch, I'm very aware of that fact I'm afraid." Chuck winced thinking about the times he had experienced that special form of agony from his then 'cover girlfriend'.
Sarah took her right hand from his waist and placed it on Chuck's cheek before kissing him tenderly. "Chuck I'm so sorry about all of that back then. I know how frustrating it must have been for you, believe me. If there was a female version of that kind of pain, I would have felt it just as much or even more often than you did. There were so many times I wanted you so badly and I co…"
"Ssssh Sarah, it's ok. That's all in the past. We're together now and I hope neither of us have to experience that little part of hell ever again."
"Me too." The two lovers kissed one more time but before the passion really started in earnest they both pulled back knowing they would pick things up later.
"Chuck, you should head out now. I'll give it twenty minutes before I leave in case Shaw is watching us. That should make him think you have no idea I'm going to meet him."
"Ok, but please be careful Sarah. I just don't trust Shaw."
"Neither do I Chuck and I know this idea of me being 'sacrificed' to establish his loyalties to the Ring is risky, but our plan is good and hopefully once I've met with Shaw tonight and you've seen the files from Beckman, we should know where his true loyaltieslie. Then if we need to revise the plan we will. Believe me I'm not taking this lightly either and I'm not someone who goes into missions like this recklessly. First we need to know for certain the Ring Director will actually be there at the meet and not some phony imitation. Second that we will have all the back up we need to tip the odds in our favor. An ill-prepared spy usually doesn't live long and most times they don't accomplish their mission. I won't tip our hand to the Ring by calling for an op and risking anyone on this team including myself without knowing for certain if our objective is even going to be there."
"I love you."
"I love you too." Chuck kissed Sarah lovingly and headed out the door. Sarah went back into the bathroom to touch up her lipstick. The dinner ahead with Shaw was going to be very interesting.
Black Tesla convertible
Outside Casa Bartowski
6:33 PM PDT
Special Agent Daniel Shaw watched as Chuck headed out of the courtyard and climbed into his car and drove off towards what he assumed was Castle. Sarah had told Shaw that Chuck would be working there tonight on mission prep and he had also scheduled some IT maintenance to Castle's systems and that was her excuse to stay at home. Once Chuck left she would get dressed and then meet Shaw for dinner at the restaurant.
"Nicely done Sarah. The geek is good at following orders I see. Now we get to have some fun. You'll just have to figure something out to tell him when you do the walk of shame tomorrow morning."
Shaw started the engine and headed off to wait for Sarah to arrive. This was going to be a very interesting evening. It would be one of her last on this planet and he was going to make it a memorable one.
As Shaw drove away his mind was so occupied by which pages of his favorite book he and the soon to be late Agent Walker were going to be acting out tonight that he failed to notice the navy blue Mercedes sedan that pulled out behind him.
The Castaway
Burbank Hills
7:25 PM PDT
Saran entered the restaurant and approached the Maitre-d'. She was familiar with the restaurant and its location as she had been there with Chuck on one of their more special cover dates. She was actually surprised that Shaw had picked this place. Not because it was a perfect romantic location though the views were fantastic as it was set in the Burbank Hills overlooking the valley and golf course below. She had expected he would chose something like that but what surprised her was that it was a great spot for a spy meeting. Because it was located in the hills there was no easy way for a team to watch such a meet without being seen themselves. Especially when as she learned from the Maitre d' that of course Shaw had reserved a table on the patio by the railing. It was actually a rather good piece of spy craft beyond its obvious role in his by the book display of seduction technique.
As Sarah approached the table Shaw stood up and pulled the seat out for her to sit down. He was dressed in an obviously expensive navy blue suit, white Brooks Brothers shirt and an appropriately matching striped tie. The table was adorned with a vase containing a half dozen pale white roses. A bottle of Chateau Margoux, of course, sat waiting to be poured.
"Sarah, I must say you look fantastic tonight."
"Thank you Daniel." She said as he pushed in her chair for her.
"So no trouble with Carmichael I hope?"
"No trouble at all. As I told you on the phone, Chuck is working on some IT maintenance and possible logistics for whenever your meeting with the Director is scheduled for. Have you heard back from your contacts yet?"
Shaw noticed that Walker quickly deflected past the mention of Carmichael and got down to business. Maybe that was her style, get the business part of the evening taken care of before the more pleasant events began.
"No, I should be hearing from them in the morning. That gives us plenty of time to enjoy our evening, Sarah."
"Well I must say this is a lovely place you have picked for us. The view is beautiful."
"Well when you are in the picture, every view is beautiful." Shaw said in his best debonair voice.
"Why thank you Daniel. I must say that suit looks great on you as well." Sarah smiled back at his obvious flirting while inside she was trying to read the enigmatic agent in front of her. Just as she was studying his features looking for a tell, their waiter came by and introduced himself.
"Good evening and welcome to the Castaway. My name is Antonio and I have the pleasure of serving you this evening. I see you already have chosen a fine bottle of wine, would you like to start off with an appetizer?"
Shaw spoke first. "I'll have the calamari and the lady will have the oy..." Sarah cut him off before he could continue.
"Actually I'll have the seared tuna appetizer if you don't mind." Sarah said smiling brightly at the waiter.
"Very well. I'll put those in and be back in a minute while you look over the dinner menu." Antonio smiled happily at the lovely blonde in front of him and gave her a small wink that only she could see. He saw way too many self absorbed men try to order for their dates and he enjoyed watching this gorgeous woman shoot down the probable male model she was with.
Shaw hid his anger at Sarah's obvious dismissal of his attempt at the power move. But he was also mad at himself for not learning his mistake from his night with Carina. She and Sarah were friends and he had found out they had worked together on the legendary Cat Squad. He should have known that she would never allow him to order for her. It was a slipup he wouldn't make again.
Sarah noticed the hint of anger in his eyes but just gave him a small smile deciding to get back to business. "Daniel, are you sure you are ok with this mission? It could be very dangerous and if you have any doubts please tell me."
Shaw reached over and placed his hand on hers that was sitting on the table next to her wine glass. His touch made her skin crawl but she didn't pull away. "Sarah, I appreciate your concern, believe me. But I'm ready for this. In fact I've been working towards this day for a long time. I'm actually more worried about us 'sacrificing' you. How do we make that believable enough for the Director?"
"You are going to shoot me." She said evenly with an air of confidence.
"Shoot you? Isn't that taking this sacrificing thing a little too literally?" Shaw was shocked at the idea but feigned his concern.
"Not when you are going to shoot me with some special bullets Chuck has acquired."
"Special bullets?"
"Yes. Chuck has some friends in the film industry and has acquired the latest in special effects bullets. They are more realistic than conventional blanks and squibs as they actually fire a small dart that punctures the upper layers of the skin about the size of an actual bullet hole causing the target to bleed sufficiently making a very realistic looking wound. They fire from conventional standard government issue weapons and can also contain a small squib pack. They are used on stunt doubles thus making the injury seem much more realistic without the traditional squib blowout but cause no permanent damage. Chuck has modified them to also contain a special sedative that simulates death in the victim. Only someone with an EKG machine could detect the heartbeat but at no point is the victim in any real danger. The effect lasts for three minutes which should be enough time for the Director to confirm I'm dead before Casey and Carina come busting in causing them to make their escape. It should help ensure your loyalty to him at least initially and then you will begin to feed some highly classified data to the Ring on other operations in the 'company' allowing you to move up. The data will be real, just slightly dated but verifiable."
Shaw was actually impressed with the plan. Plus it also allowed him an easy route to actually kill the blond in front of him. He would simply swap the special bullets for the real thing. "Wow, you told me Chuck was a bit of a genius. I can see why. So at no time are you in any actual danger?"
"Yea, he is. Well I will be vulnerable during those three minutes I'm out but we will have a backup team there in case anything goes wrong."
"Sounds like you have it covered."
"Well Chuck is very good at this sort of thing. But we can finish the rest of the planning once we have the time and location of the meet." Sarah smiled seductively. "Now that business is out of the way let's get on to the more enjoyable part of the evening."
"I couldn't agree more. Sarah, I've been following your career for years. You're a legend in the Agency. I've been waiting for a chance to spend an evening with you for a long time. I'm hoping this 'partnership' will become the 'stuff of legend' as well." Shaw picked up his glass of wine and reached out for Sarah to toast with him. "To 'partners' and a very enjoyable evening with an incredibly beautiful woman."
Shaw's use of the word 'partners' had Sarah's stomach turning for more reasons than one.
Castle Secure Server Room
8:13 PM PDT
It had taken Chuck over an hour to set up the secure connection protocols necessary to view the files he was being allowed access to. Before he began he had inserted footage from previous late night IT maintenance and research sessions into the camera feeds as looping them would become obvious if as he suspected this was going to take as long as it did. Having access to three years of surveillance material, most of it from before Shaw had been assigned to Team Intersect was very useful. All he had to do was change the time/date stamp on the video and he had a three hour window. More if it became necessary.
Once he was ready he opened up a bottle of Chardonnay and entered the log in and password that had been provided by Beckman. Chuck and Sarah each would be granted access to the files for 3 hours only. They could not make copies nor could they discuss anything they found in them with the team unless they received confirmation from General Beckman and the National Security Advisor to the President.
Once Chuck was logged in there would also be a key tracker that would log all keys and commands that Chuck performed while looking at the files. This data would be stored in a secret secure server at the DNI. The access that Chuck had been granted was unprecedented but the fact that Graham had been kill by the Fulcrum cipher and that Acting Director Mitchell was killed under suspicious circumstances while under investigation for treason had caused the President to grant this one time access. The private personal files of the Director of the CIA were highly classified but the fact that Chuck was the Intersect and already knew or at least had buried in his brain enough top secret information to fill all the servers in the FBI, NSA and CIA combined, he was the logical choice to be granted this highly unusual access.
"Ok Danny boy, what have you been doing for the last eight years?"
The first files Chuck began to access were the files relating to Shaw's missions around the time of his partnership with Andrea Saunders. Most of the reports from his partnership with her before she was captured seemed to paint a similar picture to what Saunders had described. Moderate success a few failures but nothing that stood out as exceptional. Chuck, however, was disgusted with how callous and unemotional the abandonment of his partner was written when he found the reports about Thailand. Simply missing, presumed dead with no culpability on his part. Saunders was right, he was all about himself and the word 'partner' held no meaning for him
Then he noticed a gap of two years with no data available. Finding that somewhat curious he filed it in his brain but hoped it would make sense later. It was most likely the beginnings of Shaw's activities as Graham's lead deep cover operative in the fight against the Ring.
Beginning in 2005 Chuck began to read various mission reports from locations all around the world. Thailand, Argentina, Indonesia, and throughout Europe. There were also missions in major American cities like New York, Washington, Boston and LA. Chuck began to also notice an unusual number of missions in Paris. Outside of DC it was the most common location for Shaw's activities. He had visited there eleven times in eighteen months from 2006-2007. Chuck frowned as he had always wanted to go there but had yet to be so fortunate. With the way his luck ran sometimes he was more likely to be ordered by some lame by the books superior to stay on the plane at Charles DeGualle and fly back immediately than visit there eleven times in eighteen months. He was really getting to dislike Daniel Shaw.
As Chuck scanned through more folders he found most of the files were simple mission reports but a few things began to stand out. First, though Shaw had been working for years on this assignment his reports to Graham and Mitchell were very general in nature. The picture of the Ring structure and organization was not very in depth for a singular mission of this type. Though he knew Shaw had established contacts in the Ring there was no mention of them in any of the reports. Frankly he had expected or a part of him actually hoped for more from the tall Agent. It all seemed like Shaw wasn't making any significant progress. But what progress he did make he made sure he wouldn't have to share the credit. Sure he seemed to know more than anyone else in the agency but the Ring threat was still very undefined even to him it seemed.
One other thing stood out to Chuck as very curious. Not one of these reports caused him to flash on anything significant. A few names here and there but no actionable intelligence from the missions was in the Intersect. Even ones that seemed to be of very little sensitive material, it seemed Graham or at least someone had kept all of Shaw's activities out of the Intersect or so it seemed.
"Why the hell would Graham keep all of this a secret? Was he that worried about the threat of the Intelligence community being compromised that he kept it all to himself because he didn't know who to trust? Or was he disobeying a direct order from the President to share all data in the Intersect computer that Bryce had destroyed and then sent to me?" He thought. "This doesn't make any sense."
Chuck reached over and drank another swig from the bottle of Chardonnay. After a few seconds to savor the delightful flavor he took a deep breath. His mind was racing trying to find a clue that would prove that Shaw did have a secret but he kept drawing a blank. From everything he had seen in these files, Shaw was legit. Secret, mediocre, but legit. He had been working covertly on a mission for almost eight years known only to the Directors themselves. But Chuck still couldn't escape the feeling that something didn't add up. Plus he also implicitly trusted the instincts of Sarah and Carina who both were telling him that there was something suspicious about Daniel Shaw. But all he really got from these files was sort of a roundabout confirmation of what Saunders had told them, Shaw was anything but a great Agent. Sure he knew more than anyone else in the Agency and Chuck understood the politics of why he was added to the team after Mitchell died/ was killed but he clearly was not the stellar Agent they were told he was. In eight years he had very little to show for his effort but a contact that got him the intel about the disks regarding the training of the Intersect 2.0 in Zuoz. The mission that Team Intersect had just completed seemed to be the only significant progress from his eight year mission.
After almost two hours of looking at mission files and reports Chuck was getting frustrated. Things weren't adding up conclusively either way. Chuck then began to search deeper into Graham's files to see if he could find why Graham would have kept all of this data only to himself. "Maybe I'm taking the wrong approach. Maybe the key isn't Shaw but Graham and Mitchell." Chuck then began to try and cross reference missions of other Agents in the areas where Shaw was operating, with data in the Intersect. Kind of building his own Intersect search engine. He cringed slightly as he remembered how angry and disappointed Sarah had been with him when he developed the search for Orion and didn't tell her. Thankfully Sarah was fully aware of his activities and their relationship was on much more solid footing. He put those thoughts quickly out of his head and got back to work. Sarah and the team needed him to come through tonight and he would not let them down.
After about ten minutes of searching for any possible related missions planned and approved by Graham from 2006 -2008 nothing seemed to correlate. But once he came upon a mission in the spring of 2009 in Montenegro something jumped off the screen causing Chuck to flash. Shaw had reported killing a Ring operative by the name of Vedran Prijović who had ties to the Željezara Clan of organized crime in Montenegro. But when Chuck flashed on Prijović he learned that he had been arrested by MI-6 in late 2008 and was still being held in a maximum security prison when he was killed in January 2010 by members of the rival The Nikšić Mob.
Chuck leaned back in his chair with both a sigh of relief but also a feeling of concern. Shaw had lied about this mission and had taken credit for something he had no involvement in. The files from that incident had been altered from the data that was in the Intersect that Chuck had uploaded with the 2.0 eight months ago.
Chuck then began to search more deeply into the more minute details of missions not directly related to the Ring. He found at least four other instances that caused him to flash on the data in the files he was reading from Shaw not matching up with the data from the 2.0. But what really caught his eye finally was that the date and timestamps buried deep in the file structure of what he was looking at, all were prior to May of 2009 when he had uploaded the Intersect again. So either the files were faked or the data in the Intersect was wrong. The latter prospect scared him and made him tremble slightly. The thought of data included in his flashes being inaccurate opened up an entirely new and frightening list of possible consequences. If Chuck couldn't trust the Intersect then his entire mission was a fraud. He would have to talk with Beckman about that but based on everything else he was discovering tonight it all came down to who did he trust most, the Intersect or Daniel Shaw. That was a pretty simple choice to make. The data that the Intelligence community had used to add Shaw to Team Intersect had been faked.
The Castaway
Burbank Hills
10:08 PM PDT
Sarah and Shaw had spent the last hour and a half talking about anything but their impending mission. Shaw had tried to impress her with his knowledge of wine but one thing she had learned in her years with the agency was how to spot a true connoisseur from a wannabe. She had dined in some of the most exclusive restaurants around the world and tasted some of the finest wines available. Many a man had tried to shower her with expensive wine, Champaign and all sorts of expensive dietary delights to only find themselves alone at the end of the evening. One of the things she loved about Chuck was he never even tried to win her affections by impressing her intentionally. As a matter of fact he impressed her more by simply being himself. But it was clear Shaw had other ideas.
He talked about many of the romantic places around the globe he had been to on missions trying on more than one occasion to talk about how much more beautiful it would have been had she been there by his side. He was so impressed with himself that he simply wasn't really watching Sarah's reaction very carefully. Plus as Sarah herself was a fantastic actress he simply wouldn't have seen anything she didn't want him to see. So she sat there with feigned expressions of interest. He believed she was enthralled with everything he was saying. But Carina had been right, Daniel Shaw was one of the most boring men she had ever known.
He had all the training that Bryce had but none of the style. He knew what he was supposed to do to impress a woman but relied too heavily on his looks hoping that his mark would be blinded by his rugged chin, his dark wavy hair and manufactured smile. Truth be told it had probably worked for him many times with many women but sitting across from him was Sarah Walker. She was not just any woman or any ordinary agent. Carina saw his flaws too but she simply ignored them. He was a good looking guy, was convenient and it had been saturday night.
Bryce also knew he was good looking. It would have been hard not to if there was a mirror anywhere on the planet. But what made Bryce a great agent and a very successful seducer was his charm. It was said he could have charmed and seduced Mother Teresa if he had been so inclined. As an Agent, Bryce Larkin was everything Daniel Shaw was not.
However, the one thing that Shaw did do well was hide what his real interest in her was beyond simply getting her back to his hotel room between the sheets. Sarah had been trying to pick up on exactly what was the reason behind the feeling both she and Carina both had that she was more important to Shaw than just another notch on his headboard.
After two hours of what may have been one of the most boring dates of her life, Sarah realized that she really wasn't much farther along in figuring out what Shaw's real plan was for her. After a few more minutes of mostly one-sided conversation she knew he was about to make his play to continue their night in his bed.
"So Sarah, shall we continue our evening elsewhere?" His real intentions very clear in his voice.
"Thanks, Daniel I'd like that." she said seductively.
Shaw signaled for Antonio to bring the check.
"I hope you enjoyed your meal and you will come back to see us again." Antonio said smiling at Sarah before he bowed slightly to her, ignoring the self-absorbed agent who was reaching for his platinum card.
"Thank you Antonio, the meal was delightful and the service impeccable. Daniel wouldn't you agree?"
Shaw looking up at the mention of his name but clueless as to what she had said.
"What?"
"I said don't you agree that the service here tonight was fantastic."
"Oh, yes absolutely."
"Well Antonio I guess that means you will be receiving a very generous tip." Sarah smiled and winked at the waiter.
"Why thank you. But being able to serve such a lovely woman as yourself was far more than I could have asked for."
"Still, I'll make sure Daniel here rewards you handsomely." Sarah turned and smiled brightly at Shaw. She could see he wasn't pleased with her obvious flirting with the waiter and knew that she was putting him on the spot but it was just too good for her to pass up. She won another small battle of wills with Shaw and Antonio was going to be the beneficiary.
As Sarah sat there while they waited for Antonio to return with the check she glanced down at her watch. It was now 10:25. She wondered how Chuck was doing with the files. If he needed more time she would talk Shaw into going to a club for drinks and some dancing. The thought of Daniel Shaw dancing actually amused her. She figured he had been trained at the farm but for some reason the image of some guy named Carlos or Carlton dancing that Chuck had shown her on some lame TV show he made her watch on one of their cover dates entered her mind. She stifled the laugh well but she couldn't get that absurd image out of her mind.
As the 'couple' was walking to their prospective cars, Sarah heard her phone vibrating in her purse.
"Daniel excuse me for a second." She reached into her purse for her phone. She looked at the screen and swiped the face revealing a secure text from what looked to be General Beckman. Before she had gone out for the evening, Chuck had hacked into her phone and created a special code that when he texted it from his phone it would display as a secure link from their boss. This was in case Shaw had seen the screen and would keep him from knowing it came from Chuck.
Shaw stopped and turned, glancing down at the screen in Sarah's hand.
"Daniel, I'm afraid we are going to have to cut our evening short. The General wants me in Castle."
Sarah saw the look of anger flash in the otherwise wooden agents eyes. "I could go with you to Castle and we could pick things up afterwards."
"I'm sorry Daniel. I was really looking forward spending some more time with you but Chuck will still be there and it would be suspicious if I showed up and then left with you. We have a big mission coming up and I don't want the team or Chuck in particular to be distracted. He has a bit of a crush on me and seeing me with another man, especially another agent will cause him to loose focus. He's kind of sensitive about that. I hope you understand."
Shaw was furious inside but tried to hide his anger as best he could. But he simply wasn't good enough and Sarah saw the rage in his eyes again briefly. 'That bitch Beckman would screw up anything.' He had wanted to get a taste of the legendary Sarah Walker before she came to her death thereby sealing his place in the Ring hierarchy. But now it seemed like he might miss his chance. 'I'll just have to make sure Agent Walker's death is a bit more painful than necessary.'
"Fine Sarah. I won't lie to you and tell you I'm not disappointed. I'll be honest, I was hoping we could get to know each other a bit more intimately this evening. But I understand the mission comes first." He said trying to fake an appropriately disappointed smile rather than the rage one he wanted to display.
"Can I have a rain check on that?" Sarah asked suggestively.
"Of course."
"Thank you Daniel." She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek but pulled away before Shaw could pull her in for a real kiss. Even though she knew Chuck would understand, the thought of kissing Daniel Shaw caused her to worry more about losing the great meal she had just eaten.
The two Agents stepped into their cars and headed down the access road. They passed two different side streets where a Crown Victoria and a Lexus were parked. Sarah glanced over and saw the vehicles as she headed towards the 5.
As Casey watched Sarah pass he waited for Shaw to go by as well. He and Carina had been listening in to the conversation at the restaurant and both of them had been bored to death. Shaw really was stiff as a board. 'but not in a good way' he had remembered Carina saying. The plan was to have Carina and Casey to alternate tailing Shaw and see where he went while Sarah went to Castle to meet with Chuck.
"Ok, Miller keep you eyes open. Sarah will be coming by you in two seconds followed by the human 2 by 4."
"Got it Casey"
Just as he was about to take off following Shaw, Casey noticed a navy blue Mercedes with two men in the vehicle pull out from the Golf course access road that also led from the restaurant. About 10 seconds later Casey saw a silver Toyota Camry with a middle aged woman driving fall in behind. "Hold it Miller. Let Shaw go. He's already got a tail. Two in fact. I'll take the Mercedes and you take the Camry."
"Casey, call Sarah. She needs to know she or Shaw or both are being followed. I'll call Chuck. Maybe he can figure out who these folks are."
"Good thinking Miller. On a rare occasion your ability to improvise comes in handy."
"Casey, there are a lot of things about me that could come in handy to you if you would just ask nicely." She said in typical Carina fashion. Casey just grunted and dialed Sarah's number.
"Walker secure."
"Casey secure. Walker you and Shaw got company. Navy blue Mercedes and a silver Camry three hundred yards back." Sarah looked in the mirror past Shaw's Tesla and she caught the taisl. She wondered if Shaw had picked up on them yet. She decided to make a turn right at the next block and see if they all followed.
Carina had called Chuck and gave him the description and plates to the two tail vehicles and the people inside. Chuck quickly ran both plates. Not surprisingly the Mercedes came up empty. The plates on the car didn't exist in any database. A fake, probably Ring. But what did surprise him was what he found out about the Camry.
"Carina, the Camry is a rental. It was picked up at LAX about three hours ago by a woman named ahhh...Eva Schneiderman." As soon as Chuck said the name out loud the flash hit. After a few seconds of silence Carina called his name.
"Chuck, are you still there?"
Shaking the remnants of the flash from his brain he quickly responded. "Yea, yea sorry Carina. It's just .. I just... wow. Please make sure you don't lose that car! I've got to call Sarah!" It was obvious to Carina that Chuck had flashed and this was something big.
"Ok Chuck, I'm on it."
Chuck hung his phone up and quickly called his girlfriend and partner. "Sarah?"
"Yea, Chuck what's going on?" She could hear the desperation in his voice.
"Sarah you need to lose Shaw and that tail and get to Castle as soon as possible!" He was practically yelling into the phone.
"Chuck, what's go ...?"
"Just do it Sarah please!" Chuck's voice was pleading and frankly it was frightening her.
"Chuck, what's going on? Please tell me."
"Sarah, trust me. Just get here safely. Shaw's a fraud and I think I know why he's so interested in you."
"A fraud? How? What did you learn?"
"Sarah, we need to talk about your Red Test."
A/N 2 I hope some of you at least laughed at the idea of Shaw doing the Carlton dance. I know I did when I wrote it. Next up the final chapter of Permutations and then the epilogue to that story. Hope you enjoyed this one. And when you get a minute, write a review especially for some of the new authors. It really helps when you give honest respectful criticism. Even if you don't like something or think it doesn't work, write a review and tell them why. It's how we get better.
