A/N Thanks again to all the loyal readers, reviewers and folks that have PM'd me regarding this story. I hope the delay in getting this out doesn't lessen your enthusiasm for this story. It is my sincere intent now that RL has slowed down a bit to post more often. The rest of the story is pretty well plotted, I just need to get my butt in gear and get it done.

To my buddy esardi, I hope you would have liked this one. We miss you alot.

Still don't own Chuck but it does bring great joy to read all the tweets about the show now being on Netflix. Hopefully our fanbase will grow once again.

Chapter 32

The Englishmen

Corinthia Hotel

Room 628

London

11:18am BST

Cole Barker, MI6 Agent extraordinaire, gave Chuck Bartowski a slightly more forceful than just friendly, congratulatory smack on the back as he noticed the red flush growing on the face of both of his two fellow Agents.

"So I take it that Chuck here really is no longer just your asset Agent Walker?"

Sarah extended her hand signaling for Cole to take a seat. They had quite a bit to talk about and she wanted to get this line of questioning out of the way quickly. The last thing she needed on this mission were the advances of this James Bond wanabee. Cole Barker was handsome and charming yes, but he never really stood a chance with her as she was already in love with Chuck even if he had 'fake' broken up with her just before the MI6 agent's arrival. Plus it took all of 2 seconds while kissing him to realize it was a mistake. Heat of the moment stuff after a dangerous mission when she was vulnerable after Chuck's "It's not you, it's me" speech. She figured it was inevitable he would make a play and asking about her and Chuck's 'status' was a way to test the waters. So better to get things professional right from the beginning.

"Yes, Chuck is a full Agent now and yes, he is my partner so can we get on with discussing the mission?"

Cole held his hands up in surrender and sat down across from Sarah. He knew Sarah wasn't going to open up about their relationship but he didn't really need her to tell him. He was a good spy and the fact that she and her former asset were far more than just partners couldn't have been more obvious.

"Agent Walker, Sarah, I'm sorry. I really am happy for you both. It was pretty obvious to me that there was something more going on between you two than just asset/handler back in Burbank. Folks in our line of work don't often get a chance to find someone we really care about, believe me I know that first hand." His gaze never leaving on the blonde agent.

Sarah's eyes tilted up and looked into those of the handsome British agent. A flash of sadness quickly faded into one of genuine sincerity. The moment of understanding between the two didn't go unnoticed by Chuck. Sarah feeling Chuck's eyes on her looked over and gave him a small smile of reassurance. She knew how lucky she had been in finding something so elusive in her line of work and it was all because of the man she met at the Buy More. Chuck grinned back and decided to let that look between her and Cole go for right now. There was something there but he'd wait for Sarah to tell him, if she felt it was important.

Cole glanced between the two and realized it was time to change the subject. But he couldn't deny a small part of him was envious of one Charles Carmichael.

"So what's this mission that got us working together again? Fulcrum's defunct is it not?"

"Yes they are, thanks to Chuck." Sarah said beaming.

"Oh come on Sarah it was you and Casey doing all the heavy lifting, the fighting and the shooting. I just put some stuff together that's all." Chuck's bashful smile was almost splitting his face at the pride he saw on his girlfriend for the man she loved.

"Chuck you were far more..."

Cole interrupted. "Ok I'm glad that you folks finally let Chuck become the agent he always could be. So Fulcrum's dead and you both think each other are amazing. I get it. But what does this have to do with our mission?"

Chuck shifted in his chair and turned to the British agent but stole one last look from Sarah. "Well it seems Fulcrum was just a small part of an organization called The Ring."

"Hmmm I'd never have put those two together. I've dealt with the Ring before and they seemed to be more interested in things outside the states."

"Yea, well it seems Fulcrum was their North American division." replied Sarah.

"Ahh I guess that makes sense. So are they trying to move back into the US to fill in the void?"

"It seems so. But we really aren't sure. We had an incident with them in LA and had a meet with the Ring Director. We found out he had turned one of our own who was trying to set us up and capture us to deliver to the Director, or so we thought." Sarah glanced at Chuck signaling him to take over from here.

"Well it seems our Agent had a personal vendetta against Sarah and he was never going to turn her over. He was going to kill her making it look like the CIA was responsible and then I would then come to work for him with the Ring to gain revenge against them."

"But I take it, that didn't happen?"

"No, before he could pull off his plan for Sarah, Agent Shaw was killed but unfortunately the Director managed to escape."

"Wait, you said Agent Shaw? Daniel Shaw?"

"Yes, you know the bastard?" Sarah asked in surprise.

"We crossed paths in Sydney once. Arrogant prick, thought his mission took precedence over all others. Always looking to move up and didn't seem to care about the collateral damage. Hit on anything in a skirt but had a particular taste for the young naive agents. He made a pass at my partner at the time who though 28 looked like she was 22. She put a nice pointed toed Jimmy Choo right in his bollocks."

"Sounds like him." Sarah stifled a chuckle and then humphed with a definite air of snark. "Well he doesn't need to worry about those any more." Sarah grinned with devilish smirk that made Chuck visibly cringe.

Cole's eyes looked confused as he turned back to Chuck. He mouthed, "you don't want to know".

Turning back to Sarah he asked. "So why are you two in London?"

"Well it seems the Ring Director, Simon Foster is British and we have intel that he flew here and seems to have some interest in someone who is speaking at the Transportation Security conference this week, David Hutcheson."

"Ahh, makes sense." Cole nodded at mention of the name.

"Why" both American agents replied.

"Hutcheson works for PTAG Safety and Security Group."

"Yea, that we know."

"He's also a genius. You know that London is the most videoed city in the world. There are more cameras per square kilometer in London than any other place on the planet."

Chuck and Sarah nodded.

"Well Hutcheson's company is contracted to manage the networking for the transportation hubs on that network. Plus he is supposed to announce some new revolutionary networking and facial recognition software that would allow governments to simply enter in a name or a face and it would scan every internet based camera anywhere in the world and pinpoint their last visible location within minutes. Ultimately it could form some massive database of the current location of every known terrorist and criminal in the world."

Chuck and Sarah both looked at each other in wonder. They imagined being able to simply enter in a name and know the exact location of any baddie they might encounter. Chuck thought for a second and something didn't quite add up.

"But you said Internet based cameras. That keeps a very large part of the world uncovered. Thousands and thousands of square miles of the planet would still be safe havens."

Cole smiled at his nerdy friend. "Very good Chuck. That is the limitation of the current system we know about. They have no access to closed networks without tying directly into them. But it seems that ever since his wife's tragic death, Hutcheson has been relentlessly throwing himself into his work. I don't know anything else but there are rumors he is on to something revolutionary beyond just this presentation. Something that solves that problem. That's all I know."

"Well just the stuff you do know about certainly confirms what we expected and it seems like it would be easily enough to get the Ring's attention. But if they have any wind of whatever it is he is working on they're going to want to somehow get close to Hutcheson and..." Sarah halted and looked over at Chuck and with their uncanny connection each knew what the other was thinking.

"Ok?" Sarah said and Chuck nodded.

Cole looked back and forth between them watching their non-verbal discussion a bit in awe.

"Hey, you two want to clue a bloke in?"

"Cole, we have an operative working within the Ring as a double agent. She's the one who clued us in on the destination of the Director as she was travelling with him. She was our backup plan when the mission with Shaw went south. Our agent reported that she has been assigned to get close to Hutcheson and report back to the Director whatever it is he is looking for." Chuck said with a hint of disdain. He really hated that any agency would stoop that low to gain an advantage.

Cole reached over towards an extra bottle of water on the table glancing at Chuck for his approval. Chuck nodded and the Englishman took a long sip before asking the two of them. "Any idea what that is?"

"No, unfortunately our agent either hasn't been told yet or hasn't been able to get us that intel. But we believe that the Ring has acquired some nuclear material but it's location and purpose are unknown."

"The Ring is nuclear? That's a first even for them." Cole said with surprise. It was every agencies' greatest fear. A nuclear Ring was a game changer.

"Yea, we just confirmed that some former Soviet nuclear material was sold by Costa Gravis to the Ring. What's Hutcheson's role in all this we don't know. All we know is our agent is supposed to try and seduce Hutcheson and deliver something to the Director."

Seeing Chuck's apprehension Sarah took over. "Unfortunately it's the perfect set up. Recent, tragically widowed executive of a large scale security company. No social life to speak of, threw himself into his work to hide his pain. Send in a beautiful, trained Agent to infiltrate both his personal and his business life. Take advantage of his vulnerability and exploit it." Sarah said with just a flash of sadness. It wasn't much but Chuck certainly saw it, Cole probably did too. It's a role she had been assigned to a few times before she was blessed by being sent to Burbank. Those were some of the missions she would rather forget and ones that she never spoke of with anyone and that included Chuck. Not because he didn't deserve to know everything about her but it was still a part of her past that when she was in her private moments, she still worried about if it would change his opinion of her.

Chuck reached under the table and took Sarah's hand in his. He squeezed it lightly letting her know it was ok. He knew there were missions like these in her past. Some of the flashes he had received over the years had contained some files related to some of the missions of the great Sarah Walker. But early on he had learned to control the flashes enough to push those files deep down in the Intersect. Sarah would tell him about them when she was ready. But even if she didn't, it didn't matter. He had told her once that he didn't need to know about who she was because he knew who she is, the most amazing person he had ever known and the love of his life. And that applied now even more.

Cole noticed the interplay but decided to let it go. He was well aware of what this life entailed for female and yes sometimes male agents and these two obviously had something real and quite special between them. It was bound to be a very touchy subject. He had chosen the high road back in Burbank and did the honorable thing. No matter how much he wished Sarah had come with him to Fiji and how hard it was to say goodbye, he wasn't about to go back on that decision and jump on what was probably a very sensitive subject for the beautiful blonde.

"So if this agent is already working as a double with the Ring going after Hutcheson, what do you need from me?"

Sarah gave Chuck a small smile and pulled her hand back and placed it on the table. Turning to the handsome Brit she began the next part of the read in.

"We need you to protect both the seductress and the mark."

Olympia London

West Kensington

4:49pm BST

Andrea Saunders, dressed in a classic grey business suit with pencil skirt and jacket loosely covering a white silk blouse, had spent the first forty minutes of her day getting her credentials checked by security for the conference. She had to admire the work of the Ring's analysts and forgers. The credentials were perfect even down to the embedded microchip under the Royal Crest. Her passport and ID as Elise Lansing were perfect as well. She had spent the better part of the last 24 hours studying her cover. Her boss, Francis Stillman, the Associate Director of Security for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system had been recruited as an asset by the Ring several years earlier when he was found laundering money through a phony construction company with mob connections hired to install surveillance gear on the system. The Ring stepped in, completed the job and cleared any records of the money changing hands. He had become a valuable pawn feeding his contacts with intel from Homeland Security on their operations throughout the Bay area including the Port of San Francisco and the two busiest ports in the US, Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Stillman's name was given as reference when her credentials were checked out and she passed through with barely a glance, well other than the leer of the security officer at the gate she passed through to enter the convention hall as he looked more at her cleavage than the credentials hanging from the lanyard around her neck. Now inside she refastened the lowest two buttons she had undone when she saw the looks some of the other female attendees got from that particular security guard. She figured she might need something from him later on and it couldn't hurt to get his 'interest stimulated' on her first day.

Walking around the conference she marveled at all of the latest technology on display. As she has spent the better part of the last five years working at the Farm in the non-technical areas, she hadn't had much time in the field to check out some of the latest gadgets that had exploded onto the market. She seen enough of the tech in her cover folder from the Ring, well at least enough she could hold an intelligent conversation if needed but seeing it up close and personal was another matter. Now she could put the actual hardware with the data she had been given.

She also had made her way over to the location where her mark, David Hutcheson was scheduled to make his first speech and presentation later that afternoon. Her plan had been to locate a seat in perfect view of podium. Then once his presentation was over she hoped to be able to gain his attention back at the PTAG Safety and Security booth on the main floor. After she had spent a couple of hours walking the floor she made her way back to the main presentation area in plenty of time to get the seat she had scoped out earlier.

Throughout his speech she had been able to establish eye contact on more than one occasion. She had sat with her legs crossed taking notes and giving just an inch more leg than was entirely professional. It wasn't overt but she knew she had caught his attention more than once. The glasses she had put on during the PowerPoint part of the presentation coupled with the tight bun of her long brunette locks had given her the perfect sexy librarian look. No man with a heartbeat, no matter how broken that heart was could not be drawn to the captivating vision in front of him.

Andrea had received plenty of looks from the men seated around her during the presentation and after she left the meeting a few offers for drinks later on but she had brushed them all off in a perfectly polite but professional manner. She had a mark and the only man's attention she was interested in getting was now in his booth talking with one of his potential customers.

Standing off to the side just a bit she watched Hutcheson carefully. David was a handsome and distinguished gentleman. The classic, navy blue suit he was wearing fit him perfectly. She could tell he had his own comfortable style, a style that looked really good on the man. Suffice to say, his pictures did not do him justice. But she could also tell that his hair had grayed since some of the pictures in his file had been taken. The wrinkles near his eyes more pronounced. She could also tell that the stress and heartache of the last few years had taken a toll on the man. She cataloged his mannerisms, his speech patterns, the fact that when he smiled it seemed natural to the client but to a trained agent like her she knew it never truly reached his eyes. Eyes that when he thought no one was looking at him contained a bit of sadness and longing. A sense that he was forcing himself to work to hide a deep feeling of emptiness and loss. It made her stomach fall that she was trained to make those observations and use them to her advantage. It was a new and strange feeling for her, empathy for a mark and to an extent shame at the thought. The man before her looked like he hadn't been truly happy in a long time and she had been ordered to use that to find what the Director wanted and then destroy the man once again. And if she didn't, she would be killed. This was a helluva business.

After a few more minutes Hutcheson finished his conversation with his client giving him a hearty handshake while resting his left on the mans shoulder, It was obvious he had made the sale and that the client trusted him. Another thing she had been trained to take advantage of, trusting another human being but she didn't get that impression about her mark. As the man smiled and walked away Hutcheson turned and saw the brunette looking at him. He gave her a small smile which she returned before he turned to talk with his assistant who was holding a tablet computer. After a few moments of instruction while he dragged some of the items around on the screen, she caught him glancing again in her direction. She simply stood there quietly as if she was waiting her turn. Once he had finished with his assistant, she knew she had gotten his attention and it was time to make her first move.

Andrea gave him another small smile and walked over to where her mark was now looking back at her. After a few seconds he realized that she was coming toward him. He hesitated just for a second and then did the gentlemanly thing of meeting her half way.

Andrea looked him directly in the eye as she spoke. "Mr. Hutcheson, if you aren't too busy, may I have a word with you, please?"

"Certainly... Ms...?"

"Lansing, Elise Lansing." she reached out her hand and he quickly took it. The firmness of his hand was somehow comforting in contrast to the softness of hers.

"Well, Ms Lansing, what would you like to speak to me about?"

"Please call me Elise, Ms Lansing is my ex-mother-in-law and well I think I'll just leave it at that." She said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle. David nodded slightly in understanding before he continued.

"Ok, Elise what would you like to speak with me about." Andrea paused just for a spilt second enjoying the sound of his voice. She had decided long ago that the sexiest accent in the world was that of a distinguished English gentleman and David Hutcheson was certainly that.

"Well Mr Hutcheson, I was..."

"Please Elise, do me the honor and call me David."

Andrea gave him the shy smile, the one she had used on countless marks before but somehow it seemed slightly real this time. Something about his voice was calming. In a way it reminded her of Carmichael.

"Ok David, I was in your presentation earlier and I wanted to talk with you about the new facial recognition software your company is developing. We have just received a grant from Homeland Security to upgrade our servers and surveillance equipment and were interested in using the latest facial recognition tools to tie into any number of worldwide databases for possible criminal and terrorist activity in our community."

"And what might that community be?"

"Oh I'm sorry David, please forgive me, San Francisco." Andrea felt just a hint of a blush appear right on cue. "You'll have to excuse me. I'm a bit nervous. This is my first trip overseas for our office. My boss was supposed to come but he fell ill at the last minute and I was chosen to go in his place. I'm the personal assistant to the Associate Director of Security for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and I was assigned by my superiors to come to the conference and see what we could learn from the British and their extensive camera systems. Also to see what, if any, new technology could we use to better monitor those coming into our city for any possible threats to our residents."

Shifting on his feet and taking a small step forward towards the brunette almost unconsciously he responded in a warm and comforting tone. "Please Elise, no need for you to feel nervous. I understand you were put in a difficult situation you didn't have time to fully prepare for, but I'd be happy to help you yanks anyway I can." He paused for a second and gazed sincerely at the brunette. It had it's desired effect of lessening the nerves his new acquaintance had shown before. Andrea for her part wasn't sure all of those nerves were just part of her cover. "The threats we all face are real and the best way to fight them and protect our fellow citizens is by working together and sharing what each has learned." David reached out and placed his hand lightly on her forearm. It was a kind gesture and the small smile on his face seemed genuine. His eyes were soft but she could tell there was a great deal going on inside the man in front of her. She tried not to think about what was going on inside her.

Andrea let out a breath to signal the nerves she had mentioned were taken away by his kind words. "Thank you David. I'm usually much more together than this but I just found out two days ago I was coming to London and listening to your talk earlier I realized just how much I need to learn to be effective here. I was just hoping you could point me towards some resources I could look into this evening so I don't feel like such an idiot tomorrow." The small chuckle at her own self-deprecating humor elicited a similar response from Hutcheson.

"Elise, I find it hard to believe that you could ever be made to feel like an idiot. Your superiors would not have sent you if they didn't think you could do the job. I'd be glad to help what ever way I can."

One of Hutchison's staff came over and tapped him on the shoulder then whispered something in his ear. David raised his hand to signal he needed five minutes.

"I'm so sorry David, You're a busy man and I'm keeping you from important business. Thank you for your time." Andrea turned and began to walk away when on cue, David reached out and gently grabbed her forearm turning her back towards his gaze.

"Elise, please I meant what I said. I have a couple of meetings I have to go to but if you have time, my company has reserved a meeting room where you can tell me what exactly you are looking for and I can explain some of the possible solutions we and our competitors have available."

Andrea broke out into a smile she didn't have to place as part of the cover. David Hutcheson was a handsome and charming man and the thought of spending a few days in his company was suddenly not an unpleasant thought as long as she avoided thinking about what he would think of her after she betrayed him. That was a lesson she had learned well from both the CIA and the Ring. After you complete your mission all thoughts and memories of your mark and what you had to do to complete that mission were wiped away. It was clean and most of the time it was effective. But somehow ever since she had met one Charles Carmichael the mess of things she had to do for her job weren't so easy to put behind her.

"Really? You would do that for me?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it." Andrea knew this man was sincere. It was the same feeling she got when she was around Charles. It was something she had never known possible in her line of work. In the spy life of double crosses and using people for whatever needs you or your employers had, sincerity was virtually non-existent.

"Thank you David. Just tell me when and where and I'll be there."

Hutcheson pulled out his smartphone and checked his schedule. "How does 7:45 work for you?"

"Perfect, I did have another presentation I wanted to go see at 5:30 and then I could grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria afterwards."

"Ahhh yes, Dietrich Kohl and The Paragon Group. Good man and he has some interesting ideas on advanced surveillance networks. But please Elise I'm not going to have time to eat anything and it would be rude for me to eat in front of you. So I would appreciate it if you would let me have something brought in for the both of us. There's a great little English pub not far from here that serves a great burger I think you will enjoy. Besides that cafeteria food here is terrible."

"Thank you David." Andrea blushed a bit." I seem to be saying that a lot. I'd love that."

"Great, 7:45 suite 216. I'll notify my staff to be expecting you."

The two exchanged small smiles and David turned to head off to his meetings. Andrea watched him for a few moments before she headed back the other way. Glancing across the exhibits to her left she noticed her ever present 'tail' and knew he must have been watching the entire time. She would have to report in to the Director later that evening on her progress with Hutcheson. She also noticed a very handsome English gentleman had positioned himself where he could see her but couldn't be seen by her Ring escort. She figured there were probably loads of MI5 and MI6 agents here as well as agents from probably every intelligence organization in the world. He was good but she had been an agent long enough to know that this guy was watching her too.

As she turned her attention back to the Ring agent who had been one of her shadows ever since she left Los Angeles, he reached up and scratched his right shoulder two times, the signal reminding her she needed to check in with the Director that contact had been made with her mark. As she reached into her purse to send Simon a coded text of her initial success she glanced over in the direction she had seen the Bond clone just a few seconds ago but now he was nowhere to be found. He had either realized he had been made or he had intended it all along. Beckman had sent her a brief message via the implant regarding a contact but she had thought it to be Carmichael. Either way it seemed that a lot of eyes were on her on probably both sides and pulling off either mission of betrayal would be a big test for her and probably her last.

London

Near Wembley Rail Yard

Ring Hive Level D4

6:56 pm BST

Simon Foster had been overseeing the delivery and unpacking of his precious cargo for the last twelve hours. Once the contents of the container had been delivered to the lead lined vault on level D6 it was now finally safe once again from the prying eyes of U.S. and British Intelligence. Once safely stored there it was the job of a former Soviet munitions team specially trained in handling enriched uranium to divide the material into smaller amounts suitable for use in small mobile "dirty bombs". At 7pm, the Director was scheduled to have a highly encrypted video conference with all five Ring Elders updating them on his progress.

The identity of each Elder was the most closely guarded secret in the Ring. Contact went from one Elder to another following a sophisticated network patterned after the shape from which the organization's name was derived. That way if one Elder was captured the Ring would be broken and the other four alerted. The position of Director was the sole liaison between the Elders and the rest of the organization. Each meeting of the Elders was encrypted by use of a logarithm based on the protein pattern of a randomly selected Elders DNA. It was impossible for an imposter or any other individual including the Director to take the place of one of the other Elders. This provided a level of security even the CIA and MI6 couldn't match. The only way to get past it was the use of identical twins and none of the Elders had a twin brother or sister.

At precisely 7pm all five of the video screens lit up with confirmation that each Elder was in position and that the DNA screening was successful. As was custom the Elder in middle screen spoke first, their voice disguised in a phase-shifting pattern that virtually eliminated the ability of even the most sophisticated audiologists the CIA had working for it to use speech recognition software to identify the Elders.

"Good Evening Director."

"Good Evening."

"What is the status of Project Draco?"

"We have secured the material here and are proceeding on schedule with the delivery mechanisms."

"What is the status of our Agent in contacting the mark? Without that information it will be virtually impossible to deliver these devices to the appropriate targets and keep the attention off of us."

"Understood sir, contact has been made with the mark and our agent is meeting with him again this evening."

A different voice from the monitor on the far left now spoke. This voice higher in pitch and female. "Director, do you still believe this agent was the best choice for this critical aspect of this mission? With her background, do you actually believe we can trust her? Her escape from NSA custody seemed a bit... too convenient."

Turing his attention to the other monitor, "Yes and no, ma'am. Yes I believe she is the best choice for this mission and no I don't trust her. And that is exactly why I believe she is the best choice. Agent Saunders knows Agent Carmichael. If she is working as a double Agent then we can use that connection to help lure the Intersect out into the open. Plus if they are working together I expect he and Agent Walker are in London as we speak. "

This time the far right monitor spoke. "But what if she is loyal to the Ring? How do you plan to acquire the Intersect then? You're reliance on Agent Shaw in Los Angeles does not give us a very high level of confidence in your judgment when it comes to double agents." Even with the distorted voice he knew he was being challenged.

Foster winced. Shaw have been a major clusterfuck. One that he couldn't repeat or he would never leave the hive vertically. "Understood sir. Agent Shaw proved to be ... a less than stellar choice. His motives were questionable at best. Any man that sets up his own wife to rise in an organization shouldn't be trusted by anyone good or bad. But Agent Saunders is different. She was betrayed by the CIA and has been loyal to the Ring for a number of years. If her escape was legitimate, her special skills are perfect for this mission. Plus we know she may be working with Carmichael and we will be fully prepared should her loyalties come into question."

Now a fourth voice, this one again female and with a slight eastern European accent still noticeable even with the altered voices. "Director, I assume you learned your lesson in relying on one operative for such an important mission, I fully expect you have other contingencies planned should this situation go south."

"Yes of course. I have another trump card that as soon as it is ready I will alert you should we need to use it."

"Very well. We will meet again in forty-eight hours. I expect that our Agent will be close to completing her mission?"

"Yes, I expect Agent Saunders will have her mission well in hand by then." Foster said with a bit of a smirk.

Port of Long Beach

Command and Control Center

3:37 am PDT

"Come on Jack, let me see." The blonde whispered seductively into the young man's ear,

"Serena, I could lose my job. I ju... um..." The twenty-six year old security officer on his third week on overnights was trying desperately to fight off the young woman he had met last week at a bar just outside the Port. Jack Collins, a slightly overweight, under achiever had been trying to get on the Long Beach Harbor Patrol for three years now but for a number of reasons just didn't make the cut. So he had accepted a job monitoring the activities at one of the busiest ports in the world. He hoped that his experience in the Command Center would be his ticket onto the force.

He had accepted a promotion to a position of monitoring Pier J berths J-266-J270 on the overnights because of the pay differential and it was his first time in charge of actual container operations. True most of the activity happened in the daytime but some ships were being loaded or unloaded twenty-four hours a day. The thought of being the only one responsible for the security of 256 acres of containers, shipping and trucking operations even if it was in the wee hours of the morning with much smaller crews excited him. He was in charge and he liked that idea.

But Jack didn't know that the blonde currently grabbing his ass while she nibbled his ear had other reasons to want to get inside the control room than just to see where her new boyfriend worked and give him the time of his life.

"Please Jack, it's just you and me in here. I'm never gonna tell. Besides being up here with you above all of this stuff that's got to be worth billions makes me hot and I want to show my new boyfriend how much I get off on seeing him in charge." Serena let go of his left buttock and slowly but very sensually moved her hand around in front. Jack gasped when she found her target.

"Okay, okay but just for a little while. Dana my supervisor is getting something to eat from the diner just off base and he won't be back till 4:30 so we've got like forty-five minutes. But then you have to go. I need this job if I'm going to get on the force next spring."

"Mhhhm that should be plenty of time, stud!"

The blonde agent took her mark's hand as he guided her over to where he sat in front of an array of camera monitors. As she climbed on his lap and began kissing him she removed a small jump drive from the rear pocket of her skinny jeans and slipped it into the USB jack on the console. Keeping him most definitely distracted he never noticed the slight jump in the monitors for berth J268 but Serena did. Placing her hands behind his neck while she deepened the already screaming hot kiss, she pressed the small button on the side of her watch.

Fifteen hundred yards away at berth J268 a truck rolled out from behind a stack of containers followed by a fork lift and four heavily armed men.

"The container we are looking for should be in row L number G8495. Now find that container!" The man's voice with a strong Texas accent and stern tone let everyone know who was in charge.

After two minutes the large man's radio unsquelched. "Got it."

Checking his cell phone screen, he signaled the fork lift to head right and make a left turn after the sixth row of containers.

"Ok we got fifteen minutes to get that container loaded on the truck and get the hell out of here. Our honey trap should have the auxiliary gate opened by then. Once we are off the Port property, take the route laid out in our briefing. That container needs to be in the hive by 6:15. Now go, go, go!"

"Wow Serena, I mean uhhm that was incredible."

"I told you seeing my man in charge gets me hot." The blonde licked the side of Jack neck and it sent shivers down his spine, well what little he could feel of his spine.

"Thanks, but we need to get dressed and you need to get out of here before Dana gets back."

Giving him one more deep kiss she pulled him down so she was now sitting on the console. Letting go of one of her hands to 'steady' herself she pressed the mouse button that had her worm program open the auxiliary gate for the rest of her team. Once she did that she removed the jump drive and placed it back in her pocket. The worm program would keep the gate open for 10 minutes and then close it and remove any trace of itself from the Control Center's systems.

Pulling back from the kiss she gave her mark one more seductive smile and headed towards the elevators. Once inside she turned back and pulled him in for one more kiss. "Call me tomorrow, Jack?"

"You know it, babe." The doors closing as he watched the blonde for what he didn't know was the last time.

Serena headed over to the car that was waiting for her. Once inside the man driving turned to her and she spoke.

"Everything go as planned?"

"No problem. Container should be back in the hive by the scheduled time."

"Good work."

Reaching into her purse she picked up the special round cell and pressed it's single button."

"Davis here, tell the Director the package will be on site within the hour."

Placing it back in her purse she turned to the man driving. "That's done, just get me to our hotel, Panzer. I need a long hot shower."

The man chuckled as he put the car in drive and headed into the early morning sunrise. As he drove over the bridge leading from the Port, the blonde rolled down her window and the cell phone that her poor, young, innocent 'boyfriend' was going to call later that day hoping for a repeat performance, was soon at the bottom of the Pacific ocean.

A/N 2 Just so folks know I do plan on getting back to Sarah vs the Beautiful Mess and some other new stories soon as well. I hope you liked this one.