Don't own Chuck

Casey stood there listening to Dr. Beech try to justify blatant security breaches and it made him shake his head. He couldn't believe how stupid a smart man like the Doctor could be. Casey led the man to his secretary's office just outside his own. On her desk was a series of pictures of cats with papers lying about. On the surface it looked normal probably just like her but when Casey opened the drawers they were all empty. Clean as whistle without as much as a paper clip left inside.

"Like I said she's not here," said Dr. Beech. The good Doctor was really starting to rub Casey the wrong way. It was all John could do to control his itchy trigger finger but even if the Doctor didn't realize it he was going to be held accountable and his future research would be done in an eight by ten.

"Was she here this morning before we came?" said Casey but Oscar was having trouble remembering. "Come on! You walked in with coffee and a doughnut in your hand. You past by her desk and said hello. Did she answer back? Yes or not it's not that hard."

"Yes she was here before but then she disappeared. She has never done that before not since I've known her."

"Double crap, does she keep your classified correspondence locked in a vault or safe in her office," said Casey as he looked around the office.

"She has a safe but I don't know her combination. She keeps the material we're working on right now. The rest is in the archives under lock and key."

"I've got her combination," said Casey as he put the safe cracking device near the dial. The knob began to spin on its own then made an audible click when it was done. Casey looked inside then hung his head.

"What's wrong?" said Dr. Beech as he tried to look but Casey was standing in his way.

"Look for yourself she cleaned you out," said Casey. He put a bolo out on Martha then hit speed dial for the General. The whole campus was put in lockdown. The cover story was there was a mad gunman loose and everyone was ordered to stay put until further notice or risk getting shot by mistake. As far as Casey was concerned there were a few he'd gladly shoot on purpose starting with present company.

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Alex and Morgan stood by as security open the door to the sealed lab. Alex had them wait outside while then went in to investigate. It still had that same musty close smell but there was something else now. Either it was all in her head now that she knew what had happened in there or she hadn't noticed it before but inside was a faint sickly sweet smell of burnt meat. Morgan made sure to walk around the chalked outlines like he didn't want to step on them. Alex caught him every now and then looking at them.

"I know it's a bad way to go," said Alex addressing the elephant in the room. One of the men from Campus security handed her their report.

"What's that?" asked Morgan, as he jumped over the outlines to look too. "Is that the investigator's report? Two pages, talking about exhaustive. Did the guy even bother to come in and look around?"

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it," said Alex as she looked around. "The two pages are basically the statements by Ryder and Shepherd as to what happened. The coroner confirmed that the deaths were consistent with the statements and that's where he wrote it off. Morgan, I think you're right he never set foot in here. Ryder states that he met with Parker shortly before the accident at around midnight then Parker said he wanted to run a test. But he and Shepherd left before the test was started leaving Parker and his assistant by themselves."

"I take it you're not buying it," said Morgan as he looked around. "You know neither am I. Why would they leave? If Parker was going to test their baby I'd think they'd want to stay and watch. I would if I were them if nothing else out of curiosity."

"I agree but I don't see any machine or anything that could've generated that amount of electrostatic discharge. I'm no expert but everything is supposed to be the same, nothing's been touched."

"They could've moved the equipment then shut the lab down. That's what they mean we they said the lab was secured."

"I don't know if we look at this as a homicide instead of an accident that changes the perspectives," said Alex. "And before you tell me there's no proof, my father already did."

"No I wasn't going to say that but… well what if Parker called everyone together to tell them he was shutting down the project. DoD was having second thoughts about the viability or maybe he was having trouble with his conscience about building this weapon."

"Do you think one of them would kill over something like that," said Alex as she swept the room with her flashlight.

"Yeah, I think so, all these guys had their careers attached to it. Look it's like Big Mike, Skip and Fernando at the Buy More. If I told them I was going to close down the store because I didn't feel like it was ethical to sell our products at a marked up price they'd kill me. Think about it, suddenly they're out of work in the middle of the street then Big Mike and my Mom will come to live with us. I'll have to hear them every night going on like…"

"Morgan you're spiraling," said Alex as Morgan tried to shake it off. "I think I might have found something." Alex removed the cover to an air vent and inside was a video camera with a Micro SD Card. She carefully removed it and put it in her phone then used the video player. The image was out of focus then it cleared up.

"Dr. Parker can't I talk you out of this?" said Dr. Ryder. "We've spent so much time and energy on this project and now we're on the verge of a real breakthrough."

"No I don't want my legacy to mankind be that I discovered a way to harness nature to kill other human beings. I won't be remembered like those guys who worked the Manhattan project. But don't worry I'll make a pitch to convert our work over for civilian use. I've got the proposal right here."

"Civilian?" said another man in a white coat with his back to the camera. "But that will take years of further research. And even if we do make this thing work what kind of money are we talking about?"

"Dr. Shepherd, I didn't get into physics for the money. I got into it for the science and if you're interest in making money you should open a Buy More. No my mind's made up. Now if everyone will excuse me I need to finish then go home." They watched all the doctors leave that was when Alex noticed it. Alex hit pause

"Look Morgan from the false ceiling there was a cable that hung down with an electrical outlet that's not here now. Check up inside the false ceiling."

"Okay but let's finish watching the video first then we can look. The video isn't over this is where the good part should start. I want to see what happens next." Alex hit play and they were back in the lab. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Dr. Parker. His assistant walked handing him something that looked like a Smart chip but a little different.

"Dr. Holter told me you wanted me to bring you this," said the man as he handed it to Dr. Parker. He took it but looked confused.

"No I… augh…" screamed Dr. Parker as a large arch of current jumped out of the electrical outlet striking the Chip passing no tell how many volts of electricity through Parker then leaping over to his assistant. Both were burnt, charred to the bone almost instantly.

"Oh my God, did you see that," said Morgan. Obviously she had she was watching with him but he felt nauseous and ill. "I think I'm going to heave."

"Not now Morgan it's not over," said Alex as they watched the door open again as all the doctors walked back in.

"Christ, I'm going be sick," said Herman as he went over to the trash can and heaved up. While he was doing that Holter pried the chip out of what was left of Dr. Parker's hand.

"Herman, you're going to have to take that with you," said Ryder then he turned to Holter. "This is our first actual test. I can't believe I'm this excited how'd it do? Did it survive?"

"Do you hear that guy," said Morgan. "The man's sick 'how'd it do' he asks as he's standing over a man's charred body."

"Shush Morgan, I know it's revolting for me too but we need to listen," said Alex but if she had known this the other day she would've scratched her itchy finger.

"I'm afraid it got fried too. But we're almost there," said Holter as he held it up for everyone to see. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"The alloy, if we change the alloy we might be able to make it more heat resistant then we insulate the circuiting to operate at those temperatures."

"Herman if throwing up is what it takes to make you think heave away. Those are great ideas we'll take back to the drawing board."

"How much are your people offering us," said Stan as he came into the picture. "I don't want to have to think about work again when this is over."

"Don't worry they'll pay well and with your money you'll be able to buy an island to do nothing on all day. The only problem is we're going to have to give them a demonstration."

"And how do we do that if this chip is fried," said Ryder. "The DoD is going to shut us down for sure now and without the prototype we've got nothing to show."

"Easy you submit the report Parker conveniently wrote and take credit for it. Tomorrow when all this comes out go to your buddy Beech and let him fall all over you telling you how sorry he is. Then slip this report to him and sell it as Parker's legacy that was what he wanted anyway."

"I don't know if that will work. But Oscar has been distracted lately."

"Don't worry the people I've been in contact with have his new secretary in their pocket she'll help you out. Just go along with whatever stipulations he attaches we can work everything else out among us."

"There's just one person we still need to deal with, Ross. Wasn't he supposed to be here tonight? I thought we all were called in."

"I heard he had car trouble but it's good to keep him around. Let him find the bodies tomorrow then Ralph you sit on the investigation and what you can't get stifled Beech's secretary will head off for us. Now everyone go I'll handle the cleanup except Herman, you can take the garbage bag out of the trash can with you." Alex and Morgan heard some things being moved around then the lights went off and room went black.

"That's it. Okay Morgan let's move one of the tables over here," said Alex as she grabbed one end. They moved the table over but Morgan cringed.

"You think we can move it a little more towards you one of the legs went into the Doctor's assistant. You know doesn't or didn't the guy have a name? It's kind of bad to always be calling him the assistant as if he didn't matter. I mean Batman had Robin, the Green Hornet had Kato, the Long Ranger had Tanto, Tarzan had…

"I get it Jane. Yes you're probably right but it's not like he's going to feel this. I think he's a little beyond pain right now."

"Well, actually I was going to say Cheetah," said Morgan. Alex stopped and looked at him. "I was only joking."

"It's a good thing I don't have anything to throw," said Alex as she climbed on the desk and lifted the false ceiling. "Here we go."

"Did you find something," said Morgan as she pulled out the cable with the outlet attached to the end which was burnt and melted. "You know this took some serious deliberate work. They had to have bypassed a circuit breaker to keep it from not tripping then also deactivated the sprinkler system."

"Alex, Chuck and Sarah are with those killers in Africa."

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It was late evening when they got Gertrude and Adama off. Chuck left the team to assemble the final parts by themselves while they were busy. The local workers offloaded the last ferry load and Ryder and Holter supervised the operation. Chuck had a bad feeling about this but he didn't know why so when they got back into camp Chuck grabbed some tools then asked Sarah if she'd come with him.

"I want to walk the perimeter one last time before sunset," said Chuck as he picked up a backpack. "Will you come with me?"

"Sure what do you have in mind watching the sunset," she asked. Chuck laughed in his hand he had a machete and mallet. "If you had a sickle with that hammer you know what Casey would say." He looked down at himself then smiled and nodded then kissed her.

"You're right," said Chuck then he got serious. "I want you to stay close to me." She looked at him. "I'll explain when we get out of camp. Can you bring the dart rifle?" Sarah grabbed the rifle then they started off.

"Where are you two headed off to," asked Dr. Ryder as they crossed the square in front of the lab where they were working.

"We're going out to check the perimeter. I want to make sure there are no predators lurking close by. Most of them are nocturnal and the last thing we need is to find a leopard foraging about by the dormitory. Make sure you check your rooms for snakes when the sun goes down, they might crawl inside to get warm."

"You don't think they'd do that?" asked Ryder trying to remember if he closed his room up when he left it.

"Chuck captured one the day we arrived so it's not that farfetched," said Sarah then she pulled him along. "If you'll excuse us but we really need to get this done."

"Right… right sorry to hold you up," said Ryder. The idea of waking up with a snake didn't appeal to him so he started to head straight his room to check.

"Wait one," said Chuck as he turned back stopping the doctor. "One quick question, were you able to finish putting together your machine?"

"Yes it's all ready to go we'll fire everything up tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed. Oh and I wouldn't stay out too long if I were you two our weather readings said a storm is moving through which will be good for us."

"I'm sure it will be," said Chuck as he led Sarah off. Sarah heard the tone in Chuck's voice but she thought it was because of what Ryder had said to Chuck while he was trying to get the chopper. They walked far enough away that the lights from the camp seemed small.

"Chuck, can you tell me what we're doing out here," asked Sarah as Chuck pulled a stake out of his backpack and drove it into the ground then used black tape to secure a flash grenade to it.

"I'm building my own early warning system," he said as he drove another stake in the ground then tied a string from the pin to the other stake.

"So someone comes through trips the wire and boom we know they're coming then what? Where do we make our stand? Those prefabricated buildings won't stop bullets."

"We don't. We grab everyone then herd them in the opposite direction. We don't have the manpower to defend the camp even if we had a place to make a stand. Our mission is to protect the team and like this we can get them out of harm's way," he said as he set up the second grenade. "Beside I don't know how many men on our security force are loyal and even if they all are, we still don't have the fire power without some blood loss."

"Okay, say I go along with that and I know you told me the machine they built doesn't work but it's got a Smart chip in it. We can't let that fall into enemy hands."

"No we can't that's why I'm giving you this,' said Chuck as he got up and handed her a small detonator. She looked at it then at him. "When I was helping them assemble their useless machine, I planted enough C-4 that when you push that it'll bring the whole building down."

"Sweetie, that's a good idea but I think the rest of the team would have a problem with that," said Sarah as she examined it. "And why are you giving this to me?"

"Probably but that's why I'm not going to tell them. I'm giving it to you because I might hesitate," said Chuck as they went about setting the rest of the grenades around the camp. But as they were working Chuck noticed Sarah was quiet and she kept fiddling with the detonator in her pocket. Finally he had to ask.

"Okay, what is it," said Chuck down on his knees taping the last grenade to the stake. "What's wrong? What did I do now?"

"Nothing," she said but he gave her a look. "Okay I understand you gave me the detonator because you're afraid you might hesitate but aren't you afraid I might too. Or do you see me as someone who's ruthless and only follows orders. I can understand I might have been like that before but now…"

"No it has nothing to do with you. This is all on me. You and Casey have pointed out that… well sometimes I let my emotions get in my way and this chip can't fall in our enemies hands. I can't guarantee what I might do but I know I trust you. Whatever decision you make I'm sure will be the right one. I trust you with my love which I value more than my life."

"I love you too," said Sarah as she knelt down next to him and kissed him pushing him over onto the ground.

A short time later….

"You know," said Chuck as they were heading back, "Dr. Ryder was going on about how much he was in a hurry to get everything set up to start collecting but now that it's ready they're going to wait until the morning to begin."

"You're right, why don't they operate in shifts and start collecting now," said Sarah as they heard the sound of distant thunder. "Maybe we ought to check in."

"I agree," said Chuck but when he checked his phone he found he had no signal. "Do you have any bars? I've got nothing."

"What?... Neither do I," said Sarah as she check hers. "I don't like this. Let's go to the comms room the team set up and try to call out from there." But when they got back to the camp everyone was standing about in the middle.

"Where have you two been? You've missed all the fun, Stan thought he was routing power to our ion amplifier but instead he sent it to the radio and fried all the circuits in the radio room," said Herman laughing. "Ralph told him he was going to make him pay for it."

"It's no problem we can take care of it tomorrow," said Chuck. "One of us you can ride the ferry over then drive out to the airfield. We can call the Embassy from our Lear and have them send in a replacement. Tell Stan he might have to buy a case of Dr. Livingston but that's it. Now I think everyone should go to sleep. That storm you warned me about is coming in."

Sarah ducked out on him while he was making another pass through the camp. Then when he went to their room he found she'd set up a table with candle light and two paper plates of C-Rats.

"Wow, this is great," said Chuck as he sat his rifle in the corner. Then he turned to her putting his arm around her he kissed her.

"Look I sweated over the stove all of a whole hour boiling water to put the pouches in. I tried to find chicken peperoni in the C-Rats but the closest I could come up with was Chicken a la King."

"It's perfect just like you," said Chuck as he kissed her.

"Not hardly and you can flatter me all you want but you're not getting my brownie. Besides you've got your own. I love you," she said as she kissed him. "Let's eat I'm hungry."

"I can see why Casey likes this," said Chuck as he was eating. "It's not half-way bad but I'll take Sizzling Shrimp any day."

"Chuck I was thinking," said Sarah as they heard the first drops of rain fall. "Maybe I ought to stay and you go to the plane tomorrow to call the Embassy. As you've pointed out their lightning device is assembled so I don't see why I can't stay with them."

"Maybe we ought to wait until tomorrow morning to discuss this," said Chuck. "I love you," he said as he took her hands then kissed her over their brownies.

When he had said someone he meant Sarah. There was no way he was going to leave her in the camp with at least two killers on the loose but he realized he had to be careful how he was going to propose it. But that was a tomorrow project.