Chuck vs the Jill Ride

by ersk4

Sarah and Jill must team up and work together in order to save and protect Chuck – which leads to some interesting conversations and confrontations. This story takes place some time in the second half of season two of "Chuck."

3. Traveling the Highway

CHUCK VS. THE JILL RIDE

SUMMARY: Sarah and Jill must team up and work together in order to save and protect Chuck – which leads to some interesting conversations and confrontations. This story takes place some time in the second half of season two of "Chuck."

DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Chuck."

NOTE: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. It's always great to read your comments!

ANOTHER NOTE: Some action and fighting scenes occur in this chapter. And action and fighting scenes aren't my strong points in stories. So I hope you can get through those.

CHAPTER 2 – TRAVELING THE HIGHWAY

"Jill!" Sarah said again after discovering that the brunette was driving the van. Once that shock was over, Sarah looked around in the vehicle. But there was no one else. It was just her and Chuck's ex.

What is going on? Sarah thought. How did I end up in a van going…? Where were they and where were they going? She looked out the window. They were on a highway, an interstate. And it looked like they were far from any major city limits.

"Where are…how did you…and…." Sarah sputtered. But then one thought shot through her mind like a lightning bolt. Chuck! Where was Chuck?

"Where's Chuck?" she demanded. She looked rapidly around the van again, hoping that she would see him somewhere. No Chuck.

"There!" Jill said suddenly. And she pointed toward the car dashboard. Sarah looked out the windshield but didn't see any sign of her curly-haired nerd. Just a few other cars and the road.

"Where?" she demanded again, glaring at Jill.

"There!" Jill said again, pointing again toward the dashboard. This time Sarah's eyes followed more closely to where Jill pointed. She wasn't pointing out the window. She was pointing at the small rectangular unit that was attached to dashboard. Sarah looked. The screen showed a grid of the highway and surrounding area. And on it, a small circular light blinked.

"A GPS tracker? You're tracking Chuck?" Sarah asked.

Jill nodded. "He's in a car up ahead. I'm staying back so that they won't notice us tailing them."

"They?"

"The people who took Chuck."

"Chuck is in a car ahead of us? You're sure Chuck is in that car?" Sarah asked.

"Positive. I've been tailing them from the warehouse since they grabbed him."

That was all Sarah needed to know. She reached into her pocket to get her iPhone and call for backup. But the iPhone wasn't there. She quickly looked around but didn't see it anywhere in the van.

"Where's my phone?" she asked.

"I got rid of it," Jill replied.

"What?"

"I got rid of it," she repeated. "It had to be done."

"And why exactly was it necessary to get rid of my phone? To prevent me from calling in for backup, for help in rescuing and saving Chuck and keeping him from getting hurt or killed? Was that why it was necessary?" Sarah raged. She then noticed that her watch was gone. "And you got rid of my watch too?"

"You don't know what's going on? Do you?" Jill replied.

"I definitely know what's going on. You set up Chuck to get him out in the open where Fulcrum could kidnap him and now you're preventing me from getting him back safe and unharmed. Does that about sum it up?"

"As I said, you don't know what is going on."

"Then explain it to me," Sarah demanded.

"Well first, you're right. This whole thing was a setup. But it wasn't Fulcrum, it was the CIA that did this," Jill said.

"Excuse me?"

"You weren't ambushed by Fulcrum. It was the CIA who did this," Jill said again.

"Are you insane?" Sarah asked.

Jill sighed in exasperation. "About a week ago, someone from the CIA came to see me in prison. They had a deal for me. If I helped them, they would get me out of prison and I would be free. All I had to do was help them with a little project. I wondered why they came to me and what was going on. And then I saw that the little project involved Chuck."

"So they came to you because of your past relationship with Chuck," Sarah interjected.

Jill nodded. "All I had to do was play along with this little scenario they gave me in which I was supposed to give Chuck – only Chuck – some important information. They told me that I probably wouldn't even have to reveal the info they gave me because things would go down before that was necessary. And that's pretty much all I knew."

"So you were going to betray Chuck a third time," Sarah noted.

"I wanted out of prison!" Jill shouted.

"And never mind that it was at Chuck's expense."

"Right now, you are in a van that is in pursuit of Chuck. And we can rescue him and get him back. And may I also point out that you are alive. You may nor be if I hadn't taken the time to get you out of that warehouse during the attack," she said.

"And how exactly did you do that by the way?" Sarah asked.

"With all of the gas and explosions going on around me, it was really easy to move around, knock out the guard and get the keys to the handcuffs. Then I knocked out one of the attackers and got his gas mask. I was leaving when I came across you. So I got you out of there. I found the van outside and you had the keys in your pocket. So I got you into the van and sped after Chuck's kidnappers and I've been following them ever since. And you don't need to thank me. Quite frankly, the only reason I saved you was because Chuck would have never forgiven me if I hadn't and I need your help to rescue him," Jill said.

"Which I could get more help to do that if you hadn't tossed my phone," Sarah pointed out.

"I TOLD YOU! The CIA is doing this. If you had your phone with you, they'd track and stop us and even kill us. Same thing with your watch. I had to toss your phone and watch out to keep them from finding us. We're on our own here. We can't trust anyone."

"Which means that I can't trust you," Sarah said.

Jill said nothing for a moment. She just stared straight ahead at the road. Then she sighed. "Then trust Chuck. We need to help him," she emphasized.

Sarah thought about that. She did want to rescue Chuck and get him back. If she could accomplish that, then she could deal with Jill later. The important thing was to get Chuck back. She looked at the tracking screen. "Where is Chuck?" she asked.

Jill pointed at the blinking dot on the screen. "He's in a blue car ahead of us. They grabbed Chuck at the warehouse and they all piled into that car and drove away from there. I managed to get you into the van and got it going not too long after that. I was able to catch up to them and I tailed them and I was careful. But I knew it was only a matter of time before they spotted me. But I got lucky. At one point, they pulled over for gas. I drove a little ways past them and then doubled back. There's all sorts of equipment in this van and I figured there had to be some tracking devices. And I was right. I found some trackers and then snuck up to the car and put some on it. Since then I've been able to tail them without getting too close."

"You were able to do all of that in your prison outfit?" Sarah asked, seeing the orange jumpsuit that Jill wore.

"I found that coat and put it on and it covered most of this stupid suit," Jill replied, pointing at a coat in the back. "And the place they pulled into was packed, it was really busy. There were lots of cars and lots of people inside and outside. So I got lucky."

Sarah wouldn't admit to the brunette but she was impressed. "How many are in the car with Chuck?" she asked.

"Four."

"And Chuck?"

"I'm pretty sure that he is fine. When I got close to the car while they were getting gas and drinks and stuff, I couldn't stick around for too long. So I didn't get a good look. But I'm pretty sure that they want him alive and unharmed."

"Do you have any idea where they are headed?"

Jill shook her head. "No. They've been on this interstate for about 30 minutes now."

"Which means that we have no idea how close we are to their destination," Sarah said. She thought about possible attack and rescue scenarios. The closer they got to their destination, where the kidnappers could have more help and who knows what else, the harder it would be to rescue Chuck. She needed to do something while the kidnappers were in the car. That way, she would know exactly where they were, how many to take out and where Chuck was. She glanced toward the back of the van. As far as she could tell, all of the equipment and gear that she and Casey normally stored in the car was there.

So there was a chance that she could rescue Chuck, if, and that was a pretty big if, they could get some sort of break or luck. Sarah looked out the windshield. Right now, I wait and see if that break will come, she thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarah gazed at the car ahead, the car that held Chuck and wondered again if she should forget about waiting for the car to stop some place and just attack right now. But exactly what sort of action to take and how that action would not result in Chuck getting injured or killed was the problem.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Jill spoke. "Something's wrong ahead," she said.

Sarah looked. They were about to hit a traffic pileup on the highway. Cars were backed up and at a standstill. They weren't moving. Sarah tried to look further down the highway for the cause of the problem. All she saw was more cars waiting. She searched for the car that Chuck was in. It was about five cars up ahead.

"This may be our chance. We may want to make our move now," Sarah declared. She crawled over the seats to the back of the van. "Keep an eye on what's going on while I look for some gear," Sarah commanded.

She searched through the equipment in the van. If this traffic jam keeps up, then she had the perfect attack and rescue scenario. The break she so desperately craved to give her a chance to get Chuck may have come through. She pulled out what she needed and then got back to the front seat.

"What do we do?" Jill asked.

"I'm going to get out and sneak up behind their car. I'll make some distractions and then get Chuck," Sarah explained. She glanced to the right side. The highway's shoulder was pretty wide, more than wide enough for the van. "When I have Chuck, you drive up to us on the shoulder, let us in and then we get out of here."

"You're going to need help," Jill said.

"I can handle this myself. You just have this van up there when I have Chuck and get us out of here," Sarah insisted.

"You're going to need help," Jill insisted.

"I will handle this! You stay here! Somebody needs to stay in the car and be there to pick us up and get us the hell out of here. You move up when I have Chuck. And you move quickly!"

Without waiting for an answer from Jill, Sarah got out of the car and moved toward the vehicle Chuck was in. She stayed on the shoulder. Hardly anyone gave her more than a passing glance as all of the cars were stopped and waiting and quite a few other people had stepped out of their vehicles to look. She tried to walk casually, acting like she was trying to get a better view of the highway to see what was causing the pileup like other people were doing. She resisted an urge to look back and check on Jill in the van. So help me, if that bitch drives off and leaves Chuck and me stranded, that's it, I will kill her the next time I see her, Sarah vowed.

She walked toward the car which was in the same lane as the van, the far right lane, the one next to the shoulder. As she walked, several times she had to dodge cars that had gotten on the shoulder and sped toward an exit up ahead that led off of the highway. Sarah looked. That exit was about a quarter of mile past the car that had Chuck. So if she could get Chuck out of there and over to the shoulder and Jill was there when she did, they could get off this highway and out of here. She looked at the car that had Chuck. She could see five figures in the car. Two in the front and three in the back. She figured that Chuck had to be the one in the middle in the back seat.

When she was about two car lengths from them, she crouched down as if to tie her shoelaces and looked around. No one still paid her any mind. She pulled out a smoke grenade, jerked out the pin and then rolled it toward a vehicle near the car that had Chuck. It stopped right under the car. Smoke poured out from the grenade and rose up along the sides of the car.

Suddenly everyone's attention focused on the smoking car. One driver to the left honked his horn and waved. "Hey! Your car's on fire!" People in cars near and far stared and shouted. Sarah could see the four men in the car looking sideways, trying to figure out what was going on.

Sarah then got out another smoke grenade and rolled it under another car to keep a distraction going.

With everyone's attention focused on possible car fires and many people getting out of their cars to look and render aid, it was easy for Sarah to jog up behind the car that had Chuck. She took out a flash grenade. She pulled the pin and tossed it onto the hood of the car and dropped and shielded her eyes.

The flash went off and she could hear not only the men in the car screaming but also some other drivers and passengers in nearby cars. She pulled out another smoke grenade and tossed it under a nearby car hoping it would create more distraction and panic.

She then stood up and rushed to the driver's side of the car.

Both men on the driver's side of the car were getting out. As the man from the back seat stepped out, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head, he never saw Sarah coming and she quickly kicked and hit him into unconsciousness. One down, three to go.

The driver had just stepped out from the front seat. She gripped his head and slammed it against the car. He fell to the ground and didn't get up. Two down, two to go. "We got company! We're under attack!" one man on the passenger side of the car yelled. Her advantage of surprise was gone. She knew she had to move fast.

Sarah lunged through the open car door and into the back seat. Chuck was there, sitting up in the middle of the seat but unconscious. One man was on the other side and he dug under his coat, going for his gun. With her gun already pulled out, Sarah could have shot both him and the man in the front seat but she couldn't risk hitting Chuck. She swung her gun and got the man in the back seat full in the face. Three down, one to go.

She swung the other way toward the front seat. She hit her target but not as solidly as the other. The man managed to move and didn't receive the full force of her swing. But he was stunned. Sarah grabbed Chuck and pulled him out of the car. But when she emerged from the back seat, she got the full force of all of Chuck's weight and she fell to the ground with him on top of her.

Smoke still blew around cars from the smoke grenades that Sarah had thrown. People were still shouting and moving around, trying to figure out what was going on. It looked as few if any had noticed the battle that was going on between Sarah and the kidnappers.

Sarah rolled Chuck over. He was still unconscious. She made sure he wasn't in the path of any car and then leaped up to face the fourth man. He was already up, on the other side of the car and pointed a gun from across the car hood. Now people in other cars noticed something going on. Sarah could hear some screams and cries of "He's got a gun!" behind her.

"Hey Walker!" he sneered.

Sarah's jaw dropped in shock. She knew this man. He was a CIA agent. She had worked on a couple of cases with him years ago. What was his name? Bennet? Berrill?

"Working for Fulcrum now?" Sarah accused.

The man shook his head. "We're not traitors Walker. We were just following orders. Your asset here isn't going to be harmed. In fact, he's going to be better off than before."

"What are you talking about?"

Before the man could answer, Sarah heard the roar of a car engine, screeching of tires and then saw the van slam into the man. He went flying in one direction and his gun in another. Sarah looked and saw Jill frantically waving for her to hurry. Four down, none to go.

Sarah instantly crouched down, grabbed one of Chuck's arms, slung it over her shoulder, pulled him up and struggled over to the van. It seemed to take forever but she finally got to the side door, jerked it open, pushed Chuck in, leaped in herself and pulled the door shut. A second later, Jill drove the car down the shoulder of the road all the way to an exit where she pulled off the interstate. Cars were lined up on the access road after the exit but Jill once again maneuvered the car over to the shoulder and raced off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarah lay Chuck down in the back and lowered his head into her lap. She checked him over, looking for wounds, cuts or any type of injury. She found none. He appeared to just be asleep courtesy of some drugs that his abductors had no doubt pumped into him.

Holding his head in her lap and gazing down at him, she let out a long sigh of relief. He was all right and safe…safe with her. She reached down with her hand and stroked his head and hair. All sorts of emotions raced through her. Fear and panic at the thought of losing Chuck and never seeing him again. And relief and gratitude because she now had him back safely with her. Well, not just her, she amended as she glanced up and saw Jill watching in the rearview mirror. And Jill did not look pleased – anything but!

"Shouldn't you be keeping your eyes on the road?" Sarah asked.

"Shouldn't you be keeping your hands to yourself," Jill retorted.

Feelings of anger and territoriality welled up in Sarah. She wanted to scream at the brunette bitch, a description that she had used all too frequently for Jill. When have you ever been concerned about Chuck? When you were in college and broke his heart? When you were in Fulcrum and nearly got him and me killed? Glaring back at Jill's face in the mirror, she stroked Chuck's hair and face again, slowly and deliberately. She loved touching his hair and the way it caused Jill to cast hateful looks at her right now made it all the more fun for Sarah.

Jill's hateful expression increased. She looked ready to kill. But Sarah ignored her and just concentrated on Chuck. There was no way to tell how long he would be out from the drugs they gave him. That concerned her. But something else also concerned her. One of those men that kidnapped Chuck was CIA. Were the others CIA too? And the way that one man talked about them not being traitors but following orders. Was Jill right? Was the CIA behind this kidnapping?

"I need a phone," Sarah said.

"I don't think calling anyone is a good idea. I told you that the—"

"I know what you said. And that's what I have to find out. So we need to find a phone," Sarah replied.

"Well, we may find a convenience store or gas station along this road. But there may not be a phone. A lot of those places have removed their pay phones because most people have cell phones now," Jill pointed out. "But if they don't have a pay phone, they probably sell some phones. So we could buy one and then dump it after we use it."

"Let's just find a phone some place," Sarah insisted.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About 10 miles down the road, they found a convenience store/gas station. Fortunately, it had a public phone outside that still was in operation. Jill parked the car, turned off the engine and immediately got out. "You go ahead and make your call. I'm going to check on Chuck," she said as she moved to the back area. She sat down, grasped Chuck's head and moved it from Sarah's lap to her lap. Then she looked up at Sarah. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go make your call!" Jill directed.

Sarah gritted her teeth together and managed to refrain from an angry and loud retort. And when Jill started stroking Chuck's hair, Sarah had to will herself not to punch the brunette. She stared with resentment at Jill holding Chuck and stroking his hair. But Jill ignored her. Sarah finally got up and started to leave the car. She stopped and then reached over to the driver's seat and got the keys from the ignition. Then she left the car.

"Still don't trust me Agent Walker?" Jill called after her.

Sarah ignored the comment and tried to control her rage. Part of her questioned the jealousy that welled up in her. She and Chuck weren't a real couple, weren't together…at least not anything official. But still, Chuck was…what was Chuck to her? How could she define what she and Chuck felt for each other and thought of each other? A voice in the back of her mind told her that what she felt for Chuck was so easily defined, if – IF – she would just admit it to herself.

She pushed aside that voice as she walked up to the pay phone. She pulled out some change, deposited it, and dialed Casey's phone. The phone rang three times and then she heard Casey answer gruffly.

"Casey's, it's me. I—"

Before she could get another word out, Casey said "Code purple!" and hung up.

Sarah stood there in shock for a few seconds. Casey said it. She heard it. She did not imagine it. She slammed down the phone, dashed back to the car and jerked the driver's side door open.

She jumped in, slammed the door shut, quickly put the keys in the ignition, started the car and sped out of the parking lot and down the road as quickly as she could.

"What's going on?" Jill cried in alarm. "What happened?"

Sarah swallowed and tried to calm herself before answering. "You were right," she said simply and didn't say anything more. Jill looked at her strangely.

Sarah didn't blame Jill. To the brunette, Sarah's face probably looked panicky. And truthfully, Sarah felt panicky right now as those two words that Casey uttered, "Code purple," kept repeating in her mind.

Code purple: The code words for trust no one and protect the asset. Go off grid if necessary but trust no one and protect the asset.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first thing Sarah did was find another car. They had to get out of and get rid of the van as soon as possible. In a town about 10 miles from where Sarah made that phone call, she found a bar with a parking lot full of cars.

Picking the lock and getting the car going was the simple thing. The hard part to Sarah was what to do with Jill. They needed to drive away from the lot with both cars at the same time. Sarah would drive one car and Jill the other since Chuck was still unconscious. Sarah immediately transported Chuck into the car she stole. She would drive that car; there was no doubt in her mind about that. But could she trust Jill to follow in the van to a place where they could get rid of that car?

Eventually, the CIA agent decided that it didn't matter if Jill followed her or not. If Jill chose to escape and drive off, all the better. Then she and Chuck would be on their own and rid of Jill. If Jill chose to follow, then Sarah could get rid of the van, lessen the odds of their being tracked, and deal with Jill later.

And that's what they did. Sarah drove the car she stole, with Chuck unconscious in the back seat, and Jill followed in the van. They drove outside of the town to a deserted area, thick with trees. Seeing no cars coming from either way, Sarah pulled over and parked. Jill stopped the van behind her and killed the engine.

Sarah got out and went to the passenger side of the van and got in. "Move the van as deep into there as you can," she ordered Jill while pointing toward the woods.

"Why?" Jill asked, puzzled.

"Just do it!"

Jill did. Once satisfied that the van was out of sight from the road. Sarah told her to stop the car and turn it off. She went to the back of the van, gathered up what equipment she thought useful and pulled it out. She then removed the license plates off of the van.

"Out," she commanded Jill. She pointed at the bags of equipment she had taken from the van. "Grab one of those bags and take it to the other car."

Sarah grabbed the other bag and followed Jill.

"We're just going to abandon the van?" Jill asked as they walked to the other car.

"It's too risky. That's a CIA-issued vehicle. So we're abandoning it and going with this car until we can get another one."

Jill smirked. "So you finally believe me Agent Walker."

"I don't know what to believe. But I do know that Chuck is in danger and he needs to be protected. And that is my main concern," Sarah replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They drove for hours, sticking to the back roads and traveling through small towns and avoiding interstates and major highways. Sarah did the driving, not ready to trust Jill to do that. Eventually, as night came, exhaustion caught up with Sarah and she knew that she couldn't go on much longer. She glanced in the rearview mirror. Chuck was still out. She glanced at Jill on the passenger side. Jill also looked exhausted.

"I don't think either one of us is in any shape to drive much longer. We need to stop and get some rest," Jill declared.

Sarah didn't say anything but she knew that Jill was right. It was almost 11 pm and they had been going non-stop for most of the day and all of the evening. They had to find a place to rest.

About 20 minutes later, they spotted a small, non-chain motel in a town. The door for the front office was locked but a buzzer could be rung to get assistance. After a few rings, a sleepy-faced man appeared in the office, opened up a transaction window, confirmed that they had a room available, muttered the price, took Sarah's cash, handed them a key and without a "Thank you!" or further comment, shut the transaction window and left. Sarah drove the car around back and then she and Jill moved Chuck into the room. It had only one bed, a queen size which they immediately set Chuck on.

Sarah stared at Chuck's sleeping form on the bed. She glanced around the motel room. There was a large chair. The floor had carpeting and didn't look too dirty. She looked at Chuck and then looked back at Jill who was standing on the other side of the bed.

They stared at each other for a few moments. Then Jill finally broke the silence.

"Do whatever you want Agent Walker, because I'm too exhausted to care. I'm going to sleep. And I'm going to sleep with Chuck. Where you want to sleep is up to you," she declared.

And with that, Jill took off her shoes and got on the bed beside Chuck. She immediately snuggled up to the left side of him, resting her head on his shoulder.

Sarah felt fury building up inside of her and nearly grabbed Jill and hurled her off the bed. That woman was with Chuck, her Chuck. Sarah quickly took off her shoes and then got on the bed on the other side of the curly-haired nerd. She scooted against him, pressing herself as much against his right side as possible and she hooked one of her legs over his. Jill said nothing. Sarah closed her eyes. She fell asleep in seconds.

END CHAPTER TWO