Chapter 3
"Terminate?" Sarah exclaimed, her voice overflowing with rage and hurt. As soon as Casey saw her coming towards him, he ended the conference with the General. "How could you just stand there and say nothing while she orders you to kill Chuck?"
She started to throw a punch, but his strong hand caught her fist and held it in place. "Walker, listen to me," he began, his voice slightly softer than normal, but still maintaining its strict military feel. "I don't like this any more than you do, but—"
"But what?" she asked, practically hissing. "Orders are orders? Go ahead, find Chuck and kill him. But you'll have to kill me first."
Then, it was as if something struck him. His expression darkened. "Are you sure you want to go through this again? You'd be committing treason, and I doubt General Beckman would be so lenient this time," he warned.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "If I've already committed treason for Chuck once, do you really think I'd consider following orders now, when it's the Government that wants him dead?
"Good point."
"Either way, I wouldn't care," she said fiercely. "Without Chuck, I'm nothing. You already saw, I would do anything to get him back, and will." She yanked herself out of his grip and took a step back.
"Walker-"
"You aren't going to stop me," she said, starting to leave.
"Wait!" Casey called. She gave him a questioning look. "You didn't think you could go without me, did you?"
Devon Woodcomb sat fiddling with the strange laptop on the coffee table. Occasionally, as he tapped on the keypad, the streaks of green light on the cover would flash, causing him to jump back as though he thought that it could explode at any second.
Quietly, he brooded over what was written on the screen: knock knock. Under it, there was a box for a password, but absolutely nothing that he could come up with worked. He'd tried, "Who's there?", "Yes?", "Who is it?", even, "GO AWAY." He didn't want his wife, Ellie, to worry about something like that laptop, which almost certainly had something to do with Chuck and his so-called previous spy-life, but there was nothing that he could do.
He wasn't even the one who had gotten the laptop to work. He had gotten Lester and the other Buy More Nerds to fix it, at the price of free medical treatment. Sure, their work had paid off to some extent, but it wouldn't calm his nerves, and he had a feeling that Ellie wouldn't be satisfied.
Which is exactly why he nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard the lock on the door click as Ellie Woodcomb came walking in the door, pregnant and looking exhausted.
Nervously, he threw on a smile and said, "Hey, babe. You're home early."
She stopped and rested her tired eyes on Devon with exasperation. "Devon," she began, "I just worked a full shift. I am not home early." She sighed and dropped her bag on the table, making 'Captain Awesome' have to turn to watch her expression, which he was sure would not be awesome.
"I've got good news," he started, with his best smile. "Your husband has fixed this computer."
"Oh, honey, that's amazing!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as she hurried to take a seat next to him. "You are amazing." She planted a kiss on his cheek and eyed the screen.
"But, it needs a password," he continued, wondering what his wife's reaction would be. As she read the clue, he added, with a small chuckle, "I've already tried 'Who's there?'"
For some reason, he had expected her to be furious that there was a password. What he did not expect was for her to smile.
"I know what it is," she murmured, beaming. Mentally, Devon's jaw dropped. At his look of complete shock, she said, "When I was a little girl, I would always mess up the knock-knock routine. My dad would say, 'Knock knock,' and I would say, 'I'm here!'" She paused for a moment. "It made him laugh so hard I never wanted to do it right."
After a few moments, Devon leaned over and typed, "I'm here," into the bar. Hesitating just for a small, almost non-existing moment, he hit enter.
The computer whirred as it sprung to life, the screen lighting up as thousands upon thousands of files jumped onto the screen. There were cross-sections of the human brain, diagrams, complex mathematical equations, and an almost uncountable number of files that were labeled, "Intersect."
Ellie looked over each file as it popped up, only to be replaced by another. In awe, she murmured, "Oh, my God...This is my father's research!"
Five men. A team of five men. It was not much, no, but General Beckman had assigned them to find Charles Carmichael and kill him. They were one of her best teams. They easily tracked down his location, followed him, and cornered him. However, he had known that they were tailing him and had led them into a trap.
Now there was only one man left. They had only just drawn their guns when each of them flew back against the wall, the weapons falling uselessly to the ground. A few of them went off, shooting one man in the leg and another in the side. Carmichael knocked two of the remaining three with ease, and left one man cowering against the wall. Cowering.
And now, Carmichael was coming towards him. He stared into the emotionless brown eyes. The man looked so harmless. How could he cause so much? Now he could see why Beckman wanted Carmichael dead, as hands closed around his neck and he was lifted off the ground, helpless.
Then, blackness.
Only one name ran through his mind.
Sarah.
But who was she? She was the blonde-haired woman from before.
The computer in his brain told him, in essence, to forget about her. Its voice rang clear.
Find Orion's computer.
But who, or what, was Orion? Why would he want his computer? No matter how often he asked himself, he could never find the answer. No matter how hard he tried, he could gain no control over his actions. All he could do was sit back and watch as the body he came to know as the Intersect pulled him to where it wanted him to go, which seemed to be nowhere.
It seemed that the Intersect was being drawn to a certain place, but it was as if it did not know how to get there. Several times, he saw the same scenery pass by. A few times, the Intersect realized that it was being followed, and he begged it not to harm the tail, at least not in front of the innocent people who just happened to be walking by.
Somehow, part of his voice got through. The Intersect turned a corner into a secluded area and turned.
There were five of them, and each had their weapons pointing directly at the Intersect. Images flashed across his vision, and almost as quick as they had ended, four of the men were either unconscious or could not move.
The fifth man was backed against the wall, fear filling his gray-blue eyes.
Those eyes reminded him of something, and he practically screamed to the Intersect, "Don't kill him!"
The Intersect's hands closed around the man's throat. He tried to look away, but he was frozen, forced to watch as the man fell into unconsciousness for what would be the last time.
And then, it stopped. The Intersect jerked its hands away, and once more, everything became a blur.
I am so sorry for how long this took. Apparently writers block, thinking about what to buy twenty people for their birthdays (which ALL happen to be this month), and Algebra II don't mix. o-o
Anyways, if anything seems OOC or something, again I am so sorry. o_o
I hope you enjoyed! Please R&R. :)
Rachel
