Scene XXIV - Buy More Plaza

Chuck was feeling pretty good as he strode across the parking lot, all things considered.

Since Chuck and Morgan were feeling "old school" about the guys' night in experience, they decided to play on a few of the Quake III servers that were still floating around. Despite having put a considerable dent into the fifth of rum, they still managed to acquit themselves pretty well against the members of a clan playing Capture the Flag. They were especially effective on the space maps, where Chuck would find a high perch and control the board with his rail gun; Morgan would spray the enemy base with rockets before sneaking in and making off with the flag. Given how late they had played and the amount they had drank, Chuck didn't feel the hangover he expected.

At the Buy More the next day, Anna acted standoffish towards Morgan until Chuck made it a point to thank her for letting Morgan hang out with him. She somewhat petulantly said she would forgive Morgan, especially when she learned that Morgan had left a surprise for her in her locker.

Chuck had put a vase of flowers into her locker that morning. Morgan took care of Chuck, and Chuck took care of Morgan.

On top of that success, most of the people who annoyed Chuck so deeply the prior day were not around. Big Mike stayed closeted in his office, Jeff and Lester had the day off, Casey was off on reconnaissance, and the post-Christmas rush was largely over.

All that led to Chuck being in a fairly good mood as he headed over to see Sarah on her lunch break. Chuck slipped out about ten minutes earlier than normal for his lunch break, with Morgan covering for him. He was pleased: it made great sense for their cover. He might get this agent thing down yet.

Farther removed from Christmas, he also felt he was in a pretty good frame of mind regarding Sarah. Maybe he was starting to move past his feelings for her after all.

Sarah was behind the counter in her Weinerlicious uniform with her sweater wrapped around her shoulders. She was hunched down over the counter building what looked like a teepee made from six straws as he entered; other than Sarah, the restaurant was deserted. It never occurred to Chuck that hot dogs might not be a big seller during the holiday week, but it made sense. Sarah was clearly bored out of her mind.

As the door swung shut, the bell let out a cheerful ring, disrupting Sarah's concentration. When she looked up to see Chuck walking towards her, a look of surprise took over her face, probably because he was early. She straightened up, knocking over her teepee in the process. Chuck stifled a laugh; Sarah was so rarely clumsy. Momentarily distracted by the falling straws, he missed the series of emotions that crossed her face.

When he looked back at her, her face had settled into a tentative smile. Chuck offered a genuine smile in return, which helped amplify hers into a more genuine one as well.

"Hey," Chuck offered in a calm, confident voice. "Long time no see."

"Hey, yourself." Sarah responded, managing to sound a little shy. "You know, you really shouldn't abandon your girlfriend for a day and a half like that, especially during the holidays."

Chuck liked the playful Sarah. She had been absent for a while after Bryce's visit; it was good to have her back. It was also good she felt she could joke about their cover again, as it showed she wasn't as worried that his feelings would get the better of him. Just more confirmation that he might be able to leave those feelings behind him soon.

He apologized, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"You know, you need to return my calls. I can't protect you if I don't know where you are."

Chuck was surprised; normally Sarah would have been far more serious about anything job-related, but her expression looked almost … grateful. Still, he recognized the need to explain. "Yesterday was a bit of a rough day. I was in a bit of a bad place…" Chuck noticed the look on Sarah's face. "… but you already knew that," he finished.

She nodded, her face sympathetic. "Casey filled me in on some of the details."

Flashing back to his conversation with Casey, he was forced to relive his words. His face lost some of its color, and he felt his good mood start to evaporate. "What did he tell you?"

"That he said a couple of things that he regrets."

Sarah was obviously trying to defuse things between the two, which only made sense. That likely explained the series of phone calls from her the night before. Chuck wasn't buying it. "Really. Because in my experience, Casey is generally a pretty straight shooter when it comes to how he feels. So if he regrets what he said, he only regrets that he let his true feelings become known."

"I don't know all the details about what Casey said to you, but…" She was going to continue, but Chuck cut her off, his voice raised.

"Did he mention the word 'inconvenience', by chance? I thought that summed up his thoughts pretty well."

"Actually, he did. Chuck, he doesn't really believe that."

"And you know that how?"

Sarah hesitated for just a second, and after that, she had no chance of convincing him. "I just do. You'll have to trust me on this one."

He tried to bite back his sarcasm, but the wound was just too fresh. "Ah, there's that word again."

"What word?"

"'Trust'. You know, the dirty word in agent circles." The words were barely out of his mouth when he regretted them. It wasn't Sarah he was angry with, but here he was attacking her. He hoped she would stick with Casey.

Instead, Sarah became defensive, looking a little hurt. Her voice got quiet and slow. "So, that obviously means you don't trust me."

Those words stopped Chuck cold. Chuck really, really wanted to trust Sarah. Every instinct told him to trust her, but the rational side of his brain told him how foolish that would be.

In as calm a voice he could muster, he explained, "Sarah, I don't pretend to know a lot about being an agent. But Carina, and Bryce, and Casey, and even you have told me that trust is a luxury that an agent cannot afford. Yet from the night I found out that you were a spy, you've asked me to trust you. It seems to me that, having to live in your world, trusting anyone would be a pretty foolish decision."

Sarah's look of hurt grew, tearing Chuck up on the inside. Maybe he wasn't as far past his feelings for her as he had hoped.

Sarah responded to his explanation in an emotional voice, "Chuck, I need you to trust me. You're right: trust is a luxury an agent cannot afford. I'd be a fool to trust Carina. I cannot afford to trust Casey. I don't know if I can trust Bryce. But I trust you." Sarah delivered the declaration as a teen might admit to loving another for the first time: she was unable to look directly at Chuck until the very end of her statement, struggling just to get the words out.

Chuck's honest streak got the better of him and he just couldn't let that go. "Am I really supposed to believe that I'm the one exception in your world?"

Sarah locked eyes with him, and without hesitation she replied, in a low, quavering voice, "Yes, you are. But I don't have anything to offer you to back that up. I guess you'll have to look inside your heart and decide for yourself."

The bell on the door rang; Chuck turned around instinctively. He stiffened as Casey walked in.

Casey apparently sensed the tension in the air. His eyes tightened. "Am I interrupting something?"

Stiffly, Chuck responded, "Not that it's any of your business, but Sarah was just defending you."

Casey's mouth curled into a small smirk. "Really. That sounds a lot like my business, but it'll have to wait for another time. I was scanning this morning's surveillance, and Liniman was informed that his boss died last night. Liniman looked like somebody drowned his puppy."

Sarah slipped into spy mode quickly. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything. People die."

"Yeah, but not all of them die eating a Vietnamese food order that 'accidentally' included shellfish, causing a fatal allergic reaction."

Chuck whistled. Sarah said, "That is more than a little suspicious. So, Minh might be covering his tracks, and Liniman might be next."

"Yep, the game has changed. Walker, did you notice anything on the feeds from yesterday?"

Sarah turned a little red. "Nothing on the morning surveillance, but I never finished the afternoon feeds. I was a little distracted last night."

Her statement confused Chuck. He looked back and forth between the two. "What was this?"

Casey looked surprised. "She didn't tell you? We lost track of you for a couple of hours last night when you ducked out of work early." Chuck looked over at Sarah, who nodded, her face tight and impossible to read. Chuck was momentarily shocked that Sarah didn't lay into him for not returning her calls, but Casey distracted him by continuing, "We'll need to talk about that, by the way."

"It will be a short conversation."

Casey grunted as if he didn't agree. "Another time. We need to finish reviewing those tapes, and report in later tonight to get our orders. I'm to stick with Liniman in case Minh or a henchman shows up."

Sarah said, "One problem; I'm stuck here all afternoon, and all my possible replacements are out for the holidays. After running out on the store when we took down Kirk, I can't do it, or I'll get fired."

Casey turned to Chuck. "Well, you up for it?"

Chuck, his face stony, replied, "It's not really part of my job, is it."

Classic Casey would have been to fire back. Instead, he offered with the slightest hint of a smile, "Yes, it is."

It was probably as close to an apology as Chuck would get. Chuck didn't respond, but his expression softened a little. He turned to look at Sarah, whose smiling face clearly said, "I told you so."

Casey wasn't about to stand around for a touching scene; he headed for the door. Holding the door open, he turned back for a moment. "Oh, and Bartowski? Try not to screw it up." He exited the shop.

Scene XXV - Casey's apartment

The light was fading outside Casey's apartment. Sarah stood in front of the computer monitor in the living room, briefing the general and the director. Chuck entered the room, out of breath, carrying the synchronization equipment used to review the surveillance. The door slammed behind him as he rushed into the view of the commanders, arms full of gear.

"I'm here. I'm here," he called out.

General Beckman appeared less than concerned. "Continue, Agent Walker."

As Chuck tried to find a safe place to put the equipment, Sarah obliged the general. "Given the way Liniman's boss died, we feel that Minh is covering his tracks. We feel he will go after Liniman next."

Director Graham rumbled, "So, all you really have is the Intersect's flash and a man who died of an allergic reaction. That's pretty thin."

The general chimed in, "Agent Casey's reports chronicle in excruciating detail about how nothing that Shawn Liniman does is the least bit suspicious. Do you have anything else?" Her tone indicated that she thought she knew the answer.

Chuck, hesitantly raising a hand to about shoulder height, replied in a slightly timid voice, "Yes, there is." Sarah looked hopefully at Chuck.

The director and general shifted their gazes to Chuck. Rather disdainfully, the director replied, "Oh?"

"Give me just a minute, and I'll show you." Chuck fumbled around with the surveillance equipment, looking for the appropriate place to plug it into the communication system. "The software you have on this thing is pretty powerful. You can do some great stuff with it."

The director sneered, "I'm glad you like it. Can we get on with this?"

Chuck finished setting up. "OK, OK, here we go. Chuck pressed a button, and a black screen appeared on the side of the main monitor. He frowned and pressed a pair of buttons in combination.

Up popped a scene from Monty Python's 'The Holy Grail'. A man in a wizard's costume said, "So, brave knights, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth." The wizard lifted his fingers to his mouth in an odd representation of fangs.

He quickly hit another button and closed his eyes, horribly embarrassed. The general and the director were not amused. "Sorry. So sorry. I was using the DVD to test out the software; I had to teach myself how to use it. Here we go."

Chuck pressed another pair of buttons, and up popped some captured video. Chuck quickly paused the video to provide the scene set-up. "The two people you see in the room are Shawn Liniman, sitting at the desk, and Jonathon Turley, the man killed the other night. Turley is coming in to give Liniman some documents."

Playing the video, Chuck narrated the action on the screen. "So, here's the first curious thing. Turley hands Liniman a stack of three pages printed from Excel. The cover page on top makes no sense, and the bottom page is blank."

General Beckman said, "What's your point, Bartowski. So the guy doesn't know how to create a spreadsheet."

"The point is that the guy would have to go out of his way to print an extra blank page in Excel, and creating a cover page is also extra work. It doesn't make any sense to go through that much trouble to casually pass some numbers to a co-worker."

Liniman tried to hand the second page back to Turley, who acted like the page was on fire, refusing to touch it. "Of course!" Sarah exclaimed.

Everyone looked at her. "Chuck, rewind this back to where Turley hands Liniman the documents."

Chuck fiddled with the controls. The video rewound, and then played. Sarah continued, "Notice that Turley never touches the middle page. He doesn't want his fingerprints on it."

Chuck stopped the video. The general looked unimpressed. "Well, it may be something, but it's not exactly a smoking gun."

He set the video in motion again with the flick of a finger. "Actually, that fits in well with something else I noticed right … here." He paused the video and turned to the officers. "Turley also claims that he forgot to unhide the columns with some key details." On the monitor, Turley stood behind Liniman, one hand on his shoulder, his other hand pointing to some of the numbers on the page.

He unpaused the video again. "My guess is that he typed the numbers into a spreadsheet on his end, but didn't want anything to possibly trace the accounting details back to him, so he verbally explains them to Liniman…"

Sarah finished for him, watching the video"…who writes them on the page, more strongly tying the evidence to Liniman!"

The director looked more interested, but still not convinced. "That may show Turley was up to something. Liniman was likely completely in the dark; I suppose maybe he was just too dense to notice that Turley was going to hang him out to dry, but that seems like a stretch. But we still don't know what Turley is up to, or that Minh is part of this."

"That's not exactly true," said Chuck. "Let me play part of the scene again, but this time with the volume up." The video had run past Turley's exit, so Chuck stopped the playback. He pressed a button to bring up a light blue graphic playback bar on the bottom of the screen, and Chuck used the controls to jump to a point he had marked on the bar. He turned up the volume, and pressed play.

Shawn said, "Why don't you send me the soft copy of the spreadsheet? I'll get the numbers in by tomorrow."

Turley refused to take the paper. "Can't. I'm spending the rest of the day with Minh; we're doing a year-end reckoning."

Chuck paused the video, an expectant look on his face. Sarah nodded and smiled at Chuck.

The director didn't so much smile as take the frown off his face. "Nice work, Chuck. You may have something here."

General Beckman disagreed, "I'm not so sure. Turley is dead, Liniman probably knows nothing, and we don't know where Minh is. We still have painfully little to go on, even if Liniman does prove to be useful. With Turley gone, Minh's pipeline into DCI Enterprises, if it existed, would dry up. Is there nothing else?"

Chuck's expression became more determined. "Yes, there's more." Chuck moved the video to another point he had pre-marked on the graphic bar; it seemed to be a random shot of Liniman, alone after Turley's departure, writing on a piece of white computer paper. He muttered, "Now, what macro did I assign … oh, right."

He pressed a combination of three buttons. The video panned in, closing in on the paper on the desk. Automatically, the image cleaned itself up, rotated to bring the image right-side up, pivoted to bring the view directly down onto the page, and cleaned itself up again. Casey gave a subtly impressed look as he watched.

The image on the screen was the Excel spreadsheet Turley had brought in, with the handwritten notes that Liniman had made. The notes on the left were abbreviated company names with account numbers that Liniman had recalled from memory, and the numbers on the spreadsheets looked like payment figures; the numbers totaled to roughly sixteen million dollars. Everything was as clear as if they were holding the page in front of them.

Chuck explained, "There are five separate companies wiring money to DCI Enterprises, written here on the sheet that Turley didn't want to touch. It should be interesting to discover who they are."

The general remained obdurate. "Well, without knowing what they were paying for…"

"I think I can help there, too." The general looked perturbed at Chuck's interruption, but he didn't notice. He moved a cursor to another mark on the graphic bar, and pressed play.

Turley turned around as he was about to leave, his back now to the camera. "Hey, there is one more thing you can do for Andy and me."

Shawn smiled. "Anything you need."

"Thanks, Shawn. I've ordered a package of documents from the G4 document repository; it won't be ready until the 28th, and I'll be out that afternoon. It's classified information that your clearance doesn't handle, but I've submitted the necessary security forms so they can release the documents to you. Pick them up and lock them in your desk. I may need them this weekend."

The video stopped. There was a slight pause before the general, in a somewhat defeated tone, said, "Nice work, Chuck."

The director ordered, "Bring in Liniman. Find out what he knows, and get your hands on those documents. We'll see if those accounts lead to anything." The general quickly signed off.

Chuck was extraordinarily pleased with himself, so much so that he never even questioned the thoughtful look Sarah was directing at the monitor.

Scene XXVI - Van Outside Vietnamese Restaurant

The restaurant that the team chose for their meeting with Liniman was a casual little place with neon red Oriental characters denoting its name. It was located in the middle of a row of shops, most of them closed and dark. Cars sparsely lined either side of the street, and only a few dingy old street lights provided any relief from the approaching darkness.

Chuck, Sarah and Casey crouched in the back of a black van, directly across the street from the restaurant. Sarah was wearing a flirty little top, with her hair pulled back as it was for Chuck and Sarah's first date, long hairpins and all. Chuck dressed a little nicer than usual, as if to try to impress Liniman. Casey was ready for action, wearing black from head to toe. The trio reviewed the plan for the evening, with Casey leading the discussion.

"Remember, the goal is to get Liniman to spill something. Whether we succeed or not, we take him in at the end of the evening.

We've got two ways to get him to talk about work. The first is for you, Chuck, to get him to talk about work to impress you. Be sure to ask about his boss, but also be sure not to use his boss' name or position unless he uses it first; you have no way of knowing that info at this point."

Sarah added, "The second way is for me to get him to talk about work to try to impress me. That shouldn't be difficult, given that work seems to be his whole life. If things are going well, I'll adjust my earring, and you can slip off to the rest room to 'wash your hands' for a few minutes."

Chuck grinned. "Yeah, and if I want to get him alone, I can pretend there's something wrong with my watch." He looked pointedly at Sarah.

Sarah laughed. Chuck had been teasing her about the watch running fast every chance he had.

"It's working now, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I got the owner of the spy shop to fix it for me. Of course, it's costing me a couple hours of pro bono computer work … hey, Liniman should be here in about ten minutes. Shouldn't we get in there?"

Casey responded, "Relax, Chuckles. Agent Thompson buzzed me a few minutes ago; Liniman just left his apartment and is still about fifteen minutes out." The NSA had spared another agent to tail Liniman throughout the day so Casey could catch up on some sleep and help set up the mission.

Sarah checked her own watch. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to gear up and get settled inside."

"Roger that." He handed Sarah a gold bracelet. "Mike 1". He handed Chuck a watch. "Mike 2."

Chuck slipped off his watch and handed it to Casey, replacing it with the new one. An expression of mock surprise filled his face. "Hey! The correct time, right out of the box!"

"Now if you could only learn to work your phone, you'd be all set," she threw back. Chuck was briefly worried that Sarah was still annoyed he hadn't returned her calls, but he caught her sly grin as she slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.

Casey was getting annoyed. "Knock it off or you'll have me convinced your cover is real. You're certainly triggering my gag reflex. Ear pieces." He offers ear pieces to both of them. Sarah cocked her head to the side so she could seat her ear piece; Chuck slid his into place as well.

After a quick check to ensure the mikes were working, Casey scouted the area for Liniman; he was nowhere to be seen. "OK, you're clear. Remember to grab one of the center tables so I get a good view. Good luck."

Sarah and Chuck hopped out of the van, and started to walk across the street. A sedan approached, its headlights casting long silhouettes onto the pavement behind the two. The two kicked into a jog, slipping between two parked cars onto the sidewalk. Chuck continued his trot a little longer than Sarah so he could get the door for her.

The waiter tried to put them in a booth, but the pair convinced the waiter to seat them at a table instead. They sat side-by-side, with Chuck closer to the front door.

Across the street, Casey shoveled a chicken-and-rice dish from a takeout container into his mouth. He lounged in the driver's seat of the van, listening to the microphones on Sarah and Chuck's wrists and fiddling with some equipment in his lap. Sarah was largely obscured by Chuck's frame, but he had a clear shot of Chuck, and would have a good view of Liniman and the rest of the restaurant.

As usual, Sarah wanted one last review before the mission truly began. "So, we've got things down. We take turns trying to get this guy to admit to anything, but mostly we try to get him to use Minh's name. Once we have that, we've got him."

Chuck smiled. "Got it. But with that outfit on, I'm not liking the odds that I'm the one to get him to spill." He couldn't help noticing how good she looked; the smile she gave him in return only amplified the effect.

"Thank you, Chuck. That reminds me: I should probably get into character a little more." Sarah slid her chair closer to Chuck. She leaned over to put her head on Chuck's shoulder, carefully turning to avoid poking Chuck with her hairpins. Her expression seemed contented.

Chuck, unable to see Sarah's face, looked confused. He had thought he might be turning the corner on his feelings for Sarah: their banter had been more fun, more relaxed lately. He had been more relaxed. But moments like this made him wonder, both about his feelings … and hers.

Casey also looked confused. He hadn't heard them say anything after "get into character a little more", and he was struggling to see exactly what was going on. However, Chuck had turned to face slightly away from Casey when Sarah leaned against him, hiding her completely from Casey's view. He turned up the volume on his earpiece and pushed it deeper into his ear, trying to pick up any indication of what was happening.

All three of them were startled by the slamming of the front door, which Liniman didn't bother to catch as he entered the restaurant. He was sorely out of place in the casual establishment, wearing a black, high-end suit with a red silk tie and black shoes polished to a high sheen. Liniman directed an expression with the faintest of apologies to the hostess before scanning the restaurant. He quickly spotted Sarah and Chuck in the mostly empty room, and moved over to them. Chuck and Sarah stood up as he approached.

"Sorry I'm late," Liniman boomed as he approached. "I got hung up at the office late; business never stops, even during the holidays." Chuck covered up a grin; they knew from the agent tailing Liniman that he had left the office at 4:15. It was now 6:30.

Chuck graciously accepted the apology as the pair stood up, Chuck extending his hand. "Not a problem. Shawn, you remember Sarah Walker?"

"Of course. Sarah, you look ravishing," putting a little too much emphasis on the word 'ravishing'. Chuck mentally revised the odds of him getting Liniman to crack downwards.

"Why, thank you. And what a terrific suit," she gushed. Chuck found himself stifling another grin: Sarah was mocking Shawn, but he would never notice.

"You like?" He made a little half-spin, pulling open the coat to show it off. "Sorry if I'm overdressed. I'm used to eating at nicer places than this." His tone made it clear that he thought he was being polite.

Chuck gave a mock laugh as they all sat down, Chuck guiding in Sarah's chair as she sat before taking his seat. "Well, you have to scale back a little on the Buy More wage. Besides, this place has the best pho in Los Angeles." The line was a calculated plant. If Liniman had met up with Minh, there was a chance that one of the meetings might have been at another Vietnamese restaurant. Liniman didn't disappoint.

"I'd be surprised if that were true. One of our Vietnamese clients swears by New Saigon, downtown."

Sarah, leaning slightly towards Liniman, responded with interest, "Really. That's supposed to be a swanky place."

Liniman leaned in as well, although a little too much. "It is. But when you represent a company like mine, you have to make a good impression."

She replied coyly, "Well, you certainly do that."

Liniman's face lit up, and he responded in a quiet, oily tone, "You're too kind." His eyes carried all kinds of implications, and a smile crept across his lips as he glanced over at Chuck.

Even knowing that Sarah was faking every step of the way, Chuck couldn't keep the scene from affecting him. If this evening demonstrated anything, it was that Chuck wasn't over Sarah. Not yet. He sighed.

Luckily, Chuck's emotions played to the pair's advantage. His obvious discomfort encouraged Liniman in a way that wouldn't have been possible otherwise; for Shawn, this was clearly as much about Chuck as it was about Sarah. Shawn flirted outrageously with Sarah, his face shining in triumph every time she responded with a throaty laugh or a casual touch on his arm.

By the time the main course arrived, Chuck was clearly a third wheel. Chuck didn't need to wait for Sarah's cue to recognize it was time for him to leave the two alone for a few minutes. His excuse unintentionally came out differently than planned, "If you two will excuse me, I'm feeling a little ill. I'll be back in a few minutes."

The change in the line didn't escape Sarah, who stole a slightly worried look at Chuck as he left. Liniman certainly suspected nothing; his attention was elsewhere. Belatedly, he called out to Chuck, "No problem, buddy. Take your time." Chuck stiffened a bit at Liniman calling him 'buddy', but kept heading back to the bathroom.

Chuck took his earpiece out before he splashed some water on his face, shaking the excess off his hands before placing them on the sides of the sink to steady himself. He reminded himself that they were making progress with Liniman, and that things were going according to plan. He found it helped to focus on the job at hand; the focus helped to shut away some of the emotion.

After ten minutes or so, Chuck figured that Sarah had had enough time to try to crack Liniman, so he pushed his earpiece back in and came out the bathroom door. His intuition was pretty good, because he saw Sarah being escorted out of the restaurant by Liniman, his arm around her waist. She never looked back. The restaurant door slammed again, causing Chuck to start. Even though he knew it was all a ruse, Chuck stood stock-still by the bathroom door, feeling like he had been punched in the gut.

Scene XXVII - Street

Casey watched Sarah and Shawn exit the restaurant, with Shawn quickly assuming a position where he could put his arm back around Sarah's waist and guide her to the left.

Sarah towered over Liniman by a good couple of inches, but that wasn't slowing him down at all. His expression was smugly triumphant as he whispered into her ear. Sarah's face, not visible to Liniman while he was whispering, was all business as she cocked her head to the side to give him better access to her ear while allowing her to survey her surroundings.

The two had traveled about a block when Chuck walked listlessly out of the restaurant, letting the front door slam behind him. He turned his head to the left, sighting Sarah and Shawn ambling down the sidewalk, moving at a decent clip. As they passed under a street light, Sarah threw back her head to laugh at some comment Liniman made.

The restaurant door slammed shut again; Chuck instinctively spun around at the noise. One of the other restaurant patrons, a Vietnamese man that had been reading a newspaper at a corner table, looked at Chuck with an evil grin. He apparently had watched the entire scene, and obviously got a kick out of Chuck losing his girlfriend.

It was the waiter who had brought the poisoned sake, although Chuck had no way of knowing that. However, the frontal view of the man's face caused Chuck to flash.

A cowboy in full chaps sitting on a horse.

A picture of the man in North Vietnamese army gear.

A series of scanned pages outlining the man's military record, highlighted by three medals and a commendation.

A security camera picture, in black-and-white, of him entering an office building.

A video of him stabbing a man in a suit in the neck.

A picture of three men dead in a hotel room, all with knife wounds.

The cowboy on the horse again.

The man apparently he was finished mocking Chuck, because he turned and followed Shawn and Sarah down the sidewalk. Given his rapid pace, it was reasonable to assume he was trying to catch up with them.

Chuck cursed himself for not watching the other restaurant patrons more carefully. Once the man was a safe distance away, he whispered excitedly into his watch, "Casey, the man who just exited the restaurant is Chien Quan, a Vietnamese ex-soldier-turned-assassin. That can't be a coincidence."

Three blocks away, Sarah's head turned to her right; she had heard Chuck's report as well.

Casey quickly responded, "I'm on it. Stay put." Casey hopped out of the van, and after checking for traffic crossed the street at an angle, handgun with silencer pointed at the ground.

"Well, at least I'm only waiting near the car this time," Chuck muttered. Despite Casey's order, he decided to follow at a safe distance, whispering updates to Sarah and Casey about Quan's location. In an amateurish fashion, Chuck moved quickly from lamppost to telephone pole to bus stop shelter to whatever happened to be available to hide him. His actions only made him more obvious.

Casey shadowed Quan, staying on the traffic side of the cars parked along the side of the road. Quan seemed completely unaware of Casey's presence as he closed the gap on Liniman and Sarah.

Chuck updated the team, "Sarah, Quan is now two blocks behind you. Casey, he's still unaware of you."

Quan crossed a side street. Because Casey used parked cars to shield him from Quan's view, he was forced to stop and wait until Quan was most of the way across before continuing, losing valuable ground. Casey crossed the street with a quick dash and tried to make up the lost ground using a series of five cars parked along the sidewalk to cover his crouched-over run.

Trying to hide behind a lamppost close to the corner of the side street, Chuck hoped his mad dashes from cover to cover looked somewhat professional. They didn't.

Down the street, Liniman continued whispering in Sarah's ear as they walked through a dark section of sidewalk, his arm pulling her closer. A side street teed into the main road from the left; the two turned up the street.

As soon as the pair disappeared around the corner, Quan broke into a jog. Casey followed suit, moving over to the sidewalk.

Taking his cue from Casey, Chuck tried to kick into a run and promptly tripped over the curb. He picked himself up and turned to see a Honda Civic skidding to a stop just in front of him, its horn blaring into Chuck's watch as he instinctively held out his hands to protect himself.

All hell broke loose.

Quan turned around at the sound of the car horn to see Casey holding his hand over his ear, trying to remove the earpiece. More importantly, Quan saw the gun in Casey's hand. He took off at a sprint for the corner.

Casey gathered himself and went after Quan. He couldn't risk a shot; a miss would travel down the sidewalk, potentially endangering other people ahead. He held his gun pointed to the sky as he ran.

Chuck flashed an awkwardly apologetic look at the Civic's driver before chasing after Casey, his legs churning as fast as he could make them. He had no idea what he would do if he caught up, but that didn't seem to be a problem at the moment.

Around the corner, Sarah had jerked out of Liniman's grasp and quickly snatched the ear piece out of her ear when the car horn sounded. She managed to play it off by palming the piece and moving her hands back to pull out her hair pins, and then shaking her hair loose. Looking Liniman square in the eye, she smiled. "Where were we?"

"Well, my car is actually right there." He pointed his keys at a Porsche parked in the lot across the street, hitting the unlock button on the fob to flash the turn signals. In a painfully obvious double entendre, he took a step towards her and asked, "Do you think you can handle the ride?"

Sarah put her arms behind her back, looking slightly down at him with a coy grin. "You know what?"

He smiled bigger, until she stabbed him in both shoulders with her hair pins. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he collapsed like a load of bricks as the sedative on the tips of the pins took their effect.

With a fairly disgusted expression, she said, "I can't even handle the thought," as she slipped the pins into her blouse. She grabbed Shawn's keys from the ground and dragged him with a fireman's carry into the closest store doorway. Pulling a gun from the small of her back, she turned around, crouching down on one knee and sighting her gun along the edge of the entryway.

Quan's footsteps obviously slowed as he came around the corner, and stopped altogether. The dated outcroppings on the corner building apparently gave the assassin room to hide. Sarah whispered into her bracelet, "Casey! Ambush!"

Casey didn't hear her; even if he still wore the earpiece, he was basically deaf in that ear. However, having been in a few foot chases before, he stopped before he got to the corner, sensing trouble.

For a minute, nobody moved. All three recognized the lack of movement in the still, cool air.

With Casey stopped at the corner, Chuck pulled up half a block away, realizing he would contribute nothing by crowding him. He checked to make sure that nobody else was coming. The street was deserted behind him, and he saw nobody along the opposite sidewalk either.

Chuck decided to cross the street; hopefully he could work his way around far enough to provide some reconnaissance for Casey and Sarah. Slipping between two cars and checking for traffic, he quickly dashed across the road to take cover behind a beat-up Volkswagen. After pausing a moment, he started sliding towards a vantage point opposite the side street, moving car by car.

Sarah decided she needed to make a move. Hopefully Quan was only aware of Casey, but the absence of her and Liniman when he turned the corner had to make him suspicious. She leaned further out of the entryway and saw nobody along the sidewalk, but it was painfully dark towards the corner. She slid out from behind her cover, staying close to the buildings. Keeping her gun pointed in front of her at shoulder level, she took step after slow and cautious step.

Casey risked a quick peek around the corner, pulling back as soon as the view registered. He recognized Sarah's shadow; there were only a couple of recessed doorways left where Chien could be hiding. Something didn't feel right.

Chuck hadn't quite made it opposite the side street when his peripheral movement spotted the shadow of somebody on a ledge directly above Casey. The figure crouched down, preparing to jump.

"Casey! Above you!" Chuck shouted without thinking.

Casey was facing the corner, so he only had one escape route: he shoulder-rolled directly into Sarah's line of sight. Chuck watched helplessly as Quan landed on the spot Casey had just vacated, his knife clanging harmlessly onto the sidewalk, throwing a few sparks.

Seeing a figure pop out of the shadows, Sarah instinctively fired a shot into the torso. The shadow collapsed; she approached him slowly, gun and eyes constantly aimed at the prone figure.

Hearing Sarah's shot, Quan took off running back towards the restaurant, turning right into the first alleyway.

Chuck came running across the street. Sarah, seeing him dash across the street, shouted, "Chuck! Stay back!"

On her command, he stopped. "Sarah, you shot Casey! Chien ran off."

Her expression became worried. She held her gun pointed towards the sky and moved forward while Chuck finished crossing the street. Casey lay on his stomach, head towards Chuck, unmoving.

Her worry quickly dissipated after noticing the bullet-hole in the back of Casey's shirt, casually saying, "Guess it was his turn." Her expression took on a hint of smugness, as if she relished putting a bullet into Casey.

Chuck was a little shocked by her cavalier attitude, even though he knew by her tone that Casey must be wearing a vest. Sure enough, Casey started gasping for breath.

His eyes opened. "Nice shot, Walker," Casey said, seeming to relish the pain a little. "Right on the heart." He stretched a little, trying to relieve the pain. "Mmm, it's been a while since I was shot."

Chuck collapsed onto the bumper of the car parked near the corner. "Well, if it's all the same to you two, maybe next time we can try to go an entire mission without one of us getting shot. Just to change things up."