AN : I don't own Chuck. No monetary benefit is derived from this work of fiction.
This chapter discloses the agency for which Agent 'James Cooper' works for (As if it's a mystery who that is!).
Its the Drug Enforcement Administration of course, the clue was there in the second chapter - DEA is the only agency I know of whose superiors are called Admins and Deputy Admins.
We have a 'blink and you miss it' appearance from one of the villains, Clyde Decker, as well.
I have gone back and added the dates to the last three chapters. It helps me keep the timeline straight in my mind. Also, this is the shortest chapter to date.
Chapter 4 : Chuck Versus the Tango
4 October 2007
Special Agent James Cooper once again stood alert in front of his boss along with his companion, the ever so lovely, Lt. Turner. She was fidgeting a little, well aware what her good friend was asking of her. Of course, she didn't have to agree to her request per se, but there was never going to be a doubt in her mind if she was going to accept this assignment or not. It was just as well that Amelia had already cleared up her involvement in this particular operation with the SecNav - she didn't want there to be any questions regarding jurisprudence or operational loopholes, if someone started challenging her participation in this mission down the line. Her role would be purely logistical in nature anyways, so she anticipated few, if any problems.
Strictly speaking, this was not something that fell in the purview of her normal job description. Sure, she may have been involved with a handful of intelligence operations in the past four years, but she was not technically Navy Intelligence. She just had a talent to spot if the person in front of her was lying, something that her mother had taught her when she was a kid, and one she had honed during her adult years. A skill, which the Navy had exploited once they came to know of it, and trained her to be one of the best Interrogators they had in their employ. Prior to that, she was just a regular Flight Surgeon on-board the USS Princeton. Her status was so highly classified now, that the then Secretary had ordered her records to be sealed and her chain of command summarily ignored so that she reported directly to the Under Secretary of the Navy himself. The Chief of Naval Operations himself was required to present a case regarding any changes in her deployment status.
She shook her head slightly as she recalled the circumstances that had brought about her unique status. It was pure coincidence that she was the closest available doctor that day, who could treat that ill-fated Iraqi POW. The CIA officer, Clyde Decker, who was interrogating the said prisoner was pretty impatient and had persisted in questioning him even as she was treating the prisoner's wounds. The prisoner in question was seen as a veritable font of information regarding Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program, but was proving quite a tough nut to crack. She had seen through his lies and deception easily, in spite of the CIA spook being convinced of his statement's veracity. When she offered a few suggestions, she was incensed by the agent's condescending remarks and had stormed out of the interrogation room to complain to her superiors. Her Commander had indulged her and given her the green-light to have a go at the prisoner herself.
And by God, had she delivered! The information she was able to extract from that prisoner had turned out to be so explosive, the CAG had rushed in with the Commanding Officer of the ship and after reviewing the intel, ordered a complete embargo on discussing this information until the powers that be were apprised of the situation. As it turned out, the CIA was far too happy as well to help bury this embarrassing ghost from its past.
Funny how life turns out. In the blink of an eye, Lt. Turner had found her security clearance upgraded to Above Top Secret, the newly discovered intel classified as Code Umbra and the intel itself was promptly shunted to the archives of the United States government to be forgotten. Just as well, if the truth of the matter ever came out in the public domain, entire governments would fall and allies of the United States could turn enemies overnight.
And now Amy had dropped this bombshell on them!
When Agent Cooper and his team wrapped up his last mission for the DEA, they had dealt a major blow to the Los Monos cartel's Santa Fe operations. They had succeeded in exposing the cartel's money-laundering scheme, which involved whitewashing their drug money by buying luxury cars from the US. Arresting the province's anti-drug chief and his network of corrupt officials had been another icing on the cake, the death of an undercover DEA agent in the cartel simply chalked off to another unfortunate casualty in the War on Drugs. What actually went down in Cordoba, the night when the actual operation began, was known only to a select few agency heads however, and they preferred to keep it that way.
The information filtering in from the many arrests they had made, had brought to their notice a previously unknown entity being the primary partner of the Los Monos gang, a group called FULCRUM, whose name had only been whispered by three different sicarios, before they were bumped off themselves. The DEA's Intelligence division had worked overtime for the last eight months and had finally managed to trace the roots of a few suspected members to the CIA, FBI, DEA and various other agencies. It was FULCRUM who was sponsoring the Rosario drug cartel, funneling cocaine into European countries and making healthy profits on the side. Nobody was clear on the exact motives of this group and the sole DEA agent they had managed to arrest had already been assassinated while in custody. The CIA and FBI agents involved had given them the slip and vanished into thin air as well. Deputy Admin Hartwell had lamented the fact that neither the CIA nor the FBI directors were taking this threat seriously. Her painstaking efforts to highlight how grim this new threat may turn out to be had managed to convince only the acting Attorney General and the SecNav so far.
Agent Cooper frowned and asked, "So Boss, the politicking not going too well?"
Her expression turned sour and she groused, "Not well, not well at all! I don't know if you have kept abreast of the recent personnel changes in Washington, but let me tell you, it's not looking good for us. This whole fracas couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time. Pete is hanging on as the Acting Attorney General until the new appointee is sworn in, which will take another month or so, by the way. Until the Judiciary committee and the Senate approve his appointment, our deputy AG Craig has advised Mike to avoid making any enemies. He feels the vote is going to be too tight as it is. The only person we have in our corner firmly right now is Stephen, but let's face it, the NSA can only act in an advisory role. And to make matters worse, the current DNI and his principal deputy are both ex-NSA, so Beckman has the home field advantage there. That man Hayden, especially, just rubs me the wrong way. Good thing Graham got promoted, did you know they were proposing Hayden to take over at the CIA?"
James exclaimed out loud, "No way! That would have been awful!"
Hartwell nodded, "Yeah, imagine having to deal with both him and his hand-picked NSA protégée at the same time. They would have kept us going in circles! Oh, and did I forget to mention Karen put in her papers yesterday? I've been saddled with her additional tasks for the foreseeable future now. It's as if the entire universe is aligned against me at the moment!"
James put his two cents in timidly, "Ah, I guess congratulations are in order, eh boss? You should look at the silver lining here. This way you will have complete control of the agency and you will finally be able to implement the changes to our Special Operations Division that you've long advocated for."
Hartwell sighed, "Yeah, there is that. It's just too much additional responsibility which I didn't need at this time."
Helen, who had been quiet until now, asked, "What about the Drug Czar? Won't he be able to put some pressure on the DNI for including you on this project officially?"
Amy only scoffed at that, "Please! That is just a bench-warming position, nobody except our agency takes the ONDCP seriously. Anyways, I want you to continue as you were, Jimmy. If all goes well, in four weeks we will have Beckman and her bosses at the DNI right where we want them. I'm going to talk to her about this Fulcrum threat tomorrow and see if she divulges any information. I will let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, as we discussed, Agents Johnson and McMillan will pass on the DEA and Navy personnel files to Helen at her job and you two can pore over them to find out if there are any red flags."
James argued, "I still don't see why you can't send those files to me online. The secure system I've implemented across the DEA network ensures not even the NSA can tap-in without our say so!"
Amy smirked, "True, but that still leaves the Navy out of the picture. And we have no idea how deep this Fulcrum group has infiltrated our ranks. No, it's better to do this the old fashioned way. What's the status of your software, by the way? Is it fully operational yet?"
James nodded, "Yes, it's almost done. I just need to verify that the information LUCIE digs up matches with what we get from the NSA. After a few test runs, I would say we are good to go. I will need to add some additional processing power to the system though, if we want faster results."
"This is great news! I'll approve any budgeting concerns, just send me the final figure." With that Amy smiled and bid them goodbye, before logging off.
Helen turned towards him once they were alone, "You know, after all these years, I still find it weird that we have to use our covers, when on call with Amy."
James let out a short chuckle, "Can't help it Lieutenant. You know these video conferences are recorded. Even if our faces and voices are blurred out and masked, Amy is a stickler when it comes to following proper protocol. Come on, I need to be at my other job in an hour and you need to get ready for your shift as well. Katie and George are excellent agents, I'm sure they will make contact with you today itself at the hospital. Pass on my regards to them, will you?"
She nodded and left through her usual exit, while James made his own way upstairs.
6 October 2007
Major John Casey was not in a good mood. There was a terrible aura of hostility surrounding him at work, where he was currently stationed behind an old computer trying to fix it's hard-drive. All his fellow nerds and the green shirts were giving him a wide berth, nobody had any idea what had upset him so much, today. One brave soul who had dared to ask him had nearly had his head bitten off and he had scampered away to a safe place, well, as safe as it can be in the circus that was the Burbank BuyMore.
Casey neither knew nor cared for the kind of reputation he was gaining amongst his colleagues - that he was a hard-head with a short fuse, ready to fly off the handle with the slightest provocation and was a man of few words, but an impressive vocabulary of grunts and growls. As a result, none of his colleagues wanted to socialize or make friends with him and that was a very good thing in his book. If his current behavior kept these Buy Morons at an arm's length from him, it was definitely a welcome bonus. He had no idea how Bartowski had managed to stay sane in this zoo for the past five years. He would have gone insane within no time. Charles Bartowski had the patience of a saint, if he said so!
The reason for his surly attitude was the not so minor tongue-lashing he had received from his boss, General Beckman, two days prior. As per his discussion with Walker, he had made his case to the General regarding the need to train Bartowski in their ways, if he was to continue with this assignment. He had even included a list of all of Bartowski's skills he could think of in his report, before making the final recommendation. Of course, he had also included the fact that Chuck had flown a helicopter flawlessly. Trust Beckman to ignore the big picture and pick up on that!
Beckman had asked in a disturbed tone, "What do you mean he flew a helicopter? Your report is rather terrifying, Major Casey. Do we really have the situation in hand? Why would you even allow such a thing in the first place?"
He'd had no choice but to give her a minute by minute reconstruction of the events that had transpired on the night of Walker's kidnapping, some of which he had glossed over in his report to avoid the resulting embarrassment in front of the General. To say she was displeased was a bit of an understatement. After hearing the complete story, she had become thoughtful and had wondered, "How come his flying skills didn't show up in our background check? How did we miss such a big thing?"
Well, at least he had an answer to that particular puzzle, "Ma'am, it was a clerical error. Bartowski's records were never entered in the computer by the flight school, but his sister's and her boyfriend's entries are there in the system. I believe there was a mix-up due to there being two Bartowskis and his application simply fell through the cracks. I checked, the hard copy of his file exists in their records. It's clean and legit."
"Hmm. I have to be honest, Major. Charles Bartowski is a wildcard and a headache I didn't particularly want or need at the moment. Before Larkin went and destroyed our Intersect facility, I was perfectly happy to let Project Omaha die it's natural death. We only kept up with the human trials due to the demands from the CIA. I was never too thrilled with the series of failures we had faced with the experimentation. And then Bartowski comes along and is able to fit the entire Intersect in his head! I offered him a reasonably good position with the NSA, but that man turned me down. I do not like being rebuffed, Casey. Nor do I want this operation to slip out of my hands, which is exactly what will happen, if Graham is able to convince Bartowski to drop his neutral attitude and join the CIA."
She'd leaned forward at that point and gave him a penetrating stare, "There's a reason Graham sent his best on this assignment, Casey. Walker knows how to twist even the most recalcitrant of men and turn them putty in her hands. Bartowski won't stand a chance against her. And we absolutely cannot allow that! If Graham succeeds in getting the Human Intersect under his control, all our efforts for the past four years to make the NSA our country's premier Intelligence agency will be for naught. It may seem like a good idea now to train Bartowski for this job, but what happens when he gets firmly pulled in this world? Will he be able to resist the allure of the James Bond-esque high-flying life the CIA offers him? And where will that leave us then? No, I can't take that chance, Major. It will be your responsibility to keep him under check and protected at all costs until the new Intersect is up and running in six months."
"And what happens to Chuck when this is done?"
Beckman exhaled a deep sigh, "Unfortunately, there is way too much scrutiny on your team and Bartowski in particular at the moment. Stanfield's interference has given the NSC the reason to look into our operations closely and they will keep monitoring us to ensure we held up our end of the bargain. Besides, Bartowski is a valuable asset and has been nothing but co-operative so far. Our scientists are overjoyed at having a working set of biometric data-points to further their research."
She narrowed her eyes and continued frostily, "But, if we are unable to convince Bartowski to see how foolish he is in rejecting my offer, I can't let him fall into the clutches of the CIA either. Your secondary mission objective is to earn his trust at all costs and persuade him to accept my original offer. Make sure you thwart any and every attempt the CIA or Agent Walker makes to snag him. If you fail in your secondary objective, we will have no choice but to employ our contingency plan, once the heat is off and the attention of the top-brass shifts elsewhere. Then, you'll do what you do best and Bartowski will no longer be of any concern to us or the CIA."
Casey had simply nodded and accepted his brief. Well, he would give it his best shot. Bartowski would do well with the NSA, after all, was he not the one who said NSA was Nerds' Paradise? He would fit in right at home there. He would be sad to see such a talented person sacrificed at the altar of inter-agency politics. Never mind that prior to this assignment, he wouldn't have thought twice about whacking off a rival agency spook, the competition between the CIA and the NSA was legendary after all. But after just two and a half weeks of being involved with Bartowski and his family, he found it hard to rationalize Beckman's attitude with his own evolving worldviews. Casey liked it when things were simple and this mission was turning out to be anything but. He heaved a sigh and concentrated on fixing the damn hard-drive in front of him, hoping there would be some mission he could be called upon, to save him from this monotony.
Just then, he saw Walker enter the store looking for her so called boyfriend. Casey noted how Bartowski's face lit up with a soft smile, when he saw Walker direct her seductive gaze towards Chuck. Their conversation however, must have been plenty awkward, for Chuck was barely able to hide his discomfort at something Walker said and Casey snickered at the perfunctory peck Chuck placed on Walker's cheek. One thing was for certain, Walker had her work cut out with this kid. Bartowski was all kinds of nervous when it came to PDA, he would definitely have to get over his inhibitions soon.
When Casey had asked him yesterday about his reluctance to show affection in public, Bartowski had readily admitted his uneasiness and that he had developed a mind block especially where Sarah Walker was concerned. He was trying hard to get past the fact that she had only pretended to be interested in him on their first ever date and let it go, she was after all just doing her job. Casey had smirked and added a few of his choice comments telling him how Walker was very good at those kinds of jobs. Of course, he didn't know that for sure, but Bartowski didn't need to know that, did he? He would do whatever it takes to keep his partner and asset off balance, he did not want them getting too comfortable or involved with each other.
He was shaken out of his recollections, when he saw Walker and Bartowski enter the home-theater room alone. What the heck! Walker had no business talking to their asset alone. Who knows what kind of moves she was putting on Chuck! He made a beeline towards the room and pushed away the gnome, Grimes, when he tried to bar him from bothering the two lovebirds. Upon entering, he noticed Walker was showing Chuck a bunch of photographs and challenged her, "Starting without me, Agent Walker? I thought we had agreed to work together. Why was I not told there is a mission coming up?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow at his comments and replied coolly, "Relax Agent Casey. I wouldn't dream of starting without you. I figured you would be here as soon as you saw the two of us enter here. If you hadn't, I would've sent you a text. Now Chuck, take a good look at these photographs. We want to know why these men were killed."
Chuck took a peek at each of them, but was unable to flash on anything, "Sorry guys, they are not in the Intersect. Or their faces are not the right triggers. If you know their names or known aliases, I can run a query through a program I came up with. I will have something for you by tonight."
Casey started shaking his head, but they were interrupted when Jeff Barnes barged into the room with a copy of today's newspaper and his lunch. Chuck saw a picture of a painting on the front page and immediately flashed on an art auction at the Wilshire Grand over the weekend. Sarah saw his eyes flutter and knew he had flashed on something. As soon as Jeff left, she asked him, "Chuck, what did you see?"
Chuck was a little confused, "I'm not totally sure. There were photos of weapons and an entry on La Ciudad from the CIA files along with information about the art auction. I think this person is going to be at the auction tomorrow night. Do any of you know why the CIA is interested in this La Ciudad?"
Casey and Sarah looked at each other uncertainly and shook their heads no.
"Okay Sarah, I guess you need to reach out to your bosses and see if they can clue us in. Meanwhile, Casey and I will need to man the cage until our shifts end. Big Mike has charged Lester with his annual 'clear the backlog' drive and we have been remiss in our duties this year. We need to finish the clean-up within two days and fill in our quota. I will see you tonight at Casey's."
Later that night, Casey and Sarah had just finished their briefing with their bosses and called in Chuck at Casey's apartment to fill him in. Sarah started as soon as Chuck closed the door behind him, "Hey Chuck. We just got off the call with Beckman and Graham. La Ciudad is one of the most elusive and mysterious arms dealer in the world, who has given a slip to the authorities worldwide many times. No agency has ever come close to nabbing him. Last we heard, MI-6 had a drop on him in London, but he vanished once again. Unfortunately, no one who has ever seen him has lived to tell the tale, so we don't know what he looks like. Chuck, you will have to come with us tomorrow night at the auction and see if his photo is in the Intersect and you flash on him."
Chuck was surprised they were letting him accompany them and said so, "I thought I would be in a van somewhere while you two provide the camera feeds or something. Are you sure you want me to be in the field?"
Casey smirked at him, "Honestly? Chuck, you have continued to surprise us so far, so I thought and Beckman and Graham agreed with my assessment that we won't know what you're capable of until you've been tested. Walker here thinks it's too dangerous for your first official mission, but I think you are ready for some on the job field training. So, what do you say? You ready for the real world, Chuck? Hope you know how to Tango, loverboy. It's a black-tie event."
Chuck just huffed at him, "I think I'll manage. What about my cover?"
Sarah explained, "We will keep it simple and go with your previous cover of Charles Carmichael. Easy to remember and not far off from your real name."
Chuck nodded, "Simple and dignified, but we need to add bit more to the backstory than what we gave the hospital guys. Let's say, Charles Carmichael runs a successful Internet Security company with big-ticket clients that value their discretion. He's semi-retired and is considering entering America's Cup."
Sarah smiled at him, "Have you done this before?"
Chuck laughed ruefully, "Let's just say, Mr. Carmichael and I share a small kinship. When I first entered Stanford, it's kind of where I envisioned myself being by now, except for the sailing part. I don't really know where that came from. But he's where most of my class already is."
Casey questioned, "So what happened, Bartowski? Why the BuyMore? You have a lot of money in your account, Chuck. Why not do something with it that you always wanted to?"
Chuck sighed, "Well, my life took a little detour after what happened at Stanford in my senior year. When Bryce accused me of stealing those test results and Jill broke up with me, I was shaken to the core. Two of the people I trusted most in the world, kinda left me at that point. Add to that, my Cryptography professor, Dr. Boneu, was killed not one week later and I just couldn't go back to that place anymore. Too many bad memories. So I left that part of my life behind and followed a different path. But I'll have you know, I haven't been sitting idle since then. I have been working on an artificial intelligence program off and on for the last five years. If I want to launch a start-up in my field of expertise, I need an air-tight product. It's almost complete now and I plan to submit my thesis and project plan for peer review later on. Who knows, may be I will get my Masters and PhD in one go. Anyways, it's late now and we should all get some sleep. Casey, I spoke with Skip and Mark and they have agreed to take over our night shifts tomorrow. So we are on the clear there, but we will have to fill in for them next week for the on-call duty. Goodnight guys. I will see you both tomorrow."
7 October 2007
Chuck was bored. Not ten minutes into his first undercover mission with Team Intersect and he was already fed up with the bevy of high society's who's who that had gathered for the auction tonight. It was mind-numbing how these people lived in their own little world and were so cut-off from the rest of the real world. He fell back to his usual tried and tested method of frittering away his time at such functions and started people-watching.
It was a trick his dear friend Eric Nelson had taught him back in his sophomore year, when he had run into him at a Vegas casino. Until then, Chuck had developed a habit of subconsciously forgetting all the little details he would otherwise notice around big crowds, in order to preserve his sanity. But when Ricky had learnt of his near-eidetic memory, he was thrilled to have finally met a kindred spirit with an ability similar to his. They had swapped notes and Chuck had learnt how to pick out only the relevant details from his mark's appearance and body language, while still being able to ignore the superfluous ones. Chuck, for his part, had taught Eric the memory trick his father had taught him when he was a kid and Eric had picked it up quite easily, although he couldn't use the ability to the full effect that Chuck could. That had been the start of a beautiful friendship and no matter where their career paths had taken them, they still kept in touch to date.
But today, he kept getting distracted on account of the marvelous creature on his arms. Sarah Walker looked absolutely exquisite in that body-hugging red gown and he was finding it a tad difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. When he dropped soy sauce on his shirt from an appetizer he had picked up, rather than being embarrassed at his clumsiness, he had been relieved to get away from her and put some distance between them. It was a good idea to center himself and find his composure, before heading back to the ethereal presence of the CIA siren.
Sadly, the Bartowski brand of luck had struck again while he was washing off the stain, and he flashed on a middle-aged man standing next to his sink. This man was definitely involved in some capacity with La Ciudad and the Intersect informed him he was at least a cold blooded assassin, if nothing more. He wondered if he should take out this person while he had the chance or wait for further instructions from his 'handlers'. Sarah and Casey had specifically told him, his job tonight was only to provide information and he was to leave any heavy-lifting to those two. Hell, he didn't even carry a weapon and this man was already suspicious when Chuck's stare at him lasted a few seconds longer than necessary, as he came out of the flash. When the man asked him if they knew each other, Chuck had no recourse but to deny knowing him and retreat. Too bad they were not on comms, Sarah and Casey would have picked up on this conversation and realized something was amiss. Well, not much he could do about it now, but it was definitely something he would bring to Casey's attention later. The lack of basic mission preparation from these two agents was beginning to grate on his nerves.
He made his way towards Sarah and informed her that he flashed on a man, the Intersect had a video of him killing one of the victims she had showed him yesterday at the BuyMore. The Intersect didn't identify him as La Ciudad per se, but he was definitely involved in one of the murders associated with this painting. Chuck nodded subtly towards the man and as Sarah went over to intercept him, he went over to the bar, following her instructions. He ordered himself a martini and was surprised to see it was Casey who handed him the drink, 'Ah, so that's where he disappeared to.'
He had just finished updating Casey about his findings, when the person next to him turned around and exclaimed, "Chuck Bartowski?"
'Oh Shit, today was just not his day! What were the odds of him running into an old classmate from Stanford here and blowing his cover?' Chuck was panicking inside, but pretended to not recognize the guy. His old classmate however, continued unfazed, "Alan Waterman. Stanford?"
He had to give in at this point and replied, "Hey Alan! How are you?"
Alan bragged, "I'm great! I don't know if you heard, I sold out my software company. Kind of unemployed. Problem is, I'm too young to retire, too rich to work. You'd know what I'm talking about. Took me six years to reach where you were back at Stanford. But I don't know how you did it man, I'm already bored out of my mind! What do you do to keep yourself occupied?"
Chuck gave him a nervous smile, "Ah, you know, travel the world, learn new things, work on your pet projects when you fancy it, the usual. Oh, and work at the local BuyMore fixing computers to keep in touch with the real world. That's how I keep myself relaxed and at peace."
Alan chortled, "You are one unique character, Chuck Bartowski! Listen, here's my card. If you decide to launch any of your pet projects, I wouldn't mind chipping in, buddy. It will be great fun and with you involved, it will definitely be a money spinner for sure." He finished with a wink.
Chuck took the card and to his dismay, flashed again. He was beginning to have a minor headache now and blurted out, "Uh, Insider trading and Offshore accounts in the Caymans? No thanks Alan, guess I will pass."
Alan's eyes bugged out and he more or less snatched his card back and fled with his tail between his legs.
Casey laughed out loud and started to comment, when he noticed the distressed expression on Walker's face and a gun pointed at her back. He ordered Chuck to stay where he was and rushed out to help his partner.
Chuck whirled around to see what the matter was, but Casey had already vanished. Sighing again at the lack of communication from his team, he got up and went over to take a look at the ugly painting that was at the heart of tonight's mission. Just as he came upon the painting, he flashed once more and this time, he saw a tube of weapons grade Plutonium being inserted into the frame of the painting. 'Oh Boy, this was not good, not good at all!'
He was still absorbed in the aftermath of his latest flash, thinking about the repercussions of such hazardous material falling into the hands of an arms dealer, when he was interrupted by a drop-dead gorgeous brunette, "Beautiful painting."
Chuck was stupefied for a few seconds, but he soon came out of his daze and breathed softly, "Yeah, beautiful."
The woman smiled knowingly at him, very much used to the effect she had on members of the opposite sex and this man in front of her was obviously no exception. He was, however, quite different than most of the men she had encountered so far, in that his eyes never wandered beyond her face after his first once-over. After being subjected to the lustful gaze of most men at this auction tonight, she found it truly refreshing that there was at least one person here trying to be a gentleman and hold a conversation with her eyes, not her ample assets.
She was amused and honestly a little confused as he babbled on about Bob Ross and PBS or something of the sort. Seeing her befuddled look, Chuck sighed, "I'm pretty sure you have no idea what I'm talking about. Well, don't worry, neither do I for that matter." He chuckled nervously.
Fortunately, the woman was not put off by his ramblings and introduced herself, "I'm Malena."
Chuck lifted the offered hand to his lips and bussed her knuckles, maintaining eye contact, "A lovely name for an equally exotic beauty. I'm Charles Carmichael, but my friends call me Chuck. Welcome to the United States, Malena."
Malena smiled, pleased at the compliment and questioned, "What makes you think I'm a foreigner, Mr. Carmichael?"
Chuck smiled mischievously, "Chuck, please. Mr. Carmichael makes me sound so phony. And I couldn't help but notice your accent, when I heard you speak in that breathtaking throaty voice. It's a dead giveaway, Señorita. Not many people you encounter in LA have that distinctive Basque country lilt."
Malena panicked a bit and asked wide-eyed, "How?"
Chuck shrugged and replied casually, "I travel a lot and accents are a bit of a specialty of mine, always have been since I was a kid. At the risk of sounding conceited, I would say I am pretty good at a few of them. You should hear my Irish or Scottish accents, not to mention my Southern drawl, you'd be surprised." The last two sentences, he spoke in near perfect imitation of an Irish and an Appalachian native, respectively.
Malena giggled at his antics, "I'm impressed, Chuck. So, what do you do that requires you to travel so much?"
Chuck replied, "I'm in the Internet Security business. Made it big during the dot-com boom and didn't quite know how to spend all that money. So here I am, attending this auction I have no real interest in, but trying to fit in with these people throwing away their hard earned wealth at these pretentious parties and galas. But right now, I'm really glad my friend dragged me here tonight, I've never really met an enchantress before."
She looked at him with half-lidded eyes and couldn't hide the slight blush that adorned her rosy cheeks, "Well, aren't you a charmer, Mr. Carmichael?"
Chuck's voice lowered an octave, "Oh, I am just saying the truth, is all. So, tell me Malena, what brings you to the States, work or pleasure?"
She pouted in response, "Work, I am in the security business as well. I travel a lot myself, just like you, meeting with clients and finalizing deals that keep my boss happy. But the job has it's perks, I suppose. Every once in a while, I get to meet someone really nice and interesting." She placed her hand on his arm and looked at him meaningfully.
Chuck was a little unnerved all of a sudden, he hadn't even realized how heavily he was flirting with this seductive temptress, until she closed the distance between them and he breathed in her heavenly perfume.
Malena continued to make conversation, "So Chuck, you don't like the painting?"
"Oh well, I'm sure some would find it very lovely. Me? I find the frame more interesting. To each his own, I suppose. You know what, forget I even said that. It doesn't really actually matter, sorry."
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion for a quick second or two, but she let the matter drop and picked up a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter, "Uh, Champagne?"
Chuck accepted the other glass from the waiter, "Sure, yeah. Cheers."
She clinked her glass with his and saluted, "Cheers."
Just then, the music changed and a number for the Tango started playing.
Malena exclaimed, "Mmm! I love a tango."
Chuck snorted, rolling his eyes a bit, "Oh, yeah. Who doesn't?"
"Do you? Well then, would you like to dance, Mr. Carmichael?", she asked in her sultry voice.
Chuck felt his pulse increase and his heart beat a little faster at the way she was staring at him and looked around for any sign of Sarah or Casey. Noting that they were still AWOL, he accepted her invitation, "You know what? What the hell! Yeah, let's tango."
As Chuck and Malena lost themselves to the passion evoked by the sensual tango, the two missing agents meanwhile, were trying to get out of the Mexican Standoff they found themselves in on the hotel rooftop, where the man Chuck had identified earlier had taken Sarah hostage. As it turned out, the assassin and his buddy were MI-6 agents from Her Majesty's Secret Service. Both groups were here tonight with the same objective of luring out La Ciudad and the SIS had already intercepted the painting and removed the Plutonium from its frame.
Chuck was enjoying himself, he hadn't been this spontaneous and carefree since Suzie's death. He had thought the date with Sarah was something to bring him out of his funk, but it was just another blip in the radar. Agent Walker was simply doing her job as her superiors demanded, nothing more, and he had been having a hard time getting over that particular disappointment. Maybe an evening of fun and relaxation with a stunning woman was just what he needed to get over it.
The song rose to a crescendo and as it struck its final chord, Chuck spun her away from him. She spun back in and he dipped her low, their hips separated only by the layer of clothing between them. Both were breathing heavily having reached an incredible high, but the next moment, all of Chuck's hopes and desires came crashing down in front of his eyes, when he noticed the jagged scar on the neck of the woman in his arms. He flashed and there was no doubt left in his mind that he had been 'doing the tango' with none other than the elusive La Ciudad! 'Oh Shit! Oh dear! Where the hell were Casey and Sarah?'
As they straightened and clapped and thanked each other for that wonderful dance, Chuck felt his mind go a mile a minute, trying to find out the best way to get out of this predicament. He would have to be extremely careful not to give anything away and cause an alarm in Malena's mind. If she cottoned on to his suspicions, she wouldn't hesitate to try something in the public and escape in the resulting panic.
Luckily, they were interrupted by his phone ringing and he excused himself, "I'm so sorry, but I got to take this."
"Hello Morgan."
"Hey Chuck. Buddy, you gotta help us. Anna, Lester, Jeff and I are all locked up in the cage, dude! The lock's broken and Lester left his keys in his locker. The only other key is with Tang and that asshole won't pick up our calls! Please Chuck, you've got to help us, all these old computers are giving me the willies, man!"
Chuck was exasperated, "Alright, don't panic. Have you tried calling Devon or Ellie?"
"Um, no. Not Ellie. This is too embarrassing, dude! Can't you come over and help us out?"
"Don't be stupid, Morgan. Ellie won't care and Devon definitely wouldn't. Call them and get yourself out of this mess. Next time, keep the keys with you when you go in or better still, get those locks changed. I can't leave at the drop of a hat every time you find yourself in a jam. Besides, it would be rather impolite of me to leave my beautiful companion in a lurch tonight. Goodbye."
Malena was curious and asked him about the conversation he just had, "Sorry to intrude, but I was wondering if there was an emergency and you needed to leave? This Morgan seemed to be a little distressed."
Taking a deep breath, he replied, "Don't worry about it. That was just Morgan being Morgan. He locked himself in a room with Anna, Jeff and Lester and wanted me to go unlock the door. Honestly, sometimes he acts so juvenile, I wonder if he is still a kid in a man's body."
She seemed uncertain, "Uh, if your friend is in danger, maybe you should go help out?"
He assured her, "Relax. By now, he would have already called Ellie and she or Devon would be on their way. She is just ten minutes out and will reach them much before I would. If it was a really dangerous situation, believe me, nothing would keep me away. But this is not the first time this has happened and he is just too embarrassed to face her." Chuck had rambled on and he realized he had given away too many details inadvertently. Uh oh, he would need to come up with an explanation fast.
"Oh, who's uh, Ellie?"
Chuck smiled softly, "My elder sister. She and Devon were out on a date and had Morgan babysit their kids. That's why Morgan was hesitant in calling her first. She would normally fly off the handle in such a situation, but like I said, this has happened many times before and Anna and others are good kids. There's no reason to panic."
Malena was even more curious now, "Oh, I didn't figure you to be a family man. Are you close to your sister and her children?"
Chuck replied candidly, "I love my sister. As for the kids, Anna is my favorite and Jeff and Lester are okay even if they are always up to no good. Frankly speaking, I love kids. Sadly, this profession I've chosen hasn't given me a lot of chances to settle down. Or maybe, I just hadn't met the right woman yet." He winked at her.
Malena flushed when she recognized Chuck's backhanded compliment for what it was and replied glumly, "Ah, I don't think people in my line of work ever really have a choice to settle down and have kids, Chuck. What you've mentioned sounds incredibly tempting, especially with the right guy, but let's face it, it's just wishful thinking. Besides, I'm here only for the weekend. I have to fly out tomorrow night. Then its back to the grind and off to a new assignment my boss sends me on."
Chuck could see a hint of genuine sorrow in her eyes as she spoke and he placed his hand on her shoulder in comfort, "Don't be so pessimistic, Malena. You always have a choice how to lead your life, remember that. It's never too late to change the road you're on. It would be a shame if you give up your hopes and dreams. I can easily picture you with an angelic baby girl, who's inherited those smoky gray eyes from her mother. Imagine what a heart-breaker she would be once she grows up. How proud you'd feel, when she comes home after school one day and asks for your guidance about boys and first dates."
Malena's eyes were glazed and she was rendered speechless at the picture Chuck had just painted for her.
Before she could say anything more, a hulking brute of a man came over interrupting them and whispered something in her ear. Her face cycled through a myriad of expressions - disbelief, hurt, disappointment and finally anger. Her eyes glittered malevolently and she nodded imperceptibly, but Chuck caught it and was afraid his cover had been blown. She invaded his private space and propositioned, "Chuck, why don't we continue this conversation over another glass of champagne somewhere more private. Let's go to my room."
Not seeing a way out, Chuck started to follow, but stopped short when two other burly and thickset men joined them in the elevator and stammered, "Uh, are they with you too?"
She smirked smugly, "Don't worry, Chuck. They are just some bodyguards my boss insists I travel with. They will not be disturbing us tonight."
Chuck went pale as he flashed on one of the tallest men accompanying them; this man was a psycho known as Yuri 'the Gobbler' Gobrienko, who was infamous for eating people and worked for the Russian arms dealer Alexei Volkoff. Things were about to go south and Chuck was wishing Sarah and Casey would get here quickly before there was any unpleasantness.
When they reached her hotel room, one of her bodyguards stood outside guarding the door, while the remaining two followed them inside. Chuck looked at her questioningly, when those two came over and stood beside him, grabbing each of his arms and holding him tight.
Malena had by now retrieved a sharp knife from her belongings and stalked over to him like a huntress eyeing up her prey. She held the wicked blade to his cheek, caressing it with its sharpened tip and nicked it drawing a little blood. Chuck winced at the cut, "You should know Malena, I'm not a big fan of sharp and pointed objects. You are freaking me out here. May I ask what brought this on, please?"
Malena laughed derisively and spoke with such venom in her voice that Chuck shuddered momentarily, "As if you don't know Mr. Carmichael, if that is your real name. I'll admit you had me utterly fooled, and that isn't something many can claim to have managed. All those honeyed words and that flattery, I have to say, not even for a second did I suspect you were lying through your teeth. Do you feel good about yourself that you trapped me in my feelings and emotions, Mr. Carmichael? That I was taken in by the sincerity and honesty I thought reflected in your eyes? If my colleague here had not done his due diligence and ran a background check on you, we would've never been alerted to your deception. There is no such person as Charles Carmichael in Los Angeles! So tell me Chuck, who are you really? And who do you work for?"
Chuck replied flatly, "You know Malena, you should've gone with a gun instead of pulling that knife on me."
Sarah was fretting over the well-being of her asset. She couldn't believe they had lost him and this was only their first mission! They had no way of knowing how Chuck was doing, their only way of tracking him was through the GPS tracker Casey had added to his watch. They rushed upstairs, following the signal to a room on the seventh floor and came across a thug standing guard at the door, with a gun in his hand. Lucky for them, he was distracted by a frustrated shriek of rage that came from inside the room and turned reflexively. Sarah took advantage of his momentary lapse of attention and advanced, knocked away his gun with a kick and followed it up with a blow to his head that left him out cold. Casey meanwhile, had kicked the door open with his right foot. Their guns drawn, Sarah stayed low, covering him as Casey stepped inside, but were both astonished at the scene in front of them.
Two men were lying on the floor, one unconscious and the other groaning while holding his family jewels, whereas Chuck had a woman pinned down to the floor in a half-nelson hold and had a knife pressed to her throat with his free hand. He looked up when the two agents stormed the room, then stood up dragging Malena in a standing position and tossed the knife behind him, "I told you Malena, I'm really not a fan of pointy objects. Agents, I give you La Ciudad in the flesh!" He finished with a flourish.
Casey had already taken out a couple of zip-ties and bound the two perps Chuck had put out of commission, while Sarah kept her gun pointed at La Ciudad wary of any surprises. Casey stood up and tied Malena with another of his cuffs, nodded at Chuck and pushed her towards the door, when she looked over her shoulder and said in a defeated tone, "It was all a lie, wasn't it?"
Chuck stepped in front of her, tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and whispered, "The only thing I lied about tonight was my last name and that my sister has kids. Everything else I told you was more or less the unvarnished truth. You always have a choice, Malena, keep that in mind. And you really do have beautiful eyes. I stand by my previous statement, it would be a shame if you gave up on your hopes and desires."
She smiled hesitantly, "Goodbye Chuck. I really enjoyed our tango."
Chuck gave her a half-smile, turned around and left through the door adjusting his bow-tie.
As Sarah looked on open-mouthed at what just happened, Casey shook his head and remarked, "Come on partner, let's wrap this up. I am going to make sure we get hold of tonight's footage from the ballroom. I'm pretty curious to know how our boy performed in our absence."
Back at Casey's place, after they finished the debriefing with their bosses, Sarah and Casey were once again watching the recording of tonight's events that Casey had managed to pull from the hotel's archives.
Chuck was surprised when he heard there was audio as well, "How did you manage that?"
Casey smirked at him, "What? You didn't think your watch was the only way we were gonna track you, did you? I had slipped in a bug in your rented tux that transmitted all the audio near you to a recorder in the limo. Surprise, you were on candid camera!" He started laughing uproariously at his own joke, but Chuck was not pleased at all.
"Oh ha ha! You are so funny, Major Casey! But seriously, I meant to bring this up earlier, but now is as good a time as any, I guess. Next time we go into the field, can we please make sure we are all on the comms? It was such an obvious handicap tonight! And one more thing Sarah, when we talked about our cover yesterday, I assumed one of you will enter the legend in the system. The only reason my cover was blown tonight was because it failed even the most basic background verification! I hope you take care of it before we go out on our next mission. I will see you later. Good night!"
Sarah pinked a little in embarrassment and looked at Casey. He was not looking too amused either.
"We keep dropping the ball, don't we? I thought you were going to take care of the cover stuff."
Casey countered, "And I thought you had that responsibility. We need to communicate better, Walker. This is the second time in as many weeks the kid has criticized our operation details. It's getting a little embarrassing to be honest. I still say there's something fishy with the way he has adapted to his situation seamlessly. Did you notice how easily he had one of the most dangerous arms dealer in the world, wrapped around his fingers completely? I'm going to make a copy of that video after scrubbing out his face and distorting his voice and send it along to Beckman and Graham. They will surely get a kick out of the whole thing. Might even include it in the 'Inducement of Enemy Personnel' training, who knows?" He was snickering as he finished that thought.
Sarah gave a small huff of laughter, "He was just being honest Casey. That's one of the many reasons girls fall for his charm. And it's like, he's not even aware of it most of the time! Anyways, I am tired and need my beauty sleep. I suggest you stop over-thinking Chuck's methods and just accept that he is a special person. Good night, Casey."
AN : I had a very difficult time writing this chapter, especially the scene with the Tango. My friend assured me that this Chuck does not appear Out Of Character, when compared to the background I gave in the first chapter at the BuyMore scene. I am NOT trying to portray him as a suave or a debonair kind of guy, just someone who has enough confidence in himself and is honest and sincere most of the time. I think that's something which a lot of people appreciate in others, even the baddies like La Ciudad.
I have no idea where that stuff about children came from, but it hit me out of the blue and I just had to include it somehow. I don't like the way most characters are portrayed as one-dimensional caricatures in the show. Please let me know if you think my way of adding an emotional touch to Malena seems totally unbelievable. I'd really appreciate the constructive criticism and comments.
One more thing before I sign off, all the stuff about the US Justice Department's personnel changes and the DNI structure is 100% true in real life. It was as if the entire scenario was tailor-made for the purpose of my story ;-)
I'll admit Lt. Turner's job as an Interrogator is somewhat of a fan-fiction cliché, but it's not something that has any real significance in the future. If it bothers you, please ignore it :-)
Oh, and the Eric Nelson mentioned here is the same as Special Agent Eric Nelson of the CIA's OIG department from the first chapter. One more of a minor crossover character I couldn't resist adding :D
As for who is Suzie and why her death matters to Chuck, stay tuned for the next episode :-)