Nope. Haven't gotten the rights to Chuck or Burn Notice yet.

A little shorter chapter, but everyone seemed so anxious to get to Carina that I thought I'd go ahead and indulge myself.

CHUCK VERSUS THE BURN NOTICE

CHAPTER 4

Combining the Teams

or

A Redhead Appears

Six people sat around a table in a small, out of the way bar, three on each side: Sarah Walker, Chuck Bartowski (who introduced himself as Charles Carmichael), and John Casey on one side; Michael Westen, Fiona Glenanne and Sam Axe on the other. From their body language, it was clear that neither group quite trusted the other.

John Casey and Chuck Bartowski were looking at Sarah. "Are you sure it's a good idea to bring in Carina?" Chuck asked. Chuck was a little nervous around Carina, what with her almost getting him killed and then trying to seduce him.

"If we're getting involved in an unsanctioned operation against a drug dealer, we need a DEA agent on board. That way, if something goes south, it gives us at least a modicum of cover," Sarah explained.

"Who's Carina?" Michael asked.

Sarah turned to him. "Carina is an exceptional, if somewhat unorthodox, field agent. She has an excellent record, but she has a tendency to… improvise."

"Sounds like she'll fit right in," Sam said, glancing toward the bar and wondering why the bartender hadn't come over to get them drinks yet.

"You think she'll play ball?" Michael asked. "My methods lately are not exactly… orthodox."

"Nothing about Carina is orthodox," Sarah explained. "If she can get credit for a bust, she'll take it. I just hope she's available."

"Listen," Michael said looking around. "Perhaps this isn't the best place to discuss this. Why don't we take this back to my place. It's secure."

"But Michael," Sam protested. "You're out of beer."

As they stood up to exit the bar, Chuck asked, "Can we order pizza?" Everyone stopped to look at him. "What?" he asked. "We didn't get a chance to eat dinner."

As they started to exit the bar, Chuck stopped Michael and Fiona. "You might want these back," he said, holding out their guns to them. "Why thank you, Charles. You are a gentleman, aren't you?" Fiona said. Much to Chuck's discomfort, she stuck the gun in the back of her waistband and then put her arm in Chuck's giving Michael an innocent smile.

Michael rolled his eyes and looked over at Sarah, who looked like she was ready to start round two with Fiona. Michael hurried over to Sarah and stepped between her and Fiona. "You're looking well," Michael said. "We didn't get a chance to say goodbye in Sarajevo."

"Well," Sarah said with a dark-eyes glance at Fiona, "we were kind of busy trying to dodge that Serbian death-squad." She turned and started walking out of the bar.

Michael followed her, trailed by Chuck and Fiona, with Sam and Casey bringing up the rear.

"What are you doing with the asset, there?" Michael asked her.

"What makes you think he's an asset?" Sarah asked.

"He's clearly not an agent," Michael said. "I thought he was going to shoot himself with our guns."

"He's my boyfriend," Sarah answered.

"Um, yeah," Michael said. "You take your boyfriend around with you and your partner when you're running an operation."

"Actually, we're on vacation," Sarah said. At Michael's knowing smile, she sighed. "Listen. He's off limits. Period. Understand?"

Michael smiled. "Like he's not even here." He glanced back. "I'll explain that to Fi."

"Your girlfriend?" Sarah asked.

"She was," Michael explained. "She'd like to be again, but…" He stopped. He really didn't know why he was telling Sarah this.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed.

*************************************************

"So, Charles," Fiona was saying. "What brings you to Miami?"

"Sarah and I are on vacation," Chuck said. He tried to inch further away from Fiona while they walked, but Fiona had his arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

"She's your girlfriend?" Fiona asked.

Chuck got a slightly distant expression, "Yeah."

"She's a lucky woman," Fiona said, pulling Chuck a little closer. "So tell me, are things going well between you two?"

Chuck gave her a bewildered expression.

***********************************************

Casey and Sam walked along in silence for a few minutes before Casey finally spoke. "What happened to you, Sam?"

"What do you mean, Casey?" Sam asked.

"Look at you," Casey said. "You were one of the best. Saved my ass twice. Now you look like some kind of beach bum." He gave Sam a sidelong glance, then snapped his eyes back to the front. "I've heard the stories around the agency. You hustle widows for lunch money."

"It's a little more than lunch money, my friend," Sam said. "I do right by them and they do right by me, although I'm kind of between ladies at the moment."

Casey gave a harrumph.

"Listen, Casey," Sam said. "You know as well as I do. You play this game long enough, you get burned out. Some hide in a bottle, like Roan Montgomery. Some get to liking the killing too much." He gave Casey a meaningful glance that Casey pretended not to see. "Some, like me, decide it's time to get out before we're a corpse in some field in Afghanistan. Besides, the spy game isn't what it used to be. Back in my day, you knew who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. Not like today. No honor, no loyalty today, even from the agency. Michael never would have gotten burned in the old days."

"So you dropped out," Casey said.

"Well, I tried," Sam said. "But Michael has kind of brought me back in. Oh, it's not like the old days. I'm not hauling a snot-nosed newbie agent into Leningrad," he glanced over at Casey.

"Or leading a seal team to rescue a compromised agent from the Taliban," Casey said.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Or that. But Mike, Fiona and I are doing a little bit of good here. We're not changing the world, but, eh, I'm not bored."

Casey gave another harrumph.

"So who's the asset?" Sam asked.

"Off limits," Casey responded.

"Roger that," Sam said. "Listen, you think you can stop and pick up some beer on the way over the Mikey's place?"

*********************************************

Twenty minutes later, they were in climbing the stair to Michael's loft. It was actually a large storage room above a club run by a former KGN agent. It had a bed, a refrigerator, a stove, a few chairs, and a work table. Behind the building was an industrial canal. They had to push through the line of people waiting to get into the club. Michael pushed open the steel door and motioned the others inside. The floors were thick enough that all they could hear of the music from the club downstairs was the bass, which caused the floor to vibrate slightly.

"You live here?" Chuck asked.

Michael shrugged. "It suits my unique situation."

"How do you sleep?" Chuck asked.

"Live through a couple bombings and sleeping through a hip hop beat is pretty easy," Michael responded.

Fiona walked past Chuck and flounced down on the bed. She gave Chuck a predatory smile and Chuck took a seat as far from her as possible. Sarah came over and sat by him and Chuck let out a breath he didn't know he's been holding.

"I initiated contact with Carina on the way over," Sarah said to Michael. "She should contact me soon, if she's not in a deep-cover situation."

"What if she doesn't respond?" Michael asked.

Sarah frowned. "We'll go ahead with the op. You need to be aware, however. We're on a deadline. We're leaving Miami on Monday. That's non-negotiable."

Michael's front door opened and Casey and Sam came in with a six-pack of beer, a six-pack of Cokes, a six-pack of diet Cokes, and two pizza boxes. Chuck brightened. "Did you get vegetarian, no olives?" Chuck asked. Sarah smiled at him.

*****************************************

It was past twelve when Chuck and Sarah made it back to the condo. Chuck opened the door and peeked his head in. No sign of Ellie or Awesome. He opened the door wider and stepped in, Sarah yawning behind him. They heard the faint sound of snoring from Ellie and Awesome's bedroom, so Chuck and Sarah tip-toed through the living room to their bedroom.

Chuck opened the door and stopped. There was a black-clad figure in a ski mask sitting on the bed. "Sarah," he said, his voice rising. Sarah pushed past him and looked at the figure on the bed, which stood and assumed a fighting stance.

"Hello, Carina," Sarah said softly. "We don't want to wake Chuck's sister and her boyfriend in the next room."

The figure pulled off her mask and shook out her coppery hair. "You're no fun," she pouted. "I haven't had a good tumble since I left LA." She looked over at Chuck. "How about you, Chuck? You up for a tumble?"

Chuck took a step back and moved a little more behind Sarah. "That would still be a 'no,' Carina," he said. "How did you get here so fast?"

"I was in town. Turns out there's some ex-spy looking to get into drug running so they called me. I was between gigs and feeling kind of bored, so I volunteered."

"Still going by Carina?" Sarah asked.

"Works for now," Carina said. "I see you're still your still posing as Sarah Boring."

"Sarah Walker," Sarah corrected, "And we still have our little adventures."

"I thought you said you didn't want to work with me again?" Carina asked.

"I need a favor," Sarah said. "It's in your area."

"What is it?" Carina asked. "Or more importantly, what's in it for me?"

"Come with me," Sarah said. "Casey's room is down the hall?"

Carina smiled a rather predatory smile. "Casey's here too? Quite the little reunion. Did he bring the clovers?"

Sarah couldn't help but chuckle. "You'll have to ask him that yourself." She turned to Chuck. "You stay here."

"But…"

"Chuck," Sarah said sternly. "You stay here."

She and Carina left the room and Chuck sullenly shut the door and flopped down on the bed.

Sarah and Carina walked down the hall to Casey's suite. Casey opened the door just as Sarah was raising her hand to knock. "That anxious to see me, Johnny?" Carina asked playfully. "Can't even wait for us to knock?"

"Hello, Carina," Casey said with a sneer. "It hasn't nearly been long enough."

"Let's take this little reunion out of the hallway, shall we?" Sarah suggested.

Carina brushed past Casey, making sure her hip brushed against his crotch. Casey stifled a short "uh" and stepped back. Carina just smiled. "Love what you've done with the place, Johnny," she said. "Going for Charlton Heston Chic?"

This earned Carina another grunt.

Carina slid onto the couch like a cat assuming a perch and stretched over to look into the bedroom. When she smiled, Casey grunted again. "You had to call her, Walker?" he asked.

"Be nice, Johnny," Carina said. "Sarah said you two wanted a favor."

Sarah took a seat across from Carina. Casey took up a position standing behind her so Sarah was between him and Carina. "The ex-spy that you came into town to see about?" Sarah said. "His name is Michael Westen." She took a deep breath. This was going to be hard to explain. "He isn't really looking to set up a smuggling operation. He is running something of a con on Enrique Obregon."

"Sounds dangerous," Carina said. "Obregon is a bit player, but he's hungry and he's vicious. He's looking to move up the food chain and he's not afraid to stomp a few heads to get there. So how do you know all this?"

The door to Casey's room opened and all three reached for their various ready weapons, when Chuck slipped in the door.

"Chuck," Sarah hissed. "I told you to stay in the room."

"I know," Chuck said. "But I heard Devon or Ellie moving around and I didn't know how to explain me being back without you. Ellie would kill me if I left you alone somewhere in a strange town."

"All right," Sarah said.

"You can sit over here by me, Chuck," Carina offered. Chuck's eyes went wide and he opted for a barstool over by the kitchen.

"I'll just stay out of the way over here while you talk," he said.

"Chuck," Carina pouted. "You'll make me think you don't like me."

Sarah gave Carina a warning look and Carina laughed.

"We met Michael Westen tonight," Sarah said. "Obregon has eight to ten young women he is using as mules. He has them stashed somewhere. Westen is trying to get them out and shut down Obregon so he can't retaliate against the girls or their families when he sets them free."

"Noble," Carina said. "But small potatoes. Obregon moves maybe fifty kilos of heroin a year. Not worth my time."

"These are young girls he's using," Casey said between clenched teeth.

"Not my problem," Carina said. "They no doubt got into trouble all on their own. Call the local DEA office. They'll pick up Obregon and sweat the girl's location out of him."

Chuck scrambled to his feet. "Michael Westen said that if we do that, Obregon will have the girls killed to cover his tracks."

"It's possible," Carina said. "Like I said, they got themselves into this mess."

Chuck's eyes narrowed and a rare look of anger crossed his face. "How do you know that?" he said, his voice rising. "How do you know they weren't simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Sometimes people get in messes completely innocently, and there's no way out. They're stuck in a life they didn't choose."

Sarah flinched at Chuck's words. She turned to face him, but he wasn't looking at her. His eyes, blazing with anger, were focused on Carina. "Not worth your time? How many lives is your time worth, Carina?"

Sarah turned just in time to see Carina flinch. Carina, the hardened, 'me first' DEA agent actually flinched at Chuck's onslaught. What was it about Chuck, Sarah thought, that he's able to get to the most hardened, cynical agents to turn almost human? He did it to her. He did it to Casey. And in the remarkably short time she had known him, he was getting to Carina. Again.

Carina suppressed a shudder and turned to Sarah, pretending to ignore Chuck's outburst. "Tell you what," she said. "I could use a little excitement right now. And I'm always game to work with Johnny again. Let's just say you'll owe me one. Count me in."

They spent the next hour bringing Carina up to speed and getting her promise not to bring in her superiors in order to protect Michael, Sam and Fiona, as well as Sarah and Casey's careers.

********************************************

The next morning, the alarm in Chuck and Sarah's room went off at 6:00 a.m. Chuck moaned and started to reach over to shut it off. Sarah nudged him and said sleepily, "You take your shower first."

"Do we have to get up so early?" Chuck moaned.

Sarah rolled over and looked at him, her eyes, still half-closed. "If we're not gone by the time they wake up, we're going to have to spend the day with them, and we don't have the time.

Chuck signed heavily and groaned as he got out of bed. He hadn't realized that being a spy meant getting so little sleep. He went into the bathroom and showered, shaved and brushed his teeth, then got dressed. He went back in the bedroom to find Sarah asleep. With a playful grin, he leaned over her and shook his still wet hair, spraying her with a fine mist of cold water.

She sat up quickly and Chuck suddenly felt something very cold and very sharp pressed against his neck. "Oookay," Chuck said slowly. "Not a good idea way to wake a sleeping Sarah."

Sarah sheepishly slipped her knife back under the pillow. "No, Chuck, it's not. At least, not if you want to keep all your body parts." She got up and went into the bathroom while Chuck composed a note to Ellie and Devon telling them that he and Sarah had been invited by a couple they met last night on a shelling expedition and they would be gone all day. Chuck hated to lie to his sister, and was a little upset that it was starting to come so easily to him, but he couldn't exactly leave her a note saying, "Bye sis. Off to rescue some drug mules and take down a drug-runner."

Sarah got ready in a remarkably short time and Chuck marveled at how beautiful she could be so early in the morning.

They went down to Casey's suite and were surprised when Carina answered the door.

"Good morning, Carina," Sarah said. "Where's Casey?" She leaned over to look into his bedroom, half expecting to see him handcuffed to the headboard."

"In his bedroom," Carina said. "Chuckie here is a bad influence on him. You know he made me spend the night in my own bedroom?" She indicated the bedroom in the suite across from Casey's.

Casey came out of his bedroom dressed in black shirt, black jeans, and black boots. "Way to blend in, buddy," Chuck said. "What look where you going for, death?"

"That's right, Bartowski," Casey snarled. "And one more word out of you and I'll show you just how effective I can be with regard to that topic."

"You wound me, Casey."

Surprisingly, it was Carina who put a stop to the banter. "Come on, boys," she said. "If you're going to fight, at least fight over me."

Casey grunted and stuffed a gloch in the back of his jeans and said, "Let's go."

When they got to Casey's suburban (black, of course), Carina slipped in the back seat and slid over to the other side. "Want to sit back here with me, Chuck?"

"I, ah, think I'll ride shotgun," Chuck stammered. Sarah gave Carina a dirty look.

"What the matter, Sarah?" Carina whispered just loud enough for Chuck to hear. "Poaching on your territory?"

"Put a sock in it, Carina," Sarah said. She buckled her seatbelt and then turned to fix Carina with a hard stare. "Remember what we agreed last night. Our op, our rules. We can't afford to have you improvising on this one."

"It worked out pretty well last time," Carina said, looking at her nails.

"Casey and I got captured and we all almost got killed," Sarah said.

"But we got the diamond and Peyman went to jail," Carina said.

Throughout the conversation, Chuck and Casey studiously studied the road.

***************************************

About fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of Michael Westen's loft.

"Ugh," Chuck said. "It smells like stale beer. I don't know how he stands this place."

"Smells like heaven to me," came a voice from behind them. Sam Axe was grinning at them. Fiona was a step behind him and didn't look quite as pleased with the smell.

"Good morning, good morning," Sam said. Then he noticed the boxes Chuck was holding. "Charlie, you brought donuts? I could learn to like this lad." He was about to reach for one of the boxes where he noticed Carina standing behind Sarah.

"Well, good morning to you," Sam said. "Is this the legendary Carina?" He stepped forward and took Carina's hand. "Enchante, mademoiselle."

Carina smiled. "Well, at least someone here knows how to treat a lady."

"When one shows up, I'll remember that," Casey muttered, earning him a kick in the shin and a dirty look from Fiona.

Casey narrowed his eyes at her and Fiona took on the predatory smile that Sam Axe knew only too well. "Well, well, Charlie's donuts are getting cold and Michael is waiting. Shall we go on up?"

Sam led the way up the stairs. Ever since he had almost set off Michael's spring gun a while back, he had learned to knock when Michael's door was closed. Michael opened the door and ushered them all in. He started when Carina passed him. "Alexis?" he asked, stunned.

"Hello, Michael," she said.

"Does everyone in Spy World know everyone else?" Chuck muttered.