This chapter has been finished since Thursday, but I didn't want to post before the finale, and I couldn't bring myself to post it after. I was... broken, I believe it's the word. People who read my tweets can confirm that, given that I spent most of Friday night getting drunk, hating Fedak and tweeting about it. Now I'm fine, I guess, but I still think this is not the ending the show deserved. Chuck and Sarah went through a lot of things in these past five years and I think the ending was just cruel. But now it's done and we can only hope for a movie in a couple of years. Thank God for fanfiction, right? Anyway, I loved both episodes, Zac and Yvonne were amazing, but that ending was... disappointing to me. I'm just going to assume that everything's alright now, and they are together and happy again, because they are Chuck and Sarah, and they belong together. Ha, I guess I am a romantic, after all! Now, to the story.
A/N: So here's the second chapter of this story.
I have to say, when I first posted this, I never thought I would be getting the incredible feedback I got, and I'm very grateful for every review, alert and favorite.
Again, I have to thank the people who helped me with this story. Thanks to the evil twin from charahtwins (Maca) for always giving me ideas and helping me think at the wee hours of the morning. Thanks to Aerox, who helped me with the computer stuff again (although I decided to go with the crazy solution rather than the real one); and to ShinyJayne20 and ChucksterinDowntonAbbey, who helped me via Twitter with some idiomatic expressions.
No Beta, so you'll have to blame me for butchering the language. And, of course, I don't own Chuck.
I hope you enjoy.
Chapter Two
"I don't need preparation," said Bryce, and Sarah rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time. They were trying to go over the plan for that night, when Bryce was supposed to take one for the team, although everybody on the team was well aware that he was mostly doing it for himself.
"Don't get cocky, Larkin, you don't even know what this people are capable of." Casey was pacing around the living room, while Bryce was comfortably lying on the couch. His smug grin was testing the Colonel's patience, which wasn't all that much to start with. His trigger finger was already itchy, and he just needed a good excuse to calm that itch.
Sensing Casey's irritation, Sarah decided to intervene. "He's right. We know they have at least tapped into the government's intranet, and Graham sent us here because the Agency suspected there was some kind of terrorist activity going on. That can't be a coincidence. We have to be careful if we want tonight's mission to go smoothly."
"Oh, believe me, Agent Walker, it is going to go smoothly," said Bryce, winking at her. Sarah thought she was soon to start pulling her hair out.
Before she could say anything, though, Casey took a menacing step towards Bryce. "Look, you dumbass, if you can't be professional, then you're not going to do this at all! This is serious business and we are not going to risk the success of the assignment just so you can screw a suspected traitor." When he stopped talking, his face was just a few inches away from Bryce's.
"Ok, ok, I get it! Gee… I thought you guys had a sense of humor!" he said, straightening up and fixing his tie. When he saw the incredulous look Sarah was sporting, he added, "Look, guys, I'm a pro. You know my record, I know you both have read it. I never fail a mission. Never happened, never will. And I know you think this is just a game to me, but it's not. I'm just as serious as you are about this, and I swear, you have nothing to worry about." Just when Casey was starting to relax, he pulled a small package out of his pocket and showed it to them, "After all, I always have protection."
The Colonel just let out the loudest grunt Sarah had ever heard and left the house, slamming the door as he got out. Three seconds later, Sarah heard the noise of the guestroom door being slammed as well. She ran a hand through her face. Apparently, she was now living with two kids. She turned around to face Bryce, who still had a smirk on his face. "I hope you're happy now, Larkin," she said dryly.
He waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, the guy's no fun, Walker. Besides, we've been over this a hundred times already."
"Ok, so you won't have any trouble to tell me how you're going to do it one more time."
"Not at all," he said, grinning.
Sarah quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm waiting."
Bryce chuckled, but obliged. "Tonight, I'll show up at Sylvia's place. We know her husband's not in town because Casey has been spying on them. Which is totally creepy. I mean, can you imagine him hanging of the roof, wearing that parabolic microphone?" Sarah gave him a disapproving look, and he seemed to notice it, because he stopped joking and continued. "She's going to invite me to the bedroom and I'm going to fulfill my patriotic duty by giving her exactly what she wants. You and Casey are going to be listening in case anything goes wrong, but I can assure you, nothing will." He winked again and Sarah inhaled deeply trying her best not to punch him. She couldn't risk Sylvia not wanting him because she ruined his pretty boy's face. "After she falls asleep, I'll sneak into her husband's office and I'll download any useful information on this." He showed her a flash drive and she nodded. At least the asshole had a good memory. "Then, I'll go back to bed, and hopefully, she'll be ready for round two."
Sarah couldn't stand it anymore. She just mumbled, "Ok, we're all set," and went back upstairs. Once in her room and having locked the door behind her, she sighed heavily. This was, by far, the worst mission she had ever been assigned to. She just prayed everything went according to the plan that night. She had a bad feeling about it. Besides, she had to admit, she had a lot in her mind.
For the first time since she remembered, she had started questioning her life, her choices, her motives. The truth was, she had been thinking about it a lot lately, especially since she had turned thirty three months ago. She couldn't stop wondering if that was the life that she wanted. Never knowing if the current mission was going to be the last one, always risking her life for something she wasn't sure she entirely understood. She had no family –unless she counted her criminal father and her estranged mother- or friends outside the Agency, and even those in the Agency were rather few. She didn't even have a home. Her underused apartment in DC was just a place she could stay in between missions, nothing else.
And now, being stuck in a place she hated, with a partner she couldn't stand, was bringing it all out again. And she would have never admitted it out loud, but she knew there was one more reason; one that had been added recently, and already was gaining more and more importance every time she thought about it.
Chuck. There was… something about him. She didn't know what it was, but in the two short encounters they had had, she had felt it. She had felt he was different. She had felt he was special. Which was absolutely ridiculous, because she didn't even know him. In spite of rationally acknowledging that fact, she felt completely helpless when she was with him, because there was no weapon in the world she could use to fight the effect he had on her. She had found that, when she was with him, she was only a woman, and she hadn't been just a woman in a long, long time. She didn't know how to handle it, and that was the main reason why she had literally ran away from him the last time she'd seen him.
The truth was, she was a mess. Here she was, sitting on her bedroom floor, leaning against the door, turned into an emotional wreck, and she couldn't be more ashamed. She blamed Graham, she blamed Bryce, she blamed Chuck and she blamed herself, for being so weak. If she was going to do her job, she would have to pull it together. Standing up, she pushed all her emotions to a dark corner of her mind. They were going to have to stay there, along with Sarah Walker, the woman. Taking a deep breath, she let Sarah Walker, the spy, regain control.
Chuck was in the courtyard of the apartment complex, sitting on the edge of the fountain waiting for Morgan, when he heard him calling. "Are you ready, Chuck?"
"Yeah, buddy, let's go."
Once in the car, Morgan casually commented, "So, I called Alex."
Chuck took his eyes off the road and turned to look at his friend, "Who's Alex?"
"The girl who gave me her card the other day, remember? Short, brunette, beautiful blue eyes?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember!" Chuck nodded.
Morgan smiled. "Well, we're going out tonight. I'm going to take her to a restaurant and then we're going bowling."
"Bowling! That's… an interesting choice," Chuck said, while he parked the car in his usual spot.
Morgan shrugged. "Yeah, well, I want to surprise her. Besides, everybody loves bowling!"
Chuck laughed. "Well, I can't say I know anybody who hates it, so…"
Morgan chuckled and pointed at the sign that read 'The Hunter Electronics.' "Wow, I guess your dad wasn't kidding about getting a new sign for the store."
"I guess he wasn't. It looks good up there."
The two of them made their way into the store, which was already full. Chuck headed to his dad's office to greet him. He had done that since he had started working there, after graduating from Stanford. "Hi dad," he said, leaning against the door frame.
Stephen took his eyes off the computer screen. "Hey, son!" he cheerfully greeted, inviting him in. "Did you see the new sign?"
Chuck stepped into the room, smiling at his excitement. "Yeah, dad, it looks great. And I believe it's also visible from the moon."
Stephen chuckled. "Well, you mother picked it," he said. "She's coming for lunch, you should join us."
"Sure, let me know when she's here. Oh, did you get the email I sent you the other day with the inventory?"
"Yes, I got it. I have to say, things are looking very good for us this year."
"I'm glad to hear that, dad," Chuck said.
Stephen cleared his throat and told him, "So, I was thinking… maybe you can take some time off and finish that program you were working on."
Chuck smiled. "Dad, I can't take time off. I told you, I want to be treated as any other employee."
"I know, I know… but I really think you're too good to be working at an electronics store, Charles. You are an engineer, after all," Stephen stated with proud.
Chuck grinned. "So are you, and you seem very happy about owning one."
Stephen chuckled. "Ok, ok, suit yourself. But promise me you'll keep working on that."
"I will, dad." Chuck turned to look at the front desk and saw a lot of people were already gathering around it. "I have to go now, there are a lot of clients and Jeff and Lester are nowhere to be seen."
"Ok, I'll see you at lunch, son." Chuck nodded and approached the small crowd. Apparently, there was a new computer virus going around and people were getting desperate. He had a long day ahead of him.
"I can't believe this," Bryce mumbled, as he stared at the screen of his laptop. It had been giving him trouble for the past thirty minutes. It was working painfully slow and he was starting to lose his patience. He considered himself to be pretty good with computers, but it seemed that the damn thing just didn't want to work properly. He was bored and had plenty of time to kill until the night, so he decided he would call someone to fix it. He grabbed the phone book and noticed there was a page with its corner folded. Not believing his luck when he saw the ad of the electronics store, he dialed the number and explained the woman who took his call what had happened. Once she assured him someone would be going to his house to fix his laptop soon, he hung up and relaxed into the couch. Five minutes later, he was sound asleep.
Chuck was having a crazy day. The virus turned out to be a nasty Trojan very difficult to remove and people were freaking out. He had had to cancel lunch with his parents, and even his dad was now helping at the Nerd Herd desk.
"Hey, Lester, it's your turn to take it," said Mandy. She was a petite brunette in her mid-forties. Her job consisted on taking the calls and assigning a person to take care of the computer emergency. After ten years of working at the store, she was the only one who could actually make Jeff and Lester do their jobs. So when Lester heard her, he got out from his hiding place under the counter and asked her where she needed him to go. The address caught Chuck's attention. It sounded familiar to him, for some reason, and Lester was almost at the door when he realized why. Running towards him, he called out to him, "Hey, Lester!" Lester turned around to face him. "Hey, buddy, I got this one," he told him, out of breath.
"That's interesting, Charles. Why would you want to go all the way across town just to get a computer emergency?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I don't… I, uh… Mandy just remembered the caller said they have a PC, and I know you're a Mac guy, so… I'm really just trying to save you some pain here," Chuck lied, knowing that that would make him back off.
"Ha! That woman! She thinks I'm an amateur. I'm and IT artist, Charles, and I am not going to waste this," he pointed to his head, "on a PC. She should be ashamed, Charles, she should be ashamed!" and with that, he handed him the briefcase he had been holding and walked away. Chuck just watched him as he left, slightly amused. Shaking his head, he made his way over the car and got in.
He knew he wasn't supposed to get too excited, but he couldn't help it. He had thought he wasn't going to see her ever again, and now, she had called. Maybe she needs to transfer her old files to the new laptop, he thought, being rational. She had admitted she didn't know how to do that, so that had to be it.
What am I doing here? He remembered the conversation he had had with Ellie only a few days ago. He had told her he wasn't the kind of guy who would go after a married woman, but here he was, lying to a coworker and taking over a call that wasn't even his. And now it was too late to come back and make up some excuse to get someone else to go. Not even Lester would believe him. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel while resisting the urge to bang his head against it. That couldn't be safe. What was safe –and the right thing to do, said the little voice of his conscience, which sounded a lot like Ellie- was to get to Eva's –Mrs. Anderson's! - house and be completely professional. And to make sure that this would be the last time he ever saw her. It was better that way. He parked in front of the house and headed to the door. His hands were sweating and he suddenly felt self-conscious. He shook his head, trying to get rid of that feeling, exhaled deeply and knocked on the door.
Sarah walked into the living room to find Bryce asleep on the couch. At least he won't be bothering me for a while, she thought. She was making her way to the kitchen when she heard a knock on the door. Oh, crap. In this assignment, a knock on the door meant that a neighbor was coming over with the intention to chat. And that meant a lot of fake smiling, feigning interest, and usually, a headache.
"Bryce! Bryce, wake up!" she called. He was supposed to be at work, so he would have to hide until the unexpected visit left. That was, if she ever succeeded on waking him up. "Larkin!" she almost shouted in his ear. That seemed to do the trick.
He sat upright and blinked. "What? What is it?" he asked groggily.
"There's someone at the door! You need to hide, now!"
"Why? It's probably just the computer guy…" he said, rubbing his eyes.
Sarah felt… panic, but forced herself to remain calm. It couldn't possibly be him. There were plenty of stores Bryce could've called, and even if he'd called to that one, she was sure Chuck wasn't the only one who worked there. So she was going to be fine. It wasn't like Chuck was the one behind that door, anyway. However, she needed to be sure.
"Ok, you get it, then," she cowardly said.
Bryce frowned, still barely awake. "Why?"
"Because my computer works fine and I didn't call anyone!" she hissed.
"What if one of the neighbors see me?"
She didn't know why they were arguing about this. "Then we'll just tell them you're sick!" She heard another knock and her heart started to beat a little faster. "Go!"
"Ok, ok, I'm going," he said, slowly getting up and heading to the door.
Nobody was answering and Chuck felt a little relieved. And a little disappointed too, but he wasn't going to admit it. He was about to leave when the door flew open. He swallowed hard and slowly turned around, but the eyes that were focusing on him wasn't the ones he was expecting to see. He was frozen in place, and couldn't bring himself to say a word. He had been assuming Eva was the one who had called, but it never crossed his mind that it was possible that his husband had done it instead. He wanted to kick himself for being so stupid.
"You're the computer guy, aren't you?" the man said.
"Uh… yeah, yeah. I'm, uh… Chuck," he stammered.
The man smiled. "Ok, Chuck, come on in," he said, inviting him in.
Sarah's eyes widened when he heard what Bryce had said. She was eavesdropping from the kitchen. To be honest, this couldn't be considered as one of her best moments and she wasn't very proud of herself right now. Pushing those thoughts aside, she focused on the voices coming from the living room.
"Let me just get my laptop," she heard Bryce say. She tried to look casual when he entered the kitchen, but her heart was pounding and the magazine she was supposed to be reading was upside down.
"What are you doing? Reading some runes? Are you trying to turn someone's ears into kumquats?" he asked when he noticed.
She looked at him as he was crazy. He just chuckled as he grabbed the computer and went back to the living room. Sarah sighed heavily and buried her head in her hands. She had officially reached a new low. She was a trained spy, for God's sake! A trained CIA Agent who was currently hiding from some guy she had met a few days ago. So what if her palms were suddenly sweaty and her heart felt like it was going to come out of her chest? Chuck was only doing his job and she was going to do hers. She told herself that she had a cover to sell, and that her sudden impulse of joining her fake-husband in the living room had nothing to do with her wanting to see Chuck again. Before she knew what she was doing, she was already stepping into the living room. Chuck was the first one to notice. Bryce was saying something, but she knew Chuck's full attention was focused on her as she made her way next to the couch.
"Hi," she said, her voice sounding unusually shy.
Chuck realized he had been staring at her, so he diverted his eyes to the laptop that was currently on his lap as he awkwardly mumbled a 'hello.'
Bryce turned around to face Sarah. "Hey, honey, need anything?"
Great, now what? "No, I just… I was looking for those…" she said, as she pointed to the DVD cases lying on the coffee table. As soon as Sarah noticed what those were, she felt the need to crawl into a hole and die. However, her expression remained somewhat neutral as she tried her best not to look at Chuck.
Bryce grabbed them and frowning, he told her, "I didn't know you were into TV shows."
Chuck's gaze fell to his lap as he bit his lower lip. This had been, by far, the worst idea he had ever had. He didn't know what he was thinking, coming over to her house, giving her free DVDs… it was not like he'd been expecting her to dump her husband for him. So why was he sitting on her couch now, wishing he was invisible?
"Oh, well, I recently discovered it myself," she answered sweetly, grinning a little. What is he doing?
Bryce grinned as well. "That's good, we can watch it tonight if you want." Just as he finished speaking, his cell phone rang and "Pump it" filled the room. Sarah did her best to disguise her irritation. She hated that song with a passion. She also suspected that was the reason Bryce had set it as a ringtone.
Bryce checked the caller ID and, seeing it was Graham, he excused himself and walked out to the backyard, leaving Chuck and Sarah alone.
Sarah didn't know what to do. After a few moments of hesitation, she decided to take a seat in the chair next to the couch. Chuck kept working on the laptop, ignoring both Sarah and the awkward silence that had settled between them.
"So…" Sarah's eyes widened when she discovered she was actually talking.
Chuck immediately gazed at her. "Is it bad?" she lamely asked, pointing at the computer.
"Uh… yeah, kind of. It's a new virus that's going around. The store's been a little crazy today. A lot of people has come with the same problem."
"Oh." She didn't really know what else to say. "Can you fix it?"
"Uh… yes, yes I can." Even when he had gotten himself into this soap opera-ish kind of mess, computers were one thing he understood. And he knew everything about them, which made him feel comfortable and secure. So he kept speaking, even though Eva hadn't really shown interest in knowing anything else. "It's actually a Trojan. But this one's kind of tricky to remove given how it works. You see, it uninstalls the virus scanner of the computer, and then, when you try to install another one, it stops the installer execution."
Sarah listened to everything he said, although she had no idea what he was talking about. He seemed to know what he was doing, though, and she told him that.
He smiled. "Well, I did go to Stanford."
Sarah's eyebrows shot up. She had thought he appeared to be a smart guy, and that last bit of information confirmed it. "That's impressive," she truthfully stated.
He chuckled. "It's not when your father's an engineer, your mother a successful business woman and your big sister a neurologist."
"Wow… that's… impressive too," she said.
"And also a little pressuring," he commented, as he started to type something.
"I can imagine."
"And… it's done." He smiled victoriously as he showed her the screen of the laptop. "Good as new."
She couldn't help but smile at his excitement. "That's great. I'm sure Kyle's going to be happy to hear that."
Chuck's smile faltered a little when she mentioned her husband, but he kept eye contact. It wasn't like he could stop staring at her beautiful blue eyes, anyway.
"So I'm guessing you're going to start watching Fringe," he said.
"Yeah," she lied. "I'm very intrigued, and someone told me it's awesome," she teased.
He chuckled. "Well, someone knew what they were talking about, then."
"I guess they did."
They fell silent again, and Sarah was starting to get nervous when he asked, "How's the new laptop working?"
She let out a relieved sigh, truly appreciating that he was by far a much better talker than she was. "Great. I really like it. Kyle helped me transfer all my old files."
"That's good, that's great… I'm glad you liked it." He was running out of conversation topics and she wasn't helping him at all. "So, uh, you have a really nice house."
"Thanks. We recently moved in."
"Oh. What, uh, what brought you to LA?"
"Kyle got a job offer and we thought it was the right time for us. So we came here. It's really different from Chicago." She felt guilty for lying to him, especially when he was being so nice to her, but she couldn't tell him the real story, so she went with the cover one.
He gave her a crooked smile that caused her heart to speed up again. "Oh, I can imagine. The weather's much better, right?"
She chuckled. "Oh, yeah. That is one thing I don't miss at all."
Someone cleared their throat and both Chuck and Sarah turned to look at Bryce, who had stepped into the living room and was now staring intently at them, quirking an eyebrow.
Chuck looked down, ashamed. He technically wasn't doing anything wrong, but he felt incredibly guilty for feeling such an intense attraction to a married woman. She was great. She was perfect. And he was going straight to hell.
Sarah noticed his troubled expression and said, "Kyle, honey, he just finished fixing your laptop."
"That's great. Thank you very much, Chuck," Bryce said, taking a step closer to the couch. The embarrassed look in the guy's eyes said it all. Busted. He decided he was going to have some fun. "So, I guess you're done here," he added, in a serious tone.
Chuck swallowed hard. "Yes, Sir." He set the computer on the coffee table and stood up. Mr. Anderson escorted him to the door, but he felt like he was trying to make sure he actually left the house. After he paid him, Eva joined them at the door.
"Goodbye, Chuck, and thank you," she said.
He saw Mr. Anderson snaking an arm around his wife's waist as he added, "Yes, thank you, Chuck."
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he heard a tone of warning behind those words, so he just nodded and said, "Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," before almost running towards his car and taking off.
When Bryce closed the door, Sarah took a step back, forcing him to let her go. "You had to do that, didn't you?" she accused.
Bryce wasn't going to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. "Well, he was kind of ogling my wife, you know? I don't like that."
"I'm not your wife, Larkin. And he wasn't ogling, he was being perfectly nice. And he fixed your computer."
"Yeah, that's great news, because I just paid him for that. And I'm getting tired of having to remind you that we have to sell our cover." Sarah kept quiet, because she knew he was right. She had never been so distracted on a mission and it pissed her off that, of all people, he was the one who kept pointing it out. "And what's with you getting so girly all of the sudden?"
"What?"
"You were giggling like a schoolgirl, Walker, I saw you."
Sarah let out an offended gasp. "I was not!" Sarah Walker never giggled. Ever.
Bryce smirked. "Don't worry, he seemed to be into you too."
Sarah hated herself when she couldn't quite control the pleased expression that appeared on her face. It didn't matter, she knew that, because he still thought she was married and she was never going to see him again anyway. That thought alone was enough to make her frown.
But Bryce was, after all, a spy, and that meant he was also good at reading people's expressions, and that was what he was doing with hers right now. "Oh, my God, Walker! You got it bad for the nerd!" Sarah clenched her teeth but didn't say anything. "Wait a second… that's why the page on the phone book was folded! You had met him before! Wow… I wouldn't have expected this from you, Mrs. Anderson."
"For the last time, Larkin, we're not married. And when and how I met him it's none of your business." She knew she wasn't exactly helping her case here, but he was smirking and she hated that.
"So I guess this is why you don't want to be with me. Would you be attracted to me if I was a loser with no future working at an electronics store?" he maliciously inquired.
Sarah wasn't going to just stand there and let him talk like that about Chuck. "He's not a loser, Larkin. He went to Stanford."
"So what? I went to Penn!" he said dismissively.
Sarah had had enough. Taking a step closer to him, she looked him in the eye as she spoke, "But you're an arrogant bastard. You don't care about anything or anyone but yourself. And that is why nothing's ever going to happen between us." With that, she headed upstairs.
She really didn't want to hear what else he had to say. For now, she was going to lock herself in her room –again- and try to calm down. After all, it was the only place in the house where she could be alone. She was being emotional and she knew it, but she couldn't help it when Larkin kept pushing her buttons. Looking through her bedroom window, she spotted Casey pruning the bushes. She knew he was kind of waiting that everything ended that night, but she was skeptical. Not because the success of the mission depended on Larkin –after all, despite being an asshole, he was a great field agent- but because it all seemed… too easy. Something felt weird, but she couldn't put a finger on what it was. She had learned to trust her instincts through the years, for they were almost never wrong; and now they were telling her something was really wrong about this whole assignment. She tried to shake off that feeling, but it kept bugging her for the rest of the day.
After spending the rest of the day avoiding Bryce, Sarah went downstairs to get ready for the mission. Casey was already there. For the looks of it, he and Bryce had argued again, because they were standing in opposite sides of the kitchen, not talking to each other. Sarah sighed and decided to take control of the situation.
"Is everything ready?"
Casey nodded. "Yes, it is. We just have to wait until Sylvia gets home. She should be back from yoga in about twenty minutes."
"Ok." Turning to Bryce, she reluctantly asked him, "You're all set?"
For once, he decided to be serious. "Yeah, I have everything I need."
Casey handed her an earpiece. She put it in; although she was sure she wouldn't be wearing it all the time. They just stood there, the three of them in silence, waiting for Sylvia to arrive. Fifteen minutes later, they heard her car. Bryce reached into his pocket to check the flash drive was still there. Casey handed him a bottle of wine and he waited a while before heading to the door. He didn't want to seem too eager.
"Ok, wish me luck!" was all he said, before turning the lights off and walking out the house.
Sarah and Casey nodded and settled in the kitchen table. Sarah turned on a flashlight. It wasn't ideal, but she was supposed to be back in Chicago at her aunt's funeral, so they couldn't risk being seen.
Bryce made his way to the door and knocked. After a few seconds, Sylvia opened it. He immediately noticed she was wearing a very short robe.
"Mr. Anderson," she said with a grin. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Hello, Sylvia. My wife's out of town and I was feeling lonely. I figured you could keep me company. I hope this is not a bad time," he said with a charming smile.
"Not at all," she replied, letting him in. "My husband's out of town too. I thought I was going to have to… keep myself entertained, but this is such a nice surprise!"
Bryce gulped as he walked towards the couch. He heard Casey's snort in his ear. Sylvia quickly joined him with a corkscrew and two glasses. He opened the bottle and poured them both some wine.
Suddenly, music started to play and he smiled when he saw Sylvia holding the music system's remote. She moved closer to him on the couch and rested a hand on his thigh. "So, Kyle. Are you going to tell me why you're really here?"
He took a sip of wine and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, your wife is out of town, but you didn't have to come here. I'm guessing you had… something else in mind."
Bryce settled his glass on the floor and turned to look at her in the eyes. "The truth is, ever since you talked to me at the barbecue, I can't stop thinking about you."
She seductively bit her lower lip and leaned closer to whisper in his ear. "That's good. Because I can't stop thinking about you either," she then nibbled his earlobe, and settling her glass near his on the floor, she pushed him so he was now lying on his back, and slowly undid her robe, revealing a white see-through negligee.
"Well, the kid's good at seduction, you have to give him that," said Casey.
"Please, he barely had to do anything. That woman was ready to jump him since he knocked on that door," Sarah said taking her earpiece off with a disgusted expression. "How long do you think this is going to take?"
Casey listened intently, and after a few seconds he answered, "Well, it seems like they have a couple more minutes before…"
"I was talking about the mission, Casey," Sarah interrupted him, narrowing her eyes.
Casey cleared his throat to disguise a chuckle. "Oh, I don't know. A couple of hours maybe?"
Sarah sighed. "I hope everything goes right tonight."
"Relax, Walker, it's going to be fine. The kid clearly knows what he's doing."
Sarah just glared at him.
An hour later, Bryce was lying on the bed as Sylvia slept right next to him. He slowly got out of bed and went downstairs. He took the flash drive and a tranq dart out of the inside pocket of his jacket and pinched Sylvia on the back of her neck, so she wouldn't see the mark the next day. He headed to the office and turned on the computer. He realized it had a password and he cursed under his breath for not considering that possibility. He looked around to see if he found any clue to what it could be, with no luck. "Casey, Walker!" he said into his watch.
Casey was the first one to answer. "What is it, Larkin?"
"It's the computer. It has a password!"
"Crap! How is it that we didn't think about that?"
"I don't know, but I can't get the intel we need unless I have the password."
Sarah joined the conversation, "Are you sure there isn't any other way?"
"There isn't, unless you want me to carry the computer to the house and then call an analyst to log in," he answered sarcastically.
"Ok, ok. Where's Sylvia?"
"In the bedroom. I tranqed her so she wouldn't catch me sneaking into his husband's office."
"Well, go back to bed for now. I'm calling Graham to let him know about the situation. As soon as I get his orders, I'll tell you what to do."
"Copy that." He turned the computer off and went back to bed, just as Sarah had told him.
Across the street, Sarah was talking to Graham. "Director, we have a situation. Agent Larkin is currently at the suspect's house, but he can't get the intel we need because the computer has a password, and we don't know it."
"And you didn't think about this before?" Graham's tone was harsh on the other end of the line.
"No, Sir." She heard his sigh and cringed. This is what happens when you get distracted on a mission, she scolded herself.
"Ok. I know someone who lives in LA, someone who works for the Agency and can get you into that computer. I'll contact him and set up a meeting. Agent Larkin will have to repeat tonight's performance tomorrow night. I'll call you tomorrow with the details."
"Thank you, Sir." Graham didn't say anything else and the line went dead.
She headed back to the kitchen table and spoke into the microphone. "Larkin, do you hear me?"
"Yes, I'm here."
"I just talked to Graham. He says he knows someone who can help us get into the computer, and he's going to set up a meeting for tomorrow. He also said you're going to have to repeat tonight's performance, so make sure she wants to see you again."
"Ok, I will. I guess I'm sleeping here tonight. I'll see you tomorrow," he said.
"Ok. We'll be staying up in case anything happens."
"I'm guessing Graham wasn't happy," Casey commented.
"Not at all. I hope this guy can help us. I have a bad feeling about all of this."
"Relax, Walker. You're just tired. Why don't you go to sleep? I'm staying up anyway," he offered.
Sleeping sounded great, but they were on this together and she wasn't going to let him stay awake while she rested. "No, it's ok, Casey, thanks."
"Ok, suit yourself," he said, shrugging.
Sarah grabbed the flashlight and went to make coffee. If they were going to stay up all night, they were going to need it.
It was seven thirty in the morning when her phone rang. She quickly picked it up when she saw it was Graham.
"Walker."
"Agent Walker, I just talked to our man in LA. He says he can meet with Larkin at 10 am. He's going to give him a device to access the computer."
Sarah asked where they were supposed to meet, and Graham gave her the address of a park. "Look, Walker, I trust this man completely, but he's a little paranoid, so I think it's best if you do what he says."
"Understood, Sir. How is Agent Larkin supposed to recognize him?"
"He says he'll find him. His codename's Orion. That's all you need to know."
"Thank you, Sir. Agent Larkin will be there."
"He better be. Oh, and Walker? Make sure you don't screw this up again."
Sarah's eyes widened and she squeezed her phone in her hand before smashing it into the table.
Casey glanced at her, with a slightly amused expression. "What did he said?"
"He asked me to not screw this up again," she replied, barely containing her urge to punch something.
Casey grunted. "You know he's right, though. We did screw up. We should have thought of that before Larkin went in."
She sighed, her anger diminishing a little. "I know, I know. But still, I don't like to be lectured by my superiors."
"I know what you mean. I wonder if Larkin's planning to ever come home again."
Just as he said that, the door flew open and Bryce stepped into the house, looking disheveled. "Morning," he said cheerfully.
"About time, Larkin. Graham just called," was Casey's reply.
Bryce shook his head and took a sit at the table. "I'm sorry, I was just waiting for her to wake up. I wanted to make sure she knew I was leaving. By the way, she asked me to go back tonight, so I'm going to get that intel."
Sarah told him everything Graham had said about the meeting with Orion, and Bryce agreed to go alone.
A couple of hours later, he was in the park, sitting on a bench, trying to spot his contact. Suddenly, a tall man took a seat next to him. He was also wearing sunglasses and a long coat, which was a little excessive given the warm weather.
Bryce didn't look at him directly, always acting as he was just enjoying the view.
"Agent Larkin." It wasn't a question, he noticed.
"Yes."
"I'm Orion. Director Graham sent me to give you this." He discretely handed him what looked like a flash drive.
"A flash drive?" he asked, skeptical.
"This is not just any flash drive, Agent Larkin. Once you plug it in, you need to set the computer to boot from the flash drive. That will allow you to log in without the password."
"Are they going to be able to tell about the intrusion?"
"No. Originally, this would reset the password, but I programmed it so it will grant you access without doing it. We don't want them to get suspicious, do we?"
Bryce nodded. "That's all?"
The man stood up. "That's all, Agent Larkin," he said, as he started to walk away.
Bryce watched as Orion made his way across the park. A group of kids were passing by in front of him, and his view was momentarily blocked by them. Once they were gone, so was Orion.
For the second time in two days, the night found Casey and Sarah sitting at the kitchen table. Casey was checking the microphones and Sarah was making coffee. Bryce was standing next to Casey, his hands deep in his pockets, and unusually quiet.
"Is everything alright, Larkin?" Casey asked, noticing his strange behavior.
"Yeah, everything's… fine," he said, not sounding convincing at all.
Sarah frowned. She had never seen him like this, without that confident attitude that seemed to be his default mode. "Are you sure? Because if you don't think you can do this…"
"It's not that. I can do this. I just… have this funny feeling, that's all." He looked somehow affected and Sarah was starting to worry about him when he added, "Maybe this is what you feel when you sleep with the same woman two nights in a row." And the jerk is back. She rolled her eyes as she handed him his earpiece and asked him to show her the flash drive.
"It's ok, mom, I'm all set."
"Not yet, lover boy," said Casey, as he handed him a bottle of wine. "Now you're all set."
Just as the night before, Bryce left the house, and headed over his neighbor's. Taking a deep breath, he plastered his best smile on his face and knocked.
This time, when Sylvia opened the door, she was fully dressed and seemed a little less eager. She grabbed the bottle from his hands and invited him in. Not many words were said before they were making their way upstairs, struggling to get rid of each other's clothes. As they reached the bedroom, Bryce was only wearing his boxers. Sylvia kissed him one more time before pushing him onto the bed. He landed on his back, and waited for her to join him. She slowly crawled onto the bed, trailing kisses on his upper body, making her way to his lips. She ran her hands through his chest and up his arms. Before he could think of anything, he felt the cold metal of the handcuff closing around his wrist.
"What… what are we doing here?" he asked.
"I just thought we could try something new," she replied, grinning down at him.
The spy side of his brain did not like the sound of that. "Ok… uh, what exactly are we trying tonight?"
She stood up and, with a seductive smile, she said, "You'll see," before walking out of the bedroom.
Bryce immediately went to tell his partners something was wrong when he realized she had taken his watch. Cursing under his breath and trying not to panic, he looked for the key, but it was nowhere to be seen. Clenching his teeth, he broke his thumb and, ignoring the pain, headed to the window. When he was about to climb out, he heard the distinctive sound of a gun being cocked behind him. Lifting his hands in the air, he closed his eyes for a moment as he swallowed hard in defeat. Slowly, he turned around to see Sylvia and her husband standing in front of him. She was still smiling when she asked, "Going somewhere… Kyle?"
"Huh," Casey grunted.
Sarah looked inquisitively at him. "What is it?"
"I'm not hearing anything," he said, as he checked the audio equipment to see if everything was still on its right place.
"That's weird. It all worked fine until a few seconds ago. You think something happened?"
He shook his head. "Yeah, and everything seems to be fine. It's probably nothing…" the sound of a car engine coming from the street caught his attention and he walked over to the window to see who was going out that late at night. He saw two figures aiming a gun at a third one, forcing it to get on the back seat. An alarm went off on his head as he turned around and said, "Walker, we have a problem!"
Sarah quickly understood what was going on, and immediately went into spy mode. She grabbed her gun and the keys and ran to the door. Casey wasted no time in getting into the car as she put the key in the ignition switch and sped up, trying not to lose the black Mercedes.
"How did this happen? How did they know?" she asked no one in particular.
Casey was wondering the same thing. "I have no idea, Walker."
Sarah focused on following the car. After about a fifteen minute ride, she saw it slowing down and parking in front of a building clearly abandoned.
Once Sylvia and her partner dragged Bryce inside, she parked about a block away and quickly got out of the car.
"Walker!" she heard Casey calling. "Walker, wait!"
She turned around to face him, "What, Casey? We have to go in there, now!"
"No, Walker! We don't know how many of them are waiting in there, and we don't know what they're going to do to him. We need backup, we can't go in there alone."
"Casey, we don't have time. They are going to torture him, or worse. We can't let him confess everything!"
"It's too late for that. I guess they already figured out we're working together, so it's just a matter of time for them to come after us. Call Graham, tell him about what happened and ask him to send backup immediately."
Sarah knew he was right, but it still felt wrong to let Bryce stand torture when they were just a few feet away, just sitting there waiting for backup. In spite of that, she did as Casey told her.
"They should be here soon," she informed him. Casey just nodded. She could see he was just as concerned as she was, but he was doing a much better job hiding it. As they waited in the poorly lighted street, she wondered what they were going to do to Bryce . She just hope he would be alright.
Bryce evaluated his situation. His hands and legs were firmly tied up to a chair, and there were six other people in the room, including Sylvia and her partner. There was some kind of equipment installed, and he guessed it belonged to them, because it looked new, like it had been recently added. Probably some kind of bio-weapon research, he thought. He had no way out, his partners didn't know about him being kidnapped and there was a high probability that he wouldn't make it. I guess I'm screwed anyway.
"So… are you going to tell me what is this all about?"
Sylvia walked towards him and smiled. "You'll find out soon enough, Mr. Anderson."
"You can do anything you want, you can torture me, but I won't tell you anything," he stated.
Sylvia shook her head. "We are not going to torture you, Kyle. I wouldn't want to ruin your pretty face," she said as she ran a hand through his cheek.
Bryce was breathing hard now, trying to keep the fear from showing in his face. "What are you going to do to me, then?"
She opened her mouth to reply, but at that exact time, a man said, "It's ready."
When he came out from the shadows, he recognized Brad White, another one of his neighbors. Graham wasn't wrong after all.
"You think this will work?" he heard a female voice ask, and he was shocked to recognize it as Lanie's the woman who lived next to the Arculins.
"We don't know yet, we never actually tried this in humans," said Bob, her husband, as he started to type in the computer.
Bryce was now panicking. It sounded like they were going to use him for an experiment. He desperately tried to struggle, but it was useless.
He just watched as his neighbors placed three screens around him, one in front of him and one on each of his sides.
"What are you doing?" he screamed, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer.
Bob approached him and put something on his eyes. Fear took over as he started to writhe in the chair. He couldn't even blink, and he was sure whatever was coming was even worse.
Giving him one last look, Bob told him, "If I were you, Mr. Anderson, I would start to pray for this trial's success."
With that, all the lights went off and all Bryce could hear was his own heavy breathing. Suddenly the screens lightened and a great number of images appeared on them, changing at a frightening speed. His head started to hurt and he felt the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. It was coming down his nose, but he couldn't stop watching as the pictures kept switching in front of him. He didn't know how long it lasted, but he started feeling dizzy and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He didn't have a last thought as his whole body relaxed and he lost consciousness.
"This is ridiculous, why are they taking so long, Casey?" It had only been ten minutes, but, in her experience, that little time could be the difference between life and death, and she had a bad feeling about Bryce's current situation.
"I don't know, Walker," Casey grunted.
After a few seconds, they heard a loud noise and barely got the time to hide when a side door of the building opened and two people got out. They were carrying what it looked like a heavy bag between them, and only walked a few feet before dropping it to the floor and going back inside.
Sarah quickly stood up and, ignoring Casey's protests, went to see what it was. Casey rolled his eyes and followed her closely. He didn't need another partner to get kidnapped. He helped her open the bag, and they both just stared in shocked silence at its content.
Sarah was the first one to recover, "Casey, we need to help him!"
"Walker, I really don't think there's a way…"
"He's still breathing, Casey, help me take him to the car, now!"
He didn't really think that it was possible that Larkin was still alive, but he helped her anyway. Even if he was dead, we didn't deserve to be left to rot on the street.
Between the two of them, they managed to put him on the backseat of the car. He instructed Sarah to get into the passenger's seat as he sped off. This mission was getting worse with every passing second, and he didn't want to risk being captured before their superiors knew what had happened.
Sarah called Graham to inform him about the last events.
"What did he say?" Casey asked her when she hung up.
"He said we need to take Bryce to a safe house. He gave me the address and told me to wait for him."
"He's coming here?" Casey was just as surprised as she was.
"Yeah," she said absentmindedly. Nobody spoke for a while after that.
Six hours later, Sarah was pacing around the kitchen/living room and Casey was peeking through the window when a black car parked in front of the house. A large African-American man got out and headed to the door.
"Walker, he's here."
Sarah almost ran to get it. "Sir," she greeted respectfully as he stepped into the house and closed the door behind him.
"Agent Walker, how's Agent Larkin?"
"He's out cold, Sir. He hasn't woken up yet."
Graham's expression was somber when he spoke. "Please, Agent Walker, Colonel Casey, take a seat. What I'm going to tell you is extremely sensitive."
Sarah and Casey exchanged worried looks as they sat down.
"After you called, I sent the team to the building and gave them instructions to arrest everyone. When they got in, it was empty. They did find some computers and our analysts are already working on them, but I'm sure nothing they'll find it's going to be useful."
"How can you possibly…?"
Graham interrupted Casey. "Because it's not the first time this happens. There is some kind of organization, inside the government, trying to create a perfect army. They are basically terrorists trying to take down the government from the inside. We don't know how many they are, but we do know they are dangerous, and this is the proof. However, this is the first time they manage to capture one of our people."
"Sir… what do you mean a 'perfect army'?" asked Sarah hesitantly. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Graham clenched his teeth, clearly reluctant to talk about it. "In the eighties, the US government ordered some of our top scientists to lead a research about what they ultimately called 'the Intersect.' The trials weren't successful so the project was shut down. About a year ago, important files about that research were stolen from us. We believe this organization is trying to continue it, and they used Agent Larkin as a test subject."
Sarah and Casey exchanged another look. Clearly, things were worse than they had imagined. Casey was the first to break the silence. "So… what is going to happen with him?"
"Unfortunately, we don't know. We found some schematics that lead us to think they have modified the Intersect, but we don't know how it works or what it does. We're going to have to move him so our doctors can…" a loud noise coming from the other room made him trail off, as a very awake Bryce Larkin made his way towards them.
Graham, Casey and Sarah stared at him wide-eyed. "He seems ok to me," the Colonel mumbled.
Sarah would've agreed, but then Bryce spoke. "Who are you?"
Sarah and Casey were trying to get Bryce to sit down and stop touching things and wandering around. He basically had no recollection of anything. Anything important, that is. He kept singing songs Sarah had never heard, and, ever since he had gotten up from bed, he had hit on Sarah, stolen Casey's gun –which the Colonel retrieved with an exaggerated maneuver, considering Bryce didn't remember his training-, and hit on Sarah a little more. At least, she had managed to splint his thumb.
Graham had locked himself in the bedroom, tired of the constant interruptions and was talking on his cellphone. After a good fifteen minutes, he got out and ordered them to get their stuff and get into the car.
Sarah frowned. She had never seen Graham so… worried before. In fact, she had never seen him in action. Since she had been recruited –by Graham himself- all the times she had seen him there had been a desk between them. "Excuse me, Sir… where are we going?"
He gave her a serious look. "To try and fix this."
They had been driving for about twenty minutes when the car started to slow down. Sarah was on the backseat, babysitting Bryce, who kept trying to unfasten his seatbelt. She looked briefly through the window to see where they were and her breath caught in her throat. It couldn't be.
Casey parked the car in one of the many empty spots of the parking lot and they all got out. It was already morning, but the store was clearly closed. She suspected it would only open its doors in a few hours, so the fear she was feeling was completely unjustified. There was no way any employee was already there.
As they approached the entrance, the doors opened, but they closed again after they got in. Given that the store was empty, there was no way of missing the tall man leaning against the Nerd Herd desk. She recognized him as the man who had been speaking with Chuck's sister. He had brown hair, but it was going grey on the sides of his head, and his arms were crossed above his chest.
"It's good to see you again, Orion," said Graham.
"I wish I could say the same, Langston. Follow me, please." So this was the mysterious Orion. He must've been someone really important to call the CIA Director by his first name.
He led them to a small room in a corner of the store. Sarah looked around and noticed a big TV screen and a home theatre system along with a couch, a couple of chairs and a coffee table. Orion invited them to sit down, as he closed the curtains. Graham gave him an amused look, but he only said, "You can never be too careful."
"Are you feeling ok, Agent Larkin?" Orion asked Bryce, who was looking curiously at him.
"You people keep calling me 'agent.' Am I some kind of James Bond or something?" he asked with a excited smiled.
Orion didn't smile back. Instead, he asked them to tell him what had happened, and went over every little detail, especially about Bryce's behavior after he had gotten up.
Once they had finish, Graham spoke up. "So? Do you have any theories?"
Orion nodded. "I do, but you're not going to like this."
"Try me."
"Back when I was in charge of the research, someone suggested that the Intersect might work better if, before we uploaded the information on the subject, we erased their brain."
Sarah's eyes widened in horror. "As in a lobotomy?" she asked, not being able to stop herself.
"No, Agent Walker. You see, the final objective of this research was to create the perfect soldier. A man who wouldn't question an order given to him, a man that would have no fear or emotions that stopped him from doing his job. So, to accomplish that, it was only logical that every moral restraint had to be erased."
Even Casey seemed to be somewhat disturbed at the idea. "So you were basically creating killing machines."
"Yes, we were," was Orion's simple response. His face showed not only disgust, but great remorse.
Graham cleared his throat. He didn't seem so affected by this revelations. "So this is what happened to Agent Larkin?"
"I believe this people recovered the schematics for that new machine and tried to do exactly what I told you. But they obviously failed, since Agent Larkin doesn't remember anything, much less any kind of information they could have uploaded in him."
"So they just erased his memory?"
"I think so, yes. But I would like to run some tests to confirm that, if that's ok with you."
Graham pursed his lips and reluctantly said, "You're the only one left, Orion."
Orion nodded. "Then we should… you know… reopen that place," he said, nodding towards the wall.
Graham smiled for the first time since he had arrived and told him, "You always loved that place."
Orion shrugged and returned the smile. "Well, a crazy scientist has to have his lab, right?"
Sarah and Casey just watched their light exchange. Graham turned around to say something, but, at that exact moment, the door flew open.
Chuck walked into the building with a cup of coffee in his hand. He had decided he would head to the store early to work a little on that program he was writing before opening to the public. Even when he was only half awake, something immediately caught his attention. The home theatre room had its curtains closed. I hope those aren't Jeff and Lester, or this time, I will fire them, he thought. Jeff and Lester –or Jeffster! As they insisted to be called- had this habit of staying in the store at night, 'working on their music', which meant ingesting copious amounts of alcohol and watching weird stalker-ish videos of their muse, a girl who worked at a Delhi across the store. He opened the door and said, "Guys, I already told you, you can't…" but froze and instinctively did the Morgan when he saw three guns aiming at him.
When Chuck opened the door, Casey, Sarah and Graham himself reached for their guns. The three of them were still pointing them at the intruder when Orion exclaimed, "Charles! What are you doing here?" he then turned to Graham and told him, "It's ok, Langston, he's my son. You can put your guns down now."
Graham nodded and Sarah was the first one to do so, and safely tucked it in the back of her jeans. Her heart was racing in her chest and she could barely breath. Chuck Bartowski, Nerd Herder, was Orion's son.
"That was so cool, you guys! Can you do that again?" Everybody turned to look at Bryce, who was sporting an excited grin.
Even Chuck slowly took his hand off his face and peeked inside the room, focusing his gaze on his father. Straightening and trying to hide his embarrassment, he gestured frantically with his hands as he almost yelled, "Dad! What the hell is this? Anyone could have walked through the door right now. What are you doing? And who are these people?" He finally looked around and saw a man in a suit standing right next to his father and looking at him intently. In front of the couch there was another man, who was still holding his gun and narrowing his eyes at him. Sitting on the couch was… Kyle Anderson? Smiling like a kid in a candy store –Chuck had no idea why. Next to him, still standing and sporting a rather horrified look was… "Eva?" he whispered in shock.
She tried to smile, but failed miserably. Chuck could hear the guilt behind her words when she spoke. "Hi, Chuck."
A/N: many of you were worried about Sarah's situation and how Chuck was going to find out. I hope this helps to ease your concern, and I also hope you like the way I decided to write it. I will try to update as soon as I can, but I'm starting to study now and I also have another story in progress. But don't worry; I fully intend to finish them both. Thanks again for reading, and, as I said before, reviews are greatly appreciated.