CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #1: College is hard, it consumes free time like a black hole. In this regard, I must apologize for my absence. I've had this chapter finished and in the can so to speak for weeks now. Things are getting busy at school right now, so i've just not had the time to get this out there. Thankfully, it's the weekend and i've got the time for it! This chapter is the beginning of the end of this story. I don't remember if i've broken this news, but I have decided to split future story arcs off into their own sequel stories. In practice, this means that Desire has about five or so chapters left. This chapter is big, setting things in motion that will affect not only the end of this story (obviously) but will force me to make massive changes to future sequels to Desire, which is exciting!
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #2: This chapter and the end of this story as it will currently play out has been planned put, reworked, reworked again, and again, and again. The current version is like the fifth iteration, I think. This is all to say that i've changed it a great deal to make this finale the best it can be. The plan for the remainder of this story will resolve some things and introduce new things for the next entry in what is going to become a series of stories.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #3: Once again I've got to thank my friend Nev for beta reading this chapter, he always helps me hone my work into the finished product that all of you seem to enjoy so much. Thanks Nev!
Desire
A Story By
CharmingCharles2896
Chapter Twenty-Four
Through the Looking Glass
Chapter Inspired by the Song
Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) by Mike + The Mechanics
The sixth of June began like any other Saturday at the Buy More. The mundane normalcy of the place was especially alarming to Charles Irving Bartowski. The previous evening he'd gone to sleep with this mysterious sense of dread. All morning he'd had this feeling that the day would not go according to plan. Jeff and Lester had been in rare form; well, Lester was anyway. Jeff seemed different these days, slightly clearer-headed. Maybe Sarah's endeavor to sober Jeff up was working after all? The first big moment of the day had been early in his shift, when Morgan and Anna had it out in the middle of the sales floor. Sarah had needed to intervene and separate the two of them before Anna punched Morgan in her rage. Chuck had been in the cage at the time, so he'd missed the fight between the off and on couple. Sarah had quickly banished Anna to the cage and had Chuck return to the Nerd Herd desk.
The next great disturbance occurred just before lunch, when Casey had got sick and had to go home early due to multiple trips to the bathroom to vomit. Chuck had no idea what had so afflicted the NSA agent, but Sarah had sent him home for the day. Sarah herself had battled morning sickness, but she'd powered through it as only someone as tough as Sarah could.
During lunch, Chuck and Sarah were out getting food with Morgan at the pizza place in the plaza. Luigi's Pizzeria was a great place, a staple of the Siblings Bartowski. Luigi's was famous, by Buy More standards, for their pizza by the slice lunch specials. This particular day, Sarah and Morgan had taken particular advantage of said specials. His wife had ordered two slices of the supreme pizza, while Morgan had ordered two slices of pepperoni. Chuck hadn't been as hungry and ordered a single slice of the margarita pizza. He'd always loved the margarita pizza, loved how different it was from normal pizza. The slices of fresh tomato instead of pizza sauce were particularly notable, as was the drizzle of olive oil beneath the blend of mozzarella and asiago cheese. The pizza was finished with little strands of fresh basil on the top.
As the three of them sat down with their pizza, Sarah could see the tension in Morgan. It was obvious that his blow up with Anna had shaken him. Chuck wasn't too surprised that the couple was having problems. Morgan and Anna had always been a strange pairing in Chuck's eye. Anna was incredibly jealous of other women around Morgan, something the little bearded man was completely oblivious too, as far as Chuck knew. On top of that, the two of them seemed to constantly be battling through one issue or another.
While Morgan continued to eat voraciously; Chuck and Sarah shared a look, both of them recognizing stress eating. Morgan looked up from his pizza, seeing the worried expressions on both of their faces.
"What, is there something in my teeth?" Morgan asked with mild concern. Chuck shook his head no, setting his pizza back down on his plate.
"Just worried about you, Buddy," Chuck replied. Next to Chuck, Sarah nodded in agreement.
"That was a pretty big argument you two had," Sarah said between bites of pizza. Morgan merely shrugged, obviously trying to play off the argument as nothing out of the ordinary, when everybody knew that it was. Part of Chuck felt like it was time for Morgan and Anna to break up, before things got any worse. On the other hand, Morgan and Anna had a history of arguments like this to an extent.
"It was pretty bad, wasn't it?" Morgan's admission surprised Chuck, Morgan wasn't always the most self-aware individual. Apparently even Morgan could understand how bad that argument had been in the middle of the sales floor. Sarah gave Morgan an understanding smile as she nodded yes. Morgan sighed and looked down at his pizza. "She's jealous of Nora," Morgan said to the surprise of both people sitting in front of him.
That surprised Chuck and Sarah; as far as they knew, Nora hadn't done anything even remotely untoward where Morgan and Anna were concerned. Chuck could understand Anna's distrust of Ellie, to some extent. Morgan had spent the better part of three years hyping up his supposed romance with Eleanor Bartowski, something that everyone but Morgan understood was merely a fantasy. The thing is, Morgan was a nice guy, and had been friendly to Nora Rogers when she was first introduced. How Anna could misconstrue Morgan's being polite as any sort of affection to the pretty blonde was beyond Chuck, that's just the kind of guy that Morgan was.
"Why?" Sarah began, completely shocked at that revelation. "Nora hasn't done anything." Morgan just nodded, completely agreeing with Sarah. There was a lull in the conversation as everyone ate their lunch. Their time was short and they knew they needed to finish and get back to the Buy More. Chewing and swallowing, Morgan spoke once again.
"I think she's gonna break up with me, again," Morgan said more casually than Chuck would have expected.
"You're taking it well," Chuck said with a hint of a smile. Morgan shrugged, seemingly not caring about the potential end of his relationship with Anna.
"Eh, she dumped me last week because I didn't compliment her new skirt; she'll be back." Morgan's words both amused and befuddled Sarah. She'd only recently become a part of a committed relationship and she had to admit that the relationship that Morgan and Anna had was something she couldn't imagine ever enjoying. The constant off and on nature of their relationship seemed exhausting. She'd been emotionally gutted by the will they/won't they dynamic she had with Chuck before the 49B, so she couldn't imagine her marriage going through similar off and on periods.
Morgan finished his pizza, wiped his mouth, and slid out of the booth that the three of them were sitting at. "Gotta go talk to Lester about the HALO tourney this month, talk to you later!" Morgan said as he ran from the pizzeria and disappeared from sight. Chuck couldn't fight the amusement on his face, his little buddy was just so unique sometimes. Sarah slid out of the booth and moved to the other side so she could face her husband.
"He confuses me sometimes," Sarah said before taking another bite. Chuck huffed a laugh and nodded, totally agreeing.
"I guess when you've known the guy for as long as I have, you become accustomed to the daily trips to Morgantown, population one." Sarah nodded in agreement and looked out the window. The plaza parking lots were full for a sunny Saturday afternoon in June.
"Beckman cancelled the meeting tonight," Sarah began before taking a drink of her water. "After I told her about Casey, she felt it could wait for Monday."
Chuck nodded. "Must not have been important," he said as he too looked at the parking lot, reveling in the peace and quiet of the moment.
~X~
The ringing of the Nerd Herd desk's phone grabbed Chuck's attention, pulling his focus away from the digital camera that he was working on for a customer.
"One second," Chuck said to the gentlemen standing before him as he answered the phone. "Hello, you've reached the Buy More, Nerd Herd desk, how can I assist you today?" Chuck's well practiced customer service voice gave off his usual calm and eagerness to help others. "Trouble with the registers," Chuck said after the man on the other end of the call spoke. "I can be there in an hour, or I can send someone else and they can be there sooner. You're willing to wait? Okay, then I'll be there as soon as I'm able. Goodbye," Chuck said before hanging up the phone and returning his attention to the camera that he'd been handed by the older gentleman just minutes before. As Chuck tried to get the zoom function to work, he looked at the gentleman and spoke.
"I'm sorry, but I think the zoom is broken," Chuck said. The man sighed in frustration. "We can order the parts to fix it if you'd like. It usually takes a few days for the parts to come in the mail, at which time one of us would repair it and call you to pick it up." The man simply nodded, so Chuck grabbed one of the service request forms and had the man fill it out.
"While you fill that out, I'm going to hand you off to Skip here, and he'll finish this up with you," Chuck said as he snapped his fingers to grab Skip's attention. Skip wasn't far, himself working at the Nerd Herd desk. Skip spun in his chair and stood up to help the man. Chuck walked off to the back to grab the equipment he'd need for the repair job he'd just been called to. As he walked back into the storage area, he texted the address to Nora.
C: Check out this address, I've got an install… 2458 Pelham Avenue, Burbank, California 91503
A minute later, Nora responded.
N: Nothing in our systems, address is legit. I'll be ready to follow in 3, let Sarah know before you leave!
Chuck gathered the laptop he'd need, as well as the tools that could be required. After everything was packed in his work bag, he slung it over his shoulder and went to find his lovely wife. The sound of his wife's lyrical laughter told him she was with Big Mike. Chuck stuck his head in the door, to find his wife enjoying a jelly donut with the boss, who's own cheeks had some powdered sugar on them. Sarah's eyes lit up as Chuck entered her view.
"Hey, hot stuff," Sarah said with a giggle.
"That's sexual harassment," Chuck shot back, much to her amusement. Setting her donut down, Sarah flashed her husband a sly smile.
"Not if you enjoy it, which you do," Sarah said as she sat back in her chair. "So, what's up?"
"Got an install at some topless bar on Pelham, don't know when I'll be home tonight, so don't wait up." Sarah merely nodded as Chuck turned and took off.
"Chuck," Sarah called before he left earshot. Once he'd returned, Sarah stuck her hand up in a Vulcan salute and spoke in the most monotone voice she could muster. "May the force be with you, Malcom." Chuck just chuckled and shook his head.
"Trek, Star Wars, and Firefly, you really did do your homework, see ya later," Chuck said with a wink as he left for his install. Sarah merely laughed, happy that her references had pleased the king of the nerds. She'd come to appreciate his nerdism's now that she understood most of them. They'd spent some nights watching the various nerdy movies and TV shows that she'd bought during her six weeks away. She always got a kick out the awestruck look on Chuck's face when she suggested something. The sound of Mike's voice pulled Sarah from her thoughts.
"You actually watch the geeky crap that those nerds are so in love with?" Mike asked with palpable surprise in his tone. Sarah blushed a hint as she replied, thinking about the Tron viewing they'd enjoyed only a few days ago.
"It's not all bad, TRON was kinda cute," Mike just laughed and took a bite of his donut.
"Bartowski hit the jackpot with you." Sarah merely sat back, a proud look on her face.
"Actually, I'm the lucky one," she mused internally as she picked her donut back up off the napkin she'd been using and took another bite, damn pregnancy cravings.
~X~
Sarah Bartowski was never a person to take a job lightly, always insisting on giving maximum effort in everything. She'd struggled to do that at the Wienerlicious, because that shit hole was awful, but other than that, she was a dedicated individual. In her new position at the Buy More, Sarah was taking this thing seriously. She knew that certain employees needed more guidance than others, but she was determined to get the most out of every one of the people who worked at the Buy More. Mike was a nice guy, but he was admittedly a terrible manager. He didn't manage, instead delegating most of the time. Sarah was okay with that, as long as he stayed out of her way, she was willing to do the heavy lifting of turning this place around. She'd already begun efforts to sober Jeff up and get him right, she still didn't know what the source of his issues was, but she was going to get to the bottom of it. She'd noticed it days prior when in a rare moment of clarity, Jeff was incredibly inciteful with a customer. The moment didn't last long, but it was proof enough that there was more to Jeff than a drunk pervert.
Beyond her efforts with Jeff, Sarah had quickly taken on the role as translator. Because this was California, many of the employees understood some Spanish, but when it came to other languages, Sarah Bartowski found herself helping often. She'd had to help an old, German man just the day before. The poor guy was a first-time tourist, having never been to America. He was visiting with his daughter, but his cell phone broke while she was away. The poor Buy More staff had tried valiantly to help him, before Anna had given up and fetched Sarah. She would never admit it aloud, but it felt good to show off her skills like that, felt like affirmation that she could do private sector jobs with her skillset.
As if on cue, Skip arrived at the door to Mike's office, a frantic look on his face.
"Sarah, there's a group of Russians at the Nerd Herd desk, they don't speak a word of English and are very pissed about something." Sarah smiled and stood, straightening out her clothes before following skip. As Sarah arrived at the Nerd Herd desk, she saw a trio of Russians, a woman and two men. The three of them all looked to be in their late twenties to early thirties. The woman, for her part, looked like a drug addict, her eyes sunken, sickly, just generally not in good health. The two men on the other hand looked to be in good shape, both muscular and wearing clean, if utilitarian clothes.
"Chem ya mogu vam pomoch'?" Sarah asked as she walked up to the Russians. The woman turned towards Sarah and held out her cell phone.
"Duratskaya shtuka slomalas', a vashi sotrudniki-idioty ne khotyat mne pomoch'!" She replied, clearly angry. Sarah turned towards Skip and spoke.
"She says her cell phone is broken." Sarah then turned back to the woman and spoke. "Chto ne tak s vashim telefonom?" As Sarah continued to converse with the Russians, Skip couldn't help but admire her skills. Since learning of her government work, everyone had given her a significantly higher amount of respect. Once they'd all seen her in action, talking to a German man and now these Russians, it was impressive. Sarah's voice pulled Skip from his musings.
"She says the battery for her intelacell won't keep a charge, do we have replacements in the back?" Skip thought for a moment, it had been a minute or a thousand since he'd last worked on an Intelacell. Still, he was pretty sure they did have parts for one in the back. Skip nodded, getting a smile from Sarah.
"Great, why don't you fetch the part and I'll stay here," Sarah said to Skip, before turning back to the Russian woman. Skip nodded and left for the storage room; sure they had the parts in question. As Skip got to the doors for the storage room, Morgan came out carrying a printer box, the thing obviously heavy.
"Dude, you should have seen Sarah with those Russians, just now," Skip said as he walked past Morgan.
"Chuck is so lucky," Morgan replied as he walked over to the home appliances, intent to hand this printer off to the customer who'd asked for it and make a nice commission. As the Nerd Herd desk came into view, a flash of something metallic caught Morgan's eye. Stopping to look back at the Nerd Herd desk, Morgan got a clearer view of the item in question, a gun. Morgan froze in place and watched as one of the Russian men pressed a pistol, with a black plastic handle and a silver slide, into Sarah's back. Morgan could clearly see the heightened awareness in Sarah's eyes, she was aware of the danger and wasn't going to move, if only to prevent escalation. The sound of the storage room door behind him grabbed Morgan's attention. Looking back, Morgan spotted Lester.
"Lester!" Morgan hissed as he hid behind a shelf of merchandise. Lester gave Morgan a confused look.
"What?" Lester said in his normal voice.
"Quiet, come over here!" Morgan hissed as his eyes darted to the Nerd Herd desk. Lester looked over at the desk and saw the gun. Morgan saw Lester's eyes widen in understanding. "The Russians are sticking up Sarah, we've got to do something," Morgan said quietly as he set the printer box down and snuck a peek at the Russians.
"This is a pineapple situation," Lester began. "I'll go pull the fire alarm and get Jeff; You go get Big Mike and meet us outside." Lester said quicky.
"If the alarm doesn't give her a chance to escape, we'll have to think of something else," Morgan said as he stepped away to get Big Mike. Lester nodded in agreement and crept away to pull the fire alarm.
At the Nerd Herd desk, Sarah saw Lester and Morgan whispering and then go in different directions. Her gut told her that they had seen the gun and were going to pull the fire alarm. Normally, this would be a perfect moment to disable these lowlifes, but with the baby, Sarah didn't want to risk it.
The sound of the fire alarm blasting, filled the store and everyone looked around for the fire.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is an emergency, please evacuate the store in an orderly fashion," Came Lester's voice over the PA. The Russians didn't move, the gun just pressed further into her spine.
"Don't even think about it, Agent Walker," came the voice of the Russian woman, her voice heavy with a Russian accent. Sarah shook her head no, her hands raised slightly to show she wasn't going to do anything. As everyone made their way out of the store, Sarah and the Russians never moved. Eventually, Morgan and Mike came up to her.
"Sarah, we've got to evacuate, tell the Russians to get the hell out of here!" Morgan said to her, knowledge of her situation clear in his eyes. Sarah smiled at the two of them and spoke in as level a tone as she could muster, given the circumstances.
"Don't worry, get out of here, I'll be right behind you," she said to the both of them, pleading in her eyes. Mike and Morgan nodded regretfully and left the store. As the last of them left the store, the Russian woman spoke in a quiet tone.
"You're coming with us, don't try anything or we'll shoot you and all of your friends." Sarah shook her head no.
"You won't get any trouble," she said quietly as the two Russian men forcefully marched her from the store. Behind Sarah, the Russian woman dialed a number on her phone and spoke.
"Jester Lead, this is Valkyrie Lead, asset secured, take the boyfriend." As Sarah heard the words, her blood ran cold. Those guys she'd stopped the other day had been plotting against her! She knew she should have killed them or had Casey take them. Obviously, those guys had hired new muscle, because she hadn't recognized any of these Russians.
"I swear to God, if you harm a hair on his head, I'll kill every single one of you and skull fuck your lifeless corpses," Sarah growled as she walked through the double doors.
"Relax, Agent Walker, we've got bigger plans for you." The woman said with menace in her tone. Outside, Morgan, Jeff, Lester, and Big Mike all watched as the three Russians marched Sarah to a waiting van and took off.
"We've got to follow them," Jeff said as the van door closed.
"We aren't ready for this, Guys, we don't even have anything to stop them," Big Mike said as dread seeped into his very being. Morgan watched the four of them get into the van; he felt nothing but rage.
"Doesn't matter, one of ours is in trouble and we have to do something," Morgan said before turning to Jeff. "Does your van still have all of that spy gear?" Jeff gave Morgan an insulted look. "Of course, it does, what was I thinking?" Morgan said before turning to Big Mike and Lester. "Let's go, before they get away." A feeling of determination fell over all four of them as each of them nodded in agreement.
"Let's go save our girl," Big Mike said as the four of them arrived at Jeff's van.
"I'll drive, I know how to tail someone without them noticing," Jeff said as he climbed into the driver's seat. Big Mike and Morgan looked at Jeff with strange looks, wondering what they'd gotten themselves into as the sights and smells of Jeff's van assaulted their senses. As the four of them began to follow the white van, Big Mike couldn't help but notice a certain smell.
"Did you know that you have an exhaust leak back here?" Big Mike asked Jeff, who appeared as cool as a cucumber.
"Of Course, it helps me get right," Jeff said as if that was totally normal. Morgan merely blinked in shocked confusion.
"There's something wrong with him…"
~X~
Across town, Chuck had his bag over his shoulder, ready to get to work. Nora was across the street in her car, so he knew he had backup just in case, not that he'd need it at a strip club. As Chuck walked up to the front door of the Pom Pom, he gripped his bag tighter and pushed the door in. As Chuck walked in, he saw the empty bar, the mood lighting off at this time of day, not a soul in sight.
"Hello, Nerd Herd here to fix your cash registers," Chuck called as he looked around for anyone. Just as Chuck was about to leave what he assumed was another prank call, the voice of a man in the back grabbed his attention.
"Yes, you're here to fix the cash registers?" the man asked as he appeared from back stage. As Chuck turned to look at the man, he felt the flash and the dread overwhelmed him.
Lloyd Methmann: CIA covert operations, MIA November 1st, 2001. Suspected mercenary involvement, presumed double agent.
As Chuck came out of the flash, he saw another man off to his left and flashed again.
Ellis Kaltenbrunner: Former BDN Officer, disavowed July 24th, 2006. Escaped capture, suspected mercenary involvement. Torture specialist.
In that moment, as he that he thought about it, these two were part of that group that was tailing them the other day. Knowing that Chuck had walked into a trap, he could only think of one thing. "I hate this job." The two men pointed guns at Chuck and grabbed him before he could push the alert button on his watch. The feeling of a dart in his neck was the last thing he comprehended before the darkness took him.
Outside, Nora Rogers was simply watching the cars come and go, the mundane normalcy boring her to tears. While she was happy to be on this team, where she didn't have to be the old her, she was rather tired of these service calls. She didn't know how Chuck did this job. Chuck was so much better than this crappy cover job. Nora was startled from her thoughts by a baby blue van pulling into the parking lot of the Pom Pom. She saw the van drive around to the back of the strip bar, disappearing behind it. The text on the side of the van was the last thing she saw.
California Food Solutions: Catering and Food Service Done Right!
Thinking none of it, she turned her attention back to the people walking on the sidewalks. So many of them had no idea how dangerous and insidious parts of this world actually were. Then again, that was why people like Nora did their job, to keep the monster at bay and allow the public to remain blissfully unaware. Minutes later, the blue van reappeared from behind the bar, exited the parking lot, and drive away. Nora thought nothing of it, knowing she had god knows how long before Chuck's work was finished.
"Wonder what Mama's up to right now?" she mused as the people kept on walking by.
~X~
Somewhere on the 5…
Morgan, Big Mike, Lester, and Jeff were all crammed into Jeff's tiny van. They could see the white van that the Russians had thrown Sarah into, it was about fifty yards ahead of them. The white van was heading north, towards Santa Clarita or farther north, there was no way of knowing until the van stopped. Morgan pulled out his cell phone and tried Chuck's phone, getting nothing. Trying again a second time, Morgan got nothing a second time.
"I can't get Chuck on the phone, he doesn't answer," Morgan said to the others.
"He always picks up his phone when out on installs and repairs," Lester said back as his eyes watched the white van. Lester turned in his seat and spoke to Morgan. "Are you sure you called Chuck and not some other number?"
"Ever heard of speed dial? Of course I called the right number, he doesn't pick up his phone, Lester!"
"Okay, let's calm down and focus on the problem right in front of us," Big Mike interjected, hoping to refocus all of them. "What are we going to do about Sarah?" he asked. An eerie silence fell over the occupants of the van. When thinking of what to do, who to call, one name flashed into Morgan's mind first… John Casey. The dude looked like former military; surely, he'd know what to do. In a flash, Morgan dialed Casey's cell phone number and brought it to his ear. After two rings, the gruff voice of John Casey sounded through the phone.
"What do you want, Grimes?" Casey sound rather worse for wear, but Morgan didn't have time for that.
"Casey, Sarah's been kidnapped by Russians!" Morgan said quickly, getting an angry growl in reply.
"That's not funny, moron," Casey said back to the bearded gnome.
"I'm not joking, three Russians walked into the Buy More today. Sarah went to translate like she did the other day. The next thing I know, one of them has a gun in her back. We pulled the fire alarm, but she didn't escape, now they have her in a van and are heading north out of town. I tried to call Chuck, but he doesn't answer." As Morgan finished, he heard shuffling on the other end of the line.
"Who is with you, Grimes?" Casey asked, his voice significantly more serious.
"Jeff, Lester, and Big Mike; we're on the five, trailing the Russians." There was a long silence on the line, to the point where Morgan began to wonder if the call got dropped. Just as Morgan was going to hang up and try again, Casey's voice returned, deadly serious.
"Put me on speaker, all of you need to hear this," Casey instructed. Morgan quickly put Casey on speaker and held the phone out.
"You're on speaker, Casey." There was another long pause before Casey began to speak, none of them were ready for what he had to say.
"What you are about to hear is beyond classified, I am committing a crime telling you what I am about to tell you." Before Casey could continue, Jeff interjected.
"Cool, are you gonna tell us where the aliens are kept? I've always thought you looked like the guy from Independence Day."
A low growl was all the reply that Jeff got to his stupidity. "I work for the National Security Agency; I have in some capacity for the last fifteen years. Walker, is a CIA agent. She's technically still active, but has stepped away from field work due to her pregnancy. Since September of oh-seven, the two of us have been part of an NSA/CIA task force, that was established to protect and work with a secret, government asset. This asset is Bartowski, I can't tell you why he's involved, but he's involved. Walker and I have been working with him since shortly after his birthday in oh-seven. It is imperative that you do not lose sight of that van. I don't care what laws you have to break; you do not lose that van. Right now, I have no ability to track Walker, they must have gotten her watch and her phone. I am going to check in on Bartowski, I want you to follow that van and tell me exactly where it stops. Do not try to rescue Walker, do not engage with these people. I will come to you with backup." The four occupants of Jeff's van were in stunned shock, eyes and mouths agape.
"Hello, is anyone there?" Casey called out through the phone. Big Mike snapped out of his shocked stupor first and spoke.
"We read you, Agent Casey, we'll stay with Sarah until you arrive." Casey spoke next, there seriousness in his voice underscoring the gravity of the situation.
"Good luck," Casey said before ending the call. With the call over, the four of them sat in silence, following the white van for long moments. Lester was the first one to speak up.
"I knew there had to be something else behind blondie hanging out with Chuck. Women like that don't hang around Nerd Herders unless ordered to do so."
"And even then, they often run away screaming," Jeff added as he changed lanes to follow the white van.
"When she mentioned government work in her interview, I never imagined something like this," Big Mike said softly. "She's so nice, I can't imagine her being some shadowy assassin." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Still, Casey is relying on us and we can't let him down," Morgan said, a steely determination in his voice that had previously remained absent. "My best friend-in-law is pregnant with my best friend's child. No matter what we have to do, we are getting Sarah back."
"Damn right, we are!" Big Mike called. As the four of them sped off into the horizon, they all knew on some level that their lives had changed forever. They were truly through the looking glass now.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #4: So Sarah has been taken and now it's up to Jeff, Lester, Morgan, and Big Mike to save the day, can they do it? With more people now aware of Chuck, Sarah, and Casey's real jobs, will they be able to keep this all a secret? So many questions! For all the answers, tune in next time when Desire returns with chapter twenty-five "The Crucible."
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #5: Just another thing to add, I just noticed that this story has turned over 42,000 views! I am so thankful to all of you who have stuck with me over the last two years, it's been a journey.
Until Next Time :D