Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Chuck
Chapter 3 - A Trail of Crumbs...
Chuck woke to something soft stroking his forehead. It felt soothing, like what a mother's caress would be when you're sick.
"Chuck."
He leaned into the caress, drawing himself closer to the voice. Slowly he opened his eyes, starring up into a dark curtain of hair as he realized that Ellie was standing over him. Her soft worried face highlighted in the moonlight. She must have just gotten off a late shift he thought as he blinked his eyes and tried to stretch, grimacing as his whole abdomen protested with a shot of pain. At least his headache seemed to have temporarily left him.
"Chuck, you left four bottles of Aspirin on the kitchen table. What's the matter?" Ellie asked as she sat further into the bed, facing him.
Chuck clawed at his dress shirt and undershirt, bringing it up mid-chest exposing a purple-black bruising that encompassed the width of his body. Ellie's eyes shot up in surprise as she jumped onto the bed and started to softly feel around his stomach. Chuck responded in hisses as she would brush over certain areas.
"What happened?" Her worried voice a higher pitch than normal.
Opening his mouth to respond he realized that his whole mouth felt dry, parched. "Tripped off the loading dock ledge, clotheslined by handle bar." He whispered out, hating himself for yet again boldly lying to his sister. He was getting so good at it, it was becoming second nature almost. He hated himself.
Ellie shook her head, "You need to be more careful Chuck." She patted his head. "You look exhausted. Are you working today?"
Chuck nodded his head, "Have tomorrow off."
Ellie pulled his shirts back down, covering him. "Get some sleep and don't take too many Aspirins. No more than twelve in twenty-four hours OK?"
Chuck smiled brightly up at her, at least there was one woman in his life who loved him. "Love you sis."
Ellie smiled wide, "Love you too little brother."
When he was relatively sure that Ellie had gone to sleep he got up and headed to the shower. Grabbing a bottle of Aspirin and a bag of fruit Chuck headed out the door to his car. It was 6:45am.
Chuck only had one computer set up in the cage to act as his dummy machine. He had it running every virus checking software he could get his hands on just to make it look complicated and busy. It wasn't so much fooling the other Nerd Herders that he cared about, it was fooling his two handlers. He still needed this solitary time, his mind forming new relationships with every strand of new data that he flashed on as he slowly and agonizingly went through his memory of Bryce and the missions related to Fulcrum.
He had noticed yesterday that the new relationships that his subconscious now formed amongst bits of data was spectacular. He was receiving anywhere from six times to eight times the amount of information that he had previously flashed through. In that same vein though, as his mind followed the relational mappings and bringing new pieces of data, he was finding a lot of unrelated information. The algorithm was flashing on excess information and that took a while to sort out the irrelevant information.
Chuck realized as Bryce's information flowed through him, that he didn't care about conserving his old friend's privacy. He willfully and wholly welcomed all the classified reports of his missions and his encounters. Remembering how well Sarah and Bryce had fought and synchronized themselves during the Fulcrum encounter in the Buy More, he had been awed then. But now, as he absorbed all their past missions he was both pained and shamed.
Sarah, he realized was so underutilized in this mission, to protect him. She had looked so alive when she was fighting along side Bryce. His shame of keeping her with him, his pain of knowing that she would enjoy her work more with Bryce than him. Pain that he could never fill his friend's shoes. Pain in the realization that Sarah still loved Bryce. Jealous that Bryce always showed him up, always ended up on the winning side of things. What did Bryce say, "You have a store full of friends, I only have one."
An image of Sarah floated in his mind. He may have had a few friends but Bryce had every one of his loves. What did a whole store of friends matter sometimes, when you weren't complete.
Chuck flexed his fingers, he was getting too worked up. Cracking his neck and grimacing as he flexed his back and stretched his body, he made a grab for another two pills of Aspirin. He had finished swallowing when he felt something hit his head. Taking his ear plugs from his ears he slightly turned his head to the right.
"Chuck! Chuck!" Morgan excitedly began. "The shipment of new inventory is coming in an hour. The new demo is arriving!" He finished, his voice dropping down to a whisper as he cupped his hands to his mouth.
Chuck had to smile. If he gave up of any chance at love, at least he had Morgan. A figment of Yoda in his head asked him in a bewildered expression, "Great Morgan he is?" Great? No, Morgan was freaking awesome. He had his annoying quirks, but no one could ask for a better best friend. Bryce may have been his best friend at one time, but he couldn't compare to Morgan. He frowned for a second. If Chuck couldn't compare to Bryce and Bryce couldn't compare to Morgan, what did that say about himself?
Not going to go there. Not. Going. There.
He was pulled out of his thoughts as Morgan continued talking. "You sure you don't want in on Operation We Gots to Get It?"
Chuck shook his head in the negative. "No way bud. You know you're going to need someone to bail you out when you're all caught right?"
Morgan's face erupted with joy. "Freakin' A. You got my back dude!"
Chuck watched as Morgan strutted out the room, his face softened. "For you, Ellie, and Captain, always. Always."
Chuck turned back to the laptop. He wanted to finish today's exercise as quickly as possible before heading home to crash for a few hours before coming back to report in. Grabbing his iPod he set Moonshield by In Flames, the C64 Karaoke Version on repeat.
As the day snailed by Chuck had caught a glimpse of Sarah standing at the cage's door. His peripheral vision picked up her blond hair and Weinerlicious outfit in the reflection of the dummy computer's monitor. He ignored her and focused on his task at hand.
He never caught the pained and worried expression that flitted across her face. He didn't see her eyes as they scoured him from his unruly hair down his body, taking in every detail of him, his moments, his breathing. He didn't hear her whispered attempt at calling his name. He didn't notice the cage's slight shift as she curled her fingers around the fence wall's openings. He didn't feel the soft whisper of air as she sighed once again.
He did notice when she left.
Chuck looked at his watch, registering the 4:15pm time. He had finished his exercise, he had captured the data, and he had offloaded it all onto his USB thumb drive. He had finished reformatting the laptop's hard drive, doing a complete wipe. The migraine pummeling his skull was a footnote to the shear amount of fear he was feeling. His hands were shacking, his body cold
He had found something in the data as he was sifting through the flashes of information in the past few hours. What he found couldn't wait until tonight's report, he needed to talk to the directors immediately.
Chuck kept the USB drive in his hand and shoved it into his pocket, making a beeline to the showroom floor. He caught sight of Casey and began to head over in his direction, ignoring the shocked expressions from the Buy More employees that did see him. Casey noticed him approaching and had a look of shock on his face as he saw Chuck for the first time.
Casey noticed that Bartowski looked haggard, exhausted, his face drawn, and he was walking hunched over. Casey had heard this mornings exchange between Ellie and the kid, he was surprised when he had found out about the injury. When confirming with Agent Walker this morning she had only been aware of his shoulder wound where the bullet had grazed him. Her face had scrunched up in worry. Casey watched as something caught Bartowski's attention and the kid changed direction.
Chuck saw Big Mike from his peripheral vision and changed course. After a quick discussion and a request for the rest of the day off after informing an ecstatic Big Mike that all the electronics in the cage were fixed, Chuck headed towards the home theater showroom with Big Mike's last statement wafting over him. "You look like shit Bartowski, go hit the sheets."
Chuck gave Casey a look and nodded his head in the direction that he was walking in. It didn't take long before Casey's militant strides brought him along side. "I need to talk to General Beckman and Director Graham right now." Chuck whispered, not looking at the bigger man.
"What? What is it about." Casey growled, his arm reaching out to grab a hold of Bartowski's forearm, "Did you flash?"
Chuck looked around before looking directly into Casey's eyes, "Yes," he stated firmly, "But I need to talk to the directors first before I can talk to you. It's above your pay grade." Oh, he was getting better at lying. He didn't fell all that much guilty about it this time, mostly because he actually enjoyed the shocked look on Casey's face.
"How do you ..."
"Look, just get in contact with the directors. If they want you to know they'll include you, but I need to talk to them now!" Chuck forced, stretching to his maximum height, ignoring the pain lancing from his bruised abdomen.
They stared at each other for a few scant seconds before Casey walked into the home theater room, Chuck following behind. The LCD screen came to life after Casey punched in the commands. Both directors looked surprise at seeing them.
"Report Agent Casey." General Beckman ordered. Chuck idly wondered how these two directors from rivaling intelligence agencies always seemed to be together and didn't Direct Graham ever get tired of standing?
"Bartowski wanted to talk to you in private, it appeared urgent." Casey ground out through his teeth as he stared hard at the source of his irritation.
The directors looked in Chuck's direction and it took all of his will not to giggle idiotically as he was flashing his eye brows up and down and not so subtlety nodding his head in Casey's direction. General Beckman rolled her eyes, "Agent Casey, could you leave and wait outside."
Chuck registered the utter shock on Casey's face as he slowly walked out the room, his eyes boring into the back of Chuck's head. Chuck felt the flush from the scrutiny and when he was sure the door was locked he pulled out the USB from his pocket and started to send the data to the two directors.
Casey's cell phone was out in his hand the moment he left the home theater room, hitting speed dial, "Walker, we have a situation."
It had been ten minutes and Chuck was in full swing, "So the new algorithm began pulling data from these past few missions and they all seemed independent and trivial from any dangerous bad guy type of thing. But when I flashed on this last bit of information, all these independent strands of information fell together."
Chuck currently had a list of approximately twenty shipment manifests displayed on the screen. All but two of the manifests had already past date, with the remaining two arriving tomorrow and in three days time. The list contained manifest id, date of arrival, port of entry, company, shipping country, expected destination.
"I don't quite see where you're going with this Bartowski, it looks like a bunch of electronics being shipped in. We didn't tackle these items since they were low on the radar." Director Graham said as he scoured the lists. General Beckman nodded, looking equally perplexed.
Chuck's shoulders sagged upon hearing that last statement. He brought up a parts list up, hoping his next few bits of information would allow them to see what he was getting at. He wasn't sure if he wanted to stand out there and state it in case the directors took offense, he still wasn't sure how to handle these briefings.
"If you look at the parts list that I've just pulled up, I've highlighted the items that match those on the shipping manifests." Chuck saw that General Beckman was about to speak and quickly added, "Can we assume that the remaining items on this list are relatively easy to acquire in-country?"
The directors looked at the non-highlighted items, noting that they were ordinary industrial parts. They nodded their heads.
"This parts list is used to manufacture this," Chuck whispered as he punched up the name of the item that had chilled him to the bone.
"Oh My God." The director's stunned shock reverberated through the room.
A split second later both directors were on the phone, "Get Agent Casey and Walker in here immediately!"
Chuck quickly walked to the door and opened it, facing the surprised looks of both his handlers. "They want to talk to you."
Casey and Sarah maintained their look of surprise and confusion as they looked on the LCD screen and saw both their commanders in near panic, shouting orders on the phones.
"I need intell at these addresses and the location of the identified items and their where abouts. Infiltrate and terminate hostiles with prejudice." Director Graham was demanding into his phone, as he punched some commands into a laptop.
"Gather a heavy tactical insertion team. I need eyes on the address I'm sending your way immediately. Planning and orders will be given by Agent Casey of NSA and Agent Walker from the CIA. I want a briefing in 30 minutes on blueprints and initial plans from strike commanders is that understood?" General Beckman ordered into the phone.
The General looked at the two agents, "You'll be leading multiple strike teams into potentially hostile environments tomorrow. Your primary mission is to locate and secure the item listed below that I'm highlighting. Id of the item will be performed by the Intersect," Beckman paused and looked at Chuck, "from a secure mobile location."
"Yes ma'am." The agents acknowledged before looking at Chuck with bewildered expressions.
Chuck pointed to the bottom of the screen.
"Impossible..." Sarah whispered out, her eyes bugging out.
"What the fu..." Casey started to say.
"Mr. Bartowski, we'll need you at full capacity tomorrow. Head back to recuperate for the rest of the night, you'll be briefed early tomorrow morning. You're dismissed." Director Graham stated.
Chuck nodded and headed for out of the room.
"You understand the immediate threat this situation is agents?" Director Graham asked sternly. After getting nods in confirmation from the two agents he and the General began filling them in on the background information.
"Head back to Casey's apartment and draw up plans. We need to gather intell and plan today to execute tomorrow." General Beckman said ten minutes later. "We have a briefing in 20."
The moment the screen went blank, Sarah was running out the store hoping for any signs of Chuck, but already knowing that he was long gone. Casey followed closely behind her as they went for their respective vehicles, not believing what they had just been informed.
The prototype schematic for the MLR2G, a thirty foot monstrosity called the Mobile Long Range Rail Gun, was floating heavily in their minds. Capable of firing a fifteen pound projectile at ten times the speed of sound with enough accuracy to hit a two foot target six hundred nautical miles away, it was possible of executing anything and anyone without any means to defend.
Sarah had screeched into the parking spot at the Bartowski's residence, engaging the parking break and slamming the car into gear, she was standing outside the Morgan door before she even knew she had moved. Looking in she saw Chuck stripped down to shorts and an undershirt passed out on his back. When he had opened the home theater door to let them in she had been shocked by more than the situation. Chuck really did look bad.
She brought her right hand up to his blinds, resting it lightly on one of them and parting the one below to afford her a more unobstructed view. She didn't notice as her index finger seemed to trace his outline as her eyes slowly looked him over. Almost as if he mystically knew she was looking at him, Chuck draped his arm around his stomach protectively and rolled onto his side, facing away from her scrutiny.
"You stand there any longer and people will think you're a pervert," Casey's voice sounded behind her. He opened his apartment's door, "We got work to do."
Sarah let out a sigh as she gave him one last glance, straightened her self out and headed to Casey's apartment. The directors had ordered them not to confront Chuck and told them that their primary responsibility at the moment was leading the planing of tomorrow's raid. Looking at her watch, she noted that they had a few minutes before the briefing began.
Casey had the two directors on one screen while a group of five agents were shown in a meeting room on the second screen. Their eyes quirked up slightly when noticing Sarah's Weinerlicious outfit.
"Woods, what's the status of eyes on ground?" General Beckman asked.
"We have four sets of eyes at the pier, we're ten minutes from blueprints of the buildings in the surrounding area. We have intell coming in for the blueprints for the shipping vessel hauling our package. ETA on ship prints are twenty minutes." One of the agents, a dark haired man about forty responded.
"Kramer, staging area?" Graham asked.
"We've secured a warehouse five miles out. Hardware and electronics are being set up as we speak. I've sent you the address." Another agent, opposite side of the table from Woods, responded.
If Sarah had to hazard a guess, the NSA agents were seated on the left side of the table and the CIA agents were seated on the right. The two agents in the furthest seats loomed largest amongst them.
"What of our assault teams?" Beckman asked.
"NSA has three teams of three set as assault, three snipers, and one bird." The large agent in the back left of the table.
"CIA has five teams of two, four snipers, and a bird. All teams are on site at staging. We'll have Coast Guard patrolling to close off the water." The other large agent in the back right of the table responded.
"This is the breakdown agents," Beckman began. "Connors, NSA and Gomez, CIA you have lead assault on your specifc troop groups. You'll be formulating ground movement and attack. Agent Casey, NSA and Agent Walker, CIA will be on assault detail but they'll be lead intelligence. Woods and Kramer, you'll provide logistics and on-site intell. Those five sets of eyes feed through you. I want a mobile command center outfitted for routing of all video and communications. We'll have an analysis on hand to provide direct information to Casey and Walker. Understood?"
Beckman waited till she got confirmation from all the available agents. "Update us every hour. Set at stage in 30. Casey, Walker, stay online. Gentlemen, you're dismissed."
The agents from the meeting room stood up and the screen went blank, leaving only General Beckman and Director Graham.
"Bartowski will be introduced as an analyst. You'll be bringing him in to the staging area tomorrow morning at 1400 Zulu for briefing. He'll be sitting at mobile command with Woods and Kramer, so let him know that he must not give away his flashes or the Intersect. The cargo ship is expected to land at 2300 Zulu. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am." Both agents responded. "Head to staging and we'll get status in an hour." The screen went blank.
Casey's smile cracked wide open, his eyes lighted up. He couldn't wait. He began to efficiently gather his assault gear, his smile getting bigger has he grabbed his weapons.
Sarah headed out the door, aiming to go back to her hotel room to change and prep her gear. She had a small smile on her face, which promptly fell as she stared at Chuck's window while she walked by. Knocking on Chuck's door she set her face into a calm smile. When Ellie opened the door Sarah offered a genuine smile for the doctor, "Hi Ellie, is Chuck home?"
Surprised at seeing Sarah at this time, Ellie allowed her entrance before hesitatingly replying, "He's in his room," Not wanting him to be disturbed from his much needed rest, she continued, "He looked pretty exhausted and crashed the moment he got back."
"Is he alright? I haven't been able to see him for the past few days, they had him locked in the cage for the past four days."
Ellie sighed, "He must be overworked. He also got injured pretty bad the other day. Fell off the loading dock ledge he said and slammed into a hand rail or something. He's got some pretty bad bruising around his abdomen."
Sarah's eyes rose wide, knowing the lie for what it was. She didn't even think that he might have injured himself with the rope that was tied around his waste. They had thought he was knocked out from landing on the concrete floor. "He's alright though right?"
"Yeh, he should be fine. He won't be able to stand straight for a while though, the bruising was pretty heavy." Ellie looked back at Sarah, "Did you need him for something?"
"Oh, We had planned to go out early tomorrow to just relax at the beach for the day since we both have off. I was going to tell him to pick me up at six am tomorrow."
Ellie's face broke into a large smile. "That's great! He definitely looks like he needs the time off."
Sarah headed to Chuck's room, opening the door without knocking and closing it behind her. Taking a second to just look at him closer, she saw that he looked even more tired. Putting her hand onto his shoulder, she gently rubbed him while softly calling his name.
"Sarah?" Chuck moaned out as his eyes open, confusion claiming his face. "What's wrong?"
She gave him a grand smile, he was a such a caring person. "Tomorrow, meet me at my hotel. We'll be leaving there at six am to head to the staging area to brief you on the mission okay?"
"Six am... your hotel." Chuck repeated back as she watched his tired eyes trace her face.
Sarah noticed there was something missing in his eyes or his face, it was almost like he was looking at her differently. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she didn't have the time at the moment, she needed to get to the staging area to do plan tomorrow's mission.
She nodded her head and gave his shoulders a gentle squeeze, "Right, see you tomorrow at six."
A/N: Despite the way I've been portraying things, I am a complete Chuck/Sarah fan. So the question is not an if, but a when. Well, maybe an if.
Somehow this chapter slipped out easily too. Next one should be more action packed, guns guns and more guns.