Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Chuck.
Chapter 4 - Proving Grounds
Chuck knocked on Sarah's door again, waiting for her to open it. This was unlike her to not answer the door quickly, especially when they were due to head out for a mission. He waited a few more seconds before he knocked again, a little more forcefully.
"Can I help you sir?" Asked a hotel maid as she pushed a cart forward.
"Thank you, but no. I'm just waiting for a friend of mine." Chuck responded, giving her a worried smile.
"Well, the lady that stayed in that room you're knocking at checked out late last night." The maid gently said, her eyes filling with pity.
Chuck looked at her bewildered.
"She went to join Bryce, she still loves him you know." The maid put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "There's just nothing you can give her. You're just a job. You've always been a job."
Chuck's eyes snapped open, his breathing coming in short gasps. Darkness greeted him as the ceiling in his room swam into view. She even haunted his dreams. Looking at the clock, it was already 4am. "This sucks."
Chuck grabbed the darkest t-shirt from his drawer he could find after his shower, he tossed on a jacket and climbed out his window, trying to avoid any confrontation with Ellie or Awesome. Looking at his watch he realized he still had an hour and a half left to kill before he needed to be at Sarah's hotel. Chuck got into his car and drove aimlessly, finding himself parked in front of the beach, in front of the location where she had asked him to trust her.
He sat staring at the rhythm of the waves as they lapped at the sand on the beach. The sound that surrounded him helped in soothing his frayed nerves. He had pushed the thoughts of Sarah out of his mind as he sat down, but that only made room for the nervousness and fear of the impending mission. He had heard the orders that the directors had shouted into their phones. This was going to be a much larger mission that anything that he had encountered previously.
Today would be his first test since he had set his plans in motion. He needed to prove himself today, he needed to function professionally, he needed to follow the orders given to him, he needed to identify the part, he needed to stay in the car.
Grabbing a handful of sand, Chuck let it fall slowly from the space between his fingers. Since he still had plenty of time left, he decided to think through what could possibly happen today. What could he anticipate and prepare himself for.
Being honest with himself he had no idea what to expect. He assumed that they would storm the cargo ship and split into multiple teams to search the decks for enemies. Since he was going to be observing from a car he assumed that he would be in a van with a similar setup as he was in when they were infiltrating the Triad mansion. What concerned him was the potential for the quantity of monitors that he would have to keep an eye on as the teams would search through the ship. He imagined about approximately ten agents all with cameras mounted on their helms. That would mean that he would have to monitor at least 10 different screens or windows.
He was going to need a method to be able to figure out which screen belonged to which agent so that he could be able to quickly communicate for them to stop or turn around so that he would be able to get a better view of something. Masking tape and a pen should solve that he problem he hoped.
The next biggest issue he could think of was identifying the actual item that they were going after today. The shipping manifest stated that the part of the MLR2G that was coming in would be one of the massive pulsating power generator. Each generator itself was about the size of two industrial strength refrigerators. With this size an item, they weren't going to be searching for it in a box hidden in a room somewhere. They would actually need to determine which one of the freight crates carried the actual item. That would mean either an x-ray search or a manual search of each crate, unless there was a proper labeling and identification system involved.
Looking at his watch, Chuck got up and patted the sand away as he walked back to the car. His last worry could easily be solved by a seat belt or with rope. He would have no other option but to stay in the car if he was tied down.
Sarah opened her hotel door after the first knock, greeting him in black TDU's. "Hi, give me a second."
Chuck took a few steps back to give her space as she dropped a large duffel bag through the door before turning around and bringing out two metal cases, one of them larger and longer than the other. Having seen enough action movies and played enough Rainbow Six games Chuck figured Sarah's weapons were housed in the cases. Even though they looked heavier than the duffel bag, Chuck chose to grab the duffel bag and hoist it over his shoulder. No need to start the day off on the wrong foot by getting between a girl and her assault rifle.
When Sarah turned around after locking her door she was surprised to see Chuck holding her duffel bag. "You don't have to carry that. I can get them."
Chuck just shrugged and gave her a smile, although it didn't really reach his eyes. "Ladies first." He said as he swept his arm in front of him.
Sarah gave him a smile as she picked up her two metal cases and headed for the car. Her eyes caught sight of grains of sand speckled throughout his pants, shoes, and the lower half of his jacket. Her face frowned slightly as she passed him in the hallway. With the rear seats folded down, the gear laid securely behind them. Chuck had automatically and wordlessly sat in the passenger side of the vehicle, letting Sarah drive. As she got in the driver's side door she gave him a curious look that Chuck saw.
Shrugging, he responded, "Instead of you having to tell me to turn here and there, I figure it would be more efficient if you drove since you already know where it is." He then proceeded to recline his seat back a little and closed his eyes, missing the odd look that Sarah gave him before she started on the road.
Chuck was getting more and more nervous as they drove. Normally he would have chattered up a storm, but with the awkward relationship that he and Sarah had after the heli-pad along with how angry she was at him after their last mission, he thought it the better part of valor to try to focus on a happy place. What shocked him enough to open his eyes when he realized it, was that his happy place was now the Buy More cage.
"What's the matter Chuck?" Sarah asked, when she saw him start slightly.
"Nervous." Chuck replied, giving her a sincere but weak grin.
Sarah's face softened as she alternated between looking at the street and looking at him, "Don't be. You'll be safe and all you'll have to do is watch the monitors and tell us if you flash on something as well as ID the package. Simple. We'll take care of the rest." Sarah slowed the car to a stop at a red light, "Just remember to..."
"Stay in the car." They both said together.
Sarah gave him a genuinely bright smile and his heart fluttered. Damn traitorous heart.
"How come we're not driving with Casey? I would have thought Mr. I'll shoot you before selling you this TV would enjoy packing his car full of fire power?" Chuck inwardly grimaced. Sarah flashed one smile at him and he shoved his professional distance off to the side so fast. He was so much weak sauce.
"Our cover is that we're going to the beach all day today since we both have the day off." Sarah responded, not looking at him as she pulled into an industrial area, "It would have been weird if Ellie accidentally saw Casey come with us, or me dressed like this."
"Ah."
"We're here." Sarah commented as she parked the car in front of a large dark building. Chuck grabbed her duffel bag again as he followed her to a door. She punched a security code into a keypad and entered when the light turned green.
"What? No shave and a ... hair... cut?" Chuck quipped nervously as he entered, his voice dying quickly as he met one of the largest men he'd ever seen in his life. The mountain of a man stared at him hard before giving Sarah a quick look.
"He's with me, our analyst." She responded as she grabbed Chuck by the arm and proceeded to pull him along.
"So large." Chuck whispered, still staring in scared fascination at the man.
"You spooks definitely pick a weird bunch for analysts." A deep voice boomed in the direction that they were walking.
Chuck snapped his attention in the direction of the voice and his jaw dropped. There were multiple tables set up in a large warehouse space. The largest of the combination of tables had maps and blueprints laid out on top of it. Behind it was a transparent dry erase board with drawings and labels written on it. To the left was a large bank of computers and multiple monitors, with two large 42" LCD monitors. About half a dozen tables were laid out cafeteria fashion, except instead of food, there were stockpiles of weapons and ammunition.
Yet, it wasn't all the hardware that had shocked him enough to literally stand there open mouthed. It was the group of men that were standing either around the main table, at the weapons table, or just walking around. At least a half dozen of them were as large as the mountain that he had just walked past and the ones that were either his height or shorter still looked like they could easily break his chicken neck with their pinkie.
"Does the US government shop at the we breed burly angry men the size of a yeti store?"
Every head in the place swiveled in Chuck's direction. Casey had a hand covering his face as he was slowly shaking it. Sarah just grimaced, shooting Chuck an annoyed look.
"Did I say that out loud?" Chuck hysterically laughed, while rubbing the back of neck. When he noticed nothing but angry stares, "I'll just be quiet now."
A brief introduction had all the NSA and CIA assault members looking Chuck up and down and obviously deemed him not only incompetent but also a potential weakness to the mission at hand. Afterwards Chuck found himself the primary audience of the strike commanders as well as the two directors that were on one of the 42" displays as they began his briefing. The other display showed a schematic of the pulse power generator that they were to secure in today's mission.
Agent Woods started to give the outline of the surrounding area, "The cargo ship will be arriving and parking itself length wise along this pier. There are three massive cranes that are used to offload the cargo and they are located on the pier. There are two immediate buildings located behind these cranes, the length of these buildings lie in line with the pier's edge. The south building has ID of B1 while the north building is B2. There is a third building that is perpendicular, forming an 'L' formation with the first building. This building is designated B3. We'll be securing these three buildings and using them to seal the perimeter.
"The mobile command center, where myself, Woods, and Bartowski will be stationed, will be hidden and located behind these buildings, nestled in the 'L'. The cargo ship will have no line of sight to us and we'll be removed from direct contact.
"Both birds will be providing cover support once we've boarded. Coast guard cutters will provide sea based perimeter support."
A tall red haired agent proceeded to point to various locations on the map. "NSA will position two of its snipers at the western corners of B1, their call signs are rifles 1 and 2. The third NSA sniper will be situated at the south most crane, designated crane 1. His call sign is rifle 3."
Another agent continued, "CIA will position two snipers at B2 with positioning at middle west and north western corner, their call signs are rifles 4 and 5. One CIA sniper will be positioned at the north west corner of B3 with a call sign of rifle 6. The final CIA sniper will be positioned in the north most crane, designated crane 3 with a call sign of rifle 7."
"With us so far Carmichael?" Agent Connors stepped up and not really waiting for a reply continued, "Once the boat has been tied down, the coast guard will board to initiate take over procedure. At that point assault teams will board and begin their search. Team designations will be by two numerical values. The first value being the team number and the second value being the team member. For example, I'm in team one so my designation is one one. Agent Casey is with me and his designation is 1-4. NSA teams are 1 through 3 and CIA teams are 4 through 8.
Team 5 will secure cargo top most cargo level. Teams 1 and 6 will secure first deck level. Teams 3 and 4 will secure the second deck. Agent Walker is in team 4, her designation is 4-3. Team 7 will secure bridge and that level. Teams 2 and 8 will secure the final level of cargo."
"Each member of the team will have helmet cameras to provide live feed back to you in mobile command." Agent Gomez started, "Securing the ship will take approximately 20 minutes. Once it is secured we'll access the cargo mapping to determine which container has our package and where it is. When that information is determined we'll have the pier's crane operators moving only those cargo containers that will need to be removed to get to the package."
Agent Kramer placed both hands on the table, "Woods and I will be coordinating information coming in and aiding in ground troop movement. Agents Casey and Walker will be providing fire support but also will be leading during the extraction and identification of the package."
Everyone at the table and the two directors shifted their eyes to Chuck. "Any questions?" Kramer asked with a wicked grin.
Chuck realized that he should have rubbed antiperspirant all over his body earlier this morning. Clearing his throat and trying to put all his focus on the task at hand.
"Will," Chuck's voice came out higher than he had hoped and coughed into his hand, "The feeds from the, uhh, camera helms. Will the monitors have each feed labeled with the person's designation?"
Agent Kramer's face showed actual surprise at what seemed like an intelligent question, "Correct. Each incoming feed will show the agent's last name as well as their designation."
"I'd like to be able to take a look at the mobile command vehicle and get myself oriented soon." Chuck's hand began fidgeting with the pen that he was holding, "I want to get myself oriented with the hardware so that I don't end up trying to figure things out when I should be concentrating."
Agent Woods nodded as he crossed his arms, "I can show you the van after this briefing. Anything else?"
"Nope, no. I'm good, uh... thanks!" Chuck answered. He only got a few grunts in return.
"Ok, final thing. We'll start sweeping and securing B 1, 2, and 3 at 2000 Zulu. A perimeter will be established. The cargo ship is supposed to land at 2300 Zulu."
All the personnel nodded their heads in confirmation. "Carmichael, you're with me." Agent Woods commanded as he walked towards the back of the warehouse. Chuck took notice of the shiny black van that had it's doors open as wires were still hanging out everywhere.
Staring at Woods' broad back and tree like arms, Chuck felt like the fat kid.
Chuck checked his watch again as he sat in the back of the van with Agents Woods and Kramer. One side of the van's wall was covered in monitors, each one showing the different perspectives from each different troops position. They were now 15 minutes till 2300 Zulu time and the coast guard had radioed in to confirm that the cargo ship was coming in on time. Chuck looked at the window that displayed the view from the camera helm labeled "Walker, 4-3."
He let out a little sigh, not seeing the other two agents in the van taking notice of it. Earlier before they had left the staging are to begin the mission Chuck had been sitting in the van's passenger seat trying to make it look like he wasn't fascinated with everything that Sarah had been doing.
She looked good while checking her equipment, she looked good when she put the equipment harness on, she looked good when she began putting her pistol into its holster and the extra pistol clips into her back hip slot, she looked good when she loaded the extra MP5 clips into her assault vest and left thigh pouch, and she definitely looked good when she strapped the MP5 submachine gun to her chest.
It had been so easy in the Buy More cage where he couldn't see her, where he was able to stamp down the feelings and need to have her attention. Here, looking at her, he felt her gravitational pull. He justified his not so subtle watching of her as his way of getting it out of the way. Like any addict, he was getting his fix. When she was at a distance he would allow himself to fawn over her, but in close proximity he told himself that he would slam the walls down and treat her in the professional manner that she wanted.
Unrequited love sucked.
"Here it comes." Rifle 3's voice echoed through the loud speaker in the van. Chuck snapped himself out of his day dream and looked at rifle 3's display window. The cargo ship loomed large as it began it's pier side landing procedure.
Chuck quickly grabbed the seat belt and securely fastened it to his chair. He was not going to leave the car dammit.
The moment the cargo ship was securely tied down, three coast guard officers boarded the boat. A few minutes later, they gave the all clear.
"Teams 1 through 8 go, go, go. Snipers, hold." Agent Woods sounded off.
Chuck watched the window display of rifle 2 as a stream of black clad soldiers quickly progressed from B1 and B2, their rifles trained at the visible ledges on the ship. He watched through rifle 1's eyes as the two helicopters zoomed into cover position.
Team 7 was the first to reach the top of the ramp before heading off into the direction of the stairwell that would lead them to the bridge. One-by-one the different teams marched up the ramp and dispersed to their designated levels for their sweep. Chuck's eyes scanned the screens trying to see everything and kept himself on the edge, waiting for a flash.
"7-1, contact." The voice crackled in the van as the corresponding screen showed flashes of gun fire, but just as quickly 7-2's screen had zeroed in on the target from around the corner.
"7-2, tango down."
As team 7 walked by the felled body of the hostile, Chuck flashed. "7-2, tango was Steven Harper." He communicated back, the new algorithm in his mind brought up extra information, requiring him to sort through it as quickly as possible, "He's consistently worked with a Vladimir Petrofski, blond, blue eyes, a hawk tattoo on his left shoulder. Keep your eye out."
"7-2, affirmative."
Agent Woods and Kramer looked at Chuck in astonishment as he kept scanning the screens. His free hands typing information at a laptop.
"Snipers, weapons free." Agent Kramer added as he swiveled back to his screens.
"1-1, contact."
"6-2, contact."
Sounds of gunfire communicated over the radio filled the van as the assault teams reported each hostile encounter.
"1-1, tango down."
"1, tango was Robert Givens, ex-Seals. Expert in diversion and evasion tactics. Beware of booby trapped doorways."
"1, affirmative."
"4-1, contact." Chuck's eyes snapped to Sarah's screen. He could see her behind another agent as he leaned back and out to try to see around the corner. He watched as 4-2 provided cover fire before 4-1 picked the hostile down.
"4-1, tango down."
"7-2, contact." A burp of automatic pistol fire was heard before, "7-1, tango down."
"6-2, tango down."
"7-1, on-site. Bridge secure."
"6, tango was Bruce Webber, demolitions specialist." Chuck quickly replied the moment he flashed on team six's downed hostile. "C4 with line triggers are his signature."
"All teams, proceed with caution. Zones may be hot." Agent Woods ordered.
"3-1, contact."
"3-2, contact. We're pinned down."
"4-1, move your team for support. Make your way through the left side of your level. Enemy is 12 doors on the right." Woods commanded.
"4-1, affirmative."
"2-1, contact."
"2-2, tango down."
"4-3, contact." Chuck quickly moved his eyes to Sarah's screen, watching as she ducked in and out as sparks from gunfire hit the edge of her hiding area.
"4-2, tango down." Chuck breathed a sigh of relief, the belt around his lap digging into his legs and waist.
"2-1, contact, contact, contact."
"8-1, flank. 2's hostile is in sixth room on your left." Kramer spoke.
"8-1, affirmative."
"Rifle 3, tango down."
"Rifle 7, tango down."
"4-2, your tango was ex-Marine Charles Mass, worked heavily with a sniper, Henry Chadsworth. Caucasian, black hair, brown eyes, cobra tattoo on left forearm."
"Rifle 3, tango down."
"8, on-site for 2."
"8-1, breaching." Chuck watched fascinated as the agent's installed a breaching charge to the door before stepping back. A few quick seconds later the door imploded sending the heavy metal backwards into the room.
"8-1, breached."
"8-2, tango down."
"8-1, tango down." The display on the screen showed a bloody and crumbled body behind the heavy metal door projectile. Chuck felt slightly nauseous.
"4-1, on-site for 3. Flash 3."
"3-1, flashing." A bright illumination glowed at the edges of the screens for team 3 after they tossed a flash bang into the hallway. Team 4 moved in, guns hot.
"4-1, tango down."
"4-2, tango down."
"4-1, we found that sniper friend."
Chuck's head was starting to pound ferociously as he was getting flash after flash, but he didn't have time to rest. A lot of the information he flashed on wasn't of much immediate use to the assault team so he let his fingers fly over the keyboard recording what he found.
"8, tango was Jordan McKay, heavy use of claymores."
"8-1, affirmative."
"1-1, contact."
"1-3, tango down."
"2-1, clear."
"8-1, clear. 4 claymore traps disarmed."
"5-1 contact. Can't see them."
"Sniper 3, I have eyes ... tango down."
"1-1, clear. 2 bombs disarmed."
"6-1, clear."
"3-1, clear."
"4-1, clear."
"5-1, clear."
"Affirmative, we are all clear. Bring up a perimeter." Woods remarked, "Good job."
The two agents in the van turned to Chuck, their faces showing a good bit of admiration. They found him popping two Aspirins as he fumbled for some napkins in his pocket. He titled his head back and held the napkin to his nose. His nose had starting bleeding close to the end of the assault, but he didn't get a moment's chance to grab a tissue to stem the flow. Looking down at himself he was glad he at least he wore dark clothes today.
"You okay Carmichael?" Kramer asked.
Chuck glanced his way, "You got anymore tissue paper?"
Four hours later, the crane was lifting the cargo container that had been identified as the one on the shipping manifest.
"We're proceeding to open." Sarah's voice came through the communication. Chuck could see on some of the screens that the agents had their guns trained on the door to the container.
Sarah and another agent each opened the doors to the container. Flashlights illuminated the interior, the pulse power generator sitting in the middle of the container.
"Can you ID?" Sarah asked.
"Package confirmed." Chuck responded, feeling light headed, his head slammed with a migraine, and the floor around him was littered with too many bloody tissue paper.
A/N: I have the story outlined already and theoretically organized into chapters, but as I write I'm filling in more details that have forced me to make chapter cut offs at different locations. An example being the end of this chapter was initially supposed to be the end of chapter 3. I seems to be working out OK so far though, allowing me to build more background information in.
As you may have noticed, this story focuses upon Chuck and his inner workings. I prefer to write in a way where the reader views things from a particular character's view point. That means that thoughts and decisions by other characters are only dramatized by way of their actions and words. It allows me to build deeper suspense and keeps my main character as well as the audience completely out of the loop.
Hopefully this writing method is working.
Thanks for the suggestion on his cover name. I somehow was going to use it, but completely forgot, that's writing a story at 3am for you.
Terms:
TDU – Tactical Dress Uniforms