The continuation as promised. Enjoy! Also, I'm glad that I shocked a couple people with an actual storyline. Gotta keep you on your toes (pun intended).
And I know that I said that I'd have this to you yesterday, but I got distracted by cooking and baking and work and Hart of Dixie. Please forgive me.
Toes in the Sand - Chapter 7
"Trust me, Chuck. I only want Frost; your boy is worthless to me. Double cross me, however, and I promise you, I will kill your son." The phone suddenly went dead.
Chuck placed the phone back in the cradle and looked up at his team. "Did you get a trace?"
Casey shook his head. "They were pros; they were rerouting the call from all over the world."
"What did they want, Chuck? Is Tyler alright?" Sarah asked, worry seeping into her voice.
Chuck gave his wife a tight smile. "Tyler is fine, for now. Apparently they want Frost."
"Frost? As in your mother?" Sarah narrowed her eyes, thinking intently.
Chuck nodded. "That's what they said. We need to hand her over tomorrow at 5pm at the private terminal at JFK airport."
Sarah narrowed her eyes, thinking intently. "Why would they want Frost? Everyone knows she's been out of the game for nine years."
"The Volkoff and Frost files were sealed when the case was closed. People would only know about Frost if they have old intel," Casey continued on Sarah's train of thought. "Whoever he is, he's been under the radar since the gap between The Ring and Volkoff."
"Chuck, search all government agents between those times that may have had access to the Volkoff and Frost files," Sarah told him as she stood and placed her hands flat on the table, watching as her husband tapped a few keys on the keyboard in front of him and started the search. "This guy has waited almost ten years to get Frost, so why would he choose to strike now?"
"We should get Mary in here; maybe she can shed some light on this?" Casey suggested, "Plus, I think she may want to take a piece out of whoever kidnapped her grandson."
"I'll call her now," Chuck replied, reaching for his phone.
"In the meantime, we should call and get the guys to prep the jet. We're going to need it." Sarah paused, "Verbanski." The older woman's head darted to the sound of Sarah's voice, "If we find this guy, we may need your help in taking him down, especially if he's heavily protected."
Verbanski nodded, "Got it." She left the table and made her way into one of the many hallways to inform her infiltration team.
Over the last few years, Sarah and Verbanski had been working on their civility with one another, especially after Casey went and married her a couple years back. Their 'relationship' of sorts was still rocky, but they were getting there.
It didn't take long for the hurricane known as Mary Bartowski to make her way down to Castle.
"What do you know so far?" she demanded of her son and daughter-in-law as she stood directly in front of them, her hands on her hips and her eyes full of fear and anger.
"At this point, not much," Chuck replied, running his fingers through his hair. "For some reason, whoever took Tyler wants you."
"Me?"
Taking a hold of Chuck's hand, Sarah continued, "We think he's someone who has been out of the loop for nearly ten years. We're searching the database now; hopefully something will pop and we can go after this guy."
Mary nodded. "How can I help?"
"You could go through your old mission files and see if there's anything in them that may shed some light on who would want you," Chuck told her.
"Sure, anything to get my grandson back safely." Mary pulled Chuck and Sarah into a hug. "We'll get him back, I promise you."
"Thanks, mom."
It was nearing seven o'clock that night when Casey and Verbanski went out to grab some Chinese for dinner; it was going to be a long night. Chuck, Sarah and Mary sat at the table pouring over files in silence while occasionally looking up to the computer to see if the computer had narrowed down the search for possible suspects.
Half an hour later, the computer alerted them to their suspect list. "It says there's five possible candidates," Chuck said as he clicked on their profiles.
"Andrew Jones, Scott Brown, Brian Smith, David O'Neill and Tom Baker," Sarah read out.
Chuck rolled his eyes, "Tom Baker? Really? These guys really need to work on their aliases."
Sarah looked confused. "What are you talking about?"
Mary laughed, "I'm surprised Chuck hasn't gotten you to watch Dr. Who with him yet."
"No, not yet. But it's on the list, right after Battlestar Galactica – eighties and modern," Chuck replied.
"You can throw that list of suspects away," came an unexpected voice from the top of the stairs; the sound of his footsteps echoed through Castle, as everyone looked at him in stunned silence as he made his way down to them. Standing at the head of the table, dressed in a light grey suit, the man's cobalt blue eyes shone with his trademark mischief. "What?" he put the file he was carrying on the table and took in the shocked looks on the faces of Chuck and Sarah. "You look like you've all seen a ghost," he said, grinning.
"Bryce?" Chuck spluttered out. "I thought you were dead."
"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," he quoted.
"I can see that. What are you doing here?"
Bryce shrugged, "Giving you the name of the man who has kidnapped your son."
Sarah narrowed her eyes at her ex-partner and boyfriend, "Why don't you sit down and explain it to us from the start, Bryce."
He smiled at her as he followed her directions, "Ok, first off, I've been undercover for the last ten years. The CIA had me dig up intel on every crime ring possible that they would then pass onto you or other agents to take them down. I was an information runner. By doing this, I could keep tabs on anyone and everyone, including you."
"So what does this have to do with someone wanting mom?"
"Well, this guy, I met him about a year after I went undercover, I knew who he was, but he didn't know me because the CIA made sure that every file he ever read about me was photo free. So, anyway, he has been, for the last ten years, trying to build up an organization to take down the government. I've been working with him and feeding intel – most of it old. That's how he found Frost and her dealings with Volkoff."
"But how did he know to take Tyler to get to her? No one but the CIA directors knows that she's Chuck's mom?" Sarah asked.
Bryce sighed, "To bring him out in the open with any hope to take him down, we needed him to do something drastic. The CIA made me give him the information so that we could flush him out."
Chuck angrily leapt off his seat, and jumped over the table to where Bryce was sitting opposite him. Grabbing him by the tie and collar, Chuck yelled in his face, "You put my son in danger just so you could bring down one man. He is not a pawn in your game, Bryce!"
"I did what I had to do, Chuck." He diverted his eyes and locked onto Sarah's, "You understand, don't you Sarah? Tell him." Chuck violently let him go before returning to his own chair.
Sarah shook her head and crossed her arms over he chest, "Not this time, Bryce. Not when it comes to my son."
Bryce fixed his tie, "I'm sorry about Tyler, I really am. But, trust me when I say this, when I tell you who this guy is, you will want to get him as badly as I do."
"Well why don't you enlighten us then?" Up until that point, Mary Bartowski had been silent, allowing her son and Sarah to take the reigns.
Picking up the file he brought with him, Bryce opened it to the profile page and slid it across to Chuck and Sarah.
"Oh, my God."
Chuck looked at his wife, "Two ghosts in one day; there's a new record."
Sarah nodded, "You can say that again."
The next day, the team, prepped and ready – as they'd ever be - headed to the private terminal at LAX.
"So is everyone clear on the plan?" Bryce asked as the six of them entered the Carmichael Industries' private jet, preparing for their flight to New York.
"Yeah we got it," Casey grunted as he pushed past Bryce and made his way to his seat, Verbanski close on his heels.
Bryce looked at Chuck and Sarah. "I know that apologising isn't going to be enough to earn your forgiveness, but I promise you that I won't let anything happen to Tyler."
"Yeah," Chuck whispered in reply as he and Sarah made their own way to their seats, fingers entwined, holding onto every bit of strength each other had.
Five and a half hours later they landed; it was four-thirty and they had half an hour worth of tense waiting to do before the 'handover' was set to begin.
Chuck, Sarah and Mary all stood next to the plane on the tarmac, faces stoic, not showing the anxiety that was wracking their bodies. Casey and Verbanski scoped out a nearby hangar, while Bryce went off to play his part in the plan. They all knew that they would use a third party to organise the handover, so it was up to Bryce to flush their man out, while they all worked to keep Tyler safe from harm.
Chuck checked his watched. Five o'clock. Sarah squeezed his hand and he looked up. Two Agent Smith-like men in black suits and trench coats and signature aviators, were moving towards them, Tyler in the middle. He was still wearing his pyjamas from two nights ago, but from what Sarah could see, he wasn't hurt in anyway. She let out a small sigh of relief and smiled when her son caught sight of her. Tyler started to run towards them, but the man in front caught a hold of his shoulder and quickly yanked him back, pulling him into line with them as they stood a little less than ten yards away from the Bartowskis.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Chuck asked.
"We have orders not to hand over the boy until Frost is safely in our custody," the first Smith clone replied.
"See, that just doesn't fly with me. How about we swap at the same time?"
The men looked at each other before the second Smith clone replied, "That is acceptable."
Chuck clapped his hands, "Brilliant. On three then. One… two… three." The men let Tyler go and he ran straight into the arms of his waiting mother. Frost, on the other hand meandered her way over to the men; they handcuffed her and turned to leave.
Sarah bent down and whispered to her son, "I need you to close your eyes for a minute, little man." She pulled him close to her body as she twisted her body around and looked straight at the plane, hearing two thuds when the men dropped dead.
"Nice shot, Casey," Chuck spoke into comm. Mary made her way back over to Chuck and he undid her handcuffs. "Let's hope Bryce can fulfill his end of the deal," he looked at his mother and continued, "Can you get Ty into the plane? We need to finish up here before we can go home."
"Sure, son. Good luck." Mary untangled Tyler from his mother's arms and led him onto the plane.
Pulling Sarah in for a quick kiss, Chuck told her, "We're going to get this son of a bitch, once and for all. I promise."
When they, along with Casey and Verbanski, reached the rendezvous point, Bryce was already there waiting for them, along with the man they were looking for, already in cuffs and looking a little worse for wear.
"Daniel Shaw, fancy meeting you here," Chuck said glibly.
"Chuck Bartowski, I see you've finally grown a pair and manned up."
Casey backhanded him across the face, splitting his lip open, "That's enough out of you, Shaw."
Shaw spat out the blood that started to fill his mouth. "Go to hell."
Drawing his tranquiliser gun, Chuck shot him twice in the chest and watched as the man dropped to the ground. "There was no way I was getting on a six hour flight with that man without him being unconscious."
When the team returned back to California, Casey, Verbanski and Bryce took Shaw down to Castle and placed him in one of the more heavily fortified cells. There was no way they were going to let him escape again.
Back at Casa Bartowski, Chuck carried a sleeping Tyler into the house as Sarah locked up after them.
"Is it weird that I want him in with us tonight?" Sarah whispered.
Chuck smiled, "No, not weird at all. Come on."
Tyler stirred only slightly when Chuck placed him in the middle of the bed, before curling up into the pillow. Taking turns in the bathroom to get ready for bed, they were both glad that they had the foresight to clean Tyler up midflight. Slipping into bed, either side of their son, Chuck and Sarah reached for each other's hands and placed them on top of Tyler.
"I love you, Sarah," he whispered.
"Love you, too." She sighed quietly and let a stray tear slip down her cheek. "We could have lost him, Chuck."
"But we didn't." He rubbed his wife's arm soothingly. "He's home safe with us now."
"I know. We will have to explain it to him, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, we will. He's tough; he's like his mom like that."
Sarah chuckled softly. "Doesn't seem like it today."
"We'll get through this, Sarah. I promise."
Yes, I know it fixed itself easily, but it's after midnight and I'm trying to finish this for you all. So please, as always, please let me know what you thought. I love getting all your feedback. I hope you enjoyed the last couple 'plotted' chapters.
Some of the next chapters will include the Awesomes as well as some of the crazy Buy More antics, and maybe even some insight into the Casey/Verbanski situation. I also have other fics that I need to finish, so I apologise in advance if this one gets neglected for a little bit.