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Chapter 5 - Chuck vs the Lt.
Previously: "Mountains of western Pakistan. This should be a military operation, but in this case, I don't give a flying fuck. He knows about the Intersect and everyone talks eventually. According to our agent infiltrating the Ring, a man named Daniel Shaw had Casey's unit ambushed by some Taliban fighters in exchange for some brand new weapons and equipment. A body was accounted for every man in Casey's team with the exception of Casey, James Wilson, and a man named Miles. Bring him home by any means necessary, Prometheus."
I hope we will be in time, John. We'll be there soon. Chuck thought to himself as he headed out with his assault rifle laying across his chest, propped up by his left forearm and breaking into a jog with Althea close behind.
Swat Region – Northwest Pakistan – 260 km Northwest of Mingaora
May 12, 2011
6:31 PM Thursday
Althea and Prometheus looked down at the valley below them; they had jogged nearly the whole way to the suspected area holding Colonel Casey. They were anxious to get in there and see if he is in fact being holed up in the suspected cave. However, due to there not being too much vegetation they would easily be spotted on approach. There inlaid their current problem. They both wanted to head in, knowing their friend is most likely being tortured and questioned. Both knew he could hold out, he was not a man to be taken lightly. Chuck was more worried about the Ring agent behind the capture threatening Casey's family. Luckily Graham had them picked up from LA and taken to a safe house for a nice little vacation in the Rockies.
That wouldn't stop them from threatening his family though. Chuck thought to himself bitterly. "We have no choice but to wait until nightfall. Hopefully there will be enough cloud cover to block the little amount of light the moon will provide." He whispered to his partner and taking in the surroundings. There were many different areas where the Taliban could have men in over watch positions. That made Chuck a little uneasy as he began to scan the neighboring rocky mountain terrain.
Althea nodded while looking through the sniper scope of her M24A3. She had found a position to setup and had since been checking the area below them for anymore hostiles. She was on a knee, with her rifle propped up on a bipod on the rock face they were on. She had attached the silencer after they had arrived. Her MP-5 was leaning against the same rock face she was using to steady her aim. They had made their way so that the setting sun would be to their backs, making it more difficult to be spotted, just in case.
Chuck looked at her curiously. This mission is obviously affecting her. She is normally hard for him to shut up. Starting with the pre-mission jitters, which are normally…very, very uncommon to the point of saying never present. To her lack of any display of emotion. He had never seen her act so…agent like. Chuck wasn't going unaffected either; he was just trying his best to lose himself in the mission to distract his wandering mind. Casey was almost like an older brother to him by this point and his daughter, Alex thought of Chuck as an honorary Uncle. Hell, he was beginning to think of her as the child he was doomed to never have, robbed of the normal life he had once dreamed of. He had since given up hope, knowing he would forever be a tool of the CIA. The sooner he realized that, the sooner he was able to move past the depression he had first felt from loneliness and self-loathing. Oh how he hated Bryce Fucking Larkin. He thought bitterly, which he seemed to being a lot of lately since he came in contact with Sarah again. She served as a constant reminder to him of Bryce. "I'm going to go have a look around. Notify me if anything changes."
"Chuck?" She turned to look away from the scope that was currently pointed towards the lower foothills of the mountain the cave was a part of.
He turned around to look at her before he headed out, "Yes?" He was slightly confused that she called him by his name on a mission. They usually kept it strictly to call signs.
"…I can't rescue the both of you if you get caught." She said with a smirk, some of her usual self cracking through her agent exterior. Be careful. She thought to herself, unable to say it out loud.
Swat Region Suspected Cave – Northwest Pakistan – 262 km Northwest of Mingaora
May 12, 2011
6:31 PM Thursday
Casey grunted as another jolt of electricity shot through his temples, down the rest of his body, finally into the water at his feet, then returning back the way it came.
"What do you know about the whereabouts of Agents Prometheus, Althea, and Ismene?"
"That you are going to find out soon enough, you son of a bitch." Casey grunted out through the pain. I will enjoy watching you suffer. I just need to hold out long enough for him to get here.
Keller punched his jaw, hard, as the electricity was halted.
Swat Region – Northwest Pakistan – 261 km Northwest of Mingaora
May 12, 2011
7:24 PM Thursday
"Prometheus, what's your status?"
Chuck heard Althea's voice crack over his earpiece. He was currently stalking a man, trying to access his intentions. He could not see his face, as the man was currently pointing a TAC-50 silenced sniper rifle towards the cave entrance. He recalled both what Graham had mentioned and the file contained in his flash of the incident. There were two men unaccounted for, one Second Lieutenant Miles and First Lieutenant James Wilson, Casey's second in command. Chuck took a smaller scope out of one of the pockets on his BDU and noticed the man had no visible ways to identify him, with the exception of a small scar running down the right side of his neck.
Chuck's eyes rolled back and began to flutter.
First Lieutenant James Wilson, USMC.
Recommended for promotion by Colonel Casey to the rank of Captain, promotion still under consideration by the Senate.
Currently Serving under Colonel John Casey.
Served with John Casey through First Gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan War, Second Iraq War
Awarded Silver Star under recommendation of then, Captain John Casey, during the Kosovo Campaign. Awarded for extreme valor in saving members of his unit, including current direct commanding officer – Colonel John Casey.
Photos of Wilson with Casey during various missions overseas.
Note from Graham: Unable to find any ties to any sort of nefarious organization. After having analysts comb through his unrestricted files, it is our judgment that turning is highly unlikely. Especially betraying Casey, who he seems to regard as a brother. From reading various reports, Wilson credits him with saving his life more than a few times. There are no family members to be held over his head to get his compliance. Wilson is was an orphan and joined the Marines as soon as he was the correct age, straight out of an orphanage.
Chuck's flash ended. I suppose Casey rose quickly through the ranks when he became a part of the NSA. He left as a captain and came back to his unit as a Colonel. Interesting. Heh. Graham's note sounds familiar to our friendship. Three might work better than two. Chuck queued up his communication device in his ear; he whispered quietly – his voice being normalized by the receiving earpiece of his partner. "I found one of the missing men. Intel makes him out to be some sort of hero. He has personally rescued his unit before and was awarded a Silver Star recommended by Deimos. Zeus's army of analysts agrees, he isn't likely to turn against Deimos."
"How will you proceed?" She replied over the headset.
"I'll approach with caution. I've activated the GPS only you know about. See if you can get eyes on us, I am directly above him about 30 meters back. We're directly to your northwest, about one click away. Assigning him codename Amon if this pans out."
"Roger." About 20 seconds pass before her voice cracks in Chuck's ear, "I've got him, unable to locate you. He is well hidden though; I was only able to see him from your coordinates."
"Be ready to give him a warning shot, you had better not miss." Chuck adds, challenging her. He knows how to motivate her.
"I might just miss and hit your manhood." She replied.
"Never. You enjoy it too much."
"True, I might just nick a leg or arm then."
Chuck smirked at the usual banter and watched as his prey adjusted his shoulder slightly, looking directly at the cave. Chuck adjusted his scope to zoom in and noticed what sparked his curiosity. He saw what appeared to be an American, in his late forties, early fifties. He carried himself like a military type. He glanced at Wilson, to see if he recognized the man. His little scope wasn't powerful enough to give a clear picture of the man by the cave. He could only see the right side of Wilson's profile, but even then he could notice the visible scowl emanating from his face. It appeared it was taking a great amount of self-control for Wilson to not pull the trigger, his trigger finger edging back and forth, closer to squeezing it.
Chuck took the moment of Wilson's distraction to make his presence known. He silently made his way down to Wilson. Well as silently as you can move downhill, on terrain with nothing but loose rocks, towards Wilson.
Wilson heard a few rocks being displaced and brought his left hand down quickly to his M1911. Just as he was gripping the pistol, a well placed shot clipped the rock beside where his TAC-50 was currently propped up by a bipod.
"The next shot won't miss." Prometheus said as he neared Wilson. "Lieutenant Wilson, place your pistol beside your sniper rifle and turn around slowly with your hands where I can see them."
Wilson took notice of the American accent. He was worried that Chuck was working for Keller. He had a run in with Keller before he was declared rogue nearly three years ago when Casey was being blackmailed. Luckily Wilson had been between deployments and was able to help his long time friend. He helped Casey take down Keller and his men while another man, rescued Casey's ex-fiancé and daughter that he never knew he had. Both men never knew the identity of each other, since what they were doing was technically treason and Wilson was not authorized to act in non military matters on US soil. Keller was supposed to be locked up in some hole for the rest of his remaining life. "Who are you, are you working for? Keller? Did you help him escape?" Wilson demanded, very angrily. He noticed the unidentified man currently holding a suppressed HK416, with an ACOG scope replacing the iron sights, pointed at his head - slightly lowering it at the mention of Keller's name.
Chuck flashed back in memory to 2008, after his return from rescuing Sarah and Emily. He was granted a small vacation, as the event was his first real mission after his red test. He had to kill more men than he ever thought he would be capable of, not to mention the sight he was greeted with after locating Sarah.
Casey had just shown up to Casa Bartowski, after being notified by Ellie. She noticed that Chuck was clearly shaken up about something, but was not able to get him to talk. She knew Casey was involved in whatever Chuck did somehow, it all added up when Chuck said he was an analyst for the CIA. She suspected both Casey and maybe even Sarah were responsible. As much as she tried to pry it out of Chuck and Casey, she couldn't get them to admit to anything behind Casey being a retired US Marine Colonel and Chuck being an Analyst.
Chuck returning home couldn't have come at a better time. Casey thought to himself as they were given some privacy by Ellie. Devon was on shift at the hospital and Ellie wanted to get a welcome home dinner whipped up for Chuck. She lacked the necessary ingredients so she went shopping while the two friends talked. She figured they would just leave if Ellie was around anyways. Even though she was frustrated at the two lying to her, she was still worried about her brother. She had never seen him so…devoid of happiness. He tried to smile and reassure her everything was fine, but the smiles never quite reached his eyes and he lacked his usual enthusiasm.
"I don't ask this lightly…you could be charged with treason."
Chuck took in his tone and noticed how hard it was for Casey to ask someone for help. "What's going on, John?"
"My real name isn't John Casey. My name is Alex Cobern."
"I don't understand, I thought the NSA didn't use aliases on domestic missions."
"The NSA doesn't know I am Alex Cobern. When I was in my early twenties, I was some hotshot sniper in the Rangers. I applied for Special Forces training and was approached by man named Keller. He offered me a place to train for his unit. He faked my death and placed me into NSA training. I was transferred to the Marines and became the CO of a Force Recon group in the 90s, during the first Iraq War. I was used as Beckman's problem solver between deployments with my unit. She sometimes used our specific unit if the situation required it."
"What does this have to do with why you need me?" Chuck asked curiously.
"Keller is trying to blackmail me into stealing a drug from the CIA. I can't go to the NSA for help or even the CIA. I could be thrown out of the Marines and the NSA and stripped of my rank."
"How are they blackmailing you?"
"I had a fiancé, when my death was faked. I didn't know it at the time, but she also was pregnant with my daughter. Keller is threatening to kill them unless I retrieve a drug called Laudenal."
"What is it used for?"
"Suppressing emotions."
"I could use something like that."
"No you couldn't. Prolonged use can eventually lead to you being emotionless. The organization that Keller works for obviously doesn't care."
"What is your plan?"
"I have until 6 PM tonight to give Keller the drug. I was thinking you could go to my ex-fiancé and daughter and protect them. They'll most likely have someone watching over them, if they haven't kidnapped them yet. I'll go deal with Keller."
Chuck nodded with determination and asked, "Address? Do you have any backup?"
"Another friend from the Marines. I trust him with my life."
"Who is he?"
"It is better if you don't know."
Chuck took his word for it. He also trusted Casey with his life, one of the few people he actually did.
Chuck pulled up to the street Casey gave him. He immediately noticed the Gas company van parked on the street in front of Kathleen's house. Chuck parked a few houses down and made his way behind the house he parked behind. He made his way down the various backyards, luckily there were no dogs along the way. Once he approached Kathleen's backyard, he slowed down and peered over the fence. He saw nothing in the immediate area and quickly launched himself over the fence and sprinted to the house. He peered inside the house, noticing Kathleen and what he assumed was Casey's daughter, Alex, tied to a few chairs with a couple men pacing around the house in one of the front rooms. Chuck made his way back to the backyard, where the kitchen was facing.
Chuck looked at his watch. 6:00 PM on the dot he thought to himself.
Casey watched as his Marine buddy constructed a way for him to remain underneath Casey's SUV. There wasn't enough ground clearance for him to bring his loyal Crown Vic.
"Thanks for doing this Wilson…"
"Don't even start, it's the least I could do after what you did for me in Kosovo."
Casey grunted in resignation, not arguing the point.
"I'm ready, light a cigar and drop the matches to tell me how many men I have to deal with. You take care of that son of a bitch Keller."
Casey grunted in approval, Wilson always was quick on his feet. "I can't kill him unfortunately; I'm going off the reservation here. I might be able to use him as a bargaining chip for either the CIA or NSA to pump information out of him about Fulcrum."
Wilson replied, "True, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun killing the men outside."
Casey grunted, jealous that he won't have any gunplay.
Chuck screwed into place a suppressor to his trusty M9 and slid a round into the chamber while clicking off the safety. He watched as a man who was in the kitchen facing the backyard, turned to go into another room. Chuck quietly picked the lock on the door and made his way inside. He pivoted into the room with Kathleen and Alex and squeezed the trigger four times, two shots to the chest of both men inside the room. Another man came rushing in the door with his firearm raised, before he could react to Chuck, he received a bullet literally ending his thought process. Both Kathleen and Alex pushed their chairs on the floor, smartly using a sofa as some sort of improvised shield at Alex's advisement.
An Asian man charged Chuck and kicked the gun out of Chuck's hand and pulled out a knife. Chuck dodged the first thrust and kicked him back in the abdomen. The man recovered while Chuck quickly rolled up a magazine tightly and started accessing the man, looking for any weaknesses. The Asian charged Chuck and slashed down towards Chuck's neck, which he dodged. Chuck returned with a slap with the magazine to the man's right temple. As Chuck deflected another blow by crashing his forearm down on the man's wrist, he smacked the man with the magazine to the back of the head as he pivoted around him. The force knocked the man down and he kicked out with his leg to sweep Chuck off his feet. Chuck met his leg and kicked down on his kneecap, popping it out of place. The man grimaced in pain and tried to slash Chuck's hamstring, Chuck kicked out in response to the man's forearm, launching the knife out of his hand. Chuck punched downwards and knocked the man to the ground, unconscious.
Chuck quickly looked over to the first room, the two men he shot were still down on the ground and had pools of blood making their way out of their chests. Good no vests. Chuck looked through the man's pockets and found more zip ties that were used to secure Kathleen and Alex. He pulled the man's arms together behind his back and secured his wrists, making it nearly impossible for him to get out of them without a knife. He quickly frisked the man and found no more knives.
Chuck dialed Graham, "Sir, I'll need a cleanup crew at the following address I am texting you."
"What happened?" Graham growled.
"John Casey's ex-fiancé and daughter were abducted by a group of traitors loyal to Fulcrum."
"Why didn't you call me earlier for authorization?" Graham was not too pleased.
Chuck quickly thought of what he hoped, was a logical response. "I thought you might want your hands washed from this in case it went south."
"Since when does Casey have a ex-fiance and daughter?"
"I can't give you the details. Let's just say Casey gave them up when he was recruited by the NSA. He didn't know he had a daughter until earlier today. The alternative to getting my help was to attempt and steal a drug called Laudenal, which I am sure you are well aware of."
"That's what they were after? I'll have it destroyed immediately. It could be too dangerous if Fulcrum or another organization creates their own Intersect. It isn't worth the risk."
"I agree, Art. I need a favor. I'm sure you'll want something in return at one point. I know I am making a deal with the devil, in a manner of speaking, but I need you to keep all of this quiet, especially from the NSA."
Graham paused and the line went silent for a few minutes as Graham thought it over. "Very well. I have a cleanup crew on the way. I want a full debriefing on this; you can omit the details pertaining to the Colonel."
"Thanks, Art."
"Perhaps I can use this one day for my advantage."
"How so?"
"Helps to have friends in a rival agency, don't worry Chuck, it won't be as nefarious as you might think. Someday we might want him on our side of things."
"I won't take part in blackmailing him into anything."
"I never said we would. He just might feel he owes us, which I might add, he clearly does after this."
"He might owe you, but I'm still in his debt."
"He won't see it that way, I assure you." With that, Graham terminated the call.
Chuck threw his phone against the wall and yelled, "SON OF A BITCH!" I knew what I was getting into, there was no alternative. He made his way over to the remains of his phone and pulled out the SIM card to transfer to another phone.
Alex appeared in the room Chuck was using to talk to Graham and asked, "Who are you and who are these men?"
"I'm a friend of your father. He should be here soon, he can explain everything." Chuck said without thinking that the daughter thought her father died almost 21 years ago.
"…my father? He's dead! He died a hero before I was born!"
Chuck inwardly cringed, "I assure you, Alex Cobern is very much alive. He'll explain once he gets here, it is not my place."
"So who are you? You never answered my questions."
"I work…I work for the government. Your father does too. These men were criminals trying to blackmail your father." Chuck watched as Alex took in his words. She's doing better than I would have expected someone in her position to be.
"…How can I believe you? Do you have any sort of identification?"
"Not on me, no. For now you'll have to take my word for it. I did just save you from the men who broke into your home and tied you up after all."
"Good point I suppose."
Just then, Casey stormed through the door on a war path.
"Nice of you to join me Casey." Chuck said.
"We took care of the other matter."
"I see. A cleanup crew will be here soon. Graham knows."
Casey growled.
"It couldn't be avoided."
"What did you have to agree to?"
"I'm not sure yet." Chuck walked towards the door, "You have a bit of explaining to do. I sort of let it slip that Alex's father is still alive."
"I'll take care of it. Apologize to Ellie for me about missing dinner tonight?"
"Sure."
Casey nodded in response as he watched one of his few only friends leave. "Thanks, Chuck."
"Anytime."
Alex watched the exchange, barely containing herself.
As Chuck left the door he heard Alex say, "Dad?"
Chuck was knocked out of his flashback as Wilson started to edge closer, he obviously noticed Chuck's faraway look.
"How do you know Keller?" Prometheus asked with venom in his voice, stopping Wilson in his tracks as he leveled his assault rifle back to Wilson's forehead.
"He kidnapped a friend's fiancé and daughter." He replied.
"You mean ex-fiancé?"
Wilson's eyes narrowed in surprise. "The last I saw of him, he was knocked out and being stuffed into the back of a SUV by said friend."
Chuck lowered his weapon, "It's you! You're the Marine who helped him kill Keller's men while Casey beat the shit out of him in his own cabin!" He exclaimed.
"You're the CIA friend who saved his ex-fiancé and daughter?" He replied, in shock.
"Indeed I am. What are you doing here?" Chuck asked then added. "How?"
"Someone betrayed our team and lured us into an ambush inside our target's cave. I heard Mile's voice before the Colonel's earpiece was taken out. When I went into the cave, he was shot though."
Chuck nodded. "Why didn't you call it in?"
Wilson pulled out his sat phone and tossed it to Chuck. He examined it quickly and tossed it aside.
"How did that happen?"
"Casey assigned me as over watch with my TAC-50 as usual. A Haji snuck up on me and when I turned around. He missed his thrust to my back and stabbed the phone instead. I would have lost their trail if I went back to our Humvees to call it in."
Chuck asked into his earpiece, "Did you get all that Althea?"
"All of it. We could definitely use a third body. If he was Casey's number 2, I'm sure he won't get in our way."
Chuck snorted at the reference to Star Trek before agreeing.
"We're here for him. We got intel he was taken here. We could use a third."
"Only brought two?" Wilson replied in surprise.
"The military didn't exactly approve of our mission. They wanted to cut their losses."
Wilson's face turned into a vicious scowl, "I'm in. Got any extra water? I'm almost out."
Chuck grinned and tossed him his canteen. "We go in once it becomes pitch black, got your night vision with you?"
"Of course. I also have a thermal scope, as well as a regular night vision scope."
"Good, pack up and follow me to our other teammate. Your codename will be Amon."
"Greek?"
"Yes. I am Prometheus and my partner is Althea. Welcome to the CIA."
Some of the back story for Casey's recruitment into the NSA by Keller I adjusted to fit in with this AU. I also changed Keller to work for Fulcrum to fit in the timeframe. Thoughts/Comments?