Hi. I wanted to add the latest chapter to the story. It's looking like there will be 8 or 9 chapters to this, but there's plenty left to go. I hope everybody is still doing well, even though the show has been over for almost two weeks. But that's what DVDs are for, right? Not to mention, there are so many great Chuck fics on this site, and I'm sure people will continue to write them. Hopefully, all of you will continue to enjoy them and leave reviews. That's how authors know what they are doing is worth it.

Thanks once again to BDaddyDL for letting me run some ideas past him, although we had a little debate on something in this chapter I'm still wishing we hadn't. Ah, well.

Enjoy, and please leave reviews!

Calverton, Maryland
March 20, 2033
9:45 AM EDT

Bob Hume told his boss he had a touch of the flu and would be unable to come into work today. That wasn't far from the truth. He wasn't feeling well at all. He wasn't starting to have second thoughts about this. It was one thing to give out information, but now he had to pin the blame on someone else. It made logical sense, obviously. He sure as hell didn't want to get into trouble over this. But the person promising his big payday had been quite cryptic in the reasons for needing this information and quite ominous about what would happen if Bob walked away. He felt less sure of himself now than when this started, but it was better to finish it off and walk away rich than end up in jail.

He readied the program on his computer to make the necessary changes to all of the emails that had been passed back and forth. The program would also alter the file logs. Unfortunately, there were only a few people he could realistically frame for this, and even fewer would have had a motive. But Kristin Collier had the security clearance to make this work, and a bad divorce a year ago could be interpreted as the impetus for committing these crimes.

He started the transfer. Kristin was typically in a meeting at this time every day. Bob felt a twinge of guilt as he loaded the files into an unmarked folder on Kristin's computer. But better for Kristin to take the fall than him.

500 East 77th Street, New York City
March 20, 2033
9:15 PM EDT

Steven Barringer smiled as he looked at Jimmy, who was being held by two of his best security people with four more pointing their guns at him.

"Well, this is certainly my night," he said in triumph. "Wait until everyone hears I managed to capture the great Roger Murdock. You're little slip-up is going to help me usher in all sorts of new clients."

The four gunmen turned in surprise when they heard a noise coming from the bathroom. One man turned back to Jimmy while two other men kept their guns trained on the door. The fourth man quietly put his hand on the doorknob and threw it open.

Barringer and his men stood in shock at seeing Carina completely naked on the other side of the door.

"Hi, boys," she said with a coquettish lilt.

Jimmy kicked up with both feet to nail the man with the gun on him in the chin, knocking him out. He completed his back flip and grabbed the heads of the two men holding him, ramming them into each other and then throwing them at the two men with the guns on Carina. All four men were knocked to the ground. Barringer ran from the room as Carina took a telescoping baton out of her purse and swung it at the man who opened the door, knocking him unconscious. One of the men on the ground tried to get up, only to be met by a roundhouse kick by Jimmy. He grabbed the man's gun and pistol-whipped another man who tried to get up. Carina swung her baton at a third man to keep him down, while Jimmy gave the last man a kick to his head.

Jimmy retrieved his gun and turned to Carina with a raised eyebrow. "Never thought I'd be glad to see you naked."

Carina sauntered up to him and gave him her best wanton gaze. "See what you've been missing for the last twenty years?"

Jimmy stifled a laugh. "We would have lasted a month. If that."

"Uncle Jimmy, everything OK?" John asked as Samantha and he started walking towards the stairs.

"Fine for the moment," Jimmy said as he went to the closet to retrieve the device he attached to the server. "Give Aunt Carina credit for saving our asses."

"How?"

Jimmy shook his head and smiled. "Doing what she does best." Carina gave him a glare as she put her dress back on. "But Barringer's onto us."

"I kind of figured that. Every security guy is going crazy down here."

"Case, get the van ready. John, stand at the bottom of the spiral staircase. You'll have to get the data out of the apartment."

"How?"

"We're going to add stuntman to your résumé."

Jimmy kept the flash drive in his hand and peeked into the hallway. Several security people were heading up the stairwell. "As soon as I get them chasing me, head down the back stairs to the kitchen and get Sam and John out of here," he told Carina, who nodded in agreement.

Jimmy watched the security people walk past the door, and then he jumped into the hallway.

"Hey, morons!" Jimmy yelled.

Barringer's security turned to see Jimmy smile and give them the finger. They pulled their guns out and gave chase. Jimmy ran to the spiral staircase and sat on the banister. He kicked the closest man to him to knock him back. He smiled as he pushed off, sliding down the banister and making as big of a scene as he could. He hit the bottom and jumped, landing on John, who was standing at the bottom of the stairwell. The two tumbled to the floor. Jimmy slipped the flash drive into John's coat.

Jimmy got up and acted like he was hammered. "Hey, I'm slidin' here!"

Samantha caught on and nailed Jimmy with her purse. "You drunken asshole!" Jimmy stumbled away, drawing security with him as Samantha went to John and pulled him up carefully. "Is there a place for my husband to lie down?"

"There's a first aid kit and a cot next to the kitchen," one of the security people told her as he ran after Jimmy. Samantha led John to the kitchen area.

"Ugh," John grunted as they went into the kitchen.

"Nobody's in here, John," Samantha said. "You can stop pretending."

"Who's pretending?" John gritted through clenched teeth. "Uncle Jimmy is a frickin' anvil."

"Do you have the drive?" Carina asked as she spotted them.

"Yeah, let's go," John replied.

Carina, John, and Samantha walked quickly through the kitchen to find the hallway leading to the freight elevator. They found the back door that led to the hallway and opened it…

…and ran straight into Barringer and four members of his security detail.

-/^\-

Jimmy found the stairwell near the main entrance. He tried going down the stairs, only to see a pair of security personnel charging up the stairs. He ran back into the apartment and tried the elevator, only it wouldn't respond. He looked back and forth to see Barringer's men closing in on him. He took his gun and another item out of his coat and sprinted for the windows at the opposite end of the apartment, running past the startled guests. He fired two shots at the window, cracking the glass. He crashed through the glass, leaping out of the 34th floor. As he fell, he aimed his piton gun at the building across Barringer's apartment. The piton embedded itself into the concrete, and Jimmy held onto the gun as he swung across the street. He crashed through a window on the tenth floor of the opposite building, landing inside an apartment and startling a young couple in bed.

He got up and brushed the glass off of himself. He saw the couple in bed in a rather compromising position and looked away sheepishly.

"Sorry about the window. But hey, glad to see one of us will have a happy ending tonight," Jimmy quipped to the guy as he walked quickly out of the apartment.

-/^\-

Carina, John, and Samantha froze at encountering Barringer and his security detail.

"Agent Miller," Barringer said. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you. I have a few 'friends' in British Intelligence." He gave Samantha a leering gaze. "And is this your daughter? I've heard good things about her. If she's anything like her mother…"

Carina's eyes were daggers at Barringer and she was ready to strangle him with her bare hands. Barringer pulling a gun out and aiming it right at her forehead was the only thing stopping her.

"I suggest you two tell me why you're here unless you want to be an orphan," Barringer said in a dangerous tone to John and Samantha.

"We stole some data off of your systems," Samantha replied. Carina turned to her as if shocked her daughter caved in. She then quickly glanced down at Samantha's purse. Samantha got the hint. "The drive is in my purse."

One of the security personnel snatched Samantha's purse from her hand and gave it to Barringer. "I'll see if it's in here, and then you can kill them," Barringer replied to his men.

Carina slid her hand behind her back and motioned for John and Samantha to step back, which they slowly did. Barringer unlocked the clasp on the purse and pulled it open.

Barringer and his men were nailed in the face by a tear gas cartridge.

John charged at them as they doubled over from the smoke, knocking them down like bowling pins. Carina and Samantha ran after him, keeping low to avoid the smoke. They ran down the hallway towards the freight elevator. John heard footsteps coming from the other direction. He pressed himself against the wall as two of Barringer's security guards rounded the corner. Both of them were put down by a surprise roundhouse kick by John. He got to the elevator and pressed the down button as Carina and Samantha caught up to him. Two more security personnel came down the hallway. Carina smashed one in the face with her baton as Samantha sent her heel into the other. She stepped back and looked at the elevator.

She never saw Barringer level his gun at her.

"SAM!" John cried as he leaped at her, tackling her to the ground as Barringer's shot just missed. Carina fired down the hallway, and Barringer ran in the other direction towards the main elevator.

The freight elevator opened. John pulled Samantha up, who was still in shock and breathing heavily, and took her into the elevator. The three took the elevator down to the ground floor. They exited out into the alley as Barringer ran down the hallway in pursuit. He threw open the door to the alley…

…and was met by Casey's fist. He fell to the ground unconscious.

"Upgrade that," Casey sneered as everybody got into the van. Casey got into passenger's seat, and the team drove away quickly.

Pierre Hotel, New York City
March 20, 2033
10:45 PM EDT

Samantha knocked on the door to John's room but got no response. She looked down at the ground, as she could only imagine what was going through John's mind. The adrenaline from the evening had probably worn off by now and reality was setting in. She could certainly sympathize with it, since she was feeling the same way herself.

She took a skeleton keycard out of her purse and opened the door. She stepped inside. "John?" she called out, but she still got no response.

She walked to the bedroom and opened the door slightly. John was sitting on the edge of the bed. He had shed his coat and loosened his tie. He was looking down at the ground, had his arms wrapped around himself, and was shaking uncontrollably.

"John?" she repeated softly.

He stopped shaking and looked up at her but didn't say anything. She walked to the bed and sat down next to him.

"Are you OK?" she asked as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"I can't…I can't do this…I…you…you almost died tonight…"

Samantha moved in front of him and took his hands. "But I didn't. You saved my life. You were incredible. Your parents would be so proud of you."

"My…my parents…oh, God…Barringer is going to tell whoever did this what happened. They're going to kill my parents…"

"No. It's just like Casey said. They won't risk giving up the IntComm. The government would hunt them down if they tried anything."

"I…I can't do this…this is too much for me to handle…what the hell was everyone thinking? I don't have the…"

"John!" Samantha grabbed his face and looked intensely into his eyes. "We succeeded tonight, OK? It didn't go perfectly, but we got what we needed. And you're a big reason why we did. You can do this. Everybody believes in you."

Samantha gently caressed his cheek, but John still quaked in fear. Samantha held him as waves of different emotions engulfed her. She could feel her chest constrict. She grabbed the back of John's head as her lips crashed onto his. She kissed him in a release of absolute passion and intensity. John began to reciprocate out of instinct as Samantha felt electricity course through her on an epic scale.

She pushed him back on the bed and fell on top of him, quickly unbuttoning his shirt as her mind became a blur of joined lips and tongues teasing each other. She kicked her legs through the slit in her dress so she could straddle John. She began feasting on his neck and chest as she undid his belt.

John suddenly shook his head clear and became cognizant of what was going on. He pushed Samantha back from his face.

"What are you doing?" he said in a rush.

"Trying to get your clothes off," Samantha panted. "You're freaking out, John. You need to relax."

"Is that your solution to every problem? Rip off your clothes and jump on it?" he said sharply, his voice dripping with contempt.

Samantha glared at him. "No," she said as a blaze of anger ran through her. "What? Do you think I'm still trying to play you?"

"Yeah…NO! No, I don't think you're trying to play me!"

Samantha got off of him and both stood up. "What the hell is wrong with you, then?"

"Do you not even get what happened tonight? You know close we came to being killed?"

"Yes. As close as I came to getting run over by a bus when I was fourteen and someone pulled me out of the way. As close as I came when I was two years old and got sick. But guess what? I'm still here! Things happen, and you just have to deal with it."

"And screwing my brains out is how you deal with it?"

"Did it ever occur to you there might be more to it than that?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. That you're incredibly handsome and brave? That you're an amazing kisser and I wanted to take it to the next level? Oh, how about the fact that you saved my life tonight? Take your pick, John. If you don't want me being attracted to you, you're making it pretty goddamn difficult."

John sank down again and hung his head. Samantha calmed down and looked at him for a few moments. She then moved back in front of him and took his hands.

"John, forget about everything else that has happened. You saw me in the bar a few nights ago. What were you thinking at the time?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I thought you were…absolutely gorgeous. Sophisticated, funny, nothing at all like the girls in my high school."

"And if you weren't trying to find your parents?"

"I would be…trying to ask you out. Probably tripping over my own tongue to sound cool, yelling at Connor for trying to barge in on our conversations. Who knows?"

Samantha laughed. "And I don't doubt I would have said yes. I thought you were really cute then, and over the last few days, you've gotten better and better. I was right; the son of Chuck and Sarah Bartowski is an amazing person."

John looked up at her and gave a gentle smile that faded quickly. "I'm…sorry I…"

"Hey," she sharply replied as she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around him. "I should be apologizing. You've had to deal with so much in the last few days, and I should have been more sensitive to that. It's just…I'm not used to being with someone like you. A genuinely good person who's not just in it for themselves. I'm in unfamiliar territory, and it feels both terrifying and exciting. But…it's not fair to put all of that on you right now."

Samantha cradled his face in her hands. "I know things were crazy tonight, but you'll make it through this. Just trust your family, John. Most of all, trust yourself. You will succeed. You'll bring your parents home."

Samantha hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek. "You don't have to be afraid of anything. We're here for you."

"Thank you," John said quietly.

Samantha stood and walked towards the door, but then she turned around. "And John?"

"Yes?"

"If I see you freaking out again, I'll get my mother's handcuffs, chain you to the bed, and do things to you that would make online porn look like a Walt Disney film."

She grinned at John's shocked expression before turning on her heel and exiting his room. John shook off his astonishment and even managed to smile.

Pierre Hotel, New York City
March 21, 2033
7:45 AM EDT

Casey and Verbanski knocked on the door to Alex and Jimmy's suite. Samantha opened the door to let them in, and Casey laid the IntComm equipment on the conference table while Verbanski got coffee for both of them. Everybody else was milling around and nibbling on pastries delivered by the hotel's room service.

Samantha kept an eye on John. He was far more subdued than he was yesterday morning in his house, but at least he wasn't bordering on hyperventilation like he was last night. She remembered the stories her mother told her about Chuck and Sarah Bartowski, particularly about how it took them so long to finally realize they belonged together. In fact, her mother knew Sarah had fallen for Chuck long before she admitted to it. There were a lot of rough spots and a lot of people who wanted them to fail, but in the end, Carina always felt jealous the two of them had so many people in their lives. Friends and family who would do anything for them. Given what she had seen of John, Samantha could certainly see how that was possible.

"I've been trying to decrypt Barringer's files, but it'll take forever with the computer I have," Jimmy said as he looked up in frustration from his monitor. "His system had pretty high-up security on it."

Alex walked by her husband to sit at the table. She smiled and picked a few stray shards of broken glass that were still in his hair from his stunt the prior night. "Can you take it to Langley?"

"That's what I was about to suggest. I use the systems there, and we can have it figured out within a couple of hours. Otherwise, this will take all day."

"Then that's where you're headed as soon as we land in D.C. In the meantime, we have just over a day to load the Intersect program onto the IntComm. Casey, is there anything you can decipher from Chuck's notes?"

"Good grammar is not a Bartowski trait," Casey grumbled as he tried to decipher what Chuck had written. "But if I'm reading this correctly, the IntComm is almost ready to have the Intersect downloaded into it."

"Almost?"

"It looks like the inhibitor lockout hadn't been installed yet. Without that, it's not safe for general use."

John carefully raised his hand. "What's wrong, John?" Alex asked.

"I was just looking at the unit and I saw the sunglasses. I don't understand what those are for."

"In the early days of the Intersect, in order to download the data, the images used to be projected onto a big screen, like in a movie theatre. That's how your grandfather and Uncle James got their original ones. Of course, as technology advanced, then the means became more practical. The idea behind using the IntComm was so that all agents could see any data the Intersect had for them regarding any threats to the country. However, if their job required a special skill, they could program the IntComm to show the images that would download that particular skill into their minds. When they were done, there was to be a cleansing program that would erase the skill so there would be no harm done to the user."

"That's the point of the inhibitor lockout," Casey said. "With that installed, a person could just look at the data they need and download only a couple of skills at a time. If they wanted more, they have to purge the old ones. It's a safety measure built into the system. Your father insisted on that."

"But without that lockout?" John asked.

"Then it's an all-or-nothing. The whole Intersect goes into your head and you are…I can't believe I'm saying this…you turn into Superman…or Green Lantern, or one of those other morons."

"Actually, it's more of a Professor Xavier meets Jackie Chan meets James Bond," Jimmy mused. "But definitely a suave, Sean Connery-type…"

"Enough with the nerdgasm," Casey growled. "But the full Intersect downloaded into someone would make them damn near invincible."

"Then, does that mean if you have a full Intersect inside of you, it can be dangerous?" John asked with rising concern.

Casey, Jimmy, and Alex nodded. "In all of the years the Intersect has existed, only your father and I ever handled the full one successfully," Jimmy said gravely. "And even then, both of us had problems. Your Aunt Ellie made some changes to the original design and fixed it. Once your parents left the CIA, that's the one I used until that accident in New York nine years ago."

"Has anybody else tried downloading it? Have any of you done that?"

The room fell silent. "Let's not worry about that now," Casey answered quietly. "The next step is to be ready to move when it's time to deliver the IntComm."

John didn't say anything else, but it was clear everybody was keeping something from him. He wasn't sure what it was, but the looks on their faces gave away it was something tragic. Did it have anything to do with what Casey told him the other night? He still couldn't figure out why his parents had two weddings. But his anxiety about it wouldn't go away.

Alex's gComm beeped, and she picked up the listening unit. "Forrest here," she answered. She listened for a few moments, and her face turned ashen. "OK, I'm leaving New York within the hour. I'll be there by lunchtime."

She disconnected, and nobody could miss the cold wave washing over her face.

"What's going on?" Verbanski asked.

"The IT supervisor on the overnight shift completed their nightly audit of the computer systems in the DNI. They found some anomalies on one of the computers. Someone had some files linked to Barringer."

"Who?"

"Kristin Collier." Alex couldn't get rid of the agony she was feeling. "She's the deputy director in the DNI. I can't believe this. We've worked together for eight years, we've been friends all this time, and she sold out Chuck and Sarah?"

Silence fell over the room. Everybody waited for Alex to say something.

"One of your friends did this?" John asked quietly.

Casey shook his head. "That's one of those lessons you learn the hard way in this business, John. Even the people you think you know can turn on you. Unfortunately, that's something all of us have had experience with."

Casey glanced to the other people in the room. No doubt Carina remembered her old C.A.T. Squad friend, Amy, while Jimmy had thoughts of his father running through his mind. He wasn't too upset when he heard his old buddy, Miles, was shanked in prison ten years ago and died from the wounds. He never asked Verbanski about her old enemies, but he was certain she had quite a few. Still, it always stung when a person you thought was your friend or was out of your life forever returned to put you through that same hell once again.

"Nothing changes," Casey replied to refocus the group. "We knew there had to be an insider if the kidnappers knew about the IntComm and your parents' schedule. We'll have to proceed cautiously. Who knows, maybe we can use Collier to our advantage."

"Let's pack," Carina said quietly. "This is going to be a long day."

Everybody got up from the table and headed to their respective rooms to gather their things for the flight to Washington, D.C.

Unknown Location
March 21, 2033
8:15 AM

Chuck and Sarah woke up once again the same way they did for the past three mornings: with a splitting headache. It was not the most pleasant way either of them had ever spent their time, but both of them had been in far worse situations. At least they had each other, and they had been through enough together where they realized they had to work together to not drive themselves…or each other…crazy. They had already combed every inch of the room attempting to find cameras or listening devices. If they were in the room, the kidnappers did an excellent job of hiding them.

But their patience for their situation was starting to wear thin. It was like the old Tom Petty song said: the waiting is the hardest part.

"We've woken up with headaches every single morning," Chuck said in almost a whisper, covering his mouth with the MRE bag from which he was having this breakfast. Chuck and Sarah figured this maneuver out very quickly; to disguise anything they might be saying, just in case someone was watching.

"I know," Sarah quietly replied. "That can't be coincidence. The only thing I can think of is that they tranq us after we're asleep to make sure we don't wake up. That must be when they clean the room and restock the supplies."

"That would explain a lot. Can we use that to our advantage?"

"Honestly, Chuck, I'm a little afraid to try. We'd be taking a big risk with so little information to go on. I can't stand the thought of something happening to us if we're wrong."

"Maybe. But a little information is better than what we have now. If nothing else, we figure out where we are and somehow get that to Alex. She wouldn't risk losing the IntComm over us, but I don't want to put her in that position in the first place."

Chuck took her hand. "We're a good team. We can do this."

Sarah smiled and gave him a kiss. "OK. We'll do it tonight."

Office of the Director of National Intelligence
March 21, 2033
1:30 PM EDT

Alex sat at her desk going over the documentation her IT department discovered on Collier's computer.

"How come we never picked up on these files before?" she asked her third-shift IT supervisor, who was already six hours past the time he normally went home.

"Our standard file sweeps wouldn't pick up documents like these because none of them have any of the standard code word flags we search for. When we do the monthly audits, we would have found out, and the next monthly audit wouldn't have been run until next weekend."

"But you discovered them last night?"

"Bob Hume gave us a few clues on what to find. Dates, names, cities, the whole bit. It was a search you assigned him to do, I think?"

Alex nodded. "He should have ordered you to do the sweep the second he discovered it."

"He didn't want Miss Collier to get wise to it. When the sweep is conducted, anybody who is online gets a warning message so they can save their work in case there's a problem. If Miss Collier was on her computer at the time, she would have had plenty of time to erase the files."

"Very well. Go home for now, take tonight off. But be ready, because you'll be called in again as part of this investigation."

"Yes, Mrs. Forrest," the IT supervisor replied as he left the room, leaving Alex to read the documents again and again and wonder why Kristin would do such a thing.

Langley, VA
March 21, 2033
3:30 PM EDT

Jimmy Slade sat at a very large computer in the basement of CIA Headquarters. It was one of the most powerful computer systems in the entire world, and it had every decryption program ever created loaded onto it. He waited patiently as the computer deciphered the files they took off of Barringer's computer. Even with top-of-the-line security software installed, the yottabytes of programming capacity on the Agency's supercomputer could crack it and hopefully give Jimmy some answers.

The computer began to spit out IP addresses from several dozen different locations. Jimmy started to triangulate their locations. Many of them led to dead-ends, and even more were designed to send data in circles so the origin couldn't be traced. He sighed in frustration as he looked down the list of numbers, trying to find anything that would give him a clue.

He started typing the IP address of one such location. He only saw the address one time, and it looked like an anomaly more than anything else. But perhaps someone down the line got careless. He took a sip from his coffee as the computer did its search.

He got the location from the computer. Jimmy suddenly had difficulty breathing. It was impossible.

"Not him," he whispered in utter disbelief.