Well, it's been an interesting couple of weeks. Between work and writer's block and a hundred other things, it took quite a bit of effort to get this next chapter published. I promise not to spend so long getting the final chapter out after this. I've also been trying to enjoy some of the many stories that are still being written about our favorite spy couple. I am thinking of a few stories I might try, including a new Forrest and Slade story and one that I hinted at a few months back, but I haven't decided yet.

As always, thanks to BDaddyDL who got me going on this story. Hope you like the chapter, and please leave reviews now that is back up.

Vienna, VA
March 21, 2033
8:00 PM EDT

Everyone sat quietly in the office Alex set up in her home in suburban Washington, D.C. but little was said. Most funerals were less somber than the group in front of John right now, and he never felt more frightened in his life.

"This Daniel Shaw has gone after my parents before?"

Casey nodded. "He was an agent many years ago before turning traitor. He blames them for the death of his wife and has wanted revenge on them ever since."

"Why? Did my mother or father kill her?"

"It was part of your mother's Red Test, John," Alex said quietly. "Langston Graham, the former director of the CIA, ordered Evelyn Shaw's death. Nobody ever knew why. Maybe she was a traitor, maybe Graham was trying to cover something up, who knows. Certainly your mother didn't know, and it was part of her requirement to become a full agent."

"Wait, have all of you done that?"

Casey, Carina, Verbanski, and Alex gave slight nods. John noticed Jimmy didn't nod, but his expression wasn't any less grave than anyone else's. "You didn't have to take this Red Test, Uncle Jimmy?"

Jimmy exhaled slowly. "The first day your parents and I got in trouble, we had to shoot our way out of a hotel full of enemy agents. I guess the Agency figured an untrained civilian who could kill a half-dozen people like he was Dirty Harry didn't really need a Red Test."

John froze. "What about my…my father? Did he...has he..."

Casey put his hand up. "He took the Red Test, but he didn't kill anyone. I shot the traitor he was assigned to eliminate. Killing people was never something your father could do, no matter how bad things were. And truthfully, your mother killed Evelyn Shaw in self-defense. Your mother may have been a cold-blooded agent at one time in her life, but that was long, long ago."

John sat back in his chair for a moment. This was starting to overwhelm him. "So, Shaw wants the IntComm? Was he an Intersect like you and my father?" he asked Jimmy.

"He had an Intersect in him. He used it to try a takeover of the CIA and kill everybody. Your father managed to trick him into losing it. But John, Shaw doesn't just want the IntComm. He wants revenge. He wants your parents to suffer."

"What?" John was hit by a wave of cold dread.

"Even if you bring him the IntComm, he'll still kill your parents," Casey replied gravely. "And he'll kill you, too."

"He…he wouldn't…" John was starting to hyperventilate.

Casey shook his head. "He's tried to kill all of us before. Shaw won't stop until every last person your parents ever knew and loved is dead."

John sat in silence and began to shake uncontrollably. Samantha quietly slid her chair over and took his hand.

"We…we can't let him do this. We have to stop him." John bolted out of the chair.

"No, John," Carina replied firmly. "You're going to stay here."

"What? No, I have to help my parents. You spent the last week telling me I could be a spy and now you're not going to let me help rescue my own parents? Shaw wants me to bring him the IntComm. He'll kill them if any of you go!"

"John," Jimmy replied forcefully. "There's no way in hell your parents would ever want you risking your life like this. Shaw wants you dead. He'd kill you right in front of your parents just to make them suffer."

John stared at his uncle in shock. He never heard him talk like that before, and it didn't calm him down one bit. "So, we're not going to do anything? You're going to leave them to die?"

"I have every last person who works for me on this," Alex replied. "They're monitoring communications across the country trying to find any information on your parents. They'll finish the interrogation on Bob Hume in a couple of hours. If he wants to avoid the death penalty for treason, he's going to have to give us everything he knows."

"Most importantly, John," Casey continued. "Shaw is locked up in a supermax facility. We already called the warden and told him to keep an eye on Shaw. As long as he's in there, that gives us time to find your parents."

Casey pulled his chair in front of John. "I know you're tired of hearing us say this, but you have to trust us," he said quietly, sounding more like the father of two daughters than a former assassain. "We've dealt with this bastard before and he cannot be trusted. But he is being watched, so we have the advantage. Now that we know who was planning this, it gives us something to work with. It'll be much easier to find your parents now. Just…be patient with us."

John sat there, still trembling a bit at what he learned. He looked at everyone. Although he could sense the worry each of them felt, he could also see they knew the same thing Casey told him: that they would find his parents.

"John, can you be patient with us?" Carina asked softly.

He stared blankly for a long moment before nodding slowly. "I'm just…"

She put a hand on his shoulder. "We all are. Patience is something they can't teach you about being an agent. In a situation like this, you just have to bide your time and wait for the right moment. But it will happen. We'll stop Shaw."

"Thank you," he said quietly. "This has been…this has been hard to take. Please, please just bring them home."

Alex slowly walked out of the room to go to her office in the house. She got on the phone to get an update on Hume's interrogation while Jimmy went to order dinner for everyone. Samantha kept her eye on John. She wanted to talk to him, but she wasn't sure what to say. Perhaps the best course of action was to give John his space. Surely he had to know by now he could talk to any of his family if he needed it, including her.

Interstate 85 North
March 22, 2033
1:30 AM EDT

Daniel Shaw glanced at the two passengers in the back of his car. He sent one of the men from the hotel to ditch the state trooper vehicle in Birmingham, just in case he was discovered missing from the prison. He wanted to send any search party in the wrong direction. Once he had the IntComm and disposed of the three Bartowskis, he would fly to Europe, where several old contacts would be very interested in the prize he possessed. He hadn't yet decided whether to sell it to them or give the President a little call, asking how much was it worth for him to return it. Either he would become very rich or he would get a chance to eliminate more of the people who were close to Chuck and Sarah, like John Casey, Carina Miller, or Jimmy Slade. It was a win-win situation for Shaw.

The remaining members of the team were sent ahead to prepare the warehouse in Atlanta. Shaw had to give Chuck and Sarah credit. He figured they would try to escape, but he didn't expect them to almost get away clean. Even after being away from the spy game for twenty years, they still had the talent. Shaw was perturbed Barringer's mercenaries didn't listen to his warning about underestimating them, but it was irrelevant now. He had the advantage, and he would soon have everything they took from him.

He pulled an iComm out of the bag the now-dead prison guard left for him and attached it to the data scrambler. He was several hours early, but he figured John Bartowski would have the IntComm by now. He just had to convince John to bring it to him.

Vienna, VA
March 22, 2033
1:30 AM EDT

Despite everyone's reassurances there was plenty of time as long as Shaw remained in prison, John spent the last few hours tossing and turning in bed. The fear of not getting his parents back still haunted his mind, made worse by the man they suspected was behind their disappearance. The way everyone talked about Daniel Shaw, this guy had to be some kind of monster. But there was nothing he could do about it until the call came…if one was still to come. For all John knew, this IT person in Alex's office might have been making the calls and using the name Mr. Joshua. Or perhaps it was that Barringer person from whom they stole the data in New York.

John turned in the bed when he saw the glow from the gComm and could hear it vibrating against the nightstand. He remembered turning the ringer off before plugging it into the charger. He stared at it in surprise for a moment before answering.

"Hello?"

"Hello, John. I thought it was time we talked."

The voice was not Mr. Joshua. John sat up in the bed in alarm. "Who is this?"

"My name is Daniel Shaw, and I want to negotiate the safe return of your parents."

John sat in open-mouthed shock. "I gather by your silence your parents' friends told you about me?" Shaw asked.

"But you…you're supposed to be in jail," John eked out.

"I was. For the better part of twenty-two years. Not that I would recommend someone try it, but you learn a few things about yourself when you're locked up inside."

"You…you've tried to kill my parents."

"Yes, I am forced to admit you are correct. I was fueled by a mountain of rage and a desire for revenge back then. I lost my wife, and finding out the CIA ordered it turned me into a vengeful, angry person. And I directed that anger at your mother and father. But twenty-two years on the inside gave me some perspective. I realized your mother was just someone following orders, something I had to do plenty of times in my life. And at the end of the day, all of that anger and hatred will never change the past, no matter how much you desire it.

"John, I'm sure John Casey or Alex or Carina told you not to trust me. But that's why I came to you directly. Their judgment would be clouded by their past dealings with me and would never believe I'm a different person. In fact, they probably told you I would kill you if you handed me the IntComm, correct?"

"Yes," John replied softly.

"Exactly. But I figured your desire to get your parents back would be of the utmost importance to you. And if you bring the IntComm to me, you will be reunited with them."

"But if you have no problem with returning them, why did you kidnap them in the first place?"

"I have to admit my desire for retribution isn't completely gone. Obviously I blamed your parents for a lot of things, but I realize now it was what they had to do. I suppose I would have done the same in their place. But now I have different needs. I'd like to retire to somewhere pleasant. Just relax and enjoy whatever time I have left. So I plan to sell the IntComm to the highest bidder. And once the price is set, I'll ask the government to match the offer. I'm sure they'll pay anything to get it back. After all, that's a lot of technology to just let loose on the black market."

Shaw paused for a moment. "There you have it, John. My cards are on the table. Bring the IntComm to me, and you will have a happy family reunion. And the IntComm will be safely back in the hands of the government as soon as I am compensated. Not the worst deal in the world, wouldn't you say?"

"And if I don't give it to you?"

Shaw exhaled slowly. "John, this is why I came to you first. You judgment is not jaded like the others because we have never met. I was hoping you would find my offer to be sincere. But perhaps it's only fair to tell you I planned to take a carrot-and-stick approach to this. Now you've heard the carrot. Do I really need to describe the stick? I'm sure you can picture it for yourself. And I've had to kill many times before. After the first five or six, it doesn't affect you, believe me."

Shaw's voice turned a bit more foreboding. "Rest assured, John, I will get the IntComm. Whether anybody has to suffer for it is completely up to you."

John sat in scared silence. He didn't want to go against everyone's wishes but none of them expected Shaw to break out of prison so quickly. He was out of time.

"What do I need to do?" he said in defeat.

"First of all, you tell nobody about this. If I see John Casey, Carina Miller, Alex Forrest or her husband, you will not get your parents back. Secondly, the IntComm better have the complete, unabridged Intersect on it. And I will test it before I release your parents. And finally, no tricks. If anything happens that prevents me from getting the IntComm and leaving safely, it will end badly for all of you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," John struggled to say.

"Very well. I assume you're still somewhere near Washington D.C. Take the first available flight to Atlanta. I will call at 9:00 AM to give you further directions. And don't do something stupid like have the Atlanta Police start searching everywhere. After all, my directions may be for you to hop a flight to Dallas. Or Miami, or Chicago."

"I understand," John replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

The gComm cut off, and John sat there, awash in panic. He didn't even know how he could download the Intersect onto the IntComm. He got out of bed and walked to the bedroom door, slowly opening it and taking a peek into the hallway. Several doors down from him was Aunt Alex's office. He walked down the hallway quietly to not awaken anyone. Looking into the office, he saw the IntComm sitting on one desk and the computer Aunt Alex had set up at home at another desk. He remembered her telling him she had several back doors into the systems at the CIA on her computer at the DNI, thanks to Jimmy. Perhaps he set them up here as well.

He went to the desk and found a piece of paper embedded under the glass covering on top of the desk. It looked like a set of clues to passwords. He looked at the first clue, presumably the password to wake the computer. MaMjDjDaYaYj. John thought about it for a moment before he figured it out.

Aunt Alex was born on August 24th, 1977 and Uncle Jimmy was born on April 4th, 1970.

He woke the computer, which promptly asked for a password. He typed 0804042419771970, and the computer let him have access. He looked through the list of drives and found one that didn't appear to be marked. He double-clicked on that one and was again prompted for a password. He looked down the list at the different password clues Aunt Alex had next to the computer. One of them said origin. John looked at it in confusion.

Origin? Does she mean origin of the Intersect? That would be who invented it, and that's…

John typed StephenJBartowski for the password, and the screen became filled with thousands of file names, most of which appeared to be specialized files. He scrolled through the list to look for some sort of executable program. He found a program marked 'transfer'. He attached the IntComm to Alex's computer and began the transfer program. The program began to download onto the IntComm. John took a moment to check the hallway to see if anyone had awakened, but the hallway was clear.

He waited patiently for the program to finish the transfer. Eventually the computer beeped and displayed a message indicating the transfer was complete. John detached the IntComm from Alex's computer and logged off. He quickly walked to the door and opened it. The person on the other side of the door nearly gave him a heart attack.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Atlanta, GA
March 22, 2033
5:30 AM EDT

Daniel Shaw watched as his men placed Chuck and Sarah in chairs in the middle of the warehouse. He told them to make sure the chairs were bolted to the ground and to make sure their legs were tied to them, not giving either of them the opportunity to work their way out of it with their skill sets. He wasn't going to take any chances with these two.

One of Barringer's men shook the heads of Chuck and Sarah back and forth to rouse them. "Leave us," Shaw told him as they slowly regained consciousness. Shaw looked back and forth between Chuck and Sarah, a tiny smile forming on his face.

"I didn't want you to sleep through all of this," he said with an ice-cold detachment. "I wanted to make sure you got to experience every moment of impending tragedy. Your son should be on his way to Dulles right now to catch a flight to here."

"I can't believe you would do this," Sarah spat out. "You would be so low to kill an innocent child because of something that happened almost thirty years ago?"

Shaw got inches from her face. "And what is that 'something', Sarah? Are you referring to the time you gunned down my wife in cold blood? When you took away everything I ever loved? When you changed the path of my life forever?"

"You know damn well I've regretted that day ever since, and I still do. If you still want revenge after all this time, take it on me. Don't…I beg of you…please don't involve anyone else."

Shaw chuckled. "I think I've heard this conversation before. When was it? Oh, when I had you tied up in Castle that one Christmas, yes. You begged me to spare everyone back then, too. And you know what? Maybe I would have left it to just you and Chuck. But then your family got involved. And your friends. The list of people who must suffer is considerable, Sarah. And rest assured, I will get to every last one of them. Casey, Carina, Alex Forrest, Jimmy Slade…yes, I know who he is…Ellie and Devon, Morgan...all of them. But I'll start with one of the two things you hold most preciously in your life."

He stepped back and looked at both Chuck and Sarah. The grin across his face conveyed every last bit of malice within him. "It will be slow and painful for your son. He'll be begging me to end his life. And you will witness every last second of it."

Shaw quietly walked away from Chuck and Sarah to consult with Barringer's men. Chuck and Sarah sat quietly and looked at each other. Both of them couldn't shake the fear Shaw might succeed.

Vienna, VA
March 22, 2033
2:15 AM EDT

"What do you think you're doing?"

John clutched his chest as he tried to control his breathing. "Jesus, Samantha. Are you trying to kill me?"

"Why were you in Alex's office?"

John tried to think of an excuse, but the look on Samantha's face indicated she wouldn't believe him. He looked down at the ground. "It's Daniel Shaw. He escaped from prison."

Samantha's eyes widened. "What? How do you know that?"

"He called me. He said he would let all of us go if I gave him the IntComm."

Samantha shook her head. "Please tell me you don't believe him, John."

"Well, he sounded pretty sincere, and he said everybody else's judgment is clouded by their past dealings with him."

"John, listen to me. He WILL kill you. Think about it: if you give him the IntComm, what reason would he have to keep you alive after that? He doesn't have any."

"But if I don't go, he'll kill my parents!" John hissed to not wake anyone else. "I couldn't live with myself if they die and I could have stopped it!"

"John, no. This guy wants to make your parents suffer. Casey told me earlier tonight Shaw turned a stone-cold ex-agent on a little child twenty years ago. You know who that child was? Your Aunt Molly. She was six years old and Shaw had no trouble sending a killer after her. He'd have no trouble torturing and killing you to hurt your parents."

Samantha gently put a hand on John's shoulder. "Please, John. Shaw wants you dead. Nobody wants you to put your life in danger like this. Especially me."

Samantha could feel John shiver. "But I have to do something," John said quietly, unable to meet Samantha's gaze. "I can't just stay here in D.C. and pray everything works out for the best. I…I know I've been a bit overwhelmed by all of this, but sitting idly by while this bastard does this…I just can't. Please, Samantha. I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I did everything I could."

Samantha looked at him. There was no doubt in her mind it would be almost impossible to rescue John's parents without him. But nobody wanted John to lose his life, either. She could end this right now with one well-worded scream since she was in earshot of almost everybody. But John would never forgive her if she did that. She needed to come up with a plan.

"Did Shaw tell you where to meet him?" she asked gently.

"He said to fly to Atlanta and he'd call at 9:00 AM. But he said he might send me on another flight somewhere."

Samantha shook her head. "No, he's looking to make a quick exit. He'll get the IntComm and probably hop a flight somewhere. Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is one of the busiest in the world, isn't it?" John nodded in agreement. "Maybe if we got to Atlanta early, that would give us an advantage."

"How?"

Samantha pointed to Alex's computer and smiled. "If we could download the Intersect from here, I'm sure we can order a plane to fuel up and take us to Atlanta."

John returned her smile. "I'll give you the password."

Samantha sat down at the computer and typed in the password John told her. She kept it to herself, but she now had a way to make everybody happy. She just hoped it would bring his parents home.

Langley, VA
March 22, 2033
4:30 AM EDT

John and Samantha drove up to the auxiliary gate at CIA Headquarters, which would lead them to the access road to the airstrip hidden amongst the tree-lined grounds. They showed their IDs to the guard at the gate, who had their names on a flight manifest emailed by Alex Forrest herself…or at least one emailed from the computer of Alex Forrest. Samantha headed down the roadway, making a turn at the sign for Hangar 4.

"Where are you going? It says Hangar 2 is straight ahead," John said with some concern.

"Oops, sorry," Samantha replied.

"Are you sure you're OK? You've made four wrong turns on this trip. We should have been here thirty minutes ago."

"I don't like driving in the middle of the night, John," Samantha replied with some annoyance. "Besides, I haven't been in Washington since I was ten. I don't know the area."

"OK, OK. Let's just get there."

Samantha drove down the access road in the correct direction until they saw Hangar 2 ahead of them. A Gulfstream 250 jet was waiting for them inside. They exited the car and a aviation worker took the car to the nearby parking lot. John and Samantha ascended the stairs into the jet.

Casey, Carina, Jimmy, and Alex were waiting for them inside the jet.

"Going somewhere, John?" Casey asked with considerable ire.

John's mouth dropped open in shock. He then put two and two together and turned angrily towards Samantha. "You told them! That's why you kept missing the exits; to give them time to get here!"

"Be glad you got this far," Carina angrily replied before turning on her daughter. "You never should have let him leave the house. All you had to do was yell your head off and we would have come running."

"He was going if he had to hitchhike his way there, OK? His parents were kidnapped. What did you want me to do?"

"How about acting like an agent instead of some lovesick teenager?"

Samantha could feel the blood drain from her face. "You're going to lecture me about being professional when I was born because you fucked an asset?"

"Wait, stop," Jimmy calmly replied as he got in between both of them. "This isn't helping Chuck and Sarah." He turned to John. "What exactly did Shaw say, John?"

"He said if I deliver the IntComm, he'd let all of us go. If I didn't, he'd kill my parents. And it has to be me; he'll kill them if he sees any of you."

"John, you can't risk your life like this," Alex replied calmly. "Your parents could never handle it if something happened to you."

"Oh, and if they die, I'm just supposed to be happy about it? You don't think it'll hurt me if I lose them?"

"John, we don't expect you to understand…"

"You're right. I don't understand. What makes my life more valuable than theirs?"

Casey put a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't understand it either, John. Until I adopted Olga and Natalya. Now they're our entire lives. And it's something that will never go away. Do you know how heartbroken your mother was when you had your first day of school? She wouldn't cry in front of you, but Gertrude had to come over and comfort her that entire day. But at least she knew you'd come home that day. She'll be in even worse shape the day you go away to college."

Casey paused for a moment. "Now imagine you leave and you never come back. Ever. How do you think she'll feel? No parent ever recovers from that."

John was silent for what felt like an eternity. "But you need me to get them back. Do you have a better idea? If I walk in, at least you have a chance to come up with something." John exhaled. "I can do this, Uncle John. I need to do this. I've helped you already; please let me help you now."

Casey looked at Carina, Alex, and Jimmy. All of them had the same look on their face. There was no time to come up with an effective plan without involving John.

Casey turned back to John. "You do exactly what we tell you when we tell you to do it, and you don't improvise. Most of all, you don't trade your life for the lives of your parents. Are you clear on that?"

John nodded. "Are you clear on that, too?" he asked Samantha, who nodded in agreement.

John walked to the front of the jet and pressed the button to close the door. "Let's get going, Captain," he told the pilot.

Everybody took seats and buckled their seatbelts. The jet pulled out of the hangar and headed for the runway.