I still don't own Chuck. Not sure who does at this point. Maybe Subway.

The stakes just got raised – in more ways than one.

I'll be sure to post warnings on chapters that have violent or sexual situations. I'm going to keep this T – but I might dance on the edge for a bit.

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Double Down

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Sarah waited until they were safely home before she addressed the situation with Kate and Alan Gold. Everybody was far too freaked to discuss it in the van. But as soon as they were home, she herded the team into the media room. Sarah had plainly called ahead – because Casey and Janice were on the screen waiting for them.

"The situation has just dramatically changed," Sarah said. "Shaw has just made an incredible blunder. The Ring has gone to great lengths to protect Volkoff Industries. None of them have ever mentioned the company in all of the questioning that we have done. Shaw just exposed it. We simply have to take advantage of that. We…"

Alex normally would have shut up and listened in this situation – but he was beyond freaked out at the moment. Freaked might be the wrong word. He was fed up. This was getting old, it was entirely too real, and his Kate was clearly the focal point - again. "I have two questions," he interrupted. "Why on earth would Shaw do that? And what is Volkoff Industries anyway and why do we even give a rip about them?"

Sarah smiled at him. She knew that Alex wasn't trying to be rude. He was just very concerned about someone that he loved. She could certainly sympathize with that. "Actually," she said. "That's three questions. Alex, sweetie, we're going to answer all of your questions that we can. But you're simply going to have to calm down a little. Nothing has been decided. And I seriously doubt that we're going to do anything that you're not fully on board with. Can you do me a favor? Trust me a little? Take a deep breath and listen with an open mind – please?"

Alex just nodded – after a moment. "I trust you," he said. "Mom, if that sounded like anything else, I'm really, really sorry. That's the last thing I would want. I'm just ready for this to be over."

"Thank you," Sarah said. "Alex, you didn't offend me. Nobody blames you for wanting this to be over. You've been perfect. I need you to hang in there for just a little while longer. You asked some good questions. The answer to your first question is pretty easy. Shaw didn't think that we would make any connection between him and Volkoff Industries. The only way that we did was because of the Intersect. Shaw didn't think that Chuck has had an update in over ten years now. Without the update that we lifted from Shaw's safe, he wouldn't have flashed. Shaw wanted to make Kate an offer that would appear to be legitimate. He clearly felt safe that we wouldn't understand the significance."

"As far as what is Volkoff Industries," Chuck said. "We know quite a bit about them. Alexi Volkoff was a higher up in the old Soviet Union. That regime didn't exactly keep an updated org chart, but he clearly was a key decision maker. That put him in a perfect position to profit from the breakup of the Soviet Union. His company made untold billions. They are, in a lot of ways, a legitimate business. Through their wholly owned subsidiaries they are into a lot of manufacturing operations in South America. They also own most of the mineral rights in Eastern Europe. Lately, they have been buying controlling interest in several strategic American companies. But Volkoff also has a political agenda. He apparently took losing the Cold War personally. It's sort of ironic. Even though he's made billions by being a capitalist, he hates them. To put it mildly, he is not a pleasant man. He is willing to be ruthless beyond belief. He is also into some simply evil stuff. There are rumors about things that he's ordered that defy belief. Things that I'll not even go into – they would turn your stomach."

"As far as your last question," Janice said. "That is exactly what we need to find out. It was always odd that The Ring leadership gave up so easily. They clearly still have some hope to accomplish something. We need to find out what that hope is. The President has just signed an executive order to authorize our team to take whatever action is necessary to find out what they are up too. This is a much higher priority to him than capturing Daniel Shaw."

"I have a question," Kate said. "You said that Shaw wanted to make a legitimate offer. Ten million dollars? That's not believable."

Janice just smiled. "I think that it is very believable," she said. "Don't sell yourself short, Katie. People have been watching how brilliantly you have been handling the media. They see how incredibly beautiful you are. Companies are going to be wetting their collective pants trying to get you to represent them. I've already had some inquiries in the day I've been back about your availability. I actually think that ten million is just a starting point. If you were willing to play hardball, you could probably negotiate twice that. I'm going to hate to lose you – but your future is clearly not in politics."

"What does Shaw want with Kate?" Sparky asked. "I'm not liking the sound of this – at all."

Sarah smiled at the protective instinct for his sister shining through. Who is he kidding? "He doesn't want Kate," she said. "This is just his way of getting to me. I seriously doubt that he thinks he can actually turn her. It's more likely that he thinks that he can get Kate alone so that he can abduct her – and use her to leverage me."

"Okay," Kate said. "So what should we do?"

Sarah sighed. "Let's take a little break," she said. "Kate, Alex, I would like to talk to you in private for a minute. Elise, I need you too."

x-x-x-x-x

Alan Gold walked into the safe house, and went directly to Shaw. The grin on his face said everything.

"Did she buy it?" Shaw asked.

"Yes, sir," Gold said. "She certainly appeared too. At least, she agreed to have dinner tonight. She was clearly flirting with me. That's out of character for her from what I can tell."

"That's what I understand," Shaw said. "But there is no sense in rushing into anything. Let's be careful. Take her to dinner tonight. I had the legal department at Volkoff Industries prepare an offer, a formal contract, and a bonus check. Make her the offer – pending making you comfortable that she's up for the job. Let's see how she reacts to that. Push her as far as you can. Let's see exactly what young Miss Bartowski will do for ten million dollars."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah led Kate, Alex, and Elise into the safe room. She just looked at them for a long moment. "Katie, Alex," she finally said. "Look. I think that you can see where this is quickly going. So let's talk. This is the place to be totally honest. Don't worry about offending me or Elise. Katie, I know that you're not a spy. And I never wanted you to have any part of this business. But I need you to understand something. This is what your dad and I have dedicated our entire adult lives to fighting – so I'd appreciate it if you would, at least consider this. Having said that, you know how much I love you. Alex, I love you just as much. I never, ever would do anything to hurt you – or your relationship. I want to be there when you say your wedding vows to each other. I want to bounce your children on my knee. I want to have Thanksgiving dinner with a full house when I'm seventy. But I also want to do the right thing for the country. We have a chance to do something incredible for the greater good. Catching Shaw would be a very good thing. But busting Volkoff and stopping his plans would be a game changing thing. You have a perfect opening to possibly identify Volkoff's leadership team – and maybe even Volkoff himself."

Kate looked at her mom – with a soft smile. This was a side of her that Kate had rarely seen. Mom didn't usually ask – she simply told you her expectations. "What exactly do you want me to do?" she asked.

Sarah returned her smile. "That is why Elise is here," she said. "She is the expert at predicting what will happen in these kinds of situations."

Elise sighed. "This could go two ways," she said. "The first is less likely – but easier to defend. This could all just be a load of crap. Shaw could be just using tonight to get Kate alone and try to capture her. We know that he had men outside the base with pictures of Sparky and Kate. If that's his plan, we can just tail her, wait for Shaw to show up, and shoot him in the head."

Sarah sighed. "Yesterday, that would have been a victory," she said.

"Yeah," Elise continued. "Now we want more. Fortunately from what I hear about him, he's way too smart for that. He doesn't think that we know about the connection between Volkoff and him. Kate already showed some interest in his pile of money. She even flirted with the guy. I'll bet he is going to let that play out. He will allow Kate to think that this job is legitimate. He's hoping that she gets blinded by the dollar signs and let's her guard down. I mean, what's his rush? He's waited for twenty-five years for his revenge, right? What are a few more days? That's actually good news for us. After all, we don't want Gold. He is simply an eye-candy underling. We want him to introduce Kate to someone higher up the Volkoff food chain, perhaps Volkoff himself. Before he'll be willing to do that, he'll want to take his time. He'll be looking to be sure that she's acting like he would expect before he makes his move. And besides – I'm thinking that Katie is not his favorite person anyway. She foiled all of their plans with her lack of cooperation. I'll bet that Shaw will enjoy watching her fall. He wants to make sure that she's truly vulnerable. That's when he'll have her – and her mom."

"How does he expect I'll act?" Kate asked.

"He doesn't know you at all," Elise said. "But what would a normal twenty-one year old woman who just graduated from college do when an incredibly charming man offers her the chance for a job paying ten million dollars? There is only one way to get higher than Gold. And that's by charming the… umm…"

"Go ahead and finish your thought," Kate said softly. "You were going to say that I should charm the pants off him, weren't you? He knows that I'm engaged. Why would he be expecting anything? Do you really think that I should sleep with him?"

Elise didn't answer her question – directly. "We know that they've already tried to seduce you," she said. "And Kate – the fact that you're engaged means absolutely nothing to him. If anything it makes it more exciting of a challenge."

"Let's get something straight right now," Sarah said firmly. "You're not going to sleep with him. That's simply off the table. We might ask you to lead him to believe that you would be willing to consider it - as a reward – if he does exactly what you want. But if it comes down to actual sex – it's not worth that. Trust me, I've been there."

"But how am I supposed to do that?" Kate asked in a frustrated voice. "Mom, I would have no idea what to do. I've seduced one man in my entire life. The man was in love with me and even then, Alex held out for a week. Elise, you've been in these types of situations, right? What would you do?"

"You're asking the wrong person," Elise said with a laugh. "Honestly? At your age, for ten million dollars? I'd have made him a very happy man on the top of that desk this afternoon. But don't worry, sweetie. Nobody is expecting you to act like a slut. I know that's not you. He won't even expect that. If you come off too strong, it would tip him off. I suspect that he'll be the one actually making the moves. You just need to go with it. Besides, you'll be on comm. I'll talk you through the whole thing. But you will need to be prepared. I'm thinking worst case, a little second base type making out. Can you handle that - convincingly?"

Kate sighed. "Alex," she said. "You're being awfully quiet. What do you think I should do?"

"What do you want me to say?" Alex asked softly. "Do you want me to say that listening to you making out with another man wouldn't bother me? I'm sorry, I can't say that. I can say that I'm crazy about you. I can say that you're my life. I can say that's never going to change. I can even say that I understand why you have to do this and I'll love you just as much when this is over – no matter what happens. But it's going to bother me."

Sarah stepped over and grabbed Alex's hand. "Of course it would bother you," she said. "There would be something wrong if it didn't bother you. That's why you can't listen to it. Elise will be the only one on comm. with Kate. Kate would never be able to do this knowing that you or I or her dad or her brother was listening. We're going to have to trust Elise."

"Alex," Kate said. "I really want to do the right thing here. But I can't hurt you. I won't do that. You're the most important thing in the world to me. So I need you to look me in the eye and promise me that this won't affect us."

"I'll make you a deal," Alex said. "I'll make you your promise - gladly. It will be the easiest thing that I've ever done. Because nothing could ever affect the way I feel about you. I'll even stop acting like a baby about it – but as soon as we catch Shaw, we immediately drive to Vegas and get married. If this guy gets to pretend to have you for an hour, I get to really have you for the rest of my life. I'd go through almost anything for that. Do we have a deal?"

Kate had to pause for a second to wipe the tears out of her eyes. After all, it was the most romantic thing that she had ever heard. But why should she have expected anything less from her amazing guy? She noticed that both Elise and Mom were blinking themselves. So she put her arms around him. "Yes, sweetie," she said. "Thank you. We definitely have a deal."

x-x-x-x-x

Elise spent the rest of the afternoon alone with Kate to get her emotionally ready. After all, for her to pull this off, her head had to be in the right place. The worst thing that could happen was for this guy to think that she was playing him. That could get dangerous. "One thing that you have to remember," Elise said as she helped Kate pick out the right dress. "You're absolutely gorgeous. He wants you. That's your weapon. He'd do almost anything for the chance to get you in bed. That gives you all of the power. Whenever you're feeling awkward, just smile at him. He'll forget his own name."

"If I ask you a question," Kate said. "Will you promise to not take offense?"

"Are you kidding?" Elise said with a laugh. "You can ask me anything."

"Did you umm…" Kate began. "I mean… You've done this a lot of times, right? Did you ever feel like a slut?"

"Never on a mission," Elise said thoughtfully. "I always thought of myself as an actress playing a role."

Kate just nodded.

"Of course," Elise added with a laugh. "Most of the roles I played were sluts."

That actually broke the tension. They shared a long laugh. "Don't worry, sweetie," Elise said. "You're going to do fine. I'm going to get you through his. I promise."

x-x-x-x-x

While Elise was spending her afternoon making sure that Kate was protected mentally, Sarah was spending her afternoon making sure that Kate was protected physically. And she was taking absolutely no chances. There was still the strong possibility that this was simply a play by Shaw to capture Kate tonight. So she doubled down on tracking devices, putting them in both her watch and shoe. Not only did she put the typical wire inside of her bra, she put another one in her purse.

Since they weren't sure where this dinner was going to be taking place, Sarah organized the team into three separate vehicles. Chuck would drive Elise and Heather in their ops van. They would stay well behind whatever vehicle Kate was in. That would allow Elise to stay in constant contact with Kate while Heather talked to the rest of the team without any fear of the van being spotted. Joe and Chuck Junior would be the main tail in Joe's car. Joe was instructed to never let them out of his sight. Sarah would take Alex and stay on their flank as much as possible. Sarah knew that Alex would need some comforting – and since they clearly shared a connection – that made a lot of sense.

The, well, you'd have to call it a date, started off pretty well. Alan Gold picked her up at the Senate Office in a black stretch limo. He was clearly prepared to put on the full court press. Fresh strawberries and chilled champagne were waiting when Kate took her seat.

If Kate wondered how active Elise was going to be, it was quickly answered. "Be careful with the champagne," she said. "Be sure to sip it slowly. We want you to be relaxed – but not too relaxed. Besides, strawberries are heavenly dipped in champagne. Take one, and close your eyes for a moment and savor it. Pretend that he's not there."

Kate had to smile. One thing that she had to admit about Elise – she was an absolute expert at reading people. And she was right – on both counts. It was calming – and the strawberry was absolutely heavenly.

Gold didn't let her escape into her own world for very long. "You look amazing tonight," he said.

"Thank you," Kate said. "So do you." That really wasn't a lie. Gold was a classic alpha-male - tall, broad shoulders, blue eyes, and a dimple when he smiled. Kate knew that she couldn't lose focus – but she couldn't help thinking how polar opposite he was from her Alex. She wondered how poor Alex was doing right now. The fact that Gold so clearly thought that he was going to score tonight made Kate's blood boil.

Elise must have sensed what Kate was thinking – because she quickly got her back on track. "Smile at him," she said. "Reach out and touch his arm. Compliment his suit. Tell him that it is very sexy."

Naturally, that was something that Kate would never say in a million years. But she did it. Gold grinned when Kate told him that his suit was sexy. Obviously he thought so too.

"I'm sorry to bring up business," Gold said as he handed her a folder. "Perhaps we can get this out of the way and enjoy the rest of our evening. I've taken the liberty of having our legal department draw up a contract. If things go as I expect tonight, I'm sure that you'll want to have your people review it. The terms are pretty straight-forward. Five years salary of one and a half million dollars per year. I've also attached your signing bonus check for three million. That is a total compensation of ten and a half million over five years."

Kate looked at the check. Indeed, it was written out to her. She had never seen so many zeroes in her life. "I notice that the check needs to be counter-signed," she said.

"I'm sorry," Gold said. "It's not a lack of trust. It's just that we haven't agreed on anything yet. I'm prepared to validate the check tonight – if things go well. We're prepared to make a tremendous investment in you, Kate. I hope that you won't take offense when I say that we need to make sure that we're going to get our money's worth."

"Ask him how," Elise said. "I already know. But let's hear him say it."

"What's it going to take to assure you?" Kate asked.

Gold just grinned. And then he put his hand on Kate's leg – about mid-thigh high. The signal was clear. "We need to make sure that we get your total commitment," he said.

"Wow," Elise said with a laugh. "This guy is about as subtle as a car bomb. Smile at him. Tell him what he wants to hear. If his hand is on your leg, put your hand over his – and move it up an inch. We need this guy on fire."

"Well, Alan," Kate said as she followed Elise's instructions. "I think I can safely say that by the end of the night, you're going to be more than satisfied."

Elise laughed into her ear for a long moment. "That was a perfect line," she said. "Are you sure you've never done this before? You're a natural. I bet the guy is going to have a hard time getting out of the limo. What a schmuck. I almost feel sorry for him. This is going to be even easier than I thought."

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