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

Where is Kate? Let's see who finally figures it out. And why is Sarah so mad at Alex?

My son is getting married Saturday. No, his name is not Alex, lol. So the next update probably won't be until Monday. Hopefully, it will be much anticipated, lol.

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.

If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review.

A Shot at the Title

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah could only look at each other in horror for a long moment. But then Sarah sprung into action. She knew that this was not the time for panic – so she pushed it down deep where all her emotions went on a mission and pressed on. "Elise," she said. "Kate is not here. Someone has her. Deploy the guys to watch the exits. If they get her out of the hotel…" Sarah couldn't bring herself to finish the thought. If whoever had Kate was able to get her out of the hotel without being caught – they would never see her again - at least not alive. And Sarah would have to spend the rest of her life imagining the horror of what her last few hours of life were like.

When Sarah looked around, the team had already sprung into action. Chuck was looking at the man on the floor. "Is that him?" she asked.

Chuck just nodded. Then he went to help Joe who was securing the unconscious guards.

Heather was already examining Volkoff. "He is semi-conscious," she said. "His vitals are okay. It looks like he's been drugged. I think that he'll come around in a few minutes."

Sarah bent down and secured the man's hands behind his back. "Is there anything you can do to speed that up?" she asked. "I'd really like to have a little chat with him. He must know something."

"I could give him some adrenalin," Heather said. "That will get him to recover a lot quicker. It might not be the best for his heart. He's not a young man."

"Do it," Sarah said quickly. "I don't give a damn about his heart." Then she turned to Chuck and Joe. "Tear this floor apart," she said. "Let's make sure that Kate is not still here someplace. Check every closet and under every bed."

x-x-x-x-x

Kate had a hard time remembering where she was. All she knew was that her head was spinning. Oh, and she couldn't feel her arms or legs. For a while, she thought that she was dreaming. Finally she was able to pry her eyes open enough to realize that someone was carrying her. They were just going into what looked like a hotel room.

He must have sensed that she had opened her eyes - because he spoke to her as he sat her relatively gently on the sofa. "Relax," Gold said. "You're going to be fine. The drug just paralyzes you for an hour or so. Don't try and fight it."

Kate tried to talk to him. She just couldn't make any words come out – or even get her mouth to open.

"Stop trying to fight it," Gold said a little more insistently. "It's just going to make your head hurt more. Kate, I know that you're scared. I just didn't know of any other way. I couldn't let Volkoff have you. Not knowing what he does to women. And you were right. If you didn't show up tonight, he would have just eventually hunted you down. He takes what he wants. This way, he'll wake up and you'll just be gone. None of the guards saw my face. He'll assume that an enemy of yours captured you. Since you don't know anything, he won't be worried about you talking. He won't look that hard for you. We can be together. I'll have to keep up some appearances for a while… but I have a survival place in the mountains. We'll be fine. We'll be more than fine – we're the perfect couple."

Kate suddenly realized in horror what was going on here. Gold was more than just a little jealous. He was completely insane. She tried desperately to speak – or even to shake her head. But her body simply wouldn't respond.

"Look," Gold said. "I know that we just met yesterday. I know that you don't love me – not yet anyway. But I'm sure that you will learn soon. I'm going to have to keep you drugged for a while. How long depends on you. Hopefully, we can taper it off soon – as soon as you learn to be obedient. I have big plans for us. Trust me, Kate. Pretty soon you'll love your new life."

Kate's mind was racing as she tried to figure out something to do. Then she saw it out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't turn her head, or even shift her eyes – but that was definitely her blouse that was lying on the arm of the sofa next to her. She hadn't felt him take it off but that meant… Then she watched in shocked horror as she saw him set her bra next to it.

"You are so amazingly beautiful," Gold said. "I can't wait to see how beautiful our children are going to be. Of course, you were right earlier in the car. It's going to be much better to take our time. We're going to have to wait here for a couple of days until Volkoff's people stop looking for us. But don't worry. I already know how we're going to be spending most of our time. I have so much to teach you."

x-x-x-x-x

Elise knew right away that the situation was critical. The van was parked in the hotel parking lot. From her vantage point she had a good view of the North and East entrances – especially aided by the cameras in the van. "Alex," she said. "Go to the rear exit and stand guard. Sparky, go to the other side. Quickly guys. We can't let anyone get Kate out of this hotel."

The guys jumped out of the van and ran as quickly as they could.

The first thing that Elise could think of was Shaw. So she checked the location of his cell phone. It was still at the safe house. At least his phone was still there.

Clearly, Sarah was thinking along the same lines. "Check Shaw's position," she said.

"Already done," Elise answered. "He is holding steady at the safe house. Should I call and see if he answers?"

"Not yet," Sarah said. "Let's give it ten minutes to finish searching the floor – and see if anybody tries to get her out of the building."

x-x-x-x-x

Alex's heart was standing still. This couldn't be happening. Of course, he knew instantly what the situation was. Somebody had Kate. And if they got away with her, he would never see her again. Not only that, she would die a horrible, degrading, inhumane death. He was as close to panic as he had ever been in his whole life. So he literally forced himself to calm down. After all, he couldn't help Kate if he panicked.

Where could she possibly be? All signs pointed to Shaw. But why would Shaw pick this time to attack? That didn't make any sense. He already knew that Kate was meeting with Volkoff. And from the transcripts of their intercepted calls, they would never drug Volkoff. They were clearly afraid of him. That sounded like suicide. But poor Alex was stumped. Who else would take Kate and leave one of the richest men in the world behind? What would they possibly want with Kate?

Then it hit him. Of course. So he ran to the front desk. "Gold," he called into his wire. "Gold has her. I'm going to find out his room number."

"Alex," Elise said. "Do not leave your position. If they get Kate past us, we'll never find her."

Alex was sure – so sure that he was willing to tell Elise a white lie. "I can see the exit from the lobby," he said as he walked up to the front desk. A clerk was sitting reading a magazine. She was clearly bored. "Excuse me," he said in a hurried tone. "I need the room number for an Alan Gold."

"I'm sorry, sir," the clerk said. "We can't give out that information."

"I'm an undercover Federal Agent," Alex said. "This is an urgent national security situation. Give me the room number."

The clerk just smiled. "Of course you are," she said. "We must get three undercover Federal Agents a day in here. Do you have a warrant?"

A few weeks ago, and under other circumstances, Alex would have been impressed that such a pretty girl was so overtly flirting with him. But tonight he was done messing around. After all, who knew what he was doing to Kate this very instant. So he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the clerk's head. "Lives are in imminent danger," he said. "Including yours if I don't get a fucking room number in like two seconds."

Well, that got her attention. "I'm sorry, sir," she said as she sat up and immediately browsed her computer. "I don't have an Alan Gold registered."

"Damn," Alex said as he slammed his hand on the counter. But then he thought about it for a second. If he was double crossing Volkoff… "He must have used another name. He would have checked in the past half hour. Tall man, boyish looks…"

"Very incredibly attractive?" the clerk asked. "Big dimple when he smiles."

"I guess," Alex replied as he secured his weapon. "He doesn't do anything for me. But I can see how women would find him attractive. I'll tell you what. Help me catch him and I'll give him your phone number."

"Mr. Silver," the clerk replied. "Room eight-forty-six. He just ordered a bottle of champagne from room service five minutes ago."

"Gold - Silver," Alex said, more to himself than the clerk. "Cute. That must be him. Give me a key for that room. And thank you for your help. You might have just saved a life. For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I pointed my weapon at you."

"I'll tell you what," the clerk replied with a sly smile. "If you catch him, forget giving him my number. I'll just take yours."

It didn't even register to Alex what he just agreed to. He grabbed the key and ran for the elevator. "Elise," he called. "Gold is in room eight-forty-six. He just ordered champagne and two glasses from room service. He must have her. I'm going up there now. Get me some backup."

x-x-x-x-x

The good news was that Kate was actually starting to get some of her feeling back. The bad news was that all she could feel was Gold's tongue inside of her mouth. That was enough to make her long for five minutes ago when she couldn't feel anything. But she still had no hope of resisting him. She still couldn't feel anything below her neck. At least, her skirt hadn't joined the rest of her clothes on the back of the couch yet – so she still had some hope that she wasn't completely naked. She tried to talk but she still couldn't get any words to form – especially since her mouth was otherwise occupied. All that she could manage was a low moan.

Naturally, Gold misinterpreted her moan. "I know, baby," he said. "Don't worry. I'll wait until you can feel it a little too. After all, it's not fair that I have all of the fun. It should only be a few more minutes." He showed Kate a syringe - and sat it on the end table. "Aren't you the lucky one," he said with a grin. "You get to feel good two ways. That's okay. You can owe me one."

x-x-x-x-x

Elise was in a quandary. She really didn't know what to do. Alex was on his way up to Gold's room. She knew that there would be no sense in trying to reason with him. If he thought that Kate was in that room – and in danger – he would run in there no matter how dangerous. But she also didn't want to leave the entrances unguarded. Finally she made her decision. Alex's instincts were good. Let's see how good. "Sparky," she said. "Alex is on his way to room eight-forty-six. We're pretty sure that's Gold's room. There is a strong possibility that Kate is in there with him. Get up there and back him up."

Then she pressed the button that would let her talk to Sarah. "We think that Kate is in room eight-forty-six," she said. "Gold is there. We think that he might have Kate with him. Alex and Sparky are in route."

Sarah responded immediately. "I copy," she said. "Have them wait for me to get there before they attempt to assault the room."

"Sorry, Sarah," Elise said. "I'll try… but Alex is in the lead. You know that there is no way to get him to wait if he thinks that Kate is in danger."

"Damn it, Alex," Sarah muttered, more to herself than Elise. "You are going to get yourself hurt." Then she turned to the team who was still searching the floor. "Heather," she barked. "Come with me right now. Chuck, Joe - Heather and I are following a lead. We'll be right back."

x-x-x-x-x

When Alex finally got to the room he was a little out of breath. Okay, who was he kidding? After all, he had just climbed eight floors worth of stairs in about a minute. He probably should have waited for the elevator. He was completely out of breath. So now what should he do? He could use the key that the hotel clerk had given him. But what if Gold had the privacy lock on? All that would do is to tip him off that he was coming. But then he remembered what the clerk had said to him. So Alex just knocked on the door. "Room service," he called.

When Gold opened the door, Alex used surprise to push his way into the room. Unfortunately, Gold pushed back and when he did Alex's gun went flying. The good news was that he had found Kate. The bad news was that she was sitting on the sofa pretty much naked. Oh, and now he was in a fight to the death with a trained agent who was seventy pounds heavier than he was. Not to mention the fact that he was clearly insane.

Alex's rage and pure surprise helped him stay competitive in the fight – for a few seconds. But quickly pure physics took over. Gold was simply too big and too strong for him. Poor Alex was soon taking another beating. This one was the worst of all. He had just taken several hard punches to the midsection – and one to his jaw. Then Gold spotted the gun on the floor. Things would have gone really badly for Alex if Sarah and Heather hadn't picked that instant to run into the room. A single kick to Gold's midsection from Sarah quickly convinced him that it was in his best interest to surrender. She immediately put the cuffs on him.

Heather went directly to Alex who was lying on the floor bleeding and struggling to get to his feet. He was clearly woozy. He tried to get up a couple of times but fell back to the floor. "Stay down," she said. "Let me take a look at you." Naturally, he resisted being treated. It wouldn't have been Alex any other way.

"I'm fine," Alex groaned. "Go help Kate."

Sarah had seen enough. "Okay, Alex," she said. "Kate is going to be fine as soon as the drug wears off – assuming we can find her clothes anyway. You, on the other hand, are clearly not fine. So Heather is going to help you – you're going to let her – and I don't want to hear another damn word about it from you. You got that?"

Alex had never heard Sarah talk that way before – at least not to him. So he just nodded.

Naturally adding to the confusion was that fact that Sparky picked that exact moment to walk in the door. His eyes widened as he surveyed the scene. When he realized the half clothed state that his sister was in, he immediately launched himself into Gold and started swinging. Since Gold was fairly defenseless with his hands secured behind his back, Sparky got some really good shots in. Soon, it was Gold who wasn't sure where he was. It took Sarah and Heather to finally pull him off.

Finally, Sarah was able to find the time to help Kate put her bra and blouse back on. Heather determined that Alex probably didn't have anything broken. Just some more bruises. But his body was pretty much all black and blue already anyway. So they just helped him up and sat him on the sofa next to Kate. They leaned them against each other, although Kate clearly wasn't aware that he was there.

Heather looked at Kate. "Her vitals are great," she said. "She is slowing gaining more motor functions. I really don't want to give her any adrenalin." Then she turned to Kate. "Katie, sweetie, can you try and talk to me? How do you feel?"

"Numb," Kate was finally able to say. "I feel numb. But it's getting better. How is Alex?"

"Alex is fine," Heather said. "He's sitting right next to you holding you. You'll be able to feel him in just a few minutes. Don't worry. It's all over."

It wasn't until she saw Kate smile that Sarah, at long last, was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. So she talked to Elise. "We have Gold in custody," she said. "Kate is safe. Please let Chuck and Joe know. And let's get a cleanup team here."

"Thank God," Elise said. "I'll tell the guys. They are frantic. The cleanup team is just pulling up right now. I'll send then to the Penthouse."

Alex picked up the syringe from the end table. "What in the hell is this?" he all but shouted.

Heather looked at it. "There is no way to be positive without a lab analysis," she said. "But my guess would be heroin. He was going to keep her doped up."

Alex went to launch himself into Gold again. But it was actually Sparky who stopped him. "Don't worry, buddy," he said as he gently guided Alex back to his seat next to his sister. "Katie is safe – thanks to you."

x-x-x-x-x

As it turned out, Kate was actually quickly in better shape than Alex was. The drug had mostly worn off. She was able to speak normally – and even move her arms. Heather promised that in an very few minutes she would be able to walk. But actually, Kate wasn't in any hurry anyway. Because it felt so good to snuggle into Alex. "Sweetie," she whispered. "You saved me – again."

Alex knew that it was actually Kate who was the real hero this time – and he said so. There really wasn't much room for debate. As it turned out, they were both right. Even though it hurt, that wasn't enough reason to not hold her tight.

It wasn't very long before Chuck walked into the room with Joe and Elise. Primarily to see Kate but also with some news. He walked right over to Alex. "Son," he said with a grin. "This is getting a little north of ridiculous. You can marry her – okay? I was just teasing about the heroic stuff. You're going to get yourself killed." Then he stepped over to where Sarah was standing. "We know what The Ring's plan was," he whispered to her. "It was a lot bigger than just a coup. It involved nuclear weapons. But now we have Volkoff. This is all over."

"Not yet," Sarah said. "There is one thing left to do. Let's finish this. Let's go raid that house."

"Mom," Alex said. "I know that you're kind of pissed at me right now. But Shaw will never give up. If we raid a house where he is in a defensive position, a lot of people will get hurt."

"You're damn right I'm pissed at you," Sarah said. "Alex, do you have a clue how much I love you? How much everybody in this room loves you? And what it would do to us to lose you? You just can't keep throwing your body into these situations. I would have been here in one more minute. You should have waited."

Surprisingly, it was Sparky that came to Alex's defense. "You wouldn't have waited," he said softly. "Admit it. Tell me that you would have waited for help for a whole minute knowing that a bad guy had Kate in her. No way. Everybody knows it."

Pure surprise caused Sarah's head to snap up – but she didn't respond.

"And," Sparky continued. "In Alex's defense, he is the one who figured out where Kate was and who had her. None of us would have - at least not before some really bad stuff would have happened to Katie by that creep."

Sarah didn't change the expression on her face. But the truth was that she was impressed. Let's see how far he would go. "Young man," she said. "Do you have a clue who you're talking too?"

But Sparky didn't blink. "Yes, ma'am," he said calmly. "I'm talking to the person who taught me that there are things worth sacrificing for in order to protect. Alex is one of those things to me."

Sarah was wrong just a second ago. Now she was impressed. She also couldn't keep the stern look on her face. "Okay, sweetie," she said as she started laughing. "You win. You're absolutely right. Alex is one of those things to all of us. Alex, I'm not mad at you. I'm just trying to protect you. What is your idea?"

"It's pretty simple," Alex said. "We have a man who can talk Shaw into coming to us – on our terms." He looked at Gold.

"Screw you," Gold said. "I'll never help you."

"Wanna bet?" Alex said as he picked up a lighter from the end table – and lit it. "I'm not in a real good mood. Not only is my future mother-in-law so pissed that she won't even look at me, every single piece of my body is throbbing. Too say that you're not my favorite person is a ridiculous understatement. You tried to take away my reason for living tonight. When I came in she was pretty much naked and you were getting ready to drug her up – and who knows what else. So, actually, I would sort of enjoy watching you suffer. I'll bet that she would too. So please, by all means, hold out for as long as you can. I understand that my gorgeous fiancé made you pretty hot in the car tonight." Alex then leaned over to show Gold the lighter. "I'll bet that I can make you even hotter."

Sarah had to fight to keep the grin from her face. Even she wasn't sure how far Alex would go. If he was bluffing, he was doing a damn good job of it. Gold clearly thought so too. Because his face showed that he had already caved.

x-x-x-x-x

Shaw was expecting a call from Gold to let him know how the meeting went. He was a little surprised that it happened so early. But not all that much. After all, Volkoff had a reputation for getting right to it. And besides, Shaw was very interested in hearing how much of a fight young Kate was able to put up. Hopefully she was still conscious. He would very much like to have his own 'chat' with her – assuming that Volkoff wasn't expecting seconds.

"Mr. Volkoff's private secretary just called," Gold said. "He wants to see us right away."

Shaw was stunned. "Why?" he asked. "He never wants to see anybody."

"I'm not sure," Gold said. "My assumption is that he had a really good time tonight. Maybe he wants to thank us."

"Okay," Shaw said. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"I'm in the limo in the parking lot," Gold said. "We can go up together."

Shaw had no trouble spotting the limo. He walked up to it and opened the door.

"Hello, Daniel," Sarah said with a smile. "It's a nice car. Very comfortable. I'm happy that you could join us."

When Shaw looked around, all he could see was guns pointed at him. So he did the only thing that he could – he raised his hands in surrender.

Sarah stepped out of the car – with a grim grin on her face. Sarah wasn't ever big on movies. It simply wasn't her thing. But there was one oldie that she sort of enjoyed. Chuck always teased her that she just had the hots for Mel Gibson. And Sarah had to admit – he was the type of man that she once would have been very attracted too. Chuck and the kids made her watch it over and over again. So much so that they all sort of had it memorized. They had actually just watched it again before they left for their mission a few weeks ago. So there was a scene in Lethal Weapon that she currently couldn't get out of her head.

"Let's face it," Sarah said to Shaw. "We don't like each other much." The understatement was absurd. "It seems tragic that you've waited twenty-five years for revenge, only to fail at the last moment. I think that might be the saddest thing I've ever heard. And, to be honest, I would also like my own shot at you. So I have a proposition for you. You and me – one-on-one. Right here in the parking lot. I think that you're all talk. Let's see how bad ass you really are."

Shaw just grinned. "Are you serious?" he asked.

"Of course," Sarah said. "Do I look serious? What do you say, Daniel? Would you like a shot at the title?"

To Shaw's credit, he had clearly seen the movie. So he offered the correct response.

"Don't mind if I do."

x-x-x-x-x