CHUCK VS. THE GOOD & NORMAL & WONDERFUL LIFE
SUMMARY: Chuck and Sarah have a wonderful marriage and daughter and live the normal life in a good house at a good island community. Or do they?????
DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Chuck."
NOTE: Once again, I don't consider myself an action/adventure writer but more of a "fluff" writer. So I don't know how well this chapter works. But regardless – please review! Thank you!
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CHAPTER EIGHT – BOLOS AGENT WALKER, BOLOS!
Sarah drove the car into the ferry landing and stopped at the barrier. Both she and Chuck glanced at the boat moored at the dock. It was the same small boat as last time, the Terence Feely ferry, which looked liked it could carry about a dozen or more cars. A dock worker walked up to the car and Sarah rolled down the window. "Hi," she said. "Is it too late to get on the ferry? We'd like to go across to the mainland."
"I'm afraid it's too late. It's about to pull out and you can't get on. And I'm sorry to tell you this but after that, the ferry has to shut down. We won't be making any more trips to the mainland today," the worker replied. Then he looked directly at Sarah and asked, "And do you really want to leave the island?"
He was testing them, to see if they were brainwashed, Sarah realized. She quickly turned to Chuck. "Get out of the car, get Sallie and run to the ferry! Move Chuck! Now!" she commanded.
Then she pusher her car door open, slamming it right into the dock worker who fell back onto the ground. She unbuckled the seat belt, jumped out and delivered a kick to his face. Chuck, by now outside of the car, jerked open the back door, unbuckled Sallie, pulled her out and ran toward the ferry.
"HEY!" somebody screamed. But Chuck kept going. Sarah was by his side instantly.
"Don't stop Chuck!" she yelled. "We may have to jump onto the boat. Can you do it?"
Chuck looked. The ferry was still at the dock but the engines were running. The boat hadn't moved yet but it could any second. "I'll do it," Chuck yelled back. Sallie held onto him with both arms and looked scared. "Just hang on Sallie," Chuck warned the little girl. "It may get rough."
Another dock worker ran toward them. Chuck looked, saw his face and flashed. All sorts of images of the man appeared in his mind. "Sarah, he's Fulcrum," he yelled.
The man rushed up to them and was reaching into his pocket. As his hand came out, both Sarah and Chuck could see a gun. "Keep going Chuck!" Sarah yelled as she stopped and delivered a roundhouse kick right to the man's face. She followed that with a punch and another kick and the man fell to the ground and stayed there. Then she dashed after Chuck who was almost to the edge of the ferry landing. The boat had not moved away from the dock yet. They could still make it, Sarah thought as she raced toward Chuck.
Chuck slowed down as he got to the edge of dock. A bar that dropped down from the side of the pier blocked automobile entry onto the ramp. He looked back. Sarah was about 15 feet away and catching up to them quickly. We can make it, he thought. All they had to do was crouch under the barrier, walk eight feet, and then jump onto the ferry, which had still not moved out. But the engines sounded much louder. The boat was about to leave. They had to jump now.
Chuck glanced down at Sallie. By some miracle, the young girl had remained silent during the run from the car to the ferry. But she still looked scared. "Hang onto me Sallie," he told the young girl in as calm and reassuring tone as he could manage. "We're going to have to jump." She clung tighter onto Chuck as he crouched under the barrier.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" someone screamed.
Chuck ignored that, got past the barrier, stood up and moved toward the dock edge.
"HEY!" a man who had just run up screamed. "You can't do that—"
Before he could say anything more, Sarah arrived and got him with a kick. While he wobbled, stunned from the blow, she grabbed his shoulder and slammed his head into one of the dock poles. He collapsed to the ground. Sarah ducked under the barrier and ran up alongside Chuck at the dock edge.
The ferry blew its horn, the engines revved up, and it started to pull out from the dock.
"JUMP CHUCK! NOW!" Sarah screamed. And they both leaped toward the ferry.
And they both landed on their feet on the boat. Sarah grabbed the side with her left hand to steady herself and instantly reached out with her right and gripped Chuck's arm. She steadied him and Sallie. They had made it!
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON HERE?" someone yelled. They turned their heads and looked. A man on the boat was running toward them.
"Fulcrum?" Sarah asked.
Chuck looked at the man's face and flashed. "Fulcrum," he confirmed.
Sarah moved forward. Chuck put Sallie down and moved her behind him.
The man came at Sarah but at the last second, she sidestepped, grabbed his arm and used his momentum to crash him into the side of the boat. Then, still clutching his arm, she hurled him overboard.
"SARAH! BEHIND YOU!" Chuck screamed.
Sarah whirled around and saw another attacker. He had an axe and tried to hit her with it. She dodged and grabbed one of the knives she had on her. She threw it and it hit the man right in the neck. He screamed and dropped the axe. Sarah quickly closed in, grabbed his arm and pushed him toward the side intending to toss him overboard. While doing that, she didn't see two more attackers approaching.
But Chuck saw them and desperately looked around, trying to think of something that he could do to help. He spotted two small parking blocks used to brace against the lead cars parked on the ferry during transport. The blocks were tied together with a rope. Looking at them, he suddenly recalled a scene from the James Bond movie "Moonraker" in which the inventor Q demonstrated some deadly bolos that he had made.
"Bolos! Bolos!" Chuck said out loud and reached down and grabbed the rope attached to the parking blocks. He raised the blocks and rope above his head and twirled. The parking blocks rotated just like bolos. It could work, it could work, he thought and he hurled them toward the two men running at Sarah.
The makeshift bolos flew through the air at them and one of the parking blocks hit a man squarely in the face and he yelled in pain. The other didn't get hit by one of the blocks but the ropes tangled him up slightly and slowed his approach. And that gave Sarah the chance she needed.
She quickly delivered a roundhouse kick to one man's face and followed with another to the other man. More kicks and punches followed. She grabbed one man and pushed him overboard and then the other. She turned and looked at Chuck curiously.
"Bolos agent Walker, bolos," Chuck declared.
Sarah grinned. "I supposed that's from a movie or TV show?" she inquired.
Chuck nodded.
"You'll have to tell me later which one it's from," she said with a shake of a head. Then she added, "Nerd!" But she said it lovingly.
She looked around the ferry. No other assailants were approaching or within sight. She then pulled out her gun and pointed up at the tower that was in the center of the boat. "Grab Sallie and let's get up to that pilot's cabin. He may not have noticed what's going on down here, so we'll need to move quickly," she said.
Chuck picked up Sallie. She glanced curiously at Sarah as Chuck picked her up. "Daddy? Is mommy a killer robot?"
"No Sallie, she's just big and bad," Chuck replied. Sarah heard the exchange and grinned again.
Gun drawn, Sarah lead the way up the metal staircase towards to the pilot's cabin on the upper part of the boat's tower. Chuck kept an eye behind them as they climbed up in case any other crewmen suddenly appeared to attack. But he saw no one. The engines were still running and the ferry was slowly moving, so both Chuck and Sarah guessed that the pilot had been concentrating on driving the ferry and was unaware of what had gone on down on the deck.
With three steps left to go to reach the upper level, Sarah stopped and looked. The cabin was at the top of the tower and had a 360 degree viewing window. The pilot was facing the other way and had his back to them while driving the ferry. Sarah glanced back towards land. Chuck did too. He didn't see any boats leaving the dock in pursuit.
"Chuck, I'm going to crawl around on this deck to the door of the cabin and try to sneak up on him. You and Sallie come up to this deck but stay down below the window level at all times. Just crouch down and wait. I'll let you two know when it's all clear and to come on in," Sarah said.
And with that, she slithered up the last few steps, got on all fours on the tower deck and made her way around to the cabin door. Chuck got up on the deck and crouched down there with Sallie. He waited and listened and hoped.
A few seconds later, he heard the sound of door being jerked open and a yell of surprise. Chuck couldn't hear anything after that. But then the ferry's engines sputtered and stopped. When things got quieter, he heard some thumps. Much to his delight, the thumps were followed by the sound of Sarah's voice.
"Chuck! All clear! You and Sallie come on in!"
He stood up, holding Sallie, who was quiet. He gazed at her. Her eyes had gotten big but she looked OK. He hugged her and stroked her hair. "Sorry about all of this Sallie. But this is something that we have to do. It's OK. We're going to be OK," he said to the young girl. And with that, he and Sallie entered the cabin.
Sarah stood over an unconscious pilot lying on the floor. "He wasn't cooperative. So I made him stop the engines and knocked him out," she said in answer to Chuck's questioning glance.
Chuck looked out the cabin windows. The ferry was drifting but there weren't any nearby obstacles, structures or land for them to crash into. If they could get help, they would be all right. But Chuck knew that was a big if.
"I'm going to get on the radio and see if I can get the Coast Guard or someone to come help us," Sarah said.
She went to the radio and started fiddling with the machine.
Chuck, still holding Sallie, looked around the cabin. He saw an instrument panel which he assumed was the controls for the ferry, the radio station which Sarah was at, a computer, and – COMPUTER? He rushed over to check it out.
It was a Mac with a built-in webcam. He moved the mouse and looked at the icons on the screen. Internet capability was there and it appeared to be wireless connection. He sat down, positioned Sallie in his lap, and went to work.
The world wide web appeared on the screen. The wireless connection appeared to work just fine. Chuck moved the mouse up to the address bar, clicked and typed quickly.
If I could just connect to the server at the Orange Orange Castle, he thought. He waited and hoped and then a screen appeared asking for ID and password. More than likely, his and Sarah's access had been removed as they were missing and presumed compromised. But he knew Casey's ID and password, having once flashed on some of Casey's records. He typed those in and then found himself with full access to the Castle's network.
"DAMMIT!" Sarah cursed.
He turned curiously toward Sarah.
"I can't get through to anyone, somehow they're jamming the radio," she said and slammed her fist on the counter in frustration.
"Keep trying, maybe it will keep them distracted from what I'm doing," Chuck urged.
"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.
"Just keep trying on that radio and keep their attention on you!"
He got the Castle's network menu, found the videoconferencing options. He searched through that and got what he was looking for. He selected it and then prayed. "Please work, please work, please work," he muttered under his breath. Sallie looked curiously from the screen and then at his face.
A popup screen appeared on the monitor and Chuck found himself staring at General Beckman's face.
"Yes Major Casey, what is – MR. BARTOWSKI! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Sarah's face snapped over in Chuck's direction and her jaw dropped in astonishment as she heard Beckman's voice.
"General, we may not have much time! Agent Walker and I are currently on board the Terence Feely ferry boat which is adrift off of the Portmeirion Village island. We've been held prisoner on that island and it's a Fulcrum operation. They have an entire operation going there. Agent Walker and I escaped but we need help now. We're on this boat and Fulcrum is going to be coming after us any second. WE NEED HELP NOW!" Chuck yelled.
Beckman turned to her right. "Can you pinpoint his exact location?" she asked someone off screen.
She turned back to Chuck. "Mr. Bartowski, we're contacting the Coast Guard right now and we're also getting NSA forces in your area mobilized. Keep talking while we try to get your exact location. Did you say Fulcrum is in control of an island?"
"Yes general! They have a whole operation on Portmeirion Village island. Agent Walker and I have been there – well, how long have we been missing? I'm not sure how long it has been," he rambled.
"Just over four weeks," Beckman replied. She turned her head as someone off screen spoke to her. Then she quickly turned back to Chuck.
"We have your location and the Coast Guard has informed us that they have a ship on patrol approximately five minutes from you. They are on the way as we speak. Where are you and Agent Walker on the boat and what is your situation?"
"We're holed up in the pilot's cabin which is at the top of the tower in the middle of the ferry. The unconscious pilot is with us. Other than him, we believe that we're the only ones on board. Agent Walker tossed the rest of the crew overboard. The boat is drifting," Chuck explained.
"Is Agent Walker armed?"
"Yes ma'am."
"We have NSA forces on the way. But it may be 20-30 minutes before they can get there. I'm instructing the Coast Guard to guard your boat. Armed Coast Guard crewmen will board your boat and stand guard and prevent anyone else from boarding. If you and Agent Walker can stay safely in the cabin, do so. Do not leave that cabin! Agent Casey will be with the NSA forces and they are mobilizing as we speak. Do not leave the cabin until he is on board and tells you do so. Understood?" the general said.
"Understood. There's some other things," Chuck said.
"Explain."
"That island is full of Fulcrum agents. They also have plenty of hostages who have been brainwashed into believing that they are citizens living on that island in this fake town. And a lot of those hostages are CIA and NSA agents. You need to get help and lots of it out there as soon as you can. And also, Agent Walker and I have a three-year old girl here. We're going to need help with her too," Chuck rambled.
The general looked astonished and perplexed at the same time. Before their conversation could continue, the screen blurred and then went blank. Fulcrum, Chuck thought, they broke the connection. He looked out the window and toward the island. He saw several boats in the distance heading their way.
Sarah saw them too.
"Chuck, there's still time. The Coast Guard could get here before they do. But if they don't, I want you and Sallie to lie down on the floor and stay under cover. I'm going to try to hold them off from up here if they—"
Before she could finish, a siren blared from a distance. They both looked out the window in the other direction. A large Coast Guard cruiser was quickly approaching. About a minute later, it pulled alongside the ferry. Once close, five Coast Guard crewmen and women leaped over and onto the ferry. Each one held up a rifle as they spread out and formed a defensive perimeter on the deck.
The Fulcrum boats were about a 100 yards away from the ferry. Then a loudspeaker blared out a warning.
"DO NOT APPROACH THE TERENCE FEELY FERRY. IT IS NOW IN THE CUSTODY OF THE US COAST GUARD. DO NOT APPROACH. VEAR AWAY OR WE WILL TAKE DEFENSIVE MEASURES. DO NOT APPROACH THE TERENCE FEELY FERRY. IT IS NOW IN THE CUSTODY OF THE US COAST GUARD. VEAR AWAY. DO NOT APPROACH."
The message was repeated and the Fulcrum boats turned around and departed.
"Yes, yes, YES!" Chuck cheered. He looked over at a smiling Sarah. "We did it! We did it!" He looked down at Sallie who was still sitting in his lap. He picked her up and held her up above him. "How about that Sallie? How about that little girl? Can we kick butt? Can we kick butt?" Sallie giggled. He set her back down in his lap. "Yes, yes, YES!" he cheered again.
Sarah rushed over to Chuck, grasped his head with both of her hands and leaned her face down close to his. "Charles Bartowski! If we weren't already married, I'd marry you right now!" she cheered. And then she kissed him.
END CHAPTER EIGHT