The plane had just cleared the pacific coast when Sarah hit the speed. Annie was surprised at the speed indicator which was being broadcasted over the local network. Chuck thought it might be fun to see the air speed indicator as the plane reached it maximum 3.3 Mach. Annie wished Auggie was along for the ride. He however was in a lab where Steven and Hartley were arguing.
"No Stephen I say you modify this circuit here and the cloak does not have to be a cloak. It can read the signals directly from the brain." Hartley said.
"That is kind of interesting that is similar to what Eleanor did to bring you to full awareness." Stephen said.
"It is? How interesting perhaps she should be consulted too?" Hartley said.
"That is great idea." Stephen said as he threw on the cloak.
HARRY was monitoring the conversation so that Auggie and Hartley could hear what was being said. HARRY had placed the outputs from the cloak on the monitor.
"Hello Eleanor" Stephen said appearing in her office at Westside Medical.
"Dad at least let me closed the door!" Ellie whispered as she looked out of her office and spotted her secretary busy at work then she closed the door.
"Relax Eleanor you are the only one to see or hear me. However, your responses will not be so discrete." Stephen said.
"Ok…The coast is clear. So Dad what do you need?" Ellie asked.
"Well Hartley and I were discussing ways to modify the cloak so that it is more convenient and not so physically draining. Hartley thinks that reading the thoughts like your scanner could work. What do you think?" Stephen asked.
"Well from a neurological perspective I think Hartley's idea is a good one. Picking up the brain's activity has been shown to work but how it is done you will need to consult Chuck. He built the device." Ellie said.
"I see well that is interesting. I will have to consult Charles." Stephen said disappearing.
"See I told you my idea was a good one Stephen…When will you quit trying to dismiss my input?" Hartley said.
"Ok Hartley I will agree that yours has merit. Ellie has confirmed it. However, I am not going to say that modification you have designed is the best until I consult with Charles. Eleanor has related that her scanner was of his design." Stephen said.
Chuck was about to doze off when Orion appeared next to him.
"Hello Son." Stephen said.
"Hi Dad what are you doing here?" Chuck asked.
"Well Hartley and I were having a disagreement on the best way to modify the cloak. I talked to Ellie and she said you designed her scanner. I would like to see the schematics of it please." Stephen said.
"Oh if that is all you wanted you should have asked LARA. She would have them sent to HARRY and then you." Chuck said. "Is there anything else Dad? I have to get back to my planning on Volkoff's fortress."
"Oh Charles tell HYDRA '123wrt123' it will lead you right to where you need to go." Hartley said.
"Did you hear that Son?" Stephen asked.
"Yeah Dad tell Hartley thanks that will open up a better attack corridor." Chuck said.
"He heard…Bye Son." Stephen disappeared.
"Bye Dad…Guys listen up new plan…" Chuck said as he outlined the new attack plan.
"So you are using the Fortress defenses against them? Chuck, that is bloody brilliant. How did you come to this plan?" Bryce asked.
"I didn't actually Hartley did. It seems that Hartley knows all the ins and outs of the Fortress as much as Volkoff did." Chuck said.
"Well this new plan sure cuts down on the chances of fatalities." Bryce said. "I'm glad he is on our side. Boris and Riley will have no chance at all."
"Right you are Mr. Carmichael." Annie said listening in.
"Yes Ms. Walker however, your expertise will still be needed in distracting the guards." Chuck said.
"Yeah I know my part." Annie said.
"So on a different note…Are you and Sarah related?" Chuck asked.
Annie rolled her eyes she was always being asked that same question ever since the Farm. She was about to give her standard answer that they were not related but anyone seeing them together could determine some sort of familial connection.
"You want to know the truth? Sam is my cousin. Her real name is Samantha Lisa Burton. I was surprise when she chose her Mother's maiden name, Walker. Sarah's Mother Emma and my Mother are related cousins or something. I don't know the entire details. Our family is not one to talk about cousins. Since one cousin was notorious spy for the Russians in the Cold War days." Annie said.
Chuck flashed on which cousin that was.
"Wow and with that traitor in your family tree you were still given clearance?" Chuck asked.
"Yeah…Our family has tried to live with that one black mark against us forever. Perhaps that is why Emma's name is not now Walker. She married very young according to family lore." Annie said.
"That is so interesting. I wonder why none of this is in the intersect?" Chuck asked.
"Well maybe it was not included for a reason?" Bryce said.
"True it could have been redacted." Chuck said. "I'll have to talk to Orion afterward."
The plane again transformed during the flight to Russian insignia and plane shape of Russian design. Sarah and Casey both changed clothes to their Russian uniforms. Sarah hoped the commander of the base was transferred as HYDRA informed her. She was not looking forward in entertaining him at his Dacha.
They landed and the team was met by the van which was kept at their base. Victor Hallioff a new tech drove. He watched as the team off loaded their equipment and when everything was done. They all got in and left the secure hanger. Sarah was secretly glad the new commander had no need of her. They exited the secure base without a second glance. The van drove up into their base. It was still night. After stowing the gear they all went into separate quarters except for Sarah who stayed with Chuck.
The night passed uneventful. The attack was planned for late that night. The downtime was spent watching Russian TV. Chuck talking to Morgan or Frost depending who was on watch.
\\\\\
It was getting late Chuck was monitoring Riley who was in Volkoff's office. He finally left. It was now time to breech the fortress. The team moved out and Bryce wearing Orion tech was transformed back into Yuri accompanied Annie. When he approached the guard his eyes grew wide. He could not help but almost wet himself to allow Yuri entrance. He did not even look at Annie. As per instructions Bryce turned and tranked the guard. No one would get hurt in this assault. Chuck in the meantime had placed the Orion devices and blew a hole in the wall gaining assess to the corridor where the Norseman and other Volkoff goodies were stored. Chuck contacted HYDRA then gave the code this activated the defense systems. Soon Riley was alerted that Yuri had come back without Vivian but had a new prisoner. Riley asked HYDRA to open his door.
"I cannot do that Mr. Riley" HYDRA responded.
"Why not…?" Riley asked.
"It is for your own protection. Intruder has been detected. As per Alexi Volkoff directions you are to remain in protective location until the intruder's threat is eliminated. That is why Mr. Riley you can not leave." HYDRA said.
"Ok HYDRA…Keep me informed." Riley said.
"If you persist on trying to leave I will incapacitate you." HYDRA said.
"Wait I was not trying to do…" Riley did not have time to finish his sentence until HYDRA filled the hallways with sleeping gas.
Chuck entered the hallways and made his way to Volkoff's office. He was met with Bryce and Annie both wearing gas masks.
"HYDRA clear gas" Chuck said.
"Sleeping gas is venting." HYDRA said.
"Good now HYDRA show me where hidden door is located." Chuck said removing the masks.
HYDRA complied.
Chuck looked at the door and determined to find the opening mechanism. Chuck then thought of the way. He learned from LARA that Hartley had programmed it with a Certain Frequency of Tones from his voice. The sequence of words had escaped him though.
"Chuck I know how to do this. I remember Vivian saying there was a sequence of words listed in Volkoff's desk. I think those are the words." Bryce said.
Annie started to search and found turning the stallion statue to the left opened a secret drawer in his desk. Pulling it out was a piece of paper. She brought it over to Chuck.
"Ok Bryce you are now Alexi Volkoff." Chuck said as he programmed the mask.
Annie was astonished to see Bryce appear as Alexi Volkoff and what surprised her more was Bryce sounded like him too. She wondered if it would be good enough to fool the lock.
Bryce read the note.
It obviously was because the door opened and there were all Volkoff's goodies. There was the Fear gas which had not affected Jeff in the least. The Norseman and something called G. Finally, Chuck saw the PSP which contained the Anti Agent X program. Chuck pocketed that. Hopefully that would never have to be used again. Also in the room was that man made diamond. It was the heart of HYDRA. Chuck set the self destruction code for the room.
"Self destruct for Fortress to happen in 10 minutes." HYDRA said.
"Wait Chuck did it say the Fortress?" Bryce asked.
"Yeah it did I must have done something wrong…HYDRA belay that order." Chuck said.
"Order to destruction can not be rescinded or countermanded." HYDRA said as the alarm for the building was continuing.
Chuck reached over to the desk and removed the locket then pocketed it. Chuck, Bryce and Annie exited out of the room using the Orion device. They stepped into a snowstorm.
"Sarah, Casey did you find what you were looking for because you only have 8 minutes to vacate. Chuck has set the self destruct code and can not stop it!" Bryce said.
"No Bryce Damn I did not find it." Sarah said. "Casey we have to leave now!"
"First I need to dismantle this Orion tech. It will only take me a moment. You go ahead! Walker, you need to get out of here. There I got it. Sister you have balls." Casey said.
At that moment the wall disappeared and Chuck stuck his head in still covered in snow.
"I thought you might not make it the regular way. Come on there is only 4 minutes left." Chuck said helping both of them out the hole.
They got away from the building as the countdown reached zero then there was a shudder as a shockwave passed them then the building shimmered and disappeared.
Chuck was driving as the rest looked back and saw nothing. There was not even snow on the ground. It was as if the building never was there. The rest of the time was contacting General Beckman to report that the Volkoff threat was eliminated. The CIA decommissioned the warehouse. The techs were assigned to leave to another CIA location in Turkey. Chuck oversaw the dismantling of the base. They returned back the way they came. There was nothing left but Agent Carmichael had another win in his column. The Plane set down and soon everyone was back at Castle.
Orion appeared.
"I've been monitoring Volkoff's remaining assets and they are in shock. There has been no communication with the fortress. They are leaving in droves. The CIA teams are picking them up as we speak. Many bad guys are being removed. I thought Hartley might be interested to learn that all of my patents that Alexi got from RI have been returned to me. Charles, I know you like saving the world…You need to think of your future. Come with me. I could use your expertise in creating Orion Computers and Electronics a branch of Orion Tech Enterprises" Orion said.
"Dad… Where did you get the capital to finance this venture?" Chuck asked.
"Well from the bad guys…I figured their ill gotten gains did no one any good so I pulled their funding." Orion said.
"So that is what the coin was doing." Morgan uttered.
"If you do not wish to join at least accept a million shares of OTE. That is its ticker name on the NY exchange. One share was opening at 1000 dollars." Orion said.
"…And Climbing Mr. B." Morgan said. "Oh Hi Chuck Did you hear what Orion did?"
"Yeah I heard. We have at least a Billion dollars." Chuck said.
"Sweety… Are you not excited? We can go away from the spy business. We can start our family." Sarah said hugging him.
"Well first we need to get married." Chuck said kissing his almost bride.
"I'm all for that" Sarah said as she kissed him back.
"Yeah so am I" Bryce said kissing Vivian. "If you are not going to civilian life I'm going. Spy life is hard let the next generation do it. Orion says he needs a head of testing. That is right up my alley. Since, I've tested everything."
"Bryce I wish you much luck with my Dad. I feel I'm not done with the spy business though I'm certainly done with the Gov't. I believe I'll cash in those shares Dad. I want to start a cyber security firm. How does Carmichael Industries grab you?" Chuck said.
"Ok Son but instead of cashing in let Orion Tech be the buyer. You can do what you want but those shares of OTE will stay nice and safe." Orion said.
"Ok Dad as long as I call the shots I would not mind being bankrolled by the newest and most innovative Electronics firm." Chuck said.
General Beckman came online.
"General we have all decided that the spy business is for younger folks. This is us giving our 1 month notice. In the future if you need our assistance Carmichael industries will be at your disposal." Chuck said.
"I see well I did see this coming with Stephen stepping out of the background then Hartley being whole again. It was a matter of time this was going to occur. Team I will miss you all." Diane said.
"I hope to see you at the weddings Diane." Stephen said.
"I would not miss that for anything. Good bye Team." Diane said the cut transmission.