Chapter 3
A/N- Thanks for the reviews.
+8 Hours since the incident.
Chuck had been sitting there for hours when the door once again opened. The same woman as before entered, "Hello Chuck." She was still bubbly and smiling at him.
"I talked to Sierra she said she'll be by later today she just has some things to take care of first."
Chuck nodded sadly. He really wanted to get up and move around.
She dropped her own smile, "Chuck uh what's the matter?"
"Well I'm being held hostage and I've been strapped to this chair for who knows how long. The door is keypad locked and there's no other way out of the room is it really too much to be able to walk around? And uh…perhaps be granted the use of a bathroom?"
She snapped into action, issuing apologies, "Sorry I thought someone else would have been by." As he was finally freed she stepped back, she wasn't afraid he could take her but he needed to get up quickly. She walked over to the doorway and punched in her code, "Bathroom is the third door on your right."
"You're just going let me go?"
"Most doors are locked Chuck and you won't be able to escape even with the Intersect. I don't know if I'll still be here after you've figured that out though."
He smiled at her, as far as being captured by enemy agents this had been the most pleasant experience so far he hadn't been tortured, beaten, shot at, or threatened.
***
He slowly meandered back to his holding room; she had been right, he hadn't found any way to escape or anywhere to go. "Mr. Bartowski I was wondering when you were planning on returning."
Chuck shrugged, he didn't recognize the woman who was in his room. It was then he realized that his room had been changed quite a lot; since he'd left they'd added a couch, plasma screen, computer, and a 360 along with a couple of games.
"I heard you're a COD man, I'm a Halo girl myself but I'll play you."
"1 v 1 Deathmatch?"
She nodded pressing the guide button and firing up the xbox.
***
+ 12 Hours since the incident
"Spawn camper!" She growled as he killed her again resulting in his fourth victory of the night and his 4-2 series win.
"Hey you guys kidnapped me I should be allowed to camp."
"Alright Bartowski, it's getting late and I've gotta hit the sack."
"Oh…ok."
"Bartowski you need to sleep as well, we might have given you a break today but we didn't take you to Call of Duty and Halo."
She exited his room leaving him alone again. He, deciding she was right, went to sleep after getting the "Mile High Club" achievement.
***
+ 21 Hours (7:00 PM)
He woke up to the sound of his room's sole door being opened. In walked the younger kidnapper who appeared to be called Alpha and she was carrying a tray of breakfast food. "You know if you had told me this is the kind of treatment I'd be getting you wouldn't have needed to kidnap me."
"Well as long as your cooperating there's no reason to torture and deprive you of basic amenities. Just don't resist or attempt to escape and I'll make sure you're taken care of."
She laid the tray down and sat down across from him, "Would you mind flashing on some of our images?" Her delivery was soft, but it was obviously an order rather than her asking if he would.
He nodded before attacking the food.
She opened up a folder she'd carried in with her, "Here take a look at this one."
He glanced up. He didn't flash, "Nope nothing."
She held up another one, "Nope."
The next few were all busts. But finally he flashed on the picture, "KGB double agent, passed secrets to the CIA throughout the last decade of the Cold War."
She nodded, "Well you aren't faking having the Intersect."
"No, why should I have flashed on those previous pictures?"
"I'll talk to you later Chuck."
***
Alpha walked into the mostly deserted command center. "Where is everyone sir?"
"They went home, just us today, I figured we might need the privacy."
She smiled at him; he always knew what she needed. "Our security is good; the Intersect didn't flash on any of us."
"Good. Given that we're all clear, I'd like to train him a bit. This isn't a vacation after all."
"Boss are you sure? I don't think he's cut out for it and if he is he could use it against us." She paused for a moment, "You saw his test scores." Her voice dropped to a low whisper, "they're off the charts, best I've ever seen, hell by the end of this he might be as good as some teams."
"That's that idea kid."
She smiled at his personal nickname for her. When he'd first called her that she'd been wary, she was new in the organization and he didn't know if he was trying to hit on her, but she eventually realized that he wasn't hitting on her and that it was simply a nickname."Yes, but we have no one to match him, annihilation principal applies."
"I am aware of MAD, however it doesn't apply here he isn't working for either side."
"He's working for the CIA he might as well be working for us, what if he turns?" Genuine fear crept into her voice. Normally he would have complained, but in this case it was warranted.
"He's not on the CIA's side. He's on Walker's."
"You're going to use her." Her voice betrayed her slight shock, she should have known better of course they'd exploit that.
He nodded, "The new Director is a gamma."
"The new Director of the CIA is one of us?"
"Yeah, he was instrumental in setting up Omaha to."
***
Chuck, having thoroughly beaten all of the available call of duties, was in the middle of working through Splinter Cell: Double Agent an older title, but he could understand why these people were a fan of it, when Alpha walked in. "Are you sure there isn't a normal name I can call you besides Alpha?"
She looked at him, she felt a little sorry for him, "Ann."
"Nice name," it was the offhand flippant nice remark that she'd learned he would often compulsively give out.
"It isn't my name."
"Cover?"
"Nope, just made it up."
He nodded, he didn't like it, but calling her Ann sure sounded better and nicer than Alpha. "Chuck, I have to ask you a few questions."
"I don't have much choice in answering do I?"
A playful smile crossed her face, "How often do you flash?"
"It varies, about once a normal week."
"Does it cause you any physical pain?"
"Not really."
"How did you first come into possession of the Intersect?"
"Bryce Larkin sent it to me." As soon as the words exited his mouth he noticed a figure sitting up in the control room. At hearing Bryce's name he bolted up.
He hit a button on the computer and his voice boomed throughout the room, "Did you say Bryce Larkin?"
Chuck gulped, the voice was a sharp contrast between Ann's kinder, softer plying one; not to say that the new was mean or angry it was just sharper more to the point, more like Beckman. "Yes."
"How do you know Larkin?"
"I'm his old college roommate, he got me kicked out of Stanford to keep me away from the CIA."
"Chuck have you ever heard of Project Omaha?"
"Yeah that was what he wanted to keep me away from."
The man stood up, turned off the sound system and exited the observation room obviously focused on whatever his mission was.
"Chuck what do you Know about Project Omaha?"
"Not much apart from that it was a military operation, I was being recruited for it, and Bryce got my kicked out to keep me away from it. Oh and Omaha was some code word between Bryce and Sarah."
"Chuck Project Omaha was a recruiting ground for us and considering your test scores you would have been a shoo in."
He recognized the word Omaha. It was the contact word Bryce had used with Sarah, "Wait do Sarah and Bryce work for you?"
"No, they didn't make the cut."
"Agent Sarah Walker and Agent Bryce Larkin?"
"Failed, they came close but they weren't good enough."
"And you think I would have been good enough?"
"You have the Intersect which greatly helps you."
"They could get it."
"While they would be help to survive they wouldn't retain the amount of information you would. Actually do you remember the Fulcrum intersect in the suburbs?" Chuck nodded in affirmation, "Sarah could have seen the Intersect and would have been fine eventually, she would have experienced some immediate trauma and temporary insanity, but nothing permanent."
"I'm glad she closed her eyes."
Ann smiled, "That's why she-"
Her statement was cut off as the man who had kidnapped Chuck walked in. Unlike the previous two times Chuck had seen him—the control room earlier that day and when he was first kidnapped—he was no longer dressed in black mission gear, but in an Armani suit.
"You clean up nice boss."
"I'm going out for the night, I called Sierra she'll be here in a couple of hours until then your own your own."
"Not Lima?"
"He's backing me up."
"You need backup on a date?" Chuck asked shocked, Sarah hadn't brought any weapons let alone backup when they'd gone on their one real date; unfortunately it turned out that she could have used the weapons and backup, but still this guy was supposed to be a top notch spy.
"It isn't a date, I'm meeting Mr. Larkin."
"Agent, he's uh an Agent."
"He's never officially told he works for the CIA so I refer to him as Mr. rather than Agent or soon to be dead target."
Chuck's eyes expanded to the size of saucers, "you're going to kill Bryce?"
"Don't know yet." He loaded his weapon and flicked the safety off before re-inserting it into his shoulder holster. The implication was obvious; Larkin could very well have a bullet lodged in his brain by the end of the night. "See you in the morning kid," he called exiting the room and heading off to his meet.
Chuck turned to her, "Are you two dating?"
"No." The crisp reply was harsher than she would have liked, but unlike his girlfriend she didn't date her coworkers.
"But you want to." He wasn't asking.
She shook her head; he had mistaken her suddenness for longing not insult. "No were not like that, he's more like an uncle I guess."
"Ah"
She smiled; she knew exactly what to do, "Sierra on the other hand, well I'm pretty sure she has a thing for him." It was a bold faced lie, but it was unlikely Chuck would observe Sierra enough to develop any suspicions about her.
"Ok Chuck back to why I'm here, do you know who designed the Intersect?"
"No."
"Do you suffer from any side-effects from flashing?"
"Not really."
"What do you know about the Ring?"
"Nothing, and no I didn't flash on the word."
"Would you be willing to look at some of their operatives and see if you flash on them?"
"I don't know, how about I take a stroll outside and then come back and tell you?"
"Sorry you can't leave, but I can show you the view if that'd make you feel better?"
"How about I call Sarah? She always calms me down."
"I'd need Echo to be here and authorizing the call."
"Then I think I'd rather not look at the files."
"Ok, come with me I'll show you the balcony maybe you'll feel better after getting some fresh air."
"It's New York City."
"Ok, slightly less processed air."
They shared a quick laugh as he got up and they moved to the door. Walking out onto the balcony he searched for some clue as to his location. He was surprised to realize he was still within the city, and whatever structure he was in was surrounded by other skyscrapers. He looked down, he was quite high up, far to high to jump or anything. "Do you guys own the entire building?"
"Yeah, we rent out some of the lower offices to earn a little extra cash."
"How do you earn most of your money then?"
"We have an operational slush fund, that get's refilled as needed." Her smile faded for a moment as she continued, "we have to fill out a ton of paperwork at the end of every fiscal year."
"You're kidding me; a top secret underground spy organization has to file annual reports?"
"Yeah, well the financial wizards have to move stuff around and make sure we're financially sound both long and short term."
She brought him back inside before he had any chance to find something that would enable him to fix his location. It was risky enough for her to allow him to call Sarah, but if he had a general fix on his location he might pass the information along to Sarah and Alpha really didn't want to have to kill her.
***
Larkin walked into the restaurant. He spotted his contact immediately, at a table up against the glass window, well that'd make his surveillance team's job easier. Normally he wouldn't have brought them along, but with Chuck being kidnapped him being sent to New York and then being contacted by John all happening within a day, it was too much of a coincidence. He also had the sneaking suspicion that John was into some deep black ops, he always showed up around when things started getting weird and usually he left after leaving a couple dozen bodies behind. He approached the table and sat down opposite him, "Hello John."
"Mr. Larkin." His contact greeted.
"So what brings you into town? String theory conference at Columbia?" When Bryce had begun to suspect that John wasn't actually an Astrophysicist he'd realized the genius of the cover. Only an actual theoretical astrophysicist specializing in quantum mechanics and string theory would ever ask more than the most cursory question and even if they did he'd just be able to lie to them and they'd believe him as long as he sold it.
"My girlfriend and I were here on vacation." It was a weak lie, but Echo didn't need Larkin to buy it not when he'd be blowing his cover within the next few minutes. "Why are you in town?"
Larkin sensed something was amiss; he felt like he was now in danger and he knew that his contact was the reason for the danger. Lying would be dangerous if he was caught he'd be dead. He did the one thing he never thought he'd do in his career, he told the truth. "I'm helping a friend of mine out, her…" he searched for the right word to describe Chuck and Sarah's relationship he certainly couldn't say asset, "boyfriend was kidnapped."
"That's terrible, what was his name?" His voice conveyed his aloofness.
"Chuck Bartowski."
Echo nodded, but Larkin was done with the dancing. "Let's cut to the small talk."
"Whatever do you mean?" His fake concern was replaced with sarcasm.
"I know you're involved in Chuck's disappearance."
Echo was done playing games, "The Intersect is a concern of mine." His voice lacked any kind of emotion, and his delivery had been honed over the years.
Echo smiled as he saw Larkin's reaction of total and complete shock, Bryce had suspected some kind of peripheral involvement not complete knowledge of the Intersect. "You kidnapped him?"
"No, no you see I'm going to be asking the questions from now on." He saw Bryce reaching for his weapon, but Echo was faster. "There's a block of C4 taped on the underside of your surveillance van, I'm jamming their receivers and looping our last conversation and I have my backup on the rooftop across the street with a sniper aimed at your head, oh and of course I have my weapon."
Bryce was floored, never in his career had he been so thoroughly beaten. He was out of his league. Bryce sat there quietly looking for an out of some kind.
"Now I want the location of the new Intersect."
"You mean you don't have the Intersect?"
"The location of the building where the NSA has constructed their new Intersect."
Bryce smiled; finally he had something that he could flaunt over his opponent. "You can't figure it out?"
"Should I just kidnap you and torture it out of you?" The threat was real, and while Bryce was used to being threatened with torture and death he knew that the man who called himself John would certainly break Bryce, if only for the challenge of it.
"So that's what you're doing to Chuck? Torturing him? Forcing him to flash and give you new Intel?"
"The address. Now." His voice was dead.
Bryce pursed his lips, his eyes flashed with anger, for the first time in his career he'd totally failed. He wrote it down on the napkin and passed it to John.
"Here John, but let the kid go he's not one of us."
"My name isn't John and believe me Chuck is perfectly happy where he currently is."
"I highly doubt that." Echo holstered his weapon, they'd be done shortly. "Sarah isn't there and despite my advice he still has feelings for her."
"How long does she have?"
Bryce stared at him confused.
"Until she cracks, how long until she breaks down?" Bryce was surprised; John appeared to actually be concerned about Sarah.
"Two, three days, four tops."
"She's a good agent. I'll have him call her." He dropped a few bills, to cover the bill, onto the table as he stood up.
Bryce looked at him like he had three heads, "you're kidding right?"
Echo walked outside, glanced up at his partner and signaled him to bug out. He walked down a few yards and hopped into his corvette.
***
+ 6 Hours since the Incident.
Sarah walked back into their—her hotel room, "Out." Was her simple order to the NSA agent's already in the room. They gave her a puzzled look, but complied quickly enough.
As they exited she locked the door and turned back to it. She had to search it for any clues as to the identity of the kidnapper, but as she looked at it she was overcome with the enormity of the memories, and the loss she felt.
Taking a few steps into the room she saw the number of weapons available to her. She had dozens of weapons hidden around the hotel room, but she'd removed all the ones she'd had in the bedroom after their first night there.
***
"Wow the CIA certainly spared no expense on this little trip."
"No, Chuck they usually don't…"
"Do you think we could convince them that I need a new place? Or at least renovate Ellie and Awesome's?"
She laughed, "With current housing prices I'm sure we could arrange for a new place. Although we would have to sell it as related to your cover somehow so I imagine I'd have to move in with you."
He pulled her flush up against him, "That wouldn't be so bad."
Casey chose that moment to walk in with their suitcases, "Sorry to interrupt kids but I'm sure you'll have the rest of the night to get yourself compromised Walker."
"We have a cover to protect Casey, what if you had given our bags to a regular hotel employee and he walked in to see a couple in love standing across the room acting like complete strangers?"
"Supposedly Walker, you're supposed to be in love."
She just stared at him.
"That was obviously implied Casey. We're not actually in love." They both turned to look at the long forgotten Chuck. Sarah's face was a cross between mortification and pride that he'd covered for her so quickly; Casey cracked a smile and grunted. Casey was going to enjoy this vacation with those two trying to cover up their slips.
"Walker set up the cameras on this end, I'll set up the computers in my room." He said departing their room with a few of his bags.
"Thanks, I…I didn't think he'd notice."
"Don't worry about it." They stood their awkwardly looking around the room for a few minutes, neither sure what to do. "I'm uh, going to bed."
He looked at her for confirmation, "ok I'll unpack and then I've gotta check in with Casey and Beckman."
"Should I be there?"
"No! I mean I'm sure we can manage without you for one night."
H e nodded satisfied with her answer, "Uh which bed is mine?"
"There's only one bed Chuck."
"I assume one of us would be on the couch or something…"
A look of disappointment crossed her face, but was replaced with her emotionless mask before he could notice it. "Take the bed I'll probably be getting up and doing stuff all night and I wouldn't want to wake you every time I leave the room."
"Sarah you need your rest to, we wouldn't want you to be too tired and falling asleep during some of the fighting would we?"
She smiled at him, "I'll be fine."
He didn't return the smile, but disappeared into the bedroom.
***
She felt silly, jet lag didn't affect spies especially spies like Sarah Walker. She was used to flying all over the world moving between time zones like most people moved through lanes of traffic, but she'd been out of the travel game for awhile. As soon as Beckman ended their briefing she'd trudged off back to her hotel room with one thing on her mind, sleep. Walking in she immediately proceeded towards the bedroom; she didn't register the man sitting up reading in the bed, didn't register his eyes bugging out as she started to strip out of her work clothes. "Uh Sarah." She stopped as soon as she heard his voice. She wasn't alone.
Sarah blushed slightly, she hoped Casey wasn't looking, she was used to being in her hotel room, the one without any bugs. She halted her removal of clothing and grabbed her nightie before promptly disappearing into the bathroom. When she re-emerged she immediately caught Chuck's attention.
"Wow…uh…Sarah…wow."
She gave him a shy smile, "thanks I think…"
His eyes dropped to her hands in which she held a pair of knives and a gun. As she walked over to her side of the bed she dropped the knives onto the night stand and slipped the gun under her pillow. Climbing into bed her eyes sought out Chuck's expecting the smile that always improved her day. But as she found his, she saw that he wasn't smiling, he was frowning. She hated seeing him look like he did and she had no idea why he looked so dejected, as if he had been betrayed. Then she followed his eyes; he was staring at her knives.
"I thought you didn't bring weapons," he leaned closer to her and dropped his voice to a low whisper, "when things were real."
She was shocked that he'd remembered one sentence she'd said months ago when they'd both been surrounded by guns—which always made him nervous—but she smiled as she realized that remembering that was such a Chuck thing to do.
"Sorry I'll take them out first thing in the morning." She was surprised to discover that she wasn't lying she fully intended to remove all of those weapons from the bedroom. She'd leave them just outside, but inside they'd be totally unprotected. She rationalized it, in that they were in no real danger in the bedroom they'd be better off being captured and having Casey rescue them rather than trying to fight a team of Fulcrum agents with a pistol, 2 knives, and no cover.
***
She let her hands drift over the furniture as she walked through the room. She kept replaying the events in her mind. She thought of a billion different ways it could have gone down and resulted in her and Chuck sleeping in that bed right now, but she knew it wasn't productive to think like that. She couldn't change the past, no matter how much she wanted to, and the only way to fix her mistakes was to get Chuck back. Standing alone in their hotel room, she let Sarah slip into the darkness and gave herself over to Agent Walker. She knew Chuck might hate it when she rescued him, but at least he'd be safe and then she could let Sarah back out.
Her radio chirped to life, "Walker Beckman is pulling up now and she isn't alone."
A/N- I know at the end Sarah does retreat a bit from Agent mode, but there's a reason for her moving between Sarah and Agent Walker and attempting to shut Sarah away until he's back. And yes Chuck's time frame is ahead of Sarah's by a few hours. I normally don't like that, but they will catch up shortly (like the next chapter).
What do you think of the flashbacks? Like 'em? Hate 'em? I'm trying to work one in a chapter (which kinda presents some problems in figuring out what to write them about and how to trigger them) so if I'd like to know what you think of them.
Reviews are always appreciated very much good or bad. I like to have some idea of what works and what doesn't.