Author's Note: thanks once again for all the reviews. To address two comments I received, I thought briefly of placing Carina on Chuck's team, rather than Casey's, but decided that I have enough other subplots planned in this story that I didn't want the hassle of trying to work that mess into things. Not that there won't be moments of tension; I just didn't want it to become a major plot issue. Besides, I freely admit to being a typical male and the only way I'd consider putting those three together on a team would probably be in a threesome type of relationship. (I may decide to pursue a separate story in this vain at some point). As for Casey not being on Chuck's team, I had originally planned that but once I made the decision to make Casey the leader of Ops portion of the team, and Chuck his XO, as well as divide the Ops group into two teams, it made more sense to keep Casey as the leader of the other team. Precedence for this type of division can be found in the structure of US Army Special Forces "A" Teams. When these teams have to break into two teams, the team leader and his xo lead up the two smaller teams.
Blue Ridge Apartment Complex
Auxiliary Operations Center
Outside of Stafford, Va
20 minutes from MCB Quantico
Monday, July 11, 2006
0130 Hours
"Dammit Chuck, I know you're an overachiever but couldn't you have waited until a less ungodly hour to get us started on this job?" Jack joked over the video conference line. The members of Chuck's team were gathered in the Auxiliary Operations Center located in one of the vacant apartments in the complex. On a large video screen, the members of Casey's team, along with Harper and Masden, were seated in the main conference room at the Team Headquarters. Laughter rang out from the rest of the team.
"Jeez Jack, three years out of the Corps has turned you into a prima donna." Chuck responded with a grin. More laughter rang out.
"Okay, settle down people." Harper said. Everyone quieted down. "Now, what do we know?"
"Altemier entered the country two days ago on a private flight, under the name Hans Geoffery. According to Customs records, he had one suitcase with the normal travel accoutrements, along with a painting that he said he was transporting on behalf of an Austrian art gallery that was providing it to a Virginia gallery for a special display." Jack said.
"Except both galleries in question know nothing about them." Samantha Ness said.
"Any ID on the shooter?" Masden asked.
"We managed to pull a clean image off the Parking Garage security cameras. We ran it past Chuck; no flash. We're running it against any other databases we can think off. No luck yet." Jack replied.
"And the tracker?" Harper asked.
"It tracked him to a mall near Virginia Beach. Local LEOs found the car abandoned there. No sign of the painting." O'Day said. "Forensics is going over it now."
"Phone records?" Price asked.
"Not yet; we found a phone on his body but the call history had been wiped clean. And it'll be at least a day or two before we can get a warrant to get the records from the cell company." Carina said. Chuck started typing on his laptop.
"Carina, what's the service?" he asked.
"Verizon, Chuck." she responded, "Why?"
"I think I can get us the records." he said, typing furiously. Sarah stood up from her seat and walked behind Chuck.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"Um...the less you guys know the better." Chuck said, nervously.
"Answer the question Chuck." Harper said. "We're covered for any and all violations needed to complete our mission by pre-signed Presidential pardon." Chuck nodded.
"I'm hacking Verizon's system. I should be able to dump the records onto our server." Chuck said.
"How do you know how to do that?" Forrest asked. Chuck looked sheepish.
"Chuck?" Sarah asked softly.
"Anybody ever hear of someone called Piranha?" Chuck asked. Masden's eyes widened.
"Yeah. He was what we call a grey-hat hacker that was active a couple years ago. Piranha was legendary. He managed to hack some of the most secure networks in the world, both government and industry. The odd thing was, he never stole anything, sabotaged anything. Almost like he was doing it just to see if he could. That's why we classified him as grey. Black hats usually are out to cause trouble or steal; white hats are the good guys. Since he wasn't working for us but didn't seem interested in causing trouble, we had to come up with a new term." Masden said. "Then, almost four years ago, he just dropped off the face of the Earth."
"Chuck, what does all this have to do with you? Did you know Piranha? Is that how you know what you're doing?" Sarah asked. Chuck shook his head.
"Not exactly. Piranha stopped hacking because of a series of unfortunate events in his personal life in January of 2001. Specifically, he went into a depression because his supposed best friend had framed him for cheating, gotten him kicked out of school, and stole his girlfriend." Chuck said quietly. Everyone's eyes widened at Chuck's words, and the implication that they held.
"You...You're Piranha?" Casey asked, shocked.
"Yeah. I wasn't always a bad ass Marine." Chuck said. "I was a pretty big Nerd before I joined up; hell, like I told Sarah earlier, I still am."
"I think we need to keep this revelation to ourselves, people. Even though it's been a few years, there are a number elements within the law enforcement community that would love to get their hands on the Piranha." Harper said. The rest of the team nodded. "As far as I remember, you never did any damage, other than getting into the systems, right?"
"Yeah." Chuck said. "It was always more about getting in than taking or doing anything." He then turned back to his computer. Several minutes later, Chuck let out a whoop of victory. "I've got the records. I'm putting them up on both screens."
A moment later, the phone records connected with the phone appeared on both smartboards in each location. A quick look at the records showed several numbers that had been called multiple times.
"Ok Piranha, any of these numbers tickle your spidey-sense?" Price asked. Chuck looked over the list. When he came to two of them, he flashed.
"We may have a problem guys. " Chuck said, typing on the computer. "This first number belongs to an auction house suspected of laundering money and moving smuggled goods. I'll bet even money that's where the painting is headed."
"And the second?" Harper asked. Chuck typed some more and a picture of a late middle-aged man appeared.
"Dr. Michael Lutz. He's a nuclear physicist who was dismissed from Sandia National Labs five years ago. He was suspected of passing secrets to Iran. But they could never prove it. He fell off the radar two years ago." Chuck said. "He's been rumored to have been working with La Ciudad."
"Why would an arms dealer and a nuclear physicist be interested in a painting?" Carina asked.
"Maybe it isn't the painting itself they're interested in." Chuck replied. "Maybe there's something in the frame?"
"Where's this auction house, Chuck?" Jack asked. Chuck grinned.
"Los Angeles. And according to their site, there's an auction coming up on Friday." Chuck said. "Looks like we're headed to my hometown."
Blue Ridge Apartment Complex
Chuck's Apartment
Outside of Stafford, Va
20 minutes from MCB Quantico
Wednesday July 13, 2006
0930 Hours
"So are you excited about getting to see your sister and Devon this weekend?" Sarah asked Chuck after she had drained a bottle of water. The two agents had just finished a five mile run and were stretching and hydrating in Chuck's apartment. Since the first day of their combined training, the team had taken to working out in the morning, something that had continued the last two days as well. Today, however, Sarah had asked Chuck if they could work out alone. She had two reasons for doing so. First, ever since the meeting late Sunday night/early Monday morning when it was decided that Chuck's team would go to Los Angeles and surveill the art auction, Sarah could tell that something was bothering Chuck. She was hoping some time alone together would allow her to get it out of him. The second reason was more selfish; barring the interruption at the end, their date on Sunday had been one of the best nights of her life. Even after all that happened with the arms smuggler and the meeting, it had still ended on high note with Chuck walking her back to her apartment and the two sharing a rather intense kiss. The team had been busy on Monday and Tuesday, so other than lunch and a team dinner, her and Chuck had little chance to interact socially since. She was hoping to get things going again today.
"Yeah. Though you and I both know the likelihood that it will only take one evening at an art auction to wrap this mission up is pretty slim." Chuck said. "Even if we do wrap it up in one night, we still have the cover story to maintain, so it's not like I'll get to see much of them. Or Morgan for that matter." Listening to Chuck, a light bulb went off in Sarah's mind. Because they were going to be in Chuck's hometown, and there was a chance of someone seeing Chuck, Harper had decided to set the team's cover as an evaluation team for a new unmanned reconnaissance drone currently being tested at Point Mugu, just north of Los Angeles. Needless to say, because of the cover, the team would have to spend a significant amount of time secluded. But Chuck would still have to visit Ellie at least once; otherwise if someone saw him it could get suspicious.
"I know, Chuck, and I'm sorry. But at least you should get to see them for a little while, even if it's not as much as you like. Besides, I'm sure Harper would be willing to give you an extra day or two to visit. You just have to ask." Sarah said. "We'll have to keep at least two of the team in town with you for protection but it shouldn't be too difficult." Chuck blew out a half-breath/half-sigh.
"I guess you're right." Chuck said. "At least I'm not stuck in the desert with no ability to see them other than the occasional video chat." Sarah could tell that there was still something on his mind, but decided to hold off pushing him about it until later.
"So Chuck. How about we catch that new Superman movie you were talking about? And maybe dinner too?" Sarah asked.
"Why Agent Walker, are you asking me for a second date?" Chuck asked in a teasing tone. Sarah stepped over towards him.
"Definitely." She said, grinning. "After all, I got to see your dance moves and combat moves during the last one. I can't wait to see what else you got."
Bombardier Learjet 65
Somewhere over California
Thursday, July 14, 2006
1800 hours Pacific Time
Chuck's eyes fluttered open as he felt Team Bartowski's Leerjet 65 change its altitude. They had been in the air a little over four hours and were about 45 minutes from touchdown at Naval Air Station (NAS) Point Mugu. In keeping with their cover, all the personnel onboard were dressed in either naval or marine uniforms. Inside their luggage was there civilian and mission-specific gear. Chuck glanced over to the seat next to him and smiled as he watch Sarah begin to stir and his thoughts drifted back to the previous night.
Begin Flashback
"So was it everything you thought it would be?" Sarah asked as her and Chuck walked into her apartment after returning from the movies. This had been their second official date, and it had gone even better than the first, most notably because they had not been interrupted by Chuck flashing on a bad guy and having to engage in a gunfight or high speed chase. Dinner had been wonderful; they had gone to a sushi restaurant in Fairfax that Sarah had heard about. The food had been good and and the company even better. Afterwards they had gone to the movies. Since the movie had been in the theater for almost a month, the theater was not crowded; in fact there had only been a handful of people there. That had suited Sarah just fine, she had used the opportunity to engage Chuck in a mild make-out session during the movie, though it didn't go as far as she wanted. Chuck's self-proclaimed Nerd status wouldn't allow him to completely ignore the Superman movie they had been watching.
"It was ok." Chuck said. "Personally I'm still partial to the Christopher Reeves movies." Sarah sat down on the sofa and Chuck sat next to her. "But the company more than made up for its shortcomings."
"That's good to hear." Sarah said. "Based on your continuing to interrupt our activity in the theater, I was beginning to wonder." Chuck looked down at his shoes. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to sound the way it did, Chuck." Sarah reached out and grabbed his hand. "I had a really good time too."
"Sarah, there's something I need to talk to you about." Chuck said, looking up. "Two things actually."
"Go ahead Chuck, I hope you know by now that you can talk to me about anything." Sarah said. "I know we've actually only been on two official dates, but I feel like I'm closer to you than I've been to anyone else. I know some of that is because of the amount of time we spent training as a team, but there's more to it than that."
"I know, Sarah. I feel the same way." Chuck said. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I'm falling for you, fast, Sarah Walker. And it scares me a little." Chuck rubbed one of his hands through his hair. "I haven't really dated much since Jill and you know how that ended. And I know your last relationship didn't end well either. I'm afraid of pushing too far too fast. But at the same time, you're like Kryptonite to me Sarah. Every minute I'm with you, my resolve weakens just slightly." Sarah suddenly grabbed Chuck's face in both her hands and pressed her lips to his. A moment later they separated.
"Thank you for telling me Chuck." Sarah said. "And I think it's sweet that you're afraid of pushing too far too fast. And I certainly don't want to push you into anything you're not ready for either. But just like you say I'm your Kryptonite, the same goes for you. I can honestly say I've never felt like this about anyone before. I think as long as we both keep being honest with each other, everything will be okay."
"Well then, that leads me to the second thing I wanted to talk to you about." Chuck said. "I don't think our cover is going to work with Ellie."
"What do you mean Chuck?" Sarah asked, confused. Her cover was as a Marine Information Systems Analyst and Chuck's girlfriend, at least with regards to Ellie, Devon, Morgan, and any of Chuck's family and friends they might encounter.
"Sarah, you don't know Ellie." Chuck said. "She's like a combination mom, CIA interrogator and mind reader all rolled into one when it comes to my love life. There's no way I can get away with pretending you're my girlfriend." He reached over and took her hand. "So I guess we'll just have to make it official. Sarah Walker, will you be my girlfriend, for real, no cover?" Tears welled up in Sarah's eyes as she nodded.
"Yes." she said.
End Flashback
They had celebrated the official change in their relationship well into the night, though true to both their desires, they had stopped short of crossing that final line. They had fallen asleep on the couch, wrapped in in each other's arms.
"How much longer?" Sarah asked, now fully awake.
"Probably another 45 minutes." Chuck replied.
"Nervous?" Sarah asked.
"A little." Chuck replied. "I'm use to kicking in doors or hitting the enemy heads on, not going undercover."
"You'll be fine, Chuck. You've picked up everything we were trying to teach you in training, and you have the Intersect. Besides, you won't be alone. I'll be right there with you and the rest of the team will be on surveillance and only moments away if we need them." Sarah said, squeezing his leg.
"It's not just that, Sarah." Chuck said, sighing. "This is going to be the first time in years that I've brought a girl home to meet Ellie. I know she's going to love you, but it's still a little nerve wracking."
"I understand Chuck." Sarah said. "Believe it or not, this is actually the first time I've ever been introduced to someone's family, outside of a cover that is."
Outside Casa Bartowski
Echo Park, CA
2030 hours
Thursday, July 14, 2006
Chuck and Sarah stood outside the door to Ellie and Devon's apartment. Both were dressed in the khaki and green Class A Marine Service Uniform, with Sarah's uniform bearing the insignia of a First Lieutenant. After landing at Point Mugu, the jet had taxied to a secure hangar operated by CIA on the base. Even though the CIA personnel assigned there had been screen several times, including by showing their pictures to Chuck to see if he flashed on them, the team spent about twenty minutes scanning the hangar for any unwanted surveillance. Then they moved on to the vehicles provided for them to use while in Los Angeles. As with the hangar, nothing amiss was found.
Price, O'Day, and Burton had taken the team's luggage and equipment to a local boutique hotel that Harper had rented an entire floor of for the team's use. Chuck and Sarah had taken another car and driven to Ellie's apartment complex. Ness followed them in another car and would provide outside surveillance/security while they were there.
"You ready?" Chuck asked.
"Yep. Let's do this." Sarah said. Chuck raised his hand and knocked on the door. A moment later the the door opened.
Inside Casa Bartwoski
Echo Park, LA
2030 hours
Thursday, July 14, 2006
Ellie and Devon had just finished cleaning up after dinner and were sitting down on the couch talking about the subject that had been eating up their non-work time for the last several days: their wedding. It had been a long engagement; both of them wanted to make sure their student loans were paid off and their careers established before getting married. Now it felt like it was time to get moving. As they sat there discussing possible dates, they heard a knock on the door.
"I swear, if that's Morgan, again, I'm going to kill him." Ellie said, only half kidding. Since her brother had joined the Marines and Morgan had started taking his life and job more seriously Ellie had found that she could tolerate her brother's best friend more than in the past. However, he had recently been going through a rough time with his girlfriend of three months, Alex. As a result, he had shown up at the apartment three nights in a row looking for advice from her and Devon, as well as a shoulder to cry on. While both Ellie and Devon were more than glad to try and help him, she had been looking forward to spending some time alone with Devon tonight and discussing wedding dates. Ellie walked over to the door and opened it. When she spied the person standing there, she let out a squeal of surprise and happiness.
"Oh, my god, Chuck!" Ellie exclaimed, pulling Chuck into a hug. A moment later she released him. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you call?"
"I'm in town for a few days, doing some evaluation on some gear at NAS Pt. Mugu." Chuck replied, entering the apartment. "And I wanted to surprise you you guys." It was at this point that Ellie and Devon notice Sarah as she entered behind Chuck. Ellie raised an eyebrow upon seeing her.
"Who's your friend, Chuck?" she asked, secretly holding breathe, hoping this was what she thought it might be. Chuck smiled slightly and took Sarah's hand.
"Ellie, Devon, allow me to introduce 1st Lieutenant Sarah Walker. We work together at the NCTC." Chuck said. "She's also my girlfriend." Ellie let out a squeal of excitement and threw her brother into another hug before backing away and grabbing Sarah into a hug. A moment later she backed away, slightly embarrassed
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Ellie said, mortified. "I don't know what came over me." She held out her hand to shake Sarah's. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Chuck's sister Ellie, and this is my fiance Devon Woodcomb." Sarah took the offered hand and grinned.
"No problem, Ellie." she said. "Chuck warned me you were a hugger. And that I'd be the first girl he'd brought home since that bitch Jill." She released Ellie's hand and moved on to Devon, shaking his hand. "And you're the famous Captain Awesome. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Chuck!" Ellie admonished him, clearly upset that he had used that nickname with Sarah.
"It's ok, babe." Devon said. "I love the nickname; it's just so - awesome." Everyone shared a chuckle. "It's nice to meet you Sarah."
"Well, don't just stand there." Ellie said. "Come in and take a seat. I want to hear all about your job and you two. Tell me everything!"
