A/N Posted 5/15/12 – This act was not beta read. Sorry you didn't get a preview, uplink2. Chalk it up to the pressures of time, space, and mobile internet connections…

I don't own Chuck.

Chuck Versus the Lost Years

Act 7 - Who's in Control?

- I -

She sat in a bathing suit and a wrap at her balcony table overlooking the Caribbean Sea and Isla Mujeres that was perched where the crystal blue waters met the horizon, the deep blue sky above it slowly filling with cumulus clouds. Her eyes scanned the beach below, watching vacationers lounge and play on the white sand. It seemed like a nice place to run away to, a vacation she had always wanted to take in an idyllic setting, surrounded by vacationing families, honeymooners, and lovers. And she felt totally isolated.

Julie Peterson stared at the people on the beach below and wondered how she had ever allowed herself to be used like this. How could she had been seduced to think the allure, the money, or the excitement of joining a shadowy organization could ever have been worth this... a life on the run, constantly looking over her shoulder, paranoid, and wondering if she was going walk around a street corner straight into a bullet?

Julie hadn't even thought of the possibility that this could have happened to her. She was an analyst, not a field officer. She had no back up ID's or passports, or even a plan. But she knew she had to do something. Eventually the people she had aligned herself with, and finally betrayed, would come looking for her and make her pay for her betrayal. She looked at her new laptop computer screen and sighed as she reviewed the search results for the company she was researching on her web browser, and then she tabbed though the company web pages, scanning the information on them as she went.

Eventually, she clicked the tab once again for the company contact page. She may not have been a field operative, but she knew how to use the skills she had very well. She was a gifted analyst and knew her way around a computer network. The enterprise was her game. She browsed to the new email box on her recently opened web portal account and typed in the email address from the web page. Reviewing what she had typed, she took a deep breath as the cursor hovered over the send button… and she clicked it.

As Julie sat there staring out over the waters of the bay thinking about what she had just done, it finally occurred to her that she had just offered to become a triple agent.

- II -

Colonel John Casey walked out of the elevator and through the glass doors into the reception area.

"Good morning, Colonel Casey"

He nodded to the new office manager, Lori Compton. "Morning, Lori. Anything earth shattering happen around here over the weekend?"

"No, nothing that made it into the newspapers at least. We still have software contractors coming in and out. That's going to be happening for a few more days."

"Hnmg, nerds. Can't seem to live without them these days, can't kill em'. Any red flags?"

"No, and Nikki and I finished the morning bug sweep a few minutes ago, it was negative."

"Well, I'm not going to feel like I can relax even a bit around here until those pencil necks are out of the building."

Lori grinned at him. "Well, just wait until you meet a couple of the new team members."

He returned a glare masking amusement. "Damn, Lori, I don't need to hear this sort of trash talk when I walk through the door on Monday morning. I'll be in my office."

"You know where to find me if you need anything," the Marine Captain retorted.

Casey shook his head as he walked down the hallway to his new office not far from the reception area. Pencil neck nerd employees aside, it seemed like every day since he had first walked in here last Thursday afternoon, that a new stunningly beautiful woman was working in the office. He was starting to feel like he was a character in a Bond film.

He walked into his new office and poured a freshly brewed cup of coffee from the beverage station in the corner, and smirked after he was sure no one was around to see him do it. Yes, he could get used to working here. He logged into the secure network and started reviewing several personnel files spread across the three monitors in front of him.

The first one was of the woman who greeted him as he walked into the offices. He and Lori Compton were from the same Marine Recon unit at Camp Pendleton; different times of course, but Force Recon's history was a colorful one and Lori's personal record was no less colorful from the looks of her file. She had served two tours in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion's public affairs office, and the billet had led her to both Iraq and Afghanistan over the last eight years.

While attached to Tactical PSYOP Team 1171 in late 2004, she'd ended up picking up a rifle and fighting with her unit when it was briefly overrun in the battle for Fallujah. Providing rear cover, and spotting for a scout sniper team when the teams regular spotter had been wounded, she'd reportedly comported herself very well as the team decimated a large force of insurgents from a rather unprotected rooftop position right in the middle of the fighting. She was awarded the Bronze Star for that action.

Then in Afghanistan she was the point person with the media when several members of the 'Black Diamonds' Charlie Company were seen in a photograph with a flag that bore a slight resemblance to the Nazi Waffen SS logo, but was, in fact, a flag of the Marine Corps famous scout sniper. She had helped to diffuse the potentially ugly PR situation with a very notable and tactful dressing down of a famous U.S. press corps member during a televised briefing, in very typical Marine Corps fashion.

Casey really liked what he was seeing in this personnel file, but most of the photos in her file did not do justice to the drop-dead gorgeous woman who was now one of Carmichael Industries' gatekeepers.

Then he looked at Nikki Lawson's file. There was very little in it. She was a Lt. Commander in the Navy, and she had her Naval Aviator's wings, that much was revealed, but it was the only military background showing in her file. The rest was either redacted or missing entirely. There were only a couple of photos; one in her dress whites and one wearing her flight suit, both of them were the customary boilerplate military portraits from the waist up. But the one of her in her flight suit had the VFA-105 squadron insignia printed in the corner of the photo - the Gunslingers.

It figured. So did her callsign, printed next to her name on the bottom of the photo. The one thing that struck Casey was that the young woman in the photos wearing the Lt. Commander insignia on her uniform was even younger looking than the woman he was just getting to know; a woman he would have now mistaken for Sarah's twin or slightly younger sister...literally. He suspected that Nikki Lawson was either older than she looked or had advanced through the ranks uncommonly fast.

Her file showed a posting at Fort Meade as an analyst for the last four years, as Chuck and Dave O'Conner had stated, but Casey wondered how much of that was real or a smoke screen given the lack of other information in the file. Nikki's file was more of a mystery than his own, and that was saying quite a lot. Casey was starting to suspect her NSA background was also very similar to his own when he tried to read between the redacted lines.

He cracked his knuckles as he looked at the dossier and growled. A more direct approach was going to be required with Nikki.

- III -

Chuck reached to pull the front door closed behind him, and they turned to walk across the courtyard, only to look up to the top of the stairway landing of what used to be Mr. and Mrs. Addisian's apartment when he heard the front door opening. And to Chuck's surprise, he wasn't at all surprised to see NSA agent John Rogers coming out of the front door. "I was wondering who they were going to have move into that place, John."

Agent Roger's smiled back at Chuck and Sarah. " I guess you don't have to wonder any longer, neighbor," John Roger's said as he started to stride down the stairs two steps at a time. "I thought it was about time I let you know who your security detail was. We knew you had to have been wondering. I'd like to introduce you to my partner."

Sarah looked between Chuck and agent Rogers, with confusion, "Chuck, do you know this gentleman?"

Chuck's eye's met Sarah's with a startled look that he swiftly shared with John Roger's, and it then dawned on him that Sarah's memory of John had been suppressed at Quinn's base the week before when he and Sarah had been exposed to the flashcards recovered from Quinn's booby-trapped safe. She had no reachable memory of him.

"Sarah, this is John Rogers. He's the agent you steamrolled at Quinn's safehouse last week."

"Steamrolled?" Sarah asked incredulously, "That sounds a little harsh, you'd think I would remember something like that."

Roger's chuckled at Chuck's choice of words as he looked at Sarah with amusement, "Yeah, that pretty much describes it. There was no damn way I was going to try to stop you that day. I really didn't want to get my ass kicked in front of a bunch of my coworkers."

Sarah looked at both of the men in front of her like they had each grown a second head.

Chuck decided it was time for an explanation for both Sarah and John. "Sarah, when you were exposed to the flashcards at Quinn's safe-house you lost almost an hour of your memory. John was the agent who escorted you onto the scene just before it happened." He then looked at agent Roger's wondering how much he had said that John wasn't cleared to hear.

Roger's read his mind. "Relax, Chuck, I wouldn't be on this detail if I didn't know most of the nitty-gritty details." He looked at Sarah and chuckled again, "Sarah, you were on a mission that day, only a fool would have tried to get in your way."

Sarah scrutinized both of them for a moment, and they could see that she was quickly placing the pieces of the puzzle together. "So, sweetheart, was Agent Roger's with you when you Fast Roped from a helicopter into a situation that could have gotten all of you blown to bits?"

Chuck and John shared a look that Sarah could only define as 'extremely guilty as charged'.

"You're on my shit list until further notice, Agent Rogers," she stated flatly, and she turned to walk out of the courtyard.

Chuck rolled his eyes at Rogers. "We'll drop by later today to meet your partner. Don't worry, you won't stay on that list forever, as long as you have the right answers she's inevitably going to ask you about the depth of your camera surveillance."

He watched Rogers palm his face as he quickly walked away to catch his wife. "Hey-oh, Sarah, hey, slow down baby, don't leave without me."

Sarah turned around standing on the walkway near the street and faced him with her arms crossed over her chest and an exasperated look on her face. "Chuck I think it's time we talk some more about finally buying that house of ours. I'm getting a little sick of being constantly reminded how complicated our lives have become since I made that stupid decision to put on a pair of fancy sunglasses eight weeks ago."

Walking up to her, Chuck placed his hands on her shoulders and let them glide down her arms feeling the tension in them as his hands took a hold of hers and unfolded her arms. Looking into her misty eyes, he said, "Sarah, it's time to stop second-guessing yourself. You did what you thought was the right thing to do at the time. We'll get through this. Besides, Agent Walker, you know that if we move into our house with the red door and the white picket fence right now, we'll only have Agent Rogers and his partner moving in next door a day later."

At the mention of her maiden name, Sarah tensed again, blinked back tears, and blurted, "Chuck, my name is Sarah Bartowski now." The expression on her face had turned to one of deeply sad frustration. "... or Carmichael, depending where we are and who we're talking to. Damn it," she said, drawing the two words painfully out, "God.… I'm beginning to really hate the spy life."

Chuck returned a startled and apologetic look to her sudden outburst. "I'm sorry, Sarah, I didn't mean to get you upset. When I call you Agent Walker I guess I'm just trying to get the attention of the Sarah who is the spy, and who thinks like a spy, and sometimes I'm still a little confused what to call you because only a month ago you only seemed interested in returning to your former life and not being Sarah Bartowski again. I'm trying not to push you."

She dropped his hands and turned away as she brought her hand to her face. "Chuck, I'm trying to get reacquainted with Sarah Bartowski again, the Sarah who is your wife. Calling me Sarah Walker is definitely not helping at the moment." She turned back to him with a pleading look. "I feel like I have a split personality right now, so please try to avoid using my maiden name for the time being, it only makes it worse, and it sends me back to a time that I'm quickly realizing I don't want much to do with anymore. Dammit, Chuck, I want to be Sarah Bartowski again!"

Striding quickly to her, Chuck took Sarah up in a comforting embrace and her hands came up behind his shoulders, and she buried her face in his chest. "You're always so full of surprises, Sarah Bartowski. Every day is indeed a new day when I'm with you."

A couple hundred yards away Simon McKay sat in his car watching through a monocular as Chuck and Sarah Bartowski talked to each other on the sidewalk. He watched with interest wishing he had brought his parabolic microphone with him because the two of them seemed to be talking about something very important as they stood at the curb and then held each other for several minutes as they kept talking. Then he watched them kiss each other rather ardently and eventually separate to get into the metallic black Porsche parked at the curb. He smirked to himself as he watched them drive away before starting his car to keep an appointment with Edgar Sloan.

- IV -

"Do you have a minute Agent Casey?"

John Casey looked up from background investigation documents of several prospective employees on the monitors in front of him to see Nikki Lawson standing in the doorway of his office. This was as good a time as any to get a few questions answered, "Sure, what's on your mind, Lawson?"

She handed him a single page document, "This came into the general company email box this morning."

Casey's eyes narrowed as he read it. "Have Chuck and Sarah shown up yet?"

"No, but I'm expecting them any time now. How do you think we should proceed with this?"

"How do you think we should proceed with this, Agent Lawson, or should I call you Commander Lawson... or by your callsign, Ninpo?"

Nikki cocked her head to one side and smiled wryly at him, "Been doing some digging?"

"I still have one or two friends at Fort Meade. Special Collections, with an emphasis on 'direct'. Impressive." He allowed a hint of a smile to cross his face. "You know, the NSA agent being referenced in this is probably you." He shook the email.

"Me? Why would it be me? You're the NSA agent with the most history with Chuck and Sarah."

"But I've been off grid for over a month and I'm already fairly well known; you, on the other hand, it seems, are deep cover. This inquiry is referring to someone from the NSA that Chuck has recently associated with, before I came back, someone without any apparent history. That fits your description. I think you've been made by someone, Lawson." He paused for her to consider his words. "Now that we at least have that on the table, how would you handle this?" He waved the email again in the air for effect.

Nikki took a couple seconds to respond as she pondered how her file could have gotten into the wrong hands, then she addressed his question when it occurred to her that if Casey could get a hold of her file, then maybe someone else could too. "Well, I think a good start would be to answer it, see if we can open a dialogue, get more info, find out who this person is and where they work. Then we should try to pull whoever this person is back in. Whoever they are, they probably have a target painted on their back." She pondered it for a moment wondering just how exposed they already were, "Do you think we should call Chuck and Sarah now and warn them?"

"No, we'll talk about it when they get here, but we need to set up counter-surveillance immediately. If this is legit we're all probably being watched."

"I'll get started on it right away. Do you think we should tell Beckman about this?"

Casey's eyes locked hard on Nikki's at the mention of Beckman's name, "We will, but not yet. I'm concerned about how these guys found out about you and how close they may be to the top of the command chain."

"Okay, we'll keep it 'in house' for the time being." She turned to leave.

"Commander Lawson."

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Just whom do you work for?"

Nikki's eyes narrowed subtly as she slowly turned back around to face Casey. "I work for Chuck. The primary focus of my job will always be him."

"Hng. Did Beckman really hire you?"

"No. If Chuck didn't want me here another well-qualified candidate would have been recommended to him," she deflected.

"You're almost as good at non-answers as Walker. Spill it, Lawson. I want to know your whole mission here."

Nikki shifted her weight back and forth on her feet a couple of times while giving Casey a very penetrating look as if trying to assess his motives for asking the question. She saw genuine concern for Chuck written in his eyes. "I'll admit, Chuck freaked out a little the first time he saw me, however, he hired me because of my qualifications. He hired me to do all the things you see me do around here... but Colonel, when it looked like Sarah might not return, General Beckman requested me specifically. One of my tasks here is to protect Chuck at all costs, and I take that job very seriously."

Casey responded with grunt #7 – severe skepticism, "You mean protect the Intersect."

"No, Colonel Casey, I mean protect Chuck. I don't give a flying flip about the Intersect. That might be Beckman's motivation, but I can assure you it's not mine. The Intersect has been restored, and it's replaceable... Chuck isn't. Besides, if Chuck is safe, then the Intersect is safe." She'd said it with steel in her voice and Casey took note with a little admiration that she sounded a bit like him when she said it.

"Roger that." He regarded her with his usual expressionless expression, but his eyes were showing her that Casey smile that was hard to miss if you knew where to look for it. It surprised him a lot that Nikki Lawson saw something after only a couple of weeks with Chuck that it had taken him almost a couple of years to see. Then he threw her a curve ball, "You sure do look a lot like Sarah."

She crossed her arms in front of her and stared at him. "Yes, I've noticed that too. As I said, I could see Chuck was having a very difficult time with it at my interview. I'm sure it had more than a little bit to do with why I was recommended to Chuck. It almost backfired. And don't think for a second that I would ever try to use that as an advantage over him. Frankly, it pisses me off a bit."

"Fair enough, I won't judge you over the motives of others. I hope you understand why I had to ask you these questions; I tend to be a little over-protective when in comes to Bartowski. At first it was my job, but over the years…" He glared at her. "Don't you ever let him know I said that."

"I understand, John. I would have done the same thing if I was sitting where you are, and I'll keep your secret…even though he already knows it." She watched Casey's reaction with amusement. "Chuck has a way of pulling everyone into his circle very rapidly doesn't he?"

"Yes. Yes, he does. How deep are your lady feelings for Chuck, Lawson?"

She returned an irritated smirk. "Lady feelings, huh?" And then Nikki softened a bit as she regarded the deeper meaning of the question and decided to address it, "Oh, what the hell. Let me tell you something. I'm just barely getting to know Chuck. But I can see how some people with questionable motivations may have set us up. I like him. And we share a lot in common. We would probably be a good match for each other, given a different set of circumstances."

"Don't get me wrong, Casey, I'm very happy that Sarah made the decision to come back home to Chuck. It would have taken him a long time to get over her. It is obvious his love for her goes very, very deep... but if it came down to it, I think I would have tried to help him."

"Good God, spare me the gory details. Sorry I asked," Casey retorted, "Truth is, I doubt that I would have come back here if Sarah didn't. I wouldn't have been able to withstand all those years of watching Bartowski mope around here like someone had thrown his kittens off a bridge."

"You know you would have. I think Chuck is a little more resilient than that, Casey. But, yes, it would have been a little difficult for us for a while." Nikki shifted a bit again on her feet as she considered just how much she had disclosed. "I hope I've dispelled any concerns you may have had."

"Yeah, Nikki, you have. And thanks for being here for Bartowski even when it looked like other people were pulling strings. I think Chuck made the right decision when he brought you on the team."

"Thank you, I take that as a huge compliment coming from you. Now if you don't mind I have a large backlog of work to get to."

Casey waved her off with a slight smirk and she turned to leave again.

"Oh, and Ninpo?"

"Yes, Magilla?" Nikki's grin was as sharp as a dagger.

"I guess I had that one coming." Casey's grunt sounded like a disgusted laugh. "I hope you're not so busy you can't find some time to show me that fancy handgun of yours later."

"Handguns, plural… I always carry at least two. And I always make some time in my day for some range work. It's part of the job."

Casey lost control of himself and broke into a huge grin, but after Nikki left his office he picked up his cell phone and called Walker on a secure connection.

- V -

The three of them were sitting quietly around Chuck's desk as he quickly reviewed the software work being conducted on the server farm. "I'm not seeing anything to be concerned about here," Chuck finally stated as he reviewed a dedicated scan of the communications records and application logs. "All of the SoftTech people were cleared by Beckman's office. I'm going to review this some more, but so far I'm confident that her people have held up their side of the job and that we're secure."

He lamented the fact that he had not had the time to dedicate himself to this important aspect of his business the last several days until he looked at his wife and was instantly reminded of what was most important to him in his life. Work on the Iv4 coding had been consuming him, and he was thinking of little else these last few days.

Then Sarah's eyes met his as he gazed across the top of the monitor in front of him, and they shared their thoughts in a 'flash'. This connection they were sharing was startling, and frightening, and exhilarating. Right now it was quite muted because they weren't touching, but when they touched... He had promised Sarah he would talk to Ellie about it, but the more he thought about what was happening between Sarah and him, the more he wanted to keep it between the two of them.

They shared a very brief smile, and he dove again into the code for a few minutes. "This email originated in Cancun, but it was very cleverly routed through several servers. It's impressive considering it was sent from a webmail portal."

"Hnmgn, English please, Bartowski," Casey stated impatiently, "Who are we dealing with here?"

Chuck cast his friend a very contained, Casey-style smile. "This was sent by a pro. She's very good at her job, probably a CIA analyst."

"I agree with your assessment of the point of origin, but she?" Nikki rolled her eyes skeptically. "You sound pretty sure of yourself, Chuck. You think you know the occupation and sex of the sender because it was bounced off of several servers? And what else, that email address?"

"Well, it wasn't as simple as that," Chuck said, grinning confidently back at her. "There were several clues in the body of the message that also hinted at the gender of the sender. I know you saw them. And, yes, the way it was sent did sort of confirm both that and her occupation."

"I saw them. I'm just not sure I believe them. I guess I'll just have to trust your instincts about that, Boss."

"Trust me, Nikki, at some point, probably sooner than you think, you'll start to trust Chuck's instincts about this sort of thing implicitly," Sarah interjected, "His methods may be unconventional and may not follow protocol, but he gets the job done." Where did that come from? Protocol? As the word passed her lips, she couldn't help but wonder how rigidly she followed protocol with Chuck or how long it took her to realize she trusted him...or how hard she'd defended him in the past.

Casey grunted. "Unconventional to the point of moronic..."

The look of sudden self-awareness when Sarah glared at her former government partner must have shown through a crack in her mask.

And the little twitch at the corner of Nikki's mouth and what Sarah saw in her eyes when Nikki's met hers took her aback even more; the expression on the NSA agent's face seeming to wordlessly convey, "I'm glad you've finally realized that...again." When Nikki at last spoke, her words confirmed it.

"Not moronic, Colonel Casey. Sometimes naive, yes; but insightful...and quite frankly brilliant. And believe me, Sarah, I'm already learning, much faster than others have," she said dryly. "Let me make something perfectly clear. I was read in fully by the DNI about this project; one of only a handful. I've seen all the reports and mission logs, too. I know what this team has accomplished over the years; especially how strongly Chuck's intellect and instincts played a part in that success. It's amazing how big a part they played, considering how - with a few notable exceptions - protocol was so often abused with him even after the truth was learned."

Both Sarah and Casey raised a brow and their eyes flashed defensive irritation, but they otherwise kept their expressions flat. Trained and experienced operatives didn't fool Nikki Lawson. She was one of them, and could be just as cagey when she wanted to be. This wasn't one of those times.

"Look, I'm not trying to be confrontational or judgmental with the two of you; I know how rigid asset/handler protocol can be," Nikki calmly continued, her resolved gaze traveling from Casey to Sarah. "And given the circumstances, the timing may never be good to say this, but since it's just the three of us, I'm going to get this out on the table right now. Chuck is a U.S. citizen with - aside from a black mark induced upon him by one of our intelligence agencies - a spotless personal record. Yet he was treated like a foreign or hostile asset. Why?"

"Because he had every one of our secrets in his head," Casey growled.

"Bullshit. That was no excuse to treat him the way we did...like an object, an emotionless machine. Because he clearly wasn't. For a long time not even compensated. What was in Chuck's head may have been government property, but Chuck obviously never was."

Nikki turned her self-contained but fiery gaze from Casey to Sarah. "Sarah, I know I have you at a huge disadvantage because of your own strange set of circumstances. How they won't let you know more even when you want to right now. But, don't think for a minute I'm underestimating Chuck's contribution the way the powers-that-be did for so long due to the unusual nature of his circumstances. Or maybe I should say the underplaying of his contributions while he was used...by nearly everyone. Having had the rare opportunity to analyze this team's complete history, I'm not."

Casey grunted: a rare number 47: reluctant, embarrassed agreement.

Chuck looked stunned.

The look on Sarah's face had turned to one of sudden introspection. It didn't sound like Nikki was outright accusing her of anything. In fact, if anything, Nikki seemed to be trying to tell her she was one of the few who didn't underestimate Chuck, and that she sympathized with the difficult position Sarah Walker once faced. However, the employee whom Casey confided to her on the phone as possibly intended to be more than just Chuck's newest bodyguard clearly wasn't at all pleased by some of the things she saw in the record - things Sarah was a part of but couldn't remember. And the only record she currently had to go on, other than what Chuck had told her on the beach and few sometimes painfully recovered memories, were what she'd seen in her own video logs.

Up until a few days ago, she'd had full access to project Bartowski on the CIA's servers. It surprised her that she hadn't made the choice to do some digging on her own, especially after that bastard Quinn had given her a kill order with the slimmest and most unbelievable of back stories. Hadn't she learned anything from her experience with Kieran Ryker?

What Nikki Lawson had said was certainly true. By protocol, intelligence assets were frequently handled like they were adversaries because they often were adversaries; treated like government property and marginalized and coerced to control them. But did unwillingly possessing the Intersect justify the stripping of Chuck's rights? Did they really treat him that way? Sarah hoped to God she never did. It troubled her greatly that she couldn't remember enough to definitively answer that question because she knew she was fully capable of doing it and had done it. Neither could she say how much she might have minimalized Chuck's contribution herself, even if she knew the secrecy of Chuck's identity played a large part in why.

Did the reports give Casey and me most of the credit for the team's successes? Did I ever tell him I thought otherwise?

One thing Sarah knew for sure when her gaze briefly met that of her husband: Chuck didn't care a wit who got the credit...only that they did what was right. Those open portals to his soul, this connection they were sharing; they told her he'd accept anything from her as long as it meant they were doing what was right...for everyone. Even if it was at his expense.

"Thank you for voicing such a strong vote of confidence, Nikki," Chuck blurted, his eyes darting between hers and his long-time partner's. "But I wasn't exactly a model asset at the beginning. I was whiny, fearful, smart-alecky, and frequently disobeyed orders."

"I've got news for you, Bartowski, you're still a whiny smart-aleck sometimes," Casey growled low, "But, no, you were just a regular geek thrown into a situation that would have made most grown men pee their pants." The corner of the colonel's mouth turned up. "Yeah, sometimes you did scream like a little girl and wouldn't stay in the damn car, but you've damn sure never been a coward. Nikki's right...you deserved better."

"It's nerd, Casey."

Both Casey and Nikki turned to Sarah and raised a brow.

"What?" Sarah asked, gesticulating with her hands. "Aren't geeks those other guys?"

After fixing his gaze briefly on her with a watery smile, Chuck's eyes traveled over all of them, clearly very taken aback by where this had all gone. Sarah swore she could feel the emotion behind his words before he spoke and it set her oddly at ease even as what he said brought a smile to her face. "Thank you... all of you. It wasn't easy for us at the beginning," he said softly. "... and I think I actually did pee my pants once or twice. I'm grateful no one ever made mention of it." With a shake of his head, Chuck then waved at the screen. "Okay. Back to the here and now...cooljules82? Yeah, Nikki, that email addy is a fairly strong clue if you ask me. I think she purposely chose it to help us figure out who she is without being so obvious that an NSA bot would flag it."

"Could also be a red herring, if you ask me. Happens all the time in this game. He could even be a Jules Verne fan, like me."

Chuck snorted. "I don't think so, but I'll concede the point. Personally, I think she wanted us to know. This woman is scared, and she's asking for our help by trying to tell us who she is without the wrong people finding out. As far as the way she sent it goes telling us more? Look at this."

Nikki moved around the desk to look at what the man she'd jumped at the opportunity to work for was pointing at on the monitor. The trail of servers the message bounced through looked like resume bullet points that ended at Langley. Two of the servers were at universities well known for educating women in the STEM fields; including computer science.

"Huh. You weren't kidding. Clever. Okay, considering all of this is true," Nikki said, her voice switching from institutional skepticism to admiration. "What do you recommend we do, Chuck?"

"What you originally suggested we do this morning, Lawson," Casey interjected, "We bring her in."

Chuck thought about it for a minute, "Let's be bold and audacious, we'll send her an E-ticket ride to L.A. and see what happens. We should also do a discreet search to see if any Agency or NSA employees are AWOL... specifically any named Julie born in 1982."

"Okay, Chuck, I'll see to that. First Class, I presume?"

"Sure, why not? Send the company jet. Might as well try to make her feel comfortable, right?"

- VI -

After Casey and Nikki left Chuck's office, Sarah stayed and watched her husband attentively as his fingers tapped away at the keyboard and he scanned the three monitors in front of him. As she observed him, absorbed in his work on the computer, she realized just how right she had been to suggest the change in direction for their company. She knew and acknowledged where her roots were in the CIA. However, watching Chuck work in his element with a computer told her a story she didn't understand on the surface, but her mind, and just as importantly, her heart, told her was the right path.

Nikki was right. As much as they complimented each other so well as a team, it was her Chuck's instincts and intellect that made them so successful. She walked around the desk and wrapped her arms around him as he worked an alchemy she didn't completely comprehend but shared an unsettling link with, and a hidden knowledge due to the Intersect within her.

"I hope I told you how important you were to our successes... that I didn't handle you like an adversary."

"You did. Many times." Chuck's head spun suddenly around and his mortified eyes fixed upon hers. "I mean you told me how important I was to the team, not the adversary thing."

"Did I ever get as mad as Nikki seems to be about it?"

Chuck's smile was a little rueful. "There was ample evidence to suggest it."

"But I never said it...or showed it."

"You had to walk a fine line, Sarah, but you showed me numerous times you saw more in me than just an asset...and that the way I was sometimes treated made you angry. I think Nikki was trying to tell you she saw that between the lines."

Sarah slowly nodded. "I think I like her. She's not afraid to say what's on her mind...apparently to anyone. I was."

"Because you didn't want to risk being reassigned," Chuck said softly, casting her a watery, understanding smile. "I get it...now. And I like Nikki, too...a lot. But I'm in love with you. Always was."

A sigh of relief passed Sarah's lips, and Chuck reached around behind him to pull her closer, kissing her lovingly on the cheek before letting his lips wander down Sarah's neck to settle where it met her shoulder. She shuddered as she realized the physical contact was pulling her to a place both of them were still trying to come to grips with, and into Chuck's arms for a fervent kiss. He then let her go gradually as he too realized they needed to try to stay in the here and now.

"Mmmm, sweetie, if I don't find something else to do I may have to just take you right here on your desk," she said, her voice sultry and seductive.

Chuck held her arm that was wrapped around him absorbed in the sensation of contact with her, "As enticing as that sounds, I don't think that either of us can afford any lost time today. We'll have to break-in this desk on another day," he said with a hint of regret that his smile seemed to contradict.

Sarah smiled back at him and bent over to give him another quick kiss. "I'll be in my fancy new office if you need me." As she stepped back from him, their hands lingered in their grasp of each other, finally broken along with the odd sensation and connection they had been experiencing when they touched. At last, their eyes also broke contact, and she walked through the doorway connecting their offices.

Sarah strode to her desk and sat down behind it in her executive chair for the first time. She swiveled it around in an arc as she looked at the room but didn't really see it. At first, she saw a blended image of the room and Chuck standing out in front of Casa Bartowski on the walkway, and the look on Chuck's face when she had told him she wanted to be Sarah Bartowski again.

Then the image crystallized into something else as her mind left the office completely. After a long moment somewhere else the room slowly came back into focus. She turned to her computer and opened her web browser and searched for the name of a realty company. As she browsed to the company page she started to hum an old familiar tune, that strangely, she couldn't seem to place.

In the adjoining office, Chuck's head came up from his work with a start, when he heard Sarah humming through the open door between them, and his face broke into a broad smile as he closed his eyes and the gentle and soulful voice of Nina Simone filled his head.

- VII -

Edgar Sloan returned the hard unyielding gaze of the man across from him. He had originally been reluctant to activate Simon McKay. He considered him to be a loose cannon and a risk because of his upper-level position at the CIA, but looking at the man across from him made him wonder if his original decision to take a subtler route with an analyst was the wrong thing to do. Now it looked like they had lost their other agent at Langley, most likely scared off by the nature of the orders they had given her.

Unfortunately, they were going to have to find Julie Peterson now and terminate her contract, the hard way. It was a waste of good talent, but they couldn't take the chance that she would talk to the wrong people about her associates, no matter how little she actually knew.

"So, Simon, I expected to hear from you a couple of days ago, why the delay?"

McKay cocked his head to the side and smiled tightly, "I needed a couple of days to gather information and confirm some intel." He pulled a small manila envelope from the inside of his jacket and placed it on the edge of the desk. "I think you'll find this helpful."

Sloan leaned over and picked up the envelope and spilled the contents onto his desk. There were some pictures, a couple of folded documents and a thumb drive. He inserted the thumb drive into a USB port on his monitor stand and opened the file. "Interesting."

"Isn't it," McKay said laconically, "Our Intersect tech is being held at the JPL annex and also likely at a secret facility that Carmichael owns beneath that Buy More store." He wasn't going to tell Sloan he already knew where it was in Castle or what was going on there. He had no intention of giving Edgar information at this time that might affect his own timetable.

"Why would they hide the tech at a private facility?" asked Sloan, "I thought Carmichael was just a cyber-security guy."

"Carmichael's association with the CIA and the NSA goes back several years. You know he used to be with the Company, don't you?"

"Yes, we knew that, but records show those ties were severed almost a year ago under rather ugly circumstances that no one seems to know any details about."

Simon McKay allowed a smirk to cross his face. Oh, he knew all the details. "It looks like Carmichael is back with the Agency now, and his facility is being shared with the NSA and the CIA. If you want the Intersect technology back we're going to have to get inside that facility."

"What else do you know about Carmichael? Just how far up do his connections go?"

"Way up. He answers to the CIA's Director of Science and Technology and to the CIA and NSA Directors."

"Do we have any additional information on his wife?"

"Not much," McKay lied, "But I can tell you one very important thing. She and John Casey's protective detail for the last five years had to do with the Intersect project."

Sloan's eyes narrowed to almost slits as he looked at McKay, "How close were they to the project, Simon?"

"Very close." He wasn't going to tell Sloan that he knew that Chuck was once the human Intersect, at least not yet. And he wasn't going to tell Sloan that he suspected Sarah Walker had recently downloaded the Ring Intersect as well, not yet. "As you probably noticed I've also supplied you with the location of the Carmichael's residence."

"I see that. They live in an apartment complex?"

"Everyone living in that complex is working for the government in one capacity or another."

"Interesting."

"Indeed. Would you like to hear my recommendations for a plan to get what you want, and maybe more than you originally had in mind?"

"I'm listening, let's hear it."

- VIII -

Casey examined the disassembled handgun on the bench in front of him. He picked up the frame and noted its lightness as he looked closely at it.

"It's an aluminum frame with a polymer grip. The thin polymer grip is what allows it to accept a double column magazine and still have that nice slim, slab-sided 1911 profile," Nikki explained.

He quickly reassembled it and raised it to look down the sight plane. "Gotta love the simplicity of the 1911," he said as he looked at Nikki out of the corner of his eye with an approving almost non-existent Casey grin. "Seems a little light on the bottom end without a magazine."

Nikki picked up a loaded magazine and he took it and slapped it into the grip and brought it up to a modified Weaver grip again, "Oh yeah, that's better. Ten rounds?"

"Eleven, plus one. The .40 holds fourteen plus one."

"Really? I like it. I like the way you can take this compensator off and attach the suppressor, that's pretty slick. Do you mind if I show this to my girlfriend sometime?"

Nikki broke into a very broad, and very bright, toothy smile.

"Hnmg. What?" Casey asked defensively.

She giggled at him, "Well, even really knowing you mostly only by reputation, I never thought I'd ever hear the word 'girlfriend' come out of your mouth."

"Hng, Oh? Ha, I guess there may be hope for me yet. Let me tell you something young lady; if it wasn't for the fact that I'm in lo- …that I care about Gertrude Verbanski, a whole lot… and that you are probably half my age… well…" To his surprise Nikki Lawson blushed.

"I doubt very much I'm half your age, Colonel Casey, but thank you for the compliment. I'm merely very well preserved."

"Maybe you could share your secrets for timeless aging with me sometime then."

"Meet me in the dojo anytime… and bring Gertrude along with you if it'll make you feel more comfortable," she added when she saw the look on his face.

"We might have to do that," he answered out of curiosity. He looked again at the pistol in his hand. "You said you always carry two of these, where do you hide the second one?" The way he posed the question made him finally realize how flirtatious the whole conversation had been. It shocked him the way he had let his guard down. Then he considered where they were.

Nikki reached under her jacket to the small of her back and pulled an STI 2011 .45 caliber Total Eclipse from the gunleather inside her waistband, then dropped the magazine and racked the round out of the chamber, catching it in the air before she handed him the gun with the slide locked back. "This is the third one if I'm wearing my double shoulder rig," she said casually.

Casey watched her as she did it, and out of the blue, felt like he was being seduced. He looked at Nikki approvingly then examined the pistol, and exclaimed, "Wow, this is tiny. Same maker, I see; and .45 caliber too. I guess you like big bores?" Damn.

Nikki nodded and stifled a grin. "I like big, heavy bullets. They work well with suppressors too."

"Will you let me shoot it?"

"Sure, why not? That's what it was made for."

They walked into the range. And an hour later John Casey walked back out with a very out of character and very large grin plastered on his face. He was in love, and he didn't know how his ever-faithful Sig Sauer was going to take the news.

- IX -

Allen Preston was beginning to wonder why the hell they were here. They'd been sitting here in this office for almost five days and all they had to show for it was the make and model of all the cars the employees drove. They had a man inside with the software crew but so far he hadn't planted any bugs and only provided limited intel about accessing the building if they needed to make a full-scale breach of it without being completely compromised. He sat in the back of the office space looking at the displays as his men watched the area around their post.

None of them saw the tiny high-powered video camera hidden in the rooftop heliport's landing zone marker lights, and it was looking right at them. Lori Compton panned the camera across the windows of the office building across the street and returned to the window that had caught her interest. Yes, that was definitely a surveillance team. She could see the cameras on tripods well back from the windows, but not far enough, and three very bored looking men at the very back of the room with headphones on their heads that appeared to be watching screens of some sort that cast a glow on their faces.

Lori thumbed the intercom switch on her phone, "Nikki, I think you should see this, I'm patching the feed through to you now, I'll be back to your office in a minute."

Lori walked into her boss's office just in time to hear her exclaim, "Damn." Nikki keyed her intercom. "Casey, you might want to come in here."

A minute later the three of them were looking at the camera feed. "Well that confirms it, our source wasn't bogus," proclaimed Casey, "That is definitely a surveillance team. We better let Chuck and Sarah know about this."

A minute later they were all gathered in Chuck's office as Chuck looked at the video feed with Sarah looking over his shoulder. "Great, so now we have nosy neighbors," Chuck quipped, "It appears our whistle blower was legit. Do we have any idea who these characters are?" He asked, as his eyes fell on everyone in the room.

Nikki spoke up first, "Well, the email said they were Fulcrum, and that dovetails with what we know based on the raid on Quinn's hideout."

Chuck looked from Nikki back to the video, and when the camera panned to one of the men sitting at the back of the room he flashed. He started to say something when he felt his chair shake and he jerked his head up just in time to see Sarah's eyes begin to return to normal and a look of discomfort cross her face.

"Walker, did you just flash?" Casey blurted.

Sarah looked from Chuck to Casey, and her expression turned to one of irritation. "It's Bartowski, Casey." Noting the look of confusion on Casey's face, she shook her head in exasperation, "Never mind."

"Well thanks for a little leeway there, it could get a little confusing calling both of you Bartowski."

"You could always try using our given names," she retorted

Chuck rolled his eyes, "Yeah, like that's ever going to happen in our lifetimes."

"HMng" Alarm was very subtly showing on Casey's face as he glared at Sarah, "Answer my question."

"Yes, John, that was a flash…at least I think it was," Sarah answered, her blinking eyes taking in the startled faces around her.

Chuck fixed a concerned gaze on his wife as he turned to her. "How are you feeling, Sarah? Is that the first time you've flashed since you started wearing the governor? Are you okay? Any pain?"

She looked back at him reassuringly. "Yeah, I think I'm fine, and yes, that was the first time. What a strange experience." She let her eyes travel again to all the surprised faces in the room and then smiled sheepishly.

"Okay, what did you flash on?" asked Chuck.

"Back up the video," Sarah said, pointing to the monitor. Chuck complied, and he stopped at the point where Allen Preston's face showed. They exchanged a knowing look between them. "That's Allen Preston. He's Fulcrum, and he used to be one of Ted Roark's close associates. He was one of Roark's top security people," she uttered with a look of new discovery.

"That's what I saw too, but I'll fill in a blank for you." Chuck looked at her with some concern for a second and then decided to take the risk and continue, "Allen Preston was at the Black Rock facility in Barstow when Roark's bunker there was bombed, but his body was never recovered. He disappeared after the incident at Ellie's wedding."

"Something happened at Ellie's wedding?"

"Waitwaitwaitwait, don't Sarah, don't try to remember it!" Chuck reached around to grab her hand and pull her attention to him. "I'm sorry, I said way too much...Gah, I really need to learn to shut my big mouth."

"Hmhg, Roger that, moron."

Sarah glared back at Casey, "John…"

Casey shrugged, "Just trying to do my part to help keep you focused, Sarah," he answered with a faint smirk. Everyone exchanged looks ranging from curiosity to relief while no one said anything for several seconds. Lori Compton had an expression on her face that clearly showed she was way out of the loop about what was being discussed.

"Okay, so now we know we're being watched," Chuck said, as he looked around the room at his associates. "Does anyone have an idea what we should do about it?"

"I think I may have an idea."

Everyone's eyes fell onto Lori, and she broke into a devilish grin.

- X -

Sarah looked over at the new watch on her left wrist as she was finishing up her notes in her Intersect log at the break room table at Castle. This one was a Rolex Oyster Ladies President, with thirty diamonds set around the bezel, and ten diamonds where the numerals would normally be on the blue dial face. It was her fourth governor now, and what Manoosh was calling attenuation set version 2 for her brain physiology.

Chuck had picked out the watch for her and presented it to her as a gift when they'd gone to dinner last night. It was gorgeous, and she was having a difficult time keeping her eyes off of it. But the appearance of it alone wasn't what kept her looking back at it every few minutes. It was also the sensations it was producing in her mind and body. This upgraded governor was causing some interesting things to happen with her Intersect, and she was trying to put the experiences into words for her log but having a difficult time describing some of them.

This morning during her workout in the dojo she had found herself skill-set flashing while performing Shorin-Ryu katas. The flash came upon her fluidly, unexpectedly, and without pain, as she was halfway through a kata she hadn't practiced in what her memory was telling her was years. But she suddenly performed it flawlessly as the muscle memory from the Intersect programming overtook her, and then finished it and moved to the next kata seamlessly and with little effort.

It was a strange blending of something she already knew how to do and a skill that was also programmed into her, and it shocked her a bit as she thought about it after she was done and had sat down on the mat to stretch out her hamstrings at the end of her workout.

The precision of her movement and the speed wasn't the only thing that surprised her when she was thinking about it as she brought her forehead down to her knee. When she sat back up, her eyes fell on the striking dummy she had been pummeling toward the end of her workout, and she noticed the tear in the plastisol cover of 'Bob' at the base of his neck. Poor Bob.

She had almost knocked his head off with a particularly vicious kick to his temple. Sarah looked at the damage and realized she was going to have to use extreme caution when sparring with live opponents from now on because the Intersect was also having an effect on her already surprising and prodigious strength for someone her size.

As she was showering off the sweat from her workout she paused to look at the Casio sport watch/governor that Manoosh had given her that morning before she had headed into the gym, and thought about just how much she did not want to take it off, even in the shower, because of the discomfort it created when she didn't have one on.

Sarah shook her head ruefully, disturbed by the revelation that she was apparently dependent on the technology around her wrist. She got up from the break room table and walked down the hall into the conference area where she found Ellie sitting at the table looking very absorbed in something on her laptop computer. Sitting at the table across from her, Sarah quietly watched Ellie at work for several minutes.

Ellie looked over the top of her laptop screen and finally snapped out of it when she saw Sarah sitting there with a look on her face that immediately got her attention. "Sarah! I'm sorry, how long have you been sitting there? I guess I was 'in the zone', wasn't I?"

"Yeah, you definitely were. I've been here for a little while." She allowed a thin smile to show, "I swear, I could hear your brain working from across the table. It's fascinating to watch you Bartowkis when your minds are at work."

Ellie let a short chuckle pass her lips that quickly cut off as she read her sister-in-law's expression. "Sarah, what's wrong? You look like something is really bothering you. Are you having troubles with the version 2 governor? If you are, we need to know about it right away."

"I don't know if I would call it a problem, Ellie, but I do have some concerns about this," she said as she held up the Rolex and the light caught the diamonds on the bezel and the dial.

Ellie's eyes grew wide as she looked at the watch, "Oh, my goodness, that is beautiful!"

"Thank you, Chuck picked it out for me and gave it to me last night."

"Wow, just wow," Ellie said beaming. "I need to have my little brother have a talk with Devon. You're not concerned that it's a little too ostentatious are you?"

"Oh, no. It's gorgeous. I love it. In fact, it sort of helps make the purpose of it a little easier to live with," Sarah said a little wistfully.

"Knowing my brother..." The light bulb lit up over Ellie's head as she finally recognized where she thought the look of concern was coming from. "Sarah, I know how fiercely independent you can be. It's really bothering you that you have to wear a governor, isn't it?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. I'm just getting used to the idea of letting myself unconditionally trust and depend on Chuck and all of you again. That has been a lot to try to accept by itself. This," she said holding up the governor, "is starting to feel like a dependency I have no control over, though. It really does bother me."

"Have you talked to Chuck or Dr. Dreyfus about it?"

"Yes, we've discussed it a little. I know Chuck's been living with a governor for quite a while now, but he doesn't experience anywhere near the level of discomfort I do when he takes his off."

"When we get that damn Ring Intersect out of your head that will all change, you know, and we're very close to having Iv4 ready for a download," Ellie said encouragingly.

Sarah's mouth set into a tight line. "I'm not sure whether I'm excited to hear that or not, Ellie. This whole Intersect experience has been a very scary one for me, and I'm not a person who scares easily. Honestly, I don't know how Chuck does it, how he could make the decision to download versions 2 and 3 so easily. At times the Intersect can be so overwhelming."

"Maybe you should ask him about it, Sarah. I don't think the choice was as easy for him to make as you might think. If I know one thing about my brother, it's that he doesn't make decisions like this lightly, and the decision to download version 3 was very hard for him, considering how it could have been used to help you."

"I know, Ellie. He did it to save over a thousand people in that concert hall. That decision had an enormous impact on me after I spent some time thinking about it and I reviewed a few of our team's mission logs... before my access was restricted because of this. Your brother is such a natural hero on so many levels…and it seems to run in your family."

Ellie reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Sarah's. "Sarah, the Ring Intersect was a very scary thing before Quinn even captured you. We know how fearless you can be, and you've been through much worse." Ellie was thinking about the Norseman weapon, but she wasn't going to bring it up. "Trust me, Iv4 will be a lot better, but if you decide to make the decision to remove it, I'm confident that we'll be able to do it."

Sarah turned her hand over and clasped Ellie's. "I trust you, Ellie. I've spent the last several days watching the effort your team has put into this and I think I'll be ready when you are." She let a smile show in her eyes, "Being with all of you here at work has been a huge confidence builder, and I'm glad I've been around to see it. Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, as she squeezed Ellie's hand, "I'm going to go find my husband and watch him work for a while and let some of his nerdy confidence rub off on me some more."

"Alright, Sarah," Ellie said with a mirthful smile, "I have to get back to this anyway. But if you have any concerns or questions, I'll be here to listen to them."

"Thank you, Ellie. See you later."

Sarah walked down the long corridor to the high-security area that was built and formerly used for Casey's independent Intersect team not far from the Castle entrance into Buy More. It was now the new Intersect computer and download lab, and Chuck and Manoosh's inner sanctum in Castle. As she turned the corner to head for the security scanner at the entrance, she almost ran headlong into a blond haired man walking hastily down the corridor. He tried to move quickly around her, but Sarah was caught in a moment of recognition and grabbed the man's upper arm as she looked at him.

"Agent Watson, isn't it? Nice to see you again. What brings you here?"

Richard Watson stiffened for an instant and then relaxed as Sarah released his arm and he looked keenly at the woman in front of him, "Mrs. Carmichael, I guess I could be asking you the same thing. I've been assigned to the security detail here, and I'm just checking the lockdown protocols. What brings you to Castle?"

"Oh, my husband is working here right now, you know. I've been hanging out with him here for the last few days."

"Is that so? I thought Charles would be at the new offices trying to get them done. Does he miss the old dungeon?"

So, agent Watson was on the security detail and didn't know they were working here? Interesting. "Hardly," Sarah answered with a smile, "You should probably come to the new offices and see how many windows it has."

"Is that an invitation? I'd definitely like to see them some time, but I hear that access is rather exclusive," he said, as he crossed his arms with a smirk.

"Absolutely, but bring your boss with you and we'll give you a little tour of the place. Tell Vincent to call ahead of time, though, to make sure we're there and not locked up here in the dungeon," Sarah said as she gestured around them.

"I'll make sure I tell him that, Mrs. Carmichael. I really must be going, I'm running way behind schedule as it is. Thank you for the invitation." And Agent Watson moved hastily down the corridor toward the exit to the Buy More.

Sarah regarded his retreating form curiously for a few seconds and then turned to walk down the branching corridor to the entrance of the Intersect lab where she placed her palm on the scanner plate and had her retina scanned as she simultaneously entered an access code on the keypad with her other hand.

The door slid open to grant her access to the security alcove, and Chuck grinned at her from the monitor on the wall as he waited for the door to close behind her. Once it was closed he tapped a key sequence on his computer keyboard, and the door in front of her opened allowing her access to the lab where Chuck and Manoosh were seated at workstations facing each other.

Chuck let out a short laugh as she entered and she tilted her head to the side and looked at him curiously, "What's so funny?"

Chuck and Manoosh exchanged a knowing look, and both of them chuckled, "It's that damn automated security door. It sounds just like the doors in Duke Nukem 3D," Chuck said, with a grin, "We keep expecting a Battlelord or a Sentry Drone to come through it when we hear it opening."

"A Battlelord, huh?" Sarah looked at the two of them skeptically with her arms folded across her chest, "You and your computer games. I hope I'm at least prettier than a Battlelord, although I kind of like the name."

"Oh, you're much prettier, and I'd bet you'd have no trouble kicking one's ass," her husband said as he flashed the Bartowski smile.

"Sarah Nukem," chuckled Manoosh, "I like the sound of it."

"One more game for the list you're going to have to show me now, so I don't feel left out of the loop," she said, walking over to sit on one of the tall chairs next to Chuck.

"One second, I'll boot it up."

"Wait a minute," Sarah said incredulously, "You have a game installed on the Intersect computer?"

Chuck pointed his finger at her and laughed, "Gotcha!" Then he recoiled as her fist smacked his shoulder, "Oww! What did you do that for?"

"Just living up to my new nickname."

- XI -

Lori Compton and Anthony Carmichael walked into the Carmichael Industries offices carrying several large pizza boxes and buckets of hot wings and soft drinks. She laid a pizza box down in front of Morgan at the receptionist's desk. "Here you go, Morgan, a meat lovers special, just like you asked. Thanks for being such a good sport and watching the front door while we were out."

"Grape soda?" Asked Morgan with a look in his eye like something very major had been omitted.

"Oh, yeah." Lori reached into one of the bags and pulled out a six-pack of Grape Nehi in bottles and set it on the desk.

"Whoa!" Morgan went bug-eyed. "The good stuff! Where did you find those?"

"Hey, we don't compromise around here, and I have my sources," she said with a smile, "Maybe I'll tell you, if you agree to stay on call for receptionist's duties."

Morgan's eyes narrowed as he considered the offer. "To keep me on call, all you'll have to do is stock the break room frig with that nectar," he quipped.

"I think I might be able to do that. We'll have this booty down in the dining area. Why don't you grab Casey and come on down there and join us, we'll give you our after action report over lunch. Has there been any movement across the street since we called you earlier?"

"Doh!" Morgan quickly looked down at the monitor in front of him, "Nope. All our new friends are still huddled in the back of that office. I take it everything went as planned?"

Lori glanced at Anthony, and he rolled his eyes as she grinned at him, "Mostly, we may have one or two targets more than we originally planned. Go get Casey and we'll discuss it."

Casey and Morgan strode into the dining lounge to find several pizzas spread over the bar above the sink island, and Anthony and Lori sitting at one of the tables with analyst Sally Williams. A bucket of hot wings was sitting on the center of the table. Analyst Jose Espinoza was over in the corner game alcove playing the Battlezone arcade game with a slice of pizza hanging out of his mouth as he gesticulated wildly on the controls.

"Compton, Carmichael," Casey said, as he reached for a slice of pepperoni with black olive, "Grimes here says the mission went well, care to share the details with us?"

Lori waved her hand at Anthony to give him the opportunity to start off. "Well, no one paid any attention to us when we left; their tail team went right after the bait and followed Nikki. All we had to do was drive around the neighborhood a bit to verify we weren't being followed, then we parked a half block away and tagged all their vehicles and placed a camera across the alley to see who uses which one. We may have one or two extras in the mix, there were six black vehicles in that back alley. Just what is it about covert operators and the color black anyway?"

"Hnmg." Casey started to follow up on his defensive grunt when Nikki walked into the room with a satisfied smile on her face. "Lawson, nice of you to join us, what's so amusing?"

Nikki chuckled lightly, and pulled up a chair after taking off her black hip length leather coat, hanging it over the chair back. Everyone but Casey and Lori was staring at the weaponry in the double shoulder rig hanging over her black turtleneck sweater when she sat down with a slice of pizza and a diet Coke.

"That tail team didn't know how to be anything but a target," she said, taking a sip of her drink. "I think it was the same one that tried to follow us from Quinn's house. It only took a few minutes to shake them. I had a ball shadowing them while they were trying to reacquire me. You should have seen the look on the third cars driver's face when he finally saw me on their six at a signal; it was epic."

"So you've been taunting the enemy," Casey grimaced, "I hope you didn't tip our hand."

"Relax, Casey, I kept it low key and innocent and avoided eye contact. Though I'll bet you someone is going to be in a world of hurt, and that's fine with me, dissension in the ranks, and all that." Nikki smiled around a bite of pizza. "I am looking forward to finally splashing their sorry asses, though. So how did the rest of it go? Successful mission?"

"Yup," replied Lori, "All the vehicles are tagged with tracers. Tony got himself trapped under a van for a few minutes when one of their men came out onto the exterior stair landing for a smoke, but no one saw us."

"Hey!" Anthony Carmichael stared at Lori and scowled. "I thought you were going to keep that between us?"

Casey's phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket as everyone dragged their amused looks away from Tony. "Yeah." He dropped his pizza back onto his plate and pushed away from the table. "Right, we'll all be right up."

He looked at Nikki and smirked. "Anderson says our primary is on the move, and he looks pissed. Maybe your little game with the tail is paying dividends." Casey then switched his attention to Morgan. "Get the spy van ready, Grimes, we're probably going to have to establish remote surveillance somewhere. Pack a remote surveillance kit too, we may need it."

"Right! Shall I pack your Barrett too, big guy?"

"Not a bad idea, but the MRAD with the YHM Phantom suppressor, not the .50 this time, understood?"

"I'm on it, mon Capitan!" And Morgan got up, sprinting toward the armory.

"HNMG. Dammit, Grimes, do not speak French around my rifles!"

"Sorry!"

A couple of minutes later most of them were standing around one of the large haptic monitors in the war room watching Allen Preston and one of the other men get into an S65 AMG and drive off in a hurry. Then to their surprise, two more men came running out of the building, and jumped into a black SUV and went tearing off westbound down Colorado Boulevard.

"Well, we tagged both of those vehicles," said Carmichael, apparently relieved.

"I've got good telemetry on both of them," Jose Espinoza confirmed, "Both headed west, the Mercedes looks like it's headed for the 110, the other one towards the 134 on-ramp, now northbound on Fair Oaks Avenue, and he's really moving. Anderson, you take the north one I'll take the other."

Jim Anderson at the workstation across from Jose nodded and clicked his cursor on the SUV as it was getting onto the 134 on-ramp at Maple Street.

"Sally, how many neighbors do we have across the street now," asked Casey.

"Two, sir, and one in the back alley by the remaining vehicles. Wait, three more cars just pulled up, and some of the men are getting into that Dodge Sprinter van."

Nikki stepped up to haptic monitor and the swiped her hands across it to enlarge the window showing the feed from the micro surveillance camera Lori and Tony had planted in the alley. "Those are the vehicles that were tailing me earlier. Looks like six men in tactical clothing got into that van."

"I don't like what I'm seeing here," Casey growled as they watched the van drive off. "Lori, get with Grimes and follow that AMG wherever it ends up. Tony, there's an armored Tahoe parked in the aux garage with the van, take that and follow Compton and Grimes. Nikki, c'mon, you're with me, we're following that van." He turned back as they were leaving the room. "Send the telemetry to our cars and notify us if you see anything strange…and call downstairs and get a couple of those NSA people up here!"

And they all ran for the elevator, leaving the three new analysts wondering just what the hell was happening after only their first week on the job.

A/N Apologies to my French readers, it's really nothing personal, it's just Casey.