Let us do something, while we have the chance.
Still don't own Chuck.
"Sometimes it helps to know that you got something to lose."
--Agent Walker Episode 3.4
Chapter 13—All Set
Casa Bartowski
Chuck and Sarah woke wrapped around each other. Chuck was on his back leaning to his left side. His left arm was up and over the pillow above Sarah's head. Her head was buried in his left chest. She had her right hand tucked under her side and her left arm across his chest. Her waist was against his with her left leg up over his waist and her foot resting on his knee. He had his right arm over her left arm and holding her shoulder.
Chuck thought he woke first. He could feel her positioned around him and it was clearly having an effect. He was torn. He knew if he tried today Dorothy would likely come screaming in pointing at the monitor and then slip him the sedative. He also knew very well that he had been dreaming of this for three years. Then he thought back to Barstow and he slumped. He was not going to try something only to get there and have to stop because of his heart rate or some other stupid problem. He knew he would have to stay in bed and recover for another week. There might be one day where it was clear, but then the Amazon would hit. That's when the gleam started, 'the wedding night, no matter what.'
Sarah did wake first but only a moment before. She only saw his chest rising and falling and could hear the slow steady beat of his heart. She noticed he was waking when his heart rate went up appreciably. She realized how she was positioned and could feel the impact. She could tell his breathing was increasing and the heart rate was climbing. His body was beginning to tense up. She was ready to slide over. But she realized that if his rate were climbing now, she would get in position only to be met by Doc Adams who would be yelling to give him a sedative. Then she noticed that Chuck's body released. The tension was gone. There was a hitch in the breathing and then it went to normal. She settled back a little too. She knew that this would be pointless, there would be a problem and they would both be frustrated. She would rather wait for them to be ready, 'Wow, that wouldn't be…' Chuck began to shift and hold her shoulder a little tighter. His heart rate climbed back but then held.
Sarah could tell he had gone through something and had his answer. She hoped it would be what she was thinking, "Morning. What? What are you thinking?"
Chuck felt like he been caught, "Morning, I love you too. But I think we already know that." He took a deep breath, "You know that I have always wanted you. I mean that I always thought. Wait, I am sorry. I wasn't exactly ready to explain this but the short version is I love you so much that I want to wait for our wedding night." He looked in her eyes. They were getting misty and he could tell, "Sorry, a little rambling there."
Sarah moved up and kissed him. It was very passionate and had a smile behind it. That's exactly what she thought. She knew it was a little childish, 'But it would be the reason why this wedding would work. They would hold something so special till their wedding night. And if they both could, then it would…' Now she knew she was rambling. She gently pulled back and looked at him, "And you know that I will always want you. I thought the same thing and want the same. To our wedding night," she smoother him in another kiss. She knew everything was right. This would be so great.
Sarah looked at him like she had just gotten her best and biggest surprise in the candy store, "I love you. You just made my day the best. What do you want today?"
Chuck smiled at her, "I got what I wanted today." He reached down and gave her another kiss. Feeling the pain again he added, "Well, there is one thing." He took her hand in his, "Can you massage my back? I had forgotten how wonderful that feels and after laying in bed so much."
Sarah looked up at him, "Sure. We should have thought of this earlier." She sat up in the bed, "Go ahead and roll over. We can do this now. That way we can finish before they get here."
After she began and the feeling was coming back to parts of his back that did not seem to be there before Chuck said, "Oh, this is so great. Tell them that we had to take care of something. Oh, wow."
It was almost an hour later. Chuck and Sarah had showered. Chuck was in his robe again. They were downstairs and let Doc Adams and Dorothy in. Doc Adams inspected the wounds and Dorothy changed the bandages. Chuck got in position in the bed. Doc Adams pronounced that he was okay and his heart rate was down.
Chuck said, "You know I need everyone's help today. If I flash today, something is wrong. I'll have to finish the flash. There will be too big a risk that the information may have a serious effect on our operations. Sarah and everyone, you know that I won't risk anyone knowing that there could be something that I could do to save them. Please help me through it and then get calmed down so we can get this in gear." He saw them nod their heads. Sarah gave him a light kiss and held his hand.
Casey and Mary came over along with Phillip. Chuck thought that Casey looked rather happy this morning. Mary was as pleasant as ever. Mary came over and gave Sarah a hug. He saw Sarah usher Mary back to the kitchen. He thought for sure he heard a little Ellie like squeal from back there. Both Sarah and Mary came back smiling. He was fairly certain Mary smiled at him and nodded.
Mary began, "We have the preliminary plans for each of the sites. The SAC generally developed the plans. There are a few Coast Guard plans. I think my dad had a hand in a few." She saw her uncle nod in agreement.
Casey added, "I had them sent over to the Joint Staff planners last night. They developed some support packages that should be useful. Those plans are attached to the primary plan."
Chuck nodded. "I guess we should start the meeting with the other directors," he looked at Casey, "and flag officers?" He saw Casey nod. Mary sent the email confirming the meeting would begin on the hour.
Chuck brought up the plans in the order in which he started the day before. He was certain there was an accumulative effect of reviewing the model and the cities in the order they did yesterday. Information seemed in build on the previous flash or model finding.
Chuck started, "Okay, everyone on-line, you should be seeing these along with us. I'll read through the plans. If anyone has a comment, please begin it up at the beginning. We'll have a short discussion and then I'll make changes or approve the plan. As you know there are several to go through today. We'll go as fast as we can."
The first site to review was the one near the safe house. Alice was the lead for the assault. It was the Ring Garrison. The action would start with a call to the location. A chance to surrender would be given to occupants of the building. In this case through additional surveillance the team had confirmed that the only occupants were the ring agents. The doors would be hit by high explosive charges. Another offer to surrender would be extended. Then the scenario branched. If there was no counter fire, Alice and a FBI SWAT would enter the building and begin a sweep. If there was any armed response, they would withdraw. Any armed resistance would be met by a response from a UAV with a suitable missile directed into the front door. For this particular target there would be a compliment of F-16s available to demolish the building. Chuck agreed and went on.
The next target was a Halverson staging area. While Chuck had initially estimated that there could be 20-armed men at this facility, he also indicated that it could hold an additional 100. While there had been surveillance run against the building, they could only confirm the 20. If there was an additional 100, they were not sighted. Kayle Poston and Lea Suz would run this one with FBI and LAPD support. Casey had arranged for additional support with Super Cobras. The approach would be the same. Offer a chance to surrender and then go in. Since there was a chance that there could be victims inside, everyone was to be alerted at the first sign of them. In that case, all efforts would be made to keep them safe. Chuck said that sounded good.
The last LA target was the MS office. Chuck agreed that Brad Hill could lead this one and FBI and a Special Forces team would back him up. There would be no exception. They would be given a chance to surrender, but any resistance would be met with total force. Chuck agreed.
Shifting to San Diego, the targets were to be taken out by Mary and her team. Each would lead a force against the target. Coast Guard, FBI and Special Forces were to be involved. Chuck wrestled with this for a while. There were certainly sufficient forces to take care of the three centers that were targets. But Chuck knew that Mary was still a primary target. He wanted extra assurance.
Chuck looked over a Casey, "Casey can you go down there and set up a command site. I still want additional protection. They were have demonstrated that they will go full force to go after Mary. I don't want to give them the chance." They were looking into each other's eyes. "Understand?"
Casey smiled, "Thank you." He knew that as the JTF commander in support of the operation his normal position would back with Chuck. But Chuck was right. There was still a possibility of a leak. They had found the safe house. He saw that Phillip also agreed. Casey quickly sent the email to request a mobile command post.
Chuck finalized it, "Okay, with that change it is approved. Next up is San Francisco." They went through San Francisco without any problems. For the Portland operation, Chuck saw that the Coast Guard had a significant role. Two of the targets were on the water way and within the Coast Guard's authority.
Up at Seattle, the targets were in a wide spread. There were several agencies working those sites: FBI, DEA, and ATF. While he understood the links to the site and each of the agencies, he was unsure about the intermediate command structure. He said, "Who is the person to talk to about Seattle?" When no one replied right away, "Okay, I don't want to start something between the agencies involved here. But at LA, we can control the sequence of events and shift forces. Down at San Diego, Mary will be able to do the same. And at Portland, unless there is a question on this, I assume the Coast Guard commander will be the lead agency. And I guess using the same logic, since the DEA will have more people on the Seattle operations, DEA should be the lead. So anyone have a problem with that?"
The Director of the FBI spoke up first, "That sounds fine here." There was a chorus of Okays that followed.
Casey spoke up and said, "If any agency that is named the lead needs additional support to fill the lead role, let me know and we'll request augmentation from the Services."
Chuck said, "Okay proceeding on." He looked at Sarah and saw her smile at him. Things were going good. They proceeded through several more cities with the similar comments. In a couple cases, Chuck recommended an additional force. After two hours and twenty cities completed, Chuck asked for a break. He had to go to the restroom and knew that several others needed the relief. Sarah and Doc Adams helped him over to the restroom.
With everyone back in place Chuck continued. After another twenty cities, he did notice an abnormality in Atlanta. Chuck said, "I am sorry folks. I know we have gone beyond the lunch break. But let's take time now. We'll bring the conference back up in 45 minutes." After the line shut down Chuck looked at Sarah, "There is something wrong with the Atlanta data. It will take me a little to fix it. And so you know, I may," he made his eyes circle around. "You might want to have Mary take Philip up to the conference room."
Chuck began to review the model and the inputs on Atlanta. He ran through the data inputs. Mary, Casey and Philip went up to the conference room. Chuck looked at the filtering and changed the search configuration. Two new pictures came up. The first picture showed a Halverson hotel with several girls in various stages of undress watching another girl getting a tattoo. It was a combined MS symbol of a snake and a Halverson head with barbed wire. The next was a podium that could have been a long desk with a light shinning brightly in front of it. The flash that ensued was long and difficult. All of the prior pictures of the travesty of the Halversons flashed quickly by, along with new equally abhorrent pictures from MS files. Then the siege of the Ring began. Chuck had never realized how many files were tied to the Ring but they were crashing on him now.
Sarah was watching him and looking at the Atlanta files at the same time. She saw him change the display and look at the data input. Then she watched him type in a new search pattern. When she saw the two pictures emerge she knew they were trouble. She looked at him and saw that his eyes were unfocused and moving rapidly. Getting his hand she looked at the monitor and watched as the heart rate was jumping into the danger zone. Doc Adams had his stethoscope out and was checking Chuck's breathing. Dorothy was at the ready with the sedative.
Casey and Mary came crashing into the room. Casey had his gun out looking for the problem. The tone of the alarm on the monitor changed and grew loader with each increment of five beats per minute over the threshold. Chuck was now passing 140 and the alarm could be heard in the conference room. Casey yelled over the alarm, "What's happening?"
Doc Adams flipped the alarm off.
Sarah was on the verge of crying, "We had discussed this earlier with Doc Adams. Chuck was convinced that if he flashed today on something, it could be information that would change the entire operation. He asked that we would let him run the course. He had argued that too many lives were at stake." She wasn't sure any more. This had lasted way too long. She turned to Chuck and began to press his hand and call to him.
Casey got next to Doc Adams, "Doc, you need to stop this. He would have found whatever it was by now."
Chuck began to feel his knuckles coming apart. He came around just as Dorothy was about to inject the sedative. "Wa… it… Wait... Sara..aah." He got his hand away from her. His pulse rate was still high but it was coming down. Chuck looked back at Sarah and took her hand. He said, "Okay," and kissed her hand. Trying as hard as he could to regulate his breathing and get the heart rate down, he began typing. All units in Atlanta were alerted to double their contingent. He added two more locations with orders to hit the first with an airstrike. He explained that the target was several stories underground and provided a diagram of the underground bunker. The next location he classified as extremely sensitive. It was a dorm at one of the local colleges, only after seeing the displayed the records could he tell that the college did not own the property. The Intersect matched it to the Ring. Chuck highlighted it as a likely recruiting and training station. He recommended that they subdue the occupants and that all restraint possible be used. He note suggested treating the trainees as through they had been assimilated by a cult and needed to be detoxified. His final email was to all participants pushing back the rehearsal by two hours and reminding everyone to come prepared.
Chuck finished and took Sarah's hand again, "I'll… review. Nod… approve. You… run… until… rate… down." He was sucking air after each word. He looked at Doc Adams, "Got… to… stay… until… over... Promise… you'll… help." He saw Doc Adams stare at him and slightly move his head yes. He rubbed Sarah's hand and nodded to begin. He leaned back and watched.
At first it was a bit awkward but by the third city they had it down. Sarah would highlight the contents of the targets and the characteristics of the strike package. She'd ask if there were any questions or concerns. With no problems, Chuck would nod and they would proceed to the next city. Doc Adams continued to monitor Chuck and would point to the display for each time his rate lowered by another ten beats per minute. In an hour and a half Chuck was down into a normal range. When he spoke up, he began to run the meeting again. Chuck's problem slowed them down a bit but they were still able to finish before six o'clock. Chuck knew there were a few things to resolve before the rehearsal and he was typing at a fevered pitch to get them fixed and ready. The teams had already began to get in position. Casey and Mary left for San Diego hours ago.
A/N Hope you enjoyed. Interested in feedback on the first part.
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