Don't own Chuck
Sarah left Sam with Morgan although as soon as they were out of earshot Alex called Kat and asked her to drop by. It wasn't that Sarah and Alex didn't trust Morgan to watch Sam it was more that between Morgan and Sam it was a toss-up as to who was the responsible adult. Sarah felt a lot better knowing Kat was going over.
"Morgan Grimes what are you doing out of bed?" said Sam in her little stern voice. He turned around and he almost died laughing.
"What's so funny," she said with her little white lab coat on and lens-less glasses she pushed up on her nose. "You should be in bed."
"I'm making us breakfast toast and jam," he said but she was still giving him a menacing look with her hands on her hips tapping the floor with her foot. "You know your mother has that same look."
"I asked a question and I expect an answer. You're on bedrest and standing up in the kitchen isn't in bed or do you sleep standing up?"
"You've been hanging around Casey too long. Besides my doctor told me I should start moving around."
"Did I say a bad word? Mommy and Chuck told me I shouldn't repeat words Uncle Casey call you because they're bad. But why does he call you names?"
"I think deep down it's his way of showing affection so when he calls me names I think of it as if he's saying I care for you although he'll never admit it."
"So bonehead I don't care what that other quack said I'm your doctor today. You need to get your butt back to bed and under the covers."
"I said it was Casey's way of showing affection the rest of mankind might not see it that way. Compromise," said Morgan as he handed Sam a piece of toast with strawberry jam. "I'll go lie down on the sofa and you can bring me a grape soda."
"Deal then afterwards I can give a complete examination. I've got everything I need in my doctor's bag. Don't worry I'll have you back to health in no time."
"Not that I want to pry or anything, but what did you bring in that bag?" asked Morgan. Already when she said complete examination he started to sweat.
"Oh just your regular doctor things. I brought everything I use to doctor Cicciobello Bobo," said Sam as she pulled them out for him to see. "I've got a stethoscope and a play syringe," she said. "I've also got medicine to make you better." She pulled out pez candies.
"Phew I feel better already," said Morgan. Sam went to the fridge and brought him back a grape soda. He sat in on Casey's coffee table without a coaster.
"Drink up we'll start your examination as soon as you finish," said Sam. She moved her bag and it made a dull metallic ping when she sat it down.
"Excuse me but what tests are you going to start with exactly?"
"Well you have a choice. I saw on TV that it's important to test a patient's reflexes," she said as she pulled out a ball-peen hammer. "Or everyone keeps talking about you having a screw loose so I brought a screw driver to try to fix that.
"Nooooo!" screamed Morgan
[On the road to Caltech]
Sarah drove out of Echo Park on to the 110 heading for Pasadena with Alex sitting in the passenger's seat looking out the window. Traffic was heavy so the drive was taking longer than she anticipated.
"Did you hear that," asked Alex. "I must be spending too much time cooped up with Morgan at home. I thought I heard him scream."
"That happens with me sometimes when Chuck's gone on mission. I think it's normal that is if everything is okay between you two. You know you could move back to your place now. Dale, for the next ten to twenty, will be busy so you won't have to worry about him unless he gets time off for good behavior but I can make sure that doesn't happen."
"No we're fine it's just... well I need to get out of the apartment. I know that sounds bad but I needed a break and when you came by and asked if I would go I jumped on it."
"I can't say I blame you but this should be ending soon. The doctor has him up moving around. He might have to go through a little rehab but he should be going back to the Buy More by the end of the week."
"I hope so... it's just well he's not the same. He puts on a good show but I can tell this has left him a little gun-shy."
"Well there's no need for him to rush back into service before he's ready. It's probably better if he waits. You know if he needs to he can go see Dr. Dreyfus."
"I appreciate it but I know him he'll never agree to," said Alex as she turned to look out the window. They were pulling on campus.
"Well if Mohamed won't come to the mountain... I've got an idea what to do just leave it up to me," said Sarah as she pulled into the visitor parking lot. "Okay we're here now let's find our professor's office."
They got out of the car then Sarah pulled out her tablet and did a quick search of the facility to find Dr. Daniels listed as an adjunct professor in the Department of Humanities, Art History and Ancient Civilizations.
"His office should be over there," said Sarah as she led Alex across the quad to a non-descript building. They walked inside and checked Dr. Daniels' room number on the directory board then started up.
"Hold up a minute," said a man in a blue uniform with Campus Police written on the sleeve. "Excuse me but you two don't look like students. What business do you have on campus?"
"We're here to talk to Dr. Daniels so if you don't mind kindly step aside and let us by," said Sarah as she showed him her Homeland credentials.
"I'm sorry but you need to go over to admission and register as guests then arrange an appointment to see the doctor."
"Excuse me this badge begs differently. If you don't step aside I'll have you carted off for obstruction and resisting arrest."
"I'm sorry I can't let you by or I'll lose my job. If you don't come along with me you're going to make me call for back up. But I haven't done anything to be charged with resisting arrest."
"Not yet," said Sarah as she dropped him with one punch to the jaw. "Consider yourself under arrest. Come on his office is up on the second floor."
"She did warn you," said Alex as she stepped over the top of him. They went up to the second floor then Sarah waved for them to go down the hall. She pulled her Smith & Wesson nodding for Alex to do the same. The last thing she wanted was to go into a perps office and find him waiting with a cannon.
"Okay," Sarah said in a low voice then she held up three fingers then she did a countdown three, two, one "Now Alex," she said as she kicked the door in. The door flew back then there was a crack and the sound of broken glass. The glass panel in the door shattered but the office was empty.
"Looks like our perp has made a run for it," said Sarah. She did a quick check of his desk and all the drawers were empty. She noticed on the shelf a book about Assyrian art and archeology with pieces of paper marking pages.
"Sarah, I hear angry voices coming. What do you want to do?" said Alex as she stood in the doorway. "I think they're coming up the steps."
"Follow me there's no need in getting into a pissing contest when our chicken has flown the coop," said Sarah as she led Alex to the fire escape and they went down as she heard men coming down the hall.
"Where are they? I want them. Who do they think they are coming on my campus," said a very angry man. Sarah and Alex in the meantime went down the fire escape and made their escape from campus. "I have to go out to lunch with Chuck and Sam can you do me a favor. Go to our apartment you can access the Castle mainframe from there then hack the Campus CCTV feed erase us being there after that see if you can find the Doctor leaving. Maybe we'll catch a break and find him leaving with someone or we can get a license plate number of the car he left in. I don't know just look for clues. I'd do it but I promised Sam she could meet her little friend from the museum."
"No I don't mind as a matter of fact I think I'll go to Castle and do it straight from there. There's no need for me to squat in your place."
"You mean there's no need in squatting in Casey's apartment. If you want tell Morgan I ordered you so he won't think you're trying to run away from him. You're not are you?"
"No of course not I just need some air. I feel like I'm suffocating in there... but not with him. Oh I need to get out."
"No problem, just get done what I told you and everything will work out. I'm sure of it," said Sarah as she glanced over at Alex."
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Early that morning Dr. Daniels went to work riding his bicycle to campus. He parked his bike out front then walked inside waving at the campus security guard. The guard was there to help control unruly students when they came by to argue about grades. Daniels went to his office and was about to get an early start on grading papers when he received a phone call so he put the call on speaker as he was trying to decipher handwriting wondering if the student wasn't using cuneiform.
"Horacio we need to meet," said the voice from the box on his desk. Daniels immediately looked up and sat the paper down.
"What else do you want from me?" said Daniels. He was both nervous and angry. "I did what you wanted and gave you those certificates. I told you this was a one-time deal."
"I remember you saying that but that wasn't exactly true was it. All those artifacts you smuggled out of Iraq as copies and sold on the black market. There were a lot of one times."
"I financed my own excavations with that money when the university cut my funding," said Daniels. "I had to I had no other choice to finish my work."
"Hey I agree with you and it was a bold but illegal move you made. I wonder if the Iraqis will want to extradite or if the U.S. will prosecute. But this need not be so ugly I simply need to meet with you and ask to look at something for me."
"That's it? You don't want me to forge any more certificates or anything like that?" said the Doctor. Suddenly the request became more reasonable. "Okay but I've got class in a couple of hours will I be back in time."
"If you leave right now there's a van waiting for you just out the main gate. The driver will bring you to me. You look over what I have then we go from there. Either way my driver will give you a ride afterwards."
"Okay I'm coming," said Daniels. He hung up put everything away then left the campus in a hurry. Outside the main gate was a van where the man on the phone told him it would be.
"Are you waiting for me?" asked the Doctor. The man waved him in. "Like I told your boss I'm in a bit of a time crunch and I need to get right back."
The driver didn't say a word he just pulled out. They drove for a while and without air conditioning the inside started warming up. The Doctor went to roll down the window but the controls didn't work.
"I don't suppose you could put your window down a bit. It's getting a little warm inside," said Daniels but the man remained mute. "Or I guess not."
They continued to drive around but the Doctor recognized the road they were on led into Angeles National Forest. But time was passing and he needed to get back. He started looking at his watch every few minutes until he had to say something but as he started to the driver pulled off to the side of the road.
"We're here, just wait inside and I'll go get the boss," said the driver as took the keys out of the ignition then jumped out of the van.
"I don't suppose you can crack that window," he said but the driver was gone. "I guess not. You know if I were a dog you'd be obligated to crack a window and leave me a dish of water." He heard a low hissing sound from the back he looked around but didn't see anything. He sat back down then felt something warm running from his nose.
"Crap a cold," he said that's all I need. He felt a sudden headache coming on. Wiping his nose with his sleeve he saw it was blood then he got scared. He tried his door but it was locked then he tried the driver's side and it was locked too. Suddenly he couldn't see and he panicked as he dove for the back door but he dropped on the floor twitching until he stopped. He was dead.
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Chuck and Casey raced across town to get back to the museum. Chuck hoped he hadn't made a colossal mistake by not letting Casey smash the Lamassu. He'd been so busy trying to be diplomatic that he let, as Casey called them, his female emotions get the better of him. He just hoped he was wrong. Casey had his foot down on the accelerator all the way then came sliding to a stop in the parking lot.
"Come on John we need to go," yelled Chuck but Casey grabbed him. "What? Let me go of me. We need to get inside before someone beats us to them."
"No you need to stay behind me. If the seal on one of those canisters is broken the whole museum could be filled with that crap. You're too valuable to let you go in first."
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," said Chuck. Casey gave him a look. "Never mind do you have a respirator or a gasmask?"
"Of course I do. I've got both, why?" said Casey then he caught on. "Okay let's take the respirator just in case."
They grabbed the respirator then ran to the front entrance to the museum. They found the men Casey had sent for all shot dead.
"They're dead John. I don't understand these were shot in the back the others in the side. It was like these guys were facing the museum. These two got hit then the others turned."
"We can worry about that later," said John as he put the respirator on. He started in but this time it was Chuck who grabbed him.
"Remember if this thing isn't airborne then you get it from contact so don't touch anyone you find down inside and if you have to shot for goodness sakes don't hit the canister. John, I don't want to lose a friend please be careful in there."
"Keep it in your pants Bartowski. Is there anything else mother," said John. He drew his Sig then started inside.
"John, tell me what you see in there," yelled Chuck. "John, talk to me or I'm coming in."
"Just calm down I got this. The guards are down in here too but they've all been shot nothing strange about that. I'm going up to the second deck. Crap there was something but it's gone now.
"This is my fault," said Chuck as he ran in then up the stairs. "I was so wrapped up thinking about diplomatic relations when I should've let you smash this to pieces. That would be two less canisters our perps have."
"How do you know there were two?" asked Casey. "I wouldn't blame myself too much if I were you Beckman didn't look like she was going to let me."
"I can tell there were two by these rings this is where the ends of the canisters were. My guess is they plastered around them. If we measure those we should be able to figure out the size of the canisters. From that we can figure out volume and if there were two canisters per statue," said Chuck as he went to railing and looked down. "Then we're looking at twelve canisters."
"Well that's something. At least now we can know how much of this stuff is out there." As they were talking they heard someone moan from below.
"Did you hear that it's coming from below," said Chuck. They ran down to investigate and underneath the upper deck near the port in the floor that was open was the museum curator half conscious.
"Dr. Mason what are you doing here? Take it easy that's quite the goose egg you've got. Just take it easy sit up then talk. What happened?"
"It was terrible there must've been ten or fifteen of them all armed to the teeth. I was inside looking over the damage. I called Dr. Daniels and asked him to stop by to see if he thought we might be able to restore the statues. Come to think of it he asked if the Lamassu was destroy... I'm sorry that's the sphinx up on..."
"We know what that is," said Chuck. "John, can you take over from here I need to call Sarah? She was going to run out and talk with Daniels this morning."
"Sure go ahead I've got this here. So can you describe any of the men who attacked you," asked Casey. Most importantly why didn't they kill you?"
"I guess because I was the only one unarmed and as far as describing any of them they all had ski masks on except they did have strong Middle Eastern accents but that's about all I can say."
"Okay thanks," said John as Chuck walked back in. "You can go now but hang around I might want to talk to you again."
"Sarah isn't picking up John. She should be on her way back to Echo Park to pick up Sam for lunch. We're supposed to go out to lunch with Jamil and Noora so Sam can have play time with Samaa but I'll call Morgan and have him tell them I can't make it."
"No you go on and go I've got this. I'll wait for the boys from downtown to get here to recover the bodies and since I called them out I should be here when their chief arrives. He'll want to know what happened to his men. But don't think I'm going to let you drive my Crown Vic home. No way, you're going to have to call yourself a taxi."
"I appreciate it John," said Chuck as he took off.
"Dr. Mason," yelled Casey. He appeared on the upstairs balcony. "Can you come down here and walk me through exactly how things happened."
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Sarah and Alex pulled into Echo Park as her phone rang. Sarah looked at the number it was Chuck. What to do now she hadn't called Noora nor had she picked a suitable restaurant like she said she would. She did the only thing she could do she let the call go to voice mail then she called Noora and put her on speaker.
"Noora this is Sarah Carmichael from last night. I don't know if you remember me. Things were pretty crazy.
"How can I forget the woman who saved our lives?" said Noora. Sarah heard Samaa in the background. "What can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you and your husband would like to come to lunch with us so our daughters can spend time together. They seemed to have had fun despite everything that happened."
"Samaa has been asking me when she could visit with your daughter. Lunch sounds fine do you have a restaurant in mind?"
"Chuck told me to find something Middle Eastern but the problem is I haven't had a chance to check the internet to find a good one. Do you have any suggestions?"
"There is a place call the Topkapi. It's Turkish but everything they serve is halal which means it's permissible. They have very good doner kebabs that I think you'll like plus they have a place for the children to play. We can meet you there say at a half past one. Is that too late?"
"No that gives me time to round up my daughter and clean her up. Then we'll meet you there at a half past one." Sarah hung up then continued across the courtyard as she did she heard laughter coming from Casey's
"It's not funny," she heard Morgan say. "I was ambushed in my sleep."
"Serves you right for sleeping when you were supposed to be babysitting," said Alex. "I guest next time you won't go to sleep on watch."
"What's going on," asked Sarah as she walked in. It was all she could not to laugh. Morgan had green spots all over his face and hands. Sam was standing in a corner oscillating side to side with a green marking in her hand.
"I told you that you were sick and that you needed to let me cure you. Now see you broke out with what is it called when you break out with spots?"
"Chicken Pox I think you're trying to say. But you don't get them from a green marker," said Sarah as she took the marker from her. "Sam Sweetie this is permanent."
"It's his fault he wouldn't let me cure him."
"You wanted to test my reflexes with a ball-peen hammer!" said Morgan. Sarah and Alex busted up laughing. "It's not funny."
"What's not funny?" asked Chuck as he walked in. "Oh Morgan third grade all over again except they wrote 'organ' across your forehead."
"Don't give your daughter any ideas," said Morgan as he trudged off to the bathroom to try to wash it off.
"Why aren't you picking up? I got worried today has been a very bad day," said Chuck then he looked over at Sam. "But we can talk about that later."