CHAPTER 50
There was maybe five seconds where Chuck contemplated not looking into Ryker, but based on how Sarah had reacted he had the sense nothing good was associated with this person. So Chuck did a deep dive, starting an automated search as he pulled open every government database he could find and ran a search for Kieran Ryker.
"Redacted?" Chuck said seeing most of Ryker's CIA file blacked out. It must have been bad since it wasn't just a gloss limiting him because he wasn't a high enough security level, the information had been wiped. The only chance he had of finding out was getting his hands on an old copy of the file which was probably buried in some CIA storage facility.
He pulled his picture from the file and added it to the search, though fittingly for a CIA agent he didn't stand out too much from most older dark haired men. He even looked a bit like the G-Man Joe Chill with similar heights, hair lines and color, though Chill's face was more oval than rectangular and Ryker's nostrils were broader.
Pushing his search to banks, Chuck found photos matching Ryker's attached to accounts for Timothy Burke and Peter DeKay. Using those names he expanded his search, adding the information from those accounts as well as the images. He found a house in Budapest owned by Tim along with a registry for a car and a trio of credit cards while Peter had a six cards of his own.
She was angry, Chuck told himself as he looking through files for names of potential associates. Not just upset or annoyed like when I asked about her parents or her birthday or closed off like when I asked her name. When I said Riker she was angry, so this has to be bad. It wouldn't be just some ex, right? She'd be annoyed with that, not angry just hearing his name, not unless it was really bad, which still puts him in the bad guy category.
Chuck found a few names on the edges of things, but they were enough for Chuck to find files on a few Hungarian thugs. He scoured their records, finding two of their Myspace and even a Friendster account, pulling pictures from their profiles and running the searches further until he had three dozen names and pictures of Hungarian gangsters. Not all were tied to Ryker but he was going to find out everything he could about them, at least until he heard his office doors open and looked up to find Sarah entering with a smirk.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Huh?" He blinked, quickly putting his hand on his desk, letting his ring and pinky fingers hit keys that lowered the windows across his screens as Sarah walked to his desk.
"It's almost two," she said running a hand through his hair once she stood beside him. "Don't you want to eat?" She glanced at the screens and saw he had his browser open but lowered. "What were you doing? Don't tell me it was porn."
"I was looking up some stuff I wanted to put on here, but then I got caught up with the manuals and forgot about them until a while ago. I also wrote out a plan for an OS." That had all been true, just not what he did recently.
"You're really going to just make your own operating system?"
"It's not like I'm going to have it ready in a week, but why not? Maybe I'll sell it as a more secure alternative or make an anti-virus to go with it and sell that."
"Well before you do all that, how about we get something to eat?"
Chuck let her drive his car while did a quick scan of the car manual before putting it away. While they sat for lunch he asked about her day, talking over a few of the clients she'd looked into and the kind of stuff they could do to help them.
"Um, are we limited to people in the US?"
The question made Sarah chuckle. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, if I found some client in Turkey could we fly there? Would we have to book a normal flight of would we have some kind of private company jet or something?"
"If it was some kind of emergency they might charter us a private jet, otherwise we'd have to book it like normal," she answered. "Do you have someone you're looking into?"
"Potential vacation spots," Chuck offered with a laugh. "Maybe trick them into giving us a trip in the name of some client."
"You just started, don't tell me you're already looking for time off."
"Well I am the boss," he noted waving a fry he tossed into his mouth.
He knew he had to make a choice. Casey had mentioned some contacts who could get information but even if they could find Ryker's file it would take time they might not have. As much as it was going to suck having Sarah pissed at him, he had to tell her. He just hated that he had to do it right after he'd finally told her he loved her.
As they came out of the elevators, Chuck grabbed her wrist before she stepped into her office. "Meeting in twenty."
Sarah cocked her head and arched her brow. "What?"
"Company meeting in the briefing room in twenty," Chuck said releasing her and making his way to Casey's office.
Chuck knocked twice before opening the door and Casey looked up from his computer. "What is it?"
"Be in the briefing room in twenty for a company meeting."
Casey chuckled. "Are you serious?" The NSA agent's humor faded seeing Chuck's brow sink. "Okay. Don't get your panties in a bunch, kid."
Chuck turned and left, making his way to his office and bringing up his windows, finishing up a few last second things before loading everything he gathered onto a flash drive. Putting his computer to sleep he strode out of his office, taking the stairs down to the third floor and setting up in the briefing room. It was barely ten minutes before Sarah and Casey entered the room looking equally confused.
Chuck motioned to the seats which the agents took with a shared smirk. "What is this about, Chuck?" asked Sarah.
"It's…" No, saying his name right away would make her reaction harsher. Lead into it, Chuck told himself. He made a point of walking over to the panel and typing in the surveillance code, turning off the cameras before returning to the podium in front of a wall of monitors. "You two remember I'm tracking people who access your files, right?"
"Yes," Casey said sitting back with his arms crossed, clearly disliking it.
"Well I got an alert this morning and traced it back to the source."
"Who was it?" asked Casey.
"Whose file did they look at?" asked Sarah.
Chuck frowned, tensing in anticipation as he looked to Sarah and answered, "It was Kieran Ryker."
Sarah felt a chill run through her as Casey's confusion grew upon seeing a hint of fear beneath her stoic mask. "Who is he?"
Chuck waited a moment for Sarah to answer, but she didn't, instead lowering her gaze lost in thought. She'd considered answering, but wanted to hear what he knew.
"A rogue CIA agent," Chuck finally answered, looking to Casey. "His files almost completely redacted." Tapping the laptop on the podium beside him cause Ryker's file to fill a screen behind him. "I found a few aliases and from there I did a search on a few associates. I kept going and…" Chuck typed briefly, filling the screens with dozens of files pulled from government databases on the names he found.
"Jesus," Casey said sitting up.
"I don't think they're all linked to him, but they're connected enough it's possible. There could be more, but this is all I could find this morning before we left for lunch."
"Do you know where he is?" Sarah finally spoke, raising her head to look at Chuck.
"Well the computer he used was in Budapest. All these guys are Hungarian or based out of Hungary." Seeing her turn her head slightly, Chuck asked, "Is there anything in your file that would lead him here? To you?"
Sarah got to her feet, leaving the room. Chuck and Casey shared a look before they followed her down the hall where she unlocked the armory and started loading a bag with guns.
"Uh, Sarah, what are you doing?" Chuck asked looking to Casey, who shrugged.
"This isn't your problem," she said setting magazines into the bag. "I'll handle Ryker on my own."
"What? Why? Sarah we're a-"
"He's my problem, not yours," she looked over her shoulder, her icy stare making Chuck stop his step toward her.
"You don't even know what this guy's planning, Walker," Casey said shaking his head.
"He knows I'm here, he'll come for me," she said grabbing a sniper rifle off the wall.
"Then let him come and we can handle him," Chuck said firmly, stepping beside her. "We can handle him together."
Sarah glanced at him and like a flash saw a nightmare vision of Ryker stood with a gun to Chuck's throat demanding she tell him where the baby was. With it came the knowledge that she would tell him. If it was the gun on her she'd never say a word, but if it was for Chuck she'd break and tell him, damning the girl she saved to die for his greed and her love.
"No," she said firmly, yanking the bag off the shelf and turning to leave.
Casey watched Chuck sway slightly, gripping the shelves, shaken by her flat refusal. Turning to her as she walked down the hall he started, "Walker-"
But then Chuck pushed past him to step into the hall exclaiming, "Hire us!"
Sarah slowed to a stop by the elevators, turning to look at him. "What?"
"Hire us," Chuck said walking toward her with Casey following behind him. "You can be Carmichael Enterprises' first customer. We'll even do it pro bono."
Her gaze scoured him for a moment before saying, "No questions. If I tell you to do something you do it, no excuses."
"We can do discretion," Chuck offered, glancing back to Casey who gave him a wary look, so he looked back to Sarah adding, "I'll listen."
"If I tell you to sit and stay somewhere I mean it," she said stepping toward him. "If I tell you to go somewhere that means you go there. If I tell you to leave me alone then I don't want you anywhere near me. Understand?"
"Whatever the job requires," said Chuck.
"No." Sarah shook her head, stepping toward him again. "That's vague. You do exactly as I say."
"Fine," he relented with a sigh. "Whatever you say." He'd take the frustration and her anger if it meant being there to help her.
"I need to know how he's coming here," Sarah said crossing her arms. "He'll need to fly here. You said you found aliases?"
"Two of them. I can track his credit cards and bank accounts."
Sarah's brow rose. "Did-" She stopped herself as s he remembered they were in the hall and being recorded. "Fine. Take me to your office and show me everything you have on him."
She returned the bag of guns to the armory while Chuck went to pull the flash drive and Casey turned the camera back on. They all made their way to Chuck's office where Sarah closed the door asking, "Did you drain his accounts?"
"No. I wasn't sure what his story was. For all I knew he was just some guy you hated. I didn't want to do anything until I knew more."
"Can you lock him out of them?"
"If that's what you want."
"If he's dumb enough to come as himself I want to make his trip as hard as possible," she said walking around Chuck's desk to watch him pull up Ryker's accounts.
Casey moved around to the other side of Chuck, letting out an impressed grunt as he watched Chuck swiftly create an account which he used to drain all of Ryker's into. "Should I cancel his cards too?" Chuck asked while making another account and transferring it to that while before going back to delete the record of the transfer from the previous two account, leaving Ryker's with pennies and deleting the first fake one.
"No, force him to use them so we can track him," Sarah told him.
Chuck quickly brought up records for each of his cards. "There," he said pointing to a ticket purchase. "He's coming into LAX at ten tonight."
"We can't just go barging into an airport," Casey warned.
"What other information do you have on him? Can you crack his email?"
"Give me a minute," Chuck said turning toward another screen as he brought up new windows. After a few minutes Chuck had found a quartet of email accounts, bringing each up.
It was on the Kracken account that Chuck found something that caught his attention. "Who's QuickEye?
Sarah and Casey had been looking at other monitors but followed his gaze as he opened the email from the QuickEye account. "Walker is on assignment in California," Casey read the email aloud, "so is what she took."
Chuck swiftly turned his chair as he brought up another window and they watched him search for QuickEye. It became clear quickly not only was the account been a throw away, but that had been the only email sent from it. Chuck put it into his search program, letting it look for combinations of Quick Eye across the net as he tried a few other email hosts.
"This guy Ryker," Casey began as Chuck worked, "I'm guessing he has it out for you and wants whatever you took from him?" When Sarah didn't answer, he motioned to the monitors. "It could be an information broker."
"Block his ticket," Sarah told Chuck, gripping the back of his chair.
It took a moment for Chuck to think of how to do that. He tried accessing the airport's systems but opted instead for cracking the TSA and marking Ryker and his aliases for immediate arrest.
Feeling pretty proud of himself Chuck sat back motioning to the monitors. "Well there ya go. We'll pick him up once he gets in."
"It won't work," Sarah said tearing the wind from his sails. "Unless he's gotten lazy he'll have a separate ID for travel. If I had to guess he'll land at a different airport and drive in. Can you send him an email from that account that told him about me?"
With a sigh Chuck sat up nodding. "What should it say?"
"Tell him to meet at The Saffron in Hyde Park tomorrow at thirteen hundred hours."
Doing as she asked, Chuck presented the typed message to her, waiting until she nodded before sending it. "I'm assuming there won't be a response?"
"He'll go or he won't," she said letting out a breath.
"And we'll be there?" Chuck asked turning to her.
"There's a building down the block you two can set up on to cover me." Turning to Casey she said, "He's wanted by the CIA so don't hesitate to stop him if he tries anything or might get away."
"Maybe we should bring Beckman in on this," Casey suggested. "Get some clearance and support. Hell, bring in Copeland and the CIA since they want him."
"No," Sarah said shaking her head. "This is CE only. We can deal with the aftermath later. If there's records of this he can get to it and know what we're doing. No one can know I have what he wants."
"Okay, so… what, we're going to just kill him in the middle of a restaurant?"
"It's better than he deserves," Sarah said with a shrug.
"Sarah," Chuck sighed. "What the hell is this-"
With a glare she cut him off. "You said no questions."
They both saw his jaw shifted before he nodded. "I did. I'm sorry." Turning back to the monitors he said, "I'll keep looking into him, try to find other aliases and report any updates immediately."
While he brought up more more pages on Ryker, Casey followed Sarah out of the room and into her office. "Hey, listen, I know you can't talk to Bartowski about what's really going on. That blabbermouth can't keep a secret to save his life, but you can tell me, hmm?"
Coming around her desk she turned to him. "I appreciate that, John, but the less you know the better."
She saw his surprise before he pushed it aside and shifted his gaze as he turned and left saying, "Sure. No problem."
Once he left, closing the doors behind him, Sarah sank into her chair letting out a shaky breath. Her hands went over her face, quietly cursing as she took a breath. She hated this, hated herself, but was sure this was necessary. Every time she considered involving them she imagined Ryker getting the drop on them, holding their lives in exchange for the baby, as if he would actually let them go afterward.
Of course to keep them safe she had to ruin everything with them. It was hard enough to see Casey's disappoint when she turned him down, but Chuck's had hurt. Right after he'd told her he loved her and she failed to even say it back she was pushing him away, but she couldn't bare the thought of him dying. Not because of her, not until he was old and gray having lived a full life.
Returning to Chuck's office, Casey asked, "You really don't have any idea what this is about?"
"I only knew it was important because she got so mad about it when I suggested the name for your cover at Meadow Branch," Chuck said glancing up as he worked on his searches.
Sitting in one of the chairs across from Chuck, Casey said, "I'll be frank-"
"I prefer John, but sure," Chuck said reflexively, not even looking at him to see Casey roll his eyes.
"I think we should bring in Beckman. This guy's rogue, he could be Fulcrum."
"I didn't flash on him," said Chuck.
"That doesn't mean much since it could just be you didn't see some scar he has or hear his voice," Casey said with a grunt, "whatever the hell it is that makes you flash."
Chuck finally stopped and turned to Casey. "She wants it quiet, Casey. Besides, she hired us."
"You offered our services for free," Casey reminded. "That's not her hiring us. She didn't even sign any paperwork."
"I hate this as much as you, Casey." Leaning against his desk, Chuck frowned. "No, you know what? I hate this more than you. I literally just told her…" Chuck stopped himself and let out a harsh breath, turning his head before shaking it and looking back to Casey. "It doesn't matter. I'm helping her. Not because she hired us or because I love her, but because it's the right thing to do. I won't let her throw her life away on whatever this is. Let her be angry, but I'm not leaving her behind with this. If you want to then I… well I think you'd be wrong and kind of a dick, but it's your choice."
Casey crossed his arms. "What do you think she took?"
"I don't care," Chuck answered. "Maybe she stole money or some artifact, whatever it is I don't care and it won't change anything. If it's important to her then I'll stop this guy from getting whatever the hell she took."
Rising from his chair Casey shook his head. "God you're whipped."
"We haven't tried that yet," Chuck said with a smirk, "but I'll keep it in mind."
While Casey left with a grunt Chuck turned back to the computer, trying and failing to find anything else of note about Ryker. The sun was low when Chuck shut down his computer and packed his laptop and the Castle manual in his bag before making his way to Sarah's office. Knocking on the door he waited a moment before opening the door and finding it empty.
With a sigh he hurried over to the elevators, pressing a series of buttons to force the doors closed quicker and make it take him to the first floor. Hurrying to the lobby he saw Sarah pulling open the doors.
"Sarah!" He called out, following her outside, leaving Casey to close up. "Hold on."
"I'll go on my own," she called back.
"Don't be an idiot, Sarah." He tapped his key fob to start the remote start. "Come on."
She saw Chuck walk over to his car, standing at the driver's door and looking over to her expectantly. Frowning she shook her head. "I'm going back to my apartment tonight."
Chuck sighed, and as she started to turn called out, "Get in the damn car, Sarah!" The frustration in his voice surprised her, making her turn back with her brow raised as he continued, "You can sit in the damn back and I'll put the radio loud so you don't have to talk, but I'm not letting you walk there on your own. If you want to then I'm walking with you, and you won't leave me there to walk home on my own, so get in the goddamn car and let me drive you home. Or should I take you back to get your car?"
Sarah stared at him for a few seconds before making her way to the car. Opening the bar door she told him, "My car."
Chuck shook his head as she got into the car, but kept to his word as he followed and put the radio on loud enough it would be awkward to talk in anything but shouts. He also drove a bit more aggressively, every moment in the car with her staring out the window feeling like it was choking him.
Once they pulled into his spot, Chuck shut off the engine and pulled his bag from the passenger seat. He waited until she got out before locking the doors and tossing the key into his bag, making his way to the courtyard.
Sarah dug out her keys, holding them as she stood beside the driver's side door. Looking to him she called out, "Chuck!" She watched him stop and turn to her, his expression even as she took a breath and said softly, "I'm sorry."
His lips parted as if to speak but then closed as he turned and walked through the gates without a word.
He'd done nothing but it felt like she'd been punched in the gut as she got into her car, a shiver running through her as she let out a shaky breath and gripped the steering wheel, leaning forward to rest her forehead between her fists. She told herself she'd make it up to him. She didn't know how but she'd make things right once this was done and dealt with. Once Ryker was gone she'd at least tell him what it was about, maybe someday she would even take him to meet her mother since surely he'd want to once he knew she was alive let alone nearby.
"No Sarah?" Ellie asked when Chuck entered the apartment alone.
"She's staying at her place for the cover," Chuck lied so swiftly Ellie actually fell for it as he made his way back to his room. The moment his door closed he nearly threw his bag across the room, but felt the laptop so just dumped them on his bed.
After a shower he pulled up the Castle manual and went through it. It was almost enough to make him pass out, but then as he tried to lay down his mind drifted and he even holding a pillow beside him didn't help. Finally he pulled up his laptop, spending three hours gathering more information on some of the gangsters he'd found through Ryker's associates. Finally it got to the point where he was just exhausted, and minutes after shutting his computer down he passed out.
It was Casey in his room shaking him awake that finally pulled him from his slumber. "Wake up, Moron," Casey said finally yanking Chuck off the bed, letting him yelp and thrust his hand against the floor to keep from headbutting it. "We've got someone to kill today."
"Goodie," he groaned, sliding back onto bed. "Give me fifteen minutes."
"Walker didn't stay here last night, huh?" Casey asked watching him sit up.
"Order was canceled. As far as they know she stuck around for the cover," he said sliding out of bed, heading for his closet. "Makes sense she'd want to get away eventually."
Casey sighed. "We both know that's not it."
"I know," Chuck said pulling clothes out of the closet. "But that's what we'll say if Beckman asks about it."
They met Sarah at the office, taking the bag she'd packed and heading down to Hyde Park and making their way onto the roof of a building a block away from The Saffron, a cafe with tables on the street.
While she set up the sniper rifle Chuck asked, "Is there anything we should know about him? We're going into this kind of blind-"
"Nope. You know everything you need to know," she said setting the rifle on a rooftop. "I'm going to be at the cafe waiting for him to arrive. I need the two of you to stay up here away from Ryker, surveilling the street to see if anybody else is watching me or covering him. Okay?"
She didn't want for an answer before walking past them. "Okay…" Chuck said glancing to Casey who shrugged. Looking at the rifle he suddenly pictured a dozen others out there watching her. "You know what, no," he said turning to her as she was putting on an light jacket and hat, "this isn't okay, Sarah. Let's just put aside the whole Carmichael Enterprises thing for a second."
"No, Chuck," she said turning to him, "that wasn't part of the deal."
"Yeah, well, I'm your boyfriend and I love you and I'm worried, Sarah," he said, ignoring the smirk Casey wore watching them. "You're clearly not thinking straight. You're letting him get to you instead of letting us help you."
"You are helping." Sarah motioned to the rifle.
"Not enough to guarantee your safety."
"Look, okay, this isn't about me. There are lives in danger because of something that I…" If she told him he would do something to protect the baby which could lead Ryker to them, so with a frustrated sigh she said, "If I tell you I'm not only compromising their safety but yours as well. It's still my job to protect you, even if it's from yourself."
"From myself?"
His incredulous tone wasn't surprising to her. "You're already trying to get involved when I asked you not to," she pointed out. "If I tell you too much you'll put yourself in danger and I-I can't risk it."
It hurt enough saying it, having noticed him bristle to similar arguments in the past, but worst was seeing in his eyes that she's just given him another reason to get Orion's update. She had just pushed him closer to doing what she didn't want. She could see his logic all leading him to the idea that he needed it to help her if this ever happened again.
And to top it all off Casey, stood off to the side said with a nod, "She has a point."
His hands in his pockets, Chuck nodded and turned toward the edge of the roof, picking up a pair of binoculars as he said evenly, "Just be careful."
After she made her way into the building Casey laid prone and gripped the rifle, adjusting the sight and scanning the surrounding area. "You see anything?"
"No. But for all we know they're just going to show up in a van and kidnap her."
Casey glanced at Chuck in surprise. "Don't worry, I can hit the driver or stop the car before they get out of sight."
"Unless they have a shooter in a building down the block and you'll be busy taking him out. Or taking out the guy who suddenly takes someone hostage while someone else injects Sarah and drags her into a car."
Casey let out a laugh. "Well you don't need to worry about any of that because no one thinks like that."
"I do, which means someone else could," said Chuck.
Grunting, Casey set his sight on the cafe where Sarah took her seat. "Well then I dread the day we go against someone who thinks like you."
"Are you gonna shoot him?"
"This imaginary anti-you?"
"Ryker."
After a moment of silence Casey answered, "The moment I know it's him."
Below Sarah was sat at table barely a minute before a waiter came up giving her a cup of coffee she didn't order. "Uh, excuse me I didn't-" She stopped herself when she noticed the napkin beneath the cup had writing on it. Picking up the cup she saw it was a message telling her: Get on the next bus. Meet at safe house in Wilmington. Come alone.
She felt a flash of anger at being played, but also a sense of relief that it gave her a way to get away from Chuck and Casey, to keep them safe and away from Ryker. Speaking into her watch mic she told them, "I need you two to follow the waiter. I think he's working for Ryker."
"I'll follow him," Chuck said getting to his feet.
"Not happening, "said Casey, who swiftly picked up the rifle and packed it away. "I'm not letting you run off on your own after someone."
Motioning toward the cafe Chuck said, "But she needs someone covering her."
"You think you can handle sniping at this distance?" When Chuck frowned, Casey slung the bag over his shoulder. "Come on, let's hurry."
"Shit," Chuck muttered following Casey to the staircase.
When they made it to the cafe they found not only had the waiter ditched his uniform but Sarah wasn't at her table. Casey motioned to the waiter walking down the block. "There he is."
"Where's Sarah?" Chuck asked scanning the street before spotting her taking a seat at the back of the bus beside the cafe. When their eyes met he asked quietly, "What are you-Where are you going?"
"Ryker figured out it was me. I'm sorry, I have to do this alone," she said muffled by the glass before the bus pulled away leaving him at the curb.
Before he could even contemplate chasing her Casey grabbed his shoulder, pulling him to the sidewalk. "The waiter, come on!"
Sarah frowned watching Chuck's face darken, stumbling into a table before following Casey down the block after the waiter. "I'm sorry, Chuck," she whispered, sinking into her seat with a sigh.
It wasn't long before the waiter caught on that he was being chased and picked up his pace. Casey moved in with his gun low, but to his surprise Chuck broke into a full sprint after the waiter, even leaping over a bike the waiter knocked over without breaking his pace. With a panicked look behind him the waiter saw Chuck close enough to startled him, making him stumble back, leaving him open for Chuck to slam into him, knocking both to the ground.
Casey rushed in just as Chuck slammed his forearm into the waiter's throat and pressed the prongs of a fork he'd picked up while bumping into the table into the waiter's cheek. "Talk or lose your eye," Chuck told him.
The waiter's eyes widened when the fork pushed up toward his eye. He tried to talk but choked on Chuck's forearm digging into his throat. Once he eased off it, the waiter stuttered, "N-Nem beszelek angolul!"
A flood of words filled his mind before he said in Hungarian, "Tell me where Ryker is or I'll rip out your eye and make you eat it. Then I start removing your ears and lips and fingers until you're a stump rotting in the sewer without a tongue."
Casey stared at Chuck in surprise, unsure what he was saying but his tone making it clear it was a threat, and one not to be taken lightly. Apparently the waiter agreed, as he started speaking, telling Chuck enough for him to pull the fork from his eye before getting to his feet, but when the waiter tried to move Chuck swung the sole of his shoe into the man's face, throwing his head back to the ground where he groaned clutching his head.
"They're at an old CIA safe house in Wilmington. He didn't come alone."
"You okay?" Casey asked, realizing Chuck was still gripping the fork like he was ready to jam it into the waiter's throat.
"You have the tranq?" Chuck asked, holding out his hand when Casey dug it out of the bag. The moment he held it he fired a dart into the waiter. "Let's get him in the van. He's gonna be our bait."
AN:
Chuck at the end here is something I'm hoping to go into more later. The anger, etc. Hopefully it doesn't feel too sudden, instead building a bit all chapter, but even if it does it has a reason. Just might be a bit before it's spelled out if it's not obvious already.
Half the hacking shit is impossible, but so is the Intersect, so I'm full on using movie/tv computing where this is fairly easy and can do impossible stuff. It's for the plot and keeps the theme so who cares. Point is more what they're doing than the accuracy of how they do it.
Originally I had Chuck remarking on the fortune in Ryker's accounts but then remembered he clearly didn't have access to them otherwise he wouldn't still need Molly.
I'm curious if people might've thought Ryker was Joe Chill and this broke those theories. I feel like it's pretty obvious who the pseudo mystery characters are like Joe Chill and now Quick Eye, but that could just be since I'm writing it.