A/N: Thanks to all of you for continuing to read this story and especially those that are taking the time to leave reviews.
As usual, beta thanks go to Capt LiL.
The expanded team needs to find and disable the Intersect that The Ring is planning to use …
Casey Did It
Chapter 8: Ringers
I arrived before the other three to the lab with the scientists. I don't know where they went that delayed them, but it meant I stood quietly watching the interplay between the scientists while I waited for the others to arrive.
The woman from The Ring had one wrist cuffed to the desk she was sitting at, much like Shaw had the day before. However, her other arm was free, as were her legs. It almost felt like a token gesture at keeping her captive.
Initially, this troubled me, and I almost challenged it, but then I looked at her and how she was behaving with the NSA scientists. They weren't just cooperating with each other, they seemed to be relishing it.
I realized that she must have missed working with other like-minded individuals, being the only scientist amongst all those Ring agents. She was explaining the technology that had been brought with her and animatedly discussing it with the others.
She certainly didn't seem evil.
In a way, it felt like me amongst Chuck and his family. I had a dark and troubled past and thought myself to be on the darker side of life mixing with good people. However, they had welcomed me in and now I felt I was a better person. Had these NSA scientists welcomed this woman into their fold in the same way?
As I stood there, thinking that, my three colleagues arrived.
"Don't just gawp at her, Walker. We need to quiz her," Casey said.
I looked at him and then at Zondra. Both were frowning and had a no nonsense look in their eyes. I imagined the woman being 'quizzed' threateningly by both of them.
I stood in front of the two of them and forcefully, but still quietly, said, "No!" They looked at me in surprise. "This will take a softer approach. She is, at present, willing to help. If you go charging in, she'll clam up." I looked at the other members of the team. "I think she'll respond better to Chuck and I."
Zondra looked at me. "Softer approach?" She then briefly glanced at Chuck. "He has changed you, Blondie. Okay, you two give it a try, but if that fails, we do it my way and get what we want out of her."
Just the way she said it sent shivers up and down my spine. If the woman knew what we wanted, she'd squeal, but I thought this would leave her being productive afterward. I looked at Casey. He was looking at Zondra. I could tell he was impressed with her.
Casey just grunted and stood back.
I looked at Chuck, who nodded, and we walked over to the desk at which the Ring scientist sat. She had a name badge pinned to her blouse. Jennifer Hastings.
She had gone quiet when the other three walked in. Probably because she recognized Zondra, the person who had captured her and dispatched a number of her colleagues.
"Jennifer, we need your help," I said as I sat down opposite her.
She looked warily at me. "Help with what?"
At least she didn't look like she was clamming up. "The Intersect is not a good thing. We've seen terrible effects of an earlier version." I shivered, thinking about all those Ring agents in the suburbs. "We have to find it to check it out."
"I've not been directly involved with that project. I heard of us losing several men and women last year, but not the details.," Jennifer replied.
"Do you know where it is?" I asked.
She looked at me for a few moments. "You saw what happened to those people?" Both of us nodded. "What happened?" she asked.
Between us, we described the effect of the Intersect prototype. We didn't mention that Chuck was unaffected, or even exposed to it.
She shivered in horror at what we described. She finally said, "I don't have an address, but I do know that it's in Los Angeles." She looked at them. "The man our team was rescuing was based out there. I'm not sure why it wasn't here in DC and he was brought here."
"Do you have any idea of where in LA?" Chuck asked. I could see he was as frustrated with the lack of an address as I was.
"It's in the warehouse district.," she replied. "I know it's near the river, because I thought that was amusing, wondering whether materials and equipment were transported there that way. Not very modern."
Chuck and I looked at each other. This was homing in, but still quite a search area.
"Is it a warehouse or an office building?" Chuck asked.
"I don't know," she confessed. "I'm sorry."
"Do you know anything about who is there?" I asked.
She huffed. "More respected scientists and a security force. I've not seen it, but I hear they have a room set up for its use. A lot of monitors, apparently."
That sounded like the location where we had found the dead Bryce Larkin. I didn't want to think about that. His loss was tragic, but it was a time when Chuck was free of the Intersect and could have walked away from all of this life. I had mixed feelings about that. It was what he wanted, but it also meant I would lose him. I had nearly reconciled myself to that, although it hurt. I also knew me leaving with Bryce, as planned, was going to hurt both Chuck and I. Him the most, but seeing Bryce each day would be a reminder of what I had lost, Chuck.
Then, Chuck had decided he wanted to be a spy more than run with me. A very dark time in our lives.
"I think they were supposed to be finishing that room off in time for taking Shaw there," Jennifer added.
I focused on her. "Is there anything else you know about this place?" I've always been a good judge of whether someone is hiding anything from me, but could see nothing as she shook her head.
I stood and said, "Thank you, Jennifer. Hopefully, with what you've given us, lives can be saved."
We walked back to Zondra and Casey and told them what we'd learned.
"You think there's nothing more we can get from her?" Zondra asked.
I held her gaze as I replied. "Nothing."
She looked at me and then nodded.
The four of us left and went back to General Beckman. Once she knew our destination, she arranged for our flight to Los Angeles. She smiled. "I bet you never expected to be returning there so quickly."
Casey grunted and Chuck shook his head in amazement.
I knew that Morgan couldn't afford the apartment on his own and had moved back in with his mom. However, the apartment had not yet been reallocated, and so Chuck and I would take it on again.
"General, can we discuss accommodation?" I asked.
She really did smirk at me, but then looked serious. "We've secured the two apartments in the Echo Park complex. I'm assuming you will not be needing a room at Maison23 anymore?"
I blushed, but shook my head. "Agent Rizzo will, though."
"Indeed," the general replied.
As we walked out of Beckman's office, I couldn't help gripping Chuck's hand. Zondra rolled her eyes and Casey said nothing.
Each of us had things to collect before heading to the airport, so we arranged to meet there.
There was enough time for Chuck and I to make love once more in my old DC apartment before we set off.
For me, arriving at LAX with Chuck was very different from previous arrivals. I thought back to some of them.
My first arrival here, to retrieve the Intersect from a potential accomplice of the rogue Bryce Larkin was one in which I was extremely confident that he would be a push-over. Everything I had read about him, said loser. Loser at college, loser at work, and loser in relationships. I soon discovered how wrong that was.
After that, some arrivals were as part of the team, with Casey and Chuck. I was focused on the handler role and protecting Chuck, while at the same time trying to squash my feelings for him.
The time I went to DC with Shaw was one I tried not to remember, and certainly not focus on. My greatest mistake and I felt so lost. I tried to focus on the job, but it was difficult, seeing Chuck changing, while at the same time seeing him apparently happy with Hannah.
This time, however, we had held hands for most of the flight here. Much to Casey's disgust and Zondra's amazement (mainly over that disgust) we kissed. Chuck's PDA was overcome, it seemed, by his love for me. That alone made me happy. So, this arrival was the best I had ever experienced.
The taxi dropped Zondra off first and then the three of us at the Echo Park apartment complex.
I was clutching the keys that had been supplied. This would be the first time I moved into a place that I really wanted to stay in. Of course, Chuck, being Chuck, stopped me from entering after I unlocked the door. He swept me off my feet and carried me in.
"We're not married, you know," I said through my giggles.
"I still wanted to carry you across the threshold," he replied as he lowered me to put my feet on the floor.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down. "Looking forward to being together in that bed," I whispered in his ear.
He didn't reply, but grabbed our cases from outside, shut the door and swept me off my feet again. We were in that bed much quicker than I expected.
It seemed that Shaw didn't do anything to shut down Castle, so we met the following morning in a fully functional base.
"I'm impressed," Zondra said as she looked around the place.
"One advantage of being based in one location on a highly classified assignment for a long period of time," I replied.
She sat and looked at Chuck. "I only read the details of you and the Intersect overnight. You've had quite the adventure."
He barked a laugh. "Adventure!"
"You work well together," she commented. "Hard to believe you knew nothing of this life two and a half years ago."
"What's it like to have all that in your head?" Zondra asked.
"It used to be a dull ache most of the time," Chuck replied. "Although, I subsequently got something to minimize that."
"Huh?" Zondra said.
"Yeah. It's called a governor and it eases the headaches. Makes it more bearable in my head." He waved his wrist showing the governor watch.
"Impressive," she commented. "And when you use the Intersect?"
"I call them flashes. Information appears as images to me. Flashes of facts. The Intersect and my brain put them together to provide me with a composite picture."
"Wow!"
"Last year, I got a second version, this one also contains skills. I don't know how many but when I downloaded it, I was surrounded by Ring agents and I flashed on fighting skills and beat them."
I could laugh about it now. "Casey and I were stunned at what he did. The men were going to kill him. Chuck just suddenly sprang into motion, kicking and punching. He took out five armed men in seconds, then turned to us and said, 'Guys, I know kung-fu!' And he did, plus other skills he used. Before that, he could do nothing."
"Well, I could do something and did. I hid or cowered away," Chuck corrected me.
Casey snorted.
"And suddenly you became proficient enough to be a spy," Zondra concluded.
Chuck looked down. Casey filled in the details, "He trained but failed because he couldn't kill."
Zondra frowned. "But you are an agent now?"
I let Casey do the talking, interested in what he'd say. "Walker and I trained him, then Shaw arrived and took charge. He pushed him and forced him to take a Red Test. He only became a spy when the target was shot."
"Worst day of my life," Chuck commented. I guess that was true. He only survived because Casey supported him.
Zondra looked at me and said, "It was for me too and from what Blondie said, hers as well."
I nodded.
Zondra looked back at Chuck. "But you carry a tranq pistol now…"
"I still don't want to kill people," he replied.
"Well, you seem pretty good with that and thanks to the latest fast acting tranquilizers, just as effective," she said.
"Chuck thinks differently to most spies," I said. Casey snorted again. I continued, "He analyzes things faster than most and often comes up with solutions we wouldn't consider. He often doesn't need the Intersect."
Chuck was blushing. "And you two go along with them. That makes you different too," he said.
"We're usually in desperate situations," snarked Casey.
"And we believe in you, Chuck," I added.
Casey grunted, but then nodded.
"So, how do we locate this base?" she asked. She looked at Chuck.
He pulled up a map of the Warehouse District and put it on the largest screen which was almost one whole wall. He highlighted the river, then the buildings near it. There was a lot.
"Having narrowed down to just buildings close to the river," Chuck said, "I'm reducing the list further by removing ones associated with reputable companies. "I know The Ring may be co-located with such companies, but for now, let's see what we are left with."
He clicked his mouse again. Now there were just four warehouses and three office buildings. "Of these, one of each type is unoccupied. "He highlighted these in red. "We should check them out first," he said. "If they are being used, it's likely that The Ring is there."
"Or some other scum," Casey said.
Zondra looked at him. "Scum?"
Casey just grunted.
"I'll try to get information on the companies that are recorded as occupying the other locations," Chuck said.
"It's likely that The Ring would have guards, probably armed, securing the place, so we should look for that too," I added. "In all of the possible locations."
"Sounds like a drive-by," Zondra commented.
That took me back to some of the missions as part of CATs. I grinned, "But not in a convertible and certainly not wearing skimpy clothes."
She grinned back. "Save that for when we want to distract the guards later on?"
I laughed. Chuck frowned and I knew I'd have to retell him a bit more about my time in that team. Casey looked disgusted.
"Okay. So, we know our next steps," I said.
The vacant warehouse was not only vacant, but also in disrepair. It was definitely unused. The same was true of the vacant office building. Of the other buildings, only the two offices had security guards and they were armed.
We returned to Castle.
Chuck was ready to discuss his findings too. "The three warehouses in use seem to have honest occupants. The two offices are in use by people who don't want their identity known."
"That fits with what we saw," Zondra commented. "No logos, but also a visible security presence."
"They're far enough away from each other that they may never come into contact," I mentioned.
"Well, I know who each claims to be, and neither company actually exists. However, I've found that one is a CIA shell company." Chuck looked up. "I dread to think what they are up to in there that they are hiding from us."
"So, you think the other is our target?" Zondra asked.
"We should check with the general in case it's another government run operation," I said.
"Just what I was about to say," Chuck commented before smiling at me.
I checked the time. General Beckman should still be in the office before requesting a video call.
She appeared on the large monitor almost immediately. "What have you found?"
I shared both sets of discoveries, "We just want to make sure the building we think is being used by The Ring isn't another, more secret, government site."
"Give me the address. I will check into that and get back to you," she replied and ended the call. Chuck was already in the process of doing that.
"I like the fact she trusts you and doesn't have endless questions," Zondra said.
"She's worked with this team for two and a half years," Casey said. "She knows we can be trusted."
Ten minutes later, the screen lit up again. "It's not any of the agencies or other government departments," Beckman told us. "Arrange NSA support and go for it."
"We'll go in tonight," I said. "At midnight. Casey, can you arrange for the support?"
"Sure, Walker," he replied.
I turned to Chuck. "Would you be best on surveillance or do you want to come in for the Intersect lab?"
He grinned. "Stay in the van, Agent Walker?"
I chuckled. "I know you don't need to anymore, but you are probably the best at surveillance in these situations."
"Oh, I thought Casey was the most experienced at surveillance," he quipped.
"I am so glad I don't have to do that anymore," Casey muttered.
Zondra raised an eyebrow.
"He used to have to monitor Chuck when he was an asset," I explained.
"God, I'd hate to be under such scrutiny," she said.
"Tell me about it," my boyfriend said.
I grinned. "I keep an eye on him now."
Zondra snorted. "Different sort of scrutiny, Blondie."
Chuck did monitor from the van as Casey, Zondra and I disabled the security team, leaving them with the NSA support, and then entered the building.
Chuck had monitored the building's heat output and found that the strongest was in the basement. He thought that was probably where the Intersect servers were housed, but that was unlikely to be where they had the lab. The building layout suggested that it was on the second floor, so that was where we headed.
Interestingly, there were additional guards outside the doors into the large room. Almost as if they didn't trust their own people.
We quickly took those guards out and checked the room. "Looks like the original Intersect room, and the one where Larkin died," Casey said. I hadn't seen the former, but he was right about the latter. The walls covered in display panels, the white flooring, the pedestal in the middle of the room and the computer terminal on it all matched.
Chuck commented on the images he was receiving from the cameras. "It's like we've gone back in time."
We rigged the room up with explosives and set the timers for just long enough for us to get far enough away. We then rushed down to the basement. Breaking into the server room set off alarms, so we quickly planted the explosives and ran.
As we got to the stairs, we heard the explosives in the lab go off and the same with the server room as we reached the top of the stairs.
We nearly ran into a barrage of gunfire but held back just in time.
Casey contacted the support team who rushed to the doorway. There were many shots fired and then silence.
Casey looked out. Several Ring agents lay on the floor with pools of blood surrounding each.
"Come on," Chuck called from the entrance.
Before we reached it, men appeared from both ends of the corridor. Taking cover, we started firing back. I took a few out, but nowhere near as many as Zondra. Her accuracy was unwavering. Casey was firing the other way and seemed almost happy. The NSA support team took out many of them.
I then saw Chuck move out of cover. I was about to yell at him to get back, when he raised his arm and shot two tranquilizer darts past me. I swiveled around and saw two men down. I immediately shot both. Leaving them alive was a risk I wasn't going to take. As it turned out, I didn't need to shoot them to kill them. What Casey did next would have handled that.
Casey set more explosives down, a much larger pile, just inside one of the side rooms, enough to probably take the whole building down. He yelled at all our team to get the hell out. Chuck and the NSA support guys hastily led the way.
Casey had set a very short timer on the explosives, so we had only just reached the car as the explosives went off. The building lit up and then seemed to fall in on itself.
We were driving away as police and firemen were arriving. None followed us or the two NSA vans.
"It would have been good to capture the Ring cypher and the data they were going to use, but destroying it will be a huge setback for them. Well done team." General Beckman, as always, mixing criticism in with thanks.
"Thank you, General," we all responded.
"How did you find working with the others, Agent Rizzo?"
Zondra was surprised to be asked that by the general, but responded, "Fine."
Beckman's lips curled up slightly. "As vocal as Colonel Casey, I see."
Zondra nodded.
"We were glad to have her with us," I said.
Zondra glanced over at me. A slight smile formed on her face as she nodded her thanks to me.
"Agreed," Casey said, and I almost laughed at the single word response.
I heard Chuck chuckling behind me and noticed the general actually smiled before ending the call.
As we climbed into bed, Chuck said, "I like Zondra."
I looked at him and said in a very serious voice, "You better not like her too much."
"Not that way," he said and I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face.
He grabbed me and pulled me into a deep and very satisfying kiss. Not surprisingly, that led to other activities.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this foray against The Ring and its result. There will be more.
If you can, please drop me a review to let me know what you thought of it.