Chuck vs The Bracelet
Chapter 5: Breaking The Code
Chuck and Sarah enter the room and lock the door behind them so they are not disturbed.
"So. What should we do?" asks Sarah.
Chuck doesn't hear her at first. He begins to admire the room they are in instead. "Whoa. Look at this room. Huge bed, great view, enormous bathroom. It even has a bath tub that doubles as a hot tub."
"Chuck, please try to focus." says Sarah.
"Oh right. So what are you thinking?"
Sarah looks at the bracelet on her wrist and says. "If this thing is what they're after, then I want to know why just as bad as you do. Finding out what this is, isn't the issue. The problem is Laz. He's just a crazy mercenary that only cares about money and himself. How can we trust him with something like this?"
"Everything you're saying... I know. But we're kinda backed into a corner right now. Where else can we go? The only thing we can really do is watch him. And if there's any sign of him doing anything wrong... then we do what we have to."
Sarah agrees, and they leave the room. As they leave, Chuck looks up and sees another interesting feature about the room. "There is a large mirror on the ceiling. And its right above the bed... you know what. I don't even wanna know."
They both return to see that everyone is done with their meals, and are ready to hear their answer.
"Alright. We have come to a decision." says Chuck. "Where's Laz?"
Casey points to his left, showing that Laz is on the couch, messing with his computer tablet.
Chuck walks over to him. "Laz." He says.
"What is it? I'm trying to play Dig Dug."
"I get next crack at it!" yells Morgan about the game.
"We're both in agreement on you running tests on the bracelet." says Chuck.
"Fantastic." says Laz. "Before we get going though, let me show you all around the place."
Laz begins to point out the number of rooms, the kitchen, and other important features about the house to Team B. "Every painting that has a yellow flower on it, also has a small arsenal hidden behind it. A few guns and knives. There's seven in total. Write that down."
"Why so many?" asks Morgan.
"You never heard of the thirty foot rule?" says Laz. "And now here we are, back in the living room where we started. Any other questions?"
"How can you even afford a place like this?" asks Sarah.
"You know those jobs that require you to basically put your life on the line. The jobs you think that no sane person would ever take."
"Yeah." says Sarah.
"Well they also pay the best." says Laz. "Yup. Money is the only thing I really care about. Oh, and myself. Of course I care about me and only me. After all. I'm just a, 'crazy mercenary'. Isn't that right, Sarah?"
Sarah looks at him for a second before realizing. "You psychotic freak. You were listing to our conversation weren't you?"
"All the rooms are wired for sound. The whole house is actually. I knew I forgot to tell you something. My mistake. And by the way. I really prefer the term, 'freelancer', when it comes to my job title. Just kinda describes all that I do in a better way"
"Do you see why it's so hard to trust you, Laz. It's because you pull stuff like this." says Chuck.
"Again. I get it. So here's my second proposal." Laz reaches behind to pull out a gun. He hands the gun over to Sarah, which she quickly grabs. "If I do anything to you or the bracelet that you may consider wrong or shady, then wifey here can blow my head off. How's that sound?"
"Sounds good to me." says Sarah, excited at the thought.
"I've even put a silencer on it. So it won't wake the baby up. I'm so considerate." says Laz.
"Can I get that deal too?" asks Casey.
"You would shoot me for just for speaking." says Laz.
"I know." says Casey.
"And stop listening in on us. Turn whatever you use, off." says Chuck.
"Fine." says Laz.
Right after that little exchange, a couple of vases near Laz, explode. "What the hell!" yells Laz. When he looks to see where it came from, he sees Sarah.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Were those expensive? My mistake." She jokes. "Just wanted to make sure you didn't give me a gun full of blanks."
"I would never do that. And besides. You're just too pretty to prank." Laz Jokes. "So... what do you say?"
Chuck and Sarah share a quick look, and nod.
"Fantastic." says Laz. "I have everything we need over in my room. Follow me."
"I'm coming too." says Mary.
"Casey. Do you mind staying here and taking care of the baby?" asks Sarah.
"Um... mm." is all Casey can say.
"He's a sleep. So he shouldn't be any trouble." says Sarah.
"Morgan and I will stay too." says Alex. "My Dad can stare down death and not even flinch. But taking care of children makes him sweat in fear." She jokes.
"We got this." says Morgan.
When that situation is settled, Laz lead's Chuck, Sarah and Mary to a room, not too far from the living room, that is filled with clutter.
"Oh my god. It smells horrible in here." says Sarah.
"Yeah... that's probably the pizza. Its been sitting there for a few... lets just say awhile." says Laz.
"So is what you need under all this? Because if it is I'm not going near half of this stuff." says Chuck.
"Calm down." says Laz. He goes to one of the walls, and takes down a poster. Behind it, is a keypad. Laz presses a few buttons and with that, a wall opens to show another room. The other room is covered in tarps. But Laz quickly pulls them away revealing computers, research equipment, and much more tech.
"And all this, is supposed to help?" asks Mary.
"Yup." says Laz.
"How can you be so sure?" Mary asks.
"Only one way to find out." says Laz. Looking at Sarah, pointing to the bracelet.
Sarah takes the bracelet off, and hands it over. "If you do any thing to this..." She says.
"You'll kill me, blah, blah, blah. I know." says Laz as he takes it. He puts the bracelet on some scanners, and starts his tests.
After a few minutes, Chuck asks. "So?"
"So what?" responds Laz.
Chuck, frustrated, replies. "You know what."
"Oh that. Yeah I got that." say Laz. "But..."
"But what?" asks Sarah.
"Well... I've found out that all the Intel is in the heart shaped charm on the bracelet. Its actually pretty obvious. Thought it would've been something crazier than that. The problem, however, is that its protected by a password." says Laz.
"Can you break it?" asks Chuck.
"We'll see. It might be an old program. But this is Orion we're talking about. So." says Laz.
"Hey. I'm going to go check on the baby." says Sarah.
"Sure, honey." says Chuck.
After Sarah leaves, Laz jokes by saying. "Look at that. You guys with the kid, you're all domesticated now. How lovely."
"I remember you telling us back in Germany, and I quote, 'Live a safe life and have loads of Intersect babies'. And that's what we're doing." says Chuck.
"Until Fulcrum came and reeled you all back into the spy life that is. But that's how it always go's, isn't it? A real agent never truly retires. They just take it a little bit easier, til something comes a knocking." says Laz.
"What happened to you after Germany anyway?" asks Chuck.
"Me?" asks Laz. "Pretty much the same old routine. After I left you all, I went back to London to take care of some business. Then, I spent a lot of time in China. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and many other places within the country. It wasn't until Fulcrum started pursuing me that I really began moving around again. The last place I was in was Switzerland and, well, you know the rest."
"Now tell me this. You had the bracelet. You could have taken it for yourself. Why give it back?" asks Chuck.
"Geez, you asks a lot of questions. Because I owed your dad a favor." says Laz.
"Did that favor also include terrorizing his family and kidnapping his son?" asks Chuck.
"I told you. I didn't know you were related at the time."
"I thought you were friends." says Chuck.
"We were. But one of the whole points of him leaving you and your sister was to protect you. So telling a criminal like me would have been a little dumb, don't ya think? I knew he had a couple of kids and a wife, but that's about it. Never got any names." says Laz.
Mary, listening to the conversation, just sits off to the side. Watching quietly. Making sure Laz doesn't do anything suspicious.
"This counts as his second favor by the way." says Laz.
"Second?" says Chuck.
"I give each person that helps me, in a big way, three favors. Or genie rules as I like to say. Now your Dad died before he could use them. But, I've found other ways to do them. Giving back the bracelet was one. And this counts as the second."
"Can you do that? I don't know if that's how favors work." says Chuck.
"Well, I am going by my own rules. So... yeah." says Laz.
"Whatever you say." says Chuck.
A little more time passes before Laz says. "Well look at this."
"What? Did you break it?" asks Chuck.
"No. Not yet. Something else actually." says Laz. "While I was doing this, I also set up a search on Edgar. To see what I could pick up, you know. Turns out, he's gonna be in Los Angeles for a tech-conference... tonight. It's up to you if you want to act on that."
"I'm gonna go talk with everybody. You keep trying to crack that." says Chuck. "Mom. You coming?"
"Right behind you." She says. When Chuck leaves, Mary looks to Laz and walks towards him.
Laz sees her standing there and asks. "Got something on your mind, Frosty?"
Her demeanor gets very serious. "You listen very carefully. I love my son, and he and his team are great spy's. But they can threaten you all they want, and chances are, almost all of them are empty ones. I, on the other hand, don't make empty threats. The only reason you're here is because you seem to know what's going on and I was short on time. So I don't care if you and my husband knew each other. I will kill you, if any kind of harm comes to any of them. Understand?"
"Huh? What? Sorry I tuned out after, 'listen very carefully'." He jokes.
Mary doesn't react in anger. Instead she responds. "I know you heard me. And don't think I forgot about what you did to me and them when you were with Miles. You're going to pay for that no matter what you do."
When finished, she leaves. Once she's left, Laz begins to laugh a little before saying to himself. "Now I get what you saw in her, Stephen."
End of Chapter
Next Chapter to be called, "In The Pale Moonlight"
Author's note- Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what your thoughts are. Thank you for reading.