Alex dropped Chuck and Melissa off at his car and picked up Vicky and Rick. From the state of their clothes and the fact that they met them in front of a Hotel it was obvious what they were doing all night long. A fact that Melissa couldn't help laughing about it. "I'm starting to think it's the air or something out here. Everyone is hooking up." She said smirking.
"I'm starting to think it's the team." Chuck said.
They were greeted by Roark when they got back to the tower. "Had a late night did we?" He asked with a smirk.
Chuck remembered what Rick said and lied smoothly. "Yes well we hit this little bar that makes the best drinks, and we walked on the beach, and after that we ended up at a Hotel by the pier because we were both way too hammered to drive." Chuck said smirking.
"Well you had me worried for a minute Chuck. I though we lost you." Ted said.
"No, you just misplaced me for a few hours. But since I have you now are you going to be free in a few hours? I'm putting the finishing touches on a little program and I wanted to show you it." Chuck said pulling a RI military grade flash drive out.
"Yes I'll be in my pent house all day. Is it something from the Intersect?" He asked all giddy, and smiles.
"No It's even better, it's the key to unlocking the download speed problem. With this we can figure out the speed someone can handle." Chuck said waving the drive.
"I've got to see this." Ted said almost hopping from foot to foot.
"You can in a few hours, I still need to make some final adjustments. I don't want it to fry your brain after all." Chuck said laughing.
"No we wouldn't want that." Ted said smirking.
"See you in a few Ted." Chuck said as he and Melissa got off the elevator on their floor.
"That was close wasn't it?" Melissa asked shutting the door to the apartment and watched Chuck scan the room for bugs.
"We're clear. And for the record, yes it was, that's why I always keep something with me. If I ever get into hot water I can pull it out and show him." Chuck said taking his shirt off on the way to the bedroom. When he got out of the shower Melissa was waiting to get in. she laid out a pair of black jeans, and a red button down shirt
When Melissa came out of the bedroom dressed like chuck he laughed. "What?" She asked taking a seat next to him.
"Nothing," Chuck said smirking. That is until he grabbed the back of his neck in pain. "Oh, sleeping in the download chair was not a good idea." Chuck said.
"Well that's what happens to you when you laugh at me." She said rubbing his neck. "How much sleep did you get last night? She asked.
"Not much. Lets take a nape before we go talk to Roark." Chuck said falling asleep as he talked.
Two hours later Chuck woke up with Melissa laying on top of him on the couch. He looked at the clock and was tempted to go back to sleep but Melissa looked down at him and smiled. "Time to play the bad guy. Come on, it'll be fun." She said hopping up and pulling Chuck off the couch.
"Okay fine, but after we do this I want to go back to sleep. I'm beat." He said stretching.
Jordan opened the door when Chuck and Melissa knocked. "Hey you two, have fun last night?" She asked.
"We always have fun Jordan you should know that." Chuck said greeting Ted with a hand shake. "Hey Jordan, do you have a lap top around here?" Chuck asked taking a seat on the couch next to Ted's chair.
"Sure, will my work laptop do?" She asked handing it over.
"It should." Chuck said booting it up. "Alright Ted, what you see here is a little program I knocked up over the past two days, I call it the Speed demon. Basically it's a Intersect download of Spanish that starts out slow and keeps jumping in speed until you stop it. There are ten levels of speed ranging from just fast enough for the information to stick, all the way up to fry your brain fast. Do you know Spanish Ted?" Chuck asked.
"I know just enough to order a taco platter." Ted said laughing.
"Well if you will just look at this screen and put your finger on the space bar please?" Chuck said turning the laptop to him. "All right, now hit the space bar when you're ready and hit it again when you start to feel pain behind your eyes." Chuck said.
"Have you tested this yet Chuck?" Ted asked.
"On myself only. Would you like someone else to go first?" Chuck asked in a voice that implied Ted was a little bitch.
"No, I can handle it." Ted said sitting up taller.
"Remember to hit the space bar as soon as you feel pain. If you try to act tough you could hurt yourself." Chuck said waving him on. Ted took a deep breath and hit the space bar the screen started flashing, and it kept getting faster as time went on five minutes into it Ted hit the space bar and the screen kept flashing at the same pace for the next ten minutes. When the screen went black Ted shook his head and blinked a few time. "How are you doing Ted?" Chuck asked in Spanish.
"I'm doing fine." Ted responded in perfect Spanish.
"And that's how the speed demon works." Chuck said smirking. "If you pull up this list you can see you're the second person to test it out and you can see your score. You scored a 7 out of 10. Not bad. I myself scored a 10, but I'm used to the Intersect. Jordan do you want to have a go?" Chuck asked turning the lap top to her and resting the program. When she had it going he turned back to Ted. "Once we have every Fulcrum agent run that program we can gather a large group with the same score in the auditorium at RI and upload them all at once." Chuck said smirking.
Jordan gowned and hit the space bar. A few minutes later she was done and shook her head. She asked what her score was in Spanish. And Chuck pulled it up. "You scored an 8." Chuck said which made Ted look angry, "Hey Ted it's not her fault. The more time I spend researching this the more I realized everyone is different and it has nothing to do with anything. Everyone's speed is different and I see no correlation between speed and any other factor. I'm talking about IQ points, level of education, age, gender. It's all different. I think it's the next thing I'm going to tackle once I've got the everyone's number. I'm going to try to see if there are any correlations at all." Chuck said starting Melissa next.
"That is very strange Chuck, you would think there would be some kind of correlation." Ted said deep into the work. It was sad how easy Chuck could steer his conversations with Roark.
"None. Not a one, but we only have four sets of data. After next week I hope to have more. Until then it's a mystery. But it dose show you what I was talking about when I told you why you were deep frying agents left and right. If you could put this on a shared server and have every agent run the test I can have a list of good candidates ready for you as soon as all of them complete it. Hopefully by Friday of next week. Until then I'm going to barrow Sam and Kate for a bit. I need them to download a few memory banks full of information. If we are going to do a mass upload I want the information to be top notch, and up to date. The memory banks I want them to hit are very light on security and should be easy to access. I have a whole list of them and I want them to keep sending me data right up till the upload." Chuck said.
"That's great thinking Chuck. If this all goes to plan we will be unstoppable in two weeks." Ted said with a very psychotic look on his face.
Chuck checked the data for Melissa and shook his head. "See Ted, no correlation at all, she scored a 9 for God sakes and she's dumber then a box of rocks." Chuck said pointing at Melissa.
"Hey, I am not!" She said looking ready to cry as she ran out of the room.
"Shit! I shouldn't have said that. I'll see you around the office Ted." Chuck said pulling the flash drive out and running after Melissa. He found her in the apartment laughing. "You are getting way too good at that. You had me worried for a second there." Chuck said sitting next to her on the couch.
"You really did hurt my feeling Chuck. Is that how you see me?" She asked looking sad.
"Of course not, but it is the image you have cultivated with him so I had to say it. Plus I didn't want him to take it out on Jordan. Especially since the numbers are a lie." Chuck said holding her.
"What do you mean the numbers are a lie?" She asked looking confused.
"Oh the program works, and it does do what I said it does but the numbers I just showed him are the fakes that the program generates based on threat level. Anyone I think is an absolute shit head scores a 7. That way we can get them all in the same room in two weeks. Everyone else scores something different depending on their level of threat. People in your situation, and Kate's score a 9. People that are being forced to work for Fulcrum, score an 8. Computer geeks that do logistic score a 6. A score 5 means you're a high value target and we want to take them alive for questioning. 1-4 don't exist unless someone really scores that low. Your real numbers get sent to a different list. Do you want to see our real numbers?" Chuck asked smirking.
"Yes I do you evil genius you." She said with pride shining through.
"This is the real list." Chuck said opening his laptop and showing her a list of names. Chuck scored a 10, next on the list was Roark with a 9. Melissa and Jordan both scored an 8. "And what I told him is true, I found nothing that links download speed with anything. As you can see you and Jordan both scored an 8 even though the only two things you have in common is that you're both women and you both are NSA. Besides that I see nothing else." Chuck said.
"Well we both find you attractive, does that count?" She asked smirking.
"I don't think so but if Casey and Morgan both score an 8 then we defiantly have a problem." Chuck said laughing.
On Monday Chuck spent most of the day working on an individual download for each member of the team. For Melissa, Morgan and Kate this list was very long, but for other people like his wife, Casey, and Sam the list consisted of target information, the hand to hand fighting, and a few skills they lacked. He sent the hard drives and a list of skills with Melissa that night to Castle with orders not to touch the two chairs until Chuck was there to supervise.
He got his chance the next day when he took Melissa Sam and Kate out to dinner. The group made it to Castle at around six and everyone was there. "Good you're all here, even Morgan! Hey Buddy, are you joining the team?" Chuck asked.
"I am, but Sarah said my mission was dealing with a nuclear bomb and I was hoping to change it." Morgan said looking sad.
"Sure you can Morgan. Why the long face?" Chuck asked coming around the table.
"I let you down Chuck and I'm not even on the team yet." He said shaking his head.
"Hey, you could never let me down Little Buddy. It's your first mission and you don't want to disarm a nuke. I get it. None of us here are going to pass judgment on you for that. In fact we respect you more for it. You know what you're comfortable doing and you told us before you got on a plane to Mexico." Chuck said patting him on the back.
"He's right you know. I'm proud of you Morgan." Melissa said hugging him.
"We'll just change you out for Vicky here. She's a bit of an expert on Tomahawk missiles anyway, right?" Chuck said.
"I smuggled a pair of them out of a base in Lisbon." She said smirking.
"See. Instead you're going to be working with Anastasia over there. You'll be staying right here in L.A., how's that sound?" Chuck asked smirking.
"Perfect. What are we doing?" Morgan asked excitedly.
Chuck shared a smile with Sarah and Casey. "Anna will fill you in after the briefing." Chuck said shaking Morgan's shoulder.
"Okay everyone. What you have here is a program that will teach you Spanish in fifteen minutes. For those of you that know the langue too bad, you'll learn it again because that's not important. What is important is this will tell me how fast we can crank the intersect download up when we download you." Chuck said waving around a blue flash drive. "Did everyone get their list for the download?" Chuck asked. "Good. Does anyone object to the list? Besides Sarah and Casey." Chuck amended when he looked at the two of them. "None of you? Really? I was sure a few of you would. For the record this will not change you in any way. Nor will it effect your skills as they stand. All this will do is give you a second option." Chuck said. "Now lets begin the testing!" Chuck said plugging the flash drive into one of the stations in the next room. "Aright, who's going first?" Chuck asked and Morgan was the first one out of his seat. "My Little Buddy. Alright." Chuck said. By the end of the night Chuck ran them all through the Speed Demon. And plugged the numbers into the two download chairs. There were two stand outs in the group, Morgan and Alex both scored 10 out of 10.
The next day Morgan and Alex were going to sit in the chairs for their download. Once they were done Casey and Sarah were going next, both of them scoring a 9. This would keep going until they all had some time in the chair. Once they did the team members with the most to learn would spend some time with a more experienced agent working out the kinks of the training with Chuck's help when he could sneak away.
On Wednesday Ted sent Sam and Kate to Chuck's office with instructions to follow his orders and report for the missions. Chuck had new CIA agents pass their GPS tagged Blackberry's all over the country. The whole time Sarah would send him hard drive dumps of old CIA case files and NSA mission records. Roark thought they were getting information gold. Really they were getting the equivalent of junk mail, and Shuck was shredding it through a program at the end of the day just to be sure it was all gone. By Friday things were going great. Chuck got off the elevator at noon and walked up to Jordan's desk with a file in his hands. "Is the boss in?" He asked smirking.
"He is, and he's not doing a damned thing. You want me to announce you, or do you want to surprise him?" She asked looking up from her computer screen.
"No I'll go in myself. Thank you." Chuck said winking at her asked passed by her desk. "Hey Ted!" Chuck said waving the file. "The numbers are in and I've got some really good news." He said dropping down on the couch across for Roark. "I have a list of two hundred names that are perfect matches for the big download." He said tossing him the file.
"You have got to be kidding me? Two Hundred! That crazy! This is going to be great!" Ted said thumbing through the file.
"I know right. And I have the whole Intersect program up and running. It's going to take a few days to compile all the data and then I have to run a few tests again to make sure it's still working. Basically I have the weekend off, I think I'm going to take Melissa on a little vacation. I'm beat Ted. I don't think I've worked this hard on computer programming in a long time." Chuck said making a show out of stretching and looking tired.
"No take all the time you need. You've more then earned it." Ted said still excited about the prospect of get Intersect agents.
"Thanks Ted that means a lot to me that you value my work." Chuck said looking grateful.
"Value. I do a lot more then Value it, if I could I'd name a building after you Kid. If I had a few more programmers like you I could fire half the staff working in this place." Ted said.
"While I'm not going to be programming forever you know, I want to go on real missions now and then. I've got to keep my skills sharp." Chuck said standing up.
"Where do you think you'll take a trip to?" Ted asked.
"I'm not sure yet. Like I said the system has to run a bunch of tests on it's self. Figure Four days just to be safe. Oh! I almost forgot. Don't go in my office while it's running. It will be flashing randomly to test out the new files and to run the test fast I have the flash speed way up. It could kill someone if they saw it. I'm going to lock the door when I leave today and I'm going to hang a big sign on the door letting people know it's dangerous to go in. If you could let everyone know not to go in that would save us a lot of clean up on Tuesday." Chuck said smirking.
"I can do that Chuck. In the mean time I'm going to start calling all these agents in." Ted said waving the file.
"You have fun with that." Chuck said laughing.
Two hours later Chuck handed his car off to a NSA guy along with his phone and Melissa's. When they got to Castle they found the place to be in a state of chaos. Chuck saw Alex and pulled her aside. "What's going on?"
"This place is a mad house. We've got people making calls out to contacts in the cities we are going to do the missions in, we've got training going on down the hall. We've got people looking over blueprints for best entry points. And worst of all, Sarah still has the yips and we desperately need her to get over them so she can do her job next week. Aside from that everything is going really smooth." She said smirking.
"Right. We'll just circulate and see if we can't help out a bit." Chuck said headed to the training rooms with Melissa right behind him. Chuck found Sarah, Casey and Morgan in the shooting range yelling at each other. "What's going on in here?" Chuck asked.
"Walker can't get her shot back." Casey said.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Chuck asked looking at the target half way down range. There were ten holes in it none of them in the center, and two of them were barely on the paper.
"She got the yips kid. She can't do anything right." Casey said looking like he was at the end of his rope.
"Have you tired a different gun, or shooting off handed?" Chuck asked.
"I Have and it did nothing." She growled out in frustration.
"Show me?" Chuck asked.
Sarah picked up her gun off the counter, slammed a new mag in, and let off ten shots, none of then hit the target. Chuck looked between the target and his wife who was close to tears. "Right, um… that's not supposed to happen." Chuck said looking shocked.
"No shit. It's been happening all week. She needs an assignment, but I'm almost afraid to let her go on a mission." Casey said.
"So lets take a few missions as a team. I've got a few days off from Fulcrum, lets ask the General for a few missions. We can use the rest of the team as back up." Chuck said excitedly.
"Are you sure?" Casey asked looking mildly uncomfortable.
"Sure why not? Let's take something easy and work our way up. There's got to be some bad guy that needs killing." Chuck said.
As it turned out there were two missions available for them to take off the General's hands. Chuck took them both, and called a team meeting. When they were all seated around the conference table Chuck stood up. "Agent Walker is having a bit of a problem finding her grove. I have volunteered us for two missions over the next few days. Both of them are around the west coast. Nether of them are Fulcrum related, and Both of them are going to be planed by Agent Walker." Chuck said taking a seat.
Sarah stood up looking over a big stack of files. "Okay. The first mission is time sensitive. The CIA thinks this man, Richard Benedict is selling the designs for a guidance chip for the new AMRAAM missile. We think he's selling to the North Koreans. This deal is going down at a warehouse down by the docks at six P.M. tonight. That's a little under three hours from now. This is an over head view of the area. This blue building is the target building. I want us the get eyes on the building. Rick and Vicky, that's your job, take the surveillance truck and set up in this back lot. I want snipers on these three roof tops. Casey, Alex, and Jenifer. You guys can pick who goes where. I want Melissa, Kate, and Morgan in the transport van parked on this street over here. You guy will swoop in and handle any prisoner clean up. That leaves Me, Chuck, Carina, Sam, and Anna on the ground handling the assault." She said pointing out the places on the map.
"One question?" Casey asked raising his hand.
"Yes?" She asked smiling.
"I can understand your choices for who goes where, and I agree with all of your choices except one. Why are you taking Chuck with you on the ground assault team?" Casey asked.
"Because, he, like the rest of them are the best shots with Sub-machine guns, and they can mix it up if it gets physical." Sarah said.
"Right, but Chuck still hasn't killed anyone. How do we know he wont freeze up after the first shot?" Casey asked.
"He makes a valid point fearless leader. Chuck still has to pass his Red Test." Carina said.
"I might be able to help with that." Anna said. "I have Sidorov in holding cell two. Why don't we have Chuck go in, and shoot him?" She asked.
Everyone sat around looking uncomfortable. Until Chuck shrugged his shoulder. "You're right. I need to know I wont freeze up." He said standing up and walking out of the room. Everyone watched him go before they all sprang from their chairs and tried to go after him, but Sarah stopped them at the hall.
"No, it's not right for all of you to witnesses this. Did you have a group around you when you took your Red Test? No. Now go, sit down." She said before walking down the hall. She hid around the corner as she watched Chuck stand outside of the holding cell. He had his head down, and it looked like he was saying something to himself. He then rolled his shoulders back, stood tall, and his face went blank. He was Carmichael. He pulled his gun from behind his back, and a silencer form an inside pocket in his suit jacket. He slowly screwed it on to the end of his gun and chambered a round.
"You can watch if you want, but I would like you not to." Chuck said without looking at her.
"I won't if you don't want me to." She said, her voice almost cracking.
"I Don't want you to." Chuck said. He took a deep breath, hit the button on the panel, and when the doors opened he brought his gun up and shot three times. He put the safety back on, tucked the gun in his pants, and picked up the three shell casings. He made it all the way down the hall before showing any signs of the first kill. By the time he rounded the corner by her he all but collapsed in on himself. He was shaking. He was clammy, and he looked like he was in shock. When he made eye contact with her he saw the look of understanding in her eyes and that's when he fell to his knees and lost his lunch. Sarah picked him up and moved him to holding cell three. She stripped him of all of his clothes, piling them on the chair. She placed his gun on top of the pile. She then laid him on the bed. She got out of her clothes as fast as she could and slid into bed with him.
"Talk to me Chuck, what are you feeling right now?" She asked softly.
"I don't know? I Can't feel anything right now. I just feel cold." He said shivering.
Sarah wrapped her body around his as best as she could. Holding his head to her chest. "Do you need anything? Do you want me to say anything?" She asked, not knowing what to do in this situation. Normally she was the one getting comfort from him, not the other way around. This was all new to her.
"I Don't know. I feel… nothing. I feel fear. I'm afraid that I don't feel as bad as I should and it's making me feel worse." Chuck said deep in thought.
"What do you mean you don't feel bad?" She asked.
"I feel justified. I feel vengeance. I feel satisfaction. I thought about all the horrible things he did to Anna and I felt riotous as I pulled the trigger. Like I was righting a wrong in the universe. I felt good." Chuck said shaking as a tear slid down his face. "Dose this mean I'm turning into a monster?" Chuck asked.
"No, it means you killed a really bad guy. That's what we do Chuck. Every person we are sent to kill has done something to earn our visit. If we are sent after them it means they deserve it. I told you before Chuck. If you have a fear of becoming a monster then you're not becoming a monster. It's only when you don't have that fear anymore that you've lost the goodness inside of you." She said softly.
"Sarah, Please love me." He asked softly.
And she did. It was slow and soft, and full of love. It was more then sex, it was a rebirth. In her arms he was reborn as a killer. Afterwards they laid in each other embrace and soaked up the feel of this new level of closeness. This calm was broken by Anna standing at the door. "It is done?" She asked softly.
"Yes. It's done." Chuck said.
"Thank you. I've been trying to get up the nerve to do it for days now. Every time I tried to do it the fear of my childhood would came back up to the surface. Half the team has left, they will be waiting for us by the warehouse." She said leaving them alone again.
Chuck sat up and wiped his face. He slipped out of bed and put his boxers and pants back on. He took his gun and tucked it into his back and looked down at Sarah. "Thank you for being here. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here." Chuck said.
Sarah sat up in bad. "I'm glad I was here to help you through it." She said taking his hand. "Are you up for the mission Chuck? If your not you can stay here." She said.
"No, I'm good. I've made my peace with it and now it's time to move on. I need to change into mission blacks, and pull my gear for the mission." Chuck said intertwining his fingers with hers. "And so do you, team leader." Chuck said pulling her up out of bed. He wrapped his white shirt around her and lead her down the hall. Outside of holding cell three they saw someone had cleaned up the sick, and passing by holding cell two they saw someone moved Victor's body. Chuck didn't know who did it but he was eternally grateful to them. Chuck saw Morgan and Melissa in the shooting range packing up equipment. When Chuck saw them he smiled. Like him they were both decked out in mission black cargo pants, long sleeve shirts, boots, and tactical vests. Chuck walked up to Morgan and pulled the Sig229 off his hip. "You went with the 229 I see?" Chuck said looking at the full nickel plated slide and frame.
"Yeah, I wanted to have the same gun as you." Morgan said turning red.
"I am really honored Little Buddy." Chuck said handing it back to him. "Who showed you how to use it?" Chuck asked.
"Sarah, and Carina. They handled all of my training. Kate's too." Morgan said.
"I want you guys to stick together. Hang back, and watch the action tonight and we'll give you more to do next time. Tonight is all about seeing how fast things go down." Chuck said adding a few mags to Morgan's vest.
"I will Chuck, you can count on me." Morgan said smiling.
Sarah came in and walked over to Morgan. "You all set?" She asked smiling a proud smile.
"As ready as I can be." He said standing tall.
"Good, Stay in the van and be ready for anything." She said patting him on the back as she sent him out the door. She then turned to Melissa. "How about you?"
"I'm all set Sarah. Sam and Casey showed me everything they could think of." Melissa said nodding.
"Good, get out to the van, and keep an eye on Morgan. This is his first mission." She said.
"Don't worry, I've got him." She said slinging and MP5k over her shoulder.
Melissa turned to Chuck. She cupped his cheek and smiled a sad little smile. "How is my fearless leader doing?" She asked.
"Okay, I'm okay with it all." Chuck said nodding.
"Good. Stay sharp out there. I love you." She said hugging him before she walked out.
"What are you packing tonight Chuck?" Sarah asked shouldering an M4.
"I think I'll go with my old stand by. The MP5-SD6." Chuck said pulling one down off the rack and extending the stock to fit his shoulder better.
Anna came in decked out in full gear. "What's taking you two so long? Yet again we are the last ones to leave." She said holding up a set of keys.
When they came outside the only car left in the lot in front of Castle was the black Dodge Charger. Anna tossed Chuck the keys, but he turned around and tossed them to Sarah. "Your mission, you drive." Chuck said sliding into the passenger seat.
The rest of the team sat around the surveillance van waiting for the team leader to show up. They didn't have to wait long. The black Charger came flying into the parking lot and screeched to a halt a few feet away from the rest of the team. Sarah got out and was hopping around on the balls of her feet. Chuck and Anna however didn't look so excited. "What are we looking at Major Casey?" She asked walking over to the group.
"Well we're defiantly in the right place. There's about a half dozen North Korean special forces guys walking around the perimeter. We think there's about the same number inside along with a general Kim Park…" Casey said watching Chuck flash.
"Kim Park, head of counter intelligence, and unconventional warfare tactics. He's on eight wanted lists and every watch list." Chuck said.
"We know. Morgan and Melissa are looking at the monitors to see if they flash on anything. They got the full intersect like you." Casey said pointing to the X's he marked on the over head shot of the building. "How do you want to handle this?" He asked Sarah.
Sarah looked unsure for a few seconds before she turned back to Casey. "Well the way I see it we've got a few different options for doing this. We could cut the power, storm in there with night vision and hit then while they're fumbling in the dark. Or the snipers could take out the guards and we could bust in through a few side windows after tossing in flash-bangs. Or we could take one of these trucks in this lot and drive it through the front doors and storm in during the commotion." She said.
"You're in charge. You pick it. You tell us how you want to do this." Chuck said standing next to her.
"I don't know. I've got the yips and I don't want to pick." She said.
"Well you need to. If you don't pick then we'll sit here and let this happen without moving. You need to give out the orders." Chuck said in full agent mode.
"But what if I'm wrong?" She asked.
"Don't Care! Now give out the orders Agent Walker!" Chuck said getting in her face.
"Fine we're going through the front! Now get your shit and lets move people!" She yelled back with a hard look in her eyes. The look she always got when she was in a gun fight. It was the Enforcer, and Chuck was happy to see her. Excited even. Looking in her eyes when they were hard and cold touched a really sexual place in agent Carmichael.
Chuck turned to Casey and smiled a smile that was anything but pleasant. Now that he knew she was going to be okay, and didn't need him to be Chuck, her husband. Then he could be agent Carmichael and get the job done. "You heard the Boss, get your asses in position. Someone go hot wire one of those big ass trucks. Snipers get up on the roof tops, I want everyone locked and loaded in ten." Chuck said.
Casey stayed standing next to him. "You know she just made the wrong choice ring?" He asked looking a little uncomfortable.
"I know that, you know that, and the rest of the team knows that. But we cant let her know that. She needs the win very badly Casey. She needs it more then just to get over what ever this is she's going through. She needs to take the power back from me. She needs to boss me around a bit. She needs me to hide behind her and act like Chuck. I can't do that tonight. I need to get the team out of this alive tonight, but the next mission is like the ones we used to do all the time. On that mission I wont help unless I think the team is in danger." Chuck said pulling the charging handle on the side of his gun and loading a round into the pipe.
"I Hope you know what you're doing out there Chuck." Case said.
"So do I. And thank for moving the body for me." Chuck said turning away from him and walking away.
"We're a team Kid. We look after each other." Casey said.
Once everyone was in place it was a game of waiting for Richard Benedict to show up. Too long a wait in Chuck's opinion. The longer it took to get going the more time Sarah had to second guess her orders. Chuck had spent the last fifteen minutes watching his wife's face. So far The Enforcer was still in charge, but every time she looked back to Chuck he could see the mask slipping just a little. When Casey called out Benedict's car approaching Chuck felt a wave of relief wash over him.
"Good lets get this show on the road! Casey, when you here us approaching the target, start taking out the guards stationed outside of the building. Sam Let's Ride!" Sarah said. Sam dropped the big moving truck into gear and stomped down on the gas jerking the big truck into motion. In the back of the truck Chuck, Sarah, Carina, and Anna held on tight and made sure they were ready. Chuck heard Sam run through the gears very fast and soon the truck was really moving.
"Here WE GO!" Sam yelled over the coms and Chuck felt the impact of the truck smashing through the warehouse doors.
When the truck skidded to a halt Chuck and Sarah threw the door up and jumped out of the back of the truck. He turned left and brought his MP5 up. He saw a guard with an AK47. He squeezed off three shots dropping the guy he came around the truck and saw another guard running at him with a gun in his hand. Chuck brought his gun up and three shots later he was down. As Chuck rounded the truck and moved across the warehouse to a stack of crates. As he slid in to cover someone shot the creates. Chuck drop to the floor and peaked around the creates and saw another guard with an AK47. Chuck was about to take him down when he saw the guy track a different target. Chuck followed his eyes and saw Sarah run for cover. Chuck ran over to Sarah and tossed her into cover. As the guy brought his gun up Chuck let off three shots and dropped him. He then dropped down next to her. "Check your field of fire for threats, then pop out of cover and move to the next cover." Chuck said winking, and smirking. He then looked over the creates, let off a short burst off full auto fire before popping up and running to an over turned table. He popped up again and took out a guy coming out of the office door at the back of the warehouse. "I'm at the door to the office! Four tangos down! I'm waiting for team leader to take point!" Chuck said dropping his mag and slamming home a fresh one.
"Right behind you! Everyone stack up on me!" Sarah said taking up position Sam, and Anna took up positions behind Sarah.
"I would but I took a shot to the vest and I think I'll just lay here for a bit." Carina said coughing.
"You okay Sister?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah. It didn't go through but my right tit is going to be sore for a very long time." Carina said pulling her tactical vest off.
"Okay you can sit this one out. Chuck, Can you see inside the office?" Sarah asked.
"Hold one." Chuck said as he ghosted over to one of the shot out windows and took a look inside. He pulled his head down just in time to avoid the gun shots. He ran back to the group. "Park has two guards with him, and he's holding Benedict in front of him as a human shield. How do you want to do this?" Chuck asked.
"When I say go, Anna toss this flash-bang into the open window." Sarah said tossing the small Russian girl the grenade, and watching her run over to the window Chuck just looked into. "Chuck I want you to kick in the door and shoot Park in the shoulder. Make sure he stays alive. Sam I want you to take the guard on the left, I will take the guy on the right." Sarah said. "Ready?" She asked looking everyone in the eye. "GO!"
Anna pulled the pin and tossed the grenade. Chuck kicked in the door. Sam went in first and shot the guy on the left with her MP5. Chuck went in next. He brought his gun up and shot once. The bullet hit Park's exposed shoulder smashing the collar bone, and sending him to the ground. As he pivoted to the right to shoot the last guard Sarah came through the door and put three shots in him. Chuck let his gun drop to his side and cuffed Park with zip ties. He then took Benedicts arms and slammed him to the floor so Sam could zip tie him.
Sarah tapped Sam on the shoulder. "Stay here and watch them." She said pointing to the two prisoners. "You three come with me. I want this place tossed. I want every inch looked over for valuable intel! Casey, I want you guys to stay on as over watch, and call in the NSA clean up crew! Melissa, bring the van we've got two for pick up. We also need you the flash on anything we might find. I want to be out of here in fifteen. Lets move people." She said.
Twenty minutes later Chuck was deep in thought sitting in the passenger seat of the Charger as Sarah drove back to Castle. Melissa, who was sitting in the back seat made it a whole ten blocks before the silence in the car got to her. "Why the long faces? We did good tonight! Well I didn't but you two did!" She said with her perky smile turned way up.
"I killed five men tonight." Chuck said just above a whisper, but it carried through the silence of the car.
"My rash decisions got Carina shot." Sarah said, her eyes on the road, and not looking at anyone else.
"Come on! You guys took down an internationally wanted operative and a guy selling state secrets! You guys are heroes!" Melissa said.
"Melissa, you need to stop talking right now. I'm asking you nicely, please just leave it alone." Chuck said.
"I don't get it. We should be celebrating." Melissa said folding her arms and sitting back in her seat.
"If you think cowboy tactics and getting a team member shot is grounds for celebration then you're not ready for field work." Sarah said.
"No but saving the world is something to be excited about right?" Melissa asked.
"Saving the world is our job. What we did tonight was rash and dangerous. I can't believe we made it out of there alive." Sarah said looking sideways at Chuck. She knew it wasn't his fault, she was in charge, it was her choice. But he pushed her. He forced her to be the Enforcer and the Enforcer made rash choices. She knew she needed to do something to get back in the game, but the cowboy, rush in attitude was going to get people killed. She needed to be Agent Walker. Tonight, she failed. And she blamed Chuck for it.
Chuck saw the look and knew she blamed him for the way things went tonight. The thing she didn't know was he didn't care. She needed to get over her little mental problems and if being pissed at him was what it took then that was fine by him. Sunday they had a very dangerous job to pull off. All that mattered this week was being ready for it so she could come back in one piece. He would gladly take a week of her sideways looks if it meant they were alive to make up next week. "What?" Chuck asked looking at her.
"Nothing." She said looking at the road ahead.
"No go ahead and say what's on your mind. Let it out Walker." Chuck said turning to look at her.
"Fine. Tonight we almost failed because you pushed me to make a bad choice." She said looking mad.
"Really? It's my fault that we went in guns blazing?" Chuck asked.
"Yes. It was stupid and rash and we could have all been killed." Sarah said.
"Well why did you pick it then. I'm not controlling you. You're not a puppet. You're a grown ass woman, and a CIA veteran. Start acting like it Agent Walker." Chuck said giving her the same look she was giving him.
"You don't think I can?" She asked, her voice dropping into that cold Enforcer tone.
"Not right now I don't." Chuck said shocking both Sarah and Melissa in the back seat.
"What!?" She asked.
"That's right, I have half a mind to bench you until you start acting like an Agent." Chuck said, but the whole time he was praying this would work in his head.
"How Dare you! You can't bench me! I run you. You don't run shit!" She shouted back.
Chuck caught Melissa's eye in the mirror and winked. "Really? Because the only thing you did tonight was get your team in hot water and almost get shot. I saved your ass tonight. You were good for shit out there Walker." Chuck said with his Carmichael confidence.
Sarah pulled into the lot. "Get out." She said coldly.
"Are you coming in or are you going to sit out here and Salk about the loss of your talent?" Chuck asked cringing on the inside. He needed her too much to let her slip away. He needed agent Walker and if he was in for a penny he might as well go in for a pound.
"Go to hell." She said in a deadly voice.
"Right." Chuck said getting out. As soon as he shut the door she pealed out and shot out of the lot.
"I hope you know what you're doing Chuck." Melissa said looking sick.
"So do I." Chuck said.