Don't own Chuck

Sarah along with Casey and the rest retraced their way back up the spiraling passageway and at the top they broke off. Sarah heard the crackling noise again in her earpiece even louder than before. They headed for it while Grigor took the rest of the group in the opposite direction. It wasn't long before they heard small arms fire behind them but they couldn't go back to check on them.

"We have to push on," said Sarah. "John, we can't do anymore for them now. This way… straight ahead." But suddenly she stopped touched her ear. "Anatoly, check your earbud I'm not getting anything anymore. How about you?"

"No not a thing what could that mean?" asked Anatoly. Sarah turned and started to run. Casey grabbed her by the arm.

"Hey wait a minute, what's going on? There's something else you haven't told us," said John as she pulled away then continued on.

"We were picking up the radiation signal from the warhead before we went to get you guys. That's how we know Chuck is this way. Abu was trying to get him to install the warhead for him so he wouldn't execute you guys…"

"I know I told him not to but his female feelings got the best of him," said Casey. Sarah spun around and punched him square on the jaw sending him to the ground.

"If you're still alive it's because he listened to those female feelings as you call them. The crackling sound is gone which means the plutonium core is being shielded. That means the warhead has been seated now get up off your butt and let's get a move on it. It won't be long now before they launch."

They rounded a bend only to find two guards standing outside of the lab. They'd heard about a prisoner escape so they were on alert and opened fire.

"Look out," yelled Sarah as she shoved Anatoly out of the way of a bullet. Banai returned fire giving everyone a chance to get to cover. The two guards ran behind a boulder firing at the team pinning them down.

"We need to root them out of there if we going to get into lab and I can see only one way to do that so get ready to move."

"John, don't do anything stupid," said Sarah but she was too late Casey charged the boulder with weapon in hand. "Like doing that," she yelled as she charged behind them.

"Come on this gets the blood pumping," said Casey as he continued to fire every time he saw a head try to pop up.

"And I'd like to keep I pumping where it belongs," said Sarah as she continued firing after Casey ran out. They quickly covered the distance between themselves and the boulder which was the Casey's plan.

The two guards were pinned down and couldn't get up when they finally could Sarah and Casey were on top of them.

"Did someone order a knuckle sandwich," said Casey as he punched the man in the face then laid him out with a right left combination that turned the guy into a bubblehead making him look like one of those little dogs in the back window of a car.

"Come here," said Sarah as she took her guy out. First with a hip throw twisting his arm to dislodge his weapon. The arm made a loud cracking sound as the joint popped out of the shoulder socket then she finished him off with a side thrust to the face.

"Get ready," said Sarah as she grabbed her guard's weapon and Casey did the same. They all ran to the lab door. "On my count I go low you go high then the rest of you guys come in after us."

"Let's do this," said Casey. But they weren't prepared for what they found inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the elevator Razhib worked quietly but carefully. He gently pulled the loose wires out where he could see them and what was behind them. As he suspected the bomb was wired into the control panel. He was going to have to disable the panel cut the wires and pull the blasting caps out of the Semtex.

"Okay this is our current situation," said Razhib. "I'm going to disable the control panel but when I do that we will start to drop. I will immediately cut these wires which will keep the bomb from exploding from our descent. However, then I will need to pull the blasting caps out of the Semtex, but that won't be easy because he's shoved them in deep. If I move the bomb as I'm pulling them out… well take my word for it we don't want me to do that."

"Mike's saying he's going to talk to the explosive experts we have," said Margo. "Let me put him on speaker."

"I've got an idea. Sam, you wouldn't have any glue remover in your bag do you?" Sam looked inside but shook her head.

"No, sorry I don't. I've got disinfectant to clean out wounds and disinfect instruments. I don't know will that work?

"No that won't do. Plastic explosives is a polymer and what I hoped to do was to dissolve and weaken it enough that the blasting caps would just come right out."

"Our expert here says that should work. He'd like for you to take a picture of the bomb and send it to me so I can show him."

"We can take as many pictures are we like but the problem right now is if we move it the liquid mercury fuses with break a circuit then there will be a huge explosion. Oh my… I know why he put this here. Yes, the explosion will travel the length of this shaft all the way into the basement where it will compromise the sustaining pillars of the casino. This whole building will come down like a deck of cards. Mike, you've got to get every one out of here starting with Emma and Bunny."

"I will sound the evacuation but I'm going to stay here with you. Emma doesn't want to leave either. I will have Bunny taken out but we're not leaving you guys."

"Don't be silly," said Margo. "Mike, you're in charge now. You've got to get everyone out including Emma and Bunny. We don't need for you guys to be heroes. Emma go now when we're done and this is over we can all go get our nails done and laugh about this… nails… nail polish… nail polish is a polymer so nail polish remover should…"

"Yes it should work," said Razhib. Margo dug around in her purse and pulled out a partial bottle. "I hope it's a enough."

"Let's hope so," said Razhib as he started pouring it a trickle at first stopping for a few seconds to let it soak then continued. "Crap, we're close but not quite there."

"Here you can use mine," said Sam as she dug out of her bag a full bottle. Everyone looked at her. "What? I'm a girl too and one day when Mommy lets me I'll get my nails painted like the big girls do. I just believe in being prepared."

"I could kiss you right now if I wasn't busy trying to keep us from being blown up," said Razhib as he took the bottle from her then went back to work.

"Don't you even think about it. Just to let you know I've still got my hammer in my bag. You can ask Molly if I'm afraid to use it. I took out some bad guys in Nice with it."

"I did see her do it. But to be honest the lights were off and the men fell to the ground…"

"And I made sure they didn't get up again."

"Why wasn't I told anything about this," said Emma over the phone. "I think you, me and your parents need to have a sit down when they get back."

"I think you just told on yourself," whispered Molly. "And I think you're in it now."

"Shush… I don't know what you understood but I'm sure it wasn't what you thought you heard… I was just testing their reflexes."

"Yeah, it was like tap, tap that's all. Not a knee jerk out of the lot of them. Maybe a moan or two but usually after the second whack there was silence."

"What part of not helping don't you understand," said Sam as she gave Molly a look.

"Can you keep it down," said Razhib. "Okay it's working I need to let it sit for a bit and soften some more. In the meantime, I'm going to use Sam's scalpel to remove some of the Semtex. I'll gently cut it away. The more Semtex I can remove the smaller the explosion and lessen the possibility that the sustain pillars with be compromised."

"The expert said to be careful there could be a hidden trip wire," said Mike. Razhib looked up at Margo and handed her a hunk of plastic explosive.

"Razhib has the situation under control. Has there been any word yet back from the men who went to the airports to grab Ali? I'd really like to force him to stand in the casino right now knowing his fate was in Razhib's hands." Razhib looked up and smiled.

"Sorry but when they got to the airport he was nowhere to be found. They showed his picture around and looked at the CCTV feed but nothing. I was thinking he might've gone to the capital to fly out."

"No… no he didn't fly out," said Razhib. "That's not his style. He's the kind of person who likes to watch as a matter of fact I'm willing to bet he's somewhere nearby watching the casino. This… well this is like a graduation ceremony the Toy Maker would hold when he thought a student was done or he got tired of having them."

"That's good to know. I'll tap into the CCTV feeds around the casino and use facial recognition to locate him. If he's there we should know something soon."

"Crap… crap if this was for me… Mike, do me a favor send someone to the pub in old town. You know the one I'm talking about. I'd like it if you could have them put eyes on Miriam for me. They don't have to identify themselves or bring her in… oh please don't do that but just make sure she's all right. If this SOB planted this for me he had an endgame that I won't like."

"Roger that. Consider it done," said Mike. They heard Mike in the background talking with some he was telling where to go.

"What do you think is his endgame," asked Margo. "I'm not going to like this am I," she said. She already thought she knew it and she didn't like the idea one bit.

"He wants me to go with him. If I pass his test he will try to use Miriam to force me to go with him and be his servant slash accomplice. I've seen what these things can do and I promised myself I'd never make one nor hurt anyone with them."

"I knew some of what you went through after you were kidnapped by your father and taken from my sister. You've seen things no child should ever see and I wish I could take that from you and give you back the years that were stolen from you…"

"But you can't. I wish you could too but what was done can't be undone. However, maybe there was a reason this happened to me. Maybe I was being prepared for this day when what I learned could be used to stop my new family from being hurt."

"I like that idea too," said Margo as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Well enough of me taking you away from your work. But always know you're my little hero," she said as she caressed his face.

"It's funny the feel of your hand is one of the only memories I have of my mother."

"My sister was a special person because she had you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarah and Casey erupted in the laboratory to find Chuck at the launch control. The guards inside drew their weapons but Chuck yelled at them to stand down. They looked at each other then dropped their weapons. Casey looked puzzled at Sarah who looked puzzled at Chuck. Then a computer voice came on starting a count down.

"Good we're in time to stop this," said Casey. "Chuck tell me what I have to do to stop this thing from launching. I'm good at breaking things."

"No John, step away from that panel. We're not going to stop the launch. I helped Abu finish the missile now I'm helping him launch it."

"You're what? Do you feel all right or did you bump your head? Is this the Oslo effect or something like that? Is your Timex still ticking there? Because I though you said you're helping him launch this missile."

"No you heard right. Listen I don't have time to explain but this missile has to launch," said Chuck as the computer voice gave a t-five minutes to launch and the silo doors opened. "You're going to have to trust me on this."

"Chuck our orders are to stop the launch," said Banai. "My government wants the missile destroyed. I can't go on trust alone…"

"Hold up there," said Casey as he pointed his weapon at Banai. "If the man says we need to launch the missile we launch the missile and you commies… what do you have to say comrades. Better dead than red… oh I've been dying to say that since we started."

"Thanks John I think," said Chuck as he lifted the red cap on the firing toggle. Sarah reached over and put her hand on his.

"Are you sure about this? There's no going back on this once that toggle is thrown," she said as she looked into his eyes and recognized her Chuck behind them.

"John, it's called the Stockholm effect not Oslo but no I know what I'm doing," he said as the computer voice said launch then he threw the toggle. The engines fired on the missile. The light was so bright they had to shield their eyes as the missile leaped out of the silo and away disappearing in the sky.

"Will you get that thing out of my face," said Banai as he batted Casey's pistol out of his face. "We're not going to take the blame for nuking Moscow or Kiev."

"Who said anything about nuking anyone? I removed the plutonium payload and replaced it with C-4," said Chuck. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and whole place began to shake violently. "We need to get out of here."

"But where's the plutonium? We need to make sure it's safe before we leave. And where's Abu and Ettore?"

"Abu took the plutonium with him when he made his escape to his sub. Ettore is in my cell… they had a falling out. Now let's go I guess I should try to rescue Ettore."

"Screw Ettore. We need to go after Abu and the plutonium. The last thing we need is for him to make another bomb with it."

"Don't worry about him that's taken care of. Right now, we need to go. You guys go ahead I'll catch up with you." Suddenly smoke started bellowing in from fires the Tomahawk had caused.

"Oh no you don't buster I'm coming with you," said Sarah. "The rest of you go. Take as many people as you can and show them the way out."

"You'll find they don't have any fight left in them. Abu evacuated all his assassins with him. These are just the unlucky few who got left behind. Come on I know the way back to my cell," said Chuck as he grabbed Sarah by the hand and ran out in the smoke. Soon they were out of earshot from the rest.

"Chuck, why are you so concerned about Ettore? Is it because he and Abu downloaded the intersect? That's not your fault."

"Well yes and no. I did try to tell them not to but they didn't… they wouldn't listen. I did everything but I never told them about the governor and now they're coming apart mentally. Abu just launched that missile against his own people and both are developing paranoia as well as megalomania. That's on me because had I told them about the governor then this wouldn't be happening."

"But you can't… don't you see you can't not without giving away that you…. and I have the intersect. This isn't your fault. You didn't make them download it."

"I could've careless if they found out about me. But I couldn't risk them finding out about you. If one went after my governor, then the other would've figured out you have one too and tried to take it. I couldn't… I won't let anything happen to you."

"And I won't let anything happen to you," said Sarah as they came to the prison cell but the guard outside was dead and the cell door opened.

"It looks like Ettore liberated himself," said Chuck as he pulled a paperclip from the lock on the inside of the door. "Let's go join the other."

"Sounds good to me," said Sarah. But they had no sooner gotten to the main passageway when there was another violent explosion and the ground shook again. However, this time part of the ceiling caved in almost falling on them. They quickly retreat but the passageway in front of them was completely blocked.

"Crap what now," said Sarah as she looked at the mass. "We're not going to be able to dig our way out of this," she said as she started to cough. The tunnels were rapidly filling with smoke. "We can't stay here… We've got to find a way out."

"I think I've got an idea," said Chuck as he took her by the hand and ran back down the passageway. But the way to the lab was blocked too. "Crap, I was going to climb out of the silo."

"There has to be another way out," said Sarah as she continued to cough. Chuck took off his shirt and tore it into strips. He found a busted water pipe and got it wet.

"Here hold this over your mouth and nose," said Chuck as he led her back down the passageway. This time they went to the prison cells. Now there was no one around except for them and by now Chuck was having a hard time breathing but he took her to the end of the block.

"Help me take this lid off," he said. "It's a chute that they used to dump bodies down. I think it leads out to sea."

"You think? Chuck, you led us here on a hunch," said Sarah as she helped. The lid came off and they could here water beneath them. "Chuck, you've got no idea where this leads to or how long it is. We could drown before we come out."

"Or we can suffocate in here. If that's not bad enough if there's another attack the roof will cave in on us so what will it be?"

"Okay but we go down together."

"Always," said Chuck as he kissed her through her makeshift air filter mask. They climbed up on the lip then hugged each other. "Here goes nothing," said Chuck as they slid down the chute. It was like a slide in the park. They picked up speed until they dropped into the sea.

Sarah and Chuck tried to hold onto each other but the current was strong and it took them along down a dark tunnel. Chuck felt his lungs aching like they wanted to burst as he tried to hold his breath then suddenly there was light. Sarah grabbed him by the arm and helped him up to the light. Breaking surface they gasped for air but looking around they were too far from the island to swim back and there wasn't a ship or boat in sight.

"Well lucky for us there are very few sharks in the Black Sea because the saline levels are low and the water is cooler than the other seas."

"Chuck, Sweetie, shut up and conserve your energy," said Sarah. But he smiled then swam over to her and kissed her.

"Phew, did you change your perfume? Or did it go bad?"

"Shut up and kiss me again." He obliged but as they were kissing they heard a ship's horn in the distance getting louder.

"I thought you were supposed to hear bells when you kiss," said Chuck. She laughed at him then pushed his head under. He came up with a mouthful of water.

"Don't you dare spit that on me," she said as he spit it out like a cupid in a fountain. "Now all you need is a pigeon to sit on your head."

"I think our ride is here," said Chuck as he started doing the back stroke. The Mason that was a dot on the horizon came steaming straight towards them. As the ship steam towards them she noticed Chuck's mood changed.

"What's wrong? We're being rescued and this nightmare is over. You said the missile wasn't a problem. We just have to locate Abu and recover the plutonium."

"That maybe all academic by now. You see I couldn't risk letting him get away with something that deadly so in the words of my mother I took care of it."

"I don't like it when you quote your mother. Do I want to know what 'taking care of it' means?" said Sarah. She could tell it was something that obviously upset him. "Well you can explain it to me and the General when we get on board," she said as she pointed to a motor whale boat the Mason sent to pick them up.

"First things first we should call home and let everyone know we're okay."