Hello. Thanks for all of the reviews thus far. Lots of interesting critiques regarding the story. (and one person sending a PM ranting on their hatred of original characters). I know sometimes people get tired of having Jimmy Slade pop up or that he seems almost indestructible. But I knew Sarah's team had to have four members on it, and I didn't really have a good idea for the fourth person. Not to mention that person would have to replace Bryce on the show. And as for Jimmy's indestructibility, Sarah sums it up quite well in this chapter.
Once again, I borrow a lot from the actual canon of the show, which is still the property of NBC and Fake Empire Productions. But of course, that was the idea: to go through the early seasons of the show with the TV show the tweak in the storyline. Sometimes I actually miss, like when I still had Chuck say Bryce was an accountant in Chapter 2. Thankfully, nobody caught that (and it's been corrected).
Anyway, writer's rant over. Enjoy this chapter, and please keep sending those reviews. I'm always happy to answer questions about the story.
Echo Park - Los Angeles, CA
September 22, 2015
7:30 PM PDT
"Chuck's got a date with Spy Girl!"
"What? You have a date with Sarah Walker?"
"Way to go, Chuck. That's awesome."
"OK, everybody relax," Chuck said. "And Morgan, get off of me." Morgan slid down to the ground but still acted like a puppy wanting a treat from its owner. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Not a big deal?!" Morgan was incredulous. "One of the biggest stars on TV asked you out. And in case you missed it, SHE asked YOU out. If we were at Comic Con, you'd be, like, a total legend!"
"It's not even a real date. I'm just going out with her and a couple of the other cast members."
Ellie nodded. "You're right, Chuck. It's just going out and having fun. We shouldn't be overreacting. So, who else will be there?"
"I think Carina Miller and Jimmy Slade are coming with us."
"Oh, my God! He is so hot!" Had she not had a sense of decorum, Ellie would have jumped on Chuck's back like Morgan did. "You have to get his autograph for me! I'll wash the dishes for a month if you can get it!"
"Uh, babe?" Devon was a bit irritated by Ellie suddenly acting like a 12-year-old at a One Direction concert.
"Hey, he's on my freebie list. I'm allowed. Besides, you only ever watch the show when Carina gets a lot of screen time."
"I do not. You are so wrong."
"Please. I caught you slowing down the DVR once to get a look at her ass."
"You know, El, I have to side with Awesome on this one," Morgan said. "Carina is as hot as Sarah, in my humble opinion. She does have a lovely caboose, and I have studied the female form for a significant period of my life."
"You have no idea the level to which I know that," Ellie hissed through gritted teeth.
"Where are you guys headed?" Devon asked to head off any further uncomfortable conversation between Morgan and Ellie.
"I'm not sure," Chuck replied. "Sarah said they hadn't been in Los Angeles in a while, so they want me to come up with a place. I was thinking El Compadre."
"Good choice. Very fun, great food, and if all goes well, you'll get in the senorita's pantalónes," Devon said with a wink, which made Chuck grimace.
"OK, well I still have to work tomorrow and get some stuff at the Large Mart, so until then…" Chuck started going to his bedroom. "You can go home, Morgan."
Morgan shuffled his feet and turned around, leaving the apartment with his head down.
Large Mart - Burbank, CA
September 23, 2015
11:30 AM PDT
Chuck shook his head as he looked at the metal shelves that seemed to reach to the sky in this place. Ellie completed her residency last year, and Devon was one of the top cardiologists in the city. Their combined income was enough to buy a mansion in Bel Air, yet Ellie insisted on buying staple items in bulk. And given her little brother worked right next to a Large Mart, she figured it worked out for her just fine. For Chuck, not so much. Harry Tang had already been on his case today regarding the number of Nerd Herd calls. Even though Big Mike hadn't started interviewing for the Assistant Manager position, Harry was acting as if he already had the job. Chuck wondered how long it would be before Harry started wearing a custom-made polo shirt announcing to the world that he was the Assistant Manager. He put the over/under at two days.
He walked down the aisles, but the paper towels Ellie wanted him to pick up weren't in their usual location. He spotted a man in the aisle.
"Excuse me, sir, but do you know where they sell the…"
Chuck suddenly froze. Yesterday, he saw a bunch of images flash through his mind when he realized the police were busy on the I-5. It happened later when he saw General Stanfield. The same picture of Stanfield flooded his mind again, along with an image of C-4 plastic explosives, an exploding building and the passport of the man in front of him: Vuc Andric, a Serbian demolitions expert.
"What do you want?" Andric asked in a foreboding tone.
"Um…no, nothing. Sorry. Nothing at all."
Chuck started to walk away, but he got the feeling Andric was following him. That was because Andric was following him. Chuck turned the corner and sprinted to find the nearest employee. He tried to tell her about Andric, but Andric was going through the checkout being very friendly to the cashier. Chuck turned back to the warehouse to see customers and employees walk around like nothing was going on.
Andric eyed Chuck and kept his Sig Sauer underneath his coat. He then got out his mobile phone. He was playing a hunch, but he didn't want to take a chance.
Hotel Amarano - Burbank, CA
September 23, 2015
6:00 PM PDT
Sarah strapped the holster containing three throwing daggers to her ankle. She considered packing her Smith & Wesson 5906, but she didn't want to go overboard arming herself. If those daggers came out in a crowded location…and it was usually very crowded wherever she made an appearance…the entire team's cover would be blown. That was the reason Carina and Jimmy were joining Chuck and her on the date.
She was putting on her custom-fitted Kevlar vest when her phone rang. It was Graham.
"You're on your own on this one, Sarah. I can't help you if something goes wrong. You better hope your whole crew is up to this."
"We're ready. Casey's monitoring things, and I have Carina and Jimmy watching our backs. It's just…" Sarah paused for a moment, remembering everything Chuck did at the Buy More yesterday. "…I don't know about this guy."
"Nice guys aren't sent government secrets. Get that data. If he tries to run…kill him."
Graham hung up. Sarah stared at her phone for a moment. Graham could be right. Sarah was fairly certain this Chuck was just a regular guy, but fairly certain wasn't completely certain. Why would Bryce steal an entire database of government secrets and send them to a seemingly-innocent Buy More employee? It didn't make any sense.
There was a knock on her door, and Sarah went to answer it, keeping one hand on her gun.
"Look on the bright side, Walker," Carina said when Sarah opened the door. "If you kiss this guy, he won't cry like the last guy you dated."
Sarah made a face at her as Carina walked in. "You're hysterical. That was two years ago, and as it turns out, he had good reason to do that."
"Yeah, poor Jimmy," Carina said with considerable derision. "Some gorgeous babe had the hots for him. Doesn't that just suck?"
Sarah rolled her eyes in aggravation "Why are you here, anyway? The limousine won't pick us up for thirty minutes."
"Two things. First, I wanted to borrow the pair of Jimmy Choo's that Casey customized for you."
Sarah went to her closet and pulled out the pair of shoes Carina requested. "And the other thing?"
Carina held up two long needles and a small jar. "Compliments of your co-star. Jimmy figured there would be a problem if you pulled out your gun, so he came up with this."
Carina opened the jar and dipped the needle tips into a red liquid. "Just wear them in your hair and no one will be the wiser if you have to use them."
Sarah went back to the mirror. She braided her hair to be off of her shoulders and then placed the needles inside of the braid. She gave it a good look and was satisfied.
"Good thinking, Carina," Sarah said.
"I figured you weren't going to wear anything with long sleeves, so this was the best we could come up with. Jimmy has tranq shooters he can attach to his wrists that are loaded with that toxin. He lifts his middle finger fast, and the nerve impulses in his wrist will set them off. I think he got that from a Bond film."
So, Jimmy can knock someone out by giving them the finger?" Sarah couldn't help but smile at that. "That sounds like something he'd come up with. But you two will be armed, right?"
Carina waved her Sig Sauer P226 SL. "This is not my first mission." She then handed Sarah a pin. "Digital camera to send a live feed to Casey in the van in addition to the restaurant's surveillance cameras. Jimmy and I have them disguised as buttons on our attire."
"Good," Sarah replied as she put on the pin. "I think we're as prepared as we can be."
Carina noticed Sarah's uneasiness. "Casey could be right, you know. Bartowski could be playing us."
"But why ransack his own apartment? How would he even know we were coming after him?"
"Why did Bryce send him the database in the first place? The Buy More could be a drop-off point, and Bartowski could be the courier."
"That's quite a disguise for a drop-off point. Nobody seems to do a lot of work there except for Chuck and that Harry Tang. Given his obsessiveness about being in charge that would have to be quite an act, too."
Someone knocked on the door. "Let's just slow-play this," Sarah said as she went to the door. 'I can get him to open up. Just follow my lead."
Sarah opened the door to find Jimmy standing there. "The limo's here and Casey is set at the restaurant. Ready?"
Sarah gave a little smile. She was so glad she dragged Jimmy to an upscale shopping district not long after they met. He didn't really get the concept of wearing the right fashion labels. But he was getting better.
Sarah looked at Carina, who walked towards the door. Sarah turned back to Jimmy. "Let's do this."
Echo Park - Los Angeles, CA
September 23, 2015
6:45 PM PDT
Chuck exited his apartment to wait for the limousine to show. Now that the date was about to begin, he was a lot more enthusiastic about it. Of course, part of that may have been because of the long day he had. He still couldn't understand what happened in the Large Mart. Who was that red-headed creepy guy? And why did visions of explosives and collapsing buildings fill his head? It was starting to drive him crazy. To make matters worse, returning to the Buy More to discover Jeff and Lester had left him plenty of irate customers at the Nerd Herd desk…not to mention Harry Tang getting on his case about the plenty of irate customers at the Nerd Herd desk…meant he was pretty exhausted when he got home an hour ago.
Ellie walked out of the apartment with a bouquet of flowers. "These were left over from the party," she said as she handed it to him. It only made sense. She went through his closet to pick out the best thing for him to wear on the date. "And don't forget the old girlfriend rule…"
"Right. Got it. No talking about Jill," Chuck replied.
Ellie looked at him and smiled. Going out on a date, even with someone like Sarah Walker, wasn't going to solve all of Chuck's problems. She supported him as best as she could after he was expelled and forced to take an $11 per hour job at the Buy More. But at least tonight was a positive step forward.
"Aces, Charles. You're aces," Ellie told him.
That put a big smile on Chuck's face. "A Dad quote. I'm impressed. Love ya, sis."
"I love you. Have fun."
Chuck heard the honk of a car on the street. "I will. I'll try."
Chuck left…and Morgan was hiding behind him. "It's just…they grow up so fast," Morgan said sentimentally.
"Go home, Morgan," Ellie said as a wave of nausea threatened to make its presence known. "Just…go home. Go."
El Compadre Restaurant - Burbank, CA
September 23, 2015
8:00 PM PDT
It may not have been a date in the strictest sense of the word, but it had been a long time since Chuck had this much fun.
He had expected Sarah, Carina, and Jimmy to be the typical stuck-up Hollywood actors, but he could not have been more wrong. Carina was a bit guarded, but Jimmy seemed to know a lot of the same movies and TV shows he knew, and Sarah had that smile that made him feel good every time she brought it out. And that was often. Even better, the restaurant was bending over backwards for their table, bringing the finest wine and keeping the mariachi band close by but not too close.
"I have to admit, I thought you'd be getting mobbed right now," Chuck said to the three of them. "Doesn't the paparazzi follow your every move? And I would have thought people would have been begging and pleading for your autographs."
"Well, it's amazing what giving the maitre d' $500 will get you in a restaurant," Jimmy said.
"Besides, the paparazzi wouldn't care about us," Carina added. "They'd be after you."
"Wait. Why me?" Chuck asked nervously.
"They know who we are. But they'd have a great new story of trying to find out who you are and why you're on a date with Sarah."
"Oh, well that makes sense. I guess. But do they really care that much about whom you date?"
"A lot more than you think, Chuck. I've been linked to a few guys myself."
"And sometimes entire area codes," Casey muttered from the surveillance van, which caused Sarah and Jimmy to bite down hard to prevent themselves from laughing.
"So, Chuck," Sarah began to get everybody concentrating again. "You live in Echo Park?"
"Yeah, I live with my sister and her boyfriend, Captain Awesome."
"No," Sarah said with a laugh. "So you call him Captain Awesome?"
"Yeah, wait until you meet him. Everything he does is awesome. Climbing mountains, jumping out of planes…flossing…"
Sarah laughed even harder. "That's funny."
"Well, I'm a funny guy."
"Clearly. Which is good because I am not funny."
Carina and Jimmy glanced at Sarah. Nobody else would be able to notice it, but both of them…and no doubt Casey, too…suspected this was Sarah talking and not Agent Walker. Carina had known her old friend long enough to know when she was letting her guard down. Casey had spotted it from time to time, the most recent being when Sarah had a huge smile watching the young ballerina at the Buy More yesterday. And since Sarah went to Jimmy a lot to talk about things the other two didn't want to hear, he learned quickly how to spot the signs.
"Is that your big secret, by the way?" Chuck asked. "Because I've been sitting here trying to figure out what's wrong with you, and I was thinking either she's a cannibal or she's just not that funny. And I was pulling for cannibal because I've never met one before."
"Um, not a cannibal, but I did just come out of a relationship so I may come with baggage."
"Well, I can be your very own baggage handler," Chuck offered, which led to a bit of an uncomfortable silence. "So, you were dating this guy?"
"We dated a bit while we were doing the show up in Toronto, but Bruce couldn't handle the long schedule I kept, so…"
"Bruce? Yeah, you give me crap for being Chuck and you went out with a Bruce? That's nice."
"There's a Bruce Springsteen," Sarah said, not entirely thrilled about being challenged like that.
"And there's a Chuck Norris," Chuck countered.
"This could go on for a while," Carina said. "How about we call it a tie and save Jimmy and me the aggravation?"
"Please," Jimmy begged.
Chuck laughed at that. "So, how did all of you end up on the show?"
Sarah gave a little smile. They had the answers to that question down to a science. "It was pure luck on my part. You know how Lana Turner was discovered in an ice cream shop and Pamela Anderson was at a football game? It was the same for me. It was a Starbucks in West Hollywood. A producer there thought I could make it. I did a commercial here and there and then I got this show."
"And Sarah knew me from way back," Carina continued. "I did some theater in the West End in London, but she encouraged me to audition for the role of Jill Garrett when she was introduced in season two. And as they say, the rest is history."
"What about you?" Chuck asked Jimmy.
"I wasn't making much noise in Hollywood. I worked a bit with the Groundlings, and before that I was at Second City and the Improv Olympic in Chicago. Apparently I was too old and too attractive to be a cast member on Saturday Night Live, but then the role of Lance McCall became available and I got it. I can't lie: being the new kid on the block was very intimidating."
"But we welcomed him with open arms," Carina said.
"And in your case, open legs," Casey muttered over their earpieces.
Sarah did a spit take with the margarita she was drinking. She would have been furious with Casey for doing that if what he said wasn't so damn funny…and true.
"You OK?" Chuck asked her with a grin.
"Sorry," she replied as she wiped off her mouth with her napkin. "I'm just remembering a story about these two from a couple of years ago."
Sarah looked furtively at Jimmy, hoping he could cover for what she did.
"Oh, you mean the underwear story?" Jimmy asked.
Sarah nodded quickly while pretending to stifle a laugh and failing. "God, that was classic."
"Come on. Chuck doesn't want to hear that."
"Actually, this sounds interesting," Chuck said with piqued curiosity. "Anything involving underwear has to be good."
Jimmy put his hands up in surrender. "OK, but I wash my hands of anything that happens. For the first two months I was on the show, Carina thought I was gay."
"Really?" Chuck's grin stretched from ear to ear, which definitely made Sarah's night.
"I think it was the fifth episode I was on. The one in Paris, if I remember correctly."
"I remember that. Great episode. You and Carina were hysterical in it."
"There was that one scene where Jill and Lance had to fool the bad guys and make them believe they were a newlywed couple, so we did that quick striptease and got our clothes off. Now of course, we're not really naked; it's all camera angles and strategically-placed attire to make it look that way. Well, we're kissing and Carina gets annoyed that something was happening with me. Or should I say, NOT happening with me."
Chuck's eyes widened, and his grin threatened to break his jaw. "You mean?"
"Oh, she was NOT happy about that. She blew the take on purpose six times in a row. Finally she gave up, did the scene correctly, and just assumed I was gay. Of course, all she had to do was ask pretty much anybody on the set, and they would have told her the truth."
"What?"
"They have this apparatus male actors can wear during scenes like that which will keep them…taped down, as it were. I suppose I could have told her, but what would be the fun in that? And she got pissed at me when she found out I was doing that."
Chuck laughed as he glanced cautiously at Carina, who was doing a slow burn despite the fact Jimmy's story was a complete lie. "Did you know?" he asked Sarah.
"I suspected it, but I didn't tell Carina. She was giving me grief about dating Bruce and I thought a little payback was in order. But I knew Jimmy was that considerate because when we had our first kissing scene in the middle of that season, he asked me if I had a favorite flavor of mouthwash. I thought that was a weird question until he explained he would use whatever flavor I preferred to make things easier, regardless of whether he liked the flavor or not."
"Yeah," Jimmy said. "At the risk of sounding like Neil Young, she's a cinnamon girl and I am not a fan of that flavor. But I did it to be nice. Of course, she was mad at me one day for reasons I still don't know when we had one of these scenes, and I got a mouthful of Philly cheesesteak breath for my efforts."
Sarah felt a little more relaxed as the entire table laughed over that. Rescuing each other from capture, confiscating dangerous weapons, or taking on large groups of enemies were simple compared to little moments like these. But she trusted her team because they always came through.
"So Chuck," Sarah continued. "What about you? What skeletons do you have in your closet? Any…secrets? Any women?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah. Actually, back in college there was someone…" His voice trailed off and Sarah waited intently for him to finish. "…Actually that's all over with now, and her restraining orders are very specific."
Sarah laughed. Chuck thought he could live happily the rest of his life if he got to see that smile and hear that laugh every day.
"I like you, Chuck," Sarah said, which gave him a smile as well.
~/^\~
Chuck and Sarah walked across the bridge with Carina and Jimmy trailing a few steps behind them. Carina claimed they were trying to give Chuck and Sarah some breathing room to talk, but they were actually keeping an eye on things. Plus, having only Sarah within earshot might relax Chuck enough to talk more.
"So, where are we going?" Sarah asked him.
"Well, do you like music?"
"I guess."
Chuck laughed. "You guess? What's your favorite band?" Sarah froze at that answer, as she rarely ever had a mark more interested in her than they were of themselves. "Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh."
"God, I'm not funny, I don't listen to music; this must be your worst date ever, right?" she said with a hint of embarrassment.
Chuck wasn't paying attention because he saw a police escort under the bridge. This triggered another series of images, and he saw both Stanfield and the scary guy from the Large Mart again. This time, the image of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel was added to the mix. Sarah looked back towards Jimmy, hoping he could shed some light on why Chuck suddenly stopped talking, but Jimmy threw his hands up in surrender.
She turned back to Chuck. "I was waiting for you to say no."
Chuck appeared to be in a fog, but he shook it off. "Sorry, sorry. I kind of zoned out there for a second. But no! No, I've had much, much worse dates…experiences…with women. Back in 11th grade…"
"Oh, 11th grade? You have to go back that far?" Sarah couldn't stop laughing at that.
Aragon West – Burbank, CA
September 23, 2015
9:30 PM PDT
The four arrived at the club where Chuck told them a great band was playing. Carina contacted the limo driver to send him there while Jimmy relayed the information to Casey. They paid the cover charge, and Jimmy slipped the bouncer a couple of hundred dollar bills to make sure they weren't hassled through the night. Descending the stairs, they took in the scene. The band, Foreign Born, was as good as Chuck boasted. Carina and Jimmy went out to the floor to dance while Chuck and Sarah sat down with their drinks.
"They're good," Sarah told Chuck.
"Good! Good," he replied.
"Case, are you set up?" Carina asked quietly from the dance floor.
"Give me two minutes," he replied as he snuck down the alley to gain access to the club's surveillance system.
As Carina and Jimmy danced, they noticed a half-dozen agents in suits coming down the two stairwells into the club. Sarah's view of the stairwells was blocked because of where she sat with Chuck, but she saw the cold look on Carina's face and the sudden hard set of the jaw on Jimmy. She knew there was trouble. And staying put was the worst thing to do.
"Let's dance," Sarah told Chuck.
"I'm not really much of a dancer…" but Chuck was cut off by Sarah pulling him up and onto the dance floor. She started dancing to the music, her eyes locked on Chuck the entire time. Chuck couldn't believe how well this date was going.
Carina and Jimmy moved across the dance floor to be near them as one agent approached from their right.
"Spin and dip," Carina told Jimmy. Jimmy grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, spinning her in the process. Carina leaned back as Jimmy held her hands. Her left heel went into the air and Jimmy pressed a button on Carina's bracelet. A small but sharp dagger launched out of the heel of her shoe, nailing the agent dead-on. Sarah turned Chuck so he didn't see the agent fall.
Two more agents approached, attempting to flank Chuck and Sarah. Sarah danced more seductively to keep Chuck's attention on her.
"Save a horse; ride a cowboy," Jimmy told Carina. Carina took two steps towards Jimmy and leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around him and putting her hands behind his neck. Jimmy stepped around so Carina and he were between the agents while Sarah pulled Chuck away. Jimmy reached out in both directions and flicked his middle fingers. The poisonous darts flew out of their launchers and hit the two agents.
"Three down, three to go," Carina said.
Sarah spotted two more. She kept her eyes locked on Chuck as she pulled the two needles out of her hair, shaking it out to its normal style. Chuck looked to the sky, completely mesmerized by Sarah. He never noticed her throwing the two needles at those agents, who promptly went down from the poison on them.
Sarah danced around so she was behind Chuck, sliding her body against his and cupping his ass. She glanced behind her to see the last agent coming at her fast. She pulled a dagger out of her ankle holster, sent it into the agent's stomach, and kicked him in the face to finish him off. She then lay on the ground between Chuck's legs and held her hands out for Chuck to pull her up.
"I'm in," Casey said over their earpieces. "Get Bartowski out of there. There's at least twenty more agents here."
"Go, Sarah," Jimmy said. "I'll get the limo. Carina, make sure they aren't followed."
As Sarah grabbed Chuck's arm and pulled him towards the exit, she took note of a man standing there with a long scar on his face. He didn't make a move towards them. If anything, he looked amused.
Jimmy ran to the back of the club and located the limousine. He knocked on the driver's door. He got no response, so he pulled the door open.
"Oh, shit," he said fearfully as the limo driver fell out of the driver's seat. His throat had been slashed. Jimmy fished the keys out of the man's pocket and started the limousine.
"Whoah, where's the fire?" Chuck asked Sarah as they sprinted outside. He turned back towards the club to see Carina running out and carrying a gun. "What the hell is going on?"
Sarah didn't have time to answer as an SUV sped towards them. Carina opened fire, but the SUV kept coming. From the opposite direction, the limousine came screaming around the other corner. The limo skidded to block the SUV from getting to Chuck and Sarah. The driver opened fire with two guns.
Jimmy stuck his head out of the window. "GET IN! NOW!"
Sarah ran for the door as Jimmy tossed Sarah's Smith & Wesson to her. "Get in the limo, Chuck!"
"Tell me what's going on!"
"GET IN THE LIMO RIGHT NOW!"
Chuck was too scared to not listen. He didn't know what was going on. He got in the back of the limousine as Sarah got in the other side. Jimmy floored it and headed down Glendale Blvd. with the SUV in pursuit.
"Seatbelts!" Jimmy shouted from the front.
"Just tell me what's going on!" Chuck demanded as Sarah and he put on their seatbelts.
"What's going on is that half of L.A. is trying to kill us and I ended up as Happy frickin' Hogan!"
"Chuck, you received a file the other day from Bryce Larkin," Sarah said quickly.
"Wait, Bryce Larkin? Your former co-star?"
We used to work together at the CIA."
The limousine made a hard turn around the corner, and Chuck could barely hang on. It was a good thing Jimmy told them to buckle up.
"The CIA? What are you talking about?"
All of us are agents for the government. Me, Carina, Jimmy, and our other partner, John Casey. The TV show is our cover."
Chuck stared at her before laughing his head off. "Oh, come on! I'm supposed to believe that four actors who play spies on TV are REAL spies?"
"Do you see any cameras filming this?" Jimmy called from the front of the limo.
"Chuck, these people are after you," Sarah said.
Chuck was beyond scared by this point. "Why, why me? I'm nobody! I'm the supervisor of a Nerd Herd at a Buy More. Maybe one day I'll be Assistant Store Manager, but I don't even know if I want that job."
A series of shots shattered the rear window of the limousine.
"Stay down!" Sarah commanded as she pulled Chuck down in the seat and readied her gun. "Jimmy, time to go on offense."
Jimmy threw the steering wheel hard to the left, and the entire limousine spun around. Sarah fired at the SUV from the passenger side window in the back while Jimmy shot at the SUV from the driver's side. He gunned the engine as the windshield on the SUV was shot out. At the last second, he steered the car slightly to the right. The limo clipped the bumper of the SUV, launching it into the air because of its higher center of gravity. The SUV rolled over to its right, sliding along the pavement on its side. The limousine skidded out of control. Jimmy tried to steer it out of trouble, but it was too late. The limousine crashed into the side of a building. Chuck and Sarah were thrown around in the back while Jimmy got a face full of airbag.
Sarah looked over at Chuck, who appeared to be dazed. She took off her seatbelt and grabbed Chuck's face. "Chuck, Chuck, are you OK?"
Chuck sat for a few more seconds in a daze before shaking it off. "Yeah, I'm OK."
Sarah unbuckled his belt. "We have to go. Casey said there were at least twenty agents there."
Chuck tried the door but it wouldn't budge. Sarah saw Jimmy standing outside the door. "Cover your face, Chuck."
Chuck did as she commanded and Jimmy smashed the window with his gun. He then got a hold of the door and ripped it open.
"Let's go," he said as Chuck gingerly stepped out of the car. Jimmy held on to him as he also helped Sarah get out of the car. The three started walking away from the limousine.
"Any movement over there?" Sarah asked.
Jimmy looked over at the SUV as he reloaded his guns. "If anybody is still alive in that thing, then that is my next car."
"Chuck, what happened to that email Bryce sent you?" Sarah asked. "Did you delete it?"
"No, I opened it. It was a line from Zork. It was a video game we used to play. There was, like, a riddle and I solved it and then there were pictures. Lots and lots of pictures."
"You saw them?"
"Was I not supposed to?"
They were interrupted by the roar of an engine. An SUV similar to the one that chased them was bearing down on the three from behind at high speed.
Jimmy grabbed Chuck and Sarah and threw them out of the SUV's path. "Get him out of here!"
He pivoted and pulled both of his guns out. He emptied both clips at the SUV, aiming one of the guns at the ground so the bullets would ricochet and hit the SUV from underneath. The SUV continued to come at him. Jimmy jumped into the air as the SUV got to him, and he landed hard on the windshield. He took his gun and aimed it inside the driver's side window, shooting at anything that moved. The SUV careened out of control and hit a dirt pile on a construction site. Jimmy was thrown from the vehicle as it flipped through the air several times, eventually landing on its roof. Jimmy lay on the dirt in the construction zone.
"Oh, that was stupid," he muttered as every part of his body was in pain.
Chuck and Sarah ran down the street to the next intersection. Chuck was overloaded with adrenaline at this point and scared out of his mind. He never saw anything on the TV show remotely resembling this, and all of it was really happening.
"What about Jimmy?" he asked as the two ran. "There's no way he could have survived that."
"You'd be amazed at the things he can survive," Sarah replied. "He's…a little crazy."
"He jumped onto a speeding SUV! What the hell does he call that?"
Sarah threw her hands up. "Wednesday?"
She stopped near the entrance to a garage at a corporate office. "Casey, track our signal and come get us. Have Carina get Jimmy. He's two blocks southeast of our location."
She turned to Chuck. "Did you make a backup of the email? Do you have an external drive or memory card?"
"No, no," Chuck replied. "The file deleted itself. I tried to get it back but I couldn't."
Another SUV came roaring out of the parking garage.
"Chuck, let's go!" Sarah shouted, but Chuck was borderline catatonic at this point.
Sarah looked towards the attendant's booth and saw a sign that said "emergency blockade button." She also saw the barriers between the SUV and them. She reached for a dagger in her ankle, threw it at the button, and tackled Chuck to the ground. The barriers shot upward just as the SUV got to them. The SUV was decimated.
Casey's surveillance van arrived. "Come on, Chuck," Sarah said as she pulled him up while Casey got out of the van.
"What is going on?" Casey said.
"We barely escaped from these agents. Chuck confirmed Bryce sent him the email. Chuck opened it and the file destroyed itself, but he saw its contents."
"What the hell do you mean? He saw those pictures?"
Chuck's head cleared enough for him to realize what was going on, and he didn't want any part of these people. He started to run.
"Chuck, no!" Sarah cried.
Suddenly Chuck stopped running. He saw the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in the distance, and all of the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place with his flash.
"They're going to kill him," he said.
"Kill who?" Casey asked.
"Stanfield. The general. General Stanfield. That NATO guy." Neither Sarah nor Casey looked convinced. "Look, something is wrong with me, OK? I don't know what it is, but something is very, very wrong with me and I'm remembering things I shouldn't have."
"OK, Chuck. Talk to me," Sarah said. "Like what?"
"I don't know. For example, there was a Serbian demolitions expert at the Large Mart today. That's kind of odd, wouldn't you say? Look, last week the NSA intercepted some blueprints of a hotel. That hotel right there." Chuck pointed towards the Westin Bonaventure.
"And then the CIA found the schematics of a bomb in Prague. The bomb is in that hotel!"
"So he was working for Bryce," Casey said, ready to put two in the back of Chuck's head.
"No, Case. He opened Bryce's email," Sarah replied. "Chuck, those pictures you saw were encoded with secrets. Government secrets. If you saw them, then you know them."
"There…there were thousands of them," Chuck said in disbelief.
"So all of our secrets are in his head?" Casey said.
"Chuck IS the computer," Sarah said. "Chuck, is there enough time to defuse the bomb?"
Chuck was visibly shaking. "Look, I can't help you. I wish I could, but I can't. Call Bryce! He's the guy who can save the day."
"Bryce is dead!" Sarah exclaimed. "He died sending those secrets to you."
Chuck stood there motionless, unable to grasp any sense of reality…until Casey fired a shot into the air.
"And a lot of people will be joining him if we don't act fast. So pretty please, can we defuse the bomb now?"
The three climbed into Casey's van and sped towards the Westin Bonaventure. Chuck charged into the hotel and leapt through the fountains in the lobby to get to the correct ballroom in spite of Sarah and Casey trying to stop him.
"Where's the bomb?" Casey asked him as they entered the San Francisco ballroom, where General Stanfield was giving his speech.
Chuck spotted a serving tray in the middle of the room. The crowd gasped as they saw Sarah and Casey come in.
"Well, I'm glad we have a couple of celebrities in our presence," Stanfield started before an L.A. Police officer walked up to him and whispered something in his ear. "Ladies and gentlemen, we may have a cautionary situation here. We're going to take a short break."
Chuck, Sarah, and Casey ran over to the serving tray and opened it up. Fifty pounds of C4 were connected to a laptop computer.
"Jimmy, how fast can you get to the Westin Bonaventure?" Sarah asked.
"Carina just found me. We can be there in two minutes," he replied.
The clock on the laptop showed less than ninety seconds. Sarah and Casey looked for alternatives.
"Disconnect the laptop," Sarah said.
"There's no trigger," Casey replied. "The cables?"
"No, definitely a trap. Chuck, is there anything else you remember about the bomb?"
Before he could answer, his phone rang. It was Morgan. "Hey, Morgan."
"Hey, how's it going?" Morgan asked.
"Little busy right now, buddy."
"In a good way? Details!"
"Why are you calling?"
"You know, just lying on your bed. Ellie's with the Captain, my computer's got a case of the Demovas…"
Chuck hung up the phone, a big light bulb having gone off in his head. "I think I have an idea. This is a Prism Express laptop, OK? We sell these at our store. It has a DOS override."
The clock was down to thirty seconds. "I think I can do this. I can do this. Please?"
"He's our best shot," Sarah said. Casey relented and let Chuck at the computer.
Chuck typed a search into the computer. "Mr. Bomb, meet Mr. Internet."
"He's searching for porn," Casey said in disgust.
"Nuh-uh," Chuck said as he accessed Irene Demova's website. The virus downloaded and shorted out the computer with less than a second to spare.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "You did it," Sarah told him.
"I did it. I did it. I…defused a real bomb." Then reality hit. "What if I was wrong?" Chuck began to hyperventilate.
"Don't puke on the C4," Casey said as he left.
Westin Bonaventure Hotel – Los Angeles, CA
September 23, 2015
11:00 PM PDT
"So what do we do?" Carina asked.
"This could have been a fluke. Even a blind squirrel can find a nut," Casey said.
"What if it wasn't?" Sarah asked. "What if he could stop something even bigger?"
"Fine, put him in a psych tank and let him stare at four rubber walls for the next ten years."
"Yeah, because that worked so well when they did it to me," Jimmy replied with considerable acidity towards Casey.
"How does this even work?" Carina asked.
"There is no pattern to it. Anything can set off a flash. Sights, sounds, even smells. The only good news is that Chuck recovered quickly according to what Sarah and Casey saw. I had searing headaches when it happened to me way back when."
"And what do we do about his friends, Case?" Sarah asked. "His job? What about his sister?"
Chuck slowly approached the group. "Wait, what about my sister?"
"Sorry, Chuck," Jimmy replied. "We're just trying to figure this thing out."
"No no no. You have to leave my family and my friends out of this."
"We'll see," Casey replied, which didn't sound like much of a guarantee he'd listen to Chuck.
"Look, Bryce sent that email to me. I'm the one remembering all of your secrets. Which means you have to listen to me. All of you."
Although it wasn't the most irate expression Chuck ever had, it was enough to get the point across. "Right now, I want to go home."
Chuck turned and walked out of the room. Casey went to grab him, but he was held back by Jimmy and Carina.
"Now what?" Carina asked. "How do we convince him to work with us?"
Jimmy shook his head. "Now you know why I wanted to recuse myself from this. I can't be objective when it comes to the Intersect."
"Actually, I agree with Graham," Sarah told him. "You know what it was like to be in Chuck's situation. You're the one person who could understand what he's going through."
Jimmy walked to the window and looked out at the Los Angeles skyline. "There's one thing he'll need for certain. Something I never had when I went through this."
"What's that?"
Cabrillo Beach – San Pedro, CA
September 24, 2015
6:30 AM PDT
Chuck looked out over the ocean. Granted, most of the ocean was behind him, as he was facing east. But he liked to come here from time to time to watch the sun rise over the water. Usually it helped him relax, but even the view couldn't relieve the stress he went through last night. It didn't feel real to him. He had all of the government's secrets in his head, attempt after attempt was made on his life, and he was saved by a group of people who were not only spies on a TV show but were spies in real life. All of it was still hard for him to handle.
"How long have you been here?" Chuck asked Sarah, feeling her presence behind him.
"All night," she replied as she sat down next to him.
"There's nowhere I can run, is there."
Sarah gave a little smile. "Not from us."
"So, are all of you here to haul me in?"
"No. Jimmy and I are the only ones here. He's waiting by the car, keeping an eye on things to be on the safe side, but I wanted some privacy."
Chuck hung his head. It was bad enough the one stroke of good luck he had in a long time turned out to be a ruse, but now it appeared it wasn't over by a longshot.
"Talk to me, Chuck," Sarah said gently.
He looked out at the ocean. "Yesterday I was making $11 an hour fixing computers. Now I have one in my brain, and I can't figure out why Bryce did this. Why he chose me."
He turned to look at Sarah. "What are you going to do with me? What happens now?"
"You'll work with us. We'll protect you and keep you safe."
"Even Casey? He didn't seem too thrilled to have met me."
"He's part of the team. And we're the best team of agents in the government. We've helped each other, even saved each other's lives, time and time again. We work well together, even if Casey doesn't always show it. But I trust these people more than I have ever trusted anybody in my life, and believe me when I say you can, too."
"What about my friends? My family?"
"Tell them nothing. We'll come up with a way for you to stay near us that makes sense. But you have to keep this to yourself. The less they know, the safer they'll be. But I need you to do one thing for me."
"Yeah?"
"Trust me, Chuck."
Chuck stared into her eyes. The last twelve hours felt completely out of his control. But looking at Sarah, he felt a calm he hadn't experienced in a long time. Right then, the stress of his expulsion, his breakup with Jill, the shame he felt when Ellie saw him for the first time after he came home, dealing with the Nerd Herd, all of it disappeared. Perhaps trusting Sarah was the wise thing to do. Given what her team did for him last night, it felt like a very safe bet.
He gave her a smile and she gently nudged his shoulder.
Echo Park - Los Angeles, CA
September 24, 2015
7:00 AM PDT
Chuck arrived home to Ellie and Morgan greeting him at the door, both of whom hugged him at the same time.
"Where have you been?" Ellie asked. "All night? I was worried sick! I even called Morgan."
"All night!" Morgan said on top of Ellie's berating of Chuck. "I even got to hang out with Ellie. How far did you get, man?!"
"Morgan, shut up."
Devon walked up to the three in the middle of their hug in hospital scrubs. "Early procedure today, so…group hug, huh?" He joined in. "Awesome."
Chuck stood there and let the trio welcome him home. But somehow the thought of being the government's most important asset didn't feel so awesome to him.