Hello. I tried my best to get this chapter out as quickly as possible because all of us know what was next in the Chuck timeline. It took a lot of work, but hopefully I was able to make the plotline work without having Lou around to make Sarah jealous and for Casey to interrogate. Actually, it turned out she was still of great use for the chapter, even though she wasn't a love interest for obvious reasons.
There was a lot of controversy in the last chapter about what Bryce did when he tanked Chuck's test scores and got him kicked out of Stanford. There were a number of people who thought Bryce had no right to do that. But this was my take. Had Bryce not done that, wouldn't he be saying it was OK for the CIA to do the exact same thing? The CIA was going to take Chuck, regardless of what Chuck wanted to do. I don't think it's a matter of right vs. wrong; it was a matter of more wrong vs. less wrong. Neither decision was a good one. But Bryce (and Chuck, obviously) were in a 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' situation.
I admit to flying very blind in this chapter. Please let me know if how I wrote it worked out for you. Those of you who had problems with some of the things I did know I always try to explain my line of thinking regarding whatever I wrote (even to that one person who went on a psychotic rant about OCs a few chapters back). So don't be afraid to tell me if something didn't work for you. I'm not perfect; not even remotely close. But leaving reviews knows the story has you engaged.
IMPORTANT NOTE: There are a few curse words in this chapter, including one f-bomb, so I apologize if you don't like seeing that.
And I promise I'll put Chuck and Sarah together faster than the show did. Just not in this chapter. :-D
Enjoy!
Helsinki, Finland
November 19, 2015
2:00 AM EET
A cargo container glided slowly through the air on its way to a stack of other cargo containers. The longshoreman supervising the move couldn't help but be nervous, seeing not only a team of heavily-armed men around him, but having to carry an automatic weapon as well.
"HEY! Huolellinen idiootti! (Careful, you idiot!)" the man shouted as he heard the container scrape against another container. "Tämä asia on elää! (This thing is live!)" The crane operator made the necessary corrections and the container slid easily down into the group of six for which it was meant.
The longshoreman breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was he troubled by the weapons being carried around in the area, but the container was peppered with biohazard symbols and special care instructions on the bill of lading.
Thankfully, he didn't know about the large circular drum inside with the countdown clock on it, currently showing just over 72 hours and 58 minutes.
O.C. Studios – Hollywood, CA
November 19, 2015
12:30 PM PST
Lance McCall picked the lock to the back door of the Home Made store. Jen Burton was in there somewhere, undoubtedly trying to avoid the very large number of cartel sicarios who trapped her inside. Jill Garrett had stolen the necessary intel to put the boss in jail until he was old and gray. Duke Forrester airlifted her out of the danger zone, but Lance refused to leave Jen behind despite her protests.
He got the door open and immediately fired his pistol. It was the right move, given there were two cartel soldiers waiting for him. He slipped inside, retrieving the automatic weapons of the two men he shot. He made it about ten steps before four more men opened fire on him. He dove behind a display vanity as the four men moved towards him. He rolled out from the vanity and fired away, taking all four men out.
He reloaded and quickly checked his smartphone to trace Jen's GPS tracker. She was at the opposite end of the store near the hardware section. He started to move in that direction when he spotted three more coming at him. As gunfire went off in the distance, no doubt Jen trying to hold off more assassins, Lance pulled a full-length mirror from its display and leaned it against a large warehouse shelf. He then took two steps forward, and the men saw his image in the mirror. They fired away and the mirror shattered. Before they could figure out what was going on, Lance opened fire and shot the three.
He reached the long aisle that ran the length of the store. He took a peek, seeing at least a dozen sicarios standing around ready to kill him. He looked to his right and saw a floor cart. He quietly moved it into position in the center of the aisle, grabbed a hold of it, and started to sprint. As the first two men were ready to shoot, Lance dove onto the cart, laid down on his back, and opened fire with the automatic weapons he confiscated. The first two men fell, and Lance kept firing away as the cart rolled down the aisle. He finally crashed into a display of storage crates, having gotten the first ten men. The last two came at him, but Lance pulled out his Glock, fired four shots at the first one, rolled off the cart, and fired four shots at the other man coming from the opposite direction.
He got up and checked his gun. He only had a quarter-clip left. He looked back and grabbed the rolling cart again. He sent it towards two of the men who had Jen pinned down, knocking both of them over. He then ran and dove behind the rack of power tools where Jen was hiding. He watched her fire her last shots.
"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Pack more ammo!" Lance exclaimed.
"Hey, you know how many guys I took out in the last ten minutes?" Jen angrily retorted. "Less people die in a Michael Bay film!"
Lance fired his final four shots. "Now I know you're stressed out. You're starting to sound like me. It's bad enough we seem to be re-enacting the final shootout from Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
"What?"
"That movie? Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? They played a married couple who were really assassins that were assigned to kill each other? The final shootout was in a home improvement store like this one. And they got together for real while filming."
"Let's hope this turns out as well for us as it did for them."
"At this point, I'd settle for how it turned out for Jennifer Aniston," Lance quipped.
"Don't move," a rather imposing figure in a sharp suit ordered. Jen slowly put her hands up, and Lance dropped his gun. It didn't take a high IQ to figure out this man was el jefe for the cartel.
"Think of how much power I'll wield now," El Jefe said. "The man who killed Jen Burton and Lance McCall."
Lance tapped Jen's back twice and reached behind him with his left hand. Jen ducked down as Lance wrenched a cordless nail gun from the display. He rolled over Jen, held in the safety, and fired at El Jefe. Three nails found the middle of the man's chest and he collapsed to the ground.
Jen turned to Lance in relief. "Very nicely done," she said as she took his face in her hands and gave him a kiss.
She kept a tight grip on his face. "But I don't want to hear a single bad joke from you. Not one bad pun. Do I make myself clear?"
Lance held up his hands in surrender. "Very clear."
"Good," she replied and gave him another kiss.
"Oh believe me, you nailed it," Lance said, leaving Jen to growl.
"CUT!" Director Allison Brown shouted to end the scene.
"Ugh," Sarah replied in disgust, pushing Jimmy's face away so hard, the back of his head hit the concrete floor.
"OK, I know I claim to have a thick-headed skull, but I'd appreciate you just taking my word for it," Jimmy ground out as his head throbbed from what Sarah did.
Sarah got up and marched over to Allison. "Who wrote this crap?"
"What are you talking about?" Allison asked.
"This!" Sarah grabbed a script and waved it around angrily. "Jen and Lance get caught in a home improvement store? Lance takes out the bad guy with a nail gun? And don't even get me started on those bad one-liners we had to suffer through!"
Allison held her hands up in confusion. "What is your problem, Sarah? You know this is what the show is about. Action scenes, romance, the occasional bit of drama, but comedy is a big part of it. Your character is the boss, so she has to play it straight-up. Duke gets to be the sarcastic one, Jill gets the innuendos, and Lance is the comic relief. That's how we've been doing it all this time."
Sarah dropped the script back on the table. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm still doing this shit."
She stormed off to her dressing room, much to everyone's surprise. No one had ever seen Sarah act like this. She was always friendly to the crew, from the directors all the way down to the P.A.s and extras. To see her acting as she was proved quite jarring to everyone in the studio.
Carina followed her to her dressing room, having watched the scene they just filmed with the rest of the crew. She threw open the door and slammed it shut.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Carina demanded.
"I'm just tired, O.K.?" Sarah replied in anger.
"Bullshit! I have never seen you treat anybody the way you just treated Jimmy and Allison. Even when Bryce walked out on you! You still have a job to do, or have you forgotten what all of us do for a living?"
"I know I have a job to do! That's all I hear about these days, this fucking job! Honestly, I'm getting sick and tired of this job!"
Carina exhaled. "Look, it's no secret you like Chuck. And I don't care how much it hurts either of you, you still made the right call. The problem is now you're acting like you've not only closed that door, you've dead bolted it shut. You have to back off for now to protect him, but that doesn't mean you have to back off forever."
There was a gentle knock on the door. Sarah rolled her eyes and nodded her head, and Carina went to open it. Jimmy stood outside with an ice pack on the back of his head.
"Is everything OK?" he asked quietly.
"Where's Chuck?" Sarah demanded.
"He wasn't watching us film?" Carina shook her head in response. "Aaah, hell."
"You're supposed to be keeping an eye on him," Sarah spat at him.
"How am I supposed to watch him when we're filming a scene?" Jimmy grabbed the walkie-talkie from the charger on Sarah's table. "Has anybody seen Bartowski?"
"He's not in the studio," someone replied.
"Dammit," Jimmy said to himself before turning the walkie-talkie back on. "Please have my car ready at the south entrance. Thanks."
He put the walkie-talkie back in the charger. "I'll find him. I already have a few educated guesses on where he went."
"You better find him," Sarah said with a scowl on her face. Jimmy left the room with entire posture slumped.
"Christ, if it isn't one it's the other," he muttered to himself as he walked to his car.
Carina turned back to Sarah and the fire in her eyes matched the color of her hair. "You have got to be kidding."
"What?"
"You slam Jimmy's head on the concrete, he comes in to see if you're OK without even asking for an apology and you yell at him for not knowing where Chuck is?"
Carina shook her head. "You want to be upset at what you did to Chuck, fine. That I can understand. But stop taking it out on other people. Jimmy just went through all of that but he still said 'please' and 'thank you'. We're here to help you. I don't need you to appreciate it, but could you at least stop attacking everybody over it?"
Carina opened the door and walked out of Sarah's dressing room. Sarah buried her head in her hands. Carina was absolutely right that she was upset and even more correct that she was taking out on people who didn't deserve it.
Buy More – Burbank, CA
November 19, 2015
1:30 PM PST
Chuck dragged himself into the Buy More. He needed to get away from the studio. He completed all of the necessary work required for the next two episodes, but he didn't watch the filming like he normally did. Sarah telling him they couldn't have a future together still hurt a month later, and he didn't think he could handle watching a scene that required Jen and Lance to kiss. Not that he blamed Jimmy: Sarah was right in that Jimmy would try to help him, but Chuck just couldn't open up about what happened. He didn't see the point. The only pleasure he got over the last few weeks was when Jimmy and he rigged Awesome's home and work computers so that, whenever he tried to open a file or go to a web page, he had to see a clip of that spectacular catch by Francis Owusu for Stanford over his beloved Bruins.
"Hey, buddy," Morgan said as he slid up next to his best friend. "You look a little down there."
Chuck nodded, although he found it hard to find the strength to do even that. "Sarah and I have been…going through some problems." Yet another lie he had to tell. To realize the woman to whom he had grown attached was not interested in him was far beyond just a problem. "I just needed to take a break from the set."
"Whoah, dude. No, that can't happen. You can't have problems with a girl like Sarah. Whatever they are, you fix them. You win the lottery, you don't throw out the ticket! There are no Sarahs in the real world, let me tell you. You will not do better than her. Please, on behalf of all losers like me that you've given this small sliver of hope in finding someone, do NOT give this girl up!"
"Morgan," Chuck said in exhaustion. This was not what he needed. "It's more…complicated than that, OK?"
"What's complicated?" Morgan was incredulous. "Nice guy meets hot girl, hot girl falls for nice guy, THE END! It doesn't get any simpler than that!"
More like…guy gets supercomputer in his head, guy meets hot girl, hot girl is actually a secret agent, hot girl and her co-workers saves guy's life over and over, hot girl pretends to be guy's girlfriend, hot girl confesses under truth serum she's not interested in guy, Chuck thought, making himself even more depressed.
Jimmy entering the store didn't help one bit.
"Chuck, what have you been doing?" Jimmy asked him, trying to keep the anger out of his voice not only from Chuck wandering off on his own but also being ripped a new one by Sarah over it.
"I just needed some time to myself, OK?" Chuck angrily replied.
Jimmy exhaled. "Look, I get that. But this isn't a normal relationship. If the paparazzi catch you without Sarah on your hip, it'll be a feeding frenzy and no story you tell will stop them."
He looked around the store before pulling Morgan to the side and handing him a business card. "Morgan, can you do me a favor? If you see Chuck anywhere besides his apartment and he's alone, give me a call. And until I can get there, don't leave his side. At least then we can sell the story that he still likes to hang out with his childhood friends. You don't want the paparazzi eating your best friend alive, right?"
"No, Jimmy. It makes total sense, man. It sounds like fun to be in public but I see what you're getting at. But I think we have a problem."
Morgan pointed to the doors. Several reporters from TMZ, Inside Edition, Dish Nation, and other tabloid shows and newspapers started streaming into the store.
"Son of a bitch," Jimmy said. "Where's the back door?" he asked Morgan.
"That way," Morgan replied, pointing to the back.
"OK, let's get Chuck out of here."
Morgan and Jimmy grabbed Chuck and they walked towards the back. Passing by the wall of TVs, they discovered they were too late.
Is it over for Charah? The headline was splashed across the screen on a tabloid TV show.
Jimmy growled loud enough to scare a lion. The tabloid show had a video of a depressed Chuck in the Buy More. "Goddamn TMZ. They've got less tact than Donald Trump at a women's rally."
"How the hell could they get a video that quickly?" Morgan asked in complete shock.
Jimmy looked around. "Someone must have filmed Chuck with their smartphone and sent it in. Find out who that is, Morgan. I'll call for a car to get us out of here. I parked in front of the store, so that's not an option. Is there anywhere we can hide after we get out the back door?"
"There's a deli across the alley between the Buy More and the Large Mart. They may not see you if you come in that way."
"Better than nothing. Thanks, Morgan."
Jimmy grabbed Chuck and they went out the back entrance of the Buy More. Jimmy was relieved to discover Morgan was right: the paparazzi was looking for Chuck in the store and not paying attention to the alley. The two ducked into Lou's Gourmet Italian Deli. Only a couple of customers were in the store, and they seemed to take Jimmy's presence in stride. Clearly not fans of the show, he thought.
"Chuck, it's good to see you!" a short but very attractive brunette called out from behind the counter.
Chuck stared blankly for a moment before his memory kicked in. "Lou, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine. Very busy of course. But you must be in a better mood these days."
"Really?" Chuck was confused. "What makes you say that?"
"You're out there dating again, and dating Sarah Walker. Remember I came into the Buy More three months ago and you fixed my phone? You were awesome. I can't live without that phone and you recovered all of the data on it. I was going to ask you out but you were all depressed over someone who had dumped you."
Chuck nodded as he remembered Lou coming into the Buy More. "Jill."
"That will teach me not to be more forward," Lou lamented. "Now you're off the market again."
Chuck shrugged in surrender. If only he knew about this three months ago. Or could tell her what his relationship with Sarah was now.
"Yeah, things have been better since I started dating Sarah," Chuck lied. To Jimmy's credit, he kept his mouth shut.
"I'm going to make you a special sandwich, Chuck, as a thank-you for fixing my phone. Turkey, Muenster, and egg bread. It's a sandwich I came up with. It's delicious."
"Uh, thanks." Chuck felt a smile come to him for the first time in a couple of weeks. Not that Jimmy helping him rig Awesome's computer wasn't fun, but his depression couldn't exactly be cured with a spectacular catch.
Chuck and Jimmy took a seat at a table. "God, it's like grammar school all over again," Jimmy grumbled.
Chuck raised an eyebrow. "You mean you were ignored in school, too?"
"Actually, no. They used to smack me in the nose with a rolled-up newspaper and stick my face in dog crap."
"Ouch."
"Yeah, so you can imagine what the boys did if the girls were that cruel."
"OK, and I thought I was having problems. Depression officially over."
Jimmy laughed. "Glad my misery could help. Hey, it could be worse. The majority of Casey's fan mail is from senior citizens who get depressed when Dancing with the Stars ends each season."
"That helps even more," Chuck replied with a grin.
Lou brought Chuck's sandwich over. "Oh. Sorry, Mr. Slade. I should have asked you if you wanted a sandwich."
"I'm OK. Thanks, though." Jimmy took a look around at some of the pictures on the wall, many of which were autographed pictures of celebrities. "Wow, Robert DeNiro has eaten here?"
Lou nodded. "He absolutely loves the pastrami sandwich. He said only a couple of places in New York are better. That reminds me, do you have any autographed pictures I can put up on the wall?"
"I'm sure I can scare one up," Jimmy replied with a smile.
"Wonderful. Do you think you can get Sarah's, Carina's, and John's?"
The smile disappeared in an instant. "So, you want everyone else's picture…and not mine."
"That would be so cool! Thanks!" Lou walked away. It was all Chuck could do to keep his laughter in.
"Christ, if I wanted this kind of abuse, I'd look in a mirror," Jimmy said in disgust, now more depressed than when Chuck walked into the Buy More, and Chuck couldn't hold in the laughter anymore.
"Sorry," Chuck said in shame.
"Not your fault. I mean, we should be apologizing to you, but a thousand apologies still won't make up for what you've had to go through. All I can ask is that you be patient with us. You just saw what would happen if you went out on your own like that without Sarah. We'll have to film you two together on a daily basis until the tabloids back off."
Chuck shook his head. "I just don't know if I can do it."
"You can. Look, this isn't about you. Don't think for one minute it is. I've known her for two years, and Case and Carina have known her a lot longer. She didn't have a good childhood. Spies rarely do. And trust may as well be a four-letter word to us. She has to concentrate on her work and anything beyond that has to be on the back burner. But I promise, she's a good person. I almost lost my job for her last year."
"Really?"
"You remember those rumors that Kanye West almost got into a fight with a Hollywood star?" Chuck nodded. "That star was me. Sarah and I presented at the MTV Video Music Awards last year. Neither of us wanted to do it, but we had to promote the show and keep the revenue coming in to fund missions. Anyway we finish, Sarah goes off to do an interview, and Kanye launches into this five-minute rant backstage saying I was a talentless hack and a disgrace to the city of Chicago. Imagine that? That arrogant prick saying I'M a disgrace? Not five seconds after he was done, he demanded I give him Sarah's number because he wanted to, and I quote, 'tap that bitch'. I lost it. If it wasn't for his security, he would have ended up in the hospital. But they grabbed me, and he ran like a little bitch. I guess the look on my face made him piss his pants. He couldn't go public with being threatened because then people would find out why. Good thing, too, because I probably would have been sent back to an underground facility again."
"Wow."
"My point is, I didn't care he went on that tirade about me. But the second he insulted Sarah, I went after him like Sean Penn goes after photographers. Nobody talks about Sarah like that. And had Casey or Carina been there instead of me, they would have reacted the same way. There isn't anything we wouldn't do for her because there isn't anything she wouldn't do for us."
Chuck exhaled as he took another bite of his sandwich. "I don't know. I have to stand there and act like everything is OK with Sarah when it's not."
Jimmy hung his head. "I know. I wish there was something I could tell you to make this better, but we went down this path and we can't turn back now. If it's any consolation, everybody thinks you're doing a great job, even Casey. You've helped crack cases no other agent has. And you certainly have more heart than any asset we've had to protect in the past. Hell, you have more heart than all of the assets we've protected put together. That makes us well-motivated to keep you safe and get you back to a normal life. And after this is all over, who knows. Sarah shut the door on you now, but maybe it isn't locked permanently. I certainly wouldn't bet against you."
"Thanks," Chuck said with a bit of a smile.
"You're a good guy, Chuck. Never become a studio exec."
Morgan walked into the deli and sat with Chuck and Jimmy. "Mmm, nice sandwich," he said and took the other half of Chuck's sandwich without permission.
"We could…order you one," Jimmy said, a little confused Morgan just did that.
"It's OK," Chuck said. "He does that all the time."
"What did you find out?" Jimmy asked.
"Well, there were no customers in the store when Chuck was there, so that rules out someone from the outside," Morgan said.
"So it was an employee," Jimmy concluded. "But every one of them probably has a smartphone. We'll have to pull the security footage and see who it might have been."
"You may not need to. Everybody in the store adores Chuck. And even the ones who don't wouldn't pull a BS move like this. Except for one."
Jimmy furrowed his brow in confusion before figuring it out.
"Harry Tang," all three of them said at the same time.
Chuck looked out the window. "Well, speak of the devil," he said as he noticed Harry Tang about twenty feet from the window of the deli and aiming his smartphone camera at Chuck.
"Should have guessed he would do something like that," Morgan said in disgust.
"Want me to take care of him?" Jimmy asked.
Chuck's eyes went wide. "No, no, that's not needed. You don't have to go the full Kanye on him."
Jimmy shook his head. "I didn't mean that way. But I think I can arrange it so he's no longer a problem for everybody at the Buy More. Morgan, I take it everybody would be OK if Harry Tang didn't work there anymore?"
"OK? They'd be ecstatic!"
"I'll come up with something." Jimmy's phone beeped, and he took a look at the message. "The car's here. We can go out the back without being spotted."
Chuck and Jimmy got up. "Thanks, Morgan," Chuck said.
"Hey, anything for my friend," he replied.
"And thanks for helping us out today," Jimmy added. "Remember what I told you earlier."
"Yeah, Jimmy. No sweat. You can count on me. But hey, do you think you can get Carina's autograph for me? I mean, we had a bit of a moment when she saved my life in the studio…"
Jimmy rolled his eyes in frustration. "It's like I'm Rodney Dangerfield."
Chuck gave a little laugh as he walked towards the back of the store. He passed by a poster for a new hotspot called Club Ares. He stopped as he saw images of a fish, loading docks, security directives from Homeland, smuggling routes, and the bio on the man listed as the owner of the club: Stavros Demetrios.
He turned to find Lou. "Lou, who is Stavros Demetrios?" he asked while pointing at the poster.
Lou looked at the poster and frowned. "He's my ex. He owns the Club Ares. Why? Do you know him?"
"No, not really. No."
"Good. You don't want to. He thought I was dating some guy and he trashed his car. Threatened to kill him." Chuck bristled at the thought. "Believe me, the last thing you want is that lunatic swimming around in your head."
Chuck laughed nervously. "Thanks for the advice. Take care."
Chuck walked quickly out the back of the deli and Jimmy had to run to keep up with him. They got into the back of the Lincoln Continental, which thankfully had tinted windows so the paparazzi couldn't see into the vehicle.
"What's going on?" Jimmy asked him.
"I…just had a flash," Chuck replied. "A pier with shipping containers. Smuggling routes, does the name Stavros Demetrios sound familiar?"
"If Stavros is related to Yari Demetrios, then I'd say that's a big problem. Driver, take us to base."
Chuck was nervous after his flash, and Jimmy suddenly going all-business didn't cure that. "We'll talk to Graham and Beckman when we get back." He then got on his phone to send the rest of the team to the hotel.
Hotel Amarano - Burbank, CA
November 19, 2015
3:00 PM PST
"Stavros Demetrios, a handsome playboy," Beckman began as Chuck and the team listened in over videoconference. He owns and operates a number of L.A. nightclubs."
"I don't think he's that handsome," Chuck said with a shrug.
"He's the son of Yari Demetrios, the shipping magnate," Graham added. "We have intel that a volatile package is coming to Los Angeles. The cargo itself is time-sensitive which, knowing the Demetrios family's ties to the Middle East, could mean a weapon."
"Chuck, we'll need you to get as close to Stavros as possible and see if you flash on anything related to the shipment," Beckman said.
"We're going to go into the club tomorrow tonight for the opening," Sarah told Chuck. "Given our cover as famous actors, we should be able to make our way into the VIP areas of the club. It will also sell to the paparazzi that we're still together and nothing is wrong."
"And while I keep an eye on things in the van, Miller will join the two of you," Casey continued. "Nightclubs are her specialty, as is getting any guy away from any location she wants. Slade will break into the offices upstairs at the club and see if he can find any information that way. Understood?"
"Perfectly," Chuck replied with little-to-no enthusiasm. "It's just…"
"What?" Casey demanded.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Casey and Carina both looked at Chuck. They felt a bit of sympathy for him…relative to the microscopically small amount of sympathy they typically felt for any asset…given what Sarah did to him several weeks ago. They couldn't hate Sarah for what she did because it was the best option to keep Chuck safe. But that didn't mean it made their lives as Sarah's team or her friends any easier.
Club Ares – Los Angeles, CA
November 20, 2015
9:00 PM PST
The limousine waited for other limos to move away from the entrance. Casey was in a surveillance van two blocks away from the club, having hacked into the club's security system a few hours ago with Jimmy's help, who patiently waited on the roof of the building to rappel down into the offices on the top floor at the back of the club.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Sarah asked Chuck.
"Ready," Chuck replied tersely, more tersely than he meant to. Fortunately, both Sarah and Carina ignored it.
Carina held out a box to the two of them. "Earwigs."
Chuck and Sarah each grabbed an earwig and inserted them into their ears. Carina did the same with the remaining earwig. Chuck couldn't believe what Carina was wearing. If the transparent silk blouse, skinny jeans, and six-inch heels she wore couldn't draw a crowd, nothing would. Sarah's attire wasn't nearly as provocative, but it was sensual enough for the place they were going. Clearly she was dressing just to be noticed but not enough to go overboard. She left that to Carina.
"Comm check," Casey said over their earwigs.
"Check," both Sarah and Carina said. They then looked at Chuck, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world right now, even in Jeff and Lester's van.
Sarah nudged him and he finally took the hint. "Check, Casey. Sorry."
"You'll do fine," Carina told him. The second we get in there, Stavros will probably bust a nut trying to get to us. You get invited to the VIP room while I keep things jumping out on the floor, and then you two plant the bug on him."
"Got it," Chuck replied, this time able to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
The limousine made it to the entrance and a security guard opened the door. Carina stepped out of the limousine first and waved to the crowd, not a few of which shouted a few catcalls and gave a few wolf whistles. Sarah exited next and got the same reception. She then reached in and took Chuck's hand. She pulled him out of the limousine and Chuck waved timidly to the crowd.
"Smile, moron," Casey said. "Everybody's watching you."
Chuck put a smile on his face as Sarah stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Several reporters tried to throw questions at them regarding their relationship as they entered the club, but all three ignored them.
As they predicted, Stavros Demetrios walked up to them, although he looked like he ran to them and tried to cover it up.
"Good to see you, Sarah!" Stavros exclaimed. "I'm so honored you could be here tonight. And Carina, you look even hotter in person than you do on the show!"
Stavros took Carina's hand and kissed it, which made Carina smile. This will be easy, she thought.
Stavros then turned to Chuck. "And you must be Charles Carmichael," he said, shaking Chuck's hand. "Or should I just call you the luckiest guy in the world?"
"Ha ha ha," Chuck replied nervously as he looked at Sarah, who smiled broadly at what Stavros said.
"Come on! Let's go to the VIP area. It's all on me tonight."
"I'm going to hit the dance floor," Carina told Stavros. "Let out some stress."
"Oh, not a problem. Just like your character on the show, eh?"
"You could say that," Carina replied, which gave Chuck a bit of a smile.
Stavros doesn't know the half of it, he thought to himself.
Chuck and Sarah followed Stavros to the VIP room while Carina hit the dance floor, much to the appreciation of the crowd, and grabbed the first hot guy she saw.
~/^\~
Jimmy carefully peered over the roof in the back of the club. He took a laser measuring device, which gave him the distance between the roof and the window ledge to the offices. He adjusted the rope on his harness to the correct length.
"The spotlights have a fifteen-second sweep pattern," Casey told him. "You have a five-second window to get to the ledge and ditch the ropes."
"OK, give me a five-second countdown for the jump," Jimmy replied.
Casey watched the monitor, waiting for the spotlights to get to the correct point in both of their sweeps.
"And five…four…three…two…one…mark," Casey told Jimmy, who jumped off of the roof, twisted around so he faced the building, and stopped just below the window. He grabbed onto the ledge, and Casey pushed a button on his computer. Jimmy's harness disengaged and he hung onto the side of the building. He took out a small laser device and cut a hole in the window. He then pulled himself up and inside the offices.
He placed a USB drive on the computer, which activated a program to copy all of the files onto it. While that went on, Jimmy stared going through the file cabinets to see if there was any paperwork that could be of value.
~/^\~
Stavros poured three shots out of a bottle for Chuck, Sarah, and himself.
"Yamas!" he said as he clinked shots with Chuck and Sarah. "That's aged ten years in oak. Can you taste that?"
Chuck took a sip and coughed from the strong liquor. "Uh, yes. I think I did…I think I did taste it. Although that…that also could have been a piece of my liver."
Stavros laughed heartily and grabbed Chuck. "I love this guy!"
"Now you know what I see in him," Sarah replied with a broad smile.
"I had that with my last girlfriend. Lou. Beautiful girl. Fiery Italian, though. I took her to Mykonos and she threw a lamp at my head. I still have the scar."
He rolled up his sleeve to show Chuck a scar. "I thought you said she threw it at your head," Chuck said.
"She did. The scar was from the make-up sex," Stavros replied with a wink to Chuck before gesturing to Sarah. "Boy, if she's half as scary in real life as she is on the show, Chuck, you're in big trouble." Stavros gave a leering look to Sarah. "But what a way to go!"
"Get back on topic, Bartowski," Casey growled from the van.
"So, uh…Stavros," Chuck began. "You're in the club game?"
"Don't worry about it," he replied. "You seem nervous! Relax!"
"I'm…I'm not," Chuck replied anxiously as Stavros massaged the back of his neck.
"Oooh, you've got a small neck, huh? Like a chicken?"
That made Chuck even more anxious and Sarah started to tense up.
"He does have a small neck," Casey muttered with a laugh.
"Have you ever snapped a chicken's neck, Chuck?" Stavros asked, his hand still on Chuck's neck.
"Can't say that I have," he replied, getting more scared by the minute.
"It's much easier than you think."
Sarah immediately stood and grabbed Chuck's hand. "I want to go dance. Come with me, Chuck."
Before Chuck could answer, Sarah pulled him out of the VIP room.
"What are you doing?" Chuck asked her. "We didn't plant the bug!"
"I'm not risking you any further with this guy."
"What? You're afraid of Hugh Hefner's ugly grandkid? You know, it's bad enough we have to pretend like this but could you at least not question my ability to handle myself every five seconds? OK, I've had a few moments I'm not proud of but I'm getting better!"
"Stay in character, you two!" Casey shouted over their earpieces.
Sarah pulled Chuck to the side and away from the crowd. "My first priority is to protect you. I'm not going to risk you on the off chance we may get some intel! Jimmy is upstairs, so we get our intel from whatever he finds!"
"I just can't believe…" Chuck stopped mid-sentence as he spotted Yari Demetrios. His Intersect kicked in with the entire file on Yari, who walked by him without even stopping.
"Casey, Yari Demetrios just walked in. He's heading for the VIP area."
"You have to get the bug over there, now!" Casey commanded.
"Casey, if we go over there now, our cover is blown," Sarah replied. "We get Chuck out of here and hope Jimmy struck paydirt."
"Oh, so suddenly I can't do the job you're making me do?" Chuck was livid. He grabbed the bug out of Sarah's hand. "Watch this."
Chuck turned on his heel and headed towards the VIP room. "Chuck!" Sarah shouted but he didn't respond.
Chuck walked purposefully towards the VIP room but got bumped by a couple of partygoers. The bug fell out of his hand and landed in front of an amplifier. A very loud screech went through everyone's earpiece, making everyone growl in pain, including Jimmy. Several guards in the hallway outside of the offices heard him and went towards the office doors with weapons drawn.
"Slade, heat sensors show movement outside of the office," Casey said. "Get out of there now!"
Chuck's eyes widened. He couldn't believe his gaffe. He quickly grabbed the bug and surreptitiously tossed it onto the tray of a server who was going into the VIP area. He returned to Sarah, who was waiting with Carina, and the three quickly left the club.
Jimmy grabbed the USB drive out of the computer and went to the safe in the room. He attached a device in it to open the lock. While that did its job, he took some of the papers in the file drawers and threw them around.
"Slade, what the hell are you doing?" Casey demanded.
"I'm trying to make it look like a robbery so they don't get suspicious," he spat.
"They catch you and they WILL be suspicious. Get the hell out of there!"
The safe clicked, and Jimmy quickly opened it. He took three stacks of $100 bills and stuffed them inside of his flak jacket. He went to the window and reached for the rope that Casey lowered to him. Right then, the door burst open and one of the guards fired. Jimmy jumped from the window and fell three stories. He landed on the lid of a dumpster and broke through it, falling inside of it. The three guards looked out the window to see Jimmy in the dumpster and exited the office to get downstairs quickly.
Jimmy pulled himself up in extreme pain and rolled out of the dumpster. His shoulder was separated and he was covered with every little bit of garbage imaginable. Casey pulled the surveillance van up to him and opened the door.
"A little down in the dumps there, Slade?" Casey asked with a smirk.
If looks could kill, the expression on Jimmy's face would be Ted Bundy. "I rappel down a building, break into an office, almost get shot, fall three stories into a dumpster, separate my shoulder, get covered in shit…AND THAT'S THE BEST LINE YOU COULD COME UP WITH!? !?"
Casey pulled back a bit. Even he knew that was over the line. "I'll think of a better line."
"Good!" Jimmy said as he held his injured shoulder and got in the van.
Hotel Amarano - Burbank, CA
November 20, 2015
11:00 PM PST
The team gathered at the hotel to go over what happened. Jimmy was in the shower trying to clean up after his fall into the dumpster. The other four were fuming.
"You made a bad call, Walker," Casey said. "We needed the intel and you put Chuck ahead of that when he wasn't in any danger."
"I saw Stavros as a threat," Sarah replied angrily.
"Oh, please. A girl scout could kick that wimp's ass. I'd even put money on Chuck to kick his ass."
"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Case," Chuck replied sarcastically.
"Let's hope your little trick with the bug worked. They're sifting through the recordings now to isolate the Demetrios'. That moron, Slade, lost the USB drive. Probably left it in the computer."
"Speaking of which, shouldn't we take him to a doctor?" Carina asked. "He separated his shoulder and we need to make up a story…"
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everybody turned in shock to the source of the scream. Jimmy emerged from the bathroom in a robe, having finished his shower. He immediately went to the bar and poured himself a large glass of Jack Daniels, downing it in one gulp.
"What the hell was that?" Carina asked.
"Nothing," Jimmy replied with the worst poker face imaginable.
"Wait," Chuck replied. "You didn't do that thing Mel Gibson did in Lethal Weapon 2 where you popped your shoulder back into place?"
"No."
Sarah walked over to him and angrily ripped the right shoulder of his robe open. "Uh-huh. So your shoulder magically went back into its socket?"
"Thank God you weren't going commando when Sarah did that," Chuck said.
"I wouldn't have minded," Carina said with her traditional libidinous gaze.
"Let me talk to Jimmy alone for a minute," Sarah said tiredly. She pulled at Jimmy's arm and the two walked out of the room over to Sarah's room. Sarah entered first and Jimmy closed the door behind them.
"At least you're not going to chew me out in front of everybody," Jimmy said quietly. "That's actually progress this week."
Sarah slumped onto her bed and looked at the ground. "I am so, so sorry for how I acted towards you. I was a complete bitch."
"You're not a complete bitch," Jimmy replied.
She looked up, a few tears on her cheeks. "Yes I am."
"Not a complete one. Maybe a quarter-bitch, half-bitch at worst."
Sarah laughed despite her mood. "You warned me this could happen. You told me I wouldn't be the only one affected by this. I just didn't think you'd end up with a separated shoulder."
Jimmy shrugged, which wasn't a stellar move given what had happened to him. He gritted his teeth in pain. "It'll be fine. I've done things a lot crazier than that. If I start going on anti-Semitic rants, then we'll worry."
"I have to admit, though. I thought Mel was pretty hot in the Lethal Weapon movies. At least the first two."
Jimmy shook his head with a smile. "There's a reason I don't grow my hair that long. I'd look like an idiot. I'm 45, for chrissakes. There's a time limit for everything, and I'm well past it for good hair, dancing in nightclubs, and dating."
"Not true," Sarah sharply replied. "I've seen you dance in clubs. You're a very good dancer. And there's no way in hell it's too late to find someone. Especially for someone like you. That's what's always pissed me off about you: how negative you are about yourself."
"I prefer to think of it as being brutally self-aware."
"Like hell. You're much better than that, and I think you know it. Otherwise you'd never trust your instincts as a spy, and how many times have your instincts saved our lives? I've lost count! Now just apply that to your personal life. You're good at helping other people. Save some of that for yourself."
There was a knock on the door. Jimmy went to answer it.
"We hit paydirt," Casey said.
"Be right there," Sarah replied, and Casey went back in the conference room. Sarah walked up to Jimmy.
"Thanks for all of your help with Chuck," she told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "But save the crazy stunts for the show. Understood?"
"Understood, boss," he replied.
They walked across the hall to the conference room and Casey played the file the analysts sent him. They were able to filter out the considerable ambient noise.
"4:00 tomorrow afternoon, San Pedro," Yari Demetrios told his son. "The package is time sensitive, so if it expires, we're all dead."
"Got you," Casey said with a hint of a smile.
"We'll get to the docks tomorrow and intercept the shipment," Carina said.
"You need me to go?" Chuck asked.
"Sure," Casey replied. "If the shit hits the fan, we can use you, Chicken Neck."
Chuck did a slow burn as the team began to formulate a plan.
Echo Park – Los Angeles, CA
November 21, 2015
3:45 PM PST
Chuck lay on the bed in his room. Ellie and Awesome were enjoying the weekend at a bed-and-breakfast along the Pacific Coast Highway, so the apartment felt strangely quiet. His mood had improved compared to the last few days, particularly last night. Sarah apologized to him for pulling him out of the club so quickly. Not that he could completely fault her for that in the first place: he discovered early on she took her duties very seriously. But at least he knew that it was important to get the intel. Unfortunately, he had to fix a problem he got them into when he dropped the bug in front of an amplifier and gave Jimmy away upstairs.
He heard a knock on the door, and he went to answer it. Jimmy was waiting for him.
"You know, Sarah and Casey use the bedroom window to get in and out," Chuck told him.
"Uh, OK," Jimmy said suspiciously. "I gather neither one of them are concerned about your privacy."
Chuck shrugged and stepped aside to let Jimmy in. "How come you're here? I thought you'd be heading for the docks."
"Sarah and Casey have a SWAT team from the NSA with them already. If they need me, we're doing something really wrong. I just wanted to see if you were OK after last night."
"Yeah, yeah I am. Thanks for checking. Sarah apologized for what she did, so…"
"I figured she would. Like I told you, she's a good person. I know that might be hard to believe right now, but all of us are in uncharted territory. And we're supposed to be trained to handle this. I can't even begin to fathom how tough it's been for you. But you really are doing a great job. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Just…be patient with us and with the situation."
Chuck nodded. "Yeah, you told me." He was silent for a moment. "God, if I wasn't all depressed over Jill, I might have been dating Lou right now."
"Maybe. That woman certainly likes you. It's pretty obvious. But relationships are a tricky thing in the spy business."
"Apparently, so are fake ones."
"This is true. Think of how tough dating is in this town already. Now add the fact your entire life is a lie and you might be asked to eliminate that person one day. It's no wonder agents typically date other agents. But even those can be a problem. She certainly had dodged her fair share of relationship bullets."
Chuck looked at Jimmy for a second. "Wait, did you two…"
"No, of course not," Jimmy quickly denied. Chuck looked at him like he was more full of crap than a Wisconsin dairy farm. "We had a couple of dates, but thankfully nothing happened. I mean, how low must your self-esteem be to go on a date with me in the first place? She was just on the rebound." Jimmy suddenly froze, realizing he just let the cat out of the bag.
"You mean Sarah and Bryce…"
"No, they didn't date," Jimmy said as forcefully as he could but Chuck was in no mood to buy that.
"I can't believe…" Chuck froze in place for a moment before bolting to the door and sprinting out of the apartment.
"Chuck, wait!" Jimmy shouted as he tried to go after Chuck, but Chuck made it to his car and took off.
"Son of a bitch!" Jimmy shouted, angry with himself for letting that slip.
His phone began to ring. Sarah's number came up on the caller ID. "What's wrong?" he asked. He listened for a moment. "Aaah, hell."
San Pedro Docks - California
November 21, 2015
4:00 PM PST
Sarah, Casey, and the NSA SWAT team converged quickly on the shipping container.
"Hands up," Sarah shouted to the men around the container. "Nobody move!"
Several SWAT members pulled the workers away as a man in a bomb disposal suit approached the container. He drilled a small hole in the container and used a video probe to view the contents.
"Cut it," the man said, and another SWAT member cut the padlock on the container. They opened the doors.
A videocamera on a tripod was inside.
Casey immediately pulled Sarah back from the open container. "Let's hope they didn't see you," he said.
Sarah got behind the door and called Jimmy. "Jimmy, the container only had a videocamera in it. They knew we were coming. You have to find that USB drive you lost."
"Aaah, hell. Then you're going to have to deal with finding Chuck. He figured out you dated Bryce and he took off like a jackrabbit."
"Dammit!" Sarah took a deep breath. "OK, I'll deal with him. Get that USB drive. We have to hope they have the container information on their computer."
Sarah got in her car and took off as the SWAT team dismantled the camera. Casey stayed away from the camera just in case someone could identify him.
~/^\~
Stavros and Yari Demetrios rewound the footage coming from the fake shipping container.
"Who are these people?" Yari asked. "And how did they find out about the shipment?"
"I have no idea," Stavros replied, which earned him a smack to the head from his father.
"If anything goes wrong with this shipment, we are dead! Katalabaini, Stavros? These people will kill us!"
"What the hell is coming in that's so important, eh?"
"I don't know! And I don't want to know! Our job is to make the delivery, not ask questions. We need to find out who found out about the shipment, and quickly."
Stavros paused for a moment. "Hold on."
He went back to the computer and wound the footage back to when the container was opened. He slowed it down to one-quarter speed and saw something that they didn't see when the tape ran at normal speed.
"Me tipota! (No way!)" Stavros exclaimed. "It's that actress. The one who plays a spy on TV. She was at the club last night with her boyfriend!"
"You're joking," Yari replied, full of doubt. "You're saying she's a spy in real life?"
"She has to be. Those two were the only ones in the VIP room before you arrived. They must have planted a bug. And the upstairs offices were robbed! I thought they just took money but maybe they were looking for information and the money was a smokescreen."
"You find those two and bring them to me," Yari said, his voice full of menace.
~/^\~
Sarah got to her car and started to drive away from the pier. She then slammed on the brakes when she saw a Nerd Herd car approaching her. She pulled to the side and got out of her car. Chuck pulled up next to her and did the same.
"What are you doing here?" Sarah demanded. "I told you we didn't need you to intercept the shipment."
"Oh, just discovering what your type is. It's fellow agents, like ones that may or may not have gotten me kicked out of Stanford!"
"What, did Jimmy tell you I dated Bryce?"
"No, you just did."
Sarah exhaled in frustration. "Look, that situation was…complicated. You wouldn't understand."
"I wouldn't understand it being complicated? You're actually saying that to the person you shot down a month ago yet still insist he act like your boyfriend?"
"Chuck, I made a big mistake, OK?"
"Not your first one today," said a voice behind them.
Both Chuck and Sarah turned to see Stavros Demetrios with a couple of men, both of whom had automatic weapons trained on them. Stavros opened the trunk of the car. The men grabbed Chuck and Sarah and threw them in the trunk of the car. They slammed it shut and drove away.
"I assume you have a way to get us out of this mess?" Chuck asked from inside the trunk.
"Do you have your watch on? It has a GPS tracker in it."
"The Rolex? Why would I wear that in the middle of a Saturday afternoon? How the hell was I supposed to know we'd be kidnapped?"
"You're an important asset who is working for the government! Why not act like it for once?"
"Oh, like the way you pulled me out of the club last night just because that loser, Stavros, was giving me a neck massage?"
"I was trying to protect you, and I apologized for that already!"
"You've got an entire team that can protect me! And none of them snipe at me the way you do! Even Casey's tame compared to how pissed off you get! No wonder why your relationships never last."
"I went on only five dates with Jimmy. He even said I dodged a bullet not continuing with him."
"I'm starting to think he's the one who dodged the bullet. And what about falling in love with Bryce?"
Sarah's mouth opened in shock. "How do you know I was in love with Bryce?"
"You just told me right now"
"Stop doing that!"
"The least you could have done was tell me from the beginning. I knew you two worked together for at least three years because he was on the show. You can't even be honest with me about that? You know how many years I hated him for what he did to me?"
'Be honest with you? Like how your screw-up almost lost us the intel and gave Jimmy a separated shoulder?"
"If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have gotten that intel in the first place. Excuse me if I'm not Mr. Perfect Spy! We can't all be Bryce Larkin!"
"Jealous?"
"Me, jealous of you and Bryce? Never. But at least now I know your pattern. All anybody needs is a license to kill and you'll mount them in a heartbeat."
"Hey, who I date and who I sleep with is none of your business. We don't have a future because we can't have a future. I'm an agent and you're an asset. I'm trying to be professional."
"The world's oldest, apparently."
Sarah felt the blood drain from her face. Had her hands not been tied behind her back, she would have inflicted severe damage on Chuck and to hell with the consequences.
"Said everything you want to say?" Sarah hissed.
"More or less," Chuck replied with equal anger.
"Good. Now shut up because you're sucking up all the air."
Sarah turned away from Chuck and the rest of the trip went in a very uncomfortable silence.
Long Beach Harbor - California
November 21, 2015
4:50 PM PST
Chuck and Sarah were tied to chairs in a warehouse. As they were in the trunk of the car, they had no idea where they were. Stavros made so many turns in the past thirty minutes, they could have easily still been on the San Pedro docks. Without a GPS tracker on either of them, they had to hope Jimmy could locate the USB drive and find out the correct location of the package.
"Time is of the essence, so I'll cut to the chase," Yari said as he brought a drill to Chuck and Sarah. "We have a very important delivery that is about to be picked up, and we need to know who else knows about it."
Yari revved the drill. "OK! I'll talk! I'll talk!" Chuck yelled.
"No, Chuck!" Sarah replied angrily.
"We know all about…the imported salami. Lou told me that was the secret to her Ol' Blue Eyes sandwich. And we're cool with it, man. I mean, the real crime is that it's illegal to begin with. Honestly, there's no need for torture, Yari."
"Mr. Bartowski, I'm not going to torture you…"
"Great, great. Glad we're on the same page.
"I'm going to torture her," he continued, aiming the drill at Sarah's head.
"No, no, no, no, no, no," Chuck quickly said. "We're not on the same page anymore, Yari! We're not even on the same chapter! Please don't…don't…"
"The package is here," a man called out behind Yari. Yari turned to see the tablet computer the man was holding. "It's in Berth 19. We've got five minutes until it expires, sir."
Chuck looked at the display on the tablet computer and had a flash. He saw loading docks, hundreds of shipping containers, and several beakers of chemicals.
"All right," Yari said. "Let's go. We'll just have to kill them."
"There's a weapon in the shipment," Chuck told Sarah in a panic. "I think it's some kind of chemical bomb. We have to get to it before it blows."
Sarah looked up as one of Yari's men leveled a gun to her temple. She gave a quick nod.
A shot rang out, and the gun flew out of the man's hand.
The men still with Chuck and Sarah looked around in confusion as another shot went off, this time killing the man who almost shot Sarah. Chuck looked up to see Carina coming down the stairs from the catwalk, firing away with an Uzi 9mm. From above, Jimmy slid down on a rope tied to the catwalk, spraying the area with a Heckler & Koch MP5K. Casey walked along the catwalk using a Colt M4A1 Carbine as a sniper rifle. He took down two more of Yari's men as Carina went after Stavros. Jimmy landed and immediately pulled out a knife, freeing Chuck and Sarah.
"Sorry about the stench," Jimmy said humbly. "That USB drive was all the way at the bottom of the dumpster."
"Look out!" Chuck screamed as one of Yari's men took aim. Jimmy swung around them and opened fire, taking the man out. Stavros fired at Carina, who ducked behind a steel pillar in the warehouse. He ran out of ammunition and tried to run. Carina dropped him with a single shot.
"Go!" Jimmy yelled at Chuck and Sarah. "Find that bomb! We'll cover you!"
Chuck and Sarah ran. "Chuck, I want you to get as far away from here as possible."
"I'm coming with you."
"No, Chuck! You are not going anywhere near a live bomb!"
"Do you know how to defuse a bomb? Do you have an Intersect in your head? I didn't think so!"
Chuck took off again. "Hey! Chuck! Wait!" Sarah shouted.
Inside the warehouse, Casey, Carina, and Jimmy got the upper hand against the last of Yari's men. Yari tried to make an escape, going past his last two men. Jimmy ran in that direction and somersaulted when they opened fire. He got to his knees and returned fire with his automatic, killing the two men.
"Freeze, Yari!" Jimmy commanded.
Yari stopped, completely out of breath, and dropped his gun. "OK, you got me," he said.
A pair of shots rang out, hitting Yari in the chest. Jimmy dropped to the concrete and rolled quickly as the same person who shot Yari fired at him. Casey ran along the catwalk to the source of the incoming fire, spraying the area with bullets. However, the person got away.
The man took a look around. The same man with the long scar on his face who was at the Aragon West and whom Chuck saw when he flashed on that mystery organization.
"It's Tommy," the man said into his smartphone, clearly not worried that Casey would find him. "We have a problem. The package has been intercepted. We're going to have to clean things up."
~/^\~
Chuck and Sarah made it to Berth 19. An eight-foot-tall packing crate lay in front of them.
Sarah grabbed two crowbars. "Here, help me out," she said as she tossed Chuck one of the crowbars. They went to either side of the crate and wedged the crowbars into the wood. The top of the crate separated and fell to the ground. They looked inside in total shock.
A large circular drum was inside with a countdown clock on it. There was less than a minute to go. Sarah went to find the wires under the clock.
"OK. OK, Intersect," Chuck said. "Flash. Show me how to do this."
"Did you flash?" Sarah asked desperately.
"No, nothing. Come on! Come on, come on, come on, baby! Don't fail me now!"
"OK, Chuck. That's enough. Run. I'm going to try and stay and defuse it."
Chuck couldn't believe it. "No, I'm not leaving you here."
"Go! That is an order!"
"No!"
As the clock ticked under thirty seconds, Sarah pulled her gun out and aimed it at Chuck. "I said go!"
"Oh, I see. So you're going to shoot me to prevent me from being blown up? That's a great plan."
"Why are you so stubborn?!"
"Actually, I consider this a rare moment of courage. I don't know where it came from. I guess you just bring out the worst in me!"
"And you in me!" she angrily retorted.
The timer began to beep louder as it counted out the final ten seconds. They looked at it briefly before turning back to each other.
"It was nice knowing you," Chuck said, closing his eyes.
Sarah looked at him, grabbed his face, and kissed him hard. His eyes shot open in surprise before he realized what she was doing. He reciprocated, the two holding each other tightly as they hungrily devoured each other with a kiss more passionate than either of them had felt in their entire lives. Never before had Sarah poured her heart and soul into a kiss as she had just then, tightly gripping the lapels of Chuck's shirt. And given everything that had happened, Chuck was certain beyond a doubt that door had not been closed. It was, in fact, just blown wide open.
They paused and realized the timer had hit zero several seconds before. They stared into each other's eyes. Both of them then looked at the drum and suddenly the tension the two of them had felt for the last month returned.
"Well, the good news is, we're alive," Sarah said softly. "And the bad news is that this is kind of an uncomfortable…moment right now."
"It's completely comfortable on my end," Chuck replied with an equally-timid voice. "Just saying."
They heard footsteps coming in their direction. They turned to see Carina and Jimmy running towards them. Both of them stopped when they saw how close Chuck and Sarah were standing to each other.
"Uh…did we miss something?" Jimmy asked.
Long Beach Harbor - California
November 21, 2015
6:30 PM PST
Sarah, Casey, and Carina waited as the NSA Bomb Squad analyzed the drum to see what sort of weapon it was. Jimmy had driven Chuck home, as Sarah was still upset with him for risking injury like he did when he popped his shoulder back into its socket.
"Whoever shot Yari was here to pick up this package," Sarah said.
"Someone who didn't want Yari to talk," Casey concluded.
"All clear," the Bomb Squad captain announced. "Looks mean but it's nonlethal. That timer wasn't a fuse. It was measuring an oxygen supply."
The technicians backed away from the container, and it opened with a hiss of dry ice. They looked at the contents inside, and Sarah could barely hold herself together.
"Oh, my God. Bryce."
"Wasn't he killed?" Casey asked.
"Whoever was on that video footage the night Bryce stole the data needed him alive, even though Bryce must have double-crossed them," Carina said.
In the container, Bryce gasped. Sarah felt a bit light-headed at seeing her former lover still alive.
Unknown Location
November 21, 2015
10:00 PM PST
Tommy Delgado faced those same leaders once again. He did not have anything to show for his efforts, and he wasn't expecting this meeting to go well.
"You're saying the CIA is now in possession of Larkin?" one of the leaders asked.
"Yes, but he may no longer be the key. I believe this Chuck Bartowski is the missing piece of the puzzle. If my theory is correct, Bartowski has the ability to be a human Intersect. In fact, based on the performance of the team, I think he downloaded the contents of Bryce's email. Also, I found out Slade once was an Intersect. That was 25 years ago, but his mind might be able to handle an updated file as well."
"We only need one person for our purposes. Since Bartowski is the one carrying the Intersect, we want him captured. Eliminate the rest. Larkin, Walker, Casey, Miller, and Slade. Kill all five of them. And do not fail this time."
"Understood," Tommy replied.