Hello again. I was checking the stats on this story. It was one year ago tomorrow that I began this story. I still can't believe that. I've written over 200,000 words in this story and there's still plenty of chapters to go. There was no way in hell I ever envisioned this thing growing into the behemoth it has become. It does nothing short of amazes me, and I know the reason why is because all of you have been so wonderful with your reviews (even when you didn't like things I did) and your support. I can't lie: the last 18 months have been some of the toughest of my life, and this story has been one of the few rays of sunlight I've had. So I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you decided to get on the ride with me and enjoy this story.
This chapter jumps around quite a bit (and I might edit in a quick Chuck/Sarah blurb later, haven't decided yet), but this chapter begins to line up our ducks a bit as to where the story will be going. Just FYI, there's a lot of Jimmy Slade involvement here, but given what he goes through, I think you'll like it. It's very pertinent to the story. We also get to see how our favorite spy couple and their friends try to stay out of danger...and they don't exactly succeed.
I'd say the parts that are from the show are the property of NBC and Fake Empire Productions, but I don't think I lifted any stories from the show for this particular chapter (although I do crib a little bit from my prior stories). Anyway, I hope you like it, and please leave reviews as always.
(P.S. the title is an Airplane! reference. I'm sure you know how to complete the sentence. :-D )
Enjoy!
Versailles, France
May 10, 2016
10:30 PM CEST
Chuck and Sarah checked to make sure the locks were secure and the surveillance cameras for the chateau weren't picking anything up outside. They managed to get away from the café mere seconds before the police descended upon the area and arrested the four members of the cell who were attempting to commit yet another terrorist attack in Paris. They then met with one of Sarah's old contacts, who set them up in this beautiful location.
They made their way through the chateau to the main bedroom. Chuck put their clothes away while Sarah talked to her contact, who promised to have a new car for them by morning. Chuck sat on the bed. Now that the danger was over, he let loose a long exhale and began to shake a bit. He never thought he would be a part of something like this in his life. Sarah and he just prevented a catastrophe. He didn't even want to contemplate what would have happened had that terror cell succeeded. How Sarah and her team could do this for a living was still beyond his comprehension, even after all that he had done to help them. Ellie said he really hit the jackpot by meeting Sarah. Ellie had never been more right in her life, and that was saying quite a bit.
Sarah hung up her phone and walked over to him. "Chuck?" she asked.
He looked up at her with a sad-eyed smile. She caressed his cheeks. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry, I'm just…what happened tonight…"
She smiled and sat down in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "What happened tonight is that you were amazing." She gave him a passionate kiss. "What you've done…and what you keep doing…I could never imagine anybody doing all of that."
"Um, not to split hairs, but I think you and the others have done that…and are awesome at it, as I have found out. Besides, it's just the Intersect. It's not really me."
Sarah grabbed his face hard. "The Intersect didn't help Carina open up about her past. The Intersect didn't help Casey find the guts to reconnect with Ilsa. The Intersect didn't get Jimmy to stop questioning himself so much. And the Intersect didn't save my life three times and make me realize I could be so much more than just a government spy. That was you, Charles Irving Bartowski. Don't think for one second I will ever let you forget that. What you've done for all of us is beyond belief. You have made such a difference…no, THE difference…in my life."
She pulled his lips to hers and gave him a feverish kiss, her fingers running through his hair. "I love you, Chuck. I am absolutely and unequivocally in love with you. And I always will be."
The sadness in Chuck's eyes quickly morphed into the same joyous look he had in the motel that morning in Barstow. He held Sarah as the two kissed, his departure from Stanford, his days at the Buy More, and his betrayal by Jill now a distant memory, never to return.
"I love you, too," he said gently, caressing her cheeks.
She cupped his chin in her hand. "You know what I want to do right now?"
Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I can guess, baby," he said, imitating Austin Powers.
"I want to dance."
"I guessed wrong," Chuck replied, still imitating Austin Powers.
Sarah got up and pulled Chuck up with her. "I got to dance with you exactly one time, at your sister's rehearsal dinner. Every other time I've wanted to dance with you, it was interrupted by our spy work. But we're safe for the night, so I want to have a real dance with you."
"OK, what song do you want to dance to?"
Sarah froze at that. "Oops, I…didn't think this through. I never had a particular song in mind."
"Don't you have a favorite song?" Sarah shied away at that. "Oh, we need to work on that."
Chuck went to his backpack and pulled out his smartphone. He scrolled through the songs on it and found one he liked. He attached the smartphone to the audio jack of the room's stereo system and hit play. He then walked over to Sarah and took her in his arms. They held each other tightly and swayed to the song coming out of the speakers.
"This is perfect," Sarah said, gazing into Chuck's eyes. "I don't think I've heard this song before."
"It's Feeling Good by Nina Simone," Chuck replied.
"It's beautiful."
"As beautiful as the woman I'm dancing with."
Sarah looked bashfully at the ground. "OK, you really have to stop doing that."
"Then stop being beautiful."
She gave a gentle laugh. "You know, if you're going to do that, be prepared to be bombarded by comments about how handsome and sweet and caring you are."
"And I STILL can't get you to think of me as funny."
"OK! You're funny, too! Happy now?"
"I'm not sad," Chuck replied with a grin, making Sarah laugh hysterically.
They continued to dance, Sarah's head resting on Chuck's shoulder as he took in her scent. "You really love to dance?" he asked.
"One of my favorite things to do," she replied. "I don't get to do it enough."
"I imagine you've had to dance with your partners a few times on missions."
Sarah nodded. "Bryce was incredible. He was a great dance partner. We could have danced professionally had we decided to go that way."
"Have you ever had to dance with Casey?"
"No, thank God," she replied with a giggle. "Although there's this rumor floating around he was on a mission with a female agent a couple of years before we met and had to surveil a target out on the dance floor. Apparently, it was some sort of ballroom dance contest, and he and his partner actually took third place."
Chuck grinned at that image. "But Casey takes things a little too seriously sometimes," Sarah continued. "Bryce, Carina, and I were a lot more loose in the early days, a lot more carefree. He cured us of that. And it's probably a good thing he did before it got us killed on a mission."
"And Jimmy? Wait, I got this. He…is an amazing dancer but constantly claims he has two left feet."
"Almost right. When we first started, he really did have two left feet. He was a terrible dancer. But in fairness, he never had to learn how to dance before. So I did what any leader would do in my position."
"What's that?"
"Dumped it in Carina's lap and made her practice with him."
Chuck laughed heartily at that. "I can just picture it. It'd be like those behind-the-scenes stories on Dancing with the Stars where the professional dancer is constantly yelling at the star to do better."
"If only it was that peaceful. But over time, he got really good and we were able to use him on missions. And Carina is still pissed off at me about it to this very day."
Chuck smiled, that very smile Sarah always loved to see. "How am I doing?"
"Well, there is one advantage you have over both Casey and Jimmy."
"What's that?"
Sarah stood on her toes and put her hands on the back of Chuck's neck, pulling his face to her. They shared an intense, avid kiss. The song faded out, but the two of them didn't notice.
Buy More – Burbank, CA
May 17, 2016
5:30 PM PDT
Jimmy walked into the Buy More and took a look around. Thankfully, the store wasn't crowded, and the customers who were there didn't take notice of him. A couple of the employees spotted him, but they had already met him so they took his appearance in stride.
"Dude, you made it," Morgan called from behind him.
Jimmy turned around and saw Morgan in a green Buy More polo shirt.
"I didn't know if you'd call me back or not," Morgan said in a rush. "I left you a voicemail four days ago, but you didn't answer it, and I can't find Chuck and Sarah, and…"
"OK OK," Jimmy said, putting a hand up to calm Morgan down. "I'm sorry to not return your call. I was…" Jimmy suddenly remembered what he was doing five days ago…or what he almost did on that beach in Chicago. "…not important. Wait, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in Hawaii with Anna?"
Morgan looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. "I was. I spent a week practicing and practicing to be a Benihana chef. But the only thing I could slice were my fingers. And then we're lying on the beach one day. Anna goes off and gets a drink from the bar. The next thing I know, she's making out with this total hunk of a bartender. It's…and then to come back here and beg for my job back. Emmett loved that one."
"Ouch. And I thought I had a bad week. Sorry, man."
"Thanks, but that's not why I called you. I mean, I tried calling Chuck, but his phone keeps going right to voicemail. I figured he's off with Sarah somewhere, but nobody knows where. Do you know where they went?"
Jimmy shook his head. "Sorry, Morgan. I haven't a clue where they're at. We kind of…"
Jimmy took a quick look around and pulled Morgan to one corner of the store, far away from everybody. "Look, you can't say anything about this. Not a word."
"I promise, buddy. What's going on?"
Jimmy exhaled. "They cancelled the show."
"No way! They cancelled it?"
Jimmy hissed at him to keep it down. "Yeah, they're not bringing it back. None of us took it well. The cast hasn't seen each other since before Ellie's wedding. Carina went to London to visit an old boyfriend, and I think John Casey has family back East, so he's out that way. I have no idea where Chuck and Sarah are, but I'm guessing they're off together somewhere."
"Oh, man! That totally sucks! That…that's not right. I thought the show was popular."
"It was. The producers really tap-danced around the reasons for cancelling it," Jimmy said, seething inside because he couldn't tell Morgan the real reason.
"OK, I just…I really needed to talk to Chuck. Something's going on."
"What do you mean?"
"I think there's someone trying to find me. I don't know. I've spotted them in the Buy More a couple of times in the last two days, and Lester said someone had asked where I was when I wasn't here."
Jimmy furrowed his brow. He clung to the hope he was being paranoid, but something didn't seem right. "Keep an eye out for them, Morgan. If they show up, call me right away. I'll call Case and Carina to see if they know where Chuck and Sarah are."
"Thanks, man," Morgan replied.
"Just curious, are Ellie and Devon back from their honeymoon?"
"Yeah, they were supposed to return today. They might be home right now."
"OK, thanks."
Jimmy left the Buy More and got into his car. He drove to Echo Park and took a peek in the courtyard. Morgan was right: Ellie and Devon had arrived and appeared to be heading out, looking a little tired but very happy. It was safe to say they got back to the apartment not long ago and were probably going out for a bite to eat because they were too tired to make anything at home.
Jimmy ran back to his car as he saw Ellie and Devon get into theirs and take off. Another car then started up and left the apartment complex following them. Jimmy started his car and drove in the same direction, keeping a reasonable distance so he wouldn't be seen. He saw Ellie and Devon go through a left turn. The car following them made the same left turn, and Jimmy got a good look at the person driving that car.
"Holy shit," he whispered in fear.
Now he REALLY wished he was just being paranoid.
Versailles, France
May 11, 2016
8:00 AM CEST
"Good morning."
Chuck stirred in the bed and stretched, moaning gently as he felt the soft cotton sheets. He turned and opened his eyes to see Sarah in a robe holding a tray of eggs, bacon, toast, and orange juice.
He smiled. "OK, so not fair."
She raised an eyebrow. "You've greeted me six times in the last two weeks with breakfast in bed, but I do it once and it's unfair?"
"Yeah, but there's a big difference. I…well, you…"
"Waiting," she replied with an ever-increasing grin.
"Why don't I just thank you for doing that and quit before I say something stupid."
She put the tray down on the bed. "A wise move," she said, grabbing his face and kissing him.
"Was your friend able to switch cars?"
Sarah nodded. "But I'm not sure we should leave right away. We don't really have a place to go where we will be safer than this."
"Plus, it's such a beautiful locale. I could stay here for days."
Sarah pulled back the covers and lay down next to Chuck. "So could I," she purred, planting kisses along his neck. Chuck began to reciprocate. His eye caught the TV, which was showing Sky News. He bolted upward and stared in shock.
Sarah looked up at him. "What is it?" She turned to see the TV. "Oh, my God."
The news graphic showed a picture of them dancing in Stockholm with the caption Real Life Spies? Sarah quickly reached for the remote and turned up the volume.
"Is Spy Girl the real thing?" the anchor read. "Sarah Walker, the beautiful actress and star of Jen Burton: Spy Girl could very well be a secret agent, if reports from both Stockholm and here in Paris are confirmed. Swedish authorities have linked her and her boyfriend of eight months, Charles Carmichael, to the rescue of a financial advisor for the EU in a Stockholm ballroom two nights ago. And as reports continue to funnel in regarding the terrorist attack that was thwarted last night in Paris, eyewitnesses say two people who bear a close description to the famous couple were responsible for stopping four members of a Syrian terror cell from inflicting mass devastation on the city. Parisian authorities have made no comment regarding these rumors as their investigation continues."
"I don't believe this," Chuck said, falling back to the bed. "I thought we got out of there last night without anybody knowing."
"Maybe we'll get lucky and they won't make the connection," Sarah replied.
Chuck looked at her. "But you're not optimistic about that."
"No," she conceded with a sigh. "I don't even want to think about what will happen when Beckman finds out, if she hasn't already."
"What do we do?"
Sarah was quiet for a moment. "I think all we can do for now is lay low. I'll have my friend send a trail in the wrong direction and make people think we left the country."
"Will that work?"
"I hope so. But one way or another, I know something we will definitely need."
He put his arms around her and nodded. "Or to be more accurate, three things."
Sarah snuggled into Chuck's embrace and they held each other tightly.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence – Washington, D.C.
May 14, 2016
4:00 PM EDT
Casey walked quickly into his office, throwing the most minimal of salutes to his assistant, who just had too much military training and respect to not salute him every time he saw him. He quickly went to his computer and brought up the enhanced image of Ilsa.
What the hell is she thinking?
Casey couldn't believe it. Actually, he could believe it. To say Ilsa had the guts of a cat burglar would be understating it. Normally, French Intelligence rarely made high-risk plays like this. It appeared, however, after what happened last November, they were playing no-holds barred now. He also had to assume they would disavow her if she was caught.
His eyes then widened. He immediately went to the flash traffic memos from the past several days, scanning through the general reports that MI-6, the CIA, the DGSE, German FIS, and the Mossad exchanged with each other daily.
He got on the phone to the DGSE. "This is Colonel John Casey, DNI. I need details on the prison escape you reported on document INT-DON-26884."
"There are not a lot of details, Colonel," the assistant at the DGSE replied. "We have the name of the escaped prisoner: Victor Federov. They've just confirmed it was an inside job."
Casey hung up the phone and stared out into space. Federov couldn't return to Russia; he'd be killed there. He broke out of prison for only one reason: revenge. Casey knew what he had to do. Unfortunately, he didn't have the resources here to accomplish it...at least not without raising an eyebrow with Beckman. But he did know quite a few people in other intelligence services.
He did some research on his computer. He had several friends in high places in the German FIS and the Belgian VSSE. After what happened at the airport in Brussels a couple of months ago, surely those organizations wouldn't mind having someone of Casey's level of ability exerting some payback for them.
Casey got on a secured line to Berlin and requested a conference call with Belgian State Security Service. It was time to get out from behind his desk.
Buy More – Burbank, CA
May 17, 2016
7:00 PM PDT
Morgan directed the customer he was helping over to the registers. He wasn't in a particularly good mood given what had happened to him over the last week, but this very annoying customer spent a half-hour arguing that the newest Halo game was crap compared to the previous version. He was both exhausted and pissed off.
And his night was just beginning.
He ducked down behind the shelves as the same person he saw twice before came in with two others, both of whom were wearing suits. They began to look around the store. Luckily, there were only a few customers shopping right now.
He pulled out his smartphone and dialed. "Jimmy, it's Morgan."
"What's going on?" Jimmy replied.
"You told me to call you if I see that guy again, and he's here. He's here with two other people. Who is this guy?"
Jimmy was stunned silent. Ellie and Devon emerged from the restaurant, and the same car was keeping an eye on them. Whoever this was, they must have known about Chuck and Sarah. It appeared that organization Miles boasted about in the Intersect room was the real thing, and this was their new strategy: go after Chuck's family and friends. But he was the only one in a position to stop them, and stopping two targets miles apart was impossible. Unless…
"Morgan, listen to me very carefully," Jimmy replied, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. "Hang up and then call Ellie. Tell her you got a flat tire, your mother needs some help, something. But get her and Devon to the Buy More. It's very important."
"Oh…OK, Jimmy," Morgan said, now even more scared. "Are you coming this way?"
"I'll be there soon."
"OK, see you in a few. I hope."
Morgan quickly dialed Ellie's number. "El, I'm so sorry. I tried calling Chuck but…do you know where he is?"
"He said something about going to Europe for a few weeks with Sarah, but he didn't give me any details," Ellie replied. "What's wrong?"
"No, it's just…my car got a flat tire, and I tried calling my mother, but she's not picking up. I kind of…can you give me a ride home? I'm at the Buy More."
"Why are you back in L.A.? Where's Anna?"
"In Hawaii still," Morgan muttered, the image of Anna making out with that bartender still burned into his mind. "It's…it's a long story, but basically she dumped me and I came back here."
Ellie exhaled in frustration. "We'll be right there."
"Thanks, Ellie. You are awesome."
"Pun intended."
"What? Oh, right. Sorry, yeah."
Ellie hung up her phone and turned to Devon. "We have to stop at the Buy More and give Morgan a ride home," she said tiredly
Devon nodded in sympathy. "Hopefully it'll be an easy day at work tomorrow."
Devon pulled out of the restaurant parking lot and headed for Burbank. The three agents in the car followed them, and Jimmy followed both cars. He kept his distance until he verified that Ellie and Devon were heading directly for the Buy More. He then pulled off the route and took a set of side streets at 70 MPH to beat both cars there. He parked behind the building so not to be seen by the agents, who would certainly identify him if they saw him. He picked the lock on the back door of the store and went down the hallway. He got out his smartphone and called Morgan.
"Morgan, are you in the store?" Jimmy asked.
"Yeah, I'm by the appliances. What's going on?"
"Are those three people still in the store?"
"Still here. I'm trying to stay out of sight. Where are you?"
"Check your six."
Morgan turned around to see Jimmy behind the double doors to the back of the store. Morgan quickly walked over to him.
"Dude, what's going on? It feels like we're on the show right now. Only, you know, much, much scarier!"
Jimmy looked around. "I can't tell you everything right now, but Ellie and Devon have people following them, too. Right now, in fact."
"What? Why?"
"OK, that's part of that 'everything' category I can't tell you right now, but I need your help. Remember Thanksgiving?"
"What? Do we have a pineapple situation?"
"We will in a minute. When you see Ellie and Devon enter the store, pull the fire alarm, grab them, and run like hell. Meantime, I need your help setting something up."
"Set something up?"
Jimmy nodded. "Remember that episode we did in Barcelona with the nightclub?"
~/^\~
Ellie and Devon pulled into the Buy More lot and exited their car, not exactly in the best of moods. The agent who drove the car following them furrowed his brow and got on his smartphone.
"Do you have the other one covered?" he asked on his phone.
"He's in here. The other two just walked in. Why are they here?"
"I don't know. Something's not right. We're coming in."
He hung up his phone and turned to the two agents with him in the car. "Let's go," he said.
The three quickly exited the car and went into the Buy More. Ellie and Devon went through the store to the back and found Morgan by the audio department.
"Morgan, are you ready to go?" Ellie asked him. Morgan looked scared to death. "What's going on?"
"El, have you noticed anybody, like, following you anywhere?"
"No," she replied in complete confusion. "What, is someone following you?"
Morgan pointed a shaky hand in the direction of his stalker. "Kind of."
"Who is that?" Devon asked.
"I don't know. But we have to get everybody out of here right now."
"Why?" Ellie tried to ask, but Morgan ran for the fire alarm and pulled it. The alarm rang throughout the store, and the employees and customers quickly exited.
Morgan ran back to Ellie and Devon. "Quick! Out the back!"
"Do not move."
Morgan, Ellie, and Devon turned in surprise. The six agents who were following them had them surrounded. One of them broke away and stepped backwards to the Nerd Herd desk and grabbed the intercom.
"Agent Walker," the man announced. "I know you're here. Or someone from your team is. Unless you want me to execute these three right now, I suggest you come out from wherever you're hiding."
"What are they talking about?" Ellie asked in wide-eyed fear.
Jimmy walked down the aisle from the employees' breakroom with his hands raised.
"Agent Slade," the man who spoke on the P.A. said. "I should have guessed."
"Otto Kane," Jimmy replied, remembering the man who drove the car that followed Ellie and Devon. "How long has it been? Five years? Six?"
"Since you took out my former employer's entire operation and killed almost everyone in it?"
"They tried to kill thousands of innocent people. It didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."
Kane cocked his gun and pointed it at Jimmy's head. "As much as I'd enjoy blowing your brains out right now, I have a more important task to complete first. We want Agent Walker and Agent Bartowski."
"What do you mean AGENT Bartowski?" Ellie demanded.
"I can't give you what I don't have," Jimmy replied to Kane.
Emmett came running out of his office. "What the hell is going on? Who pulled…"
Kane turned and shot Emmett, who fell to the ground dead. Ellie gasped in horror and Devon held on to her.
"Who's next, Agent Slade?" Kane asked, sweeping the gun back and forth. "Shall it be his best friend, his brother-in-law? Shall I execute his sister? Get on the phone and demand they come here."
"Fine," Jimmy said in defeat.
One of the agents reached into Jimmy's pocket to pull out his smartphone. "Get dialing," they commanded.
Jimmy started dialing his smartphone. He gave Morgan a slight nod. He finished dialing and hit the Send button.
Every speaker on the racks in the audio department blasted out a very loud song at maximum volume, making everyone turn in shock and cover their ears. Morgan dove for Ellie and Devon, tackling them to the ground, as Jimmy gave a spinning kick to the agent who took his phone, knocking him to the ground. He dove for the man's gun and opened fire at the other agents. He took out one of them as he ducked behind a rack of DVDs.
"Get out of here!" he screamed to Morgan, Ellie, and Devon as another agent ran around. Jimmy rolled onto his back and fired at that agent, taking them out. He quickly got up and grabbed that agent's gun. He ran through the aisles low to the ground as another agent opened up with an Uzi. He spotted the agent and leaped into the air over one of the shelves, firing away with both guns and shooting that agent dead.
He landed and turned just in time to be knocked down by a very large agent. Jimmy tried to shake the cobwebs loose as the agent…who had at least six inches and sixty pounds on him…lifted him up by the lapels of his shirt and threw him into a big screen TV. Jimmy fell to the floor, dropping his guns, and the TV shattered underneath him. He rolled back and forth in a futile attempt to get up. The agent walked over to him sensing victory. He reached down to grab Jimmy, who swiped at him with a piece of jagged glass from the broken TV. The man recoiled as blood came out of his wrist. Jimmy got up and ran through the store with the man in pursuit. The agent caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. Jimmy slipped out from his grip and turned to face him. The man let out a primal scream and charged Jimmy. He grabbed a length of cable off of one of the shelves and stepped off a display to launch himself into the air, flying at the agent. He wrapped the cord around the agent's neck and used it to perform a horse-collar tackle, sending the man crashing hard to the ground. Jimmy fell to the floor himself, ramming his head on the edge of a display. He was completely dazed and unable to move.
Kane stood above Jimmy and aimed his gun at his head. "All of that for nothing, Slade." He began to pull the trigger.
Someone behind Kane smashed him in the back of the head with baseball bat, sending him to the ground.
"Don't you DARE mess with one of the stars of my favorite show!" Big Mike bellowed.
Jimmy's head began to clear despite being covered in blood. He looked up to see Big Mike, Ellie, Devon, and Morgan looking down at him.
He then shut his eyes in pain. "Aaah, hell."
MI-6 Headquarters – London, UK
May 18, 2016
1:00 PM BST
Carina and Cole returned to Grace Hawkinson. "What's going on, Hawk?" Cole asked her.
"We took the photo Agent Miller verified before and ran it through our best graphics programs," Grace replied. "We were able to clean up the image. It's not good enough for facial recognition software to give us a positive identification, but it's certainly an improvement over what we had before."
Grace put the upgraded image on one of the large monitors. Carina and Cole studied it. "No way," Carina whispered.
"You know her?" Cole asked.
"That looks like Ilsa Trinchina. She's an agent with the DGSE. They must have sent her off to sabotage ISIS operations."
"Ballsy move. But who can really blame Paris after all the shit they've been through in the last year. How do you know her?"
"That is John Casey's ex-girlfriend. She was in L.A. five months ago. We helped her take down the head of a Russian crime syndicate."
"Russian?" Cole stood in silence for a moment. He then went to one of the computers and sorted through the flash traffic memos. "What was the name of the Russian?"
"Victor Federov," Carina replied.
Cole stood up. "Shit. He escaped from prison." The three of them looked at each other. "He'd go after her, wouldn't he."
"In a heartbeat," Carina replied.
"Do you think Colonel Casey knows?" Grace asked.
Carina immediately got out her smartphone and quickly dialed Casey. "Pick up, Case. Pick up," she muttered to herself. She only got his voicemail. She then tried his office.
"This is Agent Miller. I need to speak with Colonel Casey, urgent," she told Casey's assistant.
"He's not here," the assistant replied. "He left the office a few days ago and I haven't heard from him since. I wish he'd call back. General Beckman is looking for him, too, and she's furious."
Carina hung up the phone. "He knows," Cole said quietly at seeing Carina's expression.
"That isn't the half of it," Carina replied apprehensively.
Buy More – Burbank, CA
May 17, 2016
9:30 PM PDT
Jimmy sat at the table in the employees' breakroom, wincing in pain as Devon worked on stitching the cuts on his back and face. Jimmy contacted the local NSA office to process the Ring members he caught while a cleanup crew fixed the damage and made sure to sell the story that the store suffered a gas leak. The four dead agents…and Emmett…were carried out the back of store away from prying eyes.
"Agent Walker?" Ellie barked, as mad as anyone had ever seen her. "Agent Slade? You two are actual spies? What the hell have you done?"
"It's a long story," Jimmy replied guiltily.
"Then get to it faster."
"We are…covert agents for the government. I know that sounds insane, but it's true. Sarah, John Casey, Carina, and I work as a team. We use the TV show as a cover to account for us being in so many places."
"Oh, dude," Morgan replied, far more impressed than Ellie. "This is so cool! Actual spies? Like a team of James Bond's!"
"No, it is NOT cool," Ellie growled in no uncertain terms. "You put my brother in danger?"
"No, not…not on purpose, anyway." Jimmy exhaled. "Chuck came across a file of government secrets that Bryce Larkin sent him."
"Bryce Larkin? He hated Bryce! Bryce got him kicked out of Stanford and stole Jill from him!"
"That's why this story gets really long. The CIA discovered something about Chuck while he was at Stanford and they were going to basically draft him into working for the government, whether he wanted to or not. Bryce got him expelled from school to prevent that from happening."
"What government secrets?" Devon asked. "Why didn't Chuck just give them back?"
Jimmy hung his head. He stood no chance to lie his way out of this. They spent the last eight months keeping the secret from Chuck's family and friends to protect them. But keeping them in the dark was irrelevant now, given he barely got them away from being killed.
"There's a project the government developed called the Intersect. It was a computer designed to mine for patterns in data being collected by field agents to hopefully make connections we couldn't normally make. They encoded all of the data into images. It's like subliminal advertising: if you saw an image, then you knew the data stored in it. Chuck saw all of the images. He knew every secret of the government. He basically became the Intersect computer. I know it sounds crazy, but what he could do was nothing short of amazing. That's why he worked with us. Sarah got him the job on the show and pretended to be his girlfriend so we could keep him protected."
"What?!" Ellie was fuming. "Their relationship was fake?"
"Originally, yes. But then they really did fall in love. Sarah tried to stop herself at first, thinking she couldn't protect him and love him at the same time. But she finally decided she'd rather be with Chuck than work as a spy. Actually, you may have had a hand in it. Didn't you give her a little pep talk?"
"Oh." Ellie's austere expression became a little more bashful. "Yes, I kind of did. I just thought they were so much happier when they were together."
"And you were right. It was only a matter of time with those two. We all knew it would happen eventually. What Chuck did for this country…your brother is an honest-to-God hero. I'm not even remotely exaggerating that."
Jimmy finally looked up at Ellie. "And I think we'd all agree what any woman would see in Chuck. Really, Sarah never stood a chance. And believe me, what everyone loves about Jen Burton, that's all Sarah. Those two belonged together. No question about it."
"But what happened?" Morgan asked. "You said they cancelled the show. Does that mean they broke up the team for real?"
Jimmy nodded. "There were groups who wanted to use the Intersect for their own gain, like the ones who ruined your first wedding."
"Chuck told me he did that," Ellie protested. "He said that was his fault."
Jimmy shook his head. "It was a group called Fulcrum. They threatened to kill you if we didn't turn over the Intersect. Bryce Larkin gave himself up to protect you. We stopped them, but it cost Bryce his life."
"Why didn't Chuck just tell us the truth?" Devon asked.
"He couldn't. He couldn't say why Sarah found him and why all of us started hanging around together. The four of us…and Chuck…didn't say anything to keep you protected. But now…" Jimmy hung his head again.
"Is that why we haven't heard from Chuck?"
"After Fulcrum was gone and the government broke up the team, we all went our separate ways. John Casey was promoted and moved to D.C., Carina went to London and reunited with a British agent she met. Chuck and Sarah took off together, and I…"
Jimmy fell silent. "What?" Ellie prodded.
"Nothing," Jimmy said quietly.
"Wait a minute," Big Mike interjected. "If these bad guys are supposed to be gone, then who the hell did I have to pummel with my baseball bat?"
"We don't know. Before he died, Bryce told Chuck it was a group called the Ring. We only just found out about them; the night of your reception, in fact. I guess we just didn't realize they'd make a play like this. But it's safe to say they want Chuck and are willing to kill all of us to get him."
"So they'll keep coming after us?" Ellie said, back to the level of anger she had at the beginning.
"Not all of you." Jimmy rose from the chair, still in a lot of pain. "We've been keeping surveillance on the apartment and the store just to make sure nothing happened to you." Ellie glared at him. "Strictly for protection, Doc, but obviously we have to step that up now. The CIA will assign teams to guard you. It's like having your own Secret Service detail…amped up a few notches."
"You mean like the President has?" Morgan asked. "That is so epic!"
"It's…more of a pain than you think, Morgan," Jimmy replied to bring him back to Earth. "But not to worry. Their job is to blend into the background. Worst case scenario, you get driven around a lot rather than driving yourself. And your plans have to be slightly less spontaneous. No last-minute weekends up the coast."
"For how long?" Devon inquired, not particularly thrilled by the idea.
"Until we stop whatever this organization is."
"No," Ellie replied with a harsh gaze. "I'm not going to spend every waking moment under lock and key for something I didn't do. You and the team kept Chuck protected for eight months and brought down this Fulcrum organization; you can do the same thing to the Ring. I want Chuck and Sarah out of this! She is the greatest thing that ever happened to my little brother, and they deserve to walk away and live a happy life together! I don't care what it takes. You get your team back together and do whatever you have to do to stop these people. Do I make myself clear?"
Jimmy gave a quiet nod. And he thought Sarah was a tough cookie.
W Hotel – Los Angeles, CA
May 17, 2016
11:30 PM PDT
Jimmy dragged his tired body into his hotel room and collapsed on the bed. He felt like complete hell. He never expected any of this to happen, and he was having a significant amount of guilt over it. Ellie's harsh words still rang in his ears. Not that he could blame her for being upset. Devon, Morgan, and she were almost killed just to get to Chuck and Sarah? He never wanted it to come to this but now it had. The Ring had decided to up the ante…significantly. And the fact the entire team was spread out over the planet made things so much worse. Ellie was right: the team had to be reunited. They had to stop the Ring and they had to find a way to get the Intersect out of Chuck again and get Sarah and him out of the spy business for good. But he didn't have a clue how to do any of that.
There was a knock at his door. He bolted upward in complete surprise. He approached the door slowly with his gun aimed since he wasn't expecting any visitors. He looked through the peephole and was taken by surprise. He immediately put his gun away and opened the door.
"What are you doing here?" Jimmy asked Alex Forrest.
"I…I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me," she said softly. "And I don't just mean rescuing me from that bastard Salazar. Thank you for being there for me at my father's burial, lending me a shoulder to cry on. I didn't really expect that to happen. But most of all, I wanted to say you were right. I need to change how I think and stop denying myself what I really want in life."
"Good," Jimmy replied. "I'm glad to hear that."
"Right now, though, there's only one thing that I really want."
"What's that?"
Alex stepped forward and took Jimmy's face in her hands, giving him a hot, sensuous kiss. His eyes shot open in surprise but Alex continued to kiss him, running her fingers through his hair as her hunger increased. She backed him up into the wall, pressing her entire body against him, as her tongue flitted like a bumblebee inside his mouth.
"Wait, what?" Jimmy panted, completely taken by surprise.
Alex's eyes bore into his. "Remember when you kissed me in Ted Roark's mansion? I thought my knees were going to buckle. I hadn't been kissed like that since my fiancé. Maybe not even then."
She pushed his shoulders hard against the wall. "You told me to find something that would make me happy. That something is you."
Alex lunged at Jimmy's lips again and continued to kiss him as if her life depended on it. She reached up and ripped his shirt off as she kicked the door closed. She unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor, pressing her bare body against his chest as she worked to undo his belt. She pulled him over to the bed, removing his pants in the process.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence – Washington, D.C.
May 18, 2016
8:00 AM EDT
General Beckman marched down the hallway to Casey's office with enough steam coming out of her ears to power a locomotive. The fact that she caused this to happen didn't even register. She broke up the best team of spies in the government and still expected them to fall in line with whatever she wanted?
"Lieutenant, where is Colonel Casey?" Beckman demanded.
"I don't know, ma'am," Casey's assistant replied, who couldn't be shakier if he mainlined espresso into his veins. "I haven't seen him for two days."
"If he returns, you tell him to go to my office immediately," she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."
Beckman turned on her heel and marched down the hallway back to her office. She immediately got on her phone.
"Issue a directive to our allies in the intelligence community and in our departments. They are to detain the following individuals and transport them to Washington, D.C.: Colonel John Casey, Agent Jimmy Slade, Agent Carina Miller, Agent Sarah Walker, and Chuck Bartowski. Use whatever means necessary to bring them in, but I want all of them alive."
She slammed the phone down and picked up the testimony from the Ring agents that were captured. One way or another, she was going to find out why the team lied and didn't tell her Chuck uploaded the new Intersect.