Hey everybody. Just adding the latest chapter to this story. I'm trying to hammer out a good direction for this to go, and I originally thought I was going to have the big Casey rescue in this chapter. But then I started thinking about all of the characters being together and how they'd be reacting right now to being on their own with both the government and The Ring after them. This chapter is heavy on dialogue and light on action, but that will definitely be reversing itself for the next chapter. I also make a few callbacks to things I did earlier in this story and a few running gags I had in prior stories. One of those I've been told was one of the funniest things people had seen me write in prior Chuck stories, so I wanted to make a little wink to that.
Again a quick thank-you to Marc Vun Kannon for letting me bounce a few ideas off of his head, particularly how the last week in the story has gone for some of the characters. If you have any input you want to suggest for the story, please let me know. And of course, NBC and Fake Empire Productions...you know the drill.
Enjoy and please leave reviews. Thanks!
MI-6 Headquarters – London, UK
May 18, 2016
10:45 PM BST
"I am going to break his goddamn neck!"
To say Carina was upset was being kind. She hadn't heard from Jimmy since Ellie's and Devon's wedding and he hadn't even picked up his phone in over a week. With Casey somewhere in the Middle East and Chuck and Sarah still unaccounted for, she was under enough stress already and didn't need Jimmy to be M.I.A. for almost a month.
"I…take it you're unhappy?" Cole said with a raised eyebrow. Behind Cole, Grace Hawkinson and Amir Nejem tried to keep a straight face…emphasis on tried.
"He's on his way to London and he's bringing the whole damn Brady Bunch with him! Apparently Chuck's sister and brother-in-law were attacked twice in L.A. And how he's with Alex Forrest, I have no idea. Oh, and by the by, the CIA wants all of us placed under arrest for falsifying the reports on what happened that night in the Intersect room. I'll just bet they told your bosses to cart my ass back to D.C."
"Lovely. I was just thinking this didn't have enough complications."
"Uh, be careful what you wish for, Cole," Grace said nervously.
"What?" Cole turned to see a half-dozen armed guards heading down the stairwell. "Bollocks. Amir, do you have the keys to the safehouse?"
"Always," Amir replied. "Grace, can you buy us some time?"
"No problem. I'll send them to your actual flat," she answered. "I'll tell them Cole and Carina wanted some alone time."
"We owe you, Hawk," Cole said in appreciation.
Grace rolled her eyes. "I'll add it to the list."
Cole kissed her on the cheek and took off with Carina and Amir in the other direction to the tunnel that would lead to the Underground. They caught a train to a flat just outside of the city that only a few agents…and definitely not MI-6…knew about.
Carina, Cole, and Amir entered the small flat. Carina and Cole promptly collapsed on the couch while Amir produced a bottle of whiskey and handed them shot glasses.
"Have to love this guy," Cole said with a smile as he filled the shot glasses. "There may be better spies in our business but none who are better prepared." He tipped his shot glass at Amir and took a drink. Carina smiled and followed suit.
"I think I need to be caught up on this," Amir said, taking a seat in the recliner opposite of the couch. "Who is Chuck? Is he the one who was dating your friend, Sarah?"
"Chuck Bartowski was the asset the team and I had been guarding for the last eight months," Carina explained. "We got him a job on the show and pretended he was dating Sarah so he could work undercover with us. We were a good team before, but with Chuck helping us, we were unstoppable. But we also knew Sarah was falling for him, and the rest of us…Case, Jimmy, and me…really wanted the two of them to be together. Unfortunately, the only way for that to happen was to get him out the spy world. And we almost pulled it off."
"I sure as hell wouldn't want him rescuing me from some splinter group, but you find out after three seconds why these people wanted to protect him so badly," Cole said in agreement.
"What did you mean earlier by the 'Intersect room'?" Amir asked.
"Put simply, the Intersect is a computer program that carried all of our government secrets in it. And you could learn those secrets by being in this room and seeing this series of subliminal images. Chuck became the computer. All of our secrets got locked in his head. And then he downloaded the newest Intersect to save our lives that night from a group of enemy agents. I didn't witness it personally, but from what Sarah and Case told me, it was like watching an episode of our show on fast-forward."
"That's why you falsified the reports? You figured the CIA would never let Chuck leave if they knew what he was now capable of?"
Carina nodded. "And we knew Sarah would commit treason to keep Chuck away. So we tried our best to make it look like we took out the Ring agents and Chuck only provided intel for us. But I guess the agents that were captured broke under interrogation. So now all of us are on General Beckman's shitlist."
"How do we sneak Sarah and Chuck into London?" Cole asked. "Surely they must know by now they have every set of eyes looking for them."
"And what about his family coming here?" Amir added. "Did Jimmy tell them the truth?"
Carina shrugged. "Jimmy said the Ring went after Ellie, Devon, and Morgan twice in L.A. By saving them, he must have let the cat out of the bag." She gave a quiet chuckle. "I met her, Chuck's sister. Tough as nails. She'd make a pretty good agent herself if she wasn't already making a career out of saving lives. She's got the will, I guarantee that. Poor Jimmy probably got read the riot act from her when she learned the truth."
"I guess you were right to be worried about your partner," Cole said. "What he's probably been through in the last few days."
"I was. I was starting to panic thinking you were right, that the team's breakup was harder on him than any of us knew. But now…I don't know. Something's different. On the phone, he didn't sound like he normally does. No shy voice, no self-effacing jokes. He was all-business. Very confident. I have to admit; it turned me on a little."
Carina sat in silence. "I wonder if that explains Alex Forrest," she said after a moment.
"Alex Forrest? Who is he?"
"She…"
Cole raised an eyebrow. "Even more interesting."
"You could say that. Originally, she almost broke up our team but backed off when we saved her life against Fulcrum. Back then, I suspected she was attracted to Jimmy. And now Jimmy said Alex prevented him from being arrested, which means she's in as much trouble now as the rest of us. Why else would she do that unless she had a thing for him?"
Carina gave that a lot of thought, and a big smile drew across her face. "Finally, someone put a dent in that thick skull of his."
"You mean, Alex and Jimmy…" Amir started, a smile coming to him as well.
"Jimmy is one of the best spies I've ever met, but he's beyond pathetic when it comes to romance. I can't tell you how many times I had just thrown myself at him in the early days. But he was too clueless to do anything about it. And this is a guy who gets some very X-rated letters from the ladies. Not to mention a supermodel-hot stalker every now and again."
"I guess the right person came along."
"I guess so. But I never would have expected him to…"
Her smartphone began to ring. Carina looked at it and was confused. "Nobody should know my number, but look at the ID."
Cole quickly checked. "33 3? That's the code for northern France."
Her eyes widened. She hit the answer button. "Sarah? Are you OK?"
"Yes, thankfully," Sarah said with profound relief. "We've had quite an adventure."
"We know. You've made the news a few times."
"And barely got away from arrest from the DGSE. Beckman must have found out about Chuck. Are you safe? What about the others?"
"I'm safe, thanks to Cole and a few of his friends. But things have really gone sideways, Sarah. Ilsa Trinchina is in the Middle East and Casey went to find her because Victor Federov escaped prison."
"Oh, God. He'll pull out all the stops to kill both of them. Where's Jimmy?"
"That's where this bad story gets much worse. Nobody had heard from him since the wedding, and he called only an hour ago saying he's bringing Ellie, Devon, and Morgan with him to London. The Ring tried to take them twice in L.A. but Jimmy stopped them."
"Are they OK?" Sarah asked in a panic.
"They're fine. Although obviously they now know we're agents. And I'm guessing Ellie went ballistic after being attacked twice. That's going to be the longest flight in Jimmy's life."
"That wouldn't surprise me."
"And to make this even more bizarre, Jimmy was almost arrested by Beckman's minions, but Alex Forrest got him out of it. She's coming here, too. Now she's in the hole with the rest of us."
"Forrest saved Jimmy from being arrested?" Sarah let that one sink in. "You don't suppose…"
"What else could it be?" Carina replied with a grin. "She planted her flag on Mount Jimmy."
"Pun intended."
"Right?"
"I'll tell Chuck about what happened with his family. But we need help getting to London."
"Are you close to Lille? Your caller ID had a northern France code."
"We're about an hour from there. After getting away from the DGSE, we walked five miles to the nearest village and stole a truck. We broke into this café and used their phone."
"We'll get you on the first train out to London in the morning."
"OK, I'll email you the passport names and ID numbers we're using."
"See you here tomorrow. Keep safe. This is just getting started."
"Take care, Carina. See you soon."
Carina hung up and turned to Cole. "Cole, do you think Grace can add one more item to the list?"
Los Angeles International Airport
May 18, 2016
4:45 PM PDT
Jimmy was very grateful he didn't pack all of his gear after the team was broken up. It remained in that storage locker he rented under a false name. Besides a slew of IDs and credit cards only the team knew about, he stashed the team's passport-making machine, the most up-to-date one any set of agents had. He spent an hour making fake passports for everyone that would fool security both in Los Angeles and London. He also brought the team's set of contact lenses designed to alter the calculations made by facial recognition cameras of the wearer so Ellie, Devon, Morgan, Alex, and he wouldn't be matched up to their real pictures in the computers at Fort Meade or with British Intelligence. As for being recognized as Lance McCall, he'd brush it off with his well-practiced 'I get that a lot' response. Not to mention, they only had thirty minutes to make their flight.
"Morgan, this is your passport," Jimmy said, handing it to him. "You're Jack Traven, born and raised in Encino, CA. You're going to London for training for a large corporation."
"Jack Traven?" Morgan was impressed, to say the least. "I like that. This is going to be so epic!"
"Just try to keep your excitement under 50 miles per hour," Jimmy replied in irritation, the headache he had been sporting since being attacked at the apartment returning in force.
He then turned to Ellie and Devon. "Here are your passports. You're attending a medical conference at Cambridge."
Ellie looked at the names on the passports. "Doctors Barbara and Kenneth Roberts. Barbara and Kenneth…" She stopped in her tracks and glared at Jimmy. "Wait a second. Barbie and Ken? Really?"
"Then don't yell at me every time I save your life," he retorted with a smirk. "Plane tickets," he then said, handing the three their tickets.
"First class?" Devon beamed. "Already liking this."
"This will probably be as luxurious as we get. Once we're in London, we have to keep you three hidden. Alex will guard you while we locate Casey and his girlfriend, Ilsa. After we bring those two back, we'll try to straighten out this mess."
Jimmy checked the time. "We have to get moving. We'll be in London by noon their time tomorrow. Get some rest on the flight."
Everybody quickly made their way to the gate.
~/^\~
"Ugh."
After the safety briefing, which seemed to take a lot longer than it normally did…at least in Jimmy's mind…and a half-dozen 'I get that a lot' phrases thrown around, Jimmy finally collapsed into his first-class seat and started to fall asleep. That was the advantage of a ten-hour flight: plenty of opportunity for rest. And in first class, a sleeping passenger was like a Christmas present to the flight crew, provided they didn't snore loudly.
"Dude, you awake?"
Jimmy's eyes shot open and he glanced to his right, groaning when he saw Morgan there.
"Did you even WAIT for them to turn off the 'fasten seatbelt' sign?" Jimmy grumbled.
"Thanks so much for getting us in first class. They have a bar here. I mean, an actual bar…with a bartender and everything! And the movie selection is awesome! They even have the latest videogames to play!"
"Then go enjoy them," Jimmy replied tiredly through half-lidded eyes.
"But I gotta know. Do you guys travel like this all the time?"
"We have our own jet."
"Does it have a bar, too?"
"No."
"Hot flight attendants?"
"No."
"So, what do you do while you're flying around the world?"
"We study mission briefings, communicate with others regarding upcoming or previous operations, or try to get some rest," Jimmy replied, emphasizing the last one as strongly as he could.
"Oh, man. Have you ever had the plane, like, taken over by some nasty bad guy? You know, then the four of you just kung-fu the guy right out the door or jump out with no parachute to catch them?"
Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Morgan, I know it may not look like it, but I got the crap beat out of me twice in less than a day. And the first thing I have to do once I get you four settled is to fly to the Middle East and find John Casey and his girlfriend. I really need some rest right now."
"Yeah, oh yeah, buddy. You're right. I'm so sorry. I'm just so out of my mind about all of this. How you…"
"Hey guys," Devon walked up to Morgan and Jimmy.
Jimmy growled quietly. "Why the hell did I have to duck?" he said to himself in exasperation. "This would be over and they'd be someone else's problem."
"Anybody need coffee?" Devon asked, holding up two coffee cups.
"I don't need the caffeine, and Morgan REALLY doesn't need the caffeine."
"Sorry, Jimmy. I was just wondering, is there something going on between you and Alex? You two had kind of a…vibe going."
"Yeah, are you two really going out like you said you were at Ted Roark's mansion?" Morgan added. "And where is he?"
"That's a long story…and an even longer story," Jimmy replied, practically nodding off at this point.
"Dude, you sure know how to pick them, though. She is smokin' hot!"
"She looks like someone familiar," Devon said. "I can't think of it. Morgan, who does she remind you of?"
"She looks a lot like Tricia Helfer to me. You know, from Battlestar Galactica?"
Devon furrowed his brow. "Nah, I don't think she looks like Tricia Helfer."
"Sure she does. She's crazy hot, she's got the height, blonde hair, ocean eyes, that rockin' body, she totally looks like Tricia Helfer."
"Jimmy, what do you…"
They turned to see Jimmy completely knocked out. Both Morgan and Devon turned sheepish.
"We…probably should let him sleep, right?" Morgan eked out.
"Good idea," Devon replied.
They slowly made their way back to their seats.
~/^\~
"How does the team know you, Agent Forrest?"
Ellie and Alex sat several seats ahead of where Morgan and Devon were pestering Jimmy. Ellie still had a number of questions, and she hoped Agent Forrest would know the answers.
"Alex is fine," she replied, refilling their wine glasses from the bottle they had. "I met the team a couple of months ago. I've been an agent for thirteen years. For the last five years, my primary job was to assess other agents' job performance."
"Does that mean you were sent to assess Sarah and the others?"
Alex nodded. "I was sent by our boss, General Beckman, to assess Sarah's relationship with Chuck. I recommended she be reassigned."
"You did?" Ellie asked, her voice losing its pleasantness.
"I am forced to admit I spent a lot of my career going by the book and not tolerating any agent who maintained any sort of non-professional relationship with an asset. And the way those two were…at that time, I felt it endangered the team. But as I eventually discovered, that wasn't the case."
Alex took a sip of her wine and looked at the floor. "This is difficult for me to tell you, but you deserve to know the truth."
"What are you talking about?"
Alex steeled herself. "Chuck had been taken hostage. Fulcrum…I think Jimmy explained to you who they were…wanted some data from us in exchange for Chuck. But then they decided they were going to keep him anyway. And in a situation like that with a highly-valuable asset like Chuck, regulations are to…shoot the hostage…rather than let them be captured."
Ellie stared at Alex in hard silence. Eventually, Alex gave a small nod. "There are a lot of things I've regretted having done in my career since working with Sarah and the team, and that is the biggest one of all. Trust was a major problem for me for a long time. But I finally got wise and began to trust that Sarah knew what she was doing in leading her team and relating to Chuck. In fact, it ended up saving my life twice."
"How in the world could Jimmy trust you after what you almost did?" Ellie retorted, her expression unyielding.
Alex exhaled slowly. "I've been asking myself that same question every day since. He came up with the way to rescue Chuck from Fulcrum by creating a diversion. And then he rescued me when I was taken hostage by them. At that point, I withdrew my assessment and requested a return to field work. I was captured on my first mission, and sure enough, he was the one to bail me out."
"He seems to make a habit out of that," Ellie replied in concession.
"That he…"
Alex stopped, a cold shiver going through her as she recounted what had happened since being captured by Salazar. It scared her to think what would have transpired had Jimmy been successful in killing himself. Sarah's team would never live it down, Chuck's family would be in the hands of The Ring, and she herself would be dead right now.
"What is it?" Ellie prompted.
"Nothing," Alex replied, not wanting to reveal what Jimmy tried to do a week ago. She stared ahead. "How does Jimmy trust me? I don't know," she said softly. "He's that good of a person. I've never met anyone like him since…"
Ellie watched Alex wipe away a stray tear. "What aren't you telling me?" she asked.
"It's about…something in my past. Not important." Alex turned to Ellie. "You have every right to hate me, and I'll never be able to apologize enough for my actions. But I will do whatever it takes to keep all of you safe and help get Chuck and Sarah out of the spy life for good. That's what they want, and they deserve to have it. I got a second chance to do a lot of things thanks to Sarah and her team, especially Jimmy. And I will never take that for granted, nor will I make the mistakes I made before. That much I do know."
Ellie got up slowly and started to walk down the aisle. She then turned back to see Alex staring out of the window and wiping away a few more tears. Either this was the best act she had ever seen…and she had to consider that given how everyone had basically lied to her over the past eight months…or Alex was telling the truth about being a new person.
She sat in the seat next to Jimmy's and waited for him to return from the lavatory. A moment later, he walked up the aisle back to his seat.
"Aaah, hell," he groaned quietly at seeing her as he sat down. "I knew should have just waited until we got to London."
Ellie checked the time. "London's still nine hours away, you know," she said with a raised eyebrow. "As a doctor, I can assure you that would not be a healthy thing to do."
"What the hell, I already have a job that isn't good for my health."
Ellie shook her head and smiled. "It's been good for our health so far."
Jimmy exhaled in frustration. "It…it never should have come to this. The three of you don't deserve this, and Chuck sure as hell didn't deserve to go through all this. We wanted him out of the spy world, believe me."
"I believe you, Jimmy. I'm not mad about that anymore. It's just…being kept in the dark about all of this…"
"We did what we could to keep you safe. To keep all of you safe. The less you knew, the safer you'd be. Of course, that's academic now. But London is a good place to hide out. Nobody knows you'll be there. Just keep a low profile and listen to whatever Alex tells you. She's a damn good agent. She'll keep you protected and we'll be back before you know it."
Jimmy couldn't miss the different emotions going across Ellie's face. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Alex told me about your mission together. What she…what she almost did to Chuck."
Jimmy froze at that. "She says she's a different person now, that she's not the same hard-nosed agent she was back then," Ellie continued. "And I want to believe it, especially after being honest with me like that. But…I just can't get past this. How can you work with her when you had to stop her from killing Chuck?"
Jimmy looked at the ground. "Because I've been there myself." Ellie looked on with piqued curiosity. "Had this been nine years ago, I might have done the same thing she did. I was a hard-assed SOB when I first started. A lot of agents are. There's always something the drives us, something from our past that makes us into the people we are today. We've all have them. Sarah's past was bad; Carina's was really bad. Casey's father was killed in in the line of duty. It was the failed attempt to rescue hostages from Iran back in 1980. How'd you like to be a kid finding out that not only was your father killed in action but the entire country was basically spitting on his grave? As for Alex…she's been through a lot since we first met two months ago."
"Like what?"
"She was captured by a criminal group and was almost tortured and killed."
"She told me about that. How you rescued her."
"But did she also tell you her father died five days ago?"
That stopped Ellie in her tracks. "No. She didn't say a thing."
"She's been through hell, too. She lost her mother to breast cancer ten years ago and the CIA refused to bring her home. And then what happened in D.C…"
"What do you mean?"
"She was engaged once, but she didn't get to marry her Devon."
"What happened?"
Jimmy shivered. "He was killed in the Pentagon on 9/11."
Ellie sat back in her seat. "Oh, my God."
"I mean, think of how hard that day was for all of us. And she lost her entire future, all of her plans destroyed by the bastards who flew the plane into the building. But the CIA, they live for people who have lost everything. They tend to make the most ruthless agents. Like I said, I ought to know, since I used to be one myself."
"So, what happened to you?"
"Sarah happened. I was put on her team to replace Bryce and she looked after me. She straightened my ass out. I'd probably be dead right now instead of a top-level agent if not for her. The way she leads us…and helps us…we'd move heaven and earth for her. And that sure as hell includes keeping Chuck and her together."
Ellie nodded. "And what Sarah did for you, you just did for Alex."
"I guess so. I told her to find something in life that could make her happy. I just didn't expect that something to be me."
"Do you like her?"
Jimmy hemmed and hawed at that. "I must. I mean, I go and rescue her, track her down at her father's funeral, and then last night…I don't know. Maybe she's right. Maybe I'm not as screwed up as I think I am."
Ellie gave him a weird look. "Uh, you do know you're considered one of the hottest men in Hollywood, and as I have discovered twice, you're even more brave and talented than Lance McCall. I think I would have to agree with Alex. It sounds like she made you see what the rest of us see in you."
"I guess. Although I have to admit I'm nowhere near as cool or funny as Lance McCall. That's the writers making him cool and funny."
"Now that I do believe."
"Gee, thanks," Jimmy retorted, making a face at her.
"I knew something was wrong at that Stand Up To Cancer show last year. Katy Perry was hitting on you the whole time you two were on-stage and you didn't notice?"
"Oh, she was not. Now I know you're full of it."
"Who me? Demi Moore's uber-hot younger sister?"
Jimmy's eyes widened. "How did you…"
"Sarah and I talked at my rehearsal dinner. She told me a few stories."
"Aaah, hell," Jimmy growled in frustration. "I…that was…"
Ellie grinned. "One of the guys on my 'freebie' list thinks I'm 'uber-hot'? I think that qualifies as a good day."
Jimmy gave her a shy smile. She got up and kissed Jimmy on his cheek. "Thank you again for what you've done for my family."
He exhaled and settled back into his seat to get some rest.
St. Pancras Station – London, UK
May 19, 2016
9:00 AM BST
Chuck and Sarah exited the Eurorail and headed towards the station. Both of them kept a close watch as they walked through the extremely crowded terminal. So far, people were just walking quickly to catch trains or exit the station to catch ground transportation.
"We can't stay out here long," Chuck whispered. "Isn't London the surveillance camera capital of the world?"
Sarah shook her head. "With this large crowd, it'll be tougher to pick us out. By the time the facial recognition software comes back, we'll be long gone. The real problem is having the crowd figure out who we are."
Chuck paused for a second. "Right, right. Wow, it really does suck being famous."
Sarah took his hand. "But you've done a wonderful job of cushioning the blow."
Chuck gave her a kiss on the cheek and spotted what they were looking for. "Up ahead," he said.
They walked into a business center and Sarah got on the computer while Chuck kept watch. She went online to the team's private email program and found the message from Carina.
"H6," she said as she quickly went offline and made sure her browsing history was erased.
"That's all it said?" Chuck asked. "What is H6?"
"Handoff #6. The team has a series of different methods for passing files or other items." She took Chuck's hand and exited the business center. "Over there," she said, finding their target.
They walked into a duty-free store and went to the liquor aisle. Behind a display for Cristal champagne, they found a small box. They exited the store and walked to the parking lot. Sarah opened the small box and found a key fob for a car. Chuck looked to his right and smiled.
"That looks like your style," he said with a grin, pointing to a Porsche. Sarah pressed a button on the key fob and the doors unlocked. She got in the driver's seat and Chuck got in the passenger's seat.
"What else is in here?" Sarah asked, handing Chuck the small box. He shook the contents out and found a plastic card. He held it up.
"Our mission, should we choose to accept it?" he asked with a playful lilt.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "It's a good thing you're so adorable," she grumbled as she took the card and inserted it into the slot on the dashboard. A set of navigation instructions downloaded to the screen. Sarah started the car and drove out of the lot, heading in the direction the navigation told her.
Thirty minutes later, they pulled up to a nondescript house just outside of London. They exited the car and went to the door. Sarah knocked on it.
"OK, a little lesson, Sarah," Carina said when she answered the door. "If you want to stop being a spy, you have to actually stop spying."
"Very funny," Sarah retorted, making a face at her. Both of them broke into wide grins as they hugged each other.
"Glad you're safe," Carina said.
"You, too," Sarah replied.
"And Chuck? You got the moves like Jagger?" Carina teased as she gave him a hug.
"Oh, God," Chuck said in embarrassment. "Does everyone in the world know about Stockholm?"
"Only the people who like you. Which is…actually, that is everyone."
"And we're running out of places to hide."
"Well, you'll be safe here for the moment," Cole said, coming up behind Carina. He gestured for Chuck and Sarah to enter, which they did.
"And we have you to thank for that," Sarah said with a smile.
"Actually, you have a very nice computer operator at MI-6 to thank…and she gave me a list you can fulfill later." Cole then gestured behind him where Amir was standing. "And this is my flatmate, Amir Nejem. He's also with MI-6."
"Good to meet you," Chuck said, shaking Amir's hand.
"Chuck Bartowski," Amir replied. "You've had quite a year, it seems."
Chuck nodded in agreement. "It has felt like the longest, scariest roller coaster ride I've ever been on in my life." He then took Sarah's hand. "But it's been so worth it."
"If you two are even half as in love in life as you look on the tele, I'd say you are very lucky."
"No question," Chuck replied with a smile, pulling Sarah closer to him.
"When will Jimmy be here with everybody?" Sarah asked.
"A few hours," Carina replied and turned to Chuck. "Cole can get his hands on some of the best body armor the British government possesses. You might need it for when Ellie arrives."
"What…what am I going to tell her about all of this?" Chuck asked with not a little fear.
"Just be honest with her, Chuck," Sarah replied, taking his hands. "She knows the big details. Answer any questions she may have. What you've done for her, for all of us…you've been spectacular. She'll see that, too."
Chuck gave her a smile, which lit up her face even more. He took her face in his hands and gave her a gentle kiss. "I couldn't have done it without you."
Everybody went inside to have something to eat and update each other on what was happening.
Costons Lane – Greenford, UK
May 19, 2016
1:00 PM BST
The car pulled up to the house. Ellie, Devon, Morgan, Jimmy, and Alex exited the vehicle understandably exhausted after their trip almost halfway around the world. Jimmy began to unpack the items he managed to sneak on the flight, but Ellie chose not to wait. She ran to the front door and began to pound on it. Chuck answered right away.
"Hi, sis!" Chuck said, attempting to put a big grin on his face. "How was your flight?"
"Chuck!" she shouted, grabbing him and hugging him tightly. "Thank God you're OK. What the hell have you done? You lied to me for eight months?!"
Chuck exhaled slowly. "It was for…"
"I don't want to hear 'it was for my protection' for the hundredth time! I don't care if it would have started World War III! You should have told me!"
She quietly growled and took a minute to steady herself. "You know, it's not important. You're safe, and you're with Sarah. That's all I really wanted. I wanted you to be happy and you are."
"I am," Chuck said, a smile breaking across his face. "Despite everything that happened, this was a dream come true."
"I'm so glad," Ellie replied, pulling Chuck in for another hug. She then turned to Sarah and hugged her. "And thank you so much for keeping him safe."
Sarah's eyes widened. "Breathing…oxygen…" she rasped.
"Yeah, I should have told you," Chuck said with a bit of sheepishness about Ellie's iron grip on Sarah. "Both my dad and I are convinced Ellie used to wrestle bears in a previous life."
"Sorry, sorry," Ellie said, letting Sarah go. "It's just…I always wanted Chuck to find the perfect girl and he found you. I don't think it's remotely possible to do better than you."
"Thanks," Sarah demurred. "Honestly, I'm the lucky one to have found him."
Devon, Morgan, Jimmy, and Alex joined everyone inside. "Chuck, good to see you, buddy," Morgan said as he came up to Chuck and gave him a hug.
"Hey, Morgan," Chuck said. "I found out about Anna. I'm so sorry. You OK, man?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm OK. I mean, it sucked for a while, I can't deny it. Failing at chef school, Anna cheating on me, having to come back to the Buy More and beg Emmett for my job back. But then, we get attacked and what Jimmy did…it was like being part of the show! Then I find out you're this super-cool spy! And I just got to fly to London first class! It's so epic!"
"Easy, buddy. This isn't nearly as fun as you think. I mean, think about it. The government is after you, the bad guys are after you. Are you sure you really want that?"
"OK, well no, you're right. But look at the people you hang out with. I mean, they do this spy stuff for real and they're awesome at it! You should have seen Jimmy do this dive over the DVD rack to take out one of the enemy agents with two guns. I even helped take care of the bad guys the one time!"
Chuck stared at him in total disbelief. He turned to Jimmy, who could only shrug. "He's not lying. He tipped me off to them on one of the attacks and found the right weapon in Casey's car to save my ass."
Chuck turned back to Morgan with a huge grin. "Nicely done, my friend!" he exclaimed, giving Morgan a high-five.
"I…helped, too," Jimmy whined. Chuck and Morgan both glared at him. "I'm just messin' with you," he then said with a grin.
Sarah went over to Alex. "Jimmy said you stopped Beckman's team from arresting him," she said in a guarded fashion.
Alex nodded. "None of you deserved that. You took down Fulcrum and she wants to hang you for it? That's wrong, and I realize that now."
"But how did you even find Jimmy?"
"He found me. I was captured by a criminal group on my first field assignment and he rescued me. And then…my father died and he was there to comfort me. He had no reason to do any of that but he did it anyway. I can't thank him enough for what he did for me."
"It sounds like you tried," Sarah retorted with a little bit of snark behind it.
Alex glared at her. "I deserved that, given how we started. But that person…the one who tried to have you reassigned…that person is gone. They're never coming back. I promised Chuck's sister I'd keep her family safe and I would get Chuck and you out of the spy business for good. And I'm making that same promise to you. Know that much, Agent Walker."
"I'm not questioning that. But Jimmy is one of my best friends. I don't want to see him getting hurt."
Alex's hardened posture abated. "The man saved my life twice and was there when I really needed a friend at my father's burial. And this was after his own world had fallen apart thanks to what Beckman did. There's no way in hell I'd ever do anything to hurt him."
Sarah looked at her for a moment. She still had her doubts about Alex, but certainly the evidence pointed to a new and vastly-improved Alex Forrest. And even if this was two months ago, Alex never struck her as the type to renege on a promise.
"Take good care of him for me," she said quietly.
"That I will," Alex replied.
"Carina, is that your boyfriend coming up the walkway?" Devon asked.
Carina looked out the window. "That's Cole. The other guy is Amir Nejem. They both work for MI-6. Amir was going to check with some of his contacts to see if they knew anything about Casey and Ilsa."
She exhaled slowly. "Judging by the looks on their faces, I'd say the news is not good."
Cole and Amir entered the house. Carina gave Cole a quick kiss. "Guys, this is Ellie, Devon, Morgan, and Alex," she said, pointing to each of them.
"Nice to meet all of you," Cole said quickly. "I wish I could come bearing good tidings, but I can't."
"What did you find out?"
"I talked with one of my contacts who is involved with a group in Iran," Amir said solemnly. "They captured Ilsa and John. And they had help."
Everyone looked on in shock. "Our strategy to give Ilsa a target worked," Amir continued. "She staked herself out in Lankaran to sneak over the border into Iran to take out a munitions depot. My contact said a Russian criminal tipped them off to where she would be. I think we can assume that was Victor Federov."
"Amir's contact thinks they're still being kept there," Cole added. "There's an 'exporting manager' who owns a very lavish villa outside of town."
"Exporting manager?" Sarah asked. "As in gunrunner?"
"Among the many other services he provides for terror cells operating in that part of the world."
"We'd have a hard time breaking them out ourselves if they're that well-financed. There's no way they'd give either of them up. I mean, how many people has Case pissed off in over twenty years of working for the government?"
Chuck stared ahead for a moment. He then smiled. "That's your in. That's how you get to Casey and Ilsa."
"What do you mean?" Cole asked.
"Amir's contacts get him a meeting with the people holding them and tells that person there's a high-ranking criminal organization or another group that is willing to pay a lot of money to execute Casey themselves. Federov thinks he can get his revenge and get rich at the same time. We tag whomever Amir meets with and hopefully they lead us to where they're holding Casey and Ilsa."
"That's a very high-risk play, Chuck," Jimmy replied.
"I'll happily defer to anyone with a better idea."
Sarah looked around the room but got nothing but silent looks in return. "Let's try it," she finally said. "Cole, can you be the person who makes the offer?"
"I thought you'd never ask," he replied. "Besides, none of you can go in there. They'd recognize you in a second."
"Alex, you'll keep everyone safe here?"
"No problem," Alex replied. "I'll get supplies for us with the ID and credit cards Jimmy gave me. Hopefully Beckman hasn't put the word out yet to capture me yet."
"Let's get packing," Chuck said, which made Ellie look at him in shock.
"Chuck, let me talk to you for a minute," she said.
The two went to one of the bedrooms away from everyone. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
"They need me, El," Chuck replied.
"Are you out of your mind? You're not trained for this! You can't be going to the Middle East to rescue someone!"
"I have to. John has put his life on the line for me over and over again. All of them have. I'm still amazed at what they can do. But they trust me to help them. Ellie, I can't propose an idea and send them off into harm's way like that. I have to be there. I owe it to Case, to Carina, to Jimmy, and I especially owe it to Sarah. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for her.
"The things I can do now with this new Intersect…I can do even more than I had before. And they can keep me safe. I think you have to admit that, given what happened to you since yesterday."
Ellie nodded. "You do have a good point. They are the best." She hugged him tightly. "But come back alive or I'm going to kill you."
"I promise, El," Chuck said with a laugh.
Lankaran, Azerbaijan
May 20, 2016
2:00 PM AZT
Cole and Amir walked into the café and sat down at one of the tables. They kept their back to the counter, although Amir took the occasional look back to make sure nobody would try to shoot them from behind. Two hundred yards away, Sarah and Carina sat on a hill that overlooked the square where the café was located. Sarah loaded the specialized rifle Jimmy made for her containing the fingernail-sized GPS chip they would plant on the man with whom Cole and Amir would meet. Carina had a high-powered rifle with a sniper scope at the ready just in case it was needed. In a store next to the café, Chuck and Jimmy hid with a pair of laptops. Jimmy would override the network the café was on so Cole and Amir could show the bank account where the 10 million pounds stood, simulated from an actual bank if Federov or any of Casey's and Ilsa's captors wanted to verify it. Chuck readied the tracing software needed to follow the contact on his laptop.
"That should be him," Amir whispered to the team as he saw a man walk into the café. The man went to the counter and ordered the drink Amir told him to order to identify himself. He then sat down opposite Cole and Amir.
"Sayed, this is Mr. Jason Geils," Amir said, introducing him to Cole. "He represents the Tribeca Road syndicate in London. He's the man I told you about."
"I understand you have a good friend of ours in your charge," Cole said. "And while I'm sure you'd get your jollies executing him, my bosses would like to make an offer for him."
"What do you mean?" Sayed asked.
"Inside the man's head are the account numbers and passcodes for a series of bank accounts where he hid over 100 million pounds of our organization's money. We would like to extract that information from him before he shuffles off the mortal coil. And we are willing to give you a percentage. You can keep the girl for all we care."
"We can't do that. He is quite valuable to us as well."
"Are you aware of who he is?" Sayed didn't have an answer. "He is a spy. But he works in the field. The American government isn't stupid; they don't tell their agents every last secret. There will not be anything you can get from him your people don't already know. So, what do you get for your efforts? A few weapons and a spy they'd just as soon kill as look at him."
"And what will you offer for him?"
"Ten million pounds. And if he has any information that is of use to your organization, our group will be willing to share it. But WE must take him. He has intimate details of our group that we do not want divulged to outsiders. No disrespect intended."
Amir rubbed his beard, which was the signal for Sarah to fire. She aimed at Sayed's jacket and fired. The GPS projectile caught the bottom of his coat. Chuck checked his laptop and verified the projectile hit its mark. "Good to go," he whispered into everyone's earpiece.
"Can I see this money?" Sayed asked.
Cole took out his smartphone and held it up for Sayed to study.
"Type the name of the bank and show me the account where the money is."
Cole took the phone and began typing. At least, that's how it looked to Sayed. Next door, Jimmy uploaded the web page to Cole's smartphone. Cole turned the smartphone back to Sayed, showing him the bank, the account number, and the ten million pounds sitting in it.
"I'll have to talk to my people about this," Sayed said.
"Do not take long," Cole said, sliding an envelope to Sayed. "Five thousand manat. Think of it as a good-faith payment. Whether you tell your bosses about it is up to you."
Sayed got up and nodded in approval. He quickly left the café.
"Now we get to see how well that worked," Sarah said.
~/^\~
Twenty-five miles away, Sayed pulled up to a luxurious villa where his boss was waiting for him.
"How did it go?" his boss, Ghazi, asked.
"It's just like what the man predicted," Sayed replied. "They made an offer for Agent Casey. They tried to make it look like they were willing to pay a lot of money to kill him themselves."
The two walked into the house where another man took a scanner and ran it over Sayed. The scanner beeped, and Ghazi knew what that meant.
"Kalets!" Ghazi swore. He reached for the spot on Sayed's jacket where the GPS tracker was.
"Wait!" the man with the scanner said. "Remember what I told you? This is exactly what Agent Casey's friends would do. If I remember correctly, the two you met with are members of British Intelligence. We need them to think Sayed went to your hideout."
Victor Federov smiled. "They think they know where Agent Casey and Agent Trinchina are. But imagine how famous you'll be when your organization finds out you were the one to kill Agents Walker, Miller, and Slade."