A/N: Thanks for reviews of the last chapter. I really appreciate people taking the time to leave them.

Thanks again to CharmingCharles2896 for the help beta'ing this story.

Bryce and Sarah suspect Chuck is planning to cross the border into Mexico and are trying to reach him before he does that…

Elusive Intersect

Chapter 4: Border

Sarah was at least an hour away from the border crossing where she expected Chuck to be. Bryce's comment had made her think about kissing Chuck. Particularly that passionate kiss in the warehouse. It was the best kiss ever, in spite of the circumstances and the brevity. She was pretty certain if they kissed like that again now, they'd need to find a room pretty quickly.

She had to stop thinking about that sort of thing and focus. In a little over an hour, she might find him. Then, she had to convince him of her intentions. Not the sex ones, but the taking him away from danger. Maybe once she had him safe…

In any case, Sarah knew she had to have contingencies in place because Chuck may make it across the border.

Sarah contacted Casey to see if he knew anyone they could trust in Mexico, or if he had ideas about tracking there.

Chuck got the notifications of the call from Sarah to Casey. He listened in.

"He's going to the border crossing at Calexico West. Any ideas?" she said.

Chuck was already in the line of cars waiting to pass through the Border Patrol checkpoint and panicked upon hearing Sarah's words.

"Looks like the line is about a sixty minute wait," Casey replied after a short pause. "How far away are you?"

"I'll be there in about fifty, fifty-five minutes," she replied.

Chuck knew that would be close, but he should be across by then.

"What happens if he crosses?" she asked.

"I have no contacts over there these days. It'll mean tracking the old-fashioned way," Casey replied.

Sarah sounded really upset when she replied. "I can't lose him, Casey."

"Keep it together, Walker!" Casey growled. "You're no use to him if you become a sniveling mess."

"I'm not sniveling!" she snapped back.

"Good. I guess you're about to cross the border. You got a false ID?"

She snorted. "I do, but I'll have to work on my appearance to match it. Can't have Sarah Walker captured on camera."

He chuckled. "You boy toy might not recognize you."

"He's not my boy toy!"

He laughed out loud. "Yet!"

As the call ended, it left Chuck with more questions than answers. It really sounded like Sarah was coming for him, not the Intersect. More surprising, it sounded like she was doing this because she wanted him. Her disguising herself to cross the border anonymously was especially significant. There was no reason for someone like Sarah Walker to disguise herself unless she too was hiding from the government.

Chuck still didn't know for sure that this wasn't just his own hopes fooling him, but maybe he should wait for her. Everything would be easier with her help, he was sure.

He sat in traffic, slowly inching forward as he imagined life with the beautiful blonde.

The car in front had just pulled forward, so he switched his engine on ready to move. Then, there was a tap on the window beside him. He didn't think the border guards came this far forward, so he looked to his left and got a shock. Bryce Larkin was standing there.

Chuck instinctively turned out of the traffic, speeding down the shoulder, towards an off ramp and away from Bryce. Chuck now understood that wasn't going to be able to cross here.

"Shit!" Bryce exclaimed as he watched Chuck race off into the distance.

He'd left his car a ways back and had walked to Chuck's car. He'd been so confident that Chuck would talk to him. That was obviously not the case.

Bryce ran back to his car, calling Sarah as he ran. "He drove off, wouldn't even wind his window down to talk!"

"Shit!" she exclaimed. "So, he's not crossing there?"

"Can't now. Not sure if he'll drive on to the next border crossing or what!" he gasped out as he neared his car.

"I'm still about forty-five minutes from you, so you'll have to follow him," she replied.

"On it," he said as he reached his car.

Chuck knew he needed to get rid of his car as soon as he could. He turned into the first second-hand car dealership he found and .

He parked the car so that it was not visible from the road. He quickly went in and talked to the man in there, saying he wanted a cheap car, it didn't matter what make. He'd pay cash if it was cheap enough. Half-an-hour later he drove away in a blue Toyota.

Chuck headed east, unsure exactly where he was going. He knew he needed to decide what to do now. Heading to the next border crossing didn't seem appealing now, Bryce would likely guess that was his next stop. However, maybe he could double back and cross at the border crossing he'd just left. Bryce probably wouldn't expect that.

He turned off at the next junction. He had no idea what car Bryce would be driving or if he'd already left. As he thought about it, he was sure that Bryce would be heading out and probably was some way away by now. Heading back to the crossing seemed a safe bet. Although Sarah was heading there. Would Bryce be working with her?

That made him wonder about Bryce. Was he going to turn Chuck in, shoot him or try to help him? If Bryce had intended to kill him, would he have done it there or try to lure him away? How did Bryce even know he was there? He must be in contact with Sarah, but she hadn't mentioned him in her calls with Casey. Were the Andersons back together? This was all making Chuck's head hurt.

Maybe he should have wound the window down and talked to Bryce rather than just driving off.

Sarah had nearly been in tears after the call from Bryce. She'd been so close to Chuck and now he was gone again.

Tracking the car was probably the sensible thing to do, but for that, she'd have to stop and she just couldn't. She wanted to get as close as possible.

Sarah tried thinking what she would do if she was in Chuck's shoes.

She'd switch cars as soon as possible, so that was something to check. If she was in a new car, she might go back to the crossing, thinking they wouldn't consider that. Chuck might even do it in the existing car.

Assuming he'd changed cars, she'd find the nearest used car shop to the crossing and start there.

With a plan in mind, Sarah felt infinitely better.

She drove into the second-hand car dealership. As she got out, she spotted the car they'd been chasing parked out of sight from the road. Sarah couldn't help a smile; she was on the right trail once again.

Sarah walked in and saw the salesman virtually drooling over her car. "It's not for sale," she said quickly. "I'm trying to find my elusive boyfriend." That was absolutely true, although she omitted the cover word. She described Chuck and saw the recognition in the man's eyes.

She gave him the whole sob story. "Can you tell me what he bought?" He did that and she thanked him.

Leaving the car lot, Sarah checked on her phone to find car rental dealerships in the area and drove to the nearest.

She hated having to leave her Porsche, but told the man at the rental place that she needed to use a four-door car for a while.

Her next stop was to buy the burner phones. Once she had those, she turned off her CIA phone. With her burner phones in hand, Sarah stopped at a local coffee shop and used the Wi-Fi to search for Chuck on traffic cameras. She only got the one sighting and guessed that he'd turned onto roads with no traffic cameras. Sarah spent some time looking for routes that would achieve that. There are a few, unfortunately.

Sarah called Bryce, knowing she needed help, and they decided to cover those routes between them.

Time was running out, Sarah could feel it slipping away. She regretted Chuck not crossing over the border. The Border Patrol, CBP, wouldn't cross to search for him.

Chuck had convinced himself that Bryce was out to capture him. The spy couldn't be trusted, no matter what.

In his new car, he turned off the main highway as soon as he could, following roads with no traffic cameras, which wasn't as difficult in this more rural area. Traffic cameras were becoming more and more common in densely populated areas like Burbank, He changed directions a few times but overall kept heading east.

He was getting tired again now, the stress of it all preventing him from getting good sleep. The car was running low on fuel, inattentiveness from the car salesman, so he'd have to stop soon to fill up. Chuck spotted a service station ahead, thankfully with only one surveillance camera that he could see from his car. The camera wasn't focused on the pumps but toward the main building, likely to catch the faces of anyone leaving after trying to rob the place. Chuck went inside to pay with gas, then filled up the car. He did his best to prevent the camera from getting a good look at his face as he left.

After filling up the car, Chuck's stomach began to protest its lack of nourishment. Realizing he ought to fill up himself too, he parked his car to the side and went in once again to get some food.

Chuck decided to actually have a meal, unsure when he'd last done so. He sat down off to the side, away from the door.

When the food arrived, Chuck dove in. He devoured it in no time.

Time to move on.

Sarah was now checking for places Chuck might stop, whether that's for fuel or for himself. Chuck was thin as a stick, but he still ate like a bottomless pit sometimes, which Sarah envied to a degree. Knowing Chuck and his affinity for breakfast, she knew he'd likely stop.

Off in the distance, she spotted a service station coming up. She pulled in and parked, just in case he was hiding this car too.

Instantly, Sarah saw Chuck's car, parked off in the far corner of the parking lot. Her heart beat increased rapidly, she was so close!

She jumped out of the car and rushed toward the entrance. She was virtually quivering with excitement.

As Sarah entered, she looked in the shop first. That was where he'd most likely buy food and drink for his journey. It was very unlikely that he'd go into the restaurant part. Not finding him there, she wondered if he'd gone into the restroom and whether to wait outside that, but he might be in the restaurant after all.

Cursing herself for being foolish, Sarah turned back towards the front door and the parking lot. She should have just waited at his car. Surely Chuck wouldn't run from her.

She headed outside to wait at her car and stopped dead. His car had disappeared. Sarah looked around frantically, hoping to find any clue as to where Chuck had gone, but found nothing. She needed to follow him but didn't know which way to go.

Without a trail to follow, Sarah finally reached her breaking point. She burst into tears and collapsed to the ground.

Chuck had been about to get up, when he saw Sarah heading into the building. He didn't know what to do. She looked so happy. That was obviously because she'd found him, but was that to help or capture?

Part of him wanted to rush to her, but the more cautious part urged him not to. He had to escape somehow.

Thankfully, she went into the shop first, giving Chuck the opportunity to leave the restaurant, undetected. He ran to the car and set off again. As he moved through the parking lot, he didn't see her Porsche, she must have changed cars. Was that to stop him from spotting her, or was that to avoid the CIA? Either way, he needed to see the car she was driving. If he was lucky, that would be captured on the security camera.

Chuck quickly turned into a side road and stopped out of sight. He used his phone to access that camera, which took a few minutes. He didn't see Sarah's car, but what he saw stunned him. Sarah walked out of the building and obviously saw that he'd gone. Instead of rushing to her car, she collapsed to the ground sobbing. A passing truck driver went to see what was wrong. The super strong and confident agent continued to be racked with sobs. However, she must have managed to convey the problem to the man and he pointed at the road.

She stood, wiping away tears and said something, probably thanks. The man patted her shoulder and continued into the building. Sarah walked out of view, and Chuck couldn't see the car she drove off in.

Chuck sat, dumbfounded. It really seemed like Sarah wanted to not only help, but maybe even wanted Chuck. Just as with his encounter with Bryce, he'd reacted on instinct and escaped. This time, the woman of his dreams had been reduced to tears by him doing that. Chuck had no idea what Sarah was driving, so searching for her was pointless. He felt gutted at that moment.

After a couple of minutes, he decided he needed to stop wallowing in misery and set off again.

A/N: Chuck is realizing things aren't as he thought before. Will he stop running and let his pursuers catch up with him?

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