A/N: How can one own an idea? For isn't that what Chuck and Sarah are, ideas? Nay, actually, ideals. That men and women can rise above...Oh, to hell with it...Don't own Chuck.
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"Ow," said Sarah. "You did that on purpose."
"I did not. The road has holes. It's not my fault."
"Well, steer around them. Isn't that what the handlebars are for? Steering? Ow."
"I'm trying, but it's hard to see over your shoulder. Lean back more." She was perched on the handlebars of Devon's bike, her long bare legs stretched out in front of her and spread for balance and her upper body leaning back towards Chuck. Both hands held the bars next to her butt in a death grip.
"You know I'm going to have handlebar shaped bruises on my tush when this is over...watch out...and it's all your fault for hitting these holes."
"I promise to rub the bruises and make you feel all better."
"I might just punish you for this by not letting you rub them at all. What do you think of that, Mister?"
"I think you're gonna make me beg...ah, sorry about that one."
"Yeah, ya think? Ugh."
"You don't have a ton of padding down there. Probably makes it hurt more."
"Are you telling me I have a skinny ass?" She sounded annoyed.
"No. Of course not. It's not skinny."
"Wait. What? Is it fat?"
"No...no...it's perfect...absolutely perfect. You're killing me here." Had he been able to see her eyes, he would have seen the sparkle of humor. They rode for a while longer.
"You know, I really should have gotten my car retrofitted to be operational instead of civilian," she said.
"I know, you said that." Casey's car had been securely locked and, when they got to her car all four tires had been flattened. "But even if it had the run-flat tires, they just would have done something else to mess it up."
"Probably...Want to check your phone? See if we have any bars?"
"We just checked a mile or so back." Chuck was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Although Sarah was in better shape than he was, it made no sense for her to pedal given the weight difference between them. "Let's wait til we are past the next turn." He was pushing himself as hard as he could. Casey was in danger and the only way they could help was to get within cell phone range and get a car. After the next turn was a long downslope. They waited until they had arrived at the flat to check the phones again. Two bars.
"Remind me not to do that again," she said.
"Deal. I think I'm off mountain biking, for a while at least."
Sarah got through to a CIA number. "Walker secure...facilities...Field request, priority excelsior...no, no address...track location...Right...get a pencil, one car, no driver so you'll have to send two cars...The one for me is to be an SUV...three tac kits, with one earwig...yeah, just one...and two pairs of pants... yes, pants...one slender waist and very long one small waist and medium length...two weapons kits, with trank guns included...trank guns...water...got that?...read it back to me...Good, further field request priority blue...up the road from my location are two cars." She gave quick descriptions of the cars and their locations. "The Porsche is to be towed to the garage, you'll need a flatbed. It has four flat tires. It's to undergo an operational retrofit...ok...The other car is to be opened and driven to the parking lot of the Buy More store in Burbank and left there with the key in the usual spot..got that? Read it back to me...good...thanks for your help...Walker out."
Holding hands, they sat down next to each other in the sand on the side of the road and waited.
After about twenty minutes a black SUV and a black sedan pulled up. After the requisite confirmatory signals had been exchanged, the driver of the SUV gave Sarah the keys and got into the sedan to be driven further up the road to get Casey's car. Casey's was a CIA company car, so they would have no trouble opening it. The tow truck for Sarah's car would follow somewhat later in the day.
Sarah pulled on the pants they had brought her and was rolling the cuffs up a little. "What should I wear to Ellie's on Friday?"
"Oh, just wear anything. You'll look beautiful whatever you wear."
"No, Chuck, come on. That's not an answer. I'm meeting the most important woman in your life...the most important person in your life...you can't just tell me 'whatever'. That's not the way this works."
He was putting on a tactical vest. "But it's true. We're a super casual family. It's no big deal."
"Oh, God. You are such a guy." She didn't say it like a compliment. "Just give me her number and I'll text her."
"Ok." He reached for his phone.
"Not now, wait until we're done rescuing Casey."
"Oh, ok." He was working Devon's bike into the back of the SUV and watching her strap on a pistol to her right thigh. When she finished he threw her a water bottle. Taking a handful of them in his large hands, he got into the passenger side of the truck.
"Ok," she said. "Navigate for me, please."
"Right. Will do. His signal is stable. Doesn't look like he's moved in a while. It's in Irvine. I can get us there in thirty minutes or so...depending on traffic."
"Ok, let's do it."
Slightly more than a half hour later they stopped a block away from a somewhat dilapidated five story building. Casey was in there somewhere. Unfortunately, they couldn't tell where. The tracking app would be more useful if it could tell us elevation, thought Chuck.
Sarah frowned and said, "Ok. You stay in the car. I'm going to search that building. It's five stories, so it may take a while."
"I'm part of the team. I want to help," he said.
"I know you do, Chuck." She put her hand on his arm. "I know. But there's stuff you can do that Casey and I can't. And I'm not just talking Intersect stuff either. Computer stuff too. Well, this is something I can do that you can't. Not a reflection on you. I have years of training and experience. And don't take this personally, but you would actually be in my way as I'm clearing rooms. Sorry." She spoke kindly and softly.
He realized the truth of what she said. He'd seen on that video clip from the Intersect just how deadly she could be. No matter how many times he'd played Call of Duty, it wouldn't prepare him for what she was about to face, about to do. "Ok, Sarah. I get it. Just please be careful. Please, don't get hurt. And bring back Casey."
"I will. Now give me a kiss."
He kissed her and she left the SUV, jamming a trank pistol into the waistband of her pants. Running across the empty street, she went up the short flight of stairs and entered the front of the building with her pistol held high up in front of her in both hands. Chuck sat in the car as ordered. "Alright. Alright. Now we wait." Not five minutes later he saw Zarnow and another man walk out a basement door of the building and disappear around a corner.
"Sarah," he said, hoping she could hear him in her earwig. "Sarah." Silence. What should he do? Follow orders and stay in the car? "Stay in the car," he repeated to himself. "Stay in the car." Should he just keep repeating Sara's name into the void hoping she'd eventually hear him? "Do not leave the car." She went in the front door. She was probably heading upstairs to clear the building. Call her or text her and risk her phone making a noise and revealing her to bad guys? Zarnow had come out a basement door. What if Casey was in the basement and Sarah was on the top floor? "Do not leave the car." What if Zarnow came back and hurt Casey while Sarah was still looking for him?
While he was still debating with himself, he realized he had left the car and was running to the basement door. He tried to open it as quietly as possible, but it let out a loud grinding noise as the rusty hinges fought the movement. He slipped inside and closed it behind him with the same grinding. Chuck was glad Zarnow was outside and hoped he didn't have any friends inside.
He was in a dimly lit cluttered basement. Dust swam in the air. Overhead pipes and conduits, exposed ceiling, bare light bulbs hanging from braided electrical wires so old their insulation was cloth instead of rubber. As he moved into a larger room from the corridor, he saw Casey. He was standing in roughly the center of the room with his hands above him handcuffed to a pipe. His mouth was covered by a strip of grey duct tape. He had a growing bruise on the side of his face with a small cut in the center of it, leaking a little blood.
Casey caught sight of Chuck and motioned him over with a wag of his head. Chuck rushed to the large man's side and pulled the tape from his face. Casey said, "Handcuff key taped to the back of my belt on the inside. Get it and give it to me." As Chuck found the key and used a fingernail to peel up the tape, he heard the grinding of the door hinges again. Casey continued in a fierce whisper, "Hide. Keep Sarah away and for God's sake be quiet. Really quiet."
Chuck handed him the key, and said, "Here, here."
"Put your hands over your mouth if you have to. Now go," said Casey.
Chuck said, "The tape" and put it back on Casey's mouth. He scurried over to a few boxes along one wall and hid behind them. He immediately took out his phone and set it on silent.
Zarnow and the other man walked into the room. Chuck noticed that the man with Zarnow was big and was wearing the uniform of an officer with the California Highway Patrol, but he was wearing it half-assed, with the shirt untucked and halfway open. The man was smoking a joint and was obviously not a CHP officer. Probably just a henchman, thought Chuck. But this explained how Casey had been taken. He'd opened his car window to a CHP officer and been tranked. Zarnow looked like his pictures and was carrying what appeared to be a large tranquilizer device with a ridiculously long needle. Chuck shuddered at the sight of the needle.
"The truck is ready, Agent Casey," said Zarnow. "This is your last chance. We are going to a special facility where they are going to torture you. Really torture. Not this child's play. Or you could just tell me, who is the Intersect?" The last words were ground out through gritted teeth.
Zarnow raised the needle and Chuck said, "Oh crap," but both of Chuck's hands were over his mouth and no one heard.
As the needle approached Casey and Zarnow and the fake officer stood closely by him, Casey said, through the gag, "OK."
"What?" said Zarnow in surprise.
"OK," said Casey, muffled by the gag.
Zarnow stepped forward and ripped the tape off Casey's face. With a satisfied smirk, Zarnow said, "So, Agent Casey that's a smart...UURRRKKK."
Casey's right hand closed over Zarnow's throat cutting off all noise. His left hand wrapped around Zarnow's hand on the tranquilizer device, jammed the needle into the fake cop, and triggered its discharge into the man. The fake cop fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious. Chuck stood up smiling. Casey yanked Zarnow close to him as if to speak into his ear, but looked right at Chuck when he said, "Shut up. Don't say a word and don't move." Chuck nodded silently. He squatted back down and took out his phone.
He texted Sarah. FOUND C IN BASEMENT. HE'S OK. DO NOT COME HERE. HE'S UP TO SOMETHING.
Z IS UP TO SOMETHING? Texted Sarah.
NO, C. C HAS Z. replied Chuck.
Casey said to Zarnow as he ground out the smoldering joint under his heel, "So Doc, my friend the Intersect tells me you have been selling our science secrets to the North Koreans for years. How about that? Make a lot of money?"
"Urrkkk," replied Zarnow as he pawed feebly at Casey's arm. It felt to Zarnow like the arm of a steel robot.
"I'm going to release your throat so we can talk. Ok?"
Zarnow nodded somewhat desperately. Casey let him go.
COMING DOWN texted Sarah.
The dust got into Chuck's nose and he had to pinch his nose closed to stop a sneeze.
NO. STAY AWAY. C'S OK. DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING THO. WAIT.
"So, Zarnow, you have the North Koreans lined up to buy the Intersect, right?"
"Why should I tell you anything?"
"You want the money. Right?"
"What?" asked Zarnow.
"The money, moron. Look, do you have a buyer or not?"
"Yes," said Zarnow, confused, but intrigued at the same time.
"Right. So, I have the Intersect and you have the buyer. We're like Blondie and Duco from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Reluctant partners. Neither of us gets the money without the other."
"What do you mean, Agent Casey? You would betray your country for money?"
"Why not? You did. And it sure as shit wouldn't be the first time I did. I have a nice bank account held in one of those Caribbean islands with loose banking laws. I had a very smart set of lawyers in Panama set it all up for me. Totally bullet proof. How much are you getting from the North Koreans?"
Zarnow got a shifty look in his eyes and said, "A million."
"Dollars or Euros?"
"Dollars," said Zarnow.
"Ok, I'll take the million."
"What? You can't take all the money. You'll leave nothing for me."
HE'S MAKING Z THINK HE WILL SELL ME OUT FOR $1M
"Jeez, Doc. You must think I'm a total idiot. Do you really think I'd believe you when you said a million? If you told me a million, you are getting at least two. At least. A million is fine for me. Puts me over the top. I can retire after this one. Get out of this line of work. Stop spending my time killing people for Uncle Sam."
WHAT?! WHY? Texted Sarah
"I don't' trust you, though," said Zarnow.
"Why? Am I going to arrest you?" Casey's hand moved so fast Zarnow couldn't even see it and he found himself suddenly grasped by the shoulder in a grip of iron. "Seriously, Doc. If I was going to arrest you, you'd be lying on the floor in those handcuffs right now." Zarnow nodded at the logic of the statement. Casey released him.
"I must say, I'm surprised, Casey. You don't have this reputation."
"Good," said Casey. "I wouldn't welcome the scrutiny. Look, I'm a capitalist, Doc. Free markets. Supply and demand. These commie bastards want to buy something from me...from us...I say we sell it, if the price is right. One million is my price. So long as their money is green, I couldn't care less if their hearts are red." Casey chuckled at his small joke.
"Ok, Casey. So, let's say we are reluctant partners. Tell me, then. Who is the Intersect?"
"You don't get it, do you, Doc. Really you should go home and watch the movie. Clint Eastwood. A classic. I'll bet you can get it on Netflix. Do they have Netflix in your hideout? They each have information the other lacks so they have to rely on each other. But if they share that information, they no longer need each other and the partnership is over. You don't get to find out who the Intersect is until I get my million dollars."
DUNNO. STAY TUNED. BUT IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING texted Chuck.
? Z IS THE MISSION
"Here's what we're gonna do, Doc. You're gonna contact the North Koreans and tell them you have the Intersect. Not an agent like me they can torture to find the Intersect, but the real deal. The actual Intersect. You want all the money in exchange. Pick a place that's safe for us. I'll bring the Intersect, you bring the Koreans with their money. We make the exchange and everyone leaves happy."
"They are on a ship offshore," said Zarnow. "We can make the exchange there."
"How many PhD's do you have?"
"Three," said Zarnow, with a self-satisfied air.
"Well for a guy with three PhD's, you're pretty freaking stupid. I'm willing to bet military science was not one of your PhD's. You don't take the Intersect to them off shore. You want you and me to be spending eternity together on the bottom of LA harbor?"
"I've dealt with them before. They are trustworthy, Casey."
"You ever sell them anything with this price tag?"
Zarnow paused, "No. No, I haven't."
"Don't you think it's cheaper for them to kill you and keep the money? Which wouldn't bother me at all except they'd kill me too. So, here's what we're going to do. You and I pick a place. Safe for us. Exits and that kind of thing. We get there first so they can't set an ambush. They arrive with a truck to take away the Intersect and bring our money. Make the exchange and everybody leaves happy. Like I said, capitalism."
"it's a lot of money, Casey. They aren't going to want to trust it to flunkies. The senior guys will want to bring it themselves. That's going to make them nervous. They will be the one's worried about an ambush."
"These guys RGB?" asked Casey, referring to the North Korean intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.
"Yes," answered Zarnow.
"Don't worry about it then. Those guys have balls. Doc, you have a track record with them. You ever try to screw them?"
"Of course, not. They scare me."
"Good. They should. They scare me too and I don't scare easy. That's why we have to do things my way. I want to be living a life of luxury when this thing is all over, not looking over my shoulder for the next commie assassin hired to take me out."
OMG. C WANTS THE NK'S TOO. HE'S SETTING UP Z'S BUYER. LOL. texted Chuck.
OL? Texted Sarah.
OK, NOT OL. BUT INSIDE, texted Chuck adding a little smiley face emoji. She texted back a heart. So, he texted back two hearts. That went on for a while between them.
"How long will it take you to get the Intersect?" asked Zarnow.
"I can set it up for tomorrow night."
"What about Walker? Will you kill her?"
"What? Hell, no. I like her. She makes me laugh. Naw, I can just trank her. I'll trank myself too after I've got the money. She and I wake up and the Intersect is gone. Bad on us. We screwed up our mission, but shit happens. Black mark on my record. Whatever. I couldn't care less at that point."
"Ok, Casey. Let's do this. I'll contact them and tell them the good news. You make your plans to get the Intersect ready. How do we reach each other?" asked Zarnow.
"Give me the number of your burner. When I get to a burner of my own, I'll text you so you'll have my number."
"You don't have a burner?"
"I don't have one on me, moron. You expect me to whip it out of my ass? Or maybe my utility belt? Jeez, Doc."
"Ok," said Zarnow and gave Casey the number, which Casey instantly memorized. So did Chuck.
"Alright. We'll be in contact to pick a place for the exchange. In the meantime, you've got to get out of here. My guys are going to be looking for me and I don't want them to find you. What's his name?" asked Casey, gesturing to the man on the floor.
"Frank. But he's just hired muscle. I don't care about him."
"That's no way to lead men, Doc. In any case, I don't give a damn if you double date or send him Christmas cards. Bring him tomorrow night. I don't want to be schlepping the Intersect by myself. I'd like another strong pair of hands to help, and, no offense, Doc, but you don't look like you do a lot of manual labor."
With a cold smile, Zarnow said, "I do not. Fine, I'll go now."
Casey bent down and shook Frank. "Frank? Frank? Wake up, big guy." There was no reaction.
"Forget it, Casey. He'll be out for at least another two hours."
"OK." Casey grabbed Frank and heaved him up. Bending, he dropped the unconscious man over one shoulder and straightened. Frank was a big man and it was a pretty impressive feat of strength. "Where's your car?" asked Casey. He seemed unfazed by the weight he was carrying.
"Back of the building. Come on." Zarnow led the way outside, through the noisy door and around the corner. He opened the back door of a nondescript sedan and Casey carefully lowered Frank into the back. He tucked the man's legs in and closed the door.
"Casey," said Zarnow, "Can you introduce me to your Panamanian lawyers? I'm going to need some help going forward."
"Sure, Doc. No worries. I'll bring the contact info to the meet. Good luck with the Koreans."
"And good luck with the Intersect." The men shook hands. Zarnow got in his car and drove away. Casey watched until he lost sight of the car and went back to the basement door. Opening it, he gave a loud two-tone whistle.
Chuck and Sarah emerged into the morning light. Sarah looked like she was trying to be annoyed, but wanted to smile at the same time. "You let him go?"
"What, Walker? You never freestyle?" They began to walk to the car.
"What if he bolts? Our mission was to get him."
"I dropped a tracker in his coat pocket. We can follow him."
"Well," said Chuck, "At least we can follow his coat."
Casey looked at Chuck and said, "I've never liked you."
Chuck laughed. Casey continued, "And another tracker on Frank and one on the car. Besides, now we have proof he's alive. How long could he really run from us?"
"So, we set up to catch a handful of North Korean spies operating on US soil in addition to Zarnow?" asked Sarah.
"Yup. I'm greedy...and I really hate North Koreans."
They got in the car. "Ok, Casey. I like it. This could be fun," said Sarah.
"My thoughts exactly."
"Casey," said Chuck, "do you always carry a concealed handcuff key on you?"
"No, Kid...I usually carry four concealed handcuff keys...and several concealed razor blades. You never know."
"He's right Chuck. Depending on what I'm wearing, I'll carry several as well," said Sarah.
After a little while, Casey said, "Don't want to be mean here, but you two smell like old sweat socks."
"I smell like sweat socks?" asked Sarah with amused surprise.
"Not just any sweat socks. Old sweat socks. Really ripe ones. You two have to go take showers."
Sarah looked at Chuck and cocked an eyebrow, her blue eyes sparkling with humor. She said, "Plural?"
Casey said, "Oh, God. If you don't stop flirting with each other in my presence, I'm going to jam pencils in my ears."
Chuck and Sarah just laughed.
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A/N2: For anyone who is interested, the whole "heroes using trank guns thing" originated in the early 1930's with the grandfather of all superheroes, Doc Savage. Doc was a two-fisted adventurer saving the world from assorted villains and bad guys, but he was also a scientific genius and a world-renowned medical doctor. As a doctor, he had strict rules about taking the life of the villains and henchmen he faced. He and his men all loaded their weapons with so-called "mercy bullets" of his own design, which were, for all intents and purposes, the trank darts that Chuck and his friends use in the show. Not too much love for Doc on this site, but well worth checking out elsewhere someday.