AN: Ownership of Chuck. Still looking. Call with leads.
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They had arrived in Santa Fe late the prior night and checked into an inexpensive motel. Now, the next morning, they sat together over breakfast in the Tomatillo Café.
Chuck and Casey had each ordered breakfast enchiladas "Christmas," with both red and green chili sauce. Sarah and Amy had decided to split the montañas de papas, a mountain of potatoes, ham, cheese and chilis, enough food for several people it seemed.
Chuck had never been to Santa Fe before and, so far, he thought it was a pretty cool town. He'd been hearing for years that it was a great place to visit and he was prepared to be disappointed after all the hype, but from what he saw that morning it looked like it met its rep. What impressed him most was the architecture, apparently determined (or at least strictly controlled) by the town. The buildings, all with the same tan coloring, style, and height blended together seamlessly and disguised the fact that it was really a city behind the façade that it was a pueblo. But the place was vibrant and fun, humming with a cool energy. And the weather, sunny in the low fifties, was perfectly comfortable, although it had dropped into the twenties overnight. There was snow in the nearby mountains and people with skis on the roofs of cars, many headed for nearby resorts for the last bit of spring skiing.
Sarah noticed that Casey looked a little uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and said, "Look, I slept on it. I know we are all here because of me. My connection to Bennett. We're disregarding Beckman's orders. I know that. And...thank you, guys. I appreciate it."
Amy said, "Sure."
Sarah put her hand on his forearm and gave him a solid squeeze. "Case. You're our partner. You'd do the same for any of us. We won't do any less for you. That's what it all means. Mostly I worked solo for years. I can't ever imagine going back to that. This team almost makes this job ok."
Chuck looked at Casey with a happy, goofy smile and said, pointing to Sarah, "What she said."
Casey grunted. The grunt could be translated as, 'good, thanks.'
Chuck said, "And, for what it's worth, I love this job. Just sayin.'"
Their food arrived, with refills on all the coffee cups. Casey put some more hot sauce on his already spicy food. Chuck, while not quite aping the older man, put some on his as well. Sarah watched and figured that, given enough time, Chuck would be eating his food as hot as his partner. She smiled to herself silently. Chuck could have worse role models in his life.
"Ok, guys," said Sarah. "What's next?"
"I've set up an alert in the Am Ex computer system. I'll get a text when he uses his card at the next stop, presumably north. Then we head there, while trying to figure out where he's going next. I mean, sooner or later, he has to stop. So long as he keeps using the Am Ex card, we'll be right behind him," said Chuck. "In the meantime, I guess we play tourist. I'd love to try skiing again in Taos, but it doesn't fit with us being ready to jump quickly when we get a hit where he is."
"I guess we could just start driving north and hope that we are closer to him," said Amy.
"Yeah," said Sarah. "But if we don't know which way he's going we are just taking a crap shoot. Safer to stay where we are and react."
"Fair enough," said Amy.
"I want to see the Georgia O'Keefe Museum," said Sarah. "I was here once before, but it was before the museum was opened."
"There are a ton of art galleries here," said Amy. "It'd be fun to browse. Casey, will you walk with me around town to look at southwestern art?"
"Sure, Turner. No problem. Happy to do a recon, even if I don't hold your hand in the art galleries."
With an impudent grin Amy said, "Hold my hand? Yuck."
Casey looked down at his palm quizzically. As he did, Chuck started laughing and said, "See? That was funny. You are actually funny, Case."
"We should keep the cars nearby. When we get the alert from Bennett's next stop, we're going to have leave town as fast as possible," said Sarah.
"Yeah," said Amy. "That's a good idea."
"Alright. After breakfast we can start to move around while we wait for a hit from the card," said Sarah.
"Sounds like a plan," said Amy.
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Chuck and Sarah stood looking at a painting of a flower. It had huge swirls depicting the flower petals in brilliant hues of red and orange with a green background. "I think it looks like a vagina."
Sarah scoffed and gave him a light slap on the arm. Then she looked at it again, and...well, yeah, it did look a bit like a vagina. "Ok, maybe a little. It's still a beautiful painting."
"Of a vagina," said Chuck with a grin. "Don't get me wrong, I like vaginas...well, I mean not all vaginas...I mean..."
She took pity on him. "I know you like her landscapes more," she said. "You really liked that last room."
"Yeah, those were really cool. I thought that..." He was interrupted by a tone from his phone. Looking at it he said, "Bennett's card used again. At...shit, right here in town." Chuck touched his watch and said, "Guys, Bennett's card was just used right here in Santa Fe. A hardware store on East Palace." He gave them the street address.
Amy said, "That's only a few blocks from here."
Casey said, "Bartowski, Walker, get to your car. We'll try to take him on foot, but if he squirts out, better that you have wheels."
"On our way," said Chuck, as they were leaving the museum.
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Amy and Casey were on East Palace and heading in the direction of the hardware store, only a couple of blocks distant. They were moving fast while trying not to call attention to themselves. Bennett could be heading in any direction. If he had turned off Palace, either north of south, it would be getting harder and harder by the moment to find him.
If they were very lucky, he'd walk right into them with his purchases from the store. But he could also be walking directly away from them.
They passed the hardware store and continued east on East Palace. At each intersection, they paused to look left and right, then hurried on. After a few more blocks Casey said, "There."
A medium sized African-American man, thick with muscle, but moving with the grace of a dancer was just visible beyond the other pedestrians about thirty yards ahead. He wore a black backpack and a dark baseball cap. As they watched, he turned left off East Palace, heading north.
Casey said, "That's him."
Amy said, "I'll get in front and distract him."
"Roger that."
Amy ran ahead and ran past Bennett for most of the rest of the block, clearly on her way somewhere, in a hurry. Before she got too far ahead, she appeared to trip and fall. She rolled onto her back and grabbed her ankle with both hands.
Bennett stopped and said, in a voice every bit as deep as Casey's, "Are you all right?"
Casey said, "She's fine, Ty. Now put your hands behind your head and kneel down."
From the ground, Amy drew her weapon and pointed it at Bennett. Keeping his hands in sight, Bennett turned slowly to face Casey. "Hello, John. It's good to see you again, old friend."
"Not 'old friend.' Not anymore, Ty. You're Fulcrum now. You're a traitor," said Casey, without lowering his weapon.
"Not a traitor. You know me better than that. I've merely found a way to protect my country more effectively."
"By ripping down everything it stands for? Not for me," said Casey.
Amy had stood up from the ground and moved aside, keeping her weapon aimed at Bennett as well.
"It's why I never approached you for recruitment to our cause, John. You were always too much the Boy Scout."
"'Boy scout'?... That's an insult now, Ty?...Really? For believing in the rule of law? It's you who's abandoned what you were sworn to protect. You should be ashamed of yourself," said Casey, his anger growing.
"I'm defending the Country..."
"NO. NO YOU'RE NOT! THINK BACK TO YOUR OATH, TY. YOUR OATH. THE CONSTITUTION. THE CONSTITUTION," yelled Casey, hot with anger, his hands shaking but keeping his aim solid as he walked towards Bennett. "That's what we are all sworn to protect and uphold."
A car from the Santa Fe Police Department turned the corner and came to an abrupt stop at the sight of two people holding a third person at gunpoint. At the sound of the shout of alarm from the officers, all eyes turned that way. The two officers began to exit their vehicle and draw their weapons.
Bennett needed no further distraction and took off running.
"Shit," said Casey, immediately bolting to run after him. Amy went right to the officers, careful to keep her weapon pointed at the ground. "Federal agents," she declared. "Apprehending a fugitive. I'm reaching for my credentials," she said, going into her back pocket. "Federal agents."
Casey holstered his weapon as he ran. He was younger than Bennett, but the older man was in fantastic shape and was hard to catch. They ran down the street and approached an alleyway between two buildings. Sprinting along behind him, Casey was momentarily pleased to see that it appeared to be a dead end. But then Bennett jumped onto a dumpster along the wall, leapt off it to catch a drainpipe and somehow threw himself up onto the roof of the building.
'Fuck.' Casey clambered after him, but knew Bennett was gaining ground. He touched his watch and said, "Pursuing on foot. He's heading north on the rooftops."
"Rooftops?" he heard in his ear. "Shit." It sounded like Walker, but it might have been Turner.
Casey levered himself up to the roof and almost immediately saw Bennet, farther down the roof, still running northward. The building was a comparatively long one for the neighborhood. Casey sprinted after Bennett but recognized that the man would end up at the edge of the roof long before he, himself, got there.
He drew his weapon, aimed at Bennett's back, and while still on the run, he yelled, "Stop it, Ty. Give up. Don't make me shoot you."
At the edge of the building Bennett stopped and turned to Casey. With his back to the edge of the building, he raised his hands as he looked at Casey. "Just shoot me, John. Just shoot me. Do what you have to do. You know you want to."
"Don't tempt me, Ty. Rule of law. You know that," growled Casey, stopping.
"See, John? That's just a weakness you will have to overcome to win. Laws just lead to weakness. Procedures are meant to be bypassed. We have to act mercilessly to succeed," he said as he threw himself backward off the roof of the building. Although Casey fired, his shot went high as Bennet had made his unexpected move.
Casey ran to the edge of the building. One of the branches of one of the trees he could see was vibrating. Bennett had jumped off the roof and slowed his descent with the branch. He saw the man running into the parking lot behind the building.
Casey jumped for the same branch. When his weight hit it, it snapped and left him to fall to the ground beneath him, luckily dirt and not pavement. Given preparation, he'd have executed the kind of fall he'd learned as a teenager in parachute training. Not this time. He hit flat on his back and all his breath left his body. It had happened to him before and he knew he'd be incapacitated for a few moments, but otherwise alright.
Amy was at his side immediately, somewhat out of breath, but there. She dropped to her knees next to him and said, for everyone to hear, "Casey's seems to be ok. Hard fall. Bennett is in the red jeep heading north on … on...whatever one is east after Otero."
Sarah said, "Got it. We're on him."
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Sarah and Chuck, in the Porsche, were waiting along East Marcy. They were looking for a red jeep, hoping to get lucky. Amy's voice came over the net to their ears, "Casey seems to be ok. Hard fall. Bennett is in the red jeep heading north on … on...whatever one is east after Otero."
Sarah and Chuck watched the cars pass and saw the red jeep.
Sarah said, "Got it. We're on him."
Moments later Chuck said, "Right plates. This is Bennett."
They pulled in behind Bennett and began to follow him out of town heading north.
He began to accelerate. Sarah did as well, to keep up. He turned west, skirting the more populated edges of the city.
"Do you want to ram him or something?" asked Chuck.
"Not with so many cars around. Someone could get hurt in an accident. Let's follow him until we get a little outside the city. We can ram him then," said Sarah. She let the red jeep get a bit ahead of her and allowed a couple of cars to get between them. He turned south and eventually found I-25 heading south. Traffic was still too heavy to engage.
Once on I-25, the Jeep leapt forward.
"Shit," said Sarah, "We've been made." The Porsche accelerated smoothly to come up to the Jeep's rear bumper. "He's pushing his car hard," she said.
"Have you left second gear?" asked Chuck, smiling.
She gave him quick grin. Bennett faked to the left and went to the right, dodging on the other side of a tractor trailer.
Her cell phone rang. "Casey?" asked Sarah, not taking her eyes off the road for a moment.
"No, Carina."
"Carina? Oh, fuck." She swerved around the tractor-trailer at a borderline insane speed. Once out on the straightaway she said to Chuck, "Ok. I've been trying to reach her for more than two weeks. Take the call and put it on speaker." The red jeep, skidding on all four wheels, turned off the highway and onto a secondary road towards the desert.
"Dammit," yelled Sarah, downshifting and following the jeep off the highway.
"Sarah?" asked Carina.
"Hey, Carina," Sarah said.
"Hey, Blondie. What's up? You called me," said Carina.
"I did. First off, you are on speaker. I'm here with Chuck. Shit, shit, shit," as Bennett jammed on his breaks and tried to run the Porsche off the road into the sand. She was trying to come up abreast of him and hit his car on an angle.
"Um, hi, Chuckles. Why is Sarah got me on speaker and why is she cursing?"
"Hi, Carina. On speaker and cursing for the same reason. We're in the middle of a car chase in the New Mexico desert." Bennett swerved to keep her from starting to pass.
"Oh. Well, sure. Who isn't nowadays? Just another day with your spy girlfriend."
"Um, yeah. About that..." said Chuck, grinning a bit to himself. "Girlfriend..."
Sarah said, "Navy blue."
"Navy blue what? What are you talking about?" asked Carina.
"Navy blue. That's what I'm thinking. But there's a lot of coordination to be done, so it's not that simple. Damn it," as Bennett made another unexpected turn. She was going at about 50 miles an hour on a small desert road. This was pretty insane.
"Chuckles, is she losing her mind? She's not making any sense," said Carina.
"Nope, Carina. She's making perfect sense to me."
"Sarah, navy blue what?"
"Dresses," said Sarah, downshifting again and putting the car into a four-wheel skid to follow the jeep. Dust billowed everywhere.
There was silence on the other end of the phone for five seconds...ten seconds...fifteen seconds and then...
"YOU'RE SHITTING ME. YOU'RE SHITTING ME. REALLY? REALLY? HOLY SHIT. BRIDESMAID'S DRESSES? YOU'RE SHITTING ME. BLONDIE, YOU AND CHUCKLES ARE GOING TO BE MARRIED? A MARRIED COUPLE? MARRIED PEOPLE? LIKE, FOR REAL? LIKE GROWN UPS FOR GOD'S SAKE?"
"Are you finished screaming?" asked Sarah.
In a normal voice, "I don't know. You're really getting married?"
"Yes," said Sarah.
"THEN I'M NOT FINISHED SCREAMING," screamed Carina. "I TOLD YOU SO. I TOLD YOU SO. THIS IS AWESOME."
"You did tell me so. You were the first. Thank you, Carina," said Sarah. They were headed into the desert at a truly crazy rate of speed, the car bucking like a pissed off bronco with a bee sting.
"You're welcome, Blondie. Hey, Chuckles, I told her so."
"I know, Carina. Thank you," said Chuck.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. I'm crying. Shit," said Carina. "I'm crying. I hate you both."
"Virtual hugs," said Sarah. The car began to fishtail around a turn, but Sarah pulled it through.
"Date?" asked Carina.
"Not too sure yet. Probably end of the year. It's going to be a double wedding with Chuck's sister and her fiancé."
"Ok. Bachelorette Party?" asked Carina.
Sarah started laughing, then suddenly blurted out a curse as the Porsche bottomed out on a dip in the road. She said, "Why is that the first question my friends always ask? I don't know when that is."
"Ok, we'll figure that out and tell you. Who's on board?"
"The only one you know is Amy," said Sarah.
"Amy?...our Amy?"
"Yeah. She's been with the team for a few months now."
Silence for a few moments and then "Great. Great. Zondra?"
"Ummm, I don't think so. You know..." Sarah dodged a cactus and a big rock. 'Shit,' she thought. 'Who put that in the middle of the road?'
"Right, of course."
"So, now you know," she said. "We're getting married."
"I'm thrilled for you and Chuckles, Blondie. This is great news," said Carina.
"Thanks. I'll talk to you later, ok?"
"Ok. Chuckles, give her a big kiss for me, a wet one,...but wait until the car chase is over."
"Will do, Carina. You be safe now, too, ok?"
"I always do." She broke the connection.
The jeep left the road and heading off-road. Much as Sarah wanted to, there was no way she could follow in the Porsche. She skidded to a stop on the dirt road and they watched the Jeep disappear into the New Mexico desert.
"Dammit," said Sarah.
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AN2: Like Chuck, I was prepared to be disappointed by Santa Fe and, like Chuck, I came away charmed. Stop by if you get a chance. At least when the pandemic lets us all leave our living rooms, or, in my case, my dining room table.
A/N3: I very much enjoyed my visit to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe. There was a special exhibit at the time, where Ansel Adams' photography was juxtaposed with the same subject as painted by O'Keefe. Just great.
A/N4: Portion of the oath taken by an NSA employee (they don't really have agents): "That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."
A/N5: How'd I do? Let me know if you wouldn't mind.