A/N: If you buried ownership of Chuck in the garden, would a Chuck movie grow?
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The next morning, Echo Park
Devon joined Chuck, Sarah and Casey for a run in the morning. As the months had passed, Sarah found that she liked Devon more and more. His frat boy persona didn't quite hide an incredibly sharp mind, a perceptive observer, and a kind and generous man. Not to mention that his infectious optimism and good cheer was always a pleasant start to the day. Well, almost always.
"You're a good man, Chuck," he said. "After the setbacks you've had, it's a wonder that you still have an open, loving, and forgiving heart. It really is."
"So true," said Sarah. Casey just grunted in agreement.
"I sense a 'but' coming," said Chuck.
"No," said Devon. "Not a 'but.' It's just that not everyone is like you are."
"Ok, Captain. Where is this going?" asked Chuck.
"It's Larkin. Back in your life. Now a member of your spy team. He's..."
"Oh, boy. Ellie hates him, right?" Chuck asked.
Devon let out a huff. "Yeah. Like I've never seen her hate anyone before. Ever. Even more than she hates the Jill woman, and that's a lot. If you want to watch her explode, just say his name and wait for the boom. There's no talking her down from it, either. I know, dude. I tried. You just let the storm pass on its own."
"Ok," said Chuck.
"But now he's here. He's on your team. He's living in LA. Just know, she's not going to want to be around him."
"I got it, Devon," said Chuck. "We'll keep him off Ellie's radar."
"I think that's a good plan, Chuck. An awesome plan even."
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Castle, a couple of hours later
Chuck sat down at his computer and sent a message to the local FBI office, informing them of what he'd learned the prior night concerning Mark Ratner and further informing them that the Russian-accented men were in the custody of the LAPD.
That done, he filled out Ellie's Intersect questionnaire and checked for any messages from Yuri in Moscow. With Bryce no longer undercover with Fulcrum, he no longer had to check for his messages.
Following those housekeeping tasks, he looked at the files Beckman and Graham had sent over for the review of the Intersect. There was only one flash, on a Thai government official who was taking bribes from the Chinese MSS. His flashes had been coming less and less frequently. Ellie and the other scientists working on the new Intersect posited that as the raw intelligence aged, it just became less and less pertinent. One of the lessons for any future Intersects was that regular updates of the newest data would have to be performed.
Those tasks behind him, he put his computer to sleep and went to the elevator to meet Sarah, Casey and Amy upstairs in the Carmichael Industries offices. It was certainly convenient to have them upstairs. The biggest disagreement he'd had regarding the new offices was Casey's adamant refusal to allow him to install Batpoles to get to their spy headquarters in a hurry. Amy and Sarah had just found the discussion hilarious. He smiled to himself, remembering.
Just before he entered the elevator, a tone sounded both in Castle and on his phone. A quick glance indicated that Beckman wanted to have a video conference meeting with Team B. He knew that the rest of the team would have gotten the same message he did and be on their way, three of them from their offices upstairs and Bryce from somewhere else on the Studio grounds. Whatever cover job he'd gotten from the Mattocks would keep him nearby.
Chuck went to his computer and answered the message, telling Beckman that they should be ready for her in five minutes or so.
It was no more than four minutes later when they were assembled and Chuck signaled for the beginning of the conference.
The screen came alive and Beckman was looking back at them. "Good morning, team. Director Graham is meeting with Sir Trevor in London so this conference will just be with me."
"Yes, Ma'am," they murmured.
"I received a call from the FBI this morning. Chuck, your experience last night gave them a valuable lead on an active espionage case. It seems this Ratner man is working on a new radar configuration for the F-22 fighter, known as the Raptor. Foreign powers would love to get their hands on his work. The FBI has asked us to assist them with their investigation. Your mission is to get close to the Ratners and see if you can learn anything."
Sarah, looking very uncomfortable, said, "General, I apologize, but I'm afraid I must recuse myself from this mission. My cover has been compromised."
"Agent Walker, you have a pre-existing social history with the target. Seems to me that you have the perfect cover."
Sarah said, "But it's not a cover, Ma'am. It's me."
Beckman said, "Well, then I hope you'll enjoy their company."
Chuck said, "No." Everyone looked at him startled, General Beckman most of all.
Beckman said, "What did you say, Chuck?"
"I said 'no,' General. We're not doing that." Chuck spoke calmly and without heat, but also with unshakable confidence.
Bryce looked on with alarm, "Chuck, you can't..."
Without looking away from the screen or changing her expression, Amy kicked Bryce in the shin really hard just as Casey hissed quietly from the side of his mouth, "Shut the fuck up, Larkin."
Sarah began to say, "Chuck you don't have to..." but he put a gentle hand on her arm to still her objection.
"Chuck, I don't think you understood. I wasn't asking," said the General.
"I understood perfectly, Ma'am. I'm simply saying we aren't going to do that. We aren't going to put Sarah in a position that she finds uncomfortable. We wouldn't do that to any member of the team. Clearly our mission is to stop the sale of the radar plans and help the FBI apprehend the person or persons behind the attempted theft. That's fine. We'll do that. But there's no benefit in you telling us 'how' to do that. That is a tactical decision. We can make those kinds of decisions on our own without your direction. I think by now we've proven that we can figure that level of detail on our own. Ma'am."
Beckman looked at him hard for a few moments. Chuck didn't back down and returned her gaze steadily and without qualm. There was no challenge in his gaze, merely certainty. Beckman's most stern countenance had no effect on Chuck whatsoever. Finally, her face relaxed and she said, "Very well, Chuck. You and your team take care of it as you will. You are correct. You've earned that leeway."
"Thank you, Ma'am," he said.
Beckman broke the connection. They let out a collective sigh.
Sarah said, "Thank you, Sweetie." She gave him a kiss.
"No problem. But I'd have done the same thing for any of us. If we had to target someone from Casey's boot camp days or Bryce's Boy Scout troop or whatever. If that stuff makes any of us uncomfortable, we find a different way to accomplish the mission. We are smart enough to come up with alternatives that are less sucky."
Bryce said, "I hear you, Chuck. But sometimes we have to do the sucky things in this job. It's not the kind of job that gives us the flexibility to stay in our comfort zones. That's a luxury that may not always be available to us. That's the simple truth."
"Ok, pal," Chuck said, giving Bryce a friendly slap on the shoulder with a grin, "Ok. But not today."
"You have a plan, kid?" asked Casey.
"Sure. We have to stop the sale. Well, what do we know? We know some dudes with Russian accents and now in the custody of the LAPD are threatening Ratner. Now that we know he's their source for the plans, the exchange won't happen. We have to protect him and his wife while also getting the Russians to talk."
"Makes sense," said Casey.
"Bryce, you and Amy are on protection duty for the Ratners. They know Sarah and Ratner will recognize both me and Casey from last night. Grab some FBI ID on your way out." Castle had a vast collection of ID for each member of the team and could make more on very short notice. They could be anything from State Department Undersecretaries to gas meter readers without too much in the way of complication.
"Sure thing, Chuck," said Amy, happily.
Sarah said, "Casey and I both speak Russian. We'll go chat with those guys. See what we can shake loose."
"Great. I'll hang around here and see if I can pull up anything interesting with the computers," said Chuck.
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"Is there a lake in Westlake Village?" asked Amy as they were headed west on Ventura Parkway in a nondescript sedan.
"Yeah," said Bryce, looking at the map. "See?" He pointed to a spot a little to the north of the Santa Monica Mountains, but she couldn't really look as she drove.
They had staked out the engineering firm where Ratner worked in Van Nuys and were following him home to Westlake Village, a bit north and somewhat west of Los Angeles proper. They had decided it would be easier to talk to him away from his office.
"All the houses seem to have docks behind for boats. With all the development, from the air it looks like a comb was dropped on the map just by the edge of the water. Totally manmade," he said. He sounded a bit offended by the layout.
"Doesn't sound like you're a fan," she said.
"Ahh. Yeah, probably not too much. Looks very cookie cutter to me. Artificial. Guess we'll see when we get there. I'd hate to ...I don't know...conform like that, I guess."
"Non-conformist. That you, Agent Larkin?" Amy asked with an easy grin.
"Yeah, that's me. Nothing regular about me," he said.
"They broke the mold?"
"Thank, God. Who'd want another one like this wandering around?"
She laughed. She was warming to Bryce a bit. The stories she'd heard about him from Casey had put him a couple of strikes behind in her book, but he wasn't as bad as she had expected. He seemed to be a top-notch spy and handled himself well when the action started. Sure, he was arrogant and didn't follow orders too well sometimes, but he seemed to be trying to rein in those impulses. And he was generally pleasant and funny.
Shortly, Ratner pulled off the road and they followed him through the streets to his house. As Bryce had described, it was on a dead-end street jutting out into the lake, with a dock behind, identical to a score of streets and their houses in the community. There was a boat at the dock, but they couldn't tell what it was. They had had Ratner's home address and didn't need to follow him to find the house, but it was safer to be with him in case he was attacked on the road.
They saw him park and go into his house, catching a glimpse of his wife through the open door.
With a nod to each other, they left the car and walked up to the door. Knocking politely, they waited for a response.
Mark Ratner opened the door and said, "Hello." Polite, but cautious.
"Good evening, Mr. Ratner. I'm Agent Anderson and this is Agent Taylor. We are with the FBI. I wonder if we can speak to you and your wife for a few moments?"
Ratner looked scared but said, "Could I see some ID?"
"Of course," said Amy, taking fake FBI credentials from her pocket. Bryce did the same.
From behind Ratner came a woman's voice, "Who is it, Mark?"
"FBI," he called back to her.
She came to the door. "What is this about?" she demanded.
"If you might let us in, we'd be happy to speak to you about it, Mrs. Ratner."
Mark seemed to startle a bit and said, "Yes, yes, of course. Come in."
He gestured for them to sit in the living room. Once all four were seated, Bryce said, "You were attacked last night in the men's room of Monte's Trattoria, Mr. Ratner. Care to tell us about it?"
Ratner looked even more scared. He said, "Oh. It was nothing. A fight over a parking space. No big deal. Not even worth talking about. Certainly nothing for the FBI."
Amy said, "We all know that's not true, Mr. Ratner. The men who attacked you wanted something. What did they want?"
Heather said, "Are you calling my husband a liar?" She looked calmer and somewhat more calculating than her spouse.
"Nothing. Nothing. They didn't want anything. I don't know what you are talking about," stammered Mark.
Bryce said, "Mr. Ratner, the man who interrupted you is a federal agent. He heard them threaten you for the delivery of some plans. What plans did they want?"
"I didn't give that man my name. How did you find me?" asked Ratner. He was starting to sweat and fidget.
Amy said, her voice getting harsher and verging on angry, "We're not here to answer questions, Mr. Ratner. We're here to ask them. We've now put you together with the investigation into a possible leak of highly classified information from Winthrop Keller. That falls within the jurisdiction of the Bureau. Now, instead of wasting our time and yours why don't you start at the beginning? Or perhaps this conversation would be more productive in our offices. We can arrange for that as well."
Mark looked to Heather and sighed heavily. She looked to him and grabbed one hand. She began to cry. "Ok, Mark, darling. You can tell them."
And the story came out. It came in fits and starts and with many tears by both husband and wife, but it came out. How Mark had been approached by a polite man with a Russian accent offering him money for the radar plans. That neither of them had any idea who the man was or even how to reach him and his companions. How Mark's refusal led them to up the offer, time and again, until it was over five million dollars. How Mark didn't go to the FBI out of his wife's fear of reprisal from the Russians. How, with the failure of the carrot, the Russians moved to the stick. They threatened to hurt his wife, which terrified them both. He didn't know what to do and was stalling for time, becoming increasingly desperate. Finally, came the events of the prior night which had shaken them both.
"So, that's the story," said Mark, almost sobbing. "What do we do now?"
Bryce said, "You should have come to us from the beginning, Mr. Ratner. But the short answer to your question is that you wait. Agent Taylor and I will stay here to protect you from the Russians, while some of our colleagues question the men in custody."
"In custody?" asked Heather, surprised.
"Yes. At our colleague's direction, the LAPD picked up your two assailants last night on gun charges. We can keep them long enough to charge them with the extortion and espionage crimes as well, once this whole thing is sorted out. In the meantime, we'll find out who they are working for and roll this operation up. All we need is for you both to be patient and brave."
Mark took his wife's hand and looked at her with love. "You hear that, darling? This nightmare is almost over."
"Oh, thank God," said Heather.
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Several hours later, Bryce and Amy sat in the car watching the Ratner's house. The married couple had been told to alert them if there were any communications from the extortionists. All felt that was unlikely, as all prior communications had been face to face. They had called in to Castle and briefed Chuck on the conversation with the Ratners.
A car passed them and stopped about five yards in front. Two men got out and immediately aimed pistols at the car's windshield.
"Guns," said Amy.
Both men began to fire at the spies. The bullets flattened on the bulletproof glass. Bryce looked behind them. Another car had pulled up and three armed men were getting out of that one. One of those men started firing at the back of the car. Bryce and Amy heard the hammering noise of the slugs hitting the armored plating or the reinforced glass in front or in back.
Two of the men from the rear car began to walk up to the Ratner's house.
Bryce said, "Heading up to the house."
"Yeah," said Amy. "And we can't return fire from in here."
With a sour look, Bryce said, "Yeah, we can't."
Amy started the car. She stomped on the accelerator while twisting the wheel hard. The car leapt forward, but fishtailed hard as it went. The rear of the car slammed into one of the shooters in front and sent him flying.
She ended up pointed to the house and leaving a skid mark on the road as the car jumped the curb onto the lawn. Both of the men heading towards the house jumped to the side. One of them was clipped by the car, but the other one had rolled away in time.
Destroying the Ratner's manicured lawn, Amy skidded the car around on the grass so that it was parallel to the house and a half dozen yards in front of the door. Amy stopped the car and bailed out of the driver's door nearest to the house. Her pistol was in her hand.
Using the car for cover, she fired at the man on the lawn who had risen to one knee, killing him. His partner got a shot off at her, but it impacted harmlessly on the glass of the car. Her shot went true, though, killing her target.
By this time, Bryce had made it out the driver's side door as well, keeping the armor of the car between him and the shooters. He'd paused in the car long enough to collect an M-16A2 rifle from under the back seat. Moving swiftly, he positioned himself over the rear of their vehicle and took aim with the military weapon. Ignoring the incoming pistol fire from the road, he fired three short bursts from the weapon and there were three more dead men in the street.
He said, "I'll check them."
"Right," said Amy. "I'll check the Ratners."
Bryce was still checking the bodies when Amy called from the house, "Bryce. They're gone. The Ratner's are gone. Their boat too."
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A/N2: In canon Beckman says that the project Ratner is working on is going to turn the F-22 Raptor into a "superbomber." That must be a really awesome project to magically turn a fighter plane into a bomber. Wow. I know the canon writers weren't experts at military things (see, for example, when they promoted Casey from Major to Colonel in one go, completely missing the Lt. Colonel rank), so here's a helpful guide for any canon writers who might be reading this story. The designation F = fighter plane, like the F-22. B = bomber, like the B-52. C = cargo, like the C-130. E = electronic warfare, like the E-6. There are others and asterisks and exceptions, but this is a handy rule of thumb. Hope this helps you guys and gals when you start writing the Chuck movie.
A/N3: Not going like canon. Right. Well, the logic of where we ended up at the conclusion of the last chapter dictated this one. Beckman's order didn't make any sense anymore (and was an annoying intrusion into an agent's personal life, even in canon) and could be easily challenged by the team here. We already knew the basic plot. Russians extorting plans from Ratner. Stopping that plot does not involve getting socially reacquainted with the Ratners or going to the high school reunion.
A/N4: How'd I do? And stop by the Chuck Fanfiction page on Facebook. Steelejay is trying to orchestrate an in-person event next year where we can all get together and BS about our favorite stories and stuff like that.