Enroute to Warehouse.
Zondra had never seen Sarah be this frantic in pursuit of any mission before. Sarah had always been the farm's mannequin - efficient, cold and methodical.
If another external observer examined her work, they would more likely than not label her a sociopath. But she knew better. They knew better. Sarah dorned a persona of a ruthless, frigid calculator to separate herself from the heavy-handed and heavy-hitting emotional catastrophe their line of work brought. It was a way to delude herself that it wasn't truly their hand that was responsible for what happened.
Chuck and his safety was not one Sarah's persona could take. Clearly he was far more than a prospect for her to fuck... Zondra blinked and nearly facepalmed at the next realization.
'Of course...', she muttered under her breath. 'Of all the dolts in the world, she fell for a geek. And... looks like she is head over heels for him. This... This is bad. A spy should never fall in love. It would only be a huge disaster.'
She decided Sarah needed to be handled with far more care than Carina would ever give...
"Sarah... I know this is a matter of urgency. But if we crash on the way there, we won't be able to help the idiot. So stop clocking 150."
Sarah had shot her a look of absolute fury when she suggested that. "I can't fail... I need to make sure that he is safe or I - ... or the days ahead for all of us are going to be a misery."
Zondra sighed and decided to plunge directly into the issue... "I get it Walker. You love him, etc. But that cannot have you throwing away your recipe for success. If it is what you suspect, we are going in undermanned and undergunned. For this to be successful, we need the Enforcer. So calm down."
Sarah nearly had tears when she heard that. "I-I can't, Zondra. I-I won't. I hate that and I hate what I become then. I have changed... I changed so much since. And... And he means more than just a love. And... it isn't just about my relationship or... or lack thereof."
Zondra saw she was being absolutely serious and knew there was more going on. "What is it? Why is he so important?"
Sarah wiped her eyes and became grim. "That's classified. You aren't cleared to know."
Zondra blinked. "I have level 6 clearance."
Sarah sighed, "You need to have at least three more levels on that to even think of gaining clearence to know. So... please don't. Perhaps later."
The rest of the short ride over was heavy with tension and contemplation.
Warehouse
Astonished. Boggled. Devoid of coherent thought.
An observer would attempt to describe Chuck's state of mind with such words and/or phrases.
But they would fail in such epic proportions.
The woman standing in front of him, was one who he would have never thought, imagined to have him held in this preposterous situation.
Of every woman he had come across, of every individual who he had classified as devious and crooked... Never once had he considered her in these categories.
Yeah... She viciously tore out his heart, shredded it with a meat grinder and probably danced all the way to Mt. Everest. But not her.
Why her?
"Didn't expect this huh?"
He was rudely shaken out of his thoughts. In front of him, casually holding the Beretta 92G Elite LTT and waving it around. Tall, Red-headed, green-eyed, modelesque and gobsmackingly beautiful.
"There's an expression I haven't seen before. And we have done a lot together that is pretty shocking."
Yeah... Savage, deceitful and absolutely as murdersome as they come apparently.
She cackled out an evil laugh that for some reason tugged at his heartstrings.
"Poor, Poor Chuck. Still... gobsmacked. Still pining. Still the same naive little kid."
In the corner, Tiny was struggling against his restraints. Had he known that Chuck had been trapped by this viper, he could have prepared better. His struggles caused noise which shifted her attention onto him from Chuck.
"Looky, Looky here... Our guest about to be at the doors of... death, has awoken."
She went close to him and stroked his cheek slowly. He bent down to his ear and spoke in soft whispers. "Look at this specimen I can slaughter, Chuck... Big. Thick. Muscular. Vieny. (licks her lips) Everything I could possibly want."
Chuck was still coming to grips with reality. But he let a small snarl and grunted. "What exactly do you want from me? If you wanted to kill him, why did you bring me here?"
She looked at him like he was speaking crazy. And then looked at Tiny. "Can you believe this dolt, Brian? He doesn't know why I brought him here."
Suddenly her demeanor changed from playful and murdersome to angry and psychotic.
"Charles Bartowski!?
"I spent one month on our relationship. Don't tell me, you already forgot."
Chuck had seen a lot of frightening stuff. But, that killer aura around dangerous women he had learnt was the most consequential. Even the emotionally constipated blonde who holds his heart has a similar killer mode.
"Jo... I will never. Ever. Forget. For so many reasons. I do reminisce our... fling. But that was about eighteen months back."
The newly identified "Jo" changed her demeanor once again from angry to sad, girly behavior. "Was that all it was to you...? A... fling?"
Chuck's eyes grew stormy. He spoke soft but with anger. "Well... When you go to prison with a botched three year long relationship, come out to an extremely satisfying and passionate one only to be stabbed in the back again, you tend to lose whatever attachment you have with it to minimize the hurt."
He shed a tear. "But it crushes me even more, now, that I know it was all an act."
"No." Her voice cut through the painful silence. "Not an act."
He looked up at her. "I was born in the madness of Mexico's cartel wars, in the brutality and savagery of human pits. Fortunately for me, my father was a red-headed Albanian. I have no emotions. Clinically I am a psychopath... But they had me wrong. I do feel. I want. I need certain things in life. I have a... thirst for action. I am addicted to... carnal fantasies. But... for some reason you too."
She closed her eyes. Moved closer to the wall and for the first time since he had known her, he saw some vulnerability. "I used my... temptations and natural resources to get whatever I wanted. I became La Pantheira.
"One day, my boss gets me on this elaborate plan to kill one of his lieutenants, who supposedly wants to reform his life. My part was to gain a foothold in his best friend's life and execute him when the order came.
"For him, I became Josephine, a young, mother and wife... looking for a romantic tangle. Never did I imagine, that that guy would become my object of fancy, and attraction... I had to pull the plug. Get out quick."
Chuck's face was passive. But his eyes. His eyes were anything but. "What now, Jo? Clearly you want something, or neither I nor Tiny would be alive right now."
Jo stared at him. She shouted in frustration and pain, and unsheathed a knife and threw it at the wall. "I want another chance, dammit."
Chuck smiled sardonically. "As much as we would try to, our relationship never can stand a chance. It will always be full of lies and secrets."
Jo steeled herself. "Is that a no?" The danger and tension permeated the room once again.
Chuck said nothing.
Jo closed her eyes, shed a tear each and whispered, "Farewell, Chuck. You're the only one who broke my heart."
She lifted her pistol at point blank. Chuck closed his eyes with so many regrets flashing by.
And the wall blasted open throwing them all to the ground. Chuck's vision blurred and he blacked out.
A lone woman, 300 yards away had a detonator in her hand. She was well hidden in the shadows. However, poking out from the shadows was a black tip. An untrained onlooker would have missed it as a trick on the eye. A subdued shot and a recoil of the tip was all it took and Josephine breathed her last.
"Looky, Looky, here. It seems our worlds have finally integrated again, my love. Perhaps, I should have stayed with you in the first place." She sighed. And then started packing up all the gear. A soft buzzing shook her off her reverie. Retrieving her phone and hoisting her bag onto her shoulders she answered, "Mission completed. Brian is safe. Pantheira is dead."
"Paris? Why?" Her breath hitched. "Seriously?" Anger seeped into her voice. "I have been a field agent for six fucking years. You can't expect me to all of sudden bring a revolution in microbiology." After a longer silence, she sighed in resignation. "Yes sir. I... I want out sir. This is my last mission." After another long pause. "Well. My love is waiting on me. I have left him hanging long enough." Whatever her boss's reply was was causing her huge disappointment. But slowly that turned into a determined resolve. "You know what happened to the last guy who threatened me. But fine. I'll get you the intersect. But after that, hell shall rain down if you stop me." She hung up, crushed the phone under her foot and looked longingly at the hole in the safe house. "Hold on Chuck. I am coming for you my love." She then slinked away into the darkness.
When Sarah arrived, it would have been clear to even the most dumb motherfuckers that this was a huge mess - she was a huge mess. Luckily for all of them, someone had taken out the assassin - who clearly was about to shoot Chuck -,with a round through the head. It took them much longer to get there, because of all the traps that had been activated to keep outsiders away.
She had almost been too late to save Chuck. Some mysterious savior had helped them this time, and it looked like just in the nick of time. Nearly down to the last millisecond.
But then her gaze returned to the... love of her life. She was shattered at seeing him tied up and all the scenarios began to race through her head - was he tortured or perhaps something else? Who was this woman? And... why were these two still alive? But she shoved them everything aside. All of them had gone through a lot over the last few days. There seemed to be just as many successes as they've been failures. And if Chuck...? No. She can't go there.
She immediately went over to check on him while directing Zondra to do so with Tiny. Once she was satisfied, she worked on releasing him from his bindings.
He was unconscious. More importantly, he was unhurt. She would have cursed herself forever if anything had happened to him. Thankfully, nothing did... Although, this situation seemed to be one of many during recent times; something she was definitely going to be talking about.
Tiny was beginning to wake up and made a loud groaning sound. Which was when she realized Zondra was also here and she needed to act more like the high-classified agent she showed herself to be.
She stood up to survey the area. The only thing safe to say would be, "This is a huge mess". Well, her bosses were going to go nuts for sure.
She then glanced at the unconcious Chuck who was for some reason smiling and in that moment she promised herself that no matter what, he was worth it.
Debriefing, Next Day.
"Agents Rizzo and Walker. I find this behaviour extremely unprofessional and disgusting, given that you are among the foremost officers of the United States' Intelligence Cadre.
"Your actions were unsanctioned, violating the principles of operation of your affiliated agency and to top it all, your charge - the most important element of the whole operation in Burbank - willingly gave himself up to La Panthiera.
"This is a huge disaster."
Casey started snickering from Beckman's dressing down of the two agents, who in the face of fire, had faces of stone.
"Stop your sniveling, sniffling and snickering, Major Casey. You are not free from fault either. In the absence of your partner, you were to have responsibility over your charge. Both of you dropped the ball." Graham's tirade TV shut Casey up, but brought small smiles to the others' stony faces.
Seeing no dissent from anyone, Beckman continued. "Nonetheless, this botched operation was still successful. You did manage to take down La Pantheira. Now we have an inroad into the Council. Congratulations, agents. Luckily for you, we will still be able to cover this shit up."
And the call ended abruptly.
Sarah saw Casey stoic. At least he isn't angry is what she thought, before Rizzo opened her mouth.
"Well... I have never been dressed down that much; that too for a nerd. Sarah? What happened to you? I have never seen you in love like this. Ever."
Now she was the one expressing stoicism.
Tony was startled. Well, more due to what Josephine said that anything else.
If there was any doubt Chuck was a charmer, this all but vanquished those doubts. First Jill, then La Carneciera and now even La Pantheira. Good God. Such beautiful women and this unassuming lad just kept doubting himself.
At the same time, how screwed up must he be... The worst pits of luck seemed to dog him at every step and every turn.
He turned to Chuck. "Hey Chuck...!"
Chuck slowly turned to meet his eyes. He seemed buzzed. Forcing a smile to his face, he replied. "Yeah... Tell me, Tiny".
"I... uh. I wanted to say Thank You."
Chuck tried to smile but it came out more of a grimace. "No thanks necessary. You would have done the same for me. You have done the same for me in the past."
Tiny flinched. But he knew Chuck didn't see it the way he saw it. Chuck had always been selfless when it came to others... but he would always crush himself.
La Pantheira fell in love with Chuck. Who in the whole world could have ever predicted that?
If only Chuck knew what he had got himself into. But just like Chuck changed his life, he had done so for her. In fact, in the past few days, he could see he had changed Agent Gorilla and Agent Blonde too. But he is probably beating himself up right now.
"Chuck... Life's hard. We both know it. At times all we can find is nothing. At others we can find everything. Don't let this crush you. Being tumultuous is the very nature of living... I guess what I am trying to say is... the best way to live is to make peace and move on. Be good. Do good. You taught me that."
Sighing out loudly, Chuck crashed into a sofa. "I am tired Tiny. I have been fighting and fighting to have a normal life. But nothing seems to be sustained, not a single long period of happiness. Don't I deserve that Tiny? I just want a break."