NOTES: Timber63 observes: I am still somewhat confused on the status of his, Sarah's, and Jill's relationships.
If it's any comfort, so are they. :lol:
Technically, as of middle 2020 when this story is unfolding, all three are free and single, but everybody who knows them knows that the three of them are tangled together. Sarah and Jill both want Chuck for themselves, and Chuck is torn between them. Over the course of the eight years between the finale and this story, there have been times when Chuck has gotten very close to getting back together 100% with both Sarah and Jill (not at once!), but it always fell apart...often because the other woman did something to torpedo it.
Of course, once Charlotte-Mary and Stephanie were born, everything got way more complex.
At one time Sarah and Jill were more or less at war, but after the girls were born it subsided into a cold war, because they all know that even if Chuck does eventually manage to choose one of them, the existence of the two daughters means the other will always be in their lives anyway (the ex from Hell...). Also, even though Sarah and Jill are at each other's throats much of the time, their daughters are inseparable, and they both know it (and of course Chuck works to encourage that, as we've seen). So no matter how much they might drive each other crazy, the existence of the girls makes Sarah and Jill sort of family, whether they want to be or not.
Plus, of course, Chuck's first priority after 2014 is always the well-being of both daughters, that comes ahead of any other consideration in his relationship choices.
Of course, being single, occasionally both Sarah and Jill have noticed other guys from time to time over the years, and Chuck knows that objecting would make him a huge hypocrite. So he tries to hide the fact that whenever it happens, with either one, it drives Chuck nuts, and Ellie and his other relatives and friends all know it.
The above is just a quick incomplete summary, a lot can happen in eight years.
So, as Jill told her father when he asked, it's complicated.
A lot going on at once, which for me gets a little hard to follow.
I was afraid of that when I decided to start with this story instead of right after the 2012 finale. Probably I should have started in 2012, but I just was not quite braced for that much angst yet.
Dialogue or thoughts between / / indicates Russian language.
CHUCK vs. THE NO-WIN QUESTION CHAPTER 26: The Grand Hotel 3
Moscow Buy-More Site #1, Moscow, Russian Federation, Thursday, June 4th, 2020, 6:30 p.m. local time...
Sarah Walker ran a nervous hand through her hair, or at least she would have done that except that her hand encountered the wig and stopped.
Technically, she really should have dyed her hair rather than relying on the wig, but time was pressing and she had already changed the color of her hair several times in the last few days. The dyes she used for her quick changes were relatively benign, but even so they took time to apply and it was a headache to change them back again when she had to change aliases every few hours. Thus, her currently-golden hair was currently concealed beneath a professionally-made CIA issue brunette wig that would fool most casual observation. A fairly common grey pantsuit left her looking much like many another professional woman after work.
As she approached the Buy-More, Sarah shook her head again a in mixture of shock and dismay at what she had learned during the earlier afternoon. Zondra had met them at the Hotel, interrupting their scouting out the 'lay of the land' to bring them back to their current so-called safehouse. Apparently they had a visitor.
It had come as a shock to return to their provisional safehouse (or hideout, as Carina preferred to call it) on the empty floor of the department store to find General Diane Beckman (ret.) waiting for them, even though Zondra had warned them about it. Sarah was not sure which was the more disturbing, the simple fact that Beckman had shown up in the field that way, the fact that she had been able to find the CATs' home-brew safehouse so quickly...or that Beckman was dressed as a civilian tourist. As soon as the Seniors and the woman of CAT Two were assembled, Beckman had begun to brief tem on a situation that was far more complex and dangerous than they had suspected.
Beckman had dismissed the question of how she had found them almost as if it was trivial.
"I put myself in your shoes. When I saw in the news reports that the official safehouse had been hit by 'terrorists', I knew our leaker had compromised you. Knowing that, and having been a field agent myself for decades, I asked myself what you would do by asking myself what I would have done in your place. I knew you would be somewhere around the Hotel Gagarin because that was where Agent Miller was working out of before her cover was blown. Agent Montgomery and I did a little quite snooping and after that, it was just a matter of making a list of likely places for a temporary field base and checking them out. Congratulations on a good choice, by the way, CATs. It took me most of the day to identify this place and get into it."
Sarah shook her head, a little ruefully, as she crossed a busy avenue on her way to the Buy-More. It would have been faster to drive or catch a taxi, but it was safer and less visible to walk, blending into the busy afternoon crowds.
It took her most of a day to find us, Sarah mused. Damn. Most agents wouldn't have been able to do that in a week without us catching them at it. Be careful, Sarah. You let yourself get complacent, you got so used to Beckman as a desk jockey that you forgot her reputation from her field-agent days.
If the ease with which Beckman had found them was unnerving, the information the diminutive retired general had brought was just plain terrifying.
FULCRUM is back?! Or they never really went away, if what Beckman was telling us is true. And now they're as powerful as ever or maybe even more so?! And Conroy and the CIA sent us in to try to double-trap Gaez and Amy without telling us that they knew FULCRUM was likely involved?! DAMN them! We definitely needed to know THAT!
Sarah knew Beckman was not telling them everything. What she had revealed was terrifying enough on its own! Beckman believed that their communications, almost all of them, had been compromised. Her story about her supposed conversation with a CI communications officer getting the code phrases wrong was all too credible.
Amy told us the same damned thing, Sarah reminded herself. I was afraid it was true and from what General Beckman says it looks like Amy was telling the truth, at least about that! And if it really is FULCRUM that extracted Zarnow...I have got to get some kind of warning to Chuck. Amy says he's in Moscow, but if all our communications are compromised how to I safely test that?!
Traffic was steady and heavy as rush hour unfolded, but Sarah was a past master at making good time on foot under such conditions. She bit her lower lip as she came into sight of the largest and first Buy-More to open in Moscow.
Sarah was completely aware, of course, that the international Buy-More retail store chain was secretly owned by and a front for Carmichael Industries. Still, that did not mean the personnel in Buy-More Number One in Moscow would necessarily recognize her. She had pass words Chuck had given her to identify herself, but that did not mean that they would necessarily do what she was asking.
"I have reason to believe," Diane Beckman had told Sarah, before sending her out on this particular errand, "that Carmichael Industries has a highly-secure, propriety communications system available that would let me make secure contact with headquarters. But we'll have to convince them to let us use it, and you're the best choice for that, Agent Walker. I want you to convince the officer-in-charge at that station to put us in touch with CI HQ, the real thing. From there we can work out channels for our own uses as well."
Sarah had known about the Buy-More being a CI front, but up that afternoon, none of the other CATs had. Now Zondra and Carina and the women of CAT Team Two all knew. Sarah was fairly sure they would not spread it around...but it was still disturbing to have so many secret things revealed to so many so quickly.
Technically, of course, Diane Beckman was retired, and Sarah supposed she had no authority to be issuing orders to the CATs in the field anymore. Still, Sarah knew it was best to accept it for the moment. Beckman knew things about quite a few of Sarah's superiors, she could get her wishes made official almost at will, and Sarah knew it.
Also, Sarah knew that if Chuck was in Moscow as Amy had claimed, if there was news of him anywhere it might be at the main Buy-More. At least it was a reasonable hope that she might be able to get some kind of message to him there.
The Moscow Buy-More Number One was across the street from her now, looking amazingly familiar for all that the logo and words were in Russian. Sarah crossed the street, drew a deep breath, and walked in through the front doors as if she was just another Russian customer. In her mind, she was organizing her arguments for why the CI personnel should permit the CAT squad to use this super-secret super-secure communicator...if it really existed, which Sarah doubted.
She stepped inside and began to walk toward the Nerd Herd desk, where she could identify herself, when she heard a very familiar male voice exclaim her name.
"Sarah!"
It was not a shout, more of a quiet gasp, and she turned her head to see a tall man with sandy-red hair, standing next to a tall woman with long ice-blonde hair. Disguises or not, Sarah knew them both instantly, and a wave of relief went through as she rushed over to them.
"Chuck! Ellie!" she said softly, intensely, as they caught her arms. A few minutes later they were in the underground section, and she exchanged long, warm hugs with both of them. For a few moments, they were all trying to talk at once, then they calmed down and began to explain to each other what they were doing in Moscow.
"I guess that confirms what Amy told me," Sarah said, after they had briefly compared notes. "I thought I was talking to CI HQ, but I wasn't. I've been trying to warn you that Zarnow was out for days, Chuck!"
"And I kept hearing that you were 'incommunicado'," Chuck replied. "I knew something felt wrong about that!"
"Amy knows you're in town," Sarah told him. "She told me and Zonnie that when she...well, when she rescued us from the Chinese agents yesterday."
Sarah rapidly explained about how she and Zondra had been captured by Chinese Intelligence agents, and 'rescued' in a way by their traitorous former teammate.
"You two don't seem as shocked as I thought you would be that FULCRUM is back in action," Sarah finished.
"We kinda already knew about it," Ellie said, as she caught Sarah up to date on some of her own recent activities. "Apparently FULCRUM was behind that whole nasty business in Naples that I'm told you heard rumors about, but we still don't know why. They seem to have infiltrated or turned some SVR people and used them to launch a rogue operation."
"We need to get in touch with Beckman," Chuck said. Ellie nodded, and Sarah saw a look go between brother and sister, a look she had only occasionally seen before. It was a look that told her that there was something they were both holding back, even from her.
"We'll let Beckman use the LaserLink," Ellie said. "We've got to work out some reliable communications, before FULCRUM uses our stumbling around in the dark to take us all out."
"So there is some kind of secret magic communicator here?!" Sarah said. "I didn't really think it existed, but Beckman apparently knew about it."
"And I'd love to know how she did," Ellie said, "but we can track that leak later. For now she's right, though, we need to restore our communications with HQ and the JIA. After I check you out tomorrow, Chuck, if you look decent enough, we can bring Beckman here and try to start working something out."
"Check you over?! What's she talking about, Chuck?" Sarah demanded.
"I'm all right," Chuck started to say, "I just-"
"He just got knocked unconscious from being slammed head-first into a concrete wall," Ellie said, a note of frustrated anger in her voice, "and went right on working, driving, and stressing out when he woke up."
Ellie explained what had happened.
"That was you in the middle of all those explosions and fires and shooting yesterday?!" Sarah exclaimed at Chuck. "Damn it, Chuck, what were you thinking?!"
"He was thinking like the heroic stubborn mule that he is," Ellie said, half angrily and half fondly. "Which is why I've put him on no duty until I can finish giving him a proper examination tomorrow. He's got a suite at the Hotel and I expect him to use it to rest tonight!"
At just that moment, the intercom buzzed, as the Nerd Herd desk informed them that Chuck's ride had arrived.
"Back to the Hotel with you, Little Brother," Ellie ordered, as the three of them went back up to the main level. "I'll join you as soon as I finish making arrangements for the medical supplies to be delivered. I want to use the LaserLink myself to call Devon, too, so I'll be a few hours yet. Tell Jack-"
"Jack? My father?!" Sarah interjected.
"Yeah," Chuck admitted. "I was supposed to work with Jack and Darya tonight to help plan out an op, but Ellie says I need to sit this one out and she's going to take my place."
"I'm going with you!" Sarah announced. "I need to talk to my father-"
Sarah fell silent as she saw the woman standing near the Nerd Herd desk. Long straight hair, currently an improbable shade of bright red, flowed down the back of a slender woman in jeans and a sweater. Red hair or not, though, Sarah would know that face anywhere. She felt a wave of anger roll over her, and when the woman at the desk saw Sarah standing with Chuck and Ellie, her own features instantly hardened as well.
"Oh crap," Sarah half-heard Chuck mutter as she and Jill Roberts locked eyes.
Somewhere in Moscow, Russian Federation, 8:00 p.m. local time...
Morgan Grimes drew in a deep breath, and jumped.
For a nerve-wracking moment he was not sure he was going to make it, but then his fingers closed onto the metal bar of the fire escape, and he heaved himself onto the landing.
For a moment he sat there, catching his breath.
I've let myself get out of shape, Morgan admitted to himself. It's been a while since I was in a situation like this and I've let things slide a bit.
Morgan still was not sure what was going on, exactly. He had been more-or-less arrested by the Russian Intelligence personnel with which they had been working, while he was out picking up takeout for a group of CI people in a planning session. That had been late the day before, and it did not take a genius to figure out that the Russians suspected CI of some kind of connection to the crazy explosions and aftermath that afternoon...or at least they were grasping at straws and CI was handy.
His captors had demanded to know where the other members of the CI party were at, which might indicate that they were still free or might just be mind games by his captors to mess with his head. Either way, there was no way he could betray Ellie and the others because he had no idea where they were or what they were doing right then.
Fortunately, his captors had apparently been unready to get 'intense' about the questioning, though he had not been fed. They had given him water, which was a courtesy he appreciated. Morgan knew from experience that thirst became a true torment long before hunger did.
It had been over twenty hours before an opportunity, involving a careless guard, had given Morgan the chance to make a break for it. After several years with CI, he knew quite a few tricks for evading pursuit, and he had managed to escape from the holding cell and its building and into the streets of the city, and for the moment he had lost his pursuers in the crowds, eventually giving the last of them the slip by crawling out onto a fire escape and jumping another landing entirely.
But now he was exhausted, hungry, and he had no idea where he might be in the vast maze that was greater Moscow.
Still, in Morgan Grimes' estimation, it was better to be free and lost than a secret captive of the SVR!
Having regained his breath, Morgan began to make his way down the fire escape toward the alley below. If he could merge into the street crowds, he could probably keep his head down and figure out where he was and what to do next.
Moscow Buy-More Site #1, Moscow, Russian Federation, Thursday, June 4th, 2020, 8:05 p.m. local time...
Jill Roberts parked her cheap, average-model rental car in the customer lot for the Buy-More, grabbed her purse, pocketed her keys, and headed for the front door, her mind in a whirl of conflicting thoughts.
Part of her was reminded by the sight of the store of just how long Chuck and Ellie had managed to keep the true nature of the new Buy-More chain a secret from her. Knowing secrets was more or less her stock in trade, and there was a part of her that was more than slightly embarrassed and annoyed to have had such a juicy one sitting right under her nose for over four years and never suspecting it!
Sloppy, Jill, sloppy! And I only found out because circumstances forced Chuck to tip his hand! I simply must do better than that! Even if I am kind of proud of him for being able to hide it from me!
Jill shook her head at her conflicting emotions, a rueful smile on the faux redhead's face.
More of her mind was on the status of their rather desperate con-play to get control of that damned doomsday fungus that the Chinese rogue agent was so recklessly selling. So far, according to Tony, their mark was showing signs of nibbling at the bait. That afternoon, while Chuck had been meeting with his sister, Tony and Darya had made contact (via electronic communication and using false identities, and added yet more hints that there was an eager buyer ready to pay big if the schedule could be moved up.
"We have to drop hints carefully and slowly," Tony had said afterward. "If we're too blatant, we'll scare off the mark. We want to tease him in, make him think he's outsmarting us. Feed his ego a little at a time, and let him think he's being clever. But from the way he responded he's definitely interested!"
It was risky, of course, for Tony to be using electronic communication with their mark or marks (they still were not quite sure how many people they were dealing with). On the other hand, whoever their mystery enemies were, they were still human beings. Even if they could interfere with telephony, it was just impossible for them to be monitoring everything. It was just one more risk that they had to take.
In the meantime, Jill had been getting worried about Chuck. She knew he had gone to meet with Ellie, but it was taking him a long time to return. After a while, she had started regularly checking the dead drop they had set up to communicate. That was slow and clumsy, but they knew someone was in a position to monitor their own calls, so it was necessary. The drop point was an elevator control panel on the third floor of the Hotel, the panel with the outside buttons to call for an elevator could be slid out and there was a space behind that could hold written messages, and this particular elevator landing was relatively little-frequented, which meant it rarely took long to get a safe moment to check it.
The first two times she checked it she had come up empty, but the third time there had indeed been a message from Chuck, in one of several ciphers that CI and her organization both used. It was one she could translate in her head, and when she could read in the message in clear it brought a momentary smile to her face, because even after it was in English much of it was in what she had heard Casey call her and Chuck's 'nerd code'. References to movies, comics, and role playing games, numbers given as scientific jargon, even references to things that had happened back at Stanford. Jill was pretty sure she was the only person other than Chuck who could have made sense of it.
If the form of the message had brought a fond smile to her face, the content had quickly wiped that smile away.
It was difficult for Chuck to be clear in any detailed way in nerd code, but Jill's take on the gist of the message had been that Ellie apparently Ellie thought he might be suffering from worse damage than he had thought, and they were going to the Buy-More site one so she could rig up some kind of examination. Chuck had asked Jill to meet with him there, since he did not know what Ellie might find and he suspected she would not want him driving. Or that was the 'sense' of the message that Jill had taken from the words.
Chuck had given a time that she might arrive, based on his guesswork about how long Ellie might need, and to give her time to help Tony and Darya with their ongoing work. Jill had spent the next few hours restraining herself from rushing over to the Buy-More early. There was no reason to do that, but the message had left all of her own fears about what might be wrong with Chuck stirred up.
As she, Tony, and Darya had gone back and forth over the best way to tempt in their mark, and what to do once they did, in her mind she had kept reliving that horrible moment the day before, when Chuck had pushed her out of the way of the blast wave from the exploding tank truck, only be slammed head-first into that concrete wall before her horrified eyes.
Twice Chuck saved my life yesterday, Jill had mused at one point, during a break in the planning. When he shoved me aside and kept that bullet from hitting me, and then when he pushed me out of the way and took that impact that would have been me. I suppose every girl dreams of a knight in shining armor occasionally, but I've actually got one in my life, and mine is named Chuck Bartowski. Now if my damn-fool hero will just survive it!
Jill's mind had also kept going back to the rifle shots that had started yesterday's insanity. That first shot, that had missed her because Chuck somehow knew it an instant before it happened, had struck the concrete in the precise place that she would have been standing. Whoever had been gunning for them had aimed at her first, and Jill knew it. She was sure they had both been targeted, but whoever was shooting at them had wanted to take her first.
At last, after what had seemed like an eternity, Jill had realized that it was time to go meet with Chuck. With a mixture of dread, worry, and eagerness twisting her stomach, the red-dyed brunette had taken her leave of Tony and Darya as they sat down to a meal of room service in their suite, and headed for the parking garage across the street. Her current car was a completely ordinary cheap rental machine, no special features, which was part of the point. There was nothing about the sedan to distinguish it from any of probably one hundred thousand others of the same make and model in Greater Moscow. It was utterly ordinary, and so hopefully effectively invisible.
Of course there were rental records, but not in her name or Niles Foxe's name or the actual name or usual legends of any of her associates. Even if, for some dark reason, the authorities or their unknown enemies or one of the national or corporate spies crawling all over Moscow just then took an interest in it, the rental records would lead them on a merry chase through a chain of nested false covers and non-existent names. Jill had been doing this for a long time, and she and her people knew their business.
But now she was walking into the Buy-More proper, ready to find out what was going on with her guy. As she came inside, there was no sign of him, but she approached the Nerd Herd desk and gave her current alias.
/"Hello,"/ Jill said to the young man in the Nerd Herd uniform behind the desk, speaking in Russian but not bothering to conceal her American accent, since it fit her cover as an American businesswoman anyway, /"my name is Margaret Madison, and I was told you were expecting me. I'm supposed to pick up a package."/
/Of course, Ms. Madison,"/ the young man said with a smile. Jill shook her head a little as he keyed the intercom, he looked so young that she had trouble believing it.
What, is CI recruiting out of high school these days? she mused. He doesn't even look like he's twenty yet!
Jill resolutely suppressed the little voice that reminded her that she was 38 now, which might be affecting her perceptions a little. Nope, not relevant! she mused ruefully.
The Nerd Herder's next words did nothing for her mood, as he turned away from the intercom and said, /'Ma'am, your package is on its way up!"/
/"Thank you,"/ Jill said. Did I just get ma'amed by this kid?!
Her slightly rueful thoughts were banished by the sound of familiar voices approaching the Nerd Herd desk. She turned to see, to her relief, 'Liam O'Grady', also known as Chuck Bartowski with a sandy red hair dye, approaching. He was walking normally and appeared to be all right, even if his sister standing next to him was watching him eagle-eyed. Of course Ellie did not look like herself either, with that ridiculous silver-blonde hair dye, but when Jill thought of her own currently bright-red tresses she decided that it was probably the better part of valor to avoid commenting on it.
Unfortunately, Jill saw, Chuck and Ellie were not alone. There was a woman approaching with them, tall, slender, with that unmistakable mannerism of an agent about her. Even with what Jill knew to be golden hair stuffed up under a wig, those features were all too recognizable.
Jill felt her jaws lock and her back tense as she saw Sarah Walker approaching with the Bartowski's.
What the Hell is SHE doing here?! Stupid question, Chuck is here so Walker shows up because of course she does! The woman clings like a damned lamprey!
Ellie wasted no time in hustling all four of them off the main floor and into the currently-vacant (and sound-proofed and sensor-shielded) manager's office, where she completed the privacy by closing the window drapes.
"Chuck, are you all right?" Jill said, trying to ignore Walker's unwelcome presence.
"I think so-"
"No, he's not all right!" Walker said. "He has a concussion and maybe worse!"
"She's right," Ellie confirmed, as Jill looked at Chuck's sister in response to Walker's words.
"I told you needed to take it easy, Chuck!" Jill said.
"But you dragged him all over the city to help you with your current game, whatever that is," Sarah snapped. "From what I hear you were present when he hit his head, too. Why does that not surprise me?"
Jill grounded her teeth. Don't let her get to you, don't let her get to you-
"Maybe what Chuck needs is to put some distance between you and him-"
"I don't recall asking your opinion, Walker!" Jill snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, this is a dangerous business! And I've been trying to get Chuck to ease off ever since he first woke up! What are you even doing here, anyway? Last I heard you were busy training your latest batch of Kittens down at Mojave Center!"
Walker paused for a moment, obviously caught off-guard by Jill's knowledge of her movements and activities. Then a smile appeared on that disgustingly perfect face, and she said, "Stalking me, Jill? You really need to work on that insecurity complex of yours, then maybe you'd have the confidence not to worry about what I'm doing."
"I worry about what you're doing to Chuck!" Jill snarled, feeling a familiar anger boiling up inside. "As long as you're safely out in the desert that's one less thing I have to worry about with him!"
"I'm not the one who got him slammed into the concrete wall!" Sarah retorted.
Even as she responded, part of Jill was aware of a look passed between Chuck and Ellie, seemingly angry, resigned, amazed, and some other things too at the same time. Most of her attention, though, was on this blonde harridan, as their 'vigorous discussion' continued.
A motel in Moscow, Russian Federation, 8:25 p.m. local time...
Lana Payton (not the name her mother gave her, but the one she usually used as an adult), a CIA agent and member of CAT Team Two, was currently very bored. This did not bother here, in fact she rather hoped it continued. Boredom was definitely preferable to what could be happening on a long surveillance assignment such as the one she was currently carrying out.
General Beckman had assigned Payton to this particular motel to stake it out to watch for the movements of certain individuals who were officially operatives employed by the Italians, and who Beckman was fairly sure were FULCRUM players. They were staying in the motel, and her job was simply to observe from a car to see if they left the motel. She had been there for over an hour, pretending alternatively to be absorbed in calls on her cell phone and reading a newspaper, she looked for all the world like someone waiting to pick someone up, which was the idea.
Still, under her boredom was a nervous excitement. The very name 'FULCRUM' was long-legendary in the intelligence community, but everybody knew, or at least thought they knew, that this underground conspiracy had been crushed out of existence a decade before. Lana Payton was 24, she had been starting high school when the legendary Charles Carmichael and his associates, who included Sarah Walker, had destroyed the Ring and with it FULCRUM...or so she had believed and always been told, once she was cleared to know about such matters at all. Eventually she had been able to meet the legend, and Carmichael had impressed her even as he had turned out to be totally different than what she had imagined from the stories she had been told. But Carmichael had never hinted anything about this.
She currently held a level six clearance, which opened many secrets to her, but until that day she had never dreamed FULCRUM might still exist.
She saw motion near the motel doors, and her eyes briefly went up over her newspaper. Not her targets, she lowered her eyes again, the entire motion barely detectable in the darkness.
Moscow Buy-More Site #1, Moscow, Russian Federation, Thursday, June 4th, 2020, 8:35 p.m. local time...
"FULCRUM?!" Jill exclaimed. "You can't be serious?!"
Ellie and Chuck had managed, by dint of effort and some shouting, to break through the argument between the other two women a few minutes before, and Chuck had taken the time to fill Jill in on some of what he had learned from Ellie and Sarah over the previous few hours. When he had told her that he suspected that it had been FULCRUM personnel who had been trying to kill them the day before, and who were tampering with the communications, a horror had filled her face and her voice had a tinge that was recognizable, at least to Chuck, of fear.
"What, didn't they send you an invitation to the big reunion?" Sarah asked Jill archly. "I'm sure it was just an oversight!"
Jill spared Sarah a furious glance, then turned back to Chuck. "Chuck, we have to talk to Tony and Darya, if FULCRUM really has come back together, then things have just gotten way worse than we even thought they were!"
Jill was facing Chuck, with her back to Sarah, which kept her from seeing Sarah's sudden interest, for too intense for even Sarah Walker to entirely conceal. Chuck, however, saw it clearly. It was obvious that she could barely contain herself.
"Sarah," Chuck said slowly, "I think we're going to have to read you in on what's been going on. I left out some things when we talked downstairs. Remember I told you a week ago that my meet with Jill involved fungus?"
"Sure, but what-" Sarah started to demand.
"Chuck, she doesn't need to know about that!" Jill protested at the same moment.
"Yes, she does," Chuck said to Jill softly. "You said it yourself last night, Jill, we're throwing a Hail Mary pass. We're short-handed, we have no time to bring in much in the way of help, the stakes are too high for comfort, and we need all the help we can get. With the CATs in town, we'd be fools not to take advantage."
Chuck saw her face go through several expressions, a mix of denial, reluctant acceptance, and a sour expression when he mentioned the CATs. After a moment, Jill nodded.
"I already know about the fungus, Chuck, Beckman read me in." Sarah said.
"Yeah, but she doesn't know, either, not really," Chuck replied as he turned toward Sarah, keeping himself mostly between the mothers of his children.
Chuck then explained what Jill had learned about the real nature of the EREBUS fungus, and why it was so dangerous. Reluctantly, Jill put in her own comments on this, managing to keep her voice civil when she was talking about her scientific interests. Chuck saw a mixture of horror and disbelief appear on his ex-wife's face as they did.
"And this is on the level?!" Sarah demanded. "You're trying to tell us that this thing could more or less starve the world?!"
"I'm not trying to tell you that, you bleach-blonde twit, I am telling-" Jill snarled.
"ENOUGH!" Ellie yelled at the top of her lungs, catching Chuck, Sarah, and Jill all by surprise.
"This is ridiculous," Ellie said in a quieter voice. "Sarah, I have every reason to think Jill is telling the truth, it fits with the rest of the insanity that's going on. We don't have the time to waste on this nonsense! Now, first things first, I want Chuck safely back in his suite at the hotel resting. So are you going to take him, Jill, or do I need to get an agent to drive him?"
"I'll take him-" Sarah started to protest.
"In what?!" Jill demanded. "I didn't see your oh-so-discreet Porsche parked in the lot, so I assume you didn't drive over, and Chuck is in no condition to be riding on the back of your broom!"
Sarah began to snarl back, then stopped, blushed, and admitted, "She's right, I walked here from our current safehouse."
"I don't want Chuck walking that far in his condition," Ellie said firmly. "So he rides with Jill."
A smirk started to appear on the faux redhead's face, which vanished as it was forming with Ellie added, "And Sarah will ride over with you. With FULCRUM loose and this city crawling with agents from a gaggle of countries and companies and private contractors, you'll be safer with Sarah along, Chuck."
Chuck looked at the other two women, pondering the various definitions of 'safer' in light of riding in a car with both of them at once. Then he nodded finally nodded. Ellie was right.
"All right," Chuck nodded. "Jill?"
"I have a choice?" she asked sourly.
"Yes," Chuck heard his sister reply with a meaningful look at Jill, "you can go back by yourself and I'll send Chuck over with a couple of Buy-More security agents. We've only got a few available right now but I'll spare a couple if I have to!"
"All right," Jill said after a moment. "But you ride in back, Walker!"
As the three of them started to leave the office, Ellie added, "I'll be over myself shortly, Chuck, as soon as I take care of personal matters. I expect you to be resting when I get there, is that understood, Little Brother?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Chuck replied with a grin.
"Get going, Jill. The sooner Chuck is back at the hotel the sooner he can sleep."
TO BE CONTINUED...