A/N1: You know, I'll bet Rachel could figure out ownership of Chuck.
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Monday, December 1, 2008; 12:43 PM PST
Leaving Roark to deal with his dead henchman, Chuck and Sarah made their way out of the Chinese restaurant and walked to their car. They didn't hurry or exhibit any signs of nervousness, but they moved quickly along the street, alert for other Fulcrum operatives and hit teams.
Colt said, into their ears, "Still looks clear, guys. Seems the one bodyguard as all he brought with him. No other teams around. Guess he really thought he was just meeting Mr. Gates."
"Guess so. Thanks, Mike," said Chuck.
"My pleasure, Boss," said Mike Colt.
"I think your psy-ops plan worked, dude," said Chuck.
"Excellent," said Colt. "Couldn't happen to a bigger asshole."
"So true," said Sarah. "Meet you back at the ranch."
"Roger that," said Colt.
They got into Sarah's Porsche and headed back to Castle.
"What do you think?" asked Sarah, pulling out into Los Angeles traffic.
"I think we shook him up," he replied.
"Yeah. That was the point," she said.
"Yup. And now he's got to deal with the guy's body in addition to the rest of the shit heading his way," said Chuck.
"Aw, he'll probably just tell Smith to do it," she said.
"Yeah. More than likely," agreed Chuck. "No way he calls the cops. That's the last thing he wants."
"Yup, but, Chuck, no surprise, I thought you handled yourself perfectly in there, Sweetie. I love you and I'm always proud of you. Proud that you are my man and I am your woman. And you didn't disappoint. But I was pleasantly surprised that you held it together so well when things got insane," she said, reaching out to take his hand in hers.
"You mean with the chopstick thing?" He squeezed her hand in return.
She nodded, and said, "Yeah. I knew you could dominate the conversation and get him off balance. Exactly as you did. That part was never in doubt. You could talk the most talented conman in the world into tears of despair." She grinned at her future husband. "But taking out that guy with a chopstick...well, I was a bit nervous about your instinctive reaction. But you kept your poker face intact. I think that shook him up as much as anything."
He shrugged and said, "Well, we both knew it might turn violent at a moment's notice and the whole point was to shake him up. You did freak me out a little bit, to be honest, but I was able to stop myself from crying in front of Teddy Roark." He gave her a bit of a sardonic grin. "I mean, I've seen you kill before, but honestly, Babe, the chopstick thing was a whole 'nother level of badass."
"Well, that guy was good. I couldn't take any chances with him. I could tell by the way he moved and where his eyes were looking. His body language. I had no interest in getting into a fair fight with the guy," she said.
"Oh, hell no," said Chuck. "If there's anything you and Casey have taught me, it's that you never ever want to get into a fair fight. Come up behind the bastard and hit him in the head with a brick. That's the only fights I ever want to get into from now on."
"Amen to that," said Sarah with a grin.
They pulled up to Castle Studios. The armed men at the gate, who recognized them and knew them from everyday experience, nevertheless asked for the presentation of ID's and looked into the back of the Porsche. Satisfied, they waved the car through. Since the war with Fulcrum was heating up, security at the Studio had been strengthened.
Only a few minutes later, they were in Castle. Stephen, Casey and Zondra were there, very busy with the preparations for later in the day.
"Hey," said Zondra. "How'd it go?"
"I had to take out his bodyguard, but no other surprises. I would say mission accomplished," Sarah responded.
"Yeah," said Chuck. "We left him pretty freaked out."
"I would have loved to have seen that, Charles," said Stephen.
"You probably would have enjoyed it, dad," said Chuck.
"Did you tell him?" asked Stephen.
"Yeah, I told him I was your son. As shocked as he was, he actually seemed like he wanted to talk to you," said Chuck.
"I want to talk to him too. But while he's in an orange jumpsuit and visiting the Iron Bar Hotel," said Stephen, with a chuckle.
"Did you make him the offer. We wouldn't kill him?" asked Casey.
"Yeah. And, as we expected, he scoffed. That was never going to happen anyway."
"Not like we give a shit about their headquarters anyway. Who gives a fuck about brick and dirt?" said Casey.
"If they even have a headquarters," added Zondra.
"Yeah. The offer was as unserious as the request," agreed Sarah. "Just some theatre to jostle his psyche. Mike's idea was pretty good."
"Yeah, it was. And Rachel's part of the plan has just dropped. They got served," said Casey. "We have four of our CI guys on the news channels giving interviews and your buddy Bill is scheduled to go on soon."
"Excellent," said Chuck with a grin. "By the time the shit hits the fan tonight, Roark and his people will be so busy trying to stay afloat they won't notice us at all."
"That's the plan," said Zondra.
"Where's Rachel?" asked Sarah.
"Upstairs," said Casey. "She's working with the team leaders going in tonight with the indictments and warrants. She wants to make sure they all have their shit together and coordinate with each other. I've really got to say, Walker, she is a fantastic addition to the team. She is impressive as shit. It's possible I might change my view of lawyers. I never thought I could see anyone who can get a half dozen government agencies singing from the same song book just by force of personality. Good pick."
"Thanks, Case. No surprise that I agree," said Sarah. "Let me go up to see her. We don't have to get suited up for a few hours. Get some food. We were in a restaurant and still didn't get lunch." Turning to Chuck, she said, "Meet you in the commissary in a half hour, maybe?"
"Sure. See you there, Sweetie," he leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss.
She took the elevator to the Carmichael Industries floor and found the conference room with Rachel and four men sitting at a conference room table.
As she came within earshot, she heard Rachel saying, "I agree. Get all the team leaders upfront and in Roark's face. If you don't mind, I'd like to be there when you brief your people. When you choreograph tonight's performance. I promise not to get in the way."
"That's just fine, Ms. Bernstein. That won't be a problem. Your status as an observer will, of course, be one of the topics of discussion." Sarah didn't recognize the voice of the man speaking, but when she got closer she saw it was Taylor, the lead man from that night's FBI contingent.
Sticking her head in the door, she said, "Hey, Guys. Rach, got a second?"
Rachel stood up and said, "Of course. Excuse me a sec, guys."
She came out into the corridor and said, "Hey, Sar. How'd it go?"
"I think it was good. I think he was freaked out. We dropped everything we had on the guy, including that Chuck is Stephen's son. And then I had to kill his bodyguard with a chopstick. Yeah. I think he's off balance."
Impassive, Rachel stared at Sarah for several seconds and said, "I'm torn. I know I should be upset about the death of another human being...but a chopstick? I actually want to laugh. Sorry. I know I shouldn't laugh, because it's not funny...but...a chopstick..." Rachel started to giggle. She turned away and her shoulders started to shake with silent laughter. Sarah smiled a bit at her friend's back and reached out to touch her lightly.
Rachel turned back to Sarah, her face twisted in an effort to be serious. "Okay. I'm ok. So, being serious for a moment, I understand from John that Roark got served. Any minute now they will realize that the top two hundred law firms in the country have retainer agreements with us. They'll have to scramble and that will take them a while."
"And one of the things coming tonight is an arrest warrant for Roark for breach of foreign currency laws. He'll have a tough time getting a lawyer for that too," said Sarah.
"Naw. May take him a bit of time, but the firms wouldn't be conflicted on the criminal stuff. Without us on the other side, he'll be able to get counsel. He'll be out by tomorrow for sure. But we sort of knew that all along. Not unexpected, but just another thing to screw up his mind," said Rachel.
"Are they all on board?" asked Sarah, gesturing with her head towards the men Rachel had been meeting with.
"Yeah. Totally. The information Jorge and the guys pulled with the FISA warrants made all the difference. Tax fraud. Currency manipulation. Breaching the dual use restrictions on transfer of tech. More and more. There are about a dozen different indictments from a bunch of agencies. All coming down at the same time. These guys' heads will spin."
"I heard that you are going to be an observer," said Sarah.
"Yeah. If it's ok with you, of course," Rachel said.
"Ok with me. Just stay safe," she said.
"I'm going to be standing behind 50 federal agents. What could go wrong?"
"Still. Oh, and you've made a fan. Casey thinks you're pretty hot shit the way you're bossing around the other agencies," Sarah started to chuckle.
"Ah. That's not so hard. All I had to do was use the magic word," said Rachel with a grin.
"Please?"
"No. 'Carmichael.' It's amazing how these guys sit up straighter at the name. Not in the chain of command, but it doesn't seem any of them could give two shits. If they know it's for him, they bend over backwards and smile the whole time. I'm just taking advantage of the rep you guys built before I ever arrived on the scene."
Sarah laughed and said, "Well, I'm glad that's useful for something at least. Listen, I'm going to get something to eat with Chuck. We missed lunch while having the Roark meeting. You up?"
"Naw. I just ate with my new friends," she said, gesturing with her head into the room with the men from the agencies.
"Ok. See you later, girlfriend," said Sarah.
"Later. Oh, Sarah, listen, did you happen to get a picture of the guy with the chopstick?" Rachel cracked up laughing. Sarah made a face and Rachel, continuing to laugh, headed back to the conference room. As Sarah was walking away, she heard Rachel say, "Ok. You guys aren't going to believe the latest exploit I have to tell you about now."
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Monday, December 1, 2008; 5:40 PM PST
Jorge said, "I really think I can do this."
Grumpy, Casey said, "They're going in like ninjas, dude. And you're limping with a bum ankle. Sorry, kid. Bad plan. You monitor from Castle."
Notwithstanding everything, Sarah wasn't totally comfortable with Stephen taking Jorge's place on the operation. She knew he was the second-best hacker on the team, but still. He was Chuck's dad. He was older. He was Orion. He hadn't trained with them. Mostly, she just didn't want to put him in harm's way. But he'd been adamant about it and had convinced the others.
Chuck and Stephen were going to infiltrate the secured wing of Roark Instruments campus while the dozens of Federal officers hit the front of the offices. With all that had been thrown at Roark and his men in the last few hours, it was everyone's hope that they would be too busy to mount a serious security response to the intrusion, giving the Carmichael team the time to crack into the computers and obtain the Fulcrum roster. Sarah would accompany them to cover their backs. Marco would be coming in from the outside in his role as a janitor.
Casey and Zondra would be outside the building covering the withdrawal as needed. Fitz and his men, other than Marco, of course, would be interspersed among the Federal agents at the front of the building. Colt and his guys were standoff reserve. Rachel was going with the agents as an observer, while Jorge (to his chagrin) was stuck at Castle with the two remaining members of that team.
Sarah spent extra time checking Stephen's gear and bulletproof vest. He teased her, "Be careful, Agent Walker. Don't want to give anyone the impression you care for me." He had a wry gentle smile as he said it.
She slapped him on the chest and said, with a soft grin of her own, "Cut it out. I'm just being professional. If you get killed on my watch I'll have a ton of paperwork and I hate paperwork."
"God forbid," he said.
"Exactly," she agreed with a soft smile, patting him on the chest.
Jorge, in his role as overall coordinator, was sitting in front of two computer screens with a headset on his ears. He said to the Carmichael team, "Ok, guys. Rock and roll. Colt's team is already in place and the Feds are assembled to go. You want to be onsite when they land."
"On our way, dude," said Chuck.
Jorge looked at them seriously for a moment or two and said, "Good luck, guys. Please be safe. Please."
Sarah smiled at him and said, "Count on it."
Together, Team B, with Stephen, climbed into one of the black SUVs from the Castle carpool. With Sarah driving, they were soon in place near the northern edge of the Roark campus. It was the quietest area along the perimeter. Unoccupied land with a sparse scattering of trees. They were hidden from the road and no other buildings were near.
They alighted from the vehicle and strapped on their gear. Soon afterward they were crouched near the fence for Roark Instruments. The trees and shrubbery were covering them well, but the distance from the road was even more useful for their concealment.
Sarah said, into the communications set up, "Jorge. We are near the northern edge of the campus. Point Delta. What's the status?"
"Sarah, I've hacked into the Roark systems and they are blind where you are. System's looped. I see none of the roving security patrols anywhere near you. The Feds are rolling and are about to hit the front door."
"Excellent. Thanks, Jorge," said Sarah. "We will stand by for your order."
Casey, Chuck, Stephen, Zondra, and Sarah crouched near the fence and waited for Jorge's command.
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A/N2: So, here we are. From the last chapter, we know Roark is beginning to flip the eff out. And Carmichael and company are heading for the back door while the army of Federal agents is heading to the front door. Let's see how things move from here on. Let me know what you think. Oh, and come visit on the FB page where we sort of hang out sometime.