Maison23 - Los Angeles, CA - September 25th, 2007 - 7:30 am
Sarah had a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant sitting beautifully arranged on a small table at her side, a book in her lap, and a breath-taking view of Los Angeles before her. Despite the coffee growing cold, she was deeply lost in thought. It seemed that she would be spending longer at these temporary residences than she expected. She surprised herself when speaking to Graham the other night. She went to bat for Chuck, even though she had just gotten out of the proverbial doghouse she'd been placed in since Bryce went rogue. Everyone except her leaned toward isolating and bunkering the asset. She pushed her weight around as much as she could. In the end, she was able to keep him from being detained or placed in some bunker somewhere. She and that cold-school killer, John Casey, were going to be his handlers and keep him safe. Casey had been pulling for the bunker, complaining about babysitting not being in his job description.
She wasn't happy about her cover though. She was due to have her first day at the Wienerlicious Hot Dog restaurant in a couple of days. She felt it was embarrassing, degrading, and completely out of her depth. She'd never worked fast food before. The uniform was more suited for the bedroom than the kitchen with the short skirt and low-cut blouse. On top of the cover job, there was the cover relationship that she was expected to maintain with her new asset. She was supposed to be Chuck's girlfriend. There were two problems with that. The first was she was yet again expected to be physical with someone for work, even if it was just simple touching, hugging, and kissing. It was something that Sarah hated. She was not a government whore, and yet here she was getting paid to feign affection. The second was that she thought that Chuck was cute and quirky and totally not what she had expected. Of course, that made the first problem worse. She had to keep from having any feelings for someone that she thought a second date, a real date, would have been nice to have.
Chuck hadn't taken the idea of the cover relationship well, which honestly made Sarah a bit sad. It was almost like that first day they met, when he blew her off to help other customers. Sarah was used to being the most interesting person in the room. He tried several times to get her to agree to just having them be friends. He told her that he didn't want to have to fake anything with her, he was worried that he couldn't pull it off. He told her that everyone knew that he wasn't over his last girlfriend yet. Sarah was surprised that he wasn't over some girl from college but didn't press him further about Jill. He told her that she shouldn't have to fake a relationship with him either and that it wasn't fair to her. He was right and she gained a little respect for him after that reasoning. In the end, nothing he said would have changed Graham's mind, Sarah was going to be his girlfriend.
It was Graham's decision that solidified the conclusion Sarah had come to. This was it. This was the last mission. She was done with the CIA. Budapest and Bryce had been the catalysts. Operation Bartowski was the last straw. If she wasn't sure they would just lock him up, she would have left. He was an innocent, and she would protect him. Even if she just wanted to disappear and help raise Molly.
Remembering the cold coffee at her side she took a sip and shuttered from its bitterness. Playing girlfriend was going to be a bitter pill to swallow, as bitter as her cold coffee.
Fox Run - Echo Park, CA - September 24th, 2007 - 6:01 am
Casey was moving into the place across the way from the asset. It was a nice place, newly remodeled it seemed. It was perfectly positioned for surveillance of the entire complex. He couldn't have asked for a better tactical position for the defense of the asset. He would slip into the asset's apartment later today or tomorrow to place surveillance equipment. He pulled out all his new toys to examine and catalog. His light armory would be arriving the following day. He loved it when logistics worked exactly as planned. He was not looking forward to baby sitting an asset, but at least he had toys to play with while he did. His cover job was tolerable, even if the co-workers looked like they wouldn't be. He would do a great job at it; he would put all the other salesmen to shame. No one beats John Casey. He had just finished sorting one of the boxes when he heard a knock on his door.
"Casey, its Chuck. I'm going running, want to join me?" This surprised Casey, he didn't think the asset knew that he'd moved in. Also, he was surprised, the nerd wanted to go for a run. He put down the equipment and answered the door.
"How'd you know I was in here Bartowski?" Casey asked accusingly.
"Not hard to figure out, I saw a lot of movers coming in here yesterday, the place had been empty for months, and you would need a place to keep me safe. I took a good guess. So, want to go for a run?"
"You run?" Casey looked him up and down. Baggy shirt, baggy shorts, running shoes. The clothes didn't show someone who worked out, too baggy to tell if the asset was physically fit, but the shoes told the story. They were worn in just the right way, these were shoes that had quite a few miles, but not very dirty. Exactly how a runner's shoes would look. Casey was surprised they weren't Chuck Taylors; it was the only footwear he'd seen him in so far.
"Yeah, pretty much every day. It helps keep me focused. Well, how about, I can wait while you change?"
"Sure, let's see what you got," Casey replied, closed the door and geared up.
Within a few minutes he was outside ready to go with the asset. He figured he was here to protect him, he might as well get a workout in. Plus, he was pretty sure that Chuck couldn't keep up with him. He was going to make Chuck's run hurt.
"Let's go, hope you can keep up, Chuck," and with that he took off. He was satisfied with the effort he eased into and Chuck was keeping pace.
He wasn't sure he could believe it, but so far Bartowski had been a good running partner, or at least what Casey liked in a running partner. There was silence except for the pounding of feet and the steady fast breathing of a good workout. This was different from what Casey had expected. His experience with Chuck so far was that he was a chatterbox and didn't shut his mouth. Always spouting about something or another, complaining about his lady feelings. Finally, it was Casey that broke the silence, "What am I running you so hard that you can't talk? Normally you're a chatty Cathy."
"All I asked for was a run, not a confessional. So, you gonna run or what?"
Casey was amused, he liked this side of Chuck, not enough that he wouldn't put him in his place though. "Well, a run is what you're going to get then."
Casey took off at a much faster pace. He was quite pleased with himself. He pulled in the last mile in about 6 minutes and was back at Fox Run ready to wait for Chuck. To his surprise, Chuck was only a few hundred yards behind him. Casey was pretty well out of breath; he hadn't pushed the pace that quick for a while. He was a bit surprised that Chuck mainly kept up with him.
"Nice pace Casey, maybe I can keep up with you tomorrow? Same time?" Chuck didn't seem that out of breath, it made Casey wonder if Chuck was holding out on him.
Winded, Casey replied, "Yeah. Let's see if you can."
"I'm going in to do some lifting now, Devon has a full set of weights at our place that Ellie somehow puts up with. If you want, I'm sure I could convince Devon to let you use them too. Just let me know. See you at work Casey," Chuck went to his apartment and entered without waiting for a reply. Casey realized Chuck was speaking close to normal, breathing heavily still, but not winded like he had been.
Apparently, the nerd was in good shape. Casey wondered what other surprises the asset had in store for him. He was going to have to stay sharp.
Buy More - Burbank, CA – October 2nd, 2007 - 2:14 pm
Casey was starting to get used to the asset's routine. Surveillance had been installed and this guy was boring. Get up early, run, lift, shower, off to the coffee shop, off to work, go home, play video games, read, bed. After a few days he started rebuilding a computer. Casey had read Walker's report. She had broken in, tried to make off with the asset's PC and let it get destroyed in the process. Apparently, she tossed Bartowski around while she was at it. Casey was impressed, Bartowski had to outweigh her by a good amount. Walker must be strong, even if Bartowski must have been easy to beat up on. Still, he could take a hit, it wasn't long after he was tossed around by Walker that he and Casey were running together; Casey never noticed that he showed any injury.
Now that the computer was up and running, instead of video games, Chuck spent most of his time on the PC instead. Casey knew that the asset was Stanford educated in computer science and engineering, he wasn't surprised by the surveillance showing lines and lines of code. He idly wondered what Chuck had been working on. Nerd. Still, he requested a computer surveillance package including a key stroke monitor from the egg heads over at Fort Meade. They weren't called No Secrets Allowed for no reason.
After about a week of getting everything set up, Beckham wanted to send out a top NSA scientist, Jonas Zarnow. They were hopeful that they could get the computer out of the Moron's head, which would suit Casey well. He was turning out tolerable for things like running, but anytime he was around his friend Morgan, the two of them made Casey want to strangle anyone in reach. What's worse is he had to work with them both. For instance, earlier in the day Casey was doing an excellent job in apprehending a shop lifter and the pair apologized to the criminal! To be fair, Casey had tackled him in the parking lot and the perp got a bit of road rash, but it was well deserved after robbing his cover employer. Zarnow coming to town might mean wrapping up the project and while he did enjoy the extra California sun, the sooner he was done babysitting the better.
Now the two idiots were arguing about a display, if only Casey could block them out. Despite being the source of the issue, he still was annoyed at them.
"Chuck, did you see what Jeff did? The CD display over there. It's on a Large Mart cloth! Where did he even get it? Can you imagine if one of the Beverly Hills Buy More guys gets wind of this? We'd never live it down! It's as if Starfleet Academy was flying a Romulan flag. Caesar flying a Carthage Flag. Unacceptable!" Chuck gave him a doubtful eye, knowing Morgan's ancient history was weak. "What? I learned it in a video game," Morgan replied.
"Hey Jeff! Come on over here!" Chuck called. Casey wished he could look away. 'Maybe there was someone who he could sell a grill to,' he thought about wandering away, maybe it wasn't worth the inane conversation.
"Yeah Chuck?" Jeff said respectfully.
"You have offended Buy-Moria. You will suffer Morgan's wrath if you don't fix this." Chuck waved his hand over the display.
"Oh, I didn't even notice, I'm sorry Chuck. It was under the counter, with the display supplies, I thought I was supposed to use it. I'll fix it right now, help me, Lester."
"Oh, I'm not helping with this," Lester said with disdain.
"Lester…" Chuck gave him a stern voice. It was all it took; Lester was already helping Jeff. 'At least the Moron could keep all these idiots in line,' Casey thought. He was wondering what the staff would do with the Large Mart cloth he had put with the display kit. He wanted to see their team dynamics, even if it was a train wreck and he couldn't look away. Surprisingly, the asset appeared to be their leader, everyone listened to him, even that good for nothing Lester.
Oh well, now that the fun was done, Casey had some equipment to gather to set up the meet up with Zarnow tonight. He was still trying to figure out why Graham wanted to use the Buy More as the neutral ground. It was far too close to a protected asset and his identity. But if Beckman wasn't worried about it, then he wouldn't worry about it either.
Wienerlicious - Burbank, CA – October 2nd, 2007 - 1:20 pm
The fryer and grill station was about 5 foot wide by 3 foot deep. There were places where knobs should be but were apparently missing. Baskets were hung and the grease was dark. Sarah was pretty sure that she remembered what Scooter, the manager, had taught her, but this fryer was on its last legs. Scooter made sure to tell her all the idiosyncrasies of how to get the perfect hot dog out of the derelict machine, but she was damned if any of it actually made sense. She kicked it for good measure after the last batch of corn dogs came out burnt.
What a troll Scooter was, he left her to fend for herself with little to no training and a piece of garbage that made nothing but garbage. The only customers that weren't complaining were the steady torrent of adolescent boys, parading each other through the store. They would buy the smallest items on the menu so they could come back again and again, hoping to get a peek at the height of Sarah's long legs as she bent over or an eye of cleavage while she managed to get their fries into a bag. She knew the uniform wasn't helping the matter and it made her even more mad.
She sent the latest batch of boys away with their single order of French fries and went out to clean down the outside tables. She caught a glimpse of Chuck chasing down Casey, who apparently was chasing down what seemed like a shoplifter. Waving to Chuck she went back inside, there were all sorts of things still cooking and she was trying to get everything done after Scooter abandoned her.
"Damn, I burnt another batch," she said finding the corn dogs nearly smoking as she pulled them out of the fryer. Chuck had just entered the Wienerlicious and saw the chaos that she had constructed in the small kitchen.
"Sarah? What are you doing here?" Chuck said, clearly confused.
"I work here now, Chuck," she said tossing the blackened bricks into the trash. "Though apparently, I'm still getting the hang of it."
"But why? Not why don't you know how to make corn dogs, but why here?"
"Surveillance. I can monitor the Buy More from here while you work. It's just a cover."
"Right, yeah, part of the plan, because there is a plan, right? It's been about a week, and I really don't know what you are planning, besides apparently making corn dogs at a sub-pair lunch facility. You should have tried for Lou's really. Though I imagine that "gourmet" wieners and sandwiches aren't why you joined the CIA. And honestly, Casey has some room for improvement when it comes to appliance sales. Adding in the whole government secrets in my brain thing not being great for national security, I was really, really hoping there is something that we can call a plan?"
"We have a plan. There is somebody who can help. We can discuss it further tonight. How about another date? I can pick you up at 8:00."
"We don't have to call it a date when there aren't other people around. But sure, I can be ready at 8:00. Do I need to bring anything? Paper, pen, brainstorming materials? Snacks?"
Sarah laughed at that, "No, we'll have everything covered, what kind of snacks would you like? And don't say corn dogs!"
Chuck had a good laugh at that and said, "Cheeseballs. Snack of champions. Buy More's are the best. I can pick some up if you need. Just text. Well, see you tonight at 8:00, I gotta go make sure Casey doesn't try to beat up more shoplifters. And here I thought you were supposed to be protecting me."
Sarah smiled at him, "Get out of here so I can burn more hot dogs."
{o}
On the way back to the Buy More, Chuck pulled out his iPhone and used his hidden EROS app he had designed to communicate with his Team and messaged them all.
Reruns on tonight, episode 9-14 or was it 15? Might go stargazing. Expecting one of the Hunter's stars to appear tonight. Saiph or Betelgeuse. Happy Viewing Tonight. Though I'm not sure it's time to play cards yet. Maybe we should have a party tomorrow.
Chuck loved smart phone technology; he had been spent a lot of his prep time for the mission this summer developing secure applications. The public use of the iPhone was a game changer. Now that regular people could own one, he could be covert in broad daylight.
The team had agreed that even with the application hidden and messages encrypted, all messages needed to be sent in code. They would understand the message easily. He indicated what Intersect Simulation was applicable. The team had codenamed all the original intersect scientists after the stars of the Orion constellation, Stephan Bartowski's code name while working for the CIA. Saiph was Jonas Zarnow and Betelgeuse was Howard Busgang. Both were high value targets of the Charter. They were Fulcrum. Worse, they were embedded into government intelligence agencies. Chuck was hoping not to pull in his Charter Team for an assist at this point and risk any exposure. However, he expected that by tomorrow either he or Ellie would need to remove one of the stars from the board.
Chuck was against taking lives needlessly, but in this case, it was the Kings' decision. The Kings were unanimous in the sanction of Fulcrum Intersect scientists. Zarnow was not only Fulcrum, but he had been selling secrets to North Korea for over a decade. And if this wasn't enough, as an NSA Scientist, his actions had led to the death of near a hundred of people. All without any consequences, and sometimes with the blessing of the US government. Zarnow and Busgang had been testing the upload of the Intersect on "volunteers" in hopes of creating a Human Intersect. Almost all the tests resulted in death. They plowed forward, promising their work could be effective, knowing it was only Orion who had shown any success in the area. They knew Orion took all his research regarding that aspect of the Intersect when he disappeared, and they never came close to reproducing it.
The Kings had decided that their actions constituted woeful incompetence combined with blatant disregard for human life. In addition to the Intersect related deaths, the secrets Zarnow sold to the North Koreans made him indirectly responsible for dozens more deaths.
Zarnow and Busgang being bad people didn't make it easier on Chuck. It was the part of the job that he abhorred, even if it was absolutely necessary to prevent the deaths of more people. And there was no doubt that their deaths would do just that. Taking life, particularly when calculated like this was, crushed his soul and made him question his life choices. Be he would do his duty and prevent these men from hurting other people again since the NSA would not.
He was in a terrible mood the rest of the day and found no amusement in Casey's antics to test his new co-workers. Poor Lester would be having flashbacks after Chuck talked so sternly to him. There was a reason that Lester listened to Chuck so well. He would be remembering why all week, and it wasn't because Chuck said his name harshly…. Lester certainly didn't want to end up like Harry Tang.
Three months ago, Charter Headquarters West, July 8th 2007
"Come on Chuck, we've been at these simulations all day, I'm sure the analysts are shot, everyone needs a break," Ellie was tired. She had been spending all her free time away from work and Devon working with Chuck. This weekend had been a long one. She had told Devon she was going to treat herself to a spa weekend and be out of town. Instead of massages and facials she had spent hour after hour running Intersect Simulations with Chuck, using the same variables to see if they would get the same results. It was beyond mentally taxing. The analysts on their team were helping them with the variables and making records of the simulation narratives. They were hoping to utilize their work for the further development of the Heart Intersect in London. The artificial intelligence of the Heart Intersect was still being refined.
Skip Johnson, their team lead analyst backed Ellie up on this one. "Chuck, you are a total task master. We need a break dude. We can pick this up again next week. Or I can go over it with you after work back in Burbank." It was coming on 5pm, and the team was done.
"Just this last one, Skip. Start simulation 9-14. Variables:" the group gave a collective groan as Chuck kept on, "Scenario Government Intersect scientists sent to examine me. Available known scientists, Howard Busgang, Jonas Zarnow, Reeva Havat, Eileen Workman. With this being set 9, government handlers are Maj. John Casey, Sarah Walker. Setting for simulation 14, Buy More. Assumptions: I've been accepted as a Human Intersect. I have not been moved to a bunker for security purposes. I've gained the handlers' trust. Before we start Zarnow will be 14, Busgang, 15, Havat, 16, and Workman 16. Ellie, start the run."
They both started to process the likely path that would occur. There were minor differences in the series of events that led to the most likely outcome, however usually their runs did end up at the same highest probability outcome.
Skip and the team were already writing down details of the simulation run despite being ready to be done for the day.
Ellie started to describe her outcomes, "Zarnow is coming to test your Intersect retention rates. Walker and Casey will be tasked to conduct the test blind to keep you secure. Zarnow will find that you have the highest available recall of encoded messages possible. He will determine that you are actually a Human Intersect. This is important for you to allow it to happen. It has ramifications later down the line if you were to fail Zarnow's tests. Zarnow will attempt to find your identity. Added assumption, your handler's will prevent him from finding out your identity. If he is unable determine who you are, he will try to divide the team by framing one of your handlers. Your job will be to unite them, it is a critical path. Zarnow is likely to try to sell you to the North Koreans or take you to Fulcrum. I'm split on the last path. Chuck, how about yours?"
"I have almost the same, but I see that he will attempt to kill the handlers also. I have a higher likelihood on Fulcrum, by about 8%," Chuck shared his differing results. "Skip, Benji, Anna, Zarnow has an active sanction order by the Kings. How do you suggest we handle him?"
Skip looked over the file on Zarnow for a moment and replied, "Oh that's easy Chuck, we frame the North Koreans for his disappearance."
"No, better Chuck, run what it looks like if you use the opportunity to key in the handlers to Fulcrum," Anna Wu shared her idea.
"Excellent Idea, Anna! Let me see how that runs, you too Ellie," Chuck was excited by the concept and started the simulation with the new variable. It was a breakthrough for getting the CIA and NSA engaged in the fight against Fulcrum. There had been issues with previous simulations, enough that it was becoming a critical error path up to this point.
"Anna, this runs really well; well enough that we can only hope that it's Zarnow to start with. Do you agree Ellie?"
"Yeah, I think you are on to something big there Anna. I'm at 86% success rate," Ellie confirmed.
"I'm going to need you and the team to set that up for me as part of our prep work. It should be ready to go if the scenario becomes active. This is the first run we've done with Zarnow. Ellie, it might have to be one of us that carries out the sanction," Chuck said weighted down by the implications of what he had just said. "Let's verify they all result in similar actions on his part before we solidify the actions. Ok, let's start 3-15, Busgang variable," Chuck said.
"No Chuck, we are done. Next time," Anna insisted. He knew better than to get on her bad side and relented.
"Ok, Ok. Fair enough. Pizza is on me everybody. We can stop on the way back to LA. I want everyone to set aside next weekend too." The team collectively groaned and gathered their things, but Ellie smiled, "Sorry Chuck, I have to work." She never thought she would be so glad to have a restful shift at the hospital.
"Lucky." Anna said, shutting down the lights of the secure conference room.
Fox Run - Echo Park, CA October 2nd, 2007 - 6:15 pm
Chuck stood in front of his mirror, passing several shirts back and forth in front of him still on the hangers. He was trying to decide what would be best for his cover date. Really, he had already chosen, but he wanted to make it seem like he hadn't so that he and Ellie could further their narrative, knowing they were now under surveillance. Also, Morgan was over having gotten a ride home from work with Chuck: it was worth putting up the act for him.
"Hey sis, what do you think of this shirt?" Chuck asked.
"Another date with Sarah. This is very exciting!" Ellie played along so well.
"Well, it's not that big a deal," Chuck was still hoping to switch the relationship to a cover friendship instead and was trying to play the whole thing down.
"Yes, it is. She is hot, jeepers, I'd go with the first shirt, too. It looks really nice with your skin tone," Morgan volunteered without looking away from the video game he was playing.
"Yeah?" Chuck replied.
"Wait a minute, Morgan has met her, and I haven't?" Ellie acted offended.
"Well, yeah, he confides in me Ellie. You know? He tells me his deepest, darkest secrets, which, you could too by the way." Ellie laughed inside at that comment, but instead replied, "Here's one: I loathe you."
"That's not a secret," Chuck was glad that Ellie was so quick on her feet; had Morgan looked at him in that moment he would have known that Chuck was hiding something, hiding everything. Even if the look came over him for only a fraction of a second.
"I need to meet this girl. Tomorrow night. Dinner. Here," Ellie insisted. The sooner she could help him handle his handlers the better.
"A little too soon to be seeing the Tron poster, don't you think?" Morgan was trying to get his friend laid, it had been too long since he'd had a girlfriend and Morgan was going to make sure Chuck didn't screw up with Sarah. "Not exactly a natural aphrodisiac," Morgan could feel Ellie's eyes burn into his skin behind his view. "Dinner. Perfect. I'll clear my schedule," Morgan was afraid of Ellie. The burning lasted until she was out of the room. Chuck just shook his head at Morgan, "You know you're playing with fire, don't piss her off."
"Yeah, I'll apologize to her on the way out."
"So, I have a few minutes before Sarah gets here, if you were on a deserted island, what sandwich would you bring?"
{o}
The evening air was vibrant with street noise off in the distance. It was pleasant out and Chuck chose to wait outside for Sarah. The streetlights had just turned on and were buzzing as he heard a sports car coming towards him. It was a little Porsche 911. 'Well, she's certainly not discrete. She must love that car to be bringing it with her while on her fast-food girl cover,' Chuck was being a bit judgy if he was honest with himself. She pulled up to the curb, "Get in." Chuck squeezed his 6'3" frame into the tiny sports car. "Wienerlicious really pays well, huh?" Sarah smiled and said nothing.
"So, what's the big plan? Have you and Casey got some super secret spy hide out where we can figure out how to get this thing out of my head?"
Sarah replied, "Something like that."
{o}
They pulled up to the empty Buy More Plaza and all Chuck had to say was, "Really? This is your super secret spy hide out?" Sarah simply smiled at him.
Sarah let them in, though Chuck was unclear how she had gained access to the Buy More after hours. He supposed she was a spy, and he knew how resourceful spies could be. "Is part of the plan to have me clock in some overtime?" Chuck teased.
"There's a doctor coming to see you, Chuck. He worked on the encoding process for the Intersect, the computer that Bryce destroyed, the one that's in your head. He's coming to examine you," Sarah explained.
"And uh, does this examination involve, needles? Because I'm not good with needles," Chuck asked nervously.
"The doctor is our best shot at helping you. It's what you want right? To get the secrets out of your head?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, yeah of course. But you've been very vague on the needles part… Wait it's not probing is it? It better not be probing!"
Sarah walked away from him without answering and led him to the home theater room.
"We've rewired the home theater room for this test. When the images start, just say what they are," Sarah explained.
"That's it?" Chuck questioned.
Casey popped his head in, "I'm sure you'll find a way to screw it up. The doctor's here."
"When do I get to meet him?" Chuck asked innocently.
"You don't. It's important that he doesn't see you. You're too valuable," Sarah reassured him and left the room.
"Thanks. I'm flattered and totally freaked out," Chuck waited for a moment until after they had gone, pulled his phone out, and sent a message via EROS to the team.
Yep. Episode 3-14. S & A make sure to join the watch party like we talked about. E. We are up. Come my way for star observation.
{o}
Three Blocks away from the Burbank Buy More
Anna Wu was at home, cuddling her tabby, idlily working on some hacking tools when her phone went off. It wasn't a regular text message; it was the sound she set for an EROS notification. For half a second, she rolled her eyes at Chuck. He was so corny, naming his message app EROS like it was a dating app. She had helped him with some of the programming. Encrypted Reception and Obfuscation System. He had spent far too long trying to make the title of the program match that acronym. There was no accounting for him sometimes she swore when he finally settled on the name.
Despite her annoyance at the name, the app was good. Fully encrypted on a rotating key captured from a virtual server that was hidden on the carrier service servers. The application itself was hidden from the home screen. You would have to look it up using the correct app name and PIN. With the added security of being on an iPhone that most technicians and hackers hadn't figured out how to break yet, it was about as secure as they could be.
She read the second message she'd had from Chuck today and frowned. She didn't like this simulation. It was one of the more complicated for her and Skip. They would need to work on the set-up and hacking right away if she read Chuck's cryptic message correctly.
She texted Skip on EROS.
Watch party. My place. It's time for pie.
She packed up her bag, pet the cat once. "Don't worry Mouse, I'll be home soon." She left for her hacker den. Even if there was a lot of the work prepped already, it would be no small feat to accomplish all the hacking and evidence planting that would be required to make it look like Zarnow had been killed by Fulcrum.
She definitely did not like simulation 3-14.
{o}
Back at the Buy More
Sarah was impressed, Chuck had performed nearly perfectly on the test. She learned some classified information that she didn't want to know and tried to forget as soon as she heard it.
"Cardinal One is the top Moscow spy in the White House Office of Internal Affairs…" and it went on and on. Almost an hour passed while hearing Chuck's modulated voice spew classified information.
After Zarnow had left, she took Chuck home. Zarnow seemed overly interested in who the Intersect was. She was disappointed in Graham. She knew that they hadn't been in LA for long, but they could have, should have, gotten a more secure facility to conduct operations out of. It was like Graham was begging for them to be exposed. The more she thought about that, the more she was convinced that might be the case. She kept her thoughts to herself and instead tried to watch for any tails while maintaining small talk with Chuck. She didn't have an easy feeling and her spy senses were tingling. Before she knew it, she found herself agreeing to something.
"Wait, what did I just say yes to?" Sarah was annoyed at her inability to multitask at the moment. To be fair, she wasn't sure that she didn't have a tail.
"Dinner tomorrow night with my sister and her boyfriend, Captain Awesome. She really wanted to meet you," Chuck repeated himself. "Well, how did I do? Did I pass the test?"
"That's a good idea, tomorrow works well and you did great Chuck."
"And this doctor guy, he can fix me, or?"
"Yeah, he's hopeful."
"That's great. Thank you, Sarah, both you and Casey. I know it's not a glamorous spy job to keep nerdy old me safe. I appreciate you both."
"Of course, Chuck, it's my job," but even as she said it, she questioned herself. Why had she let the blind meet happen at the Buy More?
They had pulled up to the Fox Run Condos and Chuck peeled himself out of the little Porsche.
"Well, thank you again, see you tomorrow, drive safe," Chuck said. Sarah nodded and pulled away. She circled back around and watched for any suspicious cars that may have tailed them to Fox Run. Finding none and seeing Casey pull up she decided she was safe to head home for the night.
Death Valley, CA - October 3rd, 2007 - 7:45am
Casey and Walker had been called out early in the morning to a scene of chaos. Local law enforcement officers and firefighters were still everywhere, poking around, trying to make sense of the burnt-out wreckage. It was most likely an explosion.
It was Zarnow's rental car. There wasn't much left, Casey wasn't sure how they even managed to pull up a VIN off of any of the pieces, but in the end they had. The NSA had been informed since the rental had been under Zarnow's government account.
Casey called in, "Yeah, it's Casey, I'm at the scene. No sign of Zarnow's body. Probably vaporized. I guess those secrets are staying in Chuck's head."
There was little evidence to find to point in any direction, however Casey instantly was suspicious of Walker. She was over away from him poking around. He could tell she found something and took it. He ended his call and went to confront her.
Sarah walked up to him and said, "Well, no sign of anything here."
"It looks like we're sending the good doctor home in an ashtray."
"Yeah, Ok, I've got hot dogs to fry."
"And I've got toasters to sell." The tension between the two was thick. Casey didn't trust Walker; he knew she was a wild card. It was well known around the Intelligence community. It was the reason Graham had made her his enforcer. It was the reason that Casey didn't trust her. She was CIA after all.
Casey called Beckman back, "Seems like a CIA job to me."
Beckman instructed Casey, "Keep an eye on Agent Walker and don't let Chuck out of your sight. He could be next."
{o}
Sarah went to leave for her dreaded hot dog job. But before she drove away, she took out the cell phone she picked up from the crime scene and placed it into a baggie. She'd been negligent in not picking it up with gloves, and really, she shouldn't have taken it from the scene, but she was worried Casey would find it and destroy it. She needed to use the evidence to convince Chuck that the NSA had killed Zarnow. That cell phone wasn't really a cell phone, it was an NSA incinerator.
Sarah had good reason to suspect Casey. Casey was well known in the intelligence community as a cold school killer, shooting first and asking questions later. The NSA incinerator that she found sealed the deal for her. Maybe NSA wanted to clean the operation, first Zarnow, next could be Chuck. She would not let that happen. It was bad enough that she had to think about Bryce again, the obituary finally was published, she thought as she placed the evidence on top of the newspaper with the article. She wasn't about to let Casey take another person from her. She needed to get Chuck secured from Casey. She would figure something out. She wasn't called the wild card for nothing.
Fox Run Condos, Echo Park, CA - October 3rd, 2007
Chuck was getting dressed after his run and subsequent shower when Ellie knocked at his door.
"Hey, did you see this?" Ellie asked, holding a newspaper.
"Ah?" Chuck wasn't quite sure where she was going with this.
"Did you know that Bryce was dead?" Ellie knew how upset Chuck must have been about this. He hadn't told her yet. She knew he was trying to bottle it up, he had to be so torn up. As soon as she read the article it clicked. He learned about Bryce the night he was out until the morning. She could tell how torn up he was that morning. She only hugged him, knowing that surveillance could have already been in place, and they could say nothing.
"No. No, I didn't," he lied, she knew.
"Well, are you okay?"
"I don't know." Ellie could hear the hint of relief in Chuck's voice, Ellie knew his pain now, he was able to speak a truth, "Um, yeah, I don't know. It's crazy. I spent so much time angry about what he did, I don't know how to feel. But it's hard to be mad at him now."
"I'm really sorry, Chuck," Ellie consoled him with her words and a hug. He sank into her embrace, finally able to share his sorrow with someone. He silently let tears fall, making sure to turn from any cameras that might catch his grief.
Before the hug was seen as too long, Chuck broke from it saying, "I have to go to work. Hey, was there anything good on TV last night?"
"No, just reruns," Ellie confirmed that she was on plan and shadowing Chuck since last night when she got the message about Zarnow. "Is Sarah coming over for dinner?"
"Yep," Chuck replied, and Ellie could tell he needed some space.
"Okay, see you tonight," Ellie said, leaving his room and shutting the door behind her.
Buy More, Burbank, CA - later that morning.
Big Mike was on his usual pre-coffee donut rampage and came storming up to Chuck and Morgan, "How's come you two knuckle heads haven't trained Casey yet? He's been here for a few days now and I'm still getting complaints about him. You want assistant manager? Show me you can train him." Chuck was hoping he wasn't talking to him, he certainly didn't want assistant manager, but it did give him an idea. "Yep, Morgan and I will get him up to snuff," Chuck replied.
"Good, now get going, I need my donut and morning nap," Big Mike replied to them crankily.
"Yes sir," Morgan replied and waited until Mike had walked out of hearing. "Ok, you work on that, I'm going to… yeah… something. Bye." Morgan nearly ran away before Chuck could say something. He scowled knowing he'd manage to get Morgan to do this anyway and went over to find Casey.
Finding him wasn't hard, he'd been glowering over some innocent customers when Chuck found him. He could tell their relief when Chuck distracted him and watched as they made for the next aisle. "Hey Casey, Big Mike wants me to do some training with you. First, no brooding at the customers. Scared customers don't buy stuff."
Casey grunted at Chuck, unamused. It had been a rough morning and now the asset was chiding him.
"Let's start off with something easy, this is the handheld scanner, you scan this bar code, enter these buttons," Chuck was going on, but Casey took it from his hands, "Hey, that's an expensive piece of equipment, be careful."
"So is a stealth fighter and somehow I managed to fly that," Casey quipped.
"Right, and the gun, you know, kind of works like a gun?" Chuck meeped as Casey grabbed his shirt. He put the scanner under Chuck's chin, like a gun. "Uh-huh, listen, I don't want you to have any more private meetings with Sarah, hmm?" Chuck's eyes were wide.
"Um, is there a problem?"
"No problems, only solutions," Casey beeped the scanner.
"Well, that sounds very much like the Buy More customer policy, that I've noticed that you have some issues with. But wait, really, what's going on? You said no private meetings with Sarah, why?"
Casey just stared at him saying nothing. Chuck waited a moment then said, "OK, let's go." And started walking out of the store, giving Casey no choice but to follow. He walked right to Wienerlicious.
"Hey, Chuck, Casey," Sarah gave a mix of real and forced smiles. Chuck picked up on that immediately.
Making sure there wasn't anyone in the store Chuck spoke up, "Ok, what's going on? Casey has his feathers all ruffled and didn't want me to do a private meeting with you, Sarah. And Casey is lucky looks can't kill, because he would be dead right now after what I saw when we walked in. I'm not going to play the 20 questions game between mom and dad. You two talk. What's going on?
Both stood there in silence for what seemed like minutes, maybe hours. Chuck knew that one of them would talk eventually and waited them out. Finally, it was Sarah that broke the silence.
She pulled out the evidence bag and stared Casey down. "Dr. Zarnow, the doctor from last night, his car was in an explosion last night, no body was found. Do you know what this is Chuck?" She showed him the burnt-out cell phone.
Chuck faked a flash, he already knew, "It's an NSA Incinerator, special issue designed to eliminate all biological traces. So, what are you saying? That Zarnow works for the NSA and planted an incinerator in his car to frame Casey so you, Sarah, would lead him to me?"
Casey and Sarah got very confused for a second. Neither one of them had thought about that possibility.
"Seems more likely that Zarnow is dead and now Walker is trying to get the NSA out of the way so that the CIA can have you all to yourself, put you in a bunker," Casey growled.
"Bullshit, who has access to equipment like that, it isn't the CIA, Casey, that's your tech. What, do you have orders to clean the operation? The NSA doesn't like a Human Intersect? Not a regular computer that you can manipulate and hack huh?" Sarah shot back.
"You two are getting ridiculous, you don't actually believe the other one tried to blow up a fellow government employee, he is NSA right?" Chuck interjected. They both nodded. Silence and anger hung in the air again.
"I'm going back to work. Work it out, don't. Just don't let Zarnow kill me," Chuck went to walk out, but turned to them both instead. "Since there are no private meetings, there are no independent ones either. Casey, you're coming to dinner tonight and when you get back to the store Morgan is going to train you," and with that Chuck did walk out.
As angry as they were at the other, they were surprised at the authority that Chuck spoke with. Maybe he was right after all.
{o}
EROS Communication
Has anyone seen the stars yet? I think they will appear tonight. Big party to celebrate. E hook up with S and A. Bring toys for the kids to play with. I'm not sure if I'll be free though. Be ready to party without me.
{o}
Skip pulled his little Yaris up next to a silver Camry. He'd grown fond of the Yaris after driving the Nerd Herd's so outfitted one for himself for personal use. He looked over at the silver Camry and smiled at Ellie, rolling down the window. "Hey, I'm your relief. I heard you have a dinner party to prep for."
"Hey Skip, yeah, I do. Did you read Chuck's message?"
"Yeah, Anna is getting the van ready. We've already planted the evidence we found; we should be good to go."
"Ok, here's the tracker for the beacon I planted on Zarnow's car, after we found him last night. I'll see you later in the van. Text me if there is a problem. I'm gonna do a drive by on my way out."
"Sounds good, boss. Text me if you need."
Ellie waved goodbye and drove towards where Zarnow's signal had been. The edge of the Buy More parking lot. As she was scanning the lot, she saw him. Zarnow was putting something in the backseat of Casey's SUV. She stopped and watched as he got back in his car and drove away.
Ellie decided to act, she parked nearby. Getting out, she cautiously approached the SUV. In the back seat there was a phone. She flashed; it was an NSA Incinerator. 'Shit,' she thought, knowing that wrinkle would fuck up the plan and a quick Intersect Calculation confirmed it. She went back to Chuck's Camry she'd borrowed and found what she needed: a universal car remote. Of course, all the cars within its radius would be unlocked too, but she doubted that would be a real problem for most. Far better than an exploded car next to yours. She grabbed the incinerator, making sure to disable the battery. Without leaving any prints, she locked Casey's door and left. She needed to get out of here before someone at the plaza recognized her. Plus, if Chuck saw she was playing with his toys he might get mad. Probably not, but she knew how much he loved this car. There was a dinner party to prepare for and an assassination to avoid thinking about.
Fox Run Condos - Echo Park, CA – Later that day.
The doorbell rang as Ellie was trying to juggle the pot roast out of the oven.
"Morgan, if you're going to crash my dinner party, then at least get the door," Ellie said annoyed at him.
"Well, I figured if Casey gets an invite so do I, I bet it's him now," Morgan said reflecting on the afternoon with Casey. He wasn't sure what to make of him. Very gruff. That was for sure. A mix of Boy Scout and an angrier Jayne Cobb, if that was possible.
Opening the door to Casey, he saw the tray of food, "Ooo, mini quiches!" And proceeded to grab one and walk away from the door to let Casey wander in on his own.
"Hello, Chuck invited me to dinner, we work together, I'm John Casey, I got the place across the way." Casey said politely.
Ellie finished up her kitchen task and came out to greet Casey. "Hi, I'm Ellie, Chuck's sister. Here let me take those." Ellie walked back into the kitchen with Casey following. Sarah was in the corner beating eggs for the souffle dessert. Morgan had found the pot roast and was hovering over it, wrapped up in the enticing smell. "Chuck is in his room, I'm sure he'll be out shortly. John, have you meet Sarah yet?"
"Uh, not really. Hi, John Casey," Casey answered Ellie, reaching out his hand to Sarah.
"Yeah, I've seen you at the Buy More, Sarah Walker. Nice to meet you," Sarah took it and shook hands.
Ellie looked Casey over and said mischievously, "Hey do you want a sneak taste of dinner? It just came out. Move Morgan." Morgan was pushed aside, his trance over the pot roast broken.
"Here," she pulled a small piece from the edge with a fork and handed it to Casey. It smelled heavenly. Casey blew on it for a second and popped it into his mouth.
"Oh Ellie, that's good, you're a good cook," Casey complemented her.
"What about me?" Morgan complained. Ellie's pot roast was to die for. He'd been drooling at this point. Long forgotten was the delicious mini quiche, there was no food except Ellie's pot roast in his heart now.
"You get to wait for dinner, go set the table mister party crasher," Ellie chided.
"Yes ma'am," Morgan dutifully complied knowing if he didn't, he wouldn't get any. Too big a risk not to do as he was told.
Devon came out from his and Ellie's bedroom and saw Morgan setting the table, "Asked for a bit of pot roast I'm going to guess?"
"How did you know?" Morgan pouted.
"She makes you do chores if you try to get her cooking too early," Devon left Morgan to his fate and went to introduce himself to Casey, having met Sarah earlier.
"You must be John Casey, I'm Devon Woodcomb. Nice to meet you."
{o}
Sarah found that despite the tension between her and Casey, she was having a great time. She learned that Ellie was an avid party planner, big ones like Chuck's birthday party a few weeks ago and small ones like the little dinner party that they were having now. She was known for them.
Sarah had come over a little early, arms full of ingredients and supplies to make her favorite dessert, chocolate souffle. She didn't have access to a real kitchen in her long-term hotel room at Maison 23. She hoped that her idea would go over well with Ellie. While Chuck wasn't really her boyfriend, being on his sister's good side would make things go more smoothly.
Her greeting had been enthusiastic. Sarah was faced with her first Ellie Bartowski hug. She later found out that those hugs were also infamous. Ellie seemed excited to cook with Sarah and fawned over how she had brought a dish to make. She was more than happy to share her kitchen.
During dinner, Morgan and Chuck had been joking back and forth. She even caught a genuine smile from Casey at some of their antics. She got a true understanding of why Captain Awesome got his nickname, also that Ellie was mad when people called her boyfriend that. There was magic at the way Chuck and his family and friends interacted. It was something Sarah wasn't used to seeing.
Her heart had become light until Morgan brought up Bryce after Sarah told the group she was from DC. "Dude got him kicked out of Standard, then sexed up his girlfriend." It was painful and awkward. Chuck didn't know they'd been together, but still seemed embarrassed by it all, probably because he did know they'd been partners. The loss of Bryce weighed on her for the rest of dinner. Chuck managed to distract her again though.
"So, Morgan has been training Casey at the store," Chuck mentioned to the group. "Turns out he's pretty good at it."
"Nah, I just pretend I'm the customers that always annoy me, like that one dude always asking for the Ramones albums. I keep telling him that they aren't making new albums. It's been like 10 years, I keep telling him.' Morgan laughed. "At least Casey will know how to deal with him when he comes in next time. Though I advise you not to push them down to the floor like you did me." Now everyone laughed.
"Well, I thought you did a good job," Chuck commented. Casey grunted from the other end of the table. No one was quite sure what that meant, but it seemed like a reluctant agreement.
"And Sarah, you seem to be settling in well, though that fryer seems to be on the fritz again. Scooter asked me to fix it last time…. I could fix it for him again and then maybe we can all celebrate your new job over a corn dog," Chuck volunteered. They all agreed, well, all but Casey.
The meal wrapped up with the amazing souffle that was still warm and tall from the oven. Everyone was stuffed and it was time to get going. Sarah and Casey seemed to come to a mutual understanding. Neither was going to back down.
Morgan was the first to leave, begging for leftovers to bring home. Ellie obliged begrudgingly.
After Morgan had left, Sarah decided it was her turn. She was ready to go home, feeling raw again after Morgan's distasteful comments about Bryce. 'No good comes from talking ill of the dead,' she thought. "Thank you, Ellie, it was a wonderful dinner," Sarah said her goodbyes.
"I'll walk you out," Chuck said moving to follow her.
"Well, I'd best be going too," Casey said, gathering the tray he brought the quiches on and ducked out just before Chuck and Sarah.
Out in the courtyard, it seemed that Casey had already made it inside his door by the time Sarah and Chuck had walked to the exit.
"I had a good time tonight, but seriously, don't trust Casey. Call me if anything is out of the ordinary with him. I'll be here in no time flat," Sarah told Chuck with great concern.
"Sarah, you told me to trust you, and I do, but there isn't really a good reason for Casey to have killed the doctor. But I promise, if he acts funny, I'll tell you," Chuck responded. "Good night."
"Good night," Sarah said walking away from Chuck. They'd managed to get out of sight of the windows and doors, so hugs weren't needed. She was grateful not to be forced to give that affection. At the same time, she could really use a hug right now and if it was from Chuck, that wouldn't be so bad.
{o}
"Skip did you ever think that you would end up working at a Buy More?" Anna asked her partner as they sat in the van watching Zarnow watch Fox Run. "I mean you have some serious skills. And I know you use them, but sitting day after day at the Buy More, all because Chuck can't seem to move on, you know?"
"I guess I never really thought about it too much. It's an easy cover job so far. I didn't want to move from Vegas back in June when we did, I liked it there. But now that I'm settled, California is nice. I like the beach. You must be bored at the Buy More if you're asking me."
"Yeah, maybe a little. I was really hoping to move up. I wanted to get more field experience, maybe become a field analyst, or even a card."
"Well, stick with Chuck. I've seen him help people hit their goals over and over again. Did you know he is working on getting Morgan to be the Buy More assistant manager? I mean he hasn't said it yet, but you know…" Skip pointed to his head, "Top analyst here. I see it. He's going to be assistant manager by Christmas. Chuck is already starting to get the pieces into place. Want to take bets?"
"Yeah, I'll take you up on that bet. What do I get if I win?"
"I'll put a word in with Jack and see if you can tag along with Ace."
"Ok, what do you get if you win?"
Before Skip could answer Anna's question, he saw Sarah come out of the complex and walk to her car when Zarnow stepped out of his car. He shot her with a tranquilizer dart. She screamed. All Skip could say was, "Shit."
Anna immediately pulled out her phone and texted Ellie on EROS.
Time to party. Outside in 5.
"Sounds like a win-win bet for me Skip, I get something and you get shit," Anna called him out.
"Hey, that's not what I meant, and you know it."
"Too Late."
Skip knew he'd already lost and decided to wait for Ellie to get out to join them.
{o}
After Sarah had left, Casey came back out of his apartment to warn Chuck again about Sarah and trusting her.
"Look, Chuck, you can't trust her. Bryce was rogue and they were partners, she could be planning on taking you with her," Casey said, trying to give Chuck some logic. It was clearly failing. As he was about to go on, they heard a scream and Sarah calling Casey's name.
They both ran to the commotion just in time to see Sarah being stuffed in the truck by a man in a trench coat. Casey pulled his gun saying, "Hey don't move! Zarnow?"
"Good to see you again, Agent Casey," Zarnow proclaimed pulling out a tranquilizer gun and shooting Casey with it. Casey was shocked and stunned. He was starting to feel woozy. Zarnow shut the trunk of his car and took off.
"Casey, he's got Sarah, we've got to save her!" Chuck said helping Casey to not fall.
Casey had no patience for him right now, "Brilliant deduction, Nancy Drew. Now get the tranq dart out." Chuck dutifully complied.
"Ok, let's get to the car. Ready? One, two, three," Chuck pulled up on Casey to get him upright and walking. The more he moved now the less the sedative would take effect. Luckily, they had gotten it out quickly.
"What's he going to do with Sarah?" Chuck was fretting.
"He's going to torture her until she tells him about you," Casey was annoyed. He did not want to have to use Chuck to save Sarah, but he had no choice. There was no way he could drive with the sedative in his system. "Come on, if we hurry, we can still catch them."
The two tall men poured themselves into the tiny Nerd Herd Yaris.
"Alright, where are we going?" Chuck asked.
"I laced my quiches with microbots," Casey slurred a touch.
"You're not kidding are you?" Chuck seemed shocked.
"I don't kid about quiche." Casey added, "We can track them using the car's tracker."
"Yeah, I think that only comes with the sports package," Chuck said doubtfully.
"We made some enhancements when your car was in the shop," Casey said while putting in a code into the radio. A tracking display flipped out and a map started to pull up. "We've got a signal, let's go."
"Alright," Chuck started to drive.
About ten minutes later, Chuck spoke up, "Casey, we're headed towards the Buy More. Why would Zarnow take Sarah there? Are you sure that she ate the mini quiches? I saw Morgan eat like half of them."
"No, I didn't see that she did or not," Casey was frustrated at himself.
"Hold on," Chuck grabbed his phone and dialed Morgan. He put it on speakerphone when he answered and asked, "Hey Morgan, what are you up to?"
"Just chilling at the home theater room, gonna watch some movies," Morgan replied.
"You're alone, right? You know that Big Mike doesn't want you to have non-employees in there with you when you do that," Chuck asked.
"Yeah, Chuck, totally alone, thanks for reminding me, later," and Morgan hung up.
"We're going in the wrong direction, think, where would Zarnow take her?" Chuck asked Casey.
"It's over, we've got nothing," Casey was nearly half asleep.
"No, no, no. We have to save her. Look, if you were a bad guy what would you do? Fly her out on a plane? Would you use a-a-a-a boat? What?"
"A chopper, a small airfield near the water, the closest I could find."
"Ok, so-so do a satellite search with your touch screen, then maybe limit that to airfields in a 25 mile radius, then maybe limit that to if there is activity on the ground?"
"That's not bad,"
"Thanks. Yeah, I was kind of spitballing, but yeah… Hey, open the glove box, there is a first aid kit in there. Smelling salts, they should help take the edge off that sedative. Keep them handy."
"Found it, Port of Los Angeles. Floor it," Casey commanded, and they spent the rest of the time in silence. Like when they would go running.
When they arrived Casey instructed, "This is how this is going to work, I'm going to go over there, rescue Sarah and capture Dr. Zarnow and shoot anybody that gets in my way. You are going to stay in the car."
"So, in this plan, I do basically nothing?
"Yep."
"Let's do this," Chuck replied as Casey headed out of the car and went under the cover of darkness. Hoping he wasn't still too sedated to actually save Sarah. He took a whiff of smelling salts just in case.
{o}
Chuck was trying to sit patiently in the car. It wasn't his strong suit. Instead, he turned to his phone, hoping that his team was in place. They would need to be soon. He opened EROS and texted the group,
Who's watching, roll call!
The response came quickly.
We are all here!
In the distance there was a flash of headlights, on and off quickly. They weren't far at all. Chuck was almost sitting on his hands to stop from doing anything. Then Zarnow came out from an entirely different direction than Casey had gone. He couldn't stop himself. Sarah could become one of Zarnow's next victims if he did nothing. It was easy to convince himself to act.
He waited until it was clear and went into the door Zarnow had come from. Opening the door, he saw her hanging from handcuffs with her mouth taped.
She mumbled, "What are you doing here?"
Chuck went over to her, "Sarah, are you ok? Sorry, stupid question, Should I?" and he took the piece of tape off her mouth.
"Ow, Chuck you have to get out of here," Sarah had her composure about her. Maybe she would have been just fine without his interjection.
"No, I'm here to save you!"
"You shouldn't even be here, you're too valuable, and besides, I have this well in hand."
"Well, maybe you do, but I'm sure I can help. What can I do?"
"OK, fine, just find me something to pick this lock."
Chuck searched the room; it was a warehouse room with random things in it. He was sure he would come up short handed when he found a small wire, perfect for picking the lock. "Here, here." He handed it to Sarah and heard a noise, someone was coming.
"Go!" Sarah commanded. And chuck put the tape back on her mouth and went to hide. He didn't plan to stay hidden for long. As soon as he could reasonably flash on Zarnow, he needed to make sure that Sarah learned about Fulcrum.
Zarnow came in, serious and menacing. "The helicopter is ready Agent Walker, this is your last chance. We're going to a special facility where they are going to torture you. Really torture, not this child's play. Or you could just tell me, who is Patient X?"
Sarah wasn't going to talk. Zarnow pulled out an injection to sedate Sarah again for the helicopter ride.
It was his chance, "Oh crap." Chuck was revealing himself.
Sarah mumble-screamed, "RUN!"
He turned and did so, narrowly avoiding the needle thrown into the door in front of him. He turned and faced Zarnow.
"I know you. I know your secret. You work for Fulcrum. What is Fulcrum? And you sell secrets to North Korea. Have been for years."
"Ah, Patient X." Zarnow identified Chuck. "To think that my secrets are in that head of yours. It's an honor, really. Fulcrum will be quite pleased when I hand you over to them. You have no idea what they are going to pay me, far more than the North Korean's would." Zarnow shot Chuck with a tranquilizer dart. Luckily, his badge stopped it. He was glad he hadn't changed now.
Chuck feigned going unconscious and dropped to the floor managing to call for Sarah right as he did.
"Don't worry Agent Walker, I'll take good care of him," Zarnow told her and walked over to Chuck to haul him away. Of course, Chuck was heavier than he looked, he wore baggie clothes normally to hide his lean muscles. Eventually, Zarnow went to go get help, and the pilot and Zarnow got Chuck into the helicopter.
Chuck was still feigning unconsciousness in the rear of the helicopter when they took off. Zarnow told the pilot, "Process to Bravo coordinates. A ship will be waiting there."
Chuck was not getting on a ship to Fulcrum. This ended now. He took the dart out of his badge. It was dead, no sedative left. He would need to take them both out quickly, precisely, and then get into that pilot's seat. He was so grateful to Uncle Scott for insisting that he knew how to fly helicopters at this precise moment. This model wasn't even one of the hard ones.
He took down Zarnow first, using a precise nerve pitch. He was down. The pilot only noticed once Zarnow slumped. The pilot was next. The same nerve pitch and the pilot was out. Chuck pulled him from the seat as quickly and carefully as he could. The helicopter still nearly went into a tail spin. He semi stabilized it and Zarnow's tranq gun gleamed at him from his pocket.
The path out, the Intersect suddenly finding it for him. He could see how he would have to play it. First, he would take the gun and shoot both Zarnow and the pilot with a dart. Next he would start to fly the helicopter erratically. He would phone his handlers and beg for help to fly, make it seem like he barely could land the aircraft, be a bit cocky, and get his ass chewed for taking a big risk.
He shot Zarnow and the pilot. The next part would be tricky. Some of the trickiest flying he'd done in a long time. It was extremely difficult to pilot the craft in a way that looked like he didn't know what he was doing, while maintaining safety at all times. He said another quiet thank you to Uncle Scott.
{o}
"What is he doing?" Ellie asked without really expecting an answer. "He'd better not let Uncle Scott know he handled a bird like that."
The team had followed Zarnow and his tracker to the dock warehouse. He'd been hanging out there for the last day or so. Skip had already removed the tracker. It was going down tonight regardless of the outcome. They couldn't let the Charter's Intersect fall into anyone's hands.
Anna answered anyways despite knowing that Ellie didn't really want one, "It's Chuck, I never know what he's thinking."
From a distance, Ellie and the team had seen Zarnow and a pilot drag Chuck into the helicopter. When he'd known that he wouldn't be seen, Chuck gave a thumbs up in the direction of the van. At any rate, they would need to wait for the dust to settle before any action could happen. Ellie had already determined three different potential sniper's points. She had to wait until she could pick which one.
Once the helo was on the ground she knew where she would need to be. She would have to pick Zarnow off as soon as he was being transferred out of the helo.
She went up and waited, almost gulping the deep breaths down, the whole time. This is why she stopped. This is why she was a doctor. She hated this part. She hated that she was about to disregard her oath. As much as it needed to be done, as much as Zarnow was an evil man, she hated that this would be on her conscience. She pushed it aside and waited.
Finally, something happened. Chuck had left long ago with his handlers, leaving other agents in charge. Still Ellie waited, she calmed herself. A rushed shot was a missed shot. She had already checked her rifle four times. She felt for the wind, calculating and re-calculating the drop and swept again and again.
The agents had managed to get Zarnow on his feet, and he was coming out of the helicopter under his own power. 'Breathe Ellie," she told herself. And with the next exhale took the shot. Perfect shot. Zarnow dropped.
Packing up everything quickly, she didn't wait to observe the chaos below. She made her way to the concealed van, got in, and they took off. Anna had made sure there would be no evidence of their presence at the port, all cameras had been disabled, and the plates on the van obscured.
Their mission for the night was complete. Fulcrum would be blamed for the assassination.
Fox Run - Echo Park, CA – October 4th, 2007 - 8:34 am
It had been late when Ellie got home last night, he'd hoped that no one would question why she'd been out or why she wasn't at the hospital. He thought about hacking into their time clock system and changing her time to show she was there. He realized that Anna probably already thought about that, and he needed to trust his team.
He'd slept fitfully. He knew that Ellie was likely feeling worse than he was. The way everything went down, he was never going to get the opportunity to take the burden from Ellie and take care of Zarnow himself. He hated that he gave her this burden.
Chuck waited for Devon to leave and activated his tailored anti-surveillance application. He'd spent the last week hacking into Casey's surveillance net to set it up. The program was a new form of AI. It was an algorithm that could take images already in the system and alter the files as they were generated with old images. Then when the program was told to stop, it would then knit the images together with the current locations of people in a way that was undetectable: a perfect security loop. He even had the programmed zoned so that he could isolate the area of the loop. They only needed to be careful that the handlers didn't enter during a security loop, and even then, they wouldn't be tipped off unless they were personally watching the footage to know it wouldn't reconcile with what they experienced.
Chuck enabled a bug jammer he'd managed to stash at the store and bring home now that his room wouldn't likely be searched.
Leaving his bedroom, jammer in hand, he went to find Ellie. She was sitting quietly on the couch. Chuck sat next to her and held up the jammer so she would know they were safe to talk.
"I'm sorry Ellie. I never wanted you to have to do that ever again. And yet, here we are. We can find a way to get you out. Doctors without borders maybe, or anything else. You don't have to do this mission. You can be retired again. It wasn't fair for me to even ask you to help."
"No Chuck, it wasn't fair, I did my time. I fixed the Intersect for you and dad. But I'll tell you, it isn't fair that you are in this mess either. This was your last respite. Your only life outside of the spy world we were born into. Now, this is in the spy world too. You had to bring your analysts to work at the Buy More for Christ's sake. Anna is bored, by the way. If you don't keep her busy, she'll make trouble."
Chuck nodded at Ellie in understanding.
"Anyways, you have the CIA and NSA breathing down your neck now, putting you at risk. Seriously, they took you to meet a person with no clearance to meet you in person, at your place of work. They are either inept or malicious. You didn't ask for this, but I've told you again and again, you can walk away. Mom is safe now. We saved her Chuck. You can stop."
"I can't Ellie, I have to help people. It's what I do. You help people by being a doctor. This is my way to help. I stop bombs, stop bad guys. Look, it will be better after we take down Fulcrum, I'll become the Ten of Diamonds, work primarily on the tech side. It will be better. I promise…. enough of this, I need to know how you're really doing. You're deflecting."
"Honestly, not great. I went against my oath last night, do no harm. I'm going to have to live with that. It was my duty to take him down. It was my duty to do no harm. I'm conflicted and I need to process. I can't give you more than that right now."
"How about I give you a hug? I'm sure you could use one, and I know I need one. I have Bryce's funeral in about an hour."
"No. not right now. Look, I love you, and Bryce isn't your fault; none of this is, but I need space to process." Ellie got up and went to her bedroom not looking back at Chuck.
Pine View Cemetery - Los Angeles, CA – October 4th, 2007- 10:00am
Sarah watched from a distance as they held the funeral rites for Bryce. Her former lover, her former partner, the man who had abandoned her. She was still torn; he'd gone rogue, betrayed her and the country, and yet, she can still remember what it was like to love him. Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to spill. It had been a long four months, and she was tired. Bryce was being laid to rest, maybe she could let go now.
The funeral seats were full of people that never knew Bryce. They were all CIA plants, waiting to see if they could figure out if there would be anyone there that they could tie back to why he'd gone rogue. Sarah figured she was the only real mourner there, until she saw Chuck. He gave her a little wave at their eye contact, and she broke away, still upset with him, not sure she wanted to share this moment with anyone. She was surprised at seeing him, she had thought that with what she'd learned at dinner last night he wouldn't be quick to mourn Bryce's death. More surprising was the tears she saw falling down his cheek when she'd turned to leave. She didn't want her grief on display any longer.
{o}
Casey was watching the funeral from afar, on the phone with Beckman. He'd seen Sarah leave; Chuck was still there.
Beckman was unimpressed by the events of the previous night, "He flew a helicopter. Zarnow is dead. Your report was rather terrifying, Major Casey. Do we really have the situation in hand, or should Mr. Bartowski be in our care full time?"
"Well, you know how I feel, general. I'll say this; he called Zarnow dirty before any of us suspected. Do you know more about what Bartowski said, Fulcrum?"
"I'm digging deep now Major, if there is something to find, I'll find it. There are some preliminary promising leads we've found in Zarnow's emails and files. But Casey, don't get too comfortable, the new Intersect will be up and running in six months."
"And what happens to Chuck when it is?"
"Well, you'll do what you do best."
Wienerlicious, Burbank, CA – October 4th, 2007 - 3:00 pm
Chuck walked into the smell of burnt corn dogs again. Good thing he brought his tool bag, he'd have the fryer fixed in no time. He even had a few spare parts with him from the last time Scooter asked him to fix it.
"Knock, Knock," Chuck greeted Sarah.
"Hey Chuck."
"How is everything, I saw you at the funeral."
"Yeah, well, I had to go. After everything Bryce did, he was still my partner."
"Look, I wanted to apologize. I should have been more careful. I let my worry over you cause me to make a stupid decision. I just didn't want you to get hurt."
"It's my job Chuck. And I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"It's ok, it was deserved, I need to listen to you and Casey better. You're both just trying to protect me."
"You know, with Zarnow gone, Chuck, those Intersect secrets aren't going anywhere. That means more missions, more danger, and more secrets that you can't tell your sister or your friends."
"I know that." Chuck replied, her words stinging him more than she probably realized.
"Some people want to be heroes, and some have to be asked. So how about it, Chuck? Are you ready?"
Chuck nodded begrudgingly. "Anyways, I brought my tools," he lifted his tool bag up to show Sarah. "Let's get this fryer fixed. It's probably the temperature gauge again." And he made his way to the fryer. At least he was confident he wouldn't screw this up, unlike how he had failed Bryce. "Next time you fry a corn dog, it will be perfect." he smiled.