Chuck vs The Wayward Legionnaire
Chapter 8: Fishy warnings and Selection perfection...
April 30th. Castle. 08:30am
The atmosphere of the secret underground spy base was normally subdued, professional agents would work quietly and steadily; most were military trained, so discipline was hardwired into their behaviours. Today, marked a new chapter though, it had begun earlier when a team of Intersect scientists and technicians had reported to one Col. John Casey.
They had then prepared the upgrade room, the medical instruments had been put on standby, the uploading equipment checked and rechecked, even the chair that some wit remarked looked like an execution chair had been crawled over and passed fit for purpose.
The technicians in the server room checked the relays and the power required for the Intersect transfer device, some of L.A. 's populace had been subjected to a momentary brownout that early morning.
Casey, stood in the centre of it all, issuing an order here, receiving updates from there, he'd kept the other two agents out by telling them it was a go from 9am. He didn't need any grief now the idio…Asset had arrived. Bryce Larkin had been stretchered in by a medical team direct from a flight from Langley. Nobody knew anything directly, only the team and the higher ups would know the identity of the new Intersect.
He smiled to himself grimly, he supposed Larkin meeting the man that nearly killed him twice, might have been considered upsetting, probably why he was sedated. Casey wasn't complaining. The less he had to say to the CIA puke the better. When the medical team had wheeled Larkin in the upgrade had started. That was over 6 hours ago.
The door from the Orange, Orange opened, and he heard a duo of female voices descent the stairs, looking somewhat refreshed the two beautiful women approached the main conference centre and took seats in front of the large viewscreen.
Sarah noted the extra bodies at work and quickly figured out what was going on, her prior experience with Chuck's uploads was the difference between the two women, Miller was looking about with interest, the facility hadn't existed the last time she was here. She was pleased to see it had all the mod cons of the spy world and the NSA strike team had some fit looking operatives. She smiled; she could see herself "working" well with some of them.
As if reading her mind, the gravelly voice of John Casey rang in her ears, "Put your tongue back in your mouth, Miller, this is where we'll be working not cavorting or whatever else passes through your mind!" He found he shivered slightly at the thoughts.
"Oh Casey, relax, I don't bite, well…", she reflected, "… at least not until I'm asked…" There was an audible gulp from Billings who had come over to inform Casey that the Asset was awake. He kept a wary eye on the DEA wildcard who had her long legs up on a counter as she leaned back in her chair, leering as she teased her full lips with the tip of a pen. There was an elbow from Walker who tried to inject some seriousness back into the proceedings earning her a glare from the redhead.
Casey nodded at Billings and announced, "Clear the area, all non-essential personnel are to remove themselves and equipment from the area immediately!". There was a flurry of movement as laptops and various monitoring equipment where closed and deactivated, packed up and wheeled to the hidden exit from the base.
An Intersect scientist entered the room first, Beckman had appeared on the screen, after acknowledging the agents, she turned her attention to the scientist. "Report the status of the Asset." There was excitement in her tone, finally her star could move forward again.
The scientist, ran through some tech babble that passed over the heads of the others, but Beckman nodded sagely, "… the Asset's retain score has improved somewhat, he's operating at 91% efficiency, Ma'am". He finished his report and left the area.
A few moments later a door opened in the cell area of the base and the sound of footsteps approached, stepping into view a rakishly clad Bryce Larkin slipped on his Armani suit jacket, as he passed by a reflective panel, he paused to ensure his tie was properly placed and the Windsor knot perfect, he adjusted his gun rig slightly and the tell-tale bulge vanished from view.
He smiled his trademark grin, all teeth no substance, but to his mind, his most winning, for winning was his plan for the day. Entering the conference area, the prize came into view, his smile grew larger, "Hello Sarah, good to see you", he barely glanced at the other two agents, but he acknowledged their presence, "Casey, Carina."
Sarah Walker looked away and groaned softly, her worst nightmare was now indeed, coming true, but she set her face pleasantly, eyes were watching. "Hello Bryce, how are you feeling?" Knowing what Chuck Bartowski went through with the Intersect she was more than curious, the concern she felt was real, she wasn't heartless, he had been her partner and more... "Fine", he replied meeting her blue eyes with his own. "Looking forward to renewing our partnership… as a member of the team…" He added almost as an afterthought.
He moved towards her seat but the long legs of another blocked his way, the unsmiling face of Carina Miller appeared in his view, "Hello Bryce, I'd say death becomes you but, in your case, it would only be an improvement…" There was a grunt from Casey. Larkin started a retort, but Beckman had had enough.
"Agents! I'd like to continue this briefing, Colonel, can you get the new Intersect the file please?" He stiffened, "Yes Ma'am". With a hard look at the others, he left the area.
Looking chastised, the agents put their game faces on and awaited the return of Casey, curiosity got the better of Sarah though, "What this about, General?"
Beckman had been concerned about this, she saw a smug look cross the face of Larkin, she bristled, ordinarily she'd have had him shot for what he did to the first Intersect facility alone, Graham had intervened there much to her annoyance, his agent, but this was a better use of his capabilities, and one she was in full control of.
Watching the General, Sarah began to get an ominous feeling, that was multiplied with the shit eating grin that had broken out afresh on Bryce's face, the only times she remembered that grin was when Bryce knew he had gained the upper hand in a situation, and she had a sinking feeling she knew why that was the case now.
She wasn't wrong, during his debrief on his return from Europe, Beckman and Emerson had informed Larkin of Chuck's running, he had been surprised at first, then, as he thought about it, he found he was secretly delighted, he had known for some time that Chuck Bartowski had supplanted him in the affections of Sarah Walker and that, decided Larkin, simply would not do!
Sorry, Chuck old buddy, but you're going down and the better man has won in the end, he crowed internally.
As if on cue, Casey returned to the conference area with a red folder in his hands. Carina, new to the process, enquired. "What's that Casey?"
Beckman remained silent so it fell to the new team leader to inform his people what their first mission would be, he surveyed their faces, puzzlement on Miller, Larkin, smugness at what he already knew was about to happen and Walker, who visage showed her rapidly dawning realisation.
"This is the first mission of the new Intersect team, Miller, the capture of Chuck Bartowski, the first Intersect, for treason and the related activities of that escape, the misuse of government property, forgery of Agency credentials and his suspected involvement in the Cyber-attack that accompanied his running".
He paused, he could see Walker's eyes widen and Miller's hand under the counter grab Walker's and squeeze it tightly, he hoped her lady feelings wouldn't betray her now. He could show no mercy. He continued, "This file contains all the information that Bartowski saw prior to his running and also additional information that we have gathered that will hopefully lead us to his location and his allies, Agent Larkin will now read the files and we will act on any and all intelligence the Intersect provides." He delivered the last part of that stonily.
He slid the folder across the counter to the waiting hands of Bryce. Larkin fired a knowing grin at Walker then opened the folder and started to read the assembled sheets.
His sudden and complete collapse was even more nerve wracking because it was done in total, utter silence! He fell as if poleaxed, hard, fast, nosediving into the countertop with the audible crack of a breaking nose as his face met the hard surface!
The group was too stunned to move, Carina Miller looked on the verge of laughing and Walker and Casey were just too shocked to do anything but stare at a cross-eyed Larkin who rolled around the floor as blood poured from his nose!
"AGENT LARKIN!" Beckman was on the edge of her seat back in her office, she was the first one to voice her shock at what she had just witnessed. To her chagrin, none of the others in the Castle seemed to rush over to check on the Asset who now resembled an upended tortoise with his limbs flailing about the place like a baby throwing a tantrum…she strained her hearing, was he burbling to himself?
He was. Nonsensical gibberish. It was too much for Carina Miller who finally let out a throaty laugh, John Casey was finally jolted out of his stupor and went to Larkin's side, Walker just stood and gaped.
As he did so, the lights in the area dimmed, and music started blaring from the speakers, the screen split down the centre and suddenly there was a yellow sports car barrelling down a runway to a crash of thunder, Beckman couldn't believe her eyes! To Sarah Walker's astonishment the head of Chuck Bartowski was superimposed on the body of whomever was driving the car!
It was a jaunty tune and Carina Miller found herself humming along, suddenly a dart of memory hit her, and she gave another bark of laughter, shaking her head, oh Chuckles, Beckman is going to skin you alive!
She felt several pairs of eyes fasten on to her and self-consciously she blinked rapidly, as the laughter died in her throat, "Care to let us all in on the joke, Agent Miller?" Beckman snarled, she stressed the last part harshly, her cheeks reddening in anger.
"Right, yes Ma'am, it's an old British show, called The Prisoner…. from the late 60's, one man's fight to escape …." She trailed off, her face suddenly pale and her normally confident tone faltering as she realised the symbolism at play. "Please do continue to enlighten us, Agent Miller".
"Em… he's an agent who decides to resign, but he knows too much, so his bosses capture him and place him on an island where he refuses to divulge why he resigned, and it then becomes a battle of wits, he struggles to assert his individuality as he also plots to escape from the faceless forces that demand answers in this sort of… Kafkaesque community of other spies and assorted people. It's a cult classic…" She added brightly, then cringed at herself for that part.
"I can see you earnedyour Masters, Agent Miller" Beckman replied sarcastically, on the screen the events mirrored the description of the show Carina had given until suddenly the picture shifted, and the face of Chuck Bartowski filled the screen.
Sarah Walker felt her heart race, it was the first time she had seen his face since she had left, something was wrong though, she realised his hair didn't match the bogus ID he had used, this was obviously a recording!
"Hello General, well by now I'm somewhere else and you have just downloaded the Intersect into somebody else, most likely Bryce, there's a couple of things you should know..." He beamed.
Casey and Beckman began to get a bad feeling that things were about to go seriously sideways.
"…one, the Intersect has been altered…." There was a gulp from Walker, Beckman glared at her across the screen as Bartowski kept talking. "…sorry but having gotten away, I really don't need Casey or Sarah…" he gave a little wave at the screen and then reddened slightly at his action, he clasped his hands in front of him. "…catching me anytime soon, if ever. Preferably ever."
Across the counter, Sarah Walker's eyes moistened, but she held grimly on to Miller's hand, onscreen Chuck continued.
"Any attempts to flash on any intel on me or my friends will result in the agent being rendered comatose. Forever…", there was a finality to that statement that sent a shiver through the watching spies. "…Two. Any attempts to strike at me through my friends or family will result in all information about the Intersect project becoming public knowledge."
This time the sharp intake of breath came from Beckman's side of the screen. He wouldn't, he couldn't, she thought despairingly, as if hearing her thoughts, Bartowski's lips locked in a grim line. The camera zoomed in on his eyes, the normal friendliness had disappeared, the effect was rather disconcerting for the assembled agents and their boss.
"You might think I'm joking General; I can assure you that I'm not, those two operations I flashed on were despicable, I would never have helped you for the "Greater Good" bunker or kill innocent people." He made air quotes as he spoke.
On the screen, Chuck's lips curled in distaste. "You're wondering how I managed this, I may not have had your spy training, but you forget you operate in my world, and in my world, I speak the most important language of them all, one, zero, one, zero, zero. With that I could steal your money, your secrets, your sexual fantasies, your whole life… Any country, any place, anytime I want, we multitask like you breathe, I couldn't think as slow as you if I tried."
Sarah was aghast, where was her nerd? This man was unknown to her, what had changed him? Casey, on the other hand was impressed, finally the kid had grown a pair.
"I left you your precious Intersect, as long as you keep him busy with Fulcrum and spy stuff you'll be well served, I promise you that I will also keep your secrets safe." He tapped his head knowingly.
"But understand this General, we are watching…" suddenly the screen split into a multitude of other screens, with a start Beckman recognised herself in her office, other screens showed the conference area in Castle from multiple viewpoints!
The agents' heads spun as they suddenly realised that during the entire exchange, every single webcam had spun to lock on them and now the disembodied voice of Chuck Bartowski came from a number of speakers around the area and Beckman's office.
"I suppose it's goodbye, you'll forgive me if I don't wish you well, oh yes, nearly forgot…" He smiled again, a goofy Bartowski smile full of mischief, "…BRYCE, KLAATU BARADA NIKTO!"
From the ground, Bryce Larkin stiffened and rolled over, his eyes cleared, the pain from his face hit him, "Mi dose, wat habbened?", Holding his head, he got to his feet, He looked for answers from the others, but they were still rapt with attention on the screen, turning around he saw the smiling face of Chuck Bartowski beaming down at him. "Chug...?"
"There are many more phrases I programmed into this version of the Intersect General, we can get to Larkin anywhere, he only has to see a screen, answer a mobile and we can render him useless. One last thing Diane…"
Beckman fumed at the flagrant use of her name, but it was evident that Bartowski was in control. On screen the face of Chuck Bartowski vanished, now the top ten of the most wanted hackers list of the NSA was displayed, the sick feeling in her stomach grew.
As she watched a small, animated fish began swimming into view, the detail was poor at first but soon she could make out more. It had a red belly and a mouth full of white teeth, as she watched it began to devour the list of hacker handles. "… I was sure when Casey and Walker first arrived that you had figured this out, especially with the Fleming mission, but none of you made the correlation between the year of my expulsion and the disappearance of my… alter ego…"
On screen, the small fish had rapidly eaten most of the names on the list, there was no pictures, naturally the elite of hackers had never been identified, all the names had gone now but the number five slot… The Piranha… as she watched a picture of Bartowski appeared in the number five spot, he wore a toothy grin. With a final bite, the fish devoured even that, exploding in a pixellated mess, leaving Chuck on the screen with his hands open in Ta Da! fashion.
"…. now you know who I am General, and now you know my capabilities and those of my friends…remember, we'll be watching.", he repeated. The screen changed again.
This time the actor from the show appeared, looking at a badly shaken General and her top agents, the man spoke, "I've resigned, I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own. Own. Own. Own… "
That last word echoed in the room as the screen returned to normal. Normalcy, however, was the very last thing that remained in the office of Beckman and the conference area of Castle. Shellshocked, the spies struggled to digest the surprise they had just been dealt.
A medical officer appeared to check on Larkin, an Intersect scientist went immediately to the server room, throwing open the door there was a crackling and the smell of burnt components in the air, the last of Chuck Bartowski's surprises revealing itself, he had solved the problem of destroying the Intersect server. A feedback loop timed to coincide with the message program download to the conference area.
Beckman had almost gone ballistic when she got that news, Bartowski and his friends had been playing chess while she and the Intelligence Community had been playing chequers!
On receipt of the footage of the events in Castle and Ft. Meade and the revelation that the former Intersect had also been one of the foremost hackers on the planet, DNI Adams issued orders that a full review of the Cyber Security protocols and security programs was to be undertaken across all agencies, Bartowski had had unparalleled access to multiple systems through Castle, there was going to have to be changes, she contacted the National Procurement Office and demanded that they put out to tender for the best security software on the market. The President expedited that with an Executive Order.
Later. Casey's office. Castle….
John Casey had also gotten a small office as part of his promotion, although he'd been an agent for more than 20 years, he had also been, and still was, a military officer, he was old school and he preferred the option of privacy when dealing with team matters one on one, his old CO had impressed upon him the terms PIP and RIP, praise in public and reprimand in private. He glanced across his desk at one Sarah Walker, with the latest developments, he decided to see where their heads were at, God knew he had taken a body shot from the nerd's latest surprise.
Walker broke the silence first, "Still think we're going to catch him, Casey?" There was a sceptical look on her face, "because from where I'm sitting, we're in the dark and he could be watching US right now!"
That last bit stung Casey the most, he'd had the NSA strike team disable all webcams in Castle, Beckman wouldn't budge on the security ones, "Intersect safety!" She'd barked before cutting transmission earlier. She'd also promised a team of technicians to comb the Castle servers, that was something he supposed.
He sighed, it was like fighting with one hand behind your back, never a good thing when you were used to having the odds in your favour. Well, Bartowski and his pals had put paid to that lie.
"Did you know?" He had to ask.
"Know what?"
It took a few seconds for Sarah to fully realise what Casey was actually asking. She glared.
"No John, I didn't know Chuck was the Piranha, for fuck's sake, thank God I didn't, Graham had briefed me to find and kil...", she swallowed, "remove… Piranha before a more urgent mission took precedence! You?", she fired back.
She shook at that memory; Graham had been livid that Pir… Chuck…. Chuck had broken the firewalls at some CIA black site. God! That meant he had been only 20 or 21! She had been an agent a while at that time, young and idealistic, been through her Red Test and earned a few notches on her soul, she would have torn the world apart to please Graham back then, she shuddered again.
Casey watched her, "I had been read in, but around the time he really became a nuisance I was on a mission in Afghanistan, removal of a Taliban Chieftain, that took me six months, He was gone by the time I returned, lucky him."
Yeah, the kid had been, that version of himself would have happily put two in the kid's brainpan and had a hearty breakfast, giving more thought to pancakes or bacon than some cyberpunk with a penchant for hacking important government IT facilities.
"Why did you think he did it? Piranha, I mean". It was a good question from Casey, Walker thought, she'd been around the man longer than anyone. Her mind raced now, he had seemed an open book, now the realisation was setting in that Chuck Bartowski had had depths that she had never plumbed, that was an unsettling feeling, had all his thoughts been as guarded? Gah! She had been, was, totally compromised.
But she remembered…
"The Fleming mission, Casey", Casey waited for her to continue. "He had been on the radar, remember?" Casey did. "We found he was on the Intersect, right?"
Casey could see where she was going with this, "You think he was looking for something Walker?" That was hard to say, she thought, Piranha had notified the agencies he'd hacked, telling them how he'd gotten in, but nobody ever knew what he'd looked at. He'd hidden his tracks too well, no traces.
"Think about it Casey, his family, his father was a scientist of some note, his mom, well… he was a kid, he was missing them. What's the odds he was looking for them and what agencies have the most information on people in the entire world?
That fit, thought Casey. Dammit though. They could have helped… well no, there was the other lie, Beckman wouldn't have allowed that, and the kid had been too smart to snoop around them. But yeah, it made sense, the kid wasn't the sit in the car type, dollars to doughnuts he had been looking for his folks.
They were silent again, there was a knock at the door, at Casey's command, "Enter!" The figure of Bryce Larkin filled the entrance, he'd cleaned up, his nose had been reset, but he was going to sport the racoon look for a week or so, Walker turned her face away, but Casey could see the beginnings of a smile on her face, "What is it Larkin?" he demanded.
"I had a look at the revised files, there's a Fulcrum operation in Seattle, it involves arms". Casey felt his pulse quicken, at least the kid hadn't lied about that, the red files had been quickly revoked and rehashed, Beckman had immediately seen to that too, anything to get her precious Intersect back up and running. And now a mission!
They needed a win. Badly…
To his annoyance though, he watched as Larkin's gaze remained on Sarah Walker, well he had a plan to deal with those particular lady feelings. All he needed was the CIA puke to follow his familiar patterns and it was already starting to look good. "Alright, find Miller, I'll let Beckman know, dismissed!" He reached for his phone.
Walker had spun around again; she took the files Larkin had brought and started to scan them. Reading what the Intersect had discovered, she needed a mission too, anything to keep her heart from breaking further.
From Casey's point of view, she appeared the consummate professional again, inside though, the Ice Queen was shattered glass, each shard a memory of what she'd had and lost, each one stabbing at her heart…
May 20th, 2009, Legion Selection Centre. Aubagne.
Oooff! Thought Alain Delon, he watched as Robie was sent sprawling into the hard surface of the shuttle run course, deliberately tripped by the Russian, Aleksey Potemkin, the final day of Selection had begun, and the competition had been intense. Of the 75 potentials that showed in Paris he had whittled that down to 40 by the end of the first day. Of the near 200 that showed up in Aubagne, 62 remained.
The biggest surprise though, had been the recruit now known as John Robie, he watched intently as Robie pounded his fist on the surface and then shot to his feet and glared at Caporal Kozachek, but Robie saw no joy there, pivoting, he sprinted after Potemkin. The NCO kept his gaze on his clipboard but there was a sneer on his face. That disturbed Delon. He made a note of it.
On the side-lines Philip Chen and Erik Vanderlaan booed but cheered when Robie regained his feet and tore after the Russian. "Come on Robie!" screamed Vanderlaan, incensed.
On the court, Robie gasped as the pain shot up his leg from his now bloody knee, but he made the turn before the klaxon sounded, just… He wiped the sweat from his eyes and started down again after Potemkin, the other man broadly grinned as he approached the end of the run only to have it freeze in shock as he realised the American was gaining on him.
At five foot ten he was giving away six inches in height to the taller man and in this test, it was beginning to tell. Robie gave silent thanks to his time with Denis on the Colibri, he had prepared him well. He began to catch up and with the final two minutes to go, drew level again.
The Russians on the other side of the court cheered on their man, but that was all they could do, Kozachek had done what he could, but nobody could have anticipated that final test, it had been decided by Delon himself that morning. Caporal Leo Kessler watched them with an eagle eye, he had bristled at the harsh treatment meted out to the American, but the Russian NCO had managed to keep the abuse on the edge of acceptance.
Maksym and the Ukrainians watched with interest, he had tried to keep his men separate from Pavel and his Russians, but it was a delicate balancing act, Pavel demanded his support, and he owed the American nothing.
The Russian had boasted of his cousin, an officer in the GRU, Russian Military Intelligence and Maksym knew a veiled threat against his family back home when he heard it. He needed to be cautious. he hated the prick, but he kept his own counsel, wisely, his men followed his lead.
When the French officer proposed the elimination test this morning it had been a surprise to all, as had the parings. The Ukrainians had all managed to pass, as did the tall Dutchman and the Taiwanese, those that were the hungriest managing to find that extra gear on the track to beat the time trial and their matched opponent. The Russians had mostly passed too, it fell to this final match though. Robie and Aleksey.
Erik had managed a warning to Robie at the start, he had seen the nod between the NCO and Pavel Yershov, still nobody could challenge Kozachek on how he had set the race up, pitting the two men in adjoining lanes, giving the smaller man the chance to nobble Robie.
A chance he had gratefully taken, all to naught though, Robie on the next pass had finally overtaken the groaning Russian.
All through Selection, Robie had held a bit back, but now he put it all on the line, he grunted with the effort, his eyes strayed to Philip who mimed a one sign back, 60 seconds, that's all he had to hold out for! He gritted his teeth but kept his discipline, breathing through his nose and he barrelled into the next shuttle, his knee ignored as he dipped his head and passed the Russian, he made the turn and never looked back.
He didn't even have to finish, the Russian had broken and stopped, eyes full of tears, taking in great whoops of air as he grasped his head in both hands, he would be joining the others who failed at the end of the day for a coach ride back to the train station, a few Euro in pay for the time they were recruits and a ticket to the frontier.
The NCO blew the whistle for the end of the exercise. Robie had done it! Eric and Philip cheered as well as a few others that passed from the same dormitory, for them the journey continued, another four months awaited them at Castelnaudry. They rushed to congratulate Robie, hoisting him above their heads, Justice had been done!
Pavel Yershov and his remaining men watched the celebrations with fury, now was not the time though, they would deal with the American at a more appropriate time, he hadn't missed the Lieutenant watching from the barracks window. Turning his back on the failure that was Potemkin, he marched off to the canteen.
Delon watched it all, so the American had won, he turned to his large whiteboard, he crossed off the name of Potemkin. He lit a Gauloises and pondered, with impeccable timing his phone rang, He answered, it was the Colonel. Felix Sabut was the officer in charge of Delon and his new unit. Answerable only to the General, overall commander of the Legion, he provided all assistance to the young officer he had known since Delon was a young boy.
"Well?" It was a question Delon had hoped would have been answered by now, but appeared fate had other plans. "He passed", the junior officer replied.
There was a pause on the other end on the line, "What are you going to do, Alain? I can't imagine he will take this well, you know he's going to officiate the inauguration of this new unit and Madam will be there too, how do you think she will feel? Their Godson or not, this is beyond the pale for both of them."
Delon sighed, he agreed with Sabut, but this American intrigued him, they had spent the last three weeks testing these men, the medical standards had been the highest ever set, the psychometric/aptitude tests had been set as usual to each individuals native language but this time at third level education standard. He had personally sat in on the B2 or Deuxieme Bureau, "the Gestapo", interviews, he had grilled the American to a degree so that even the officer from B2 had raised an eyebrow. Still, something about the man just didn't sit right…
Twice, he had made the man write his life story over two days of intense interrogation, but he had shown no inconsistency, hell, even his Interpol checks had come back with flying colours.
That of course had been down to Dieter and Paul Radcliffe, they had nursed the requests through the systems of Interpol, FBI, and Homeland Security, even the college enquiry on Chuck's Berkeley computer degree courtesy of Oisin had been checked up, down and sideways. All came back green, courtesy of the Janus worm.
No, Delon thought, this man had earned his place, but it had taken all of Delon's willpower not to show his shock on facing the man at first. From the moment he had set eyes on the picture on the recruit file, he had thought it was a sick joke, the legion was a place of gallows humour, men trained to fight or die produced some characters, sometimes the joke got out of hand, but this was not the case.
He had marched to the intake area office on some pretext and then stared in the window at the man, not believing his eyes, he had returned to his office shaken, after a smoke and some thought, he picked up the phone and called Felix. He didn't say what he had saw, he just asked the man to come.
It was two slightly bemused French officers sharing whiskey later that night when Felix had perused the file. He stared into the office ceiling as his mind tried to make sense of it all.
"Alain. You're going to fail him, right? You can't let them see this…this. It would kill them!", he implored his friend. Delon had been staring out the window, "I have no idea why this has happened, and believe me, I have thought I should do exactly that, but it's not him." He looked back at the other man with haunted eyes. He sighed and blew out some smoke, flicking a spent cigarette out the window.
"Look Felix, it's your call, but it's Selection, he may fail anyway, so problem solved…" He shrugged. Felix Sabut thought about that, "And if he doesn't?". Delon lit another cigarette, taking a draw, "There's the Farm, there's four months of recruit training to get through, this?... this is just Selection, we'll see..." It was hard to fault that logic, Felix had reluctantly agreed.
That had been 3 weeks ago, and he had pushed the men hard, the first week had seen the remaining men start the recruit ranking system, those passing collecting a yellow tab, by the second week, the green tab, by the third and final week, the tests for the red tab had levelled out the field even more and still Robie hung in there, his overall rating of 19 maintained and he hadn't been the only one.
They were all exceptional, but Robie had shown great ability with IT and electronics tests, he was the standout recruit there, Chen a good second. He already knew he needed men like this. But still doubts lingered, he had a strong sense there was more to the man than met the eye...
Delon had put it off as long as he could, but he knew the NCOs were starting to wonder, by now the six-digit serial number issued to all aspirants should have been granted, as well as their full uniforms, white kepi included, and they should have gotten the famous Boule Zero haircut. But he had tried one more time with the final test to remove the problem of John Robie.
It appeared it was not his problem to solve.
He called his training staff in, there was a final round table, but the results of the day had already decided the NCOs, Kozachek was vocal in his support of the Russian and Kessler looked like he was about to bust a gut, so when Delon decided the matter, the list stood.
He issued his orders, it was with some relief that the NCOs stood, saluted, and left the room to comply with them. They had been tested by the Selection too, they were glad it was now the problem of the instructor staff at Castel. Kessler made a phone call to a waiting Sean.
In the Dormitory, the men were marshalled and quickly told to report to the company barber, moans were heard as the heads were shorn almost to the bone, the NCOs grinned. There was new kit issued and the famous white kepi was seen for the first time by the successful cadre of men that passed Selection.
For Robie it was a novel experience, they were forbidden to remove it from the protective plastic, but this was a marker, he was almost there, he had cleared another milestone! The sense of achievement woke something inside him he had thought died in Stanford, he began to believe in himself!
The men had been allowed a small celebration, a few beers from the Foyer were permitted, and Robie, Erik and Philip had toasted their good fortune. He felt good, he was surprised he had stayed focused throughout, nights were full of thoughts of home and Ellie, Devon, Morgan, and … her. Still, he could not shake the thoughts of her. He missed her.
Erik saw his face, "Who is she?" he teased good naturedly, "What...?" Robie replied, shaken out of his reverie. He blinked and saw the grins on his two comrades. "She must be special to make you have a face that long after such a victory!" The two men looked at each other, the curiosity about their friend's past had been a source of much debate between them, mind you, they had been pretty tight lipped about their own motivations for joining.
Robie smiled wanly, "Nobody special really", his downward glance at the ground fooling nobody. "We have 5 years to find out!" Chen cackled; he loved a mystery. He had spent days amusing the others with far-flung theories on his fellow recruits and their reasons for joining, it had been a tonic for them all.
Chen looked at his friends, "You think we'll make it? Castel." Already he had fallen into the shorthand language that all military people used for places. "Piece of piss", Erik replied. His unbridled optimism was the other crutch they had leaned on during the Selection, nothing seemed to faze the tall Dutchman. "I'm hoping for the REP". He elaborated. The other two nodded, the elite parachute regiment was a favourite of most.
The NCOs called for a return to quarters, the three men tapped their beer bottles in a final salute to their achievement, they knew the trip to the Farm was the next steppingstone. The easy part was over, things would only get harder from here on in, Robie had his ace in the hole though, Sean.
He got to his feet and headed back to the mostly empty dormitory, he glanced around the room, he had barely gotten to know most of them, he supposed it had probably been for the best. He began to appreciate this life he was joining. He clambered onto his bunk. The NCO who shared the room called "Extinction des feux (lights out)!" and the room plunged into darkness, he lay there a while, the pain from his knee bothering him a bit.
He thought about the Russians too, there was going to be a reckoning there. He would have to watch himself, but he was confident. His body was adapting, this man was becoming…what exactly, he would soon discover about himself. He closed his eyes; sleep he had discovered was the most precious commodity he had.
May 27th. 2009. Dublin Ireland. RTE Studios 12.30am.
"Hello viewers. It's Tech Talk with Tom Kelly and I'm delighted to have one of our favourite guests on the show today to talk about the exciting developments and new products they're currently working on, it's my great pleasure to introduce the CFO and Marketing Guru of Anomaliz Security Products, Roisin Murphy!"
The camera cut to an immaculately dressed Roisin, looking resplendent in a grey charcoal business suit, she gave a dazzling smile to the host of the primetime show in the Republic of Ireland. "Thanks Tom, great to be here!"
He smiled back, "First, as happy as I am to see you, how is your father?"
Roisin knew that Kelly and her father went way back to the first airing of the show, part of today was in fact a changing of the guard, her recent promotion of sorts meant she was now the boss, but he had been the familiar face for the company for decades. "He's great Tom, he still plays a major role at the company, but recently the family finally managed to get him to cut back on work and start enjoying life a bit more."
Tom Kelly nodded and replied tactfully, "Well, we certainly wish him the best and hope to see him again soon, but congratulations on your own success! How are you settling into your new role?"
Nobody mentioned the elephant in the room, her father's health, which she appreciated.
"Well Tom, I had the best teacher and mentor you could possibly hope for, but it's been a steep learning curve, there's been a few changes, stuff we had been looking at for a while now, as you may have heard, we've decided to diversify our product portfolio and I'm delighted to inform you that we'll be expanding into other technical areas."
"Fantastic!" enthused the host, "Any details you can share with our audience?"
"Absolutely", she replied, "we've recently joined forces in a brand-new set up with some European partners and helped seed a small Swiss/Swedish tech. company that will explore materials and their applications for the tech. industry."
"But the best news of all is that we are introducing a brand-new replacement for Cerberus, a new security product called Archangel! We have recently signed a deal with a Japanese developer and incorporated their designs into a joint European collaboration, we're hoping to cover all the bases on this one, from home user to Commercial and of course, our main business, bespoke security products for Government contracts."
"Wow!" replied Kelly, "that will be bad news for Bill Gates and Ted Roark!" Roisin smiled, "Oh I don't think they have too much to worry about Tom, besides, there's plenty of room in the market for us all and we all have our niche. I expect we will grow but that's going to be down to our core business, contracts."
Tom Kelly nodded, "Yes, I was hearing that after the recent Cyber-attack against the US that Anomaliz products was the only one that managed to hold its own!"
"Not strictly true Tom, we had just launched a Beta version of Archangel and had been quietly conducting field tests with a few preferred clients, in the US, Far East and here in Europe and so we had a baptism of fire!"
"Well, it appears you weathered the storm and have produced another winner!"
"Thanks Tom, it was somewhat more complicated than that, but thanks to the efforts of the team we managed to get our hands on some of the code and tailor a successful response for those clients, they managed to successfully deal with the attack and what we learned has certainly helped us fine tune the finished product."
"So, it's looking like Anomaliz is going to have a very successful fourth quarter this year!"
"We certainly hope so Tom, it would be great to start my tenure with a successful launch of a new product, we're currently being evaluated by some prestigious clients and as I've already mentioned, we will also have a home and business application for those markets too, so fingers crossed, next time I see you we'll have something to celebrate!"
Tom Kelly smiled, "Roisin, I certainly wish you and Anomaliz Security Products the best, it's great to have a home-grown company rub shoulders with the big boys and I also wish you every success with your other ventures too."
"Thanks Tom, great to be back, always a pleasure."
"So, there you have it people, the resurgence of a major player in the IT security community, Irish, and hopefully in the possession of a fantastic new product, we wish them all the best here at Tech Talk…."
Anomaliz Offices. Dublin….
In his office, Oisin smiled as he watched the broadcast, Roisin had exceeded beyond his wildest expectations. He knew she would, she was one smart cookie, it was looking good, their plans appeared to be bearing fruit, they knew the Intelligence community would be paranoid after their attack, Chuck's taunting of Beckman was a calculated risk, he had been initially against it as well as a few of the others, but Chuck had managed to convince them that the agencies would eventually check their systems and possibly discover Janus. The loss of Castle was a big price to pay. But they still had other means of spying on the spies.
This new plan was risky, but if the spy agencies followed the Executive Order, the best way to reintroduce the Janus worm would be to let them do it themselves, the trick had been finding a method to convince them to do just that, and poking fun at Beckman and her superiors had worked better than they had thought.
They had already been approached by various Government procurement agencies, it didn't take a rocket scientist to look behind the enquiries to see who the end users of the bespoke technology really were, already the manufacturing suites in Galway had been audited by various foreign agencies, engineers had received specifications that with some adaptability would easily fit into certain US agency requirements, Roisin's department was awash with NDAs and from the looks of advance sales figures, Oisin could see that Chuck and the Ghosts had a real runaway success on their hands.
It was going to take some cool heads to keep a steady hand on the rudder, but he knew his daughter and Chuck with Akio and the others would if anyone could. He wasn't worried anymore.
The other good news was that Chuck had made Selection! Sean had phoned him with the details, he had kept up to date with Mike in the US on Ellie and Devon and Morgan Grimes. He was glad to see Beckman was more concerned with her mission against Fulcrum. He had laughed when he heard Chuck's new name. That boy was a positive nexus for the bizarre.
He turned to his laptop again. He needed to check in on the others, their startups were proceeding well, there had been no surprises and they had managed to ensure Chuck's background checks went well, the lad had a lot to face yet, but he had a feeling that the young man was about to come into his own. It was a good prediction…
June 5th, 2009. Maison 23. L.A. 20.30pm
Bryce Larkin smiled at himself as he rode the elevator to Walker's apartment floor, the partially mirrored walls showed him at his best, he wore an open necked white shirt and a new pair of black slacks that hugged his toned physique in a pleasing way. Certainly, the looks he had drawn as he parked his Ferrari had only enhanced that perception in his mind. Women had stopped and stared, for a man of his character, it was praise he happily accepted.
He had the opinion of only one woman on his mind though, and after the past few weeks of mission success he felt the general feeling towards him on the team had been improving. It was true his analysis of the information was a bit more circumspect than his predecessor, but they had had enough success for him to now try this rather bold move.
He felt he had waited long enough for Sarah Walker to realise that he had more on his mind than just teamwork, he had an itch to scratch, and she had always been the one to claim that honour. Besides, he needed to persuade Beckman that the two of them, needed nobody, he was tired of Casey and Miller cramping his style. It was high time that the Andersons retake the stage and tonight was a first step in that ambition.
With a ping the elevator door opened, he held a dozen red roses that he had carefully selected earlier, he planned to start the evening with a sustained assault on the affections of Sarah Walker. Flowers, dinner, dancing and then…. He smiled to himself.
With a final check in a small mirror in the hallway, he finger brushed his hair into the style that he remembered she liked, setting a smile on his face, he gathered the flowers and raised his hand to knock on the door and met nothing…
…except the mocking gaze of Carina Miller as she stood like a redheaded Colossus of Rhodes at the entrance to the apartment. She had been expecting this for a while now, Casey always had Larkin's whereabouts under surveillance, as soon as one of his strike team had alerted him to Bryce's destination, it had been a simple matter of texting Miller. She had waited patiently by the door for the other spy to arrive.
Now it was time to put Casey's plan into action, she leered insolently at Larkin, "Help you Larkin?" He couldn't help but hear the distain in Miller's voice, his smile faltered. His brow furrowed but he held his tongue from a sharp retort.
"Hi Carina, I had no idea you were here." Her leer grew, "Clearly… now, I'll ask again, can I help you?" Her voice had hardened and raised itself slightly. That was enough to get the attention of Sarah Walker who had emerged from her bathroom. "Who is it, Carina?"
"Nobody important, they were just leaving…" Carina made a motion with her eyes in the direction of the elevator, Bryce wasn't taking the hint though, his plans for the night weren't going to be derailed by Miller and her antics. "Who….?", began Sarah again, as she turned in the direction of the open door, she caught a look at her former partner and instantly knew why he was there.
For Carina Miller still standing guard at the door there was a noticeable drop in temperature in the apartment behind her, she heard the hiss of breath as the doom-laden voice of the Ice Queen uttered one word, "YOU!" It was more of a snarl really, there was the sound of something sliding free of a leather sheath, a not unfamiliar sound that caused her to catch her breath and judging by the widening eyes of a backpedalling Larkin, hold very still, statute still!
The glimmer of shiny steel was Larkin's first real wakeup call that his seduction was about to go horribly wrong. His reflexes kicked in and he put some space between himself and the doorway, still the glance backward nearly cost him, Miller's long hair parted as a blade shot through the tresses on an interception course for his head!
"Sarah….!" He said in a hurt tone as he managed to whip his head to the side, the surgical steel nicked the top of his left ear, the thunk! behind him was solid, he didn't need to look to know the force it took to make that impact!
Panicked, he heard the ding of the elevator again as it arrived at the floor, he heard an older woman's voice, and he took the chance of another glance as he saw Miller intercept an enraged Sarah Walker before she could exit the apartment.
"Come on Teddy" the old lady admonished a small terrier that snarled and nipped at Larkin's heels as he blindly pushed by before the elevator doors closed leaving him on the same floor as …them! A hand grabbed him, he spun to see the old lady looking at him angrily, "Have you no manners young man… ohh your ear is bleeding, did you know ….?"
Larkin did know, he also knew he had far more important bodily parts! With a final effort he pushed past, "Well I never, such rudeness!", gasped the old lady, stumbling into the elevator he hit the ground floor button and threw himself against the wall as a pair of blades shot through the closing door slamming hard into the wall and embedding there. He caught sight of Miller and Walker's faces as the door closed. Anger on Sarah's and satisfaction on Carina Miller's.
Back on the apartment floor, the old lady, Mrs Hardy was still sputtering in outrage as she started to pick herself up, the small dog still snarled at the elevator doors, there was movement behind her, and she turned to see the two young women approaching her.
"I certainly hope that… man wasn't here to see one of you ladies, he was certainly no gentleman!" Sarah Walker helped the older woman up and to her apartment as Carina pulled her first blade from where it had stuck in the hallway wall. The small dog made a yelp and a vain attempt at escape before Carina scooped him from the floor.
"Thanks Mrs Hardy. He's an ex, hopefully he got the…er… message, and you won't see him again." There was a snort of suppressed laughter from the tall redhead as she handed the terrier to the woman, as she opened her apartment door, slipping Walker her knife in a smooth movement.
"Thank you, dears, well good to see you took no nonsense, know your worth ladies! Come along Teddy", the small dog whimpered as the door shut. The two spies looked at one another and burst out laughing. Sarah went to the controls and pressed for the elevator, the bell dinged, and the door opened, Larkin had long disappeared, there was a few drops of blood on the floor and the two blades were still stuck in the wall.
Carina grabbed a doily off a small table and wiped the blood up, Walker grunted as she pulled the blades loose, she examined the edges professionally, "What do you think he's going to do?" she asked Miller.
"Who cares, come on I fancy a little celebration, I know a place…"
Out on the road a shaken Larkin found his shock rapidly turning to anger, he was the Intersect! He was damned if he was going to be treated like this! He decided to make an official complaint. He headed to Echo Park.
Pulling up at the complex, he strode furiously across the carpark to the entrance, he entered the courtyard and froze, a leering Casey stood in his doorway threading a silencer into his handgun.
"Now Casey….", was as far as he got as the leer on Casey's face vanished and a laser like focus replaced it, he dropped to a stance and the Phut-Phut! of two rounds sang out, Larkin felt his shirt shoulder shred under the impact of the first round and the second gave his hair a new parting! In a shower of mortar dust and stone fragments, he broke and sprinted for the safety of his car.
In a screech of burning rubber, he sped from the complex convinced he was the target of some Fulcrum plot, in a block or two he considered his options, he could complain to Beckman, but he remembered he had been warned by Casey about liaisons outside of work, he groaned to himself. Casey had said there would be repercussions, he surveyed his wild-eyed expression in the car mirror. Lesson learned….
Slightly later. Echo apartments….
It was a tired duo of doctors that made their way slowly to their apartment, they stopped in surprise though as they recognised their neighbour John Casey with a can of paint and a paintbrush touching up the wall to the complex entrance. He was whistling happily as he worked.
They stopped as he turned and they regarded one another, "Ellie, Devon, just finished a shift?" It was an unnecessary question, he always knew their whereabouts, his repairs from his bullets had needed to be done though, he had had his men keep an eye for the returning doctors.
He had hoped to be finished beforehand, but he was enjoying the happy afterglow gun play gave him, the sheer terror on the CIA puke's face had made the whole thing worthwhile.
The two doctors looked at each other again but it was Devon who answered. "Hello John, yes, we just finished. What happened?" Ellie gave Casey a small smile and headed on to her home, a noticeable sadness hung about her as she passed. Casey grunted but didn't enquire. "Yeah, I figured…", he indicated the wall," … had a bit of an accident with a delivery, I didn't want to bother Mr. Morales, so I'm dealing with it myself." He looked in the direction of Ellie Bartowski, "How is she, any news?"
He was trawling he knew, but he was a spy.
"Same as usual John, sorry to report nothing on Chuck." The younger man looked despondent too. They looked at one another. "Well, I better go join her…" he trailed off and then without another look in Casey's direction, did exactly that.
John watched him go, kid learned too much from us if he could be that cold and leave his sister in the dark like this, he thought.
Good. There was no room for sentimentality in their business. He paused in his painting, shook his head, damn kid, messing with everyone's lady feelings…