AN: Thanks to all of you who have followed this far. I promise that in this chapter...well, stuff happens.
If you think I own Chuck, you should seek some professional help. Nothing major, just a tune up.
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Casey opened the door to the conference room. The kid was sitting by the computer along one wall. "We found him!"
Bartowski looked up. "Yes," he cheered. "Where?"
"Union Station. Waiting for a train. We're going to get him. You're coming with...you saw him in person only yesterday. Come on."
"What train is he getting on?," asked Chuck.
"Who cares? We froze all trains leaving the station. They'll announce signal trouble." They were jogging down the corridor towards a rear exit to the building.
Thirty or so agents were putting on tactical gear. Sarah was along one side giving orders. When she saw them she turned to an agent next to her and ordered, "Get Carmichael a vest and an earwig." The agent scurried off.
Chuck said, "Why so many?"
Casey responded, "Big deal. Everyone wants in on it." He made a face showing his distaste.
Casey made sure Bartowski had the gear and knew how to put it on and use it. Then the time came to load up. He took the kid into the back of his van. Walker was in a different van, but he noticed her checking back on Bartowski. Casey gave her a nod to let her know that he would take care of the kid. He reminded himself to call him Carmichael mentally, or he'd certainly screw up and call him by his real name in front of people he shouldn't.
Sirens screaming, they blasted through Los Angeles traffic and were at Union Station shortly. The building was built in a style called Mission Moderne, somewhat reminiscent of old Spanish Colonial with a mix of Art Deco. Casey hoped there wouldn't be a shoot out there. Piling out of the van and assembling the teams of agents from the other vans, including Walker, they ran inside. Now that they were tactically deployed, Casey took command, having led Marines in combat, he was clearly the most qualified.
Slowing to a stop before the waiting room, Casey motioned for Bartowski to come forward. The kid looked pretty scared. Well, Casey was used to that. He'd led a lot of young Marines into combat and knew the look. Usually training took care of the potential for screw ups, but Bartowski had no training. He'd have to be watched.
"See him?"
"No. Not from here." The waiting room was 140 feet long and 80 feet wide with 62 foot high ceilings. It was covered in travertine marble and terra cotta floors. The windows flanking the room were 40 feet high and sunlight was streaming in. In this beautiful historic room there were hundreds people, bags, baby strollers, and kids running away from their frantic parents. With all trains stopped, more people kept coming in, and none leaving. Chuck couldn't see all of them from where he was standing, certainly not their faces. "Let me go in there, Casey. Let me go look for him." By this point Walker had joined them at the head of the collection of agents.
"No, it's too risky," she said. "You stay here and I'll go forward." She began to shrug off her vest and other tactical gear.
"Sarah, I can do this. It's why you brought me. I don't have to fight Andric, just walk past him and say, 'black jacket, third row on the left', or whatever. I can do this. Please. I really want to help stop this guy. Please."
"He's right, Walker. It's a simple recon. He's had the most recent 'eyes on'. If you're nervous about it, go with him. You two can stroll around the waiting room together until you spot Andric," said Casey.
She thought about it for a moment and said, "OK. Let's do it."
Bartowski shrugged out of his vest. Walker took his arm and they moved into the crowded room. Casey listened through his earwig.
Sarah said, "Just relax, Chuck. We're just a couple waiting for the train. No big deal."
"No big deal," repeated Bartowski. "Just a couple strolling around the waiting room. Waiting for our train. Waiting to spot our train. Hey, you ever see the movie Trainspotting? Just waiting...there he is."
Walker's voice cut in, "Green shirt, black leather jacket, Dodger's baseball cap, large black duffel at his feet, phone in his hand, eyes down. Right hand row. Three quarters of the way down towards the eastern entrance. Facing north."
Casey had to admit that he was impressed with Walker. She was very professional, smart, and cool and she was handling Bartowski flawlessly. Her reputation as a merciless killer was no doubt earned, but she obviously had other skills in addition. He wondered if the stone cold assassin demeanor was the act or the more human young woman she was showing Bartowski was the act.
"Right," Casey began to give commands to his teams. "Team Alpha, leave the building and loop around to the eastern entrance. Team Beta..." Something was happening to Bartowski. His face, his eyes, something.
Bartowski's voice cut in, "No, Casey. No. Andric isn't alone. There are others here with him. I just fl..recognized them." Casey noticed that Bartowski had stopped himself from saying 'flashed', a heads-up bit of operational security. The kid was ok.
"Ok, Casey. Chuck and I will make a complete circuit and call out any more people he recognizes."
Bartowski spoke again, "Casey, there's no guaranty that I will recognize all the bad guys. Some of them...I might not have seen before."
"Understood, Carmichael, and roger that," said Casey.
Walker and Bartowski walked around the entire waiting room, a large space. In total there were seven Serbian militiamen including Andric spread out in ones and twos. Once they were identified and located, Casey once again began to deploy his teams, when Bartowski interrupted him. "Give me a second, Casey. I want to check the men's room."
"Good idea. Do it." Kid has a good head on his shoulders, thought Casey. Glad we brought him.
Leaving Walker alone for a minute, he entered the men's room and came back out again in a moment. "Clear," he said.
The teams were deployed and Casey gave the countdown. Casey heard them all acknowledge that they were in position and said, "on three...one...two...THREE."
Thirty men and women rushed into the waiting area and jammed large guns into the faces or heads of all of the targets, screaming for them not to move. Innocent people waiting for the trains screamed and ran away. Some of the cooler heads took out their cell phones and began to make recordings of the events. Many just stood in stunned shock at the sudden armed chaos around them.
Andric had Walker's Smith & Wesson 5906 in his face and Casey's SIG Sauer P229 at the back of his head. Still holding his phone, he looked up and smiled a thoroughly frightening smile. There was a little violence off to the side as a couple of their targets resisted arrest, but not Andric. He just smiled. Walker holstered her weapon and moved to put zip ties on the man.
Suddenly, Bartowski rushed at Casey and tackled him, knocking him off balance. As the word, "Wha.." was forming on his lips, Casey felt the searing blast of a point blank shot passing within millimeters of the back of his head. Only then did he hear the loud gunshot. If Bartowski hadn't tackled him, the bullet would have blown his head off. Both men tumbled to the floor in a tangle.
Casey looked up and saw a stocky brunette woman with a Glock 9mm standing over him. She had approached him from directly behind. As she shifted the aim to follow him and Bartowski to the ground she found herself engulfed in a blonde hurricane of violence. Walker leaped over Andric and the bench and her booted foot kicked the Glock from the other woman's hand. As the brunette drew back to fight Walker, she was hit three times, left, right, left, every shot looked hard and punishing. She was a tough customer, though, and swung at Walker catching her on the jaw with a left hook. Walker shook it off and spun in with a roundhouse kick, staggering the brunette back. Walker took a sliding leap and launched a side kick that actually caused the brunette to take air as she flew backwards to crash against the wall and crumble to the ground. She didn't move any more.
Casey and Bartowski locked eyes with each other for a second. Bartowski said, in an awed voice, "Wow." Casey grunted in the affirmative.
Walker vaulted over the bench and went back to restraining Andric. He held up his phone, which, they now realized, was connected by a cable to the large duffel at his feet. "Doesn't matter," he said. The face of the phone showed a count down. 2:45...2:44...2:43.
"What did you do?" asked Walker, strain evident in her voice.
"I killed myself. And all of you too. Just like the women and children of Belgrade, there's nothing you can do."
Casey, now on the same side of the bench as Walker, reached for the duffel and carefully and slowly unzipped it, careful not to disturb it any more than absolutely necessary.
2:33
Peering int the bag, Casey saw that it was filled with orange blocks of C-4 explosive, enough to bring down the building.
2:20
"The tech guys say that he used a laptop as the trigger for the hotel bomb. The cell phone fits his style," said Casey.
Walker said, "No time to evacuate the building."
"Get the bomb outside?" suggested Casey.
2:01
"Yes," said Andric, who had been hustled out of the way by burly agents, leaving the phone on the bench. "Move it. Or disconnect the phone. All good ideas. " He laughed mirthlessly. "There's a tremblor switch, you idiots. If you move it, boom. And if the signal from the phone is interrupted for any reason, boom. And when the countdown gets to zero, boom. You can do nothing now but pray that God will have mercy on your worthless souls."
1:49
Bartowski, who had been standing there frozen, looked terrified. Despite that, he stepped forward, towards the bomb. He spoke up. "I have an idea. Let me look at the phone."
Casey said, "This isn't an x-box, kid. And you're not an X-man."
"I know, Casey, but we sell these at the Buy More. I repair these phones. Let me try. Please. I can do this."
Casey and Walker locked eyes and the message was the same, we have nothing to lose. "It's our best shot," said Walker.
Bartowski, straddled the bomb and sat in Andric's old seat. Casey moved to hand him the phone, but Bartowski said, "No, please. Hold it up just there," he motioned with his hands. "And don't let the cable disconnect. If it does...well, that' s bad." Casey put one hand on the phone and the other on the cable They wouldn't move an iota, as his hands locked onto them like steel vices.
1:09
"Anybody got a knife?" asked Bartowski.
Someone handed him a multitool. "Multitool. Excellent," said Bartowski.
He took out the knife and pried the back off the phone, dropping it on the floor.
"Sarah, can you call out the countdown, please, as the numbers change?"
"51," said Walker, her voice steady. Casey was more than impressed by her cool. They had less than a minute to live, and she was totally focused on her job.
"50," said Walker.
The kid switched the knife out and took out the screwdriver. He was talking to himself softly, "Don't interrupt the signal. Don't interrupt the signal. OK...OK..."
"49," said Walker.
Casey realized that Bartowski hadn't flashed.
"48," said Walker.
This wasn't the database in his head, this was just him...just Bartowski.
Walker continued to vocalize the countdown. "47...46...45...44...43...42...41...40"
Bartowski unscrewed something and dropped it to the floor.
"39...38...37..." The kid was starting to sweat, noticed Casey. "36...35... 34... 33... 32... 31..." Casey found his eyes riveted to the phone screen. Between each number, the screen of the phone blinked as the numbers changed.
Blink
"30," said Walker.
Blink
"29," said Walker.
Blink
Andric screamed, "You'll never do it. You are dead. Everyone here is dead..."
"Mr. Andric, can you please be quiet? I'm trying to concentrate here," asked Bartowski.
There was a thunk sound and Casey saw Chuck note Andric's unconscious body being lowered to the floor.
"20," said Walker.
Bartowski seemed to be scraping or scratching something on the back of the phone.
Blink
"19," said Walker.
Blink
"18," said Walker
Blink
"17," said Walker. Bartowski pried a different tool from the multitool and set back to work on the back of the phone with it.
Bartowski said, "Come on."
Blink
"16," said Walker.
Blink
"15," said Walker.
"Come on, Bartowski," Bartowski said. Casey noticed that, while he could see the terror in the kid's eyes, his hands were steady.
Blink
"14," said Walker.
"You can do this," said Bartowski.
Blink
"13," said Walker.
"You've fixed dozens of these," said Bartowski.
Blink
"12," said Walker.
"All you have to do is break this one," said Bartowski.
Blink
"12," said Walker.
Blink
"12," said Walker, a rising note in her voice.
Blink.
"12, 12, 12...what did you do? It's not counting down any more. What did you do?"
"I looped it. The signal is un-interrupted, but the countdown is stuck."
"How long will this last?," asked Casey.
"Until the battery goes dead, probably, certainly enough time to evacuate the building and get the bomb squad in here." Casey put the phone down on the bench, careful not to disturb the attached cable.
"You did it, Chuck," said Walker with a huge smile, her blue eyes sparkling. The expression on her face when she looked at Bartowski at that moment, Casey had only seen on a woman's face once before in his life, at a train station in Buffalo when he asked Kathleen to marry him. Oh, boy, he thought.
"I did it," he said, grinning, almost as if he didn't quite believe it himself. "I did it. I disarmed a real bomb. I.. I.. Uh...But what if I was wrong?" The kid looked suddenly sick.
"Don't puke on the C-4, kid."
Walker kissed him. The assembled agents, who knew Walker's reputation as a fearsome killer, couldn't have been more surprised if she had sprouted wings and flew around the room. She didn't seem to notice or care.
It wasn't a kiss on the cheek you're-a-good-guy kiss. It wasn't even a hot thank-you-for-disarming-a-bomb kiss. No, this one was a I'm-your-smoking-hot-girlfriend-and-I'm-going-to-rock-your-world-like-it's-never-been-rocked-before-the-moment-I-can-get-you-alone kiss. Damn, Walker. As she pulled back, Casey saw that the kid had an expression on his face like he had suddenly landed in Heaven, and Casey didn't blame him a bit.
