For All That We Are #4

It’s almost home time and my head hurts, mainly because the bloody server erased Monday and I spent Tuesday trying to recreate it (Monday, not the server, the server I wanna kill with fire). 

But on a brighter note, mxpw (who I have stolen from Frea because he’s so awesome) finally beta’d this.  Well, actually that’s a lie – he beta’d it like six months ago, but I take forever to rewrite stuff – I’m better at recreating Mondays apparently.  This is not going up on FFN just yet, not because mxpw said so, but because I’m not in the mood for “Ooh, an update, see you in six months, you lazy bum writer” reviews.  I have fire left over, so that could end badly.    

Gonna stop rambling there, because seriously, it’s home time.  See you after the jump.

Chapter 4

Sarah was starting to get frustrated.  Her orders remained the same: stay put and remain vigilant.  She could tell Graham was up to something, but he hadn’t seen it fit to clue her in on the plan, and she was too much of a professional to ask. 

The alarm clock on the nightstand read almost noon.  Her shoulder had started to throb again, but she was wary about taking the painkillers Chuck had insisted they pick up on the way to the hotel.  She needed a clear head, so instead she tried to ignore the pain and called down for lunch. 

Shortly after room service had arrived, a CIA courier showed up with the essentials the Agency reckoned she would need for her stay.  Most of her belongings from the last mission she’d left behind at the Fulcrum compound.  Sarah checked the small cache of weapons, ticked each item off on the inventory list and signed at the bottom.  A second briefcase contained copies of her identification documents, three untraceable credit cards and a fairly substantial pile of hundred dollar bills.  The suitcase held only the basics, barely enough to see her through a week, not to mention the lack of an evening dress. 

The courier explained that the CIA had rented the hotel room for an undefined period of time, and if there was anything else she needed, she had to charge it.  Further instructions from Washington would follow in due course.   

The courier was about to leave when Sarah cleared her throat.  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” 

A sheepish smile crossed his face, but it quickly dropped at her stern expression.  He reached into his pocket and retrieved a set of keys.  “It’s a rental,” he explained after handing them over.  “Your car will be shipped here and stored until you are able to drive a stick again.”  Without waiting for a response, he turned and disappeared out the door.   

Sarah opted for a shower and fresh change of clothes.  She was starting to get cabin fever and as she was still awaiting orders, she had some time to kill.   Plus, she needed to find something appropriate to wear for Chuck’s party.  Making sure her Smith and Wesson was loaded, she tucked it into the holster concealed by her jacket.  A smaller caliber went into her ankle holster.  Her trusted throwing knives went into her left boot.  A shopping trip was probably not the best idea, but as long as she stuck to crowded areas, she figured no one would try to ambush her again.

----0----

“Earth to Chuck.”  Morgan snapped his fingers in front of Chuck’s face, pulling Chuck from his daydream.  “Dude, where were you?”

Chuck’s first thought was that someone had found out about the bogus install and he stammered.  “I was…uh…she had trouble with…ahem…”

“Man, you’re out of it,” Morgan cut him off.  “I meant just now, buddy.”  He pointed over his shoulder to a customer deep in discussion with Skip.  “That guy was standing right in front of you and he tried asking you something like three times and you just stared through him.  I had to call in reinforcements.”  He didn’t give Chuck an opportunity to reply.  “It’s that girl from last night, isn’t it?  She cast some sort of spell on you, didn’t she?”

“She asked me on a date,” Chuck sighed happily. 

Morgan slapped his palms down on the Nerd Herd desk and leaned forward on his arms, staring Chuck square in the eye.  “Are you insane?”

Chuck blinked in surprise and snapped his head back.  “Why?  Morgan, did you not see her?  And she wants to go out with me, Chuck Bartowski.  Professional nerd who still lives with his sister and hasn’t been on a date since…”  His face fell.  He hadn’t really thought it through much, too in a daze over her interest, but after hearing the words spoken out loud, Chuck realized that things like this, if it ever happened in real life, didn’t happen to him.  He could understand that she wanted to thank him, but he had trouble figuring out why she had insisted after he had turned her down.  Maybe Morgan was on the right track.  “I think she’s the crazy one.” 

Morgan waved him off.  “That is beside the point.  If being nuttier than a Snickers bar was her only flaw, I’d say go for it.”

“Hey,” Chuck protested, “I thought you were supposed to be on my side.” 

“I am on your side.  That is why it’s my duty as your best friend to remind you of the gunshot and the hooded baddie that nearly knocked you down.”

“She was mugged, Morgan, it could happen to anyone.”  Of course, Chuck still had no idea whether that was true or not, but apparently it was the story they were sticking with.

Morgan shook his head and straightened.  He held up his thumb.  “One, she was all by herself in a less than savory part of town.”  He added his forefinger.  “Two, I did not see a purse on the gunman.”  He raised his middle finger.  “And three…”  Morgan’s nose crinkled and he scratched his beard.

“What’s three?” Chuck asked after a few beats of silence.

“I don’t have a three.”  Morgan dropped his three finger salute.  “All I’m saying is she’s a drug dealer who got shot by one of her clients and now she has merchandise to unload before her boss breaks her knees and what better way to do it than to seduce a naive, unsuspecting guy into buying it from her?  She’ll probably give you the first hit for free just to get you hooked.  I have seen this happen.”           

Chuck couldn’t respond.  He was too busy trying to shut his jaw.

“Or she’s involved in black market organ trading.”

Chuck recovered his ability of speech.  “You are being totally ridiculous.”

“Fine,” Morgan shrugged nonchalant, “But don’t call me if you wake up tomorrow morning in a bathtub, cuffed to the tap, with your kidney cut out.” 

“I am willing to give up a kidney for a date with her, and I don’t really need my spleen,” Chuck retorted, leaving Morgan speechless this time.  Clearly the bearded one had been watching way too much TV.  Instead of pointing that out, Chuck leaned across the desk and dropped his voice.  “Listen, Morgan, wild theories aside, I need a favor.”

Morgan eyed him suspiciously.  “I don’t have any organs to spare, just so you know.  I kept my appendix in a jar, but it got lost the last time we moved.”

“That was a blessing in disguise, Morgan.  If you hadn’t had it in the first place, you never would have gotten that nickname.  But back to the favor.” 

It took some convincing, and a promise that Han Solo and Chewy could spent an extra two weeks in Morgan’s room, for Chuck to finally get Morgan to agree to go along with the lies he had told Ellie.  Though Morgan had not been invited to Chuck’s birthday party, it was a given that he would crash, like he did every year, and Chuck needed to cover his bases. 

“Just for the record, Chuck, this proves my point.  Today she has you lying to Ellie, tomorrow…”

“She is going to kidnap him and demand a really large ransom,” a female voice cut him off.

----0----

Sarah couldn’t help herself.  She had walked up to the duo, but with their heads together, having a hushed debate over the custody of what she assumed must be their pets, they hadn’t spotted her.  When they had finally struck an agreement, she moved closer to make her presence known, only to overhear Morgan’s comment.  It wasn’t difficult to figure out that he was talking about her.           

“Thank you,” Morgan replied sincerely, his attention still on Chuck.  “See, even she agrees with me.”

Chuck was momentarily stunned when he saw her, but then stood from his desk chair and smiled.  “Hi, Sarah.”

“Who’s Sarah?” Morgan asked and turned.  His eyes met her chest and he stared three seconds too long before tilting his head back, causing her to quirk an eyebrow.  She was used to all types of men staring at her, but that was new.  A flash of recognition crossed Morgan’s face and his eyes widened slowly.  Then his hands searched for the desk behind him and he scrambled backwards onto it and nearly fell off the other side, but somehow managed to land on his feet. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Morgan.”  Sarah stifled a laugh.  He was looking at her as if she was a time bomb.

“Yeah, you too,” he responded nervously.  “Look, I would love to stay and chat, but—what’s that, sir?  Xerox machine?  I am on it!” 

They both watched Morgan disappear from sight. 

“Sorry about that,” Chuck apologized.  “One of these days he’ll stick around long enough for a proper introduction.”

“He seems like an interesting character.” 

“That’s one way to look at it.  So, what brings you by?”  He produced a small screwdriver from his back pocket and waved it in her direction.  “Phone trouble for real?”

“Actually, sort of.”  Sarah pulled a business card from her purse and slid it towards Chuck.  “You forgot to ask for this.”

With a slight frown, he took it from her and studied it for a moment before catching her gaze.  Embarrassment colored his cheeks.  “Your phone number, of course.  That would make it easier to arrange the ransom drop.”

Sarah grinned.  “Or you could use it to let me know the time and place for the party.”  She decided to not mention the dinner yet.  She felt awkward enough having to be so forward.  If he was a mark, she would simply rely on her training, but with Chuck it was different.  This was a personal favor of sorts, and one she had offered without being asked.  She had no agenda and that made her uncomfortable.  All she knew was that she had gotten him into a difficult situation with his family and she didn’t want to just abandon him, though she was still racking her brain for the reason.   

“Aha.  Party first, abduction later.  Good plan.”  Chuck reached for his phone and programmed her information into it.  “So you got a new phone already?” he asked, with a quick glance in her direction.  “I mean, assuming yours was stolen last night, which is very efficient, getting the new phone, I mean, not the guy who mugged you, but maybe you had one of those older models and he wasn’t interested—“

“I got a new phone,” Sarah confirmed, cutting off his babbling.  “My employer arranged it.  He needs to stay in touch,” she explained to avoid a round of questions.  

Once done, he slipped the phone into his pants pocket, patting it to make sure it was safely tucked away.  “Okay, this is your last chance to back out.”

“Why would I do that?”

“To save yourself an evening of interrogation and torture.  Ellie can get a little intense.”

His word choice threw her for a moment before she realized it was only a figure of speech.  She raised her injured shoulder a fraction.  “I survived a bullet, so I’m pretty sure I can handle your sister.” 

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I’ll consider myself warned.”  Sarah chewed her bottom lip, wondering briefly if she shouldn’t have taken the out Chuck had offered.  L.A. was a big city and she was a spy, she could easily avoid him.  Then again, she had nothing else to do but wait for orders and she wasn’t a particularly patient person.  A temporary distraction could be exactly what she needed.

----0----

Major John Casey debated the merits of leaving the room and re-entering, but it was doubtful that that would get his superior or her visitor’s attention.  He started to clear his throat and then stopped when the little voice in the back of his mind, that usually sounded like his mother’s, reminded him that it would be rude to interrupt.  Momentarily forgetting that he was no longer a six-year-old, he just stood there, inevitably eavesdropping on the conversation, if it could be called that.  The tones were civil, but the tension in the room palpable.  The CIA and NSA might have been told to play nice, but decades of rivalry didn’t disappear overnight.    

“Bryce Larkin was CIA, Graham, he was one of yours.”

“And it was the NSA’s job to secure the facility.  Your team failed.”

“Your agent turned.  Heaven only knows how many of them have.”

“How can you be so sure none of yours have?”

Casey had had enough.  Manners be damned.  He had little tolerance for the CIA.  They were a bunch of pretty boys and cute skirts who had never fought on the front lines to protect their country.  A couple of defused bombs and captured terrorists did not a free world make.      

“General, Director, with all due respect—” 

Graham ignored whatever Casey was about to say.  “If this gets out—” 

“It won’t,” Beckman interrupted.  “Major Casey will head up the task force to track down and retrieve the copy Agent Larkin stole and destroy it.”

At that, Casey hid his smirk.  Bryce Larkin might have given him the slip, but that just gave him all the more reason to put a bullet in his brain.  It has been a while since Casey had added a gold star to his book and his trigger finger was starting to twitch. 

“That will not be possible.  It’s been uploaded.”  Graham paused, evidently enjoying the shocked expressions on Beckman and Casey’s faces.  “Lucky for us, it was friend, not foe.”

“But it wasn’t ready.  Washington disapproved.”  Beckman found her voice first.

“The upload was voluntary.  Washington can’t point fingers.  This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.”

Casey had been in the business long enough to spot the lie, even from a trained professional, but said nothing.  It wasn’t his place.

Beckman leaned forward, pinning Graham with a stare over her glasses.  “What are you suggesting?”

“You know what I’m getting at.  This is our chance to find out what a human Intersect can do in the field.  Testing it live, so to speak.” 

“Okay, Graham, I’ll bite.”  Beckman sat back in her chair, her gaze never wavering.  “What exactly do you have in mind?” 

“The test subject is currently in Los Angeles.  We set up a base there and send in Major Casey, like you proposed.” Graham nodded in his direction.  “He will team up with Agent Walker.  They can run the op and report back to Langley.”

Beckman’s eyes narrowed.  “Larkin’s partner?”

“Former partner.  She had nothing to do with his indiscretions.”  Graham dropped the folder he’d been holding onto Beckman’s desk.  “It’s all in there.  She’s currently on medical leave, but I was assured she’d be ready for active duty in a few weeks.  In the meantime, she is a valuable source of intel.”

Beckman opened the file and scanned its contents, her face blank.  Once done, she handed it to Casey.  His eyes ran over the front page.  Then he looked past Graham at Beckman.  “Why L.A.?  Why not bring it back to D.C.?  Surely with the resources here we’d be better equipped to do the testing.”

“We don’t know who we can trust at headquarters,” Graham responded.  “With the Intersect in L.A., Fulcrum will be forced to send a team after it.  They come to us.”    

Casey nodded.  That would be easier than trying to sift through everyone the Agencies had ever recruited.  “I guess I’m going to L.A., which is perfect.  I’m feeling a little pasty.” 

“Well, then, that’s settled.”  Graham stood, offered a courtesy parting comment and left.

Casey waited for Graham to depart before turning to his superior.  “What are my orders, General?”

“For now, we’ll follow Graham’s plan, but Major, if there is any indication that the Intersect is dangerous or at risk of falling into enemy hands, your orders are to destroy it.”

----0----