I'm sorry it took so long between parts. I really didn't want to leave it like that for most of the week.
Chuck vs The One That Almost Got Away : Part III
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"Hi Chuck, John," the agent greeted them.
"Sarah, we haven't really met before," she said holding out her hand, "I'm 'Charlene' - also with the CIA."
Sarah looked at her in disbelief. 'Charlene' as her name tag read, was the redhead sales associate she had seen at the Buy More. She was one of Chuck's co-workers that he didn't regularly spend much time around. Now a Buy More employee that had otherwise not caught her attention was standing in a government operations center, wearing her green and khaki uniform. "I have to say I'm surprised," Sarah admitted while shaking Charlene's hand.
"It's always the quiet ones right?" Charlene said smiling back.
Casey looked at her with contempt. "Well before we all start getting friendly around here, in case you hadn't noticed, this isn't the Buy More. It's Major Casey to you. Second, how did you get in here without tripping the security system?"
"General Beckman gave me the access code to one of the entrances from the Buy More, so I thought I'd come here the proper way."
"What do you mean 'the proper way'?" he asked, finally putting away his gun.
"Joh--, Major Casey, the security sensors protecting that entrance were recalled a few months ago. They're pretty easy to bypass."
Chuck and Sarah turned and looked at Casey. "Not a word out of either of you," he threatened, "How do you know about the recall?"
"It's part of my job to track things like that. closer to my area of expertise."
"Hey, wait a minute," Chuck realized, "since when did you start speaking with an accent?"
"This is my accent. The one you're used to is just for cover," Charlene continued noticing Chuck's confusion, " .Chuck, with all the movies and TV you watch, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that someone like me can do an American accent."
Sarah looked up and briefly glared at her.
Casey grinned. "Well Walker. I think I'm starting to like her. Now," he said turning serious, "what happened to the camera feed. and how the hell did you manage to avoid showing up on any of my background checks?"
"Making sure I don't stand out on background checks and keeping anyone else from seeing what the camera recorded are both mission related."
Charlene saw that her answer wasn't sufficient for Major Casey. "Orders. " she added.
Casey thought for a moment before nodding and sitting down, much to Chuck's surprise.
"Mind if I take a seat too?" Charlene asked, "It's been a busy morning."
"Yeah, about that." Chuck chimed in, "I guess I should be thanking you for saving my life. It seems so weird. ", he trailed off looking uncomfortable, "not that you couldn't save my life or anything, but I guess I didn't expect yet another spy to be at the Buy More."
"Anyway," he continued with a pause, "what exactly happened. this morning. to me?"
"Bad timing, " Charlene said sitting down. "I recognized the guy that attacked you. I knew he was the work for hire type, but I wasn't sure if he was here for me or maybe for whatever makes you special. When I watched him follow you out the back, I made my way around and kept him from taking off with you. Once I made sure you were okay, I 'took care of the situation'. By the time I got back to the Buy More, I saw that a couple of your friends were already looking after you."
Casey narrowed his eyes. "What makes you think Bartowski here is somehow special?"
"Well," she said trying to choose her words carefully, "No offense Chuck, but it doesn't appear you're exactly a fully trained field agent,"
"None taken." Chuck clarified.
"and while I'm pretty sure no one else at the store is really paying any attention to what's going on, there's a habit for you guys to talk a little too loud about being spies and about spy-related activities just before leaving the store."
Sarah watched the anger return to Casey's face.
Chuck took his turn to ask the next question, "What happened to the guy that shot me? Is he. "
"Just wounded - and being questioned soon, if not already, about what he knows."
"Wow, how did you do all that?"
Charlene lightly smiled but didn't answer.
Casey stood up and slammed his fist down onto the table, "It means, idiot, that she had help. She's probably not the only agent around here that we don't know about."
"Wait, Casey, where are you going?" Chuck asked.
"I've got some sensors to replace." he angrily replied.
"But what about the guy that shot me, or the mission?" Chuck persisted.
"Oh, don't you worry," Casey grumbled menacingly while storming out of the room, "I'll be listening."
"So," Sarah said hoping to shake the feeling of being the odd one out, "why was someone at the Buy More looking for you?"
"Here's as much as General Beckman's allowing me share with you: it might be related to my previous mission. A European research lab had been contracted by the US military to produce a supercooling chemical code-named 'Wonderflonium'. There was an intelligence report that a security breach had taken place there and that a large sample of the chemical had been stolen. The lab didn't want to lose its funding, so they refused to cooperate and even tried to cover the whole thing up. I was sent in to collect any information they didn't want us to know about."
"Not long after, we got a lead that it was going to be sold on the black market, and that the exchange was likely going to take place soon. I was added to the team responsible for tracking and recapturing the stolen canister. Another team was assigned to identify the buyer."
"After a couple months of him just barely getting away, I managed to follow him to the US and capture him here in LA. Lucky for us, he was still carrying the canister with him, and it was still intact. From what I understood, the other team never managed to identify who the buyer would have been."
"Wow, that sounds pretty cool," Chuck enthusiastically said, "but what about the guy that shot me?"
"The guy that shot you Chuck, Roper Williams, was someone the other team suspected might have been hired to help secure the sale of the Wonderflonium. The General believes that the buyer wasn't too happy that I killed the deal, and that this 'Williams' was kept on, among other things, to find me. He apparently didn't have any trouble getting onto the Buy More's WiFi network, because he used it to make a call."
Chuck turned to Sarah, trying to be helpful. "It's easy for anybody to get on the wireless network - they always make the password 'Buy More' plus the store number."
"He must have thought calling that way wouldn't be as easy to trace as a regular phone call." Charlene continued, "Since I'm responsible for monitoring the store's network, I was able to get a location for whoever he called."
"Ouch," Chuck said grimacing, "that's a lot of Jeff and Lester traffic to filter through. you have my sympathies."
"Thanks," Charlene said slightly laughing, "The other side of that call came from a chemical lab about 30 minutes from here. If the original Wonderflonium research data was also stolen, it might give someone at this lab the ability to produce their own sample. General Beckman's orders are for us to get a clearer idea of what's going on and do what we can to keep that from happening."
"Chuck," Charlene continued, "our first task is for the two of us to get in and bug their network."
Chuck raised his hand. "What about Sarah and Casey?"
"They'll be outside, monitoring the feed."
Chuck's smiled to himself until he noticed Sarah's gaze. "Sorry. it's just that. you know, me - van. okay. But hey," he said trying to avoid the awkwardness, "why me? Why not Sarah or Casey?"
"It's okay Chuck." Sarah replied partially for her own benefit.
"Out of the four of us," Charlene explained, "you and I are going to look the most like repair personnel. Plus our technical backgrounds will help us sell our cover."
Chuck laughed for a moment. "Yeah, 'cop-face' had a problem with that kind of cover."
"One question though," Chuck inquired turning more serious, "what happens if they make their own 'Wonder-whatever'?"
The redhead shrugged. "It made a lot of them really nervous when the original sample was stolen. They never gave me high enough clearance to learn why."
"We'll need some equipment from my apartment." she stated standing up.
She turned and looked down at Chuck. "Want to come along?"
Chuck squirmed in his seat as he tried to avoid having to answer.
"I'm sorry," Charlene apologized to Sarah, "I forgot he might not be allowed."
"No-" a flustered Sarah said, "No, of course he can go. I just need a moment with him before he leaves."
"Sure," Charlene responded with a smile, "I'll be over at the Buy More."
"Chuck," Sarah said speaking quietly, "please keep your watch on you at all times. If you find yourself in a dangerous situation, you activate the distress call and-"
"Sarah," Chuck whispered as he looked into her eyes, " .thanks. I promise you, no repeats of what happened with Jill. I would never disappear from you again."
"Bartowski!" Casey's gruff voice made both Sarah and Chuck jump.
Casey held out a plate of appetizers. "Since you've somehow managed to get yourself in the middle of an important mission, how about you not pass out again huh?"
Chuck blinked in amazement. "I completely forgot- I've got to tell Morgan that I can't do lunch."
"Thanks Casey," Chuck said taking a bite, "these are pretty good."
The more Chuck ate, the more Casey grinned. After swallowing the third snack, Chuck looked terror stricken.
"Wait!" He yelled pointing at Casey, "The last time you had appetizers, you laced them with microbots!"
Casey's laugh confirmed his suspicions.
"Don't worry Bartowski," he teased, "they're small. It's not like you'll feel 'em swimming around in your stomach or anything."
Casey took a step closer and slapped Chuck on the back. "Now go have fun on your little field trip."
"Oh God. " Chuck nervously repeated as he made his way up the stairs.
Sarah glared at Casey. "Was that really necessary?"
"Relax Walker. Beckman may trust her, but just in case our friendly co-worker turns out to be 'not so friendly' after all, we'll have another way to track Bartowski. Not even the moron can mess this one up."
"Of course," Casey continued goading Sarah, "those microbots do track with a better resolution than his watch."
"Why I bet when the two of them get to her place, we'll be able to pull up the floorplans and observe just how long they spend in each room."
Casey laughed at Sarah's discomfort.
"How much do you trust your 'nerd-friend' now?" he said leaving the room.
