Chapter 8
Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck
Then
Sarah flipped through a file, let out a sigh, and pushed her hair out of her face. She looked over at Chuck, who was humming happily, having a piece of pie. “Do they not have pie there?”
“Oh, they do,” Chuck said lifting his head. “But everything…everything is just made a certain way. Not too spicy, not too much extra flavor. We have to have everything brought in, so there is only so much we can do food-wise. We have gardens there, but the chefs were born there, learned how to cook there, and follow the same recipes from when this all started, nothing changing.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said. “I knew there had to be some other catch to it all, because the location…honestly, it kind of sounds like heaven.”
Chuck giggled. “That’s ironic, because the one other place I have traveled to…I’ve named heaven.” Sarah tilted her head. “Again, we need some supplies, so over the years a deal has been made with a place that is off the map, but I’ve figured out where it is. Let me see your phone.”
She handed him her phone, and he played with it for a minute. He handed it back to her. “I tagged it on your map, Heaven.” She grinned at him. “It’s also a bit of a paradise. There is a village there, that the majority of the crops we need are grown. It has a nearby dock, where supplies can be sent and then sent to us.”
“Okay, it sounds like they can help you, but how do you help them?” Sarah asked.
Chuck grinned. “I’ve helped them come up with state of the art technology to communicate. It’s in the middle of nowhere, away from everyone, but if they need help, they have the ability to contact whoever. If it’s night and rainy, they have the technology to watch whatever because I’ve shown them how to wire everything.”
“So you made everything modern?”
Chuck shook his head. “No, I mean yes, they can do those things, but they live a simple, happy life. Sure they watch TV some times, but…” he trailed off, grinning. “After I showed them everything, they made me a place to live. It’s on a little island, away from the coast. Not far, just far enough out, that it takes a boat, or a really good swimmer to get there.”
“What’s out there?”
“A small house, where I can lay out and catch some rays,” he said, grinning. She could just feel the happiness radiating off of him. “And best of all, no one is around so…” he looked around and leaned in. “No tan lines.”
“I noticed you didn’t,” Sarah said with a grin, making him blush. “Were you there recently?”
“A few weeks ago,” Chuck said, nodding. “Who’s that file?”
“Roan Montgomery,” Sarah said. Chuck nodded. “You know him?”
“Quite well,” Chuck told her. “He plays nice with Roark, but deep down, he’s bitter. He wants to leave so badly.”
“He disappeared years ago after leaving the CIA,” Sarah said, putting the file in her bag. “The belief was he had either gotten attacked by a spouse or significant other of one of his many conquests-”
“I mean that completely checks out,” Chuck muttered.
“Orrrr,” Sarah said, grinning. “He started his own sex cult, and died during some orgy.”
“That also checks out,” Chuck said nodding. Sarah laughed. She saw him check the clock, and the smile fell from his face. “Well,” he went quiet, not knowing what to say.
“It’s not good-bye,” she began.
“It has to be,” he told her. “You can’t show up there.” She sat there, a challenging smile on her face. “Sarah.”
“Chuck, listen to me,” she began. “I love you-”
“And I love you,” Chuck replied, quickly. “And that’s why you can’t come. That’s why you have to abandon this plan. You’ll be stuck there.”
“Chuck, we can do this,” Sarah told him.
“We can’t,” Chuck said taking her hand. He picked it up and placed a kiss on the top of her hand. “I will never forget this time we had.”
“Nor will I.”
“Please, don’t follow me.” He stood, bent down, kissed her gently on the lips, and left.
Sarah shook her head, took of the bracelet he had given her, and opened the charm that was Chuck's mother’s. She took out the tiny card, place it in the reader, and connected it to her phone. She put in her ear buds and hit play. And older woman stood there, in the video, her resemblance to Chuck, uncanny.
“Hi,” the woman said, that Sarah knew had to be Mary Bartowski. “If you’ve found this, you cannot tell Chuck.”
One night, while he slept, Sarah had wondered about the bracelet, and she began to study it. She looked at the charms, and noticed one seemed slightly off. She gently twisted and turned it, until it opened, revealing the card. She thought about asking Chuck, but something told her there was a reason Chuck didn’t know. She had been right.
“The last thing my husband did before Roark tested his machine on Stephen, was build this virus. It will destroy the Intersect. Stephen and I have run every possibility of who could help us complete this plan.” Mary Bartowski was silent for a moment. “Sarah Walker, we need your help. My son and daughter cannot live in this hell hole any longer.”
The look on Mary’s face was one Sarah had seen over the years. It was what Sarah had come to call, a mother’s determination. “My son deserves a life outside. He deserves a life in that place he calls, ‘Heaven’.” She paused, smiled, and continued. “And he deserves a life with a woman who truly loves him. If you love my son, and the program thinks you do, then you have to save him.”
Sarah leaned back in the booth. The program could understand when someone was IN love. It however, didn’t understand love itself. That was going to Roark’s downfall. Sarah swore to that.