Chapter 2
Lizzie made it into a body bag, and then into the trunk of the Crown Vic by way of a ten-story flight to a dumpster. It was not standard operating procedure. Neither agent cared.
At Casey’s apartment, the Echo Park surveillance package bit the dust. Casey went so far as to unplug the server in his living room so none of the D.C. pocket protector crowd could boot it remotely. The more he thought about Walker’s rebellion, the more he liked it. The ones who would order him to kill Chuck could fly blind for a while. He actually looked forward to telling the general with a straight face that there was no use spending the money to power the server and store the footage once Chuck gone.
Casey, who had ignored his phone for the last hour, finally looked. He had a text from Devon.
Chuck won’t answer his phone. Did you see him at end of shift? Give a shout out, thanks.
Sarah knew if Chuck’s family was chasing down Casey they surely already attempted to contact her. She hesitated to boot her phone. She didn’t want anything to chip away at her resolve. Graham could wait.
The sun just began to peek over the buildings across the road as Sarah stepped into the courtyard with Casey.
“Really, I’ll come in with you,” Casey said for probably the fourth time. In the space of a couple of hours, he had gone from orders are orders to anarchy is fun.
“One of us has to stay out of prison and depending on how Graham interprets all of this, I could be in trouble.”
“You could still walk,” Casey suggested, but his tone said he knew she’d never take the out.
“Or I could get lucky and end up Chuck’s next-door neighbor.”
She really was going to do this. Woefully short on sleep, Casey spoke without filtering himself. “I’m worried about you, Walker…which is almost as scary to me as what you’re about to do.”
“I just…I will not leave the agency in charge of setting the narrative. I can’t keep them from doing it, but I can get to Ellie first, so she knows what to trust, and what not to. I owe that to Chuck…and to her.”
Casey wasn’t doubting her resolve, but he did want Sarah to settle in her own mind why she was doing it.
“Is Bartowski really worth this?”
Sarah looked at the apartment door for a long moment and nodded. “Yes.”
“Okay. Come get me if they need confirmation.”
Sarah’s eyes teared up, and she shook her head. “Why would you put yourself out there like that?”
“Because Chuck served honorably, and I decline to operate with less honor than him.” Casey looked at Ellie’s door and down at his shoes with a sigh. “I’ve waited my whole career to land in the situation where treason and honor are the same side of the coin, and here we are.”
Sarah fished the diamond ring out of her pocket. Something that should bring Ellie’s family so much joy would forever be tainted, and there was nothing Sarah could do to fix it.
“I hate my life, John. I hate the things we have to do. I hate the people who make them necessary. I hate Graham. I hate Beckman. I despise Lizzy.”
Casey placed an awkward hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Come find me after and we’ll empty a bottle of scotch while the sky falls. Just don’t take too long. I have to call the general back eventually. You can duck out on that if you want. I’ll tell her you’ve already killed one person tonight and for Graham’s own safety it’s probably best he doesn’t bother you ’til later.”
Sarah’s phone, still minus the battery, was shoved into her pocket. She did not want to talk to Graham. “That’ll go over well.”
“Do you really care?”
Sarah wiped an errant tear from her cheek. “No. You tell her exactly that. Or tell him, since he’ll probably be lurking over her shoulder like a condescending statue.”
“You in the habit of telling him to shove it?”
Sarah shrugged. “First time for everything.”
With a reputation like Walker’s, you heard her out no matter your place on the org chart, but what little Casey knew about Director Graham gave him little hope that the man would.
Sarah peeked in the window. Devon sat on the sofa in the early light with Ellie’s head in his lap. Everything about his posture and expression told the story of his proposal plan gone horribly awry. Sarah hated to wake Ellie, and do everything else that came after, but it was time.
She knocked on the door and waited in agony.
Devon yanked the door open in a panic.
“Hey, uh, Sarah. Do you…have you seen Chuck?”
She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and swallowed. “Can I come in?”
Something about Sarah’s manner weirded Devon out even more. “I-yeah, yeah absolutely.”
Ellie got up from the sofa, wiping the sleep out of her eyes. She came over and wrapped her around Devon’s waist. “Hey, Sarah. Chuck’s in his room.” She stopped and thought for a moment and looked inquiringly at Devon. “I must have missed when he got home.”
“Uhh…no. Chuck’s…not here,” Sarah answered for Devon. “Can we sit down and talk?”
Sarah held her hand out. In her open palm Ellie and Devon saw the ring. They both gaped at it, but for different reasons.
Devon took it, shocked to find it in Sarah’s possession and baffled by how his whole surprise proposal had completely fallen apart.
“I…what on earth? Devon, what’s going on?” Ellie asked.
He shot Sarah a bewildered look and focused on Ellie. “I…I had a plan, babe. I was going to ask you to marry me last night. Chuck was holding on to the ring for me, you know, so you didn’t find it in the apartment and spoil the surprise? But Chuck…Chuck never turned up with it last night. He…” Devon looked at Sarah in growing panic. “He never came home.”
Ellie’s gaze bobbed between Devon and Sarah, trying to process that bit of news from Devon without freaking out.
“I…okay, that’s…not good,” Ellie managed. “Sarah, Chuck tells me if he’s not coming home, or at least he used to.” Ellie’s eyes grew wide and glassy. “Is he hurt?”
Sarah wanted to die. If she dropped dead right now, she wouldn’t have to do this. This was going to break Ellie’s heart forever, and Sarah had to be the one to do it.
“No, he’s not hurt.” Sarah pointed at the sofa. “Can we please sit?”
Devon backed toward the sofa pulling Ellie with him. They left room for Sarah, who sat down facing them.
Sarah felt faintly nauseous as she reached into her back pocket and withdrew the CIA credentials, placing the ID wallet open on the coffee table.
Ellie gasped and Devon swore under his breath.
Sarah hardly ever carried her credentials in L.A. The bulky wallet just got in the way, and she already carried her phone and a pistol. But just this once, she needed her bona fides. As Ellie stared at it with tears clinging to her lashes and Devon’s horrified gaze ping-ponged between the coffee table and Sarah’s face, Agent Walker hated absolutely everything about her job more now than she ever had before.
Devon picked up the wallet and examined her ID closely. “Sarah…this…you’re a spy?”
“I…am a clandestine officer with the CIA, so…yes.”
Sarah reached out and wrapped her hand around Ellie’s wrist.
“Ellie, I need to tell you a story. I need you to let me tell you it, all the way through, and I need you to understand a few things at the outset. The story I’m about to tell you isn’t completely accurate, but it’s how I have to frame it. What I’m telling you now is how I need you to think about the situation. I need you to use my version of the story to inform how you respond to what’s coming, because it’s very likely that you’ll be asked to believe something completely different, and I can’t allow that.”
Ellie pulled out of Sarah’s grasp. “Sarah, you’re not making any sense, and you’re scaring me. Where is my brother?”
Sarah looked at Devon in frustration. So far, he looked badly worried, but he was listening. Sarah needed Ellie to do the same. “Ellie, if you believe that I care about you and your brother at all, I desperately need you to listen to me. Please.”
Devon squeezed Ellie’s hand in both of his. “Babe, this sounds super important. It’s Sarah. Let’s just…let her talk.”
Ellie’s intense gaze flooded with tears. She swiped them away in frustration but nodded. “Please,” she whispered.
Sarah’s hands shook and she clasped them together in her lap.
“Four months ago, the United States government became aware that some information of great strategic interest to our government and our enemies was out in the open, unprotected. We had reason to believe that someone in Los Angeles came into possession of this information. That’s why I came to L.A., to track down this person, to determine if they were threat to U.S. national security and to acquire the sensitive information before if fell into the wrong hands. That’s how I met your brother.”
“Chuck has it?” Ellie asked desperately. “This information, whatever it is? Is he hacking again?”
Sarah ignored the again and pressed on. “Has it,” Sarah acknowledged, “and no. Chuck gained access to it through no fault of his own. Chuck did absolutely nothing wrong, not a single thing. I can’t elaborate, except to say now that Chuck has seen it, it has also became known that someone has seen it, these bad actors have been trying very hard to get their hands on the information, or failing that, on the person who had seen it. For the last four months, I have been working with a partner, John Casey, to protect your brother, to prevent him from being identified by anyone else as the person of interest in this highly classified matter of national security, and to help Chuck live as close to his normal life as possible under that threat.”
“John is CIA?” Devon asked in shock.
“No, Casey is NSA, National Security Agency. He’s a good man.” The jury was out on how accurate a picture that was of John Casey’s character, but Sarah had no room to dwell on or explain that now.
Ellie sat with that for a moment, holding Devon’s hand in a vice and bearing down against the sob fighting its way out of her chest. “All of the strange behavior, late nights, missed dinners…” she breathed out.
“All of the out of character behavior was Chuck trying to keep the wheels on while we navigated this nightmare.” Sarah swallowed hard, fighting a losing battle against her emotions. “Chuck wasn’t allowed to say anything to you, Ellie. It’s been killing him, feeling like he’s constantly letting you down.”
Ellie covered her face with her hands and wept. “I’ve been giving him such a hard time.”
“Ellie, Chuck knows you love him. He knows…” Sarah’s voice broke and she took a shaky breath. “He is so worried about you, how this will affect you. He loves you so much.”
Devon was crying too at this point. He went to bookshelf for a box of tissues and handed them out liberally.
Sarah crushed handful of them in her fist and continued. “The people Chuck works with at the store…you and Devon…Morgan…you’re all in danger, just being near him.” Sarah squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face to the floor. “The people in charge believe we can no longer guarantee Chuck’s safety or the safety of those around him.” Sarah swallowed hard and met Ellie’s gaze. “Chuck is safe, but tonight, someone who meant Chuck harm got close enough to our operation that our bosses made a decision…another CIA officer has taken your brother into protective custody. Chuck is gone.”
“WHAT?” Ellie gasped out. “Where did they take him? When is he coming home?”
“Ellie…he’s not coming home, at least not now. Very possibly never.”
Devon, who had been doing his best to shut up and listen and support Ellie, couldn’t hold his peace any longer. “What do you mean he’s not coming home?” he shouted. “He has to! He didn’t do anything wrong! They can’t just-just KEEP him!”
“Yes, they can.”
The Morgan door proved useful, one more time. They all turned to find John Casey standing in hallway.
Ellie boiled up in a rage and flew toward Sarah’s partner. She pounded Casey with her fists. “They can’t! It’s wrong. They can’t do that! I won’t let them. It’s WRONG!”
Devon, only a few steps behind his fiancée, wrapped Ellie up in his arms before she could inflict any real damage.
Casey tasted the slight tang of blood inside his bottom lip. “It is wrong,” he agreed. “But they won’t acknowledge that, not when they’re protecting the security of three hundred million Americans. That’s how big this is.”
“Whatever Chuck has, can’t he just give it back?” Ellie gasped out tearfully.
“He never tried to keep it from us. But the people who mean our country harm won’t stop trying to get their hands on Chuck, as long they think they can make him talk about what he saw,” John said steadily. “If the government has him somewhere secure, and there is no operation here obviously protecting someone, the threat ends. The bosses won’t tell you where he is or let you see Chuck because an enemy could use your movements to track him. Walker is trying to figure out a way to get to Chuck, but honestly…I’m not convinced she’ll be able to do it, even if she was his handler.”
Ellie turned her face into Devon’s chest and sobbed quietly.
“Handler…what does that mean?” Devon asked unsteadily.
“Chuck, because he’s a civilian, was considered an asset, and Walker and I were his handers; his…guides…for lack of a better word, to help him through the last few months. Sarah was his sounding board, advisor, his closest protector. She took on a cover identity as his girlfriend because it allowed her unconditional access to Chuck and your family, even though that came with some challenges.”
Ellie pushed out of Devon’s arms and watched Sarah, still on the sofa, bent over her knees while tears dripped off her chin onto the floor.
Ellie grabbed another handful of tissues and sat in the chair on Sarah’s left. “For all I didn’t understand about the last few months, I know my brother, Sarah. I saw how much you affected him. He loves you. Are you aware of that? That my brother loves you?”
Sarah wished fervently for a fault to open up and swallow her whole.
When Sarah didn’t respond, Casey did. “She knows,” he said gruffly. “But fraternization…a real relationship, is strictly forbidden. They had to be very careful to give the appearance but not cross that line.”
“That’s just…awful.”
Ellie and Casey looked at Devon, but Devon was focused on Sarah.
“Seriously?” Devon asked her. “How do you do that? Act like that, with a big, sweet, handsome guy like Chuck? Such a gentle, good-hearted dude? How do you get that close to a guy that cares for you that much and have it all mean nothing?” Devon lamented. “How is that even possible?”
Sarah barely got the words past the lump in her throat. “It’s not.”
Sarah focused on the floor and missed Devon’s wide-eyed expression and the way Ellie’s eyes flooded with new tears.
Casey sat down on the arm of the sofa next to his partner. “Just so you understand how much Walker objects to all of this…she killed the enemy agent that discovered Chuck’s identity tonight.”
“Casey, stop,” Sarah begged through clenched teeth.
“All of this truth-telling, and that’s what you object to?” Casey shook his head in disbelief. “Ellie needs to know you’re not at fault here…and frankly, so do you. You tried, Walker. You took better care of Chuck than anyone else in your position could have. You defied orders and went to the extraction site, just to have a few more minutes with him. You threw that toxic little whore off the roof before she could tell her superiors the target’s name and that he had a family.”
Ellie gasped and leaned back in her seat, maybe unconsciously, but she did put space between herself and the killer on her sofa.
Sarah wanted to leave. She wanted to curse Casey for his incredibly uncommon attack of candor and run, to be anywhere but in Chuck’s living room, breaking his sister’s heart, admitting to Ellie that she was a liar and a killer, and watching this moment become about anything other than Chuck and his family. This should not be about her at all, not even a little bit, and Casey needed to stop.
“Bottom line…our feelings, whatever they are, are not relevant to the mission, ever.” Casey told Ellie and Devon. “We need to move on from that part of the discussion, because we have limited time here, and what we feel as operators doesn’t change anything. It might even keep us from making choices we need to, and at this point we can’t afford that. We’re going to make the argument to our bosses that the threat was contained before Chuck’s identity was known to anyone other than the dead enemy agent, and that Chuck should be released. And our bosses will ignore us. They will tell us to cut ties and get out of town.
“For obvious reasons, Chuck can’t just disappear and nobody care,” Casey posited. “Ordinarily they’d try to float some dumb explanation, like Chuck met a woman online and ran off to meet her. But this week we discovered some recording equipment, microphones, that didn’t belong to us in the Buy More. It was the first tip off that someone had zeroed in on the store searching for Chuck. In the rush to figure out how great the threat was, a big federal team got into the store overnight and moved everything to an offsite location so we could search through it without an audience. I can just about guarantee the higher-ups will use that apparent theft as the explanation for Chuck’s disappearance. They’ll gin up some cock and bull story that Chuck was disgruntled and conspired to steal and sell the inventory and skipped town to avoid arrest. It’ll be awkward for everyone and highly out of character, but they just need an excuse that lets them wrap this operation and recall us to Washington. They may even try to convince everyone he’s dead. Whatever tack they take, it’s gonna be brutal.”
Sarah used the time Casey spoke to compose herself. She wiped her eyes and focused on Ellie. “We have to be so careful. What we’ve told you, it’s…dangerous. If we get jailed for treason, and it’s a possibility now, then we can’t work toward getting Chuck back, and I’m the only one inside who will care enough to try. Please understand, John…he cares too, but one of us has to tow the party line and stay connected enough to learn things, and that will have to be John. I’ll need intel I won’t be able to get once my boss figures out that I read in Chuck’s family on our operation. And my boss will probably figure that out.”
Devon’s expression tensed even more, if that was possible. “How could they possibly know you told us?”
Sarah looked at Casey for a long moment. Nothing could be worse than telling them Chuck was gone. But among the lesser revelations, this one was going to sting.
Casey spared Sarah the telling. “Because your family has been under surveillance since the beginning…all of you. Phones, email, taps on the cameras at the hospital, this apartment, inside and out. The footage is written to a server at my apartment. We pulled the plug on that server before we got here this morning so we could speak with you freely. We’ll argue that the recording was no longer necessary with Chuck gone, but it’s a flimsy excuse, and they won’t like it. They will likely assume the worst of our motives, because it’s how they’re wired.”
Ellie pressed a hand to her chest and took a deep breath. “You recorded us?”
“Everything Ellie, every room,” Sarah said. “It was…an unforgiveable violation, in a very long list of them.”
Devon cleared his throat, his expression angry and his face florid. “You got a warrant for that? The bathroom, our bedroom?”
“The project…it’s…incredibly sensitive, even within our own government. There are…limits…to how widely details can be shared. It’s…” Casey carefully considered how to describe it, because the surveillance was entirely illegal. “It’s the kind of project…that people of malleable morals could be persuaded to take advantage of. It takes bodies, lawyers, clerks, judges, to obtain FISA warrants. The more people who knew what was going on, the more likely we’d run into someone who could be manipulated to take advantage of that information and create an unrecoverable security leak.”
“You don’t trust your own people?” Devon whispered, overawed in the worst way. “Good grief, John.”
More tears streamed down Ellie’s face. “You recorded the most private moments of Chuck’s life, of our lives, for four months, illegally.”
Casey, who normally had no problems being forthright, struggled to meet Ellie’s gaze. “I partitioned the private spaces, other than Chuck’s bedroom, to a specific drive on the server, and I didn’t view footage or pass any of it along to Washington unless we had material reason to review it. You have my word that I will shred that drive, later today. I won’t turn any more of that footage over to the NSA.”
Devon was trying valiantly to approach this as a problem to be solved, and to do that he needed information. The alternative was to slide down the drain in a flood of tears, and Ellie needed him to be strong. “Who’s pulling the strings?” Devon asked unsteadily. “How high does this go?”
“I doubt the president knows yet, but short of him…that high. Certainly, to the director of national intelligence. Walker is…special,” Casey admitted with a grimace. “She’s a direct report to the director of the CIA. I work for the NSA in a similar capacity. This intelligence, it’s as classified as it comes. People will kill for it, and worse. If they had succeeded in taking Chuck tonight…protective custody is an order of magnitude better for Chuck than what our enemies would have done to make him talk.” Casey’s jaw clenched and he sighed. “I promise you, dying would have been better for Chuck than falling into their hands.”
Ellie’s paper-thin composure failed entirely, and she sagged against Devon and sobbed.
Sarah knew Casey was saying these things for a reason. He was laying the foundation for Ellie to really understand how careful they had to be. Sarah asked for this, insisted Ellie understand something of the truth. Casey was being the partner Sarah needed and asked for, in his unvarnished way.
The front door beckoned, but if Sarah had any hope of Ellie trusting her going forward, she could not run away, not yet. But she was a breath away from falling completely and utterly apart and thought of doing it in front of Casey, any of them, really, completely repelled. Sarah was halfway to Chuck’s bedroom before she really registered that she was moving. She got as far as the window in his room and slid down the closet door and cried.
AN: It ended up a quiet weekend here. Let’s make some progress.