Rogue Spy – Chapter 9 Sneak Peek

Hey, guys. Crumby, here.

Frea has granted me access to the blog, so I could post a sneak peek from the next chapter of Chuck vs. the Rogue Spy. Thank you, Frea.

I'm not sure when I'll post the chapter, but hopefully it will keep you interested in the meantime. ;-)

Enjoy!

Chapter 9: The Debriefing

“There’s another matter we need to discuss first,” she said. Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. “You should probably sit.”

Frowning, Chuck looked at Casey, but it didn’t seem that he knew what it was about either. Chuck complied and took a seat.

The room immediately felt ten degrees hotter—like one of these spot heaters had been switched on—when Shaw resumed talking. “It’s about Walker.”

They all waited for his reaction; as if they weren’t sure he understood who Walker was. No, Chuck corrected, they were probably just testing him. He forced himself not to look at Casey.

“What, uh, what about Sarah? Is she back from her undercover mission?”

Again, Beckman and Shaw exchanged a look. Chuck sneaked a glance at Casey then, but he still didn’t seem to know more than him. If anything, his eyes were telling him exactly what he’d been thinking: be careful; sell the part.

“No,” Beckman finally said, and took a breath. That was unusual. “Chuck, back in May, while you were training in Prague…” Here they were, she was finally going to tell him the truth. He prepared himself to act surprised. “Agent Walker—Sarah—went rogue.” Chuck widened his eyes. “She stole from one of our facilities in Europe—”

“Killing one of our agents in the process,” Shaw piped in.

“—and disappeared off the grid. We haven’t heard from her since.”

Chuck let a few seconds pass. “Hang on a second. What are you talking about? Sarah would never do anything to jeopardize the CIA. You told me she was on a covert operation.”

“I know, Chuck. We didn’t know what Sarah was doing, and we didn’t want to affect your training.”

“So you lied to me,” he said, his voice as cold as ice. He didn’t have to play that part. He had been angry about this for four months now, ever since Casey had told him the truth at Silver Lake.

“Yes, I did.”

At least, Chuck couldn’t accuse her of shirking what she had done. As always, General Beckman didn’t look very apologetic about playing with his life in the name of national security.

Next to her, Shaw appeared to be observing the scene. Chuck had assumed he knew very well about Sarah’s situation, but Chuck had avoided talking about her with him. Beckman had asked him not to talk about it. Besides, after what had happened to Shaw’s wife, somehow it would have seemed a little insensitive to bring up that subject with him.

There was no other way to play it, so he turned to Casey. “Did you know about this?” he asked him.

“Bartowski—”

“I can’t believe this,” he said, jumping from his seat. He started prowling. “You had no right to hide it from me,” Chuck said, both to the screen and his partner.

“Bartowski, sit down,” Casey insisted.

“Information about Walker’s situation were of no concern to you, Chuck,” Shaw interjected. “General Beckman was dealing with a highly sensitive issue. It’s classified information. There was no reason to tell you.”

“Regardless, I also took some measures to protect you, Chuck,” Beckman carried on. Shaw seemed as surprised as him. Casey barely frowned in question.

“Protect me?” Chuck said harshly. He didn’t care. “From what?”

“Watch your tone, Bartowksi,” Casey hissed. He was in for an Oscar himself.

“I found it preferable to hide your relationship with Agent Walker,” Beckman went on, completely indifferent to the interruptions.

Chuck already knew that. Beckman had first said that Sarah had been supposedly undercover, and he was the Intersect. She preferred to remain cautious, and keep their relationship—whatever it was—low key. Chuck had agreed that keeping his questions about Sarah’s whereabouts to Beckman and Casey was the best option, considering his new Intersect status. That was before he’d learned that Sarah was rogue. Then, it became clear that Chuck shouldn’t discuss the subject of Sarah with anybody.

“Incidentally, I made the 49B and all incriminating data disappear. Going rogue is a dangerous business, and Agent Walker could have endangered you, and the Intersect.”

Chuck stopped his pacing, and stayed completely immobile. That was actually good news. It meant whoever was after Sarah, government contacts or not, didn’t know about him. Knowing Beckman, she had made sure Agent Forrest wouldn’t talk either. There was no reason to suspect that Chuck would want to help Sarah. “Well, at least you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I haven’t seen Sarah since I left for Prague.” Chuck looked briefly at Casey for help. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could convincingly keep lying through his teeth.

Fortunately for him, Casey caught his drift. “General, if I may, why is Bartowski being told now?”

“Things have changed,” she said, and signaled Shaw to continue.

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And that's all for today. Have a great one!