Chapter 31 – The Light at the End of the Tunnel

He lay there pretending to sleep still. The trick was to level the breathing into a slow rhythm that was not too deep or too shallow. As he lay there, he listened and felt every slight movement, every sound, and was particularly attentive to the breathing pattern of his bedmate. She was coming to and might already be somewhat alert. Then he felt her shift, pull the covers back and slips from the bed. He listened as he heard her feet move along the carpeted floor, onto the tile, and into the bathroom. He heard the seat lowered and knew that he could open his eyes and take a moment to relax. Listening further, he heard the sink and closed his eyes enough to see and her form exit the bathroom and head back to the bed. He waited and planned. She slipped into the bed, and that is when he pounced, intending to attack her neck. That is what he intended, but things did not go as planned. He found himself on the floor, pinned face down in the carpet, with a blonde force of nature on his back.

"Chuck, have you lost your mind? You know I am a spy, and I am trained in over 100 ways to kill you?"

He tried to squirm free but it was no use, she had the leverage. So instead he twisted until he was facing up. Looking into Sarah's face, he smiled.

"Yes, but did you know that I only have one way to love you? With all that I am and all I ever will be in this world?"

"Is that so? Well then, I guess attempting to surprise attack your wife, in an area of vulnerability, is fair since this is love?"

"Yes!"

"But what about the other half of that saying?"

"What other half?"

"War," Sarah answered with a mischievous grin.

"War?" Chuck had a look of pure confusion.

"War, Chuck. What if your love attack caused me to declare war?"

She looked at him and could see his mind working. He was trying to anticipate what might be headed his way while trying to determine what she was saying. Her smile grew and then in a flash her hands flew to both sides of his face locking him into looking at the ceiling. Simultaneously, she dropped her face to his, opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue and began to lick his face.

"Ugh, stop!" Chuck nearly screamed but was trying to keep quiet so he didn't wake the baby.

"Why should I? You were going to attack poor helpless me. You were going for the chink in my defenses. Hoping to make me your loooooove slave. That is war, Chuck."

"Fine. It's war!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, his hands flew to her sides and began tickling. She took in a deep gasp of air and squeezed her knees into his sides while attacking his face again. He bucked and twisted trying to free himself, but she held on tight. He finally relented.

"I surrender."

Sarah pulled back, her hair a mess, and her face red with laughter and exertion. She narrowed her eyes and searched his face for any signs of deceit. He was laying there gasping and trying to get his breath. His face was wet with her saliva, and he looked just adorable to her.

"Do you?"

"Yes, yes, now please let me up."

She slowly crawled off him and let him sit. He was wiping his face and make quite the show of how horrible he had been treated. Sarah laughed.

"You know, lucky for you I brushed my teeth before returning to bed."

"Yeah, lucky me," he stated trying to hold in the laugh.

-0-

We slowly exited the bathroom and walked through the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He could hear Forrest in the kitchen area down the hall. Walking to the dresser, Cole lifted his cufflinks to the bottom side of the support above the drawer itself. There was a small metallic click and a vertical drawer slide out from the side of the dresser near the base. When MI-6 set up the safe house/apartment, they included the latest technologies for securing valuables to include the RFID key embedded in the cufflinks. Grabbing the burn phone, Cole snapped off a quick text message and slid the phone back in place.

"Hey, love what's that I smell cooking?" Cole Barker was back on the job, and the situation was infiltration of the syndicate via Forrest. So he moved down the hall to begin working her for information.

"Meat!" She turned smiling with a sausage link speared by a turning fork. "Don't tell me you're a vegan or something crazy like a person who doesn't like breakfast."

"Nah, I am a meat eater and a coffee drinker. Speaking of coffee where's the pot?"

"Coffee, I would've taken you for a breakfast tea drinker."

"Why, cause I'm British? That right there is a nasty stereotype. There are plenty of Yanks that drink tea hot and unsweetened."

"Do you like your coffee sweetened?"

"Indeed, I do," he answered as he poured his cup after securing the pot from the countertop machine. He almost couldn't keep the disgust off his face when Forrest reached over and stuck her finger in his coffee and asked, "Sweet enough yet?"

Cole forced himself to laugh at her antics while he reached for the sugar. "As sweet as you are in many ways, I think I'm still going to need some sugar." He quickly took a drink and judged the coffee sufficient. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Today, we are going to take you to headquarters and introduce you to the man. If you're lucky, he'll give us a part in the party next week. I hear Burbank is trying to visit." She smiled as I turned back to the stove.

-0-

The office building was your typical office structure on the island. It was located at the square just off Broadway between 7th and 8th Avenue. As Cole and Forrest approached the building, he noticed that the lobby of the Morgan Stanley building was large and open with security on either side of the entrances. Forrest provided the guards with an identification pass, and they walked up the steps to the lobby proper and over to the elevators. Moments later he found himself exiting the lift and walking into an impressive office area.

"We're here to see Mr. Nelson," Forrest informed the receptionist.

"May I ask who is asking for Mr. Nelson and the nature of your business?" The lady barely looked up as she spoke to the couple in front of her. She simply looked to her pad, ready to record the information.

"Certainly, please inform him the Cole and Alexandra Johnson are here to discuss investment options for Cal Johns Global Imports."

"Just a moment," was her reply as she picked up her phone and buzzed the appropriate office. "Yes, sir. There is a Cole and Alexandra Johnson from Cal Johns Global Imports here to see you about…. Yes, sir. I understand. I will send them to your office." She hung up the phone and looked at them for the first time. "Mr. Nelson will see you. He has the corner office on the right just down the corridor to my left."

"Thank you."

"Yes, thank you. You have been most helpful." Cole smiled as he complimented her lack of observation skills. What he noticed as she talked was that they were on the twentieth floor, had VOIP based communications, and did not have cameras located in reception area beyond the single camera pointed at the elevator. He was sure the receptionist area behind the counter was not in the field of view. This camera situation was good if the group wanted to enter unseen.

Forrest knocked three times before they were told to enter the office. As they walked in, Cole noticed the door had a biometric lock, and a camera pointed at the door.

"Cole," Forrest called his attention to her, "this is Mr. Dale Richardson. He works here as a cover, and uses the investment system to ensure your financial endeavors are under the radar of those who would seek to stop us from our objectives."

"Ah, the legendary Cole Barker. Tell me, Cole, may I call you Cole?" He smiled as he stood and approached Cole. "Why does a decorated MI-6 agent want to join our merry band of intelligence workers?"

"Simple, I'm tired of being overlooked, and underappreciated. I'm especially tired of the backlash I received after my time in Burbank."

"Oh, yes. Burbank, California. The team of Sarah Walker, John Casey, Chuck Bartowski, and Carina Miller are certainly a thorn in our flesh. Tell me what they did to you?"

Cole smiled, "After I failed to secure the data my agency wanted on Fulcrum, I forced to join forces with them to secure the operation of the Intersect. During that time, I was captured, tortured, shot, and worst of all rejected by Agent Walker in favor of the human intersect, who was the cause of creating the situations that led to my injuries. When I returned home without the data or the services of the Intersect, I was b-listed to grungy assignments and horrendous missions. Do you know what it is like to play a low-level pimp and drug dealer in Whitehall? The place smells like a urinal."

"Yes, well we all have our reasons for wanting that team taken down. Mine is just a little more personal. Let's say that I am interested in seeing them suffer. Anyone connected to one Sarah Walker deserves what is headed her way."

"What did she do to you, mate?"

"Ah, now, are that close? Close enough to share the single thing that compels me toward my goals? Let's say that I have been funding the efforts to see the CIA and later the NSA shift leadership into the proper hands. I have been behind Fulcrum, The Ring, and now my Syndicate of haters. I allowed Daniel Shaw to be taken by that team and killed because he deserved to die for his part in my pain. I've been eliminating those closest to the Bartowski family, and soon, when they arrive at the party, I have planned for them, I will exact all of my revenge. When Sarah Walker or Carmichael or Bartowski or whatever else she might call herself dies, she will know that everyone she has ever loved is gone from this planet. That includes her little boy."

"Ok. What can we do to help that happen?" Cole smiled at Forrest and then Richardson.

"I want you to contact the Bartowskis and let them know about the party and convince them you will help get them into the party."

-0-

Shortly, after that Chuck, Sarah, Carina, and Casey were sitting around discussing Cole's role in helping them take down the latest threat. It was then that the text arrived and everything they were planning went out the window. Cole's text was simple.

Expect a call soon. Video attached. Ignore all said in the call.

Seconds later Cole called the team going through the spiel about the party and his ability to help them set up The Syndicate. As the call ended, Chuck began to load the video for the team. The watched from Cole's perspective as they entered the Morgan Stanley building, and eventually the conversation with Richardson. Chuck could barely contain himself as he listened. Casey and Carina practically had to hold Sarah and Chuck down when they heard the threat against their son. Everyone was burning, but they now needed to start facial recognition and other types of cross-referencing work to discover the connection between Sarah and Richardson.

Eventually, the team called it a night, but Chuck couldn't let it go. Getting up in the middle of the night to walk the house and check on things led him to the computer room. There was a flag alert, so he opened the file and realized their lives were about to change once more. It seemed that they were no longer covert and their connection to the intersect was known. Unless they took Richardson and his files, he could not see a way around dropping of the grid.