I do not own 24 or any of its characters or plotlines. I do own this plot and any characters I've created. I don't own Starbucks either.

This takes place between seasons 1 and 2 of 24.

This chapter takes place from 9:00 am to 10:00 am on the day of the presidential election.

9:00am

Los Angeles

"Today the poles open and the candidates for the President of the United States are Senator David Palmer and President Mike Hodges…"

The aroma of coffee filled the Starbucks shop as a man sipped his cup in a vacant corner, the only sound was emanating from the television above the counter. He gazed down at the paper as the waitress brought him another glass and said "I think Palmer would make a great President. Don't you think so Mr. Skaruud." He sat there drinking the warm coffee as she continued, "Palmer has a presence when he steps into a room. He's like Abraham Lincoln. So what do you think?" she asked. "I tend not to get mixed up in it" he said with a middle Eastern accent. "I was shocked when they said he was dead a while back." The waitress said. "Let's hope it doesn't happen again" she continued. "Yes" said Mr. Skaruud,

The shadows of his face contorting as he winced "Let's hope so."

Jack Bauer sat in front of his television watching Senator David Palmer flash across the screen. His grizzly five o'clock shadow and his short hair reflected off the television, his eyes deep in thought. In an instant, Palmer and the incident he went through flashed before his eyes. He remembered the chess game he and his daughter Kim were playing before she ran away .Teri's ,his wife, smile scorched his thoughts like a bull prong. He could feel her in his arms remembering her lifeless body slumped on the ground. The thought of Kim's face collapsing like a beaten child from news of this was no more than a vexing hole eating away at Jack's abused heart. Now he lived by himself, hiding away from the nightmare that lost him his job as director of Counter Terrorist Unit Los Angeles. He had saved Palmer's life before but, now he had no control over helping him anymore, it was someone else's job now. Of course, if terrorists wanted something big to happen it would happen today. He began to get up but with a sigh he sat back down on the torn sofa. Nothing to worry about, He thought to himself …Nothing.

CTU LA 9:08:45

Tony Almeida pushed the glass door as he walked into the CTU meeting room. The glass walls had blue stripes going down them. George Mason, Michelle Desslar, Milo Stantes, and Ryan Chapelle filled the room. Tony took a seat in a blue chair before the glass table. Chapelle spoke first. "We want everyone to go vote today but, if we see any suspicious activity we are going to call you back. Palmer hasn't gotten any threats today but he probab-""Cut it Chapelle" said Tony. "Look the fact is Hodges and Palmer are under watch every second." Tony's head cocked, giving Chapelle his blank stare. "I mean-." Mason stopped him saying. "Actually Tony we have a reading of a suspicious satellite photos of known terrorist Al-vib Salef." Chapelle then spoke. "Tony I want you and leader of field ops Terrance Nightingly to check it out." The bluish shadows engulfed Tony's vacant expression. "Everyone's dismissed" Chappelle said starring at Tony. Tony walked up to Mason. "George, I'm no field agent." "And" Mason laughed."George" "Tony we're short-handed and it's your lucky day." Mason walked up the metal steps to the director's office. Tony turned and walked back to the main area of CTU. Terrence was talking to Michelle before turning back to Tony. " Ah, yes. Mason told me are you ready?" Michelle's phone rang as she picked it up. "Michelle Desslar." She waited for the response then called Chapelle. "It's the secret service" she said. Chapelle answered, "this is Chapelle who am I speaking with?" Tony turned back to Terrance "Yeah let's go". They both walked out of CTU and into a black SUV. They finally got on to the highway when Tony asked "So what has Salef's background?" " He organized Palmer's assassination attempt and he funded some bomb strikes here in the U.S." He said. "You helped save Palmer didn't you?" "Yeah" Tony remarked quickly. "Didn't someone named Jack Bauer save him." Tony nodded. "So what's he do"- Tony jolted as a jet of air exploded through the driver's seat, and a hoarse scream came from Terrence. The car went out of control as Tony grabbed the wheel and a gunshot zoomed beside his right ear. He couldn't keep the car steady as it flipped over the guardrail into a 10 foot deep ditch. A black car pulled over to the crash and two dark figures exited the vehicle.

9:13:48 9:13:49 9:13:50

9:18:59 9:19:00 9:19:01

Tony limped through the streets of Los Angeles before coming to the conclusion that the nearest person to him that he knew was Jack Bauer. He hadn't talked to Jack for a long time and he they weren't friends anyway, but there was no where else to go. He hadn't seen Jack since Teri died. How would Jack react to seeing the new second in command after what Nina had done to him? He had no time to waste though. He knew the terrorists would be tracking him down.

He rang the doorbell thinking to himself I hope Jack's home.

Jack heard a ring from the door. He got out of his chair and put down his glass of water. He jerked open the wooden cabinet and rummaged through his belongings and pulled out his gun. He stepped through his hallway that was connected to the living room. Hs shoes padding down the hall to the rug in front of the door. Hiding the gun behind his back he undid the first lock but kept the chain on. Can't be too careful he thought as he in ripped open the door. "Tony?" Jack said puzzled "I said that no one from CTU was to contact me ever." "Jack this is differ- Jack interrupted Tony "Why are you here" He screamed. "Jack, someone tried to kill me. They killed our head of field ops. We went off the highway. I don't know why they would try to kill me." Jack unlocked the chain and let Tony in. Tony had blood on his right leg from the crash. Jack pulled out a box of first aid as Tony sat down on a chair next to the table. "You don't entertain much do you" said Tony noticing one chair in the kitchen. Jack laughed "I wasn't very social when I had a life Tony."

Milo was still working on some hourlys from Division when Chapelle walked by. "Milo, go home. We have no dangerous threat at all." "What about Tony and Terrance they haven't called in yet" Milo answered. Then Chapelle remarked "It's a long drive there Milo nothing happened. What about voting." "I don't vote anyway, But I guess I'll go." Milo got up and left his workstation. Michelle said to Milo as he walked by "Have a good time Milo." He nodded to her while he walked down to the glass door and through the parking lot. Milo thought to himself I got a nice margarita waitin' for me as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the car door. BANG. An explosion erupted as Milo collapsed on the ground on fire with the car door on him.

"Aghh!" Tony yelled as Jack poured Hydrogen Peroxide on the wound. "Man I hope they didn't track me here." "What" Jack said shocked. Jack ran to the window looked in his driveway. "How far away were you?" Jack asked Tony. "On Farabee Highway" He answered. "Why would they want me dead?" Tony's phone started to ring. He pulled it out of the pocket of his denim jeans. "Tony Almeida. Who am I speaking to?" "Chapelle he answered. "Milo was killed By a car bomb a couple minutes ago." "How?" Tony asked. "We're still investigating. That's all Tony" "Chapelle I- The phone went dead. "Jack the phone's dead. What happened?."

9:27:17 9:27:18 9:27:19

9:37:42 9:37:43 9:39:44

"How could this happen?" Chapelle yelled at Michelle. "I don't know. All the cell phone towers in the Los Angeles area are down. Our computer mainframe suddenly shut down." Michelle replied. "We need to get to division. Its not"- Michelle interrupted. "For all we know they could be down too. Also, our cars might be rigged with explosives." "Yeah" Chapelle said "Wonder why Terrance's car wasn't rigged."

"No Service" Said Tony in dismay. "Something must have happened to the cell phone tower." "Tony?" Jack asked. "Yeah" "Did you see anyone following you?." Jack questioned. "No, but they can't just look for me all over Los Angeles and the LAPD will see that it was a gunshot wound on Terrance and will be watching for suspicious activity." "Actually" Jack said to Tony. "They could make it look like a shrapnel wound and they would be searching for you." "Crap" replied Tony.

"Michelle." Chapelle said. "Yes" she answered. "Can you use the emergency bandwidth or are there anyways to override this?" "The emergency bandwidth is out, too. I'm trying to override it but the encryption looks like it was done in our system." Michelle said. "So you're saying we have a mole?" "It is very likely sir." Michelle replied.

Mr. Skaruud walked down a street with cars whizzing by and bike riders waving to him.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed some numbers walking down the street as it rang.

He began to talk. "So Salef, Have you killed agent Almeida yet?" "There has been a slight problem Mal-vi." "What?" Asked Mal-vi Skaruub. "Agent Almeida escaped. We can't find him with LAPD investigating the car wreck." "You better" Scaruud replied. "We can't have him around when it goes down with Palmer. Also, did you make sure he can't tell them anything?" "Yes we already killed him." "Good" Skaruud replied. "Today the Americans will find out that no one is safe." He hung up the phone as he hailed a taxi.

George Mason began to walk down the stairs to the exit. "Mason. What are you doing?" Chapelle yelled. "Uh, well, you see its complicated." "Don't give me that crap Mason. We both you're just going to run away." "R-run away. What are you talking about? I just need a breath of fresh air." George Mason replied. "You are not to leave this building and that's an order. Mason turned around and walked toward his office. "Mason get back here and try to break this encryption." "I'm not really skilled at that sir." Mason said. "Were short handed and it's your lucky day." Chapelle laughed.

"Uh Jack I should be going back to Division or CTU. Thanks for the help. Also, can I borrow your car?" "I guess so but, be careful." Jack replied pulling out his car keys. He threw them to Tony and Tony walked to the door, but before leaving he said "Jack, I really appreciate your help. I owe you one." "Take care of yourself Tony." Then Jack started to think. Maybe they want me dead, too. Tony and me have helped save Palmer before, maybe they're going to try again. "Tony wait" Jack yelled. Jack ran threw the front door and just as Tony pushed the button to unlock the door Jack tackled Tony to the ground as the car exploded. "Now you owe me two Tony."

9:43:02 9:43:03 9:43:04

9:51:59 9:52:00 9:52:01

"Officer I'm not hurt" said Tony. "Okay, I'm perfectly fine." The LAPD officer walked away as Tony walked over to Jack. Jack began to talk. "Tony, I think the terrorists are trying to kill everyone who helped save Palmer last time." "I don't know. Maybe there killing any agent who is a threat to them." "Tony," Jack said "I been inactive for the last 5 months. I wasn't trying to stop terrorists." "Jack" Tony replied "Palmer is never going to be in the open today. He's going to be safe and sound in his home and the secret service is going to be everywhere. I think the terrorists just want to kill agents on one of America's most important days." "Maybe your right" Jack replied. "Still….

"Michelle are you sure it was Almeida?" asked Chapelle. "The encryption is coming from his workstation. Here's a scrambler phone you can tell the LAPD with it." Chapelle dialed 911.

Jack and Tony were relaxing on the couch waiting for the driveway to be cleared when the officer answered his walkie-talkie. They could only make out "Agent Almeida? I'll bring him in for questioning." He turned to Tony pulled out his gun and Turned to Tony. "I have orders bring you in agent Almeida." Jack pulled out his gun. The LAPD officer said "Put the gun down or I will shoot you." "Let me hand it to you" Jack said. Jack put the gun in the officer's outstretched hand and in one swift motion knocked the guns out of his hands and head-butted him. The officer collapsed to the floor knocked out. Tony ran through the back door. Jack turned around and grabbed his home phone. He followed Tony as they ran down a back alley and turned to go down a street as fast as they could.

Chapelle answered the phone. "Ryan Chapelle" he said. "Mr. Chapelle agent Almeida and Jack Bauer have escaped." "How!" Chapelle blasted. "We are looking into it sir" "Well look faster." Chapelle hung up the phone and muttered something under his breath.

"Michelle have you found anything in Tony's files yet?" "Everything seems normal" Michelle replied. "Keep looking. We have to assume Jack is a traitor, too. Mason search Jack's files for any incriminating evidence before he quit his job. How did we let them get away?"

"Jack why would they think I was a traitor." "Your guess is as good as mine." Jack's phone started ringing. Jack stared at his phone his face covered with shadows. "Jack, who is it?"

"It's Kim."

9:59:58 9:59:59 10:00:00