Jack Bauer pulled up to the Swift Stop convenience store in his black, CTU loaned Ford Explorer. He cut the engine and hopped out into the cold rain. He hurriedly ran toward the glass doors of the small store in a vain attempt to avoid getting soaked.
Jack didn't usually stop at convenience stores, but on this cold, damp morning, Jack needed something to help him wake up.
The night before, Jack and his wife, Teri, had been invited to a party held by one of their neighbors. Jack had drank a few beers and they had stayed until early in the morning.
Jack headed straight for the soft drink machine in the very back corner of the store.
The Swift Stop was fairly big compared to many other convenience stores. There were five aisles containing everything from potato chips to toilet paper. On the very back wall was a long row of refrigerators that held assorted sodas and juices. At the very front was the cash register and behind that were rows of tobacco and lottery tickets. The cash register sat on top of a long counter that had a large selection of multiple candy bars in the front. The only thing unusual about the store was the fact that it had only one entrance at the front next to the cash register.
Jack picked up the 64 oz. cup that the store had nicknamed "Giant Gulp." He pushed it under the soda dispenser that contained the most caffeine. It was then that Jack realized that he was the only one in the store. Another man had left a few seconds ago after paying for a doughnut and a coffee.
Jack turned his attention back to his soft drink and he subconsciously heard the bell ring as the glass door opened.
The next thing that Jack Bauer heard was the click of a gun being cocked and a man yelling, "Put the money in the bag!"
Jack dove behind the aisle closest to him as he realized that the store was being robbed. He pulled out his trusty Heckler & Koch 9mm pistol and poked his head above the aisle to assess the situation.
There were three men total and all of them wore gray hooded sweatshirts with jeans and they had dark sunglasses covering their eyes. They also had three different kinds of weapons.
The skinny man who was up front trying to get the clerk to hand over the money was carrying a Magnum and a bag for their money. The largest man standing to the side of the counter had what looked like a small pistol. The last man was tall and well built, and was brandishing a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun while covering the glass doors.
The man with the money bag was losing his patience with the cashier, who kept fumbling around with the register. Jack jumped when he heard the crack of the single gunshot slice through the air.
Jack peeked over the top of the aisle and saw blood splattered all over the row of cigarettes behind the counter. He also got a glimpse of the dying cashier, a middle-aged man, as he fell backwards behind the counter.
The shooter hopped the counter and started working on the register.
"Bulldog!" he yelled. "Go check for witnesses! We can't be compromised!"
Bulldog, the large man with the small pistol standing by the counter, headed off toward the rear of the store to make sure they were alone.
He reached the end of the first aisle and whipped up his gun as he rounded the corner. He cautiously crept along each aisle until he reached the far corner where Jack was waiting.
But Jack realized his mistake just as Bulldog noticed it.
Jack had left his soft drink sitting on the machine without a lid.
"Eagle!" Bulldog yelled. "There's somebody back-"
Bulldog never got to finish his sentence. Jack leapt around the corner and squeezed the trigger on his gun twice. Bulldog reeled backward in a shower of blood as the first shot hit him in the chest, and the second hit it's mark right between the man's eyes, shattering the bridge of his dark sunglasses.
Jack rolled along the back wall as the glass from the refrigerator door next to him exploded as it was hit with a shotgun blast. He ducked behind a row of food and checked the positions of his enemies.
The man with the shotgun was crouched behind the first aisle, and the man with the Magnum was still behind the counter with his gun aimed at Jack. He pulled off a shot that ricocheted off the tile floor next to Jack's foot.
Suddenly it was quiet inside the convenience store. It was the man behind the counter that broke the dead silence.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked.
"My name is Jack Bauer," he replied. "Head of Field Operations for CTU."
"CTU," the man said. "What the hell does that stand for?"
"Counter Terrorist Unit. I work for the government.
"I ain't no terrorist! I ain't gonna go to jail!"
With that, the man behind the counter fired off three shots that came precariously close to hitting Jack. He even felt one of the bullets whiz past his head and slam into the glass refrigerator door behind him.
Jack jumped up and returned fire, but he was forced to crouch back down as a blast from the second man's shotgun hit the row of potato chips in front of him. The bags of chips exploded from the immense force of the shot.
Jack scuttled down the aisles away from the soft drink machine and crouched behind a display of road maps. Jack knew that he had to first take out the man with the shotgun before he could even think about neutralizing the man behind the counter.
An idea popped into Jack's head. He slowly reached across the tile floor and carefully pulled open the refrigerator door. He grabbed a glass bottle of iced tea and silently closed the door. Jack turned toward the front of the store and heaved the glass bottle up front on the left side of the aisle he was hiding behind.
The bottle instantly exploded when it hit the floor like a glass grenade. Both men turned away as tiny shards of glass and droplets of iced tea rained down on them, but Jack didn't wait for the commotion to die down.
Jack was on his feet in seconds and rushing down the right side of the aisle. As he neared the end of the row, Jack slid the final few feet and his momentum carried him out into the open area by the counter. He aimed his gun up and pulled the trigger.
The man with the shotgun instantly fell as blood erupted from his chest.
Jack tried to shoot at the man behind the counter, but he was forced back behind the aisle from a volley of bullets that originated from behind the counter.
Jack glanced out the window and smiled to himself when he saw the flashing red and blue strobe lights outside.
The police had arrived.