As Jack woke up this morning, he felt nauseous. Maybe it was an effect of drinking that much the evening before, or mixing it with that amount of sleeping pills to keep the nightmares away.
He stumbled out of bed and over to the small bathroom in his apartment. Avoiding to look at himself in the mirror he stepped into the shower and let the water run over his body. Since what had happened last evening he was keeping to ask himself the question - how in the world could he have ever ended up here?
It seemed to him, that all he had become was a serial killer. Working for CTU, who didn't even know about his involvement. He was doing the dirty work- which they seemed to be afraid to do.
Since his getaway three months ago he had kept contact with Chloe. She had saved his life back there when she had kept him from making the worst mistake to kill Suvarov. Later on, in return, she had helped him, as she had gotten new intel on some of the people, who were behind the murder of Renee.
Two days ago she had called him, telling him of a small cell of the Russian mob which was acting right here in N.Y.
She had given him an address, based on some new evidence she had gotten from one of their secret sources. This cell had worked with Red Square before, and they had supplied Renee's assassinator on that day.
Jack ran his hand through his hair and let the water run over his face. It felt like the blood from yesterday evening wouldn't get washed away so easy.
But then again, it felt good to get the blood of these men on his hands.
Some days he had hated himself for what he was doing right now. The small moments when he saw his bullets kill these men, which were somehow involved into her death, or when he felt somebody's warm blood gush over his hand when he dug his knife into their body gave him at least some kind of a feeling.
It was only a short moment, in which he felt powerful again. He was afraid that he was slowly getting addicted to these small highs, which gave him gratification for what they had done to her. He only lived to get justice for this day.
Right as he stepped out of the shower he heard his cell phone ringing. He ran. Chloe was the only one who had this number. She was the only person left in his life at all. Unfortunately, her time as acting director of CTU had been a short one. Right after President Taylor had resigned, the Vice President had sent somebody from Homeland Security to take CTU over as acting director. Chloe was only second in command any more.
"Yes", he shortly answered. They had agreed on not saying names at all.
"You did good yesterday. It seems like we've hit them where we wanted to."
Her words almost gave him a little, cold, smile. "That's what we wanted, isn't it.", he answered briefly.
"Uhm… yes.", Chloe answered, a little bit hesitating. She saw the photographs in her debriefing folder. The men on this picture hadn't been neutralized- they had been tortured and executed.
"Did you get anything useful out of them?", she asked him.
Jack could relate why she was asking. "Yeah. There are a few suppliers to them, back in the chain to Russia. They said they're operating out of Chicago." He made a pause. "They gave me a name. I'm gonna go there."
Chloe held her breath for a moment. She couldn't let that happen today. "Jack, I need you in New York. Right Now.", she told him, "we've got some intel about some of them also acting in N.Y."
"Were they also involved three months ago?", he silently asked.
"I don't know for sure, Jack. They don't seem to be Red Square. More like business rivals of them."
"That's none of my business.", Jack replied.
"Oh yes, it is, Jack.", Chloe hissed. "We've got an agreement, you and I. "
He closed his eyes for a short moment and ran his hand through his wet hair. He didn't like to be addressed like that. "I'm not your killer whenever you need somebody to do your dirty work which you won't get authorized."
"Unfortunately, you are, Jack.", Chloe replied. "I'm sorry but I don't have any other choice. The president knows about you, and so do several others. They've got us all under their control. Please, Jack. You know what's on the stake."
He turned silent for a few moments. "What do you need, Chloe."
"I'm going to send you an address to your cell phone. Call me when you get there, you'll get real time satellite updates. I need you to find a man named Dan Walters. Get him out of there."
"Why me? You can send you own men for a simple rescue action."
"No, we can't. He's undercover with the Red Square and we can't allow to blow his cover."
"How do you want to do that? Get me some details."
Chloe pulled up the file of Dan Walters on her computer. "His real name is Dan Meyer. He's with FBI, but we're also using his details on finding the real source of the atomic device they tried to detonate a few months ago. We need him in there, Jack. This is our only lead we still have. You're the only one who is within his range. We need to do this fast."
"Okay.", he answered. "How do want it to look like?"
"Go in unseen. Take out their man, free Meyer. Tell him you've been ordered by CTU, don't tell them who you are. Make it look like he's got out on his own, it is vital that there is no evidence of our involvement."
"Got that, Chloe. I'll call you.", he answered and ended the call. It was time to get ready. Right as he threw the phone back on the bed he heard the short tone, that the location pictures had just come in.
He took a deep breath and felt the adrenaline rushing through his body and wondered for one second, how long he would be able to do this, to act like this and to live the life he we was living right now. Chances were high that they would kill or capture him someday soon.