A product of the Tag Challenge at 24nmore dot com. Jack, Nina, Tony, Action, Drama. Hope you enjoy :)
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Nina leaned into the torrent, letting the water massage her shoulders and run in rivulets down the length of her back. The cool tile under her palms felt real, tangible, contrasting with the water's pounding heat. For the first time in weeks she felt anchored. She closed her eyes.
Even before a shadow engulfed the thin shower curtain Nina could sense that she wasn't alone. The absence of light against her skin piqued her attention, and even though she knew who was on the other side, she tensed. Years of living double lives had made her acutely aware of her surroundings. And constantly reminded her not to get too comfortable.
Tony's head appeared around the curtain, his dark eyes glinting faintly through the steam. She smiled at him, and he stepped inside.
But she would've rather been alone. Alone was the only time she could truly be herself. When she was alone, there were no pretenses. The layers of her lives could fall away, properly exposed so she could breathe. But she was no longer alone.
She did not mind Tony. This life demanded that she didn't mind him. She often wondered, though, why she'd involved herself with him. Her relationship with Jack was strategic-necessary, but enjoyable. But what was this?
His lips claimed hers, firm and capable, and she returned the kiss. It was not that he wasn't nice, or that the sex wasn't good. It was as good as she wanted it to be. His being nice was irrelevant; she had enjoyed the not-so-nice. The simple fact of it was that Nina Myers did not like people.
He turned her around, and the water untangled her hair and poured down her breasts in a warm deluge. Tony's hands were on her shoulders, gently kneading, and they were as warm as the water. "You work too hard," he said into her ear, and placed a kiss there.
She wished he would go away. She turned into him, releasing the towel at his waist, revealing his taut and perfect skin, the strong length of him. She took him into her hands.
She wished above all else that she could go away.
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Three Months Later
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The sky was on fire.
It was a ridiculous observation, one reserved for the very bored or the very philosophical (not infrequently the same), but Tony made it anyway. The sky was yellow-orange in intermittent flashes, vaporous and dense, transforming with the latest flash or boom or crisp concussive volley. He found it strangely beautiful (another ill-timed opinion, but Tony allowed that one, too). "When under duress," Tony remembered from his training manual, "random thoughts tend to make themselves known."
And he was definitely under duress.
Tony lifted his head the few inches his cover would allow, trying to get a line on Jack. He could see him at the crest of his vision, a splash of blond hair, spiked with sweat, fluorescing mutely in the smoky gloom. His eyes were steeled, focused on an unseen target. The muscle in Jack's forearm twitched rhythmically as he squeezed off 9mm rounds from the feeble cover of some rusted farm equipment. Tony could hear the ancient metal absorbing bullet after bullet, the metallic ting punctuating the dark. Tony watched as Jack dumped an empty clip and fumbled for an extra one. Jack jammed it into place, casting a furtive glance across the field at Tony. There's too many of them, he seemed to say, and I can't cover them all.
Tony shifted, cursing under his breath as the slight movement drew fire in his direction. The bleeding wound below his right knee had slowed a little, but it still trickled bright red, soaking the tourniquet he'd applied and blooming into the dark fabric of his pants. He chanced the smallest movement, gasping at the searing pain as the lodged bullet ground against bone and sinew. Tony gritted his teeth, looking up at Jack. Down but not out, he thought darkly. He fished for a clip and pressed it into the butt of his gun. It was his last one.
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Nina stared at the blips on the screen, adjusting the angle of the screen a little to give her tired eyes something different to look at. She frowned in consternation, adjusting the drone a little more so she could get a clearer image of the general area.
She depressed a button on the side of her slender headset. "Do we have a last known location?"
"Yeah, but it's three hours old." Mason's clear voice filled the empty space. "Jack and Tony had already gone dark the last time they made contact." A beat. "Keep trying to establish contact and we'll close the perimeter on our surveillance."
Nina stripped off the headset, placing it beside her computer keyboard. She queued the last surveillance image, inwardly contemplating the usefulness of Mason if this operation would be successful.
She looked at her screen, the blinking light at the corner of her desktop indicating an instant message. She opened the small chat box.
NinaMyers: It's a risk for you to contact me this way.
SysCheck: This conversation never existed. The logs will reflect that. Where are the two agents now?
NinaMyers: I was about to call you. I can't get eyes on Tony or Jack.
SysCheck: Are you going to need our help?
NinaMyers: Yes.
SysCheck: Access the external satellite. You must be aware of their location if this is to work. Link me in when you have found them. I want to see everything. Do you understand?
NinaMyers: Yes.
NinaMyers: It's going to be hard to link you in securely without drawing attention.
SysCheck: Just do your job. I want a visual. You need to make that happen.
Nina closed the chat window, simultaneously erasing any evidence of her conversation. Discreetly, she keyed the backdoor access that would allow her to breach CTU's firewall. With a few configurations, the satellite would give her a better chance of finding Jack and Tony. From there, it didn't matter. She would've done her job. Nina had learned a long time ago not to have an opinion in such matters.
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"Get down!"
Jack's plaintive voice broke through the gunfire, loud and insistent. Gunmen flanked them on the right and left and were closing steadily. They were organized if not experienced, and heavily armed. What they lacked in numbers they more than made up for in firepower.
Tony got off a few shots before finally following Jack's instruction, taking down one shooter and then another until a bullet sizzling past his head forced him into cover. Jack whipped his head around, visibly pissed at having his orders so flagrantly flouted. Tony couldn't suppress a smile.
So far Tony had successfully hidden his injury from Jack. They were parallel but slightly askew from each other, with twenty or so yards between them. If Jack had known Tony was hit, he would've never let them make such a dedicated stand.
"Tony, can you hear me?"
Tony's comm crackled to life. They hadn't used it, knowing their channel might be compromised. For Jack to access it now wasn't a good sign.
Tony could hear Jack's steady breath, the surreal sound of gunfire in his ear as well as all around him. "There was a bird on the nest a few clicks back. Did you see her?" Jack's voice was clear and strong.
"Yeah, I saw her." Tony remembered the "bird," a tool shed settled in a stretch of tall grass adjacent to the field they were in. Jack wanted them to retreat.
"Well, I saw her first," Jack said.
Tony nodded. He was more than a little skeptical of Jack wanting to break cover before he did, but this was hardly a time to argue. Besides, Tony understood Jack well enough to know what he was up to. The first one out would draw fire, giving the second one a better chance of making it.
"Ok," Tony breathed. He knew what he had to do. He checked the clip and hoped it would be enough to lay cover for Jack.
The comm went silent. Tony slid up a little behind his own cover, propping up on one elbow enough to see Jack and what direction he would head. He signaled to him, indicating three shooters at two o'clock, one at eight. There were probably more. Jack would head right, through the tall grass and into the surrounding woods. Drawing his hold-out pistol, he nodded quickly at Tony. His Glock was out and at the ready, the hold-out pistol down by his side.
Tony began. Plaintively at first, using more bullets than he intended, then more conservatively. The ploy worked. Jack made it halfway to the thicket before drawing fire, the bullets splashing around him like deadly rain drops. Suddenly Jack whirled, firing the two weapons in tandem, a wicked snarl on his face. He hit two shooters, both in the chest. Tony had taken out a third, and they littered the ground in dark heaps. Tony had no idea how many more of them there were that he couldn't see.
Then they fell back, retreating into the dark, chattering on walkie talkies. Somewhere in the distance Tony heard an engine lurch. One of the shooters turned, almost as an afterthought, and fired twice in Tony's general direction. The wild shot nearly hit him.
He closed his eyes and exhaled a breath he wasn't aware of holding. They would regroup, he thought, cut them off. Keep him and Jack separated if they could. And then they would kill them.
Tony watched Jack disappear into the tall grass, leaving him alone.
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