Disclaimer: If I owned 24 or the characters, I wouldn't have time to write fanfic. It's pretty logical, really.
Innocence
Part 1
"Audrey Raines, I'm afraid we need to take you into custody." I glanced up from the pile of file folders in front of me and stared at Bill Buchanan in disbelief.
"What? Why?" I exclaimed as security guards surrounded me. "Am I being arrested, Bill?"
Bill shook his head. "No, just detained momentarily. We have some questions to ask you. Audrey, we have proof that you were giving classified information to terrorists. Collette Stenger says that you were her contact at one point and that you gave her a chip that contained a building schematic," he explained in response to my shocked look. "Mark, escort Ms. Raines to a holding room and prep her for interrogation," he added. A guard stepped forward and took my arm, pulling me from my chair.
"Jack! Does Jack know about this?!" I cried in disbelief. "I want to talk to him, Bill."
Bill sighed. "Yes, he knows. Jack sanctioned the order. He's bringing Collette Stenger in, but then I'll send him in to you." Jack sanctioned the order…That one phrase echoed over and over in my head. Oh, my God… Numb with shock, I allowed myself to be led away to an interrogation room.
I waited for what seemed like hours, pacing the small room they had put me in. The room was harsh and ominous-looking; the walls and floor were made of gray cement, and the air was cold. I was trembling, but I wasn't sure if it was from cold or from terror. They had taken my suit jacket for some reason, and I wished for a sweater…or for Jack to appear.
Finally, he did. By then, I was trembling so hard that I had to lean against a wall to stay upright. "Jack," I practically whimpered. "What's going on?" He closed the door behind him and crossed his arms.
"Sit down," was all that he said. No greeting, no inquiry, just those two words. I hesitated, unsure. "Sit down!" he roared. I flinched in surprise, and stumbled towards the chair. Shaking even harder now, I fell onto the chair and looked up at Jack in shock. He strode over to the table and placed two mugshot-style photographs in front of me. "What do you know about Walt Cummings and Christopher Henderson?"
I licked my lips. "Um…Henderson I've never heard of. And, um…Cummings, all I know is that he was a traitor; he traded classified information with terrorists." My voice was shaky. Great, Audrey. Now he'll think you're some trembling, sniveling coward. He's going to think that you know something; you're just too scared to say it. And that won't be good.
Jack sighed. "Did you ever meet either of them face-to-face; ever contact them with information?"
I gasped. "No! God, no! Jack, you know me better than that!" Jack whipped around and slammed a file folder onto the table. I flinched and jerked back in surprise.
"Open it," he ordered in a low voice, indicating the folder. Trembling, I opened the folder and stared in shock. The first thing in it was a hotel receipt, followed by a photograph of me and another of Walt, and a copy of the hotel guest list. In a flash, it all came flooding back.
"Oh, no. Yes, I remember him. We met at the hotel. It…it was just after I found out that you were...um...dead. Walt and I…we talked, and we shared a few drinks…But that was all, I swear."
"Yeah," Jack snorted. "Really? Then how come the receipt says that you didn't just share a few drinks; you also shared a room!!" he shouted, his face red and contorted with anger.
"Jack," I gasped. "I'm sorry. I was upset…I didn't know who he was at the time…I just wanted someone to talk to. But I broke it off after that night, I swear I did."
"Why?" he demanded. "Why did you break it off?" Then he paused. "And why did you lie to me when I asked you the first time?"
My bravado cracked, and I started to cry. "Because I thought you'd be angry. I was sleeping with someone who's a traitor," I sobbed. "And I broke it off because...he wasn't you, Jack. He wasn't you…." I saw Jack's expression soften, and for a moment it looked like he was going to cry. But, in just a split second, that look was replaced by one of absolute, pure rage. In one swift movement, he lunged towards me and knocked the table out of the way. I backed up, wildly looking around for a means of escape, but Jack was faster. Before I could react, he had me by the throat and was shoving me towards the wall. I screamed in terror, but the sound was cut off by a choked gasp as I slammed into the hard concrete wall.
"Dammit, Audrey! I want the truth!!" he shouted.
"I-I'm telling you the truth, I..." I gasped, struggling for breath.
"Tell me the truth!" he yelled, dangerously close to my ear. I flinched, and cowered back against the wall.
"Jack…" I choked. "Jack…please, I didn't do anything, I swear. Please, Jack, please…" I was crying now; the sound was a mixture of whimpers and gasps for air as Jack's grip tightened around my neck and throat. I was beginning to see black spots in my line of vision. Jack asked me more questions, and I heard myself answering them in that odd, gasping, choked voice, but my brain couldn't grasp what my mouth was saying. I felt like a ventriloquist's dummy.
Suddenly, just as abruptly as he'd grabbed me, Jack let go. Gasping, I slumped against the wall. "This is over," Jack yelled in the direction of the camera on the wall, speaking to someone outside—Karen Hayes or Bill, I assumed. "Do you hear me? It's over!!" With that, he snatched up the folder and stormed out of the room. After a moment, I heard angry, heated voices yelling at each other—Karen, Bill, and Jack—but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I crumpled to the floor, gasping and sobbing as the reality of what was happening sank in.
The buzzing of the door a few minutes later alerted me to the fact that someone had entered the room, and I numbly lifted my head. Two security guards were standing there, and they strode over to me and practically lifted me off of the floor without a word. Half-leading and half-carrying me, they took me into the CTU bullpen. We were met by Karen Hayes, with Jack hot on her heels. Karen spoke directly to the guards, and her words sent icy fear coursing through my veins. "Please escort Ms. Raines to Medical for further interrogation." Oh, dear God…no, not that…
"What!" Jack exploded. "Karen, that's insane!" She regarded him coolly, without a word, and nodded to the guards. In an instant, Jack lunged from behind her and flew at the guards holding me. They were knocked to the ground, and in the midst of all the chaos, Jack grabbed my arm and started to run with me. Another guard appeared from somewhere. To my horror, I heard the unmistakable buzzing sound of a taser, and Jack crumpled limply to the floor. I screamed, terrified, as the guards grabbed me and began to drag me away.
"Jack," I yelled. "Jack! Help me…please, Jack….You, let go of me!" I shrieked, trying to claw my way out of the guards' iron grips. They only held me tighter and kept walking. I kept my head lowered, trying to hide the panicked tears that were coursing down my face as we walked.
The sound of a door opening made me lift my head, and I stared in shock. We were in the medical bay, in a cold and harsh-looking room that contained only a chair with restraints…and Agent Burke stood next to it with his box of syringes. I started to cry, and then to scream. "No...no, no, no! Please, no…don't do this…you can't do this!" The guards gripped my arms and forcefully pushed me into the chair. I struggled wildly as the two of them fastened the restraints around my wrists, forearms, and ankles, but there was no way to get free. I was trapped.
Agent Burke stepped up next to the chair, carrying a long needle, an IV tube, and a bag of medication. I held my breath. This'll hurt… Something told me that he wasn't going to be very gentle. I wished for a doctor, or for Jack…but, then again, given the fact that everyone saw me as a traitor, I knew they wouldn't be gentle either.
Agent Burke swabbed a vein on the back of my hand with rubbing alcohol and prepared the needle. My breath caught in my throat as the needle roughly jabbed my arm. "Ouch," I protested. "That hurts!" He didn't acknowledge my protest at all as he continued setting up the IV line. "You don't need to do this," I whispered. "I'm innocent, I swear to you. I have nothing to hide. Please, don't do this…"
" 'I'm innocent'? Yeah, that's what they all say when they come in here," he replied gruffly, rummaging in his box for a syringe. I gasped when I caught a glimpse of the label on the bottle that he picked up: Hyacine pentathol—a pain-inducing drug used in forceful interrogation. I'd never had it used on me, but I had read about what it did…and now Agent Burke was preparing to inject me with it.
"Please," I gasped. "Don't do that. You don't need to do that…please…please, no, don't do that…" He barely acknowledged my protest as he grasped my arm and slowly, steadily—as if taunting me—injected the drug into my IV line. I caught my breath as the first drops of the liquid hit my veins, for it burned like fire. In the next instant, I felt a fiercely searing pain shooting through my body, making every nerve from my neck down to my toes burn with pain. I had never imagined that anything in the world could hurt so much. I caught my breath and bit back a scream of pain as fresh tears spilled from my eyes.
The pain had just barely begun to subside before Agent Burke was already injecting me with a second, bigger dose. It added to and intensified the pain that I was already feeling, and I screamed and begged him to stop as tears poured down my cheeks. "No!" I screamed. "No...stop it...please, make it stop...please!"
"You brought this on yourself, remember," he told me, watching as my body shook with the pain. I was shaking—convulsing—too much to answer, and I could only stare pleadingly at him.
By the time he injected the third dose, my throat was already growing raw and sore from screaming. I twisted wildly in the chair, trying to…I don't know what I was trying to do. But movement made more pain (if that was even possible!) shoot through my body, so I just clenched my jaw and waited for the pain to stop.
Suddenly, the door burst open and Jack dashed into the room. He gaped in horror as he took in the sight before him: me convulsing, crying and screaming from the pain, and Agent Burke shouting questions at me as he began to inject a fourth dose. "Stop," Jack yelled. "Disconnect it, now!" I felt Burke fumbling with the IV, and then he stepped back. "I have proof that she's innocent," Jack shouted. "Ask Bill Buchanan if you don't believe me. You've done enough; you're done here. Get out!" Burke, out of my line of vision, must have hesitated, because Jack yelled next, "I said, you're done here! Get out!" Burke left, and I crumpled forward in the chair, still moaning and shaking from the pain. "Easy," Jack soothed. "You all right?"
"I…I don't know…" I gasped, waiting as Jack knelt and began to tug at the straps that bound me in the chair. "Jack…what's happening? Tell me."
"You were framed by Collette Stenger," Jack answered. "We got her. It's over now. It's over for good, I promise. God, Audrey, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He took my hand and began to untape the IV tubing. "Hang on; this is going to sting a little."
"Aah…" I gasped, gritting my teeth as Jack grasped the needle and pulled it out. "Th-thanks," I managed when he had finished. "Jack…the only thing that kept me going…was that I knew you'd come. I knew you would come."
Jack looked like he was going to cry. "Come here," he whispered. I was still trembling and crying, and Jack pulled me into a tight hug. "Shh, shh...it's okay now. You're okay." He sighed and hugged me still tighter. "I'm sorry, Audrey. I am so sorry." We stayed like that for a moment, with Jack holding me and running his fingers through my matted hair. Then he pulled back and picked up his cell phone. "Bill, it's Jack. I'm taking Audrey Raines to the clinic. Prep Collette Stenger for interrogation, will you?"
"Sure thing, Jack," Bill replied. Jack hung up the phone and turned to me.
"Can I join the interrogation?" I asked.
Jack laughed. "No way. We need her in one piece if we're going to question her. Judging by the look on your face, if you went anywhere near Collette right now, you'd tear her limb from limb for framing you. You're not going in there. You can watch from the outer room, though. But first, I'm taking you to the clinic." He held out a hand and helped me to my feet. The hyacine pentathol was still fresh in my system, and each step sent pain searing through my body. I groaned through clenched teeth as I limped painfully after Jack.
Even though the clinic was just two rooms away from the Medical holding rooms, it was a long, slow walk for me. A doctor was waiting when we reached the room. "I'm Dr. Larson," she said to me. "Come here, and let's see what we're dealing with."
Jack gave me a quick hug. "I need to go check on Collette Stenger," he told me. "Are you going to be okay by yourself, or do you want me to stay with you?"
"I'll be fine," I assured him. "Go." Jack let go of my hand and left the room, pausing to smile apologetically one last time. Then he was gone, and the door closed behind him.
Dr. Larson put an arm around my shoulder and guided me over to the bed in the corner. "Why don't you sit down, Ms. Raines?"
"Call me Audrey," I told her, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"Okay, Audrey it is. Hyacine pentathol can be pretty nasty," she told me as she checked me over, "and because of the amount that they gave you, it'll stay in your system for awhile yet. I'm going to give you a little something to combat the pain. Have you ever heard of lidocaine?"
"I know that it's used with aloe vera, in the lotion that you put on sunburns," I offered, making her laugh, "but other than that, no."
Dr. Larson laughed again. "Well, that's one form of it. But there's a second form that can be given by injection to use as a painkiller. That's what I'm going to give you for now." She went to the cupboard in the corner and came back with a syringe. I waited, watching out of the corner of my eye, as she swabbed a spot on my shoulder and gently administered the injection. "There you go. Now, that'll kick in in a minute, and you'll start to feel a lot better. The only problem is that it makes you feel a bit numb. Your legs and arms will tingle like they're falling asleep, but you'll still have full use of them."
"Thank you," I said gratefully, leaning back against the thin pillow.
Dr. Larson smiled. "You're welcome; it's what I'm here for." She went to the sink in the corner and returned with a cold, wet cloth and a comb. "Here. I thought you might want to freshen up a bit—wash off your face, cool down a little." Gratefully, I took the cloth and ran it across my face and neck to wipe away the perspiration and tears, and combed the tangles out of my stringy and matted hair. "There, now, isn't that better?" the doctor said kindly. I nodded, and she smiled. "All right. Now, why don't you lie down and get some rest?" That sounded good. As I removed my shoes and curled up under the sheets, I dimly heard Dr. Larson saying something about someone contacting my father, but I was already falling asleep.
7