Disclaimer: I own nothing from 24

They had agreed not to go back in, but they were familiar with the hostile who was currently evading authorities. They argued for just a minute after she got the call. He knew it was useless before he began, so he gave up quickly and begrudgingly followed his wife to the car. Tony and Michelle had to go back into CTU one more time.

By the time they arrived, CTU teams had cornered the hostile in a warehouse in an industrial center. Bill Buchanan greeted them as they joined him on the floor.

"Looks like we may not need you two after all. We caught sight of her entering the warehouse five minutes ago. Teams are preparing to move in."

Tony surveyed the schematics and the footage that had been recorded on a nearby security camera. On it, the hostile walked out of the adjacent warehouse, did a quick sweep around her, and made haste to the next building.

"Bill, something's not right here. This building has only two areas to escape from, and she knows the camera's there. She's a professional. You know about as well as I do that she knows what's she's doing."

Bill had acquired a great deal of respect for Tony since they first met, but the evidence seemed clear. This woman was on the run, frantic and trying to hide. She made a mistake. He ordered the teams to move in and capture her.

"She messed up. They all do it sooner or later, Tony. Don't let it get personal."

Tony clenched his jaw at the insinuation. "It's not personal. I know how she thinks better than you do, Bill. She doesn't make mistakes, trust me."

During their argument, the first agents had crossed the perimeter. Suddenly the building went up in a huge ball of fire. The agents scrambled around, trying to get safe, trying to take stock of their teams. The team leader and four other agents were dead, almost half of those that remained were in need of medical attention. The perimeter was gone and the hostile had slipped through their fingers once again. They didn't even consider the possibility that she was still in the building this time. She would have slipped out long before she was in any danger, before they even got there.

Tony tried not to glare at Bill for ignoring his warnings. Instead he turned to his wife with a different look in his eyes- remorse, determination, pleading to understand. She met his eyes briefly and looked down, accepting their fate. It was naïve of them to think that they could just swing into CTU for a few minutes. Tony was about to follow Curtis into the field while Michelle had to stay here and hope he came back in one piece.

"Be safe." She whispered, grabbing his hand. "Please."

The way her voice broke on that last word almost shattered Tony's resolve to capture the hostile.

"I love you."

Once he was out the door and out of eyesight, Michelle snapped back into CTU mode.

"Bill, where did this intel come from?"

Bill was juggling several things at once, advising current and incoming TAC teams while trying to get a trace on the hostile again. He didn't have time to walk Michelle through everything, but knew she'd understand his impatience.

"Source that Chloe found. Agent Rook, Curtis and Tony are about fifteen out, prepare to redeploy under their command." Bill continued offering direction while Michelle slipped away to get a better handle on the whole situation.

Michelle made her way to Chloe's station unnoticed by the other woman due to her heavy workload.

"Chloe."

Her eyes snapped up and widened. "Michelle!" Chloe continued though her eyes were focused on her screen. "I heard you were coming in. That's good. Though I guess not for you, with what happened last time and everything." No one had forgotten her screams when she thought Tony had been blown up. Michelle took a deep breath, remembering what working with Chloe was like- she was by far the best, but sometimes it would be nice if she knew when to stop talking.

"I want to get a better handle on the situation. Where did the original intel come from?"

This got her attention in a way that made Michelle uncomfortable. Chloe glanced at Edgar, who was sitting at a nearby terminal within earshot. She looked back at Michelle. "Anonymous source."

Her breath hitched. CTU didn't act solely on anonymous sources. Chloe certainly wouldn't have passed it along unless she was relatively certain. And there was really only one person who Chloe trusted enough to warrant these actions.

Her voice lowered, trying not to attract Edgar's attention.

"Do we have a situation?"

The frightened look on Chloe's face was all the answer she needed. She nodded at Chloe and wandered toward the bathroom. Once inside, she pulled out her cell phone. It may have been a while since she worked at CTU, but she still remembered how to get things under the radar.

"Tony, it's me."

"Sweetheart we're still a few minutes out. How are things on your end?"

Michelle paused just a bit too long.

"Michelle? What is it?" His voice had lowered slightly. She heard enough muffled noise in the background to know that he wasn't in a position to talk freely.

"The hostile- she may have ties to the Lincoln op."

Michelle recognized Tony's sharp intake of breath as his way of suppressing a curse or three. Things had just gotten very complicated.

"Confirmed?"

"You know I can't do that. Look, Tony, the way I see it, this doesn't affect the retrieval. Once we get her… That's when damage control starts. We need to find out what she knows before she can get into formal interrogation"

"How is this going to work?"

"I have an idea, but you probably won't like it."

Tony knew where she was going before she was finished with the sentence.

"It's not up to us, Michelle."

"I'll put it off, but think about it Tony, we have to bring Bill into this so that we can stop it from going further. We can trust him."

Tony's voice dropped down to a hiss. "We're not the ones who have to deal with the consequences. Please, just wait until I'm back. I don't-" Tony couldn't say much else without giving himself away to Curtis. "I'll see you soon, sweetheart."

Michelle snapped her phone closed, frustrated and upset. She knew that Tony was right, but she couldn't see another way to protect their friend.

She walked back to the floor and accepted a status report from Edgar. It contained all of the official information so far- satellite images and security cameras confirmed that a known hostile had been spotted outside of LA. Reading between the lines, Michelle saw that there was no reason for the satellites to be pointing there, or for anyone to look at these specific security cameras. Chloe was good at covering her tracks, but too much scrutiny would cause questions. She finished reviewing the file and jumped in with Bill on the floor, offering assistance and direction where she could.

When Tony arrived on scene, he immediately spotted a building about a block away with a good vantage point of this entrance. It would have been easy for the hostile to sneak out one of the windows on the other side of the rigged building and avoid security cameras far enough to get onto that second floor undetected. He relayed his hunch to Curtis, and together they redeployed the TAC teams.

Tony's hunch panned out, and the hostile's building was surrounded. A surveillance team confirmed she was in there, and they got ready to breach the door. While they were still setting up, there was movement from the door they were planning on going in through. One hand appeared holding a gun, followed by its empty counterpart. The hostile's head and body followed as she stiffly walked out, arms held up. She leaned down to drop the gun and kicked it away. She turned, got down on her knees, and put her hands behind her head, all without being prompted.

"I want to come in. I want a deal." She shouted over her shoulder.

Tony didn't like this- Mandy clearly had something up her sleeve.

Curtis had Tony lead the retreat while he took the hostile in- he didn't like the thought of making Tony responsible for his former captor. Tony was uncomfortable being separated from Mandy, knowing that she had dangerous information, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself. He was about five minutes behind Curtis as they headed back to CTU.

Michelle pulled Chloe aside after they got word that the hostile was being brought in.

"I need you to make sure that there are no eyes or ears on the interrogation suite."

"There'll be a tech-"

"I'll get rid of him. Just take care of your end, and as soon as Tony comes in send him to interrogation."

"But what about-"

"Just do it, Chloe!"

"Okay, okay. Eyes and ears are down. She's on her way through security now."

They both turned to see the young woman being led in chains. She seemed comfortable with both the restraints and the attention she was getting. Her eyes met Michelle's and she smirked slightly in recognition. Michelle's old hatred of this woman who had held her husband ransom emerged, but subsided when she remembered she had a job to do.

She saw Bill leading Mandy into the interrogation room, and made haste to the attached observation room with the intent of interfering with the interrogation. Through the glass, she saw two security guards chaining Mandy to the chair.

"You." She addressed the tech monitoring the interrogation feed "Out, now."

He gave her a confused look, knowing she no longer worked with CTU, but obeyed her instructions anyway. Michelle Dessler still held a lot of respect here as well as the full support of Bill Buchanan. The tech left without a word.

The security guards had left and Bill turned back to Mandy. Before he could open his mouth, she spoke.

"I want a deal. But I will only speak to Jack Bauer."

Michelle's blood ran cold. She had hoped to get Bill out of the room before Mandy could reveal too much, but they were a dozen words in and she was too late. Just then, Tony stormed in. He stopped when he caught sight of his wife with her hand on the handle of the interrogation room door, frozen.

"Jack Bauer is dead." Bill's flat voice carried into the observation room. Tony glanced around briefly to make sure the interrogation wasn't monitored.

Mandy turned her head slightly to the right so that she was staring intensely at Bill out of the corner of her eye.

"You really do believe that, don't you?"