Not for the first time- hell, not for the 50th time- Chloe O'Brian wondered if perhaps she was crazy. After all, most twice divorced (from the same man and wow, did that qualify her for a bad relationship Gold Card, or what?), working mothers didn't travel half way around the world during their vacations. Granted, Morris (her ex who, while a bad husband, was a wonderful father) had taken Prescott (her son) to England to visit his family for two weeks, so it wasn't like she was dragging her son along with her…but still….
But it wasn't like she'd chosen a random destination, not really. No, Chloe had carefully considered a list of countries the United States and Russia had non-extradition treaties with. Yeah, that was the world she lived in. And to think she'd been voted 'most likely to become a shut in' in her senior class year book.
It had been over a year since she'd stood on the comm floor of the New York branch of the CTU and, along with Arlo Glass and Cole Ortiz, watched Jack Bauer's bloody face disappear into a whirl of pixels on the main screen. He'd had to go to ground after his little grief and betrayal fueled revenge rampage and, after a lifetime of working for the military, government agencies and other covert agencies, Jack knew how to disappear.
Heck, so did Chloe and she'd used those skills to ensure Jack's daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter had a safe, new life.
Since Chloe still worked for the CTU, now the appointed director of CTU New York, she had to make it seem as though she was toeing the company line and searching for Jack in order to arrest him. As if. She wanted to find him in order to reassure herself that he was fine. His Wolverine like constitution had doubtlessly kicked in, but still, after 'The Day from Hell: Part 8', she was still worried.
Tim Woods, who had retained his post as the Secretary of Homeland Security after Allison Taylor has resigned to face criminal charges and Vice President Kavi Suresh had taken office, was one of the few people in government who knew they had let Jack go and why. He had called Chloe a few weeks ago to let her know President Suresh was looking into a pardon for Jack…which was great but wouldn't keep the pissed off Russians off his back.
So, when Morris had proposed taking Prescott to the UK and Chloe knew she had a pile of vacation days stacked up, she had pulled out her big list of non-extradition countries and applied her knowledge of Jack Bauer to it.
Other people involved with the search for Jack thought he was in Africa or the Middle East or Asia, someplace he had ties. Someplace he had worked. Chloe thought they all had cranial rectal inversions.
No way in hell was Jack going to Asia. He'd spent years in a Chinese prison being tortured. Not exactly a peaceful memory. His times in Africa and the Middle East had been similarly bloody and pain filled.
What Jack wanted, what he needed was peace.
A fresh start.
Which was how Chloe found herself vacationing in Samoa. She'd arrived the day before (Saturday), slept a lot and risen early to find the island pretty much shut down for Sunday. Purchasing a ticket, she took the ferry from Upolo to Savai'i and drove along the coast, enjoying the pretty scenery.
She had no idea if Jack had come to the islands. She had chose the destination on the flimsy basis that he had no history there and there was surfing. Jack had liked to surf, though she was sure he hadn't had the opportunity in recent years.
Pulling to the side of the road, she parked her rental car and walked out onto a secluded stretch of sandy beach about half way between Pu'apu'a and Fagamalo. The nearest people were probably miles away and she could see no signs of civilization spoiling the beautiful view.
Normally, she was a big fan of technology, but every once in a while something like this would inspire her to agree with the Earthy-crunchy-hippie granola eaters. Some things simply shouldn't be messed with.
Lowering herself onto the fine white sand, Chloe gazed out at the rolling waves. The ocean was fairly calm and the breeze was warm. It was ideallic.
But she sighed. The small spark of optimism that had survived her tenure at CTU had hoped she'd somehow stumble over Jack. The rational part of her knew it was silly, but that didn't make the dissapointment any better.
Blinking - the wind must have kicked some sand into her eyes-, she contemplated jumping in the ocean for a quick dip. True, she didn't have a suit but, compared to the bikinis some women wore, her bra and panties were conservative.
She closed her eyes, toes digging into the sand and listened to the sounds of the birds, the trees rustling, waves lapping at the shore…and footsteps approaching.
Her eyes popped open and she twisted towards the source of the steps freezing mid spin. The sounds of the jungle and the ocean faded out and her focus narrowed.
"Chloe."
Her heart beat double time and she didn't think her voice was working, but she managed to gasp one word.
"Jack!"
TBC….