Chapter 1 – A Guilty Man's Conscience
Looking at his watch, Jack figured it was time to go in Bryan Martin's home. He was already in deep undercover and finally, after working hard as "Jack Coen" for over a month, he found a man who could lead him to illegal weapon making. He took out his wallet, just to see his picture of Kim again. He smiled. He was all she had left, after Teri had died, his estranged relationship with his father, she was his everything and all he wanted to do was get this mission over and finally spend some time with her. He got out of the car and slowly walked up to the front door. He knocked on the door, but then it suddenly opened. He pulled out his gun.
"Bryan! It's Jack. Where are you? Are you okay?" yelled Jack. He walked around slowly. It was a big house for a man and his wife to live in by themselves. Jack walked towards the kitchen. It was empty from what he could see. "Bryan, stop fucking around! Come on out! It's Jack." He slowly progressed up the stairs, from one room to the next. Finally, he saw, what was probably the master bedroom, and all he could see was blood. Suddenly, he was knocked out from behind.
Sirens were blaring, that's all he could hear. A man picked him up. It was a police officer. The officer slapped on handcuffs to Jack.
"What the fuck is going on?" asked Jack.
"Jack Bauer, you are under arrest for the murder of Bryan Martin and Ibn Farrah. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you." Jack was puzzled, but he kept shut and rode all the way back to the station.
A man standing outside watched Jack get into the police car. He smiled, as the job was done. He couldn't believe how simple it was, despite his payer saying otherwise. He picked up his phone and dialed numbers. Upon hearing the phone being picked up, he said, "It's done. What do you want me to do now?"
"Good, what I need you to do is keep an eye on him. He needs to be out of the way as this deal is very important," said the man on the other line.
"My pay?" asked the man.
"You'll get it, just make sure the job is done right." The man put the phone back in his pocket and sat in his car and drove away, however, carefully following the police car.
As police car pulled up to the downtown L.A. station, Jack was received by the press and was shoved his way into the door. Upon entering, Jack saw Tony Almeida. The police officer escorting Jack went up to Tony.
"Who are you?" asked the officer.
"Tony Almeida, I'm with CTU. I would like to talk to Jack," said Tony.
"Well I'm sorry Mr. Almeida, but you are going to have to wait."
"Just one word officer. That's all I'm asking." The officer was reluctant, but let Tony pass and talk to Jack.
"You look like hell Jack," said Tony. Jack made no response to him. "What happened? I thought you were undercover. Now you are under arrest for murder?"
"I don't know what the fuck happened Tony. I was at Martin's house and the next thing I knew, I was knocked out. Tony, I am innocent. Whatever the evidence is, I didn't kill Bryan Martin," said Jack.
"So far, what I've heard, they are cleaning up the place and they've got a lot on you Jack." Jack didn't reply again. "I'll see what I can do Jack." Tony left. Jack was again escorted by the same officer and brought into an interrogation room. Jack sat down, staring into the ceiling. A man came in.
"Mr. Bauer, my name is Paul Betten. So, what were you doing at Mr. Martin's house this evening?" asked Paul. Jack made no response. Paul waited a second. "Mr. Bauer, rest assure, you're going to give a testimony, you can give it here, or you can give it in front of the judge." Jack looked Paul straight into the eyes. Paul left the room, but loudly said, "Take this man to the city prison. He will be detained there until further notice." Jack was roughly taken from his chair to another car. Jack sat down quietly, trying to puzzle everything that happened. He did not see anything at all, how could he have been seen? Or how could anyone knock him out for that matter. He was one of the best field agents in the country. The car came to a sudden stop, as they arrived at the station. Jack was shoved around into yet another interrogation room and was questioned by a much bigger man.
"I'm going to skip all the foreplay and get straight to it Bauer. What were you doing tonight at Martin's house?" asked the officer.
"Ask CTU. They will tell you why," replied Jack, coolly.
"Well, I want to hear it from you and not from CTU." Jack didn't answer.
"Jack, the man you killed, along with Martin, his name is Ibn Farrah. According to this file, he was part of the whole deal for your wife to be killed. He sent the order for Teri to be killed." Jack was astonished. He could not hide that. However, he had never heard about this piece of information. Jack's face said everything. "Jack, you can't hide it. I got your web history and just earlier today, you were looking at Ibn Farrah's profile."
"I assure you, I did not look at Mr. Farrah's profile. This must be a mistake."
"How do you explain it then? What? A ghost looked at your computer?" Jack knew they had nothing on him and whether or not they liked it, Jack was going to keep quiet. "If you aren't going to speak to me now, and help your case, you're going to stay here overnight then Jack. And trust me, I'm going to make sure you are charged with the maximum if I find out you killed these two men." The man signaled for two officers to come in and take Jack away. As Jack was lead away, he stuttered a question to one of the officers.
"May I please just make one phonecall? Please, just to talk to my daughter," said Jack. Both officers looked at each other, and then they nodded, however, the officers were close by. Jack used the phone and called Kim. He waited until the second ring, till Kim picked up.
"Hello," said Kim, in a soft voice. She sounded tired.
"Sweetheart, it's me. I need to tell you something. I can't make it home right now. I am at the city police station --" Jack was cut off.
"Oh, another late night case?"
"Not exactly. I'm being detained, but don't worry, I'll be out by tomorrow, I promise."
"Detained? Dad, what happened?"
"I can't explain right now, I just, have to stay here. Just take care of yourself okay? And if anything happens, call Tony okay?"
"Okay dad. I love you." The line went dead. For a moment, Jack smiled. He had not smiled in a long time. As soon as the line went dead, the officers brought Jack into a small cell. There was a small cot for him to sleep on, and he lay there. Soon after, he fell asleep. However, the sleep was awaken by the dripping of the sprinklers and the blaring fire alarms.