2Keys

The following takes place in a LA gym approximately one month after Day 6.

Rose Montgomery shouted instruction at her class and they obeyed in perfect time. Her class consisted of men and women, young and old, black-belts and newbies who, like Jack Bauer, hadn't even purchased a white gi. The belt wrapped around Rose's slim waist had once been black, but had been washed so many times that it had achieved a dull-grey hue, its frayed ends held together by equally-frayed lengths of electrical tape. Her twin daughters, both skilled brown-belts, were close to the front. Jack, being ungraded and out of uniform stood to the rear of the group, but there was no doubting his sparring skills were among the best, and his performance at kata improved with every session.

The group were smelly, sweaty and out of breath. Time to stretch off and cool down.

'Partner up! One of you against the wall, have your partner stretch your leg up, one at a time!'

Rose made a point of partnering Jack. He had come along to several training sessions now without saying much. Besides which, she found him devilishly attractive. She indicated for him to back against the wall, took his offered foot and began to stretch his leg. She watched his face for signs of strain but saw none, no matter how hard she pushed. She settled on chest-height, as this was all her considerable strength could manage.

'Push down with you leg, push against your partner!'

Jack breathed heavily in the effort to obey.

'Relax! Lift it higher, at least two inches higher!' Rose instructed the group.

She backed up a little to gain leverage to lift his foot as high as it would go (she felt he had not yet really been pushed to his limit) and noticed, beneath the grime that encrusted the sole of his foot, criss-crossed thin white lines. They were regular, as if he had been deliberately cut or beaten. It took her several seconds to clock this information, and when she looked back at his face she noticed his eyes were locked deep into hers. But he said nothing.

'Ok, tough guy, let's see how far you can go,' she said and lifted higher yet. 'Straighten that leg.'

Everyone was relieved when stretching was over, and after Rose had been placated with a few more push-ups, they were dismissed.

There were showers at the gym, but Jack was one of those who preferred to wash in the privacy of his own apartment. As he neared his SUV in the car park, he noticed Rose shouting in anger and desperation at one of her girls. The child was crying while her sister looked on.

'Why do you need to be such a clumsy clutz? We can't drive, we can't get in the house, the spare is in the house…'

'Can I help?' Jack asked.

'Not unless you can break into my car and my house.' answered Rose shortly. 'Cat here managed to lose the keys down the drain.'

Jack peered into the drain. 'They're gone alright.' He took a knife out of his pocket and fumbled with the lock to Rose's dusty Ford.

'I was only kidding,' said Rose.

Jack, who had lodged his cigarette in this mouth while he picked the lock, said nothing. After a few seconds there was a click and the door opened.

Rose looked on in amazement. 'How did you do…' she began, but Jack was already under the dash searching for the wires he needed. Once the engine was turning over he emerged and removed the cigarette from his mouth. 'Did you say the house too?' he enquired casually.

'There's another spare in the house, but we can't get in. It's OK, I'll drive to a locksmith's from here.'

'No need,' said Jack, 'I'll get you in. You drive. I'll follow in my car. I'm in no rush anyway.'

'That's really kind of you Jack, I don't know how to thank you.'

'No problem,' he said, retreating to his own vehicle which was in the next row.

'If I go with him in his car I can show him the way if he gets lost.' said Sam, the other of Rose's daughters.

'No need,' said Jack, 'I can follow.'

'But what if you get stuck at a red?' asked Sam.

Jack, who did not like to tell this apparently law-abiding family how he generally dealt with red lights when tailing another vehicle, didn't have an answer to this.

Rose nodded, Jack let Sam into the passenger seat and stubbed out his cigarette in the ash-tray.

They drove in silence, Jack right behind Rose's car.

'Smoking's bad for you, you know that?' the girl said.

'Yeah, I heard that,' Jack replied.

'You going to break into our house?'

'Yep.' Jack grunted.

'How?'

'See when I get there. You guys got a security system?'

'No.' the girl answered.

'Shouldn't be too hard. This'll save your mom an arm and a leg calling out a locksmith on a Saturday.'

'How do you know how to break into cars and houses and shit?'

Jack turned to look at the girl. 'You let your mom hear you talk like that?'

She didn't reply.

'Which are you, Sam or Cat?'

'I'm Sam. I'm an inch taller than Cat, and I got two tags on my belt, she's just got one.'

'Hmm.' Jack looked unimpressed. 'I used to work for LAPD. We got training – picking locks and stuff. Tried to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.'

'Did it work?'

'Sometimes.'

'Oh,' nodded Sam, emphasising each word, 'well, that explains it.'

'Explains what?'

'Mom thought you were ex-military. Special forces, you know, like Navy SEAL or something?'

'Oh? How'd she work that out?'

'She can tell things about people from the way they move.'

'Well, I'm nothing as exciting as that.'

'So what do you do now, for a living? It's left here.' Sam added.

'Between jobs.'

'You mean you're unemployed.' It wasn't a question.

Jack wondered whether Kim had ever been this annoying.

'Is your place far?'

'Not far. It's OK, you don't need to be embarrassed. Men don't need to be breadwinners all the time. Feminism emancipates men too.'

'Hmm' said Jack and resolved to say nothing more till the end of the journey.

They parked behind Rose's car at the entrance to her semi-detached. It was a poor neighbourhood, but respectable. The place could do with a lick of paint, thought Jack.

'This door here?' He examined the lock for a few minutes before vaulting the fence to the back yard. Rose, Sam and Cat waited by the front door. A few minutes later, Jack knocked from inside.

'Where do you keep your spare?' he asked.

Rose blushed. She hadn't anticipated him being this quick and didn't especially want Jack to rummage through her underwear drawer. In a moment of panic, she wondered where she had left her vibrator.

'Uh – bedroom on the right, top drawer of the dresser.'

'OK.'

Jack emerged a minute later and handed her the keys. There was not a flicker of amusement or embarrassment on his face.

'Thanks. You're a star. Did you have to smash a window?'

'No need. Someone left the bedroom window open.' he looked sternly from Sam to Cat.

'You climbed up?'

He addressed the girls. 'You want to keep your lovely DVD collection, you need to keep your window shut when you go out. That's an invitation to a burglar.' Both girls looked awkard. 'Well,' Jack continued, 'I'll be going.'

'No – listen,' Rose said, 'stay for lunch. We're having soup. It's the least I can do.'

The following takes place over lunch.

The four could have been mistaken for a nuclear family, were it not for Jack's reluctance to raise his eyes beyond his soup-bowl. He seemed to find the cracked linoleum floor to be the safest place to rest his gaze.

'Hmm, this is good,' he managed.

'Mom makes us eat soup all the time. Says it's good for us.'

Jack looked up. He was beginning to tell between the identical twins – Sam was the one that talked incessantly. 'She's right.' he said blandly.

'So, Jack, you've done karate before, haven't you?' asked Rose.

'Yes ma'am'.

'When we're not at the dojo, you can call me Rose.'

Jack smiled. 'I did karate as a kid. It was a different type. I don't remember the katas much, just the basic moves.'

'What belt were you?' asked Sam.

'White. We just had white, brown and black. Only the teacher was a black-belt. I never got to brown.

'How come?' asked Sam.

'It was my mom started me going to classes. Then my dad made me give it up.'

'Why?' asked Rose.

Jack smiled. 'I – uh – punched him. Just once. Knocked him out cold.'

'You knocked your dad out?' Sam was letting her soup drip from her spoon.

Jack nodded, 'He was a tall guy and I was a skinny little thing. He didn't like being knocked out.'

'I'll bet,' said Rose, 'you learn your lesson?'

'No,' said Jack, truthfully, 'not for many years.'

'What lesson?' asked Sam.

'Don't mess with my dad.' said Jack, smiling.

'You still mess with him?' asked Sam.

'He passed away. It was a short while ago.'

There was another awkward silence. Even Jack was glad when Sam broke it.

'Jack used to be a cop. Got training in picking locks. Not a Navy SEAL, mom.'

Now it was Rose's turn to blush, but she recovered quickly, 'A cop, eh? Well you'd be the perfect person, then. What do you do on a Thursday evening?'

'Nothing, why?'

'I run a self-defence class for women. Rich women. Eight-week course. Arm locks and stuff. I need a partner, preferably a man, to do demos with. You know, you throw a punch, I pin you, that sorta stuff. Dead easy, if you were a cop. Hundred bucks a night. Easy money, if you're free.'

'A hundred dollars?' Jack asked.

'Starts next Thursday. Down at the gym. Give it a try once, if you don't like it I can always get someone else.'

'OK, you talked me into it.'

'Can I ask you a question, Jack?' Sam was on the case again.

'What's that?'

'Why d'you punch your dad?'

Jack shrugged. 'He made me mad. He was very strict. One day, I just decided I'd had enough.'

'What was he punishing you for?' she persisted.

Jack smiled easily and looked Sam in the eyes, 'Now that, I'm not going to tell you.'