Department of Defense

Secretary of Defense, James Heller, sat at his desk listening to the excuses, he'd heard them all before, it was like being in a school yard. He interrupts the person speaking and leans forward in his chair, looking each one of them in the eye as he speaks.

"O.K. enough, go through this one more time. We need all the information we can get, bring in the FBI if you have to, I don't have time to waste on this, the meeting with the President is tomorrow and he's going to want answers. Clear?"

Three right hand people: "Yes Sir."

"Good, then go."

Jack, come back, he thinks to himself, one day and these people are lost. Heller sees Audrey waiting at the door, he waves her in, not that he needs to, she could see he wasn't enjoying himself.

Heller to Audrey: "Did you speak to Jack? How's he doing?"

"Jack is doing fine...he's heading back to his apartment right now to rest for a few hours. I told him I would be over later to go over what he missed today. Everything will be fine, he shouldn't need more than a couple of days to be 100 percent back to his normal self."

"Good to hear, hopefully he'll have a quick recovery, I need him here." , Heller sighs.

LAX

An average looking businessman walks through Customs and Immigration, he seems a little nervous. After he clears Customs, he gets into a car and drives away, sighing to himself before he does so.

Division

Helen comes over to update her boss. "Hey Michelle, that watchlist mix-up we had. Turns out the name on it belonged to a dead guy. But it also got flagged on the DOD´s terrorist alias list. We're sending it to DOD for confirmation."

Michelle looked at Hellen. "He's dead but he's on a plane?" She asked softly.

Hellen nodded, "Yes thats right," She paused for a moment studying Michelle's face, "you think this has got something today with today's attack?"

Michelle nodded, "This obviously can't be true. We need to work this up as if it were connected to what just happened. Treat it as a priority. As soon as you get answers from the DOD, get it to all the other agencies. We need to find this man as see what's going on. OK?"

"Of course." Hellen nods and hastily walks away. Michelle picks up the phone.

Jack's place

Jack turns on the TV, since he can't sleep at this time of day. The news channel shows a report of an explosion and the reporter says:

"The tanker explosion occured on freeway 405, just outside North Hollywood, a few dozen yards from the intersection with the Ventura Freeway. No details have been announced as yet from official sources, but preliminary reports speculate that this might have been a terrorist attack."

"My God." Jack thinks to himself and moves closer to the TV. Dark fumes and a huge fireball fill the screen.

Jack immediately understands that he's not going to have a day off after all. He picks up the phone and dials a number..

D. O. D.

Fox News is on at the DOD as well. Heller and his crew are gathered around the TV. "Jack may not get that luxury, have you seen and heard what's happened? Today of all days, terrorists have to creep out of the woodwork.", Heller tells Audrey. "Call him."

But just then, Heller's phone rings, it's Jack.

"Secretary Heller. It's Jack Bauer. Sir, have you been informed about the tanker explosion outside of Los Angeles?... If this was a terrorist act, sir, I assume you're going to need all your people at hand. I'm coming back in."

"Yes Jack, it's just been brought to my attention, no-one seems to know much yet, but we could sure use you here. I'll see you when you arrive."

Replaces the phone. Looks at Audrey.

"Jack's on his way in, I know he might not be able to do much at the moment, but he has contacts and personnally I'd feel more at ease if he was here managing the situation, he has lots of experience in that field.

"Yes, he does." Audrey turns to leave but Heller calls her back.

"Audrey, could you ask someone to bring me some coffee, I have a feeling it's going to be one of those days!"

"Sure."

Jack's place / Almeida residence
Jack hangs up and dials another number.

"Tony, it's Jack. Listen, there's been an explosion outside North Hollywood. You heard about it?"

Tony picks up the phone after turning down the volume on his TV: "Hey Jack, yeah I was just watching the news. Michelle seemed pretty busy too."

"Look, the DOD needs me back at work immediately. Could you do me a favor? I need to get back to work and I can't possibly drive right now with my eyesight blurred like this. Could you please come pick me up?"

"Sure, I can give you a ride. I'll be there in 20 minutes."

Tony hangs up and picks up his jacket and car keys and heads for the car. He thinks: Jack's being called in from a day off straight after a surgery and he's got no-one else to call but you, Almeida? Means they've got their hands full at DOD. You'd better be prepared for anything. Tony turns back from the door and goes to a closet in the bedroom. Opening it, he shoves some chlothes aside and uncovers a SIG P226. Hesitatingly at first, but then decisively, he picks it up, loads a fresh clip in it and then leaves the house.

Jack turns off the TV and starts gathering his things, putting on his shoes. He checks his watch. "Easy, Jack. Tony's coming. The world won't go down over a few minutes.", he tells himself. But then again, if time ever mattered to anyone, it does to you. Had you only arrived at CTU a couple of minutes earlier that day, Teri would still be alive.

No, Jack! You won't go there again! This is over!, he orders himself. You've got a new life now, Audrey loves you, doesn't she? You care about eachother. Okay, her father doesn't know about it, but she'll tell him eventually. Just a little time, Jack. Give it time.

Time. He checks his watch again. Tony's on his way. Why'd you bring Tony into this, you could have asked anyone from DOD to pick you up?, he starts cussing himself. Doesn't Tony have better things to do? Well, guess old habits die hard. You still don't trust anyone else, do you Jack? He smirks at himself. Oh, who knows, maybe Tony'll be glad he's needed, may not be such a bad thing after all.

CTU

Annie walks over to Chloe, after checking her phone logs for that morning. She wants to find out something for herself. "Chloe, can I ask you something? How did you find out about this attack?"

Chloe looked at Annie. "I got a call from someone, and I streamed it straight over to Michelle at Division." Chloe raised an eyebrow then frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Annie crosses her arms. "Michelle at Division? Why did you go around Erin? You work for her, not Michelle. You know that."

Chloe closed her eyes, "I don't trust Erin, I trust Michelle, she is a higher rank then Erin, so technically I do work for Michelle, as do you and as does Erin."

Annie takes one step away from Chloe. "Well, you're gonna have to start trusting people around here, Chloe. You're not in the position to make a call like that. This is a military institution, there's a chain of command. I have no choice but to report to Erin that you broke protocol."

Chloe frowns then rolls her eyes. "Did you not hear me?" Chloe asks camly, "I didn't break protocol, if anything I sped it up, by going to Michelle, the intel didn't take an extra half hour to get around the place now, did it? Remember, we work for Erin, but she works for Michelle, so we do as well." She pauses, smiling, "Now if you don't mind, because I know how much you love slowing things down, could you please leave me alone so i can get some work done." With that Chloe turns back to her computer, satisfied that she has shown up Annie's meagar intellect once again.

"Fine, Chloe.", Annie walks to a bathroom, takes out a tape recorder from her pocket, rewinds it and plays a portion of what's on it. "I don't trust Erin, I trust Michelle, she is a higher rank then Erin, so technically I do work for Michelle"

"Heh, nice going Chloe.", Annie grins to herself and removes the tape from the tape recorder.

Then she goes up to Erin's office, knocks quickly and enters.

"Erin, you asked me to check up on Chloe? Well, she claims that she was contacted by these people and then instantly went over your head by calling Michelle Dessler at Division. Here's your proof.", she hands her the tape.

"Alright, Annie. Thank you. That would be all.", Erin states, holding the tape in her hand, deciding whether or not to listen to it.

"Okay." Annie goes back to the main floor.

Jack's place

Jack finishes packing up, gets a few cases of ammo and his gun ready, throws them onto the pile and picks up the phone. "Michelle, it's Jack. I assume you've got your hands full with what's happened in North Hollywood? Look, we're gonna have to co-ordinate everything we do today. All inter-agency reports are to be updated and sent out as soon as new intel arrives, we can't miss a step here. We have to find out what happened and who is behind this. I have this feeling that this wasn't their primary target. It was just the beginning. Michelle, I'm gonna need everything you've got sent up to the DOD's office here in LA now. I'm going back to work, Tony's picking me up. I'll be there within the hour."

Michelle nodded, "Yeah Jack, the intel is already on its way, should be coming into the DOD database in a few minutes, along with a phone call Chloe got." Michelle was about to hang up but stopped, "Did you say Tony was with you?"

Jack pauses a second. "No, not yet. He'll be here in fifteen. I needed someone to pick me up. Look, I'm sorry for bringing him into this, I just didn't know who else to call."

"No that's OK, Jack," She smiles glad to see Tony is trying harder again, "Can you put him on for a sec when he gets there?"

"Sure, I'll have him call you from the car, ok? Just get me everything. I have to go."

"Ok thanks Jack," With that she hangs up.

Jack hangs up and starts prepping. Tony would be there soon.

CTU, Erin's office

Erin listens to the tape of the conversation, then calls up Chloe. "Chloe, I need you in my office, now."

"Look Erin, I'm sort of busy at the moment, can it wait?"

"No, Chloe, it can't wait. Set Annie on whatever you're working on and get up here now, that's an order.", Erin says and hangs up.

Chloe slams the phone down. "Set Annie on what you're doing, yeah right, she can't even manage to pick up a pen without dropping it."

She said walking towards the door of Erin's office. When she reached it, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. "You wanted to see me, oh painful ruler of CTU." Chloe said the last part of this in her head.

"Chloe, you know what your responsibilites are." , Erin didn't even bother asking Chloe to take a seat. "You work in Field Ops, but you are not heading it. You work for me. I take the information further up the ladder. If you can't bring yourself to obey the rules of this institution, and follow the chain of command, I suggest you resign right now." Erin pauses to let the words take effect. "I am not Jack Bauer, Chloe. I won't tolerate breaking protocol, for whatever reason. I won't tolerate insubordination. Understood?"

Chloe rolls her eyes. "Yes, I understand, but it was also you who said no interuptions while you were in the meeting with Hammond, so I obeyed an order, while speeding things up, so if that isn't following protocol and trying to make everything run smoother, then I don't know what is."

"Don't play me for a fool, Chloe, you know that a terrorist threat supercedes a meeting on adminstrative matters! You should have brought me in on this before going to Division. If you have trust issues, maybe you should apply for a position there. Are we clear?"

"Yes." Chloe turned to leave, not wanting to endure the second-grade-pupil-in-principal's-office-situation any longer, she stopped just as she was about to reach the door, "Oh and thanks for offering me a seat, much appreciated." she added, making no attempt to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

"Go back to work." Erin says dryly and opens up a file folder on her desk, not giving Chloe another look.

Jack's place / Division

Tony parks the car, gets out and walks to the door. He knocks on the door and waits. Jack opens the door and walks out. "Hey Tony. Thanks for coming."

"Hey Jack.", he shakes Jack's hand, giving him a meaningful look, as if to thank him for helping him sort things out, then quickly make their way to the car and Tony drives off.

"Tony, Michelle wanted to talk to you earlier. Want me to give her a call?"

"No, I'll call her from my cellphone." Tony dials Michelle's office number. "Hey, it's me. Jack said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes I did. I was pressed for time earlier. How did the job interview go?"

"OK, I suppose. At least he didn't dismiss me outright. I guess he didn't expect a traitor in his office, but he hid it well. Said he'd call me in a few days, but we'll see if he does."

Michelle smiled, "Well that's a start. I'm glad." She paused for a moment, for a minute there it looked like life was starting to work out for them again and she wanted to convince herself into believing it. "Honey, we're rather busy here at the moment so I'm gonna have to go, but I'll talk to you later I promise." She knew from previous experiences that being around Jack wasn't always harmless, which made her add. "One more thing. Please be careful."

Tony could feel a slight smile creeping on to his lips: "Yeah go on. I'm just giving Jack a ride to the DOD office. I'll be fine."

As Michelle hangs up, so does Tony and then he looks at Jack for the first time since he started driving. Jack still looked the same. A lonely wolf, determined, strong-willed, unflinching on his way. Annoyed at the fact that he needed help, but not hesitating to ask for it when he needed it.

Jack was looking out of the window, but felt Tony's eyes on him and turned to him. He smiled slightly but Tony returned his eyes on the road.

Somewhere in LA

The businessman from the airport parks the car and walks into a hotel. After having signed in, he goes up to his room. He leaves his briefcase into the hotel safe and locks it.

Division

Steve had pulled up surveillance footage from the LAX airport and was going through them, to ID the man from the watchlist. Now, something catches his attention. He prints out the photo and runs up to Michelle's office.

"Michelle. The guy from the watchlist, I went through the surveillance footage and found him, then I compared his picture with everything we had in the database. Here's your ID." He hands her the printed photo. "Jim Smith. Probably not his real name, but look at this. The surveillance at the airport caught him getting in this car. We're working on the number plate, we should have it in a few minutes."

Michelle nods, "OK, patch this through to the other agencies, and let's start working this up, I want it as a top priority."

Steve: "Got it." and then he swiftly goes back to the main floor.

Tony's car

So, playing the driver for a government employee, are you? That's a job you cah do, Tony tells himself, letting out a laugh, thinking about the few positions he'd applied for and been rejected from since his release. That guy Michael probably won't call back either, despite Jack, and why would he? You saw his face when you spoke the word "treason". Jack may have influence high up in the ranks, but in this world, your own reputation matters. And you screwed that one up pretty good.

He still didn't quite understand the evil in saving the life of someone you loved, someone you'd promised to protect in sickness and health, although he had come to the conclusion that the rules were not the same for guys like him. You knew better, Almeida. You knew better, but how does a man just let his wife die? You couldn't and you would have made the same choice if you had to start over.

Would you?, a voice in his head asked.

"Yeah", he heard himself reply.

Tony shook his head. This was all unimportant now. You have a simple task to accomplish, just drive Jack to the DOD office and head straight back home. That's easy enough to do, even when the label of a traitor sticks on you like glue that can't be dissolved in anything.

The car approached the LA office of the DOD. Jack started gathering his things.

"Thanks for the ride, Tony.", Jack says, as Tony parks the car. "Look, I've been thinking, we could probably use your help, if you wanna stick around for a while, I can make it happen."

Tony sighs deeply, "I don't know Jack. Do you really think they'll let a pardoned traitor into a DOD facility?", he says, not wanting to be reminded of what it used to be like back when he was still valuable to the government, before they dropped him, and knowing that setting foot in this building may get his hopes up, hopes that he might actually be valuable again. Possibly only to be abandoned once more later. "Besides, what could I do. I'm really not up to speed on the latest developments."

Jack looks straight into Tony's eyes. "Tony, I trust you. They trust me. They'll do what I say. Besides, I am sure you can be an asset to us. You still know how things work. I could use someone to co-ordinate between us, CTU and Division and you can run tactical better than anyone here, these people are not used to that. If this turns out to be only the beginning, I'm gonna need your help today. I'm gonna need someone in there that I can really trust."

Tony thinks this through for a long time before replying. Come on, Almeida, he's been your friend the longest, you owe him to try and help if you can. "Alright Jack. I'll come with you but if anyone here or at Division resists, I´m stepping down.", Tony says, looking Jack in the eye.

"Fair enough.", Jack agrees and they leave the car, Jack in the lead.

DOD, temporarary LA office

Jack and Tony walk into the building. Jack shows his ID to the security guy. "Jack Bauer, I work for Secretary Heller."

The guard checks the ID, then turns to Tony. "Who's this?"

Jack: "That is Tony Almeida, he's a very good friend of mine, he'll be working with us today. I need you to issue him a visitor badge."

"Sir, do you have an ID on you?", the guard asks Tony.

Tony digs out his wallet and takes out his driver's licence. "There."

The guard looks at the licence and nods. "OK, thank you sir. Now if you could fill out this form so that we can get you a visitor badge. "

Tony fills out the form and gets the visitor badge. The guard notices Tony's gun in a holster and stops him. "Sir, I'm gonna need your gun."

Tony's blood freezes at hearing this and he is momentarily unable to reply. "I'm gonna need your gun." The last time I heard those words was when my life ended. He closes his eyes briefly, trying to banish the painful memory, feeling his pulse rising. "Breathe, Tony. It's over.", he tells himself. "No, no, it isn't, is it?", heckles his conscience.

"No, that's OK.", Jack tells the guard. "I'm vouching for him."

"Alright. Go ahead.", the guard agrees and Jack passes towards the elevator. Tony, still numb, follows him into the elevator and to the office.

Jack leads Tony to his office. They meet Secretary Heller on their way there.

Heller walks up to them, relieved. "Jack. Good to see you. It's been crazy here today.", they shake hands.

"Thank you sir. Secretary Heller, this is Tony Almeida, I brought him in to assist us today."

"Alright, Jack." Heller shakes Tony's hand. As he hears the name Almeida, it sounds very familiar to him, but he doesn't immediately recognize him and tells himself that Almeida is a common Spanish name, that's why it sounds familiar.

"Mr. Secretary.", Tony greets him. He can' t help but notice the secretary's apprehension and suspicion. He can see it in the man's eyes.

"Welcome, Mr. Almeida.", Heller says, and as he does, he suddenly remembers where he'd seen the man before. He turns to Jack again, giving him a quizical look, which Jack notices, and then asks him: "Have you been brought up to speed yet?"

"No, Mr. Secretary, we just came in. Have we received the intel from Division yet?" Jack replies.

"Yes, we have. Pete will brief you on that."

"Good." Jack then turns to Tony. "Tony, go to Conference room 1, I'll meet you there in a minute."

Tony goes to the conference room as Jack asked. It's empty. He sits down and sighs , thinking to himself: The Secretary clearly doesn't trust me and why should he. Not like he meets a traitor every day. He buries his head in his hands for a few moments, feeling alone. You know exactly what Jack is doing right now. Putting his neck on the line again to convince Heller to let you work here. That's the kind of friend Jack is.

What are you doing here, Almeida? You really need to prop up your ego like this? What about Michelle? She gonna like this? He sits up straight again and looks around. "You wanna stick around or leave? Your choice.", his conscience asks him. After a while, he concludes. Jack wanted me here, I owe him that much that I help him if I can.

In his office, Jack closes the door behind Heller as they walk in.

Heller stops in the center of the room, turning to Jack.

"Jack! You are bringing a traitor into this building! What were you thinking!"

Jack, who's been expecting this, speaks determinedly. "Sir, please, hear me out. You trust my judgement, don't you?"

Heller crosses his arms. "Yes, Jack, I normally do. But I'm starting to question it at the moment."

"Sir, I would never do anything to jeopardize the integrity of this office, or the safety of our country, you know that. We are going to need every base covered today and I promise you, Tony Almeida is not a threat. The only reason he got convicted is because someone wanted to make an example of him." Jack pauses for a couple of seconds. "Sir, you know my history. You know that I had been put in a similar situation as he had been placed in, and that I had made a similar decision. No-one accused me of treason."

"This is not the same, Jack. He hasn't only been accused, he has been convicted.", Heller underlines the last word.

"And pardoned. By the President.", Jack underlines every word.

Heller shakes his head. "Because you asked him to, Jack."

"Yes, but David Palmer would never have done it if he hadn't thought it was the right thing to do. Sir, no-one forced his hand."

Heller thinks this over for a minute. "Alright Jack. See if Almeida can help us. But if anything goes wrong..."

"It won't." Jack pauses, but Heller's uncertainty makes him add "Secretary Heller, I am taking full responsibility for his being here today.", Jack replies, fully prepared to take whatever consequences might face him if he failed but knowing that Tony would not let him down.

Heller eyes Jack for a moment longer, then without further words leaves Jack's office. Jack waits another second or two, then follows Heller out and heads towards the conference room.