Jack deepened the kiss, giving himself more time to untie the rope, but partly because he liked what he tasted. By Chloe's gentle moaning he could tell she did too, unless it was just acting to sell the kiss.

The men stood on the left side of them, so Jack was able to reach into his right pocket for his gun. When the rope was loose enough for Chloe to wriggle out of, but not so free it would fall off, Jack handed her the gun.

"Bauer. Step away from her. You're just going to have to… contain your emotions right now if you want your lady friend to live," the lead man smirked moving towards him.

"Ok. Fine," Jack replied, stepping back from Chloe.

"So what's it going to be Bauer? Either give me your gun, or Ms. O'Brian goes," he explained, assuming he had the advantage.

What Jack was about to do would not be easy, but could it compare even to anything he had done in the past? Remembering Nina Myers, Wald's Crew, and Marwan, the task ahead did not seem too unrealistic. After calming himself he faced the agents who had begun to surround him.

"I… don't have a gun," Jack told them, not in the least bit expecting them to believe him.

A couple of agents laughed.

"Jack Bauer, hero, comes to rescue his friend with out gun? You make me laugh Bauer. Hand over gun, or there be consequences," the man warned, tone still light enough.

"Look I figured you guys just wanted money or something, and that I could take you out with hand to hand combat. I had no idea this was a Chinese conspiracy," Jack lied looking appropriately innocent.

"Chinese conspiracy? This, a conspiracy? Compare to what YOU and your government did? Killing a Chinese consulate? How dare you accuse us after what you have done to me, and my country," the man ranted, temper rising.

Jack kept his poker face, as it was not part of his plan for the man to become angry. He waited for him to calm, but just remained still and silent.

"Fine Bauer. If you want to play this game so be it," he spat, no longer willing to put up with Jack's charade. " Pat him down, take gun!"

Immediately 3 agents stepped toward Bauer, guns outstretched toward him. With one hand the agents patted him down, with the other they kept their guns trained on him. When the time was right, Jack swiftly and effectively grabbed one agent's hand and twisted it as to knock the gun out. He turned to punch the other 2, and grabbed the fallen gun, and shot the 3 agents at point blank range. But with them laying on the floor, the lead man pointed his gun directly at Jack, anger bubbling.

"Put the fucking gun down!" the man ordered, his curse surprising Jack. He began to turn to point it at Chloe, but before he knew what was going on Chloe fired two shots in his direction.

With surprising accuracy, the bullet pierced his chest, blood splattering down to the dusty floor. He fell to his knees, and his eyes rolled back. Before anyone could react, he was dead. The 3 other active agents were temporarily in shock from the drastic change of events, but regained their senses and fired multiple times at Jack and Chloe. Jack rolled low to the ground, actually using one of the dead bodies as a shield.

Chloe fired again, killing another. But soon she screamed and fell to the floor, clutching her right shoulder. Jack took in a sharp breath, praying he could resolve this before she died of blood loss. He ignored the deafening sounds of gunshots in his direction, and jumped to his feet, shooting at the man near Chloe. His accuracy was perfect as usual, but as he shot, another man took aim at Jack. With no time to react he rolled to the floor having been hit in the stomach.

"Jaaaaack!" Chloe shrieked, tears pouring out.

Jack tried to muster up something to say, but nothing came. Keeping the gun trained on Jack, the man quickly retrieved the gun that had squirted out of Jack's hand, out of his reach.

"You bastard. You kill my friends. Just like you kill my consulate. We give you a fuckin good deal, we going to let your friend go. But now…" the man shook his head, and Jack once again was taken back at the Chinese' use of American curses. "Now nothing. Now you friend gonna die along with you after you tell us what we need to know."

"Please," Jack whispered rocking back and forth holding his injured stomach. "Let her go. She was just protecting me. I was the one who gave her the gun. Just let her go please, and I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"No. You had your chance. Now you will watch your friend die," he replied, staring coldly at Jack.

Chloe's eyes were wild with panic.

"Jack. Jack please. Jack help!" she cried, desperation evident.

"Chloe I can't. I. I'm sorry. This is all my fault, I should have just let you go…" Jack choked looking away.

"No," she whispered. "You did the right thing. You always do the right thing…"Chloe responded but was cut off at the sound of the Asian man removing the safety.

"Enough," he bellowed, and pointed the gun at Chloe. "Wish your boyfriend luck, cause he gonna need it."

With that he began to pull the trigger, but Jack gathered enough strength to lunge at him. Apparently expecting such a heroic act from Jack he turned to shoot him, but then it was Chloe who sprang to her feet and tackled the man to the floor.

The gun slipped away from him, and Jack tumbled over to retrieve it. The man wrestled Chloe to the ground, and pressed his hand against her throat, pushing harder and harder. Jack just fired, not even asking for him to get off of her. A headshot, so death was instantaneous. Jack fell to the floor, and Chloe rolled over to him, feeling his wound.

"It's gonna be ok. I promise, everything's gonna be ok," Jack assured her, reaching for his cell phone. He dialed 9-1-1.