A/N Hey guys. Change of plan of epic proportions. This is no longer a 'day' fic. See new summary for details!
Obviously, given the most recent episode's spoiler (yes, I got a week ahead!), this story is totally illogical. But meh! =D
Thanks to Phoenix Falconer and Melodic for reviewing!
"So you're saying that Jack's body may have been removed from the scene?" Tony asked carefully.
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Renee replied with a sigh.
"That can't be a coincidence. There's more to this than a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jack was a target," Tony continued, heart racing. His stomach churned when Renee told him what she knew. Someone wanted Jack… did they want him alive? "Has any group claimed the attack?"
"Negative. We have no leads either other than these 'Men in Black'. The trail has run cold."
"Right… Renee I need that intel. What did Moss say?" Tony asked expectantly.
"You won't get anything from him, Tony. Larry won't budge."
"Son of a bitch…"
"There's not much I can do, Tony. He doesn't trust you," Renee apologised, "He's suspicious as to why you didn't remain at the scene."
"We were angry!" Tony practically shouted in reply, "Heck, Renee, we'd just seen our best friend get blown up in front of us, I got shot in the arm-"
"You got shot in the arm?" She interrupted, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. People need to stop asking me that…" Tony shifted uncomfortably where he stood, "What do we need to do to get access to your intel?"
"I'm not sure we can get you access, Tony."
"Tony…" Chloe poked him slightly on the arm, a poke Tony completely ignored.
"Why the hell not?" he continued, "If it wasn't for us he would have never taken down Starkwood! He owes us. And he especially owes Jack."
"Tony!" Chloe poked him harder this time.
"What, Chloe!?" Tony turned quickly, pulling the phone down from his ear momentarily.
"Put the phone on loudspeaker," she replied calmly. He shot her a confused look, "Just do it!"
Tony obliged and Chloe snatched the phone from his hand.
"Renee, it's Chloe…" she started, "What if one of us came into FBI and gave a witness account?"
"No way," Tony interrupted, waving his hand across his chest, "Moss will draw all sorts of assumptions from us and we will never be able to get anything done before these assholes leave the country."
"Renee…?" Chloe ignored Tony. Renee pondered the question.
"…Perhaps. I might be able to get you level 1 or 2 access if you give us an account."
"But we can't afford to waste our time like this, Chloe!" Tony protested. Chloe gave him a blank look.
"I'll send Morris," she replied calmly, "Would that be sufficient, Renee?"
"I suppose so, yes. I'll phone ahead to HQ and get Janis to take this personally."
"Thanks. He will be bringing my son with him. Prescott's not very well, but I'm sure that won't be a problem, right?"
"Shouldn't be, no," Renee replied, feeling more encouraged on her end of the phone, "I'll see what I can do."
Chloe handed the phone back to Tony and brushed past him, taking a seat on one of the chairs and staring blankly into the middle distance. Tony watched her with a frown, took the phone off loudspeaker and put it back to his ear.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Tony asked quietly.
"No," came the truthful reply, "but I want to know what happened to Jack as much as you do. Personally, I can't see Larry giving two shits about why his body was taken, he's much too preoccupied with keeping the President happy. I'll get what I can out to you guys, I'd wager you have a better chance of finding a lead than we do."
"Alright…thanks, Renee."
"Please tell me you have a lead, Agent Moss."
"I'm sorry, Madam President, but I can't," Larry explained slowly down the phone, giving one of his analysts a look that could kill as they tried to interrupt his conversation, "all we have is an eyewitness account that doesn't stack up against the rest."
"Agent Moss, this is Ethan Kanin. That sounds to me that you do have a lead," The recently restored Secretary of Stare interrupted, leaning over the desk slightly to ensure he was heard.
"I would agree with you, sir, if the account hadn't have come from an 11 year old boy," Larry replied.
Larry's comment was received in silence, before President Taylor spoke up.
"What did the boy say, Agent Moss?"
Larry frowned and ran a hand through his hair. How should he go about this? Should he tell her about Jack? He audibly sighed.
"Agent Moss? Are you still there?"
"Yes, Madam President," Larry hesitated, but decided he wasn't going to withhold information from the President of the United States, "The young boy told one of my Agents that he saw two men, whom he described to look like the 'Men in Black' from the film, carrying another person away. He didn't get a description of the person they carried away. All witness accounts have been completed, and he is the only person to have mentioned these suited men. The boy suffered minor concussion in the explosion."
"Sounds to me like this is just the product of an over-active imagination and concussion, Agent Moss," replied Ethan.
"Yes, sir, it does."
Silence once again washed over both sides of the phone call as all parties took a second to think. Larry cleared his throat awkwardly, he still felt a little pressurised when on the phone with the White House.
"You are holding out on me, Agent Moss," he heard the President say calmly, "You know more than you've told us, don't you?"
"I do, Madam President," Larry conceded. He heard Ethan make a disapproving noise on the other end of the phone, "It is not an official lead. It is pure conjecture from a small group of individuals."
"Conjecture, you say?" The President replied, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Spit it out, Agent Moss," Ethan demanded, taking a seat on one of the chairs in the Oval Office.
"Of course, sir," Larry started slowly, "Madam President, approximately one hour after the attack took place, the ranking FBI officer received a private call on her cell from Tony Almeida."
"Almeida…?" the President mumbled, "Which Agent received the call?"
"Renee Walker, ma'am," he replied immediately, "the two know each other from the Starkwood incident."
"I remember, please continue."
"Somehow Almeida had managed to hack through our outer firewall using a username and password decoder with parameters corresponding so some old access codes he used during the Starkwood incident. It was some skilled work, and he managed to get access to the most recent inter-agency protocols."
"That's not good enough, Agent Moss!" Ethan burst out, getting more and more concerned by the second. Tony Almeida? He was supposed to be keeping under the radar…
"I appreciate that, sir, but Almeida getting into our system is not our top priority as we speak," Larry tried not to sound confrontational.
"Of course," President Taylor replied, "What did Mr. Almeida say?"
Larry bit his lip. He may as well just get it out in the open…
"Almeida saw that Ren…Agent Walker was heading the FBI team at the investigation. He called her personally asking for some intel."
"Intel? Of what sort?"
"He asked Agent Walker to personally check the bodies of the dead, to see if she recognised any."
President Taylor and Ethan Kanin remained silent, aware that Larry would continue if they did so.
"Ma'am, Tony Almeida had reason to believe that Jack Bauer was caught in the blast and should be among the dead."
President Taylor sat down slowly and Ethan ran a hand through his hair.
"Bauer…" he mumbled, "Wait a second, Agent Moss, why would Almeida ask Agent Walker to see the body?"
"Sir, Tony Almeida claims to have been at the café when the bomb went off, along with Chloe O'Brian and her husband. He said he confirmed Bauer dead at the scene before any shots were fired. Agent Walker worked very closely with Jack Bauer during the Starkwood incident. I can only assume he was wondering why she did not react to Bauer's supposed death when he called. His suspicions were confirmed when Agent Walker did not ID Bauer's body at the scene."
"I see," Ethan replied, "Are you suggesting that the person the boy may have seen being dragged away could well have been the body of Jack Bauer?"
"It could be that, sir," Larry replied, "Although I am hesitant to apply any major manpower in trying to investigate that possibility, especially so soon after the incident itself. The men in question would have to be briefed on Bauer; many still associate the name with a fugitive and we don't even know if he is alive or not. My suggestion would be to stick it out and see if any other threads surface themselves. If Bauer was of some importance, then I can only assume that his name will resurface itself given time. Until then, the FBI will continue their initial sweep of the surrounding area and allow forensics to work up some leads and deal with the immediate aftermath of the incident."
"I agree, Agent Moss," Ethan replied, "Are there any objections, Madam President?"
"…None," President Taylor replied after a moment's hesitation, "I want real-time updates from the FBI, Agent Moss. If anything emerges surrounding Mr. Bauer, I wish to hear from you personally and immediately, is that understood?"
"Absolutely, Madam President, I will update you as we learn more."
"See that you do."
The line went dead and Allison Taylor rubbed her temples with her fingers.
"Something's funny about this Bauer situation, Ethan. I can just feel it."
Tony rubbed his eyes. It had been around 4 hours since the explosion. Renee hadn't got back to him, but Morris and Prescott had headed down to FBI. He hoped that this would be enough for Moss so he got the access he wanted.
"Anything from Renee yet?" Chloe shuffled in. She kicked her shoes off and sat on her desk chair, sipping a hot cup of coffee as she did so. She held out a second to Tony, who brushed his hand to the side to indicate he didn't want it.
"Nothing," he replied, readjusting the position of his shoulder so he was comfortable.
"That sucks," commented Chloe. Tony looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. She'd been gone for perhaps half an hour, as soon as she got confirmation of Morris's safe arrival at the FBI. Her eyes were bloodshot; Tony could only assume she'd been walking the streets for a while. Perhaps she had to get away from it all. He didn't mind. They were both feeling like this. Both of them had an unspoken relationship with Jack, it was professional but almost family-like at times. She sniffed loudly as Tony continued to watch her.
"You ok?" He asked quietly. She nodded briefly, not looking up. Tony continued, "Hopefully Morris's testimony will be enough to get us access. We can help them get to the bottom of it, no matter how long it takes. Morris doesn't have much to say, so it shouldn't take long before he is back at home with Prescott and-"
"No." Came the interruption.
Tony didn't answer, giving Chloe the cue to continue.
"He's not going back. I've told him and Prescott to stay at FBI for the rest of the day."
"…This is about Jack isn't it?" Tony replied after a hesitation.
"Come on, Tony, think about it!" She looked up quickly, cheeks flushed red, "The café gets taken out, Jack's body is taken, they use snipers to stop anyone interfering, you were aimed at!"
"They weren't necessarily aiming at me…"
"Of course they were!" Chloe was practically shouting now, "If they wanted to kill you, they could have done. Instead, the only gun with laser sight was shone on your temple for a few seconds. They knew I would try and pull you away. They put a bullet in your arm, not intending you to be fatally wounded. They don't pursue us. It's obvious this was personal to Jack. They wanted us alive for some reason. And I for one am not going to let my family be in danger. Morris stays at the FBI with Prescott."
Chloe's gaze shifted back to her feet when she stopped abruptly. Tony gaped at her, trying to process her logic.
"You've thought too hard about this Chloe," he replied, "Why would they want us alive? Why-"
"I've not thought to hard about this. I don't feel safe."
"You don't have to stay here-"
"Shut up and check the protocols Tony," came the quick reply.
Tony couldn't help but laugh as he turned back to his computer screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small smile stretch across the face of his friend before he focused all his efforts on reaching the new protocols.
"Nothing new," he confirmed, "FBI sweep continues… forensic results to come through in the next hour…"
BEEP!
"Whoa!" Tony flinched as a new memo flashed across the screen. Chloe looked up quickly.
"There's been another attack!"
"What?" Chloe exclaimed, before getting up and striding over to Tony's side.
"A bomb. Down at the mall. All main units are being redirected that way."
"Could it be connected?"
"It's got to be," Tony shrugged, "I'll see what else I can get. We need to phone Renee…"