Chapter Four – CTU Compromised

The sound of shrill sirens flooded the previously silent CTU. Tony scanned the area around him, drew out his gun and headed off at a run, back towards the others. He stopped at the door to Holding Room Two and listened, but only the ear-splitting wail of alarm after alarm reached his ears. He turned left, towards his office, and met an equally confused Jack at the end of the hall.

"What's going on?"

"Don't know. We're going to need to split up." Tony nodded. "You go up to tech. 1, do a loop and come back here, I'll go the other way and meet you in your office in five minutes." Tony nodded once more and set off.

He saw nothing unusual until, just as he was considering heading back, he heard light footsteps ahead of him, shortly followed by a door closing gently. His Marines training kicked in.

Tony raised his gun, stood to one side of the door, now on his right, inhaled deeply and kicked the door in with one blow.

"Tony!" Michelle leaned back on the wall and sighed heavily, "you scared the hell out of me!"

Tony laughed quietly in relief, "c'mon, we've got to go back and meet Jack."

"Ok, Tony. But everyone else has gone outside, they think its a bomb or something, security are checking everyone is ok in the car park."

"Why didn't you go outside with them?" Tony glanced her way in time to see her checks go red with embarrassment.

"I… well, I… wanted to find you first" she finished lamely and smiled. Tony felt his heart swell; he smiled back at this amazing woman who already seemed to care for him more than anyone else ever had.

The two agents moved silently down the corridor, covering each other from an unknown enemy. They were nearly at Tony's office when, without warning, the alarms stopped, leaving CTU eerily quiet.

"What does it mean?" Michelle asked when their eyes met moments later.

"I don't know, but hopefully Jack will…"

Jack was already there when they arrived; he let them in wordlessly and locked the door after them. Tony raised his eyebrows and silently asked the obvious question. Jack nodded and began to explain.

"We have an unknown white male in the building."

"How?"

"Gave a fake ID – everything checked out on our computer but someone downstairs wanted to be sure, so they checked with Division and the name he gave came up black on their computer, so security ordered a lockdown."

"How come our computer isn't up-to-date with Division?"

"That's just it. It is. The fake name was added here, at CTU, and then removed once the intruder was inside."

"We have a leak?"

"That's the only explanation. CTU must be compromised, so this stays between us, clear?"

They both nodded solemnly, the thought that yet another friend had turned traitor was enough to make their hearts sink.

Jack's eyes were cold and emotionless; he had seen betrayal too often to feel the way Tony and Michelle did now, he had felt that betrayal harder than either of them and had even lost his wife to it. Jack trusted few people any more, but two of those he did still trust were standing in front of him now. Still, he turned and left them without any words of comfort, what could he say? Terrible things do happen when your friends change sides, there was no denying it.

"It could be anyone, we've hired so many new people recently," Michelle stated miserably.

"Don't think like that, Michelle, there's always a tell, a mistake, we'll find them. But first, we have someone inside this building who shouldn't be."

"What do we do?"

Tony smiled, that was one of the things he admired most about her, ever-the –professional, even when she was clearly scared or upset, she still got on with her job and still did it better than most.

Nearly three quarters of an hour later, all the CTU employees were gathered in the conference room, where Tony and Jack were explaining that the alarms had been a drill, a practice evacuation. Though they didn't look convinced. Once the meeting ended and people started to leave, Tony called Michelle back,

"How'd you get on?"

"Nothing. I checked all the security footage and found no trace that there even was an intruder. This guy seems to have completely disappeared, but he defiantly hasn't left the building."

"Could the tapes have been altered?"

Michelle nodded sadly, "it could have been erased during the evacuation. I'm having security systematically search the whole building now."

"Good, thanks Michelle."

"What have you found?" She asked.

"We've found the leak."

"Who?"

"Cynthia Oaks."

"No! Your wrong, its not Cynthia, we trained together, she not the leak!"

"It all fits, Michelle, it was her computer that changed the CTU records, and she was missing briefly during the evacuation," Tony reasoned, "I'm sorry, Chelle, I really am. Jack is questioning her now."

Michelle looked away, she felt winded. It couldn't be true. Cynthia and her went way back, they'd signed up and trained together, they'd been friends over at Division. But Michelle had become a little more distant recently, since she started at CTU, since she met Tony really.

"Is that everything?" she asked without making eye contact, Tony nodded.

"You ok? Chelle?"

"I'm fine Tony," she snapped and left him alone in the conference room.

Tony's mind drifted back to that day over a year ago when Nina had been exposed. His fists clenched at the thought. He had trusted her; he had felt the way Michelle did now – confused, angry and betrayed. But he didn't have anyone to help him deal with those feelings, Michelle had him and he intended on helping her though.

He followed the way Michelle had gone and quickly found her resting against the wall her eyes filled with glittering tears,

"We were really good friend" she said simply before Tony took her in his arms and held her to him, allowing her to cry.

"Oh, hey, Michelle," he murmured quietly against her ear, her breathing was still fast and irregular. He pulled away slightly and looked at her tear stained face. Tony wiped each tear away gently with his thumbs, while mentally pleading her to look at him.

Finally, Michelle forced herself to meet his gaze, Tony flashed her a kind smile, which only made her more upset.

"I'm sorry," she gave a hollow laugh before chocking on a fresh wave of tears, "that's twice now."

"Twice what, Michelle?"

"Twice I've broken down and cried in front of you, Tony" she shook her head sadly and continued, "you must think I'm so stupid," she sniffed loudly and lowered her eyes to the floor.

Tony felt his stomach melt, he wanted to wrap her in his arms, take her home and look after her. He would have too, if CTU weren't in the middle of dealing with a serious threat. Instead he reached out gently and lifted her chin with his finger.

"I don't think our stupid, Chelle, I think you're the most intelligent and reliable worker here at CTU," he paused, "and I think you're beautiful. I hate seeing you cry, Chelle, it breaks my heart, I want to see you smile, I love your smile – I wouldn't get through each day without it."

Michelle's mouth open slightly in surprise and new tears formed in her eyes, but these were not the same sad sobs from before.

Tony took her parted lips as an invitation and quickly covered them with his own. He kissed her gently for a few moments before reaching an arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

Michelle sunk into the long-awaited kiss, her insides growing warmer by the second. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her fingers through his hair.

Difficult though it was, Tony knew they had to stop and pulled away, but he kept their bodies close. He rested his forehead against hers.

Tony traced her bottom lip with his finger and watched her eyes closely, "how are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks," she smiled shyly at him.

He rubbed his hands up and down her arms and returned her smile, "back to work?"

Michelle nodded. So the pair turned away from the calm of the corridor and headed back towards the chaos of the rest of CTU.