Chapter 6

President Heller sat in the back of his limousine and stared out the window at the English countryside. As much as he loved London, he could see why Alistair owned the property in the country. It was a wonderful escape from the bustle of the city. It sounded, trite but the air smelled sweeter and the pace of life seemed slower. Just negotiating the turns in the road required you to slow down. Heller wished that he could enjoy the view, but he simply couldn't. His mind was too preoccupied with what he was going to say to his grandson. He called Mark as they were approaching the estate to see if there was any update on Audrey. No, Mark told him. She was still in surgery. Heller looked at his watch. It was 6:45. She had been in surgery over three hours.

One of his Secret Service detail sprang from the front seat as the limo pulled to a stop. He stood motionless for a moment scanning the immediate area for threats. Agents from the lead car were already out of their car doing the same thing. Once they were comfortable with their threat assessment, one of the agents opened the door for the president. As he turned toward the house, the front door opened and Alistair Davies stepped out.

"Alistair," Heller said extending his hand. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"I came out late last night. I knew someone was going to have to talk to your grandson about his mother. I didn't know if you or Mark would be able to get away."

"You're a good friend, Alistair. I appreciate you thinking about Jeff."

"I'm so terribly sorry about all of this, James. How is Audrey?"

"She's in surgery again, has been for the last three hours." Heller shook his head. "I don't know what I'm going to say to Jeff. How do you tell an eleven year old that his only parent may die?"

Alistair looked confused. "But Mark…"

"Mark's not his father. He's Jeff's stepfather. It's complicated, but Jeff's father has never really been in the picture. That's my fault," Heller added hastily. "I had my reasons. I didn't approve. So I encouraged Audrey to keep him out of Jeff's life. It was a mistake that I'm afraid I'm going to regret forever."

Just about then the three adolescent boys' voices could be heard in the upstairs hallway. "Let's get some breakfast and then we can go out and play football," called Philip, Alistair Davies' twelve year old grandson.

"Can I be keeper first?" Jeff asked. He followed the slightly older boy as they bolted down the stairs.

"I get to be keeper after you, Jeff," nine year old Harry shouted. He was the youngest of the boys but had inherited his grandfather's tall stature and he stood as tall as his older brother and his friend.

The three stopped at the bottom of the stairs seeing their grandfathers standing in the entrance hall.

"Gramps! What are you doing here?" Jeff said. "We aren't going home today, are we?" he asked looking unhappy when he thought he would have to leave his friends. "The next time Prime Minister Davies comes to the US, can Phil and Harry come, too? I want to show them the White House and Camp David."

Not sure how to begin, Heller said nothing as he collected his thoughts. Jeff waited for a response. He knew that recently his grandfather had sometimes been slow to respond or forgetful. His mother said that it was the stress of being president and that he needed to be patient with his grandfather.

Alistair spoke first. "Philip, Harry, come with me, please."

The three boys looked at each other. "Did we do something wrong?" Harry asked.

"Not at all," Alistair said with a serious look on his face. "We need to give President Heller and Jeff some time alone."

"Time alone?" Jeff asked. "Gramps, is something wrong?"

"James, you can use my study," Alistair said pointing to a dark paneled room off of the entrance.

"Thank you, Alistair," Heller said quietly.

Jeff eyes his grandfather warily, astute enough, even at his young age, to know that something wasn't right. They moved into the study and Heller closed the door. He watched his grandson take a solid stance in front of him. It was at moments like this that his resemblance to Jack was most pronounced. He had his father's square frame. His jaw tightened anxiously and his eyes narrowed. Heller put his arm around Jeff's shoulders and guided him to the seat in front of the bay window. They both sat down in the sun.

"Sport, we need to talk," James Heller said quietly.

Jeff's lip quivered as if he already had a sense of what his grandfather was going to say. "It's Mom, isn't it? Something happened to Mom."

Heller nodded and then explained a sanitized version of what had happened. In the process he left out any reference to Jack. He knew that Audrey had told Jeff about his father and had always done so in a way to keep Jack in the best possible light without implicating either Jim or Mark as the reasons that Jack was not part of the child's life. Simply put, she told Jeff that Jack was a covert agent (true) and that he, for reasons of his own, had gone dark several years earlier (only partially true). She never mentioned that Jack was labeled a terrorist by James Heller's State Department. That was something she would have to work out later. So, with Jack's future completely uncertain at the moment, Heller thought it best to keep his role in the events of the day quiet.

Jeff dressed quickly and grandfather and grandson got in the limo to head back to London. Heller did his best to maintain the boy's spirits but to little avail. Jeff was devastated and it broke his grandfather's heart. They were nearly back in London before Jeff was willing to speak aloud the fear that Heller knew was nagging at the child the most. "Gramps," he said softly. "If Mom… If my Mom," he swallowed hard. "If the doctors can't save Mom, can I live with you?"

Knowing that there were too many variables at this point to even speculate, Heller again thought it best to make Jeff feel safe. "Of course you can, Sport," he said putting his arm around Jeff and pulling him close. "But right now, your mother is alive. We don't need to make any plans other than ones that include her."

"Can you pull up those schematics again?" Eric Ritter asked Kate.

The two were huddled at a makeshift table staring at Kate's laptop. Several feet away, Jack and Belcheck were doing the same thing. Ritter had arrived less than an hour after Kate called him. He walked in carrying a 12-cup box of coffee from Starbuck's which was rapidly being consumed to keep everyone awake for this critical planning session. They had divided up the work. Since their best guess was that the Russians would try to take Jack out through one of two airports, they were putting together plans in order to rescue Jack at both sites. If they were wrong about the mode of egress from the UK, they were, simply put, screwed.

Kate and Eric were devising a plan to cover Southend Airport. Since it was possible to land a helicopter at that site and put Jack on a plane without ever walking into the terminal, it was going to be harder to defend. They had enough CIA contacts that they could put together a larger strike force than Jack and Belcheck could. Eric quickly culled a short list of eight possible CIA field agents who they could trust and who would be willing to participate in an off the books operation. They needed at least six of the eight to agree in order to make the plan work. He would begin calling them shortly after dawn.

In the meantime, Jack and Belcheck were planning to use their four contacts to cover Stansted. While it was the larger of the two airports, covering it would be easier. Since the chopper couldn't land there, the Russians would have to use ground transportation and walk through the terminal. They weren't going to want to create a scene in a busy airport at midday. The Russian security detail would be minimally armed and hoping to use speed and stealth to get Jack through the airport with the other diplomats. Although their diplomatic status would allow them to avoid most of the security issues and keep them largely away from the other airport patrons, they still had to walk from the airport entrance to their private gate. That was a long enough distance for the team to stop them and get Jack. It was still going to be difficult to execute with only four team members, so they decided that Belcheck would drive to the airport immediately after picking up Chloe in order to be the fifth team member. Chloe would provide monitoring and support to both teams.

The plans were coming together well and even Jack had to admit that he liked their chances. Now he just wished that he would hear something about Audrey. He couldn't decide if the length of the surgery was good or bad. If she was in surgery at least she was still alive.

xxxXXXxxx

The presidential limousine pulled up in front of the CIA station and, after waiting for the Secret Service agent to open the door, President Heller and his grandson emerged and hurried into the building. The President led the way to the medical unit.

"Anything?" he asked Mark tersely as he and his grandson entered the waiting room.

Mark nodded. "I was about to call you. A nurse came out just a minute ago. She said they're finishing up. The doctor will be out to talk to us soon."

"Does that mean my mom's gonna be okay?" Jeff asked anxiously, looking to his grandfather for support.

"I hope so, Sport," Heller said. Again he pulled the boy into his arms. "Let's sit down."

It was another ten minutes before the surgeon came into the room. Three pairs of eyes looked up expectantly.

"Give us some good news, doctor," the President told him.

The doctor smiled slightly. "Your daughter's a fighter, Mr. President. I guess she comes by that honorably."

"Is she going to be alright?" Heller asked.

The doctor looked at Jeff and seemed to weigh his words before speaking. "Right now all I can tell you is that she came through the surgery. She was bleeding from multiple sites. That bullet made a mess, but once we got the major bleeding controlled, she stabilized. That gave us a lot of time to explore and find a couple of other small nicks that would have eventually caused enough trouble to require more surgery. At this point, I think we've found and corrected all of the damage. Now it's a matter of waiting for her to recover. She's had a huge shock to her body. It's going to test all of her organ systems. If any system starts to fail, I'm not sure she's got enough left to fight it. She's young and healthy, so that's in her favor. The next 48 hours is critical."

"Can we see her?" Heller asked.

"They're getting her settled again in the ICU. Once that's done, the nurse will be out to get you. Let me know if you have more questions. I'm sorry that I couldn't have brought you better news." With that, the doctor stood and left the room.

The three sat motionless and silent for several seconds before Jeff got up and moved to a secluded chair near the corner of the waiting room. So like your father, Jim Heller thought. He had noticed this behavior before. Generally affable and fun loving like his mother, when faced with adversity or punishment, Jeff became quiet and withdrawn, preferring to deal with it on his own terms. Audrey had recognized it early and had been good at giving him the space he needed. Heller, on the other hand, had never been comfortable with it. He wondered now if it was the actual behavior that bothered him or the fact that it reminded him of Jack and it prevented him from denying Jeff's parentage.

A ringing phone brought Heller out of his reverie. Both Jim and Mark looked at the President's phone which sat on a coffee table in front of them. They saw Kate's name on the caller ID. Jim answered and was surprised when he heard Jack's quiet voice.

"Mr. President, do you have an update?" Heller stood immediately and began to pace. That allowed him to get the phone some distance from Mark. They were sitting so close that he was afraid Mark might be able to tell that it wasn't a woman on the other end of the phone.

"Thank you for calling, Agent Morgan," Jim said formally. He knew that Jack would understand by his greeting that he wasn't completely free to talk. "The doctor just came out and spoke with my son-in-law and my grandson and me. Audrey made it through the surgery. They're moving her to intensive care again. He said that it's going to be a rough couple of days. We just have to keep praying."

"How's Jeff taking this? Is he doing ok?"

"About as well as could be expected," Heller said, unable to elaborate further. "Are you planning to stop by later?"

"We have a solid plan, Sir. It's not foolproof, but it's solid. I hope to be in touch with you again in a few hours." Jack paused for a moment. "If not, Sir, it's been an honor serving you. Please give Audrey and Jeff my love. If Audrey doesn't make it, I understand that you'll have difficult decisions to make with regards to Jeff's future. I would hope that you'd consider my daughter as an appropriate guardian for him if you reach a point where you aren't able to care for him. She's his half-sister and I know she'd take the responsibility seriously. She's a good mother, Sir, just like my wife was. I've watched her and my son-in-law with their daughter. They're wonderful parents."

"I'll take it under consideration. Right now, I'll just plan on seeing you in a few hours." Heller put the phone in his pocket and glanced over at Mark to see if the phone all raised any suspicions with him.

Mark looked at Heller. "Does Agent Morgan seem a little over interested in Audrey's condition? She's called you more than once. She only met Audrey a few hours ago."

Heller shrugged, keeping his expression neutral. "I think she feels guilty. She feels like she didn't do enough to protect Audrey. She also feels that she let Jack down. He trusted her to rescue Audrey and, in her mind, she failed that task."

"Speaking of Bauer, where is he?" Mark asked, lowering his voice so that Jeff couldn't hear. "Under the circumstances, I would think he would want to be here."

Again, Heller kept a neutral expression. "He's still doing mop up from taking down Cheng," he said. That explanation wasn't going to hold water and he knew it. Even with everything that would happen after the CIA and MI6 boarded the Russian vessel and took control of the situation, there wouldn't be any reason for Jack to be there this many hours later. While the CIA would have a presence on the ship for several days. Jack would have been finished after a few hours. He decided that he would have to add some details to make the excuse sound reasonable. Now Heller lowered his own voice to a whisper. "I ordered Jack to kill Cheng and make it look like self-defense. He's going to have to answer a lot of questions before he's free to leave."

"He doesn't have to answer any questions," Mark scoffed. He quite obviously wasn't convinced by the story. "You already gave him a pardon. He's got a 'get out of jail free' card. All you have to do is say the word and the CIA lets him walk."

Heller continued seamlessly. I'm a politician. If I can't spin a good lie, what good am I? he thought. "If I go to bat for him, it's as good as saying that Jack killed Cheng in cold blood."

"Which he did," Mark pointed out.

"Yes, but he only did it on my orders. The President of the United States can't come out and say that he ordered an operative to kill someone who was no longer a threat. Even if Jack admits that to the CIA, it will get leaked to the press. It will be on CNN in hours as a breaking story. Jack has to give the CIA every reason to believe whatever tale he concocts. I'll back him up in whatever it is, but we need plausible deniability."

Mark seemed to accept that. "When are you going to tell him?" He tilted his head in Jeff's general direction.

"I'm not sure. This all needs to sink in first. When Jack's finished with what he's doing, he and I will decide how to handle it. Until then, let's keep quiet about it." Heller stood to indicate that the conversation was over. For a long moment he watched Jeff who was staring down at the carpet. He approached his grandson. "How you doing, Sport?"

The child shrugged. "Okay."

"Do you want to talk?"

"Not really," Jeff said, but his tone wasn't convincing so the older man sat down next to him and waited. He wasn't disappointed. "I just can't imagine living without her," Jeff said quietly.

"Don't try," his grandfather advised him. "You're getting ahead of yourself, Sport. If it comes to that, then you'll have to deal with it. Right now, your mother is alive. Until someone tells me different, I'm not even going to consider the alternative."

xxxXXXxxx

It was a few minutes until 11 when Jack rounded the curve and approached the exchange site. Belcheck sat next to him. Their teams were already in place at the two airports and they had successfully tested the comm system. Jack brought the car to a halt and got out. Belcheck did the same bringing his weapon with him. They surveyed the rooftops and continued to move forward. Jack was tense and Belcheck could sense it.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Belcheck asked.

"Yeah," Jack answered quietly. He took a solid stance as he stared at the Russians. He could see Chloe behind the tinted windscreen on the chopper. "She walks first," he shouted.

The Russian in charge didn't look happy about it, but he indicated to his men to let Chloe walk toward Jack.

"Jack you don't have to do this," Chloe told him as their paths crossed.

After a quick exchange he squeezed her hand reassuringly and moved toward the helicopter. Chloe looked back more than once, but continued on toward Belcheck who stood grim-faced, his gun aimed at the Russian's head. "Go to the car," he told Chloe, but she hesitated. "Go!" This time she responded and turned to the car. Belcheck followed and got in the driver's seat. They watched as the helicopter took off.

"How could you let him do this? We can't just let the Russians take him away. They'll kill him!" Chloe cried.

Belcheck didn't reply as he pulled away from the site. Once they were out of view of the snipers, he turned to Chloe. "There's a computer in the backseat. Get it," he told her. He then slipped a comm unit into his ear and handed one to her. "The bird's in the air," he said to the team. "Chloe, we need to track that chopper." Belcheck drove as Chloe tapped frantically on the keys. "We've got teams at Stansted and Southend Airports. Which way are they going?"

"I've got them on satellite," Chloe said. "Wait, this doesn't make any sense. They're not going toward either airport."

"Where are they going, Chloe?" Kate asked.

"Based on the current heading, they're going back toward London. Let me superimpose the vector heading over a city map." Again the silence was punctuated only by keyboard clicks. "They're headed straight for the Russian Embassy."

"Why would they do that?" Eric mused. "The embassy is over an hour from both airports."

"Maybe they want to interrogate Jack here in London," one of the agents proposed.

"That's possible, but why would they use the embassy. There are too many people there. It's not a controlled environment. There are a lot more private places to use," Kate said. "Chloe, has the vector heading stayed the same?"

"Yes, they're on course for the embassy."

"What's their ETA?" Eric asked.

"At the current airspeed, 15 minutes," Chloe answered.

"Chloe, can you pull up the schematics for the Russian embassy?" Kate asked.

"I can try," Chloe answered. "What are you looking for?"

"I don't believe that they plan to keep Jack at the embassy for very long. Someone is going to recognize him there. We need to figure out how they're going to get him out," Kate explained.

"Kate," Chloe said. "I have a copy of the official schematics of the Russian embassy."

"Official?" Kate queried.

"Yeah, these are the ones that were submitted to the British government. That doesn't mean that the Russians built the embassy exactly like they said they would."

"What are you suggesting, Chloe?" Kate asked her.

"Sometimes foreign governments submit plans for their embassies and then build them a little different. Based on this schematic, there are several exits from the embassy, but they are all visible from one street angle or another. I'm wondering if there might be a hidden exit somewhere."

"If it's not on the schematic, how do you plan to find it?" Eric asked with more than a hint of exasperation in his voice.

Chloe snapped back at him. "There's no way to actually find it. The best I can do is look on the schematic for possibilities."

"So you'd be guessing," Eric pointed out not so subtly.

"It's an educated guess," Chloe shot back at him. "Do you have anything better? Because right now Jack is facing torture and death unless we can help him."

Kate decided to stop the pissing contest between Eric and Chloe before it escalated. "Chloe, do you any areas that look suspicious?"

"Actually, yes. If you superimpose the schematics of the embassy on top of a map of the Underground, there's a maintenance tunnel that runs about 50 yards north of the embassy. They could have easily dug a tunnel from the embassy grounds that connects with the maintenance tunnel. That would give them access to the Underground without ever going up to street level."

Eric spoke again, "Okay, so they take Jack into the embassy, disguise him and then take him through the tunnel to the Underground. Where do they go from there?"

"I don't think we worry about where they're going. I think we need to stop them before they board the Underground," Kate said.

"We're an hour away! They could have Jack out of the embassy and onto a train before we can get back to London," Eric reminded her.

"For heaven's sake!" Chloe shouted. "Don't you two have CIA credentials? Commandeer a helicopter and come back to the city."

"We don't exactly have permission to be here, Chloe. This operation isn't on the books," Kate explained.

"Then get permission!" Chloe shouted, her patience having long since run out. She was used to working with Jack. The word "permission" wasn't one he put a lot of stock in. "Or better yet, don't waste time with permission. Take the helicopter now and we'll get it straightened out later. It's either that or Jack's going to end up in Moscow."

"Chloe's right," Belcheck agreed. "Getting you back into the city is our only hope. My team is further away than yours. I have no way to get them back in time."

"Wait a minute," Kate said. "My phone's ringing. It's the Secret Service. I'll patch everyone in." The line was quiet for a few seconds before a click told everyone on comm that they were hearing the call. "This is Agent Morgan," she said.

"It's Michelson with the President's security detail." Kate recognized his voice as the agent she spoke to outside of the waiting room. She realized that until now she didn't even know his name. "We've got a problem."

Kate rolled her eyes. She didn't need another problem. "What's going on?"

"The detail I sent to monitor Bauer's daughter just called me. They've got some activity in her neighborhood that's concerning them. It's 3:15am in LA and the street is quiet except for a black SUV that has driven along her block twice in the last hour."

"It sounds like the Russians have someone keeping an eye on her," Kate mused.

"That's our assessment," Michelson told her. "What do you want us to do? We can lay low and continue to monitor or we can let them know that we're here."

"I think you better lay low," Kate told them. "They're probably checking in on a regular basis with someone here in London. If they don't check in or if they figure out they've been made and pass that on to their London contacts, Jack's abductors are going to know that he went against their orders and got outside help. At that point, they're going to kill him. Just keep monitoring. If you think Bauer's daughter or any of her family are in immediate danger, do what you have to do and let me know immediately."

"I'll keep you posted," Michelson said and then clicked off.

Kate spoke first. "The Russians are taking this more seriously than I thought. We'll get a chopper and get back. In the meantime, Chloe, figure out the closest Underground station to that maintenance tunnel and then find us the closest landing site."

"I've got two stations equidistant. As soon as I've got a landing site, I'll send all the coordinates to your phone."

"Chloe and I will head into London and rendezvous with you at the landing site," Belcheck said.

"We'll see you there," Kate replied.

xxxXXXxxx

Jack looked out as the helicopter flew away from the exchange site. It was a minute or two before it struck him that the view seemed wrong. He glanced over the pilot's shoulder and noted the heading. No, this was definitely wrong. His heart sank as he realized that they weren't headed for an airport. Based on the current heading he wasn't sure where they were going but he knew for sure that they were heading away from the teams who were waiting to help him.

He closed his eyes for a moment to gather this thoughts. Giving himself up for Chloe's safety had always been his plan, so frankly, none of this scared him. He was just angry with himself for allowing Kate and Belcheck to get his hopes up. He was sorry that he had allowed himself to think about going back to the States and living a life that included his daughter and grandchildren and now, also a son. And maybe even Audrey.

Jack opened his eyes abruptly and brought himself back into the present. Feeling sorry for himself wouldn't help the situation. The last time he felt sorry for himself was after Teri's murder and look where that got him: 18 wasted months. Time he could have spent with his daughter. They could have bonded and healed together. Instead he drove a wedge between them that took a long time to resolve. He vowed after that to never feel sorry for himself again and he wasn't going to start now. Jack knew that a few hundred feet below him, his team was already looking for a solution for this problem. In addition to his own well-known ability to escape the inescapable, he had a stellar team working to bring him back unharmed. He almost smiled as he thought about how they would be scrambling right now to salvage the mission. He had to trust himself and he had to trust his team. Taking a deep breath, Jack relaxed into the seat. He was tired and needed some rest, but for now he would stay awake and alert. He needed all of his faculties intact if he was going to make it out of this alive and still not end up in Moscow. He gazed out at the blue sky and thought of Audrey. Hang in there, Sweetheart. I'm coming home to you. I promise.