Author's note: Like I said in previous chapters: the creators of "24" own the characters, and Enrique, Luisa and Alex are all figments of my own imagination.
Please read and review, and correct me on anything that I have (most likely) gotten wrong!!!
Desperate for a Brew...
Jack reached the top of the hillside and put the girl on the ground as he untied the rope. She saw Enrique sitting in his car.
"Uncle Jack!"
"No. Stay here. Are you scared of that man?" She nodded. "Don't be. He won't hurt you now. You're safe with me, Luisa." Jack pulled the girl towards the car and demanded to use Enrique's phone. He gave it to Jack without hesitation. He dialled the number he had for Michelle. No answer. He dialled Tony's number. He did answer. Jack informed him that he had rescued Luisa, again and that he did not know where Michelle and the 'copter were.
"You have access to a CTU vehicle, I believe?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, the one Enrique took when he left with Luisa. Can you track the location of the chopper?"
"I'll track it via Satellite; but Jack, you need to bring my daughter back here as soon as you can."
"What about Michelle?"
"Forget about her. It is my daughter who is in danger not her. I need the reassurance that she is alive and with me. Michelle can look after herself, she is trained to deal with the situation, better than you or I have been."
"Tony, if this is about her being higher ranked than you…" Jack was cut off.
"Just get back here now, Jack!" Tony yelled into his handset.
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Lucy sat down in a chair in the Situation Room, Alex took the chair next to her. He took her hand and held it softly, she took it away from him, then she stood up and walked to the glass door, turned around and paused before she spoke.
"Alex, I don't know what to say."
"I'm a little confused. Have you just brought me in here to tell me about your job? Really I don't mind; if you couldn't tell me before, then it was probably for good reason. I know now. If you need to stay here, then I'll go to your hotel room."
"Alex…"
"I'm a little tired."
"Alex…"
"I could sure use a kettle to make my cuppa tea right now." He looked to the coffee making machine sat to one side of the room.
"We have reason to believe that you and the other man we brought in have been working as part of the group that my office in London has been tracing for the last few years."
"Does that boil water as well as make frothy lattes?" He pointed to the coffee machine.
"All I want is for you to tell me what you were doing on that plane."
"I came to see you darling, I have already told you. Now how about that brew now?" Alex was so desperate for his tea that his face almost looked pained.
Tony saw Lucy questioning Alex through the clear glass of the Situation Room, so he walked in. He knew he could do a better job at interrogating this man.
"Hey, it's Alex, right?"
"Yeah, I remember you from the conference." Alex replied, standing up immediately as he quickly wiped the pained desiring look off his face.
"That's right. Next time you decide to move into the criminal circle, then you should maybe change your identity when you are posing as a government employee. You know that we were all fooled about your appearance. Now give us the information that we want and then we might think about making life easier for you, making a deal with you."
"I'm sorry, I'm confused." Lucy interrupted. "You two sound as though you have already met each other! What do you mean my husband was posing as a government employee, Tony?"
"I don't know what information you want. Please, you have to understand." Alex was looking Tony straight in the eye.
"Look Tony, I can handle this here." Lucy was trying to look him in the eye, but he pushed her aside.
"No. This whole operation has gone wrong since you arrived here this evening. This is my office and I will be taking over."
"But Tony…"
"I am in charge here, and my office gets results. Because of you, you have managed to put my daughter's life in danger today, twice."
Alex wriggled in his chair, then put a hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out a crinkled piece of blue paper.
"I think this is what you need." He held it out for Tony to take.
"What is it?" Lucy was curious. She tried to look over Tony's shoulder at the thin paper.
"I see." Tony folded the paper up and put it in his own pocket. I will come back to talk to you, and perhaps release you shortly. He left the room.
"What was that paper?" Lucy asked her husband, her face was close to his, though she could not decide whether to be amorous to gain his trust, or to treat him as another suspect.
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Tony plugged a scrambler device into his laptop which gave him a connection to his mobile phone which he had concealed in his car, and clicked onto the internet icon. This way he would be able to access a secure site without being detected by the CTU system and any potential moles. He read the paper again as he waited for a connection with the secure server. On it was written:
I am following the authority of the American Government; whilst working under the pseudo-disguise, I have been ordered to follow the progress of my 'wife's' investigation. Access code to Server Scout DC: 3645263.
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Jack heard a loud crash as he sat in the SUV, he decided to get out. Looking into the moonlit sky he saw smoke and some fire coming from about half a mile away. He decided to drive that way to investigate rather than head the opposite direction to CTU as per Tony's orders.
Tony had verified the information on Alex's blue paper, and before returning to him and his sister with a verdict, he switched his screen to the Satellite coverage of Jack's SUV. He saw an image of the car driving along a road; Tony had to zoom out for better vision. As he did this, he could see instantly that the car was yet again being driven in the opposite direction to CTU.
A voice crackled through Jack's earpiece. He knew it was Tony, and why he would be contacting him, so Jack decided to pull the earpiece out and let it hang on his chest.
On the screen, Tony saw the vehicle swerve, and two red dots ahead of it.
Jack got out the car. It was Michelle and the helicopter pilot. They were standing in the road.
"Your leather jacket is torn, Michelle." Jack picked up her arm and held her hand.
"We had to quickly jump out of the 'copter. Someone shot at one of the propellers, so here we are." She welcomed the warmth of Jack's hand on hers. "Have you got Luisa?"
Jack led her to the car where she got in the back beside her daughter. The pilot made his own way to the car. Jack slipped the earpiece back into his ear.
"Tony? I have found Michelle and the pilot. They are safe too, we are on our way back to CTU now."
"Damn it Jack, I told you to come back here straight away, Michelle might be on to something, she can take care of herself!" Tony threw down the radio. Though Tony was secretly happy that Jack had found Michelle as well as his daughter, he was physically fuming that Jack had not just kept his daughter safe by bringing her back as soon as he had dictated.
"What did Tony say?" Michelle asked Jack. Jack was still rubbing his ear after hearing the loud bang through his earpiece. Michelle repeated her question.
"Umm… I… well, he said that…" Jack was still contemplating what to say to her.
"Jack!" Her voice boomed from the back of the car. "Tell me what he said, was it about me?"
"Well, in a way. Michelle, you have to understand that he is concentrating on two missions at the same time. He assumed that you were taking care of something else, and perhaps you had a lead on another…" Jack's voice trailed off. Michelle did not look happy at all.
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Tony rolled up his sleeves; he meant business. By looking at the expression on his face as he entered the room where his sister and Alex were sitting, they could tell he had already had enough to deal with and he did not need the shenanigans that these two people had presented.
"Right Lucy, I need you to go and wait in another room." He courteously held the door open for her to leave.
"I'm not leaving! I need to know what is going on." She spoke, followed by Tony over-exaggerating a roll of his eyes. "I am staying here!" Lucy yelled.
"Fine. If you won't leave on your own; Alex will you follow me, please?" His voice was a quiet and polite tone again. Alex stood up and followed Tony out of the room.
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"Mummy."
Michelle looked at her daughter, "what is it, honey?"
"Where are we going now? I'm tired."
"We're going back to see Daddy. Don't worry, you curl up and sleep!" Michelle spoke to her in a soothing voice and the little girl curled up and rested her head on her mother's lap.
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Enrique was turning around in his seat and began muttering as he looked at the little girl curled up on Michelle.
"Turn around, you!" Michelle's voice boomed. "Jack, is this man under arrest yet?"
"Yes;" Jack spoke firmly before grabbing Enrique's arm and twisting him so his body was facing the front, "if you say anything, it will go against you."
Enrique grumbled. Jack looked in his rear view mirror at Michelle and rolled his eyes. Michelle let out a much over-needed sigh.
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"Now we both know that you are really working for the US Government," Tony paused while he tried to put what he was thinking into the most appropriate words. "Your authority code happened to be the correct code."
Alex nodded his head, as he had expected, the security code he had handed to this CTU agent was correct, the agent just needed to verify to Alex if he knew what kind of operation he was amidst.
Tony pulled out a chair from behind a desk and motioned for Alex to sit opposite him. Tony leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. His first thoughts began with Alex, then he wondered to Michelle and Luisa, hoping that Michelle would forgive him for some of his decisions tonight. Finally his mind tried to remember the last time he had worked such an eventful nightshift: he could not.
Alex could feel a hole burning in the centre of his eyebrows as Tony's contemplative stare bore straight through his head.
"I need to make sure that Lucy does not discover my identity." Alex pleaded.
Tony blinked as he moved forward in his chair and out of his rich thoughts.
"It is vital that this subject remains a secret with you, Agent Almeida!"
"As I gather," Tony began, "you are working for the American Government, but you are also working for the British Government, am I correct?"
Alex nodded affirmatively.
"So you have an American nationality?"
"Yes, originally I was…" Tony cut him off before he tried to explain.
"Though, you have a British accent!" Tony's voice was forceful.
"I do. I was about to explain…"
"And my sister, she believed you when you told her your alias as a British businessman?"
"She could have looked into that in detail if she had wanted to, but… we had a duty to do."
"Do you love her? Or is this just a marriage of convenience?"
"I do. Believe me, I do love her. Look, Agent Almeida, I really am tired, is there any chance that I can make myself a cup of tea? I noticed that you have a coffee machine in the last room we were in, but have you a kettle or something for me to boil some water?"
"Umm… Iced Tea is available in the break room. You can go and wait in there, we have not given you clearance to leave the premises. That machine only makes coffee!"
Author's note: Thank you for reading, please review...