Chapter 7

Phillip Bauer hung up the phone and considered his conversation with his older son. Jack and Graem had never gotten along. They were far too different. Graem, the firstborn son of a wealthy executive, seemed to understand from birth his position in life. His doting mother made it clear that the sun rose and set with him. He was all she needed in life. Four years later, Graem's comfortable bubble was broken when his parents announced that he was going to have a baby brother or sister. Graem's dislike of the younger sibling started at that moment and was only heightened several months later when his mother brought home the blond haired, blue eyed baby boy from the hospital.

It seemed to Phillip that the rivalry between his sons started immediately. It got worse when Jack went to school. Although Graem was extremely intelligent, Jack was both intelligent and quick. If the two were caught doing something they shouldn't be, Jack could invent a plausible alibi without batting an eye while Graem simply looked guilty. Jack was more athletic than Graem and excelled at most sports. From an early age, it was clear that both Bauer boys could be introspective and brooding, but as a rule, Jack was well liked and always had a cadre of friends and, as he got older, girlfriends.

Silently Graem seethed. His hatred of his younger brother grew and they fought constantly. As the two boys hit their teenaged years, the Bauer household became an uncomfortable battle ground. By the time Jack turned 18, he had had enough. He broke up with his longtime girlfriend, Marilyn Tyler, who eventually married Graem, and he joined the Army. His father was livid. He had groomed both of his sons to take over his business, but in his heart, he knew that Jack was the one who would lead the company. Jack knew how to lead and he had a head for business. On top of that, he was handsome and could be incredibly charming when he wanted to be. Graem was good with numbers and would make a good chief financial officer, but it was Jack whom Phillip imagined as the next CEO of BXJ. He hoped that Jack joining the Army was just a phase that he was going through, that he was just trying to exert some independence.

When it became clear a few years later that this wasn't the case, Phillip all but cut Jack out of his life. They maintained a strained relationship for many years, mostly because Phillip adored his only granddaughter. But eventually, after Teri's murder, Phillip and Jack became fully estranged. Except for Jack's position on the Board of Directors of BXJ, Phillip had no contact with him. Graem was thrilled to become the only son once again. When CTU contacted Graem and Phillip to tell them that Jack had been killed trying to escape from CTU, Graem displayed no grief. A few days later he made an obligatory appearance at Jack's funeral, annoyed by the fact that his wife Marilyn was grief stricken over the death of her former lover. For once, Graem had gotten the last laugh. Or had he?

Two weeks after Jack's funeral, Graem got a call from an old friend of Jack's named Christopher Henderson. Graem knew Henderson's name for the newspaper. Jack had received all kinds of accolades when he fingered Henderson, his one time mentor, in a sting operation. Henderson was caught stealing money from the government. He plea bargained to avoid prosecution and gave up his co-conspirators without accepting any blame for himself. He lost his job and pension but otherwise walked away unscathed.

Christopher Henderson's call was the start of Graem's worst nightmare. Henderson explained to Graem that he had determined that Jack wasn't really dead. Without knowing all of the details, Henderson gave Graem the essence of what had happened to his brother and said that he knew who was involved in the cover up and that it included former President David Palmer.

At first Graem wasn't sure why Henderson was telling him this. Frankly, it didn't matter if Jack was really dead or if he was just playing possum, either way he was out of Graem's life forever. If what Henderson said was true, Jack couldn't ever afford to surface without having someone, American or Chinese, arrest him and if that happened, his friends would be neck deep in legal trouble as well.

Henderson continued to explain himself to Graem. Prior to Jack's "death", Henderson told him, Jack had become overly interested in BXJ's finances. He had started to do some digging with the IRS and with several banks, as well as creditors and companies who bought services from BXJ. It had become clear to Jack that things at BXJ literally weren't adding up. Income and profits reported didn't match what associated companies were paying BXJ for services. Even looking at the considerable expenses that BXJ had incurred in the past few years, which Jack knew had taken a bite out of the profit margin, the numbers reported to the IRS didn't make sense. There was a profit leak somewhere in the company and Jack intended to find it and fix it. He had been slowed down some by the hours that he was working when he took the job with DoD, but he was still getting closer, Henderson told Graem. It wouldn't have been much longer before Jack figured out that it was Graem and Phillip who were siphoning money off of BXJ's bottom line.

At this point in their conversation, Graem assumed that Henderson was calling to blackmail him. He had somehow hacked into Jack's computer and learned everything that Jack had learned about the creative accounting that Graem was engaged in. Graem figured that Henderson was calling to put the squeeze on him. Henderson, however, had other ideas. He told Graem that Jack, even though everyone thought him dead, was still as dangerous to Graem and Phillip as ever. He would continue his pursuit for the truth in light of the fact that his daughter remained an heir to BXJ. Once he figured out that Graem and Phillip were behind BXJ's financial woes, he would anonymously alert the authorities and sit back quietly while his brother and father fell from grace. Henderson, however, promised Graem that he could prevent that from happening, for a price of course.

Graem listened intently. His hatred for Jack was matched by Henderson's own. Henderson offered to pursue Jack and kill him. What Graem didn't realize was that Henderson would have killed Jack on his own even if Graem hadn't taken the bait, but Graem took it hook, line and sinker. Graem agreed to the plan. The problem was that he had to come up with the million dollars that Henderson wanted. Transfer of that much money from one of his accounts was going to arouse suspicion; he needed his father's help.

Graem went to Phillip with the information he had gotten from Henderson. None of it really surprised Phillip. He knew how resourceful Jack could be. The idea of him cheating death wasn't too hard for him to believe. Phillip, like Graem, was concerned that anyone that resourceful would eventually find a paper trail from BXJ to his own bank account. He agreed with Graem. Until that day, he thought Jack was dead. And in his own way he grieved for him. Now it was his responsibility to protect himself. If that meant killing Jack for real, well, so be it.

Henderson got the money and for it, Graem and Phillip hoped that they would get peace of mind. Henderson was smart enough to take care of Jack and eliminate all of their worries. In addition, Henderson got his revenge. Everyone was satisfied. Now, by kidnapping Audrey Raines, Graem had screwed everything up. Phillip again picked up his phone. This time he called Christopher Henderson.

"Henderson," Phillip said abruptly. "We have a problem."

Phillip, who already knew of Henderson's failed attempt on Jack's life in Chicago, explained what had happened in the last 24 hours.

As expected, Henderson was livid. "I told you that I'd take care of Jack and that I was developing a plan that would be ready to set in motion in the next few months. Until then you and Graem were to sit and wait. That was the deal, Phillip."

"Apparently Graem thought he had a better, quicker solution. Right now he's standing in a swamp full of alligators and I need you to save his ass."

"Forget it," Henderson told him in no uncertain terms. "Graem made this mess; he can figure out how to get out of it."

"This is worth a lot of money to me, Christopher," Phillip said. "You fix this and I'll double your money."

"Not good enough," Henderson said. "I fix this and I become your Chief Operating Officer and I get an equal cut of what you and Graem are skimming every year."

Phillip was backed into a corner. "Deal," he whispered in a rancorous voice. "Just fix it."

Curtis and Bill arrived back at the safe house just as Chloe was calling Buchanan to update him on the investigation.

"Anything new?" Bill asked his lead analyst.

"I checked the airline manifests for every commercial flight that left the region in the last 24 hours and the ones that will leave in the next 24 hours. Graem Bauer's name isn't on any of them. That doesn't mean that he didn't use a chartered flight or fly out of another airport," Chloe told him.

"Right," Bill agreed. He turned to Jack, "When Graem or your father flies for business, do they fly commercial or charter."

"If they're flying a short distance, like to San Francisco, they might fly charter, but they usually fly commercial. At least that's what they did as of a couple of years ago. If things have changed, I wouldn't know."

"Chloe, I think we have to go on the assumption that Graem either left the area by car or he's still here. Have you put out an APB on the car yet?"

"We have, sir. No word on that yet," Chloe answered.

"I think you have to put out an APB on Graem as well. We've got probable cause to search his house. Get a warrant and send a team over, but tell them to stand down until Curtis and I get there. I also want a surveillance team watching Phillip Bauer. They are to report to you immediately if he goes anywhere."

"I'm on it," Chloe said as she hung up.

"Bill, what's going on?" Jack asked. "What did you find out at BXJ?"

Bill looked down for a moment. "Security can't account for the Hummer. They have a set of keys and thought that it was parked in their garage. The only people with access to the second set of keys are your father and brother. Graem's wife says that he went to Eastern Europe on business but your father didn't seem to know anything about the trip. Graem's name doesn't show up on any flight manifests."

"Do you really think that Graem is involved in Audrey's disappearance?" Jack asked incredulously.

"I don't know what to think at this point, Jack. All I know is that BXJ can't account for a vehicle that was likely involved in Audrey's kidnapping. That's my only lead right now and I need to follow it up."

"What possible reason would Graem have for kidnapping Audrey Raines?" Jack asked.

"I don't know, Jack. You tell me. I got a strange feeling when I spoke with your father that he had something to hide. Maybe it's just a father's instinct to cover for his son, but he wasn't telling me everything. Does he have something to hide?"

Jack turned away from Bill and walked a few steps before he spoke. "Before I disappeared, I was looking into the finances at BXJ. The company wasn't turning the profit that it should have been and I wanted to know why. I justified it at the time by saying that I was doing it as a member of the Board of Directors, but I didn't involve any other Board members. The truth is that my daughter stands to inherit half of the company. I wanted to protect Kim's interest. So, I started digging. It didn't take me long to find that money was being funneled out of the company but I couldn't figure out quite where it was going. What I did know, was that Graem is too good with numbers not to have noticed it long before I did. That meant that he had to be involved. Unless I could find out where the money was going, I didn't have any proof of its existence or Graem's culpability. I was in the process of trying to track the money into overseas accounts when I was forced to disappear. Before that, I had already found a couple of small accounts in Switzerland that belonged to my father. So I could tie him to the embezzlement, but I still didn't have Graem. I didn't want to turn my father over to the authorities without having the goods on Graem. I was pretty sure that if I did, Graem would disappear and we'd never see him or the money again. If Graem found out how close I was to blowing the whistle on the whole operation, I could understand that he would want to get to me, but that doesn't make any sense because Graem thinks that I'm dead. What possible reason would he have to go after Audrey?"

"Maybe he thinks you told Audrey what you just told me," Bill speculated.

"If Audrey knew anything don't you think she would have gone to the authorities by now?"

"Jack's right," Curtis said. "Why would Graem wait until he thinks Jack's been dead for a year to grab Audrey? And maybe it's a separate incident, but it seems pretty coincidental that first someone tries to kill Jack in Chicago and now someone goes after Audrey. I'm inclined to believe that the two are related. "Maybe Graem found out that you're alive. He went after you in Chicago and failed and now he grabbed Audrey assuming that you'd come after her."

"It's a good theory, but in order for Jack to go looking for Audrey, he'd have to know where she was being held. Otherwise Graem would have to contact Jack and make some kind of ransom demand." Bill said. "Jack, is there any place you can think of that Graem would be holding Audrey? Did you have some kind of hide out as kids or was there a vacation cottage somewhere remote?"

Jack shook his head. "Graem and I were never close enough to hang out together. My father has a couple of vacation homes but nothing remote. They aren't places where you could take a hostage."

"Maybe Graem thinks Audrey will tell him how to get in touch with Jack," Chase offered.

Jack's eyes flashed. "You mean torture her for information."

Chase cast his eyes down like a chastised child. "I wasn't going to put it that way."

"Does Audrey have a way to contact you?" Bill asked.

"She gave me a scramble phone. She said when she got all of the arrangements together to relocate me out of the country that she would call me and tell me where to pick up my transportation."

"Chase, call Chloe and have her set up a trace on that scramble phone. That won't be easy, but she'll be able to do it. If Audrey gives Graem the number, we'll be ready for his call."

"What can I do to help?" Jack asked.

"Sit tight and maintain the security here. Tony and Michelle will be here in a couple of hours to help with that. In the meantime all you can do is wait for any contact from Graem," Bill told him knowing full well that it wasn't the answer that Jack wanted.

Jack nodded, uncharacteristically accepting the passive role he had been given. "Fine, but if you get any information at all that we can act on I want to know about it."

Bill cocked his head slightly to one side. "Jack, forgive me for saying this, but you aren't exactly in a position to tell me what to do. Right now most of the world thinks that you're dead and if the Chinese or American governments find out otherwise, they're going to take you into custody. I will keep you in the loop, I promise you that, but any operation is going forward only at my discretion," Bill said firmly.

"Audrey Raines was kidnapped because of me," Jack hissed angrily. "I have a right to know what is going on."

"Audrey Raines may have been kidnapped because of you," Bill corrected still not losing his temper. "Right now we don't know why Audrey was kidnapped. Finding her is my responsibility. I've already told you that I'll keep you in the loop." The current and former CTU directors stared at each other for a moment before Jack broke the gaze and looked away. Bill was right and Jack knew it. He would be doing the job the exact same way if he were CTU director.

"Curtis and I are going to head over to your brother's house. I'll let you know if we find anything," Bill said quietly.

Audrey sat bound to a chair in a room in the corner of the old warehouse. Her back was to the open door but she couldn't hear anyone outside of it. Graem had taken the gag from her mouth but since there was no one to talk to and no one to hear her if she screamed, she sat in silence. The room was windowless, so she couldn't tell if it was light or dark outside. Audrey had already started to lose track of time, but she thought she had been sitting there for the last couple of hours. Graem had walked away some time before to talk on the phone and he hadn't come back since. He had made his plan clear to her. She was here as bait to draw Jack into Graem's spider web. She wasn't sure how she could stop it from happening, but she had to find a way. Audrey craned her neck to see if anyone was near by. Not seeing Graem or anyone else, she began tugging on the duct tape that held her wrists to the chair.

"Pointless, Ms. Raines," Graem said from behind her. "You can't get free and even if you did, where would you go? You're locked in." He pulled keys from his pocket and dangled them in front of her face. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me how I can get in touch with Jack."

"You're wasting your time. I can't get in touch with him."

Graem slapped her face hard. Tears rose in Audrey's eyes. "I'm not stupid, Audrey. Jack probably told you that I was, but I'm not. You were with him last night. You obviously know how to get in touch with him."

Audrey swallowed her emotion. "I staked out his job site and followed him home, but I can assure you that he's not at work or home right now. I'm sure by now that my car has been found and I've been reported missing. When the daughter of the Secretary of Defense disappears, it makes the news. As soon as Jack heard it he got the hell out of Mojave. He isn't sitting around waiting for you to show up on his doorstep."

"And you expect me to believe that you don't have any other way to contact your beloved Jack. You came 3000 miles across the country to spend one night with him and you don't have any way to contact him? That doesn't sound right even to a stupid guy like me, Audrey." Graem closed the distance between them and leaned close to Audrey's ear. He whispered; his tone mocking. "So tell me, was last night worth the trip? Is my brother so good that it was worth ending up here? I hope that was the best sex of your life because he won't be around long enough for you to do it again."

Audrey clenched her jaw and tried to keep her breathing normal. There was no point in reacting to Graem. Her only hope now was to stay calm, find a way out and warn Jack. She could tell that Graem was annoyed by her lack of reaction. That was good. The more she could throw him off of his game, the more likely it was that he would become distracted and slip up.

Graem stalked away, but he returned quickly this time. He apparently had gone to the Hummer to retrieve her bag and he clutched it in one hand as he approached her. Graem crouched in front of her and emptied the contents onto the warehouse floor. There was little of interest in the bag: a small package of tissues, computer generated directions from LA to Mojave, a couple of pens and a key chain along with Audrey's cell phone and wallet. Graem went through the wallet coming up with a little over a hundred dollars in cash along with her credit cards and identification. He opened the cell phone and began going through her contact list and recent calls.

"What do you think you're going to find?" Audrey taunted him. "Do you think I stored Jack's phone number in my contact list? Apparently you think I'm stupid. I already told you. I have no way to get in touch with Jack. That's the way he wanted it." She hoped that she was a convincing liar. She could contact Jack through the scramble phone, the number to which she had committed to memory.

Graem became enraged as he realized that he was at a dead end. He jumped to his feet and grabbed Audrey by the throat. "Tell me how to find him!" he screamed in her face. "You know how to find him, you bitch, now tell me!"

Audrey gasped for breath. "I don't know how to find him," she forced the words through her teeth. She was scared but remained defiant. If she told Graem how to find Jack, she was as good as dead, so she had to keep stringing him along. Graem's fingers were tightening on her neck and he was screaming in her face again, but she was too scared to hear what he was saying. "Please, stop," she tried to beg, but the words wouldn't form.

"Let go of her, Graem!" care a voice from the doorway behind her. "Let go of her! She's no good to us dead. Jack isn't going to come for her if she's dead."

Audrey was almost ready to pass out when the felt Graem's hands being yanked away from her throat. Her head fell forward as she coughed and gasped, desperate for air.

"She no good to us dead, you fool," the angry voice said again.

Audrey looked up. She recognized the man now in front of her who was holding Graem back. She had seen Christopher Henderson at Jack's funeral. He, like Graem, had seemed bored as he stood at the graveside. She noticed that both he and his wife seemed close to Kim and had spent a long time consoling her. Audrey asked Tony who the man was and he identified Henderson and explained what had transpired between Jack and Christopher Audrey knew that Henderson was no fan of Jack's.

"Let me go, Christopher," Graem cried. "She's going to tell me how to get to Jack!"

"You're right. She is," Henderson said almost soothingly. "But she won't tell you that way. I know how to get through to her."

Audrey watched Henderson closely. He had just saved her life, that much she knew, but that didn't mean that she wasn't afraid of him. Graem Bauer was crazy, but Henderson was a former government agent. He knew how to extract information. Graem stopped struggling and Henderson let him go. He approached Audrey slowly and she could feel her already bounding heart pick up the pace a bit more.

"Ms. Raines," he said softly. "Forgive Graem. He gets a little crazy sometimes. I won't let him do that again."

Audrey knew what he was doing. He was trying to get her to relax and feel comfortable with him. Henderson knelt down in front of her so they were almost on the same level. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to know how to contact Jack so we can let you go. You want us to let you go, don't you? You don't need to be a part of this. Our beef is with Jack, not with you. We don't want to hurt you. If you just tell me where Jack is, I'll let you go. And I know you won't go to the authorities, because if you do, we'll have to kill you. You understand, don't you? You give us Jack and we let you go."

"Never," Audrey said quietly but clearly.

"I think I can convince you," Henderson said as he caressed her face.

Audrey felt tears leap to her eyes and slip down her face. She cringed against his touch. Henderson knew how to get to her. He ran his hands softly through her hair. "Is that how Jack touches you?"

A whimper involuntarily slipped from between Audrey's lips.

"It is, isn't it," Henderson said sweetly with his face barely inches from hers. His hands slipped effortlessly from her hair down her neck and to her breasts.

Audrey's lip quivered and she began to sob. "Please don't do this," she begged between sobs.

"I'll stop if you just tell me how to find Jack," he whispered again as he kissed her neck.

Audrey jerked her head away. "No! I won't tell you anything!"

Henderson slowly pulled away from her. "I think you will after you have some time to think about it," he said in an almost tender voice. "You just sit here for a while and think it over. You tell me where Jack is or I come back for more of that lovely body. And if you think it will end there, you're wrong. I'm sure Graem would like to take a turn and we have lots of other not so nice guys who work for us who would like to take turns, too. In the end, Audrey, Jack is going to die no matter what you do. Why should you end up ravaged trying to protect him?"

Audrey could think of nothing to say. She sobbed quietly with her head down.

"You take some time and think," he told her. "Turn out the lights," he said to Graem. "Leave her in here in the dark for a few hours and see if she changes her tune."

Audrey heard the door close behind her and started crying harder. She knew what sensory deprivation could do to you. No light, no sound, it would all cause disorientation. Not to mention that she was beginning to get hungry and had been thirsty for some time already. She knew that they had no intention of feeding her or letting her drink. She was exhausted from lack of sleep and tired of sitting in one position. Add all of that to the fear that Henderson had created in her and there was no telling how long she could hold out before they finally coaxed her to give up the information that they needed.

The day dragged on for Jack. It was around 4:30 when Tony and Michelle arrived at the safe house. Jack was both glad to see them and apologetic that they had been forced to fly cross country because of him. He smiled as he hugged and kissed Michelle and pressed a hand softly against her stomach which now bulged largely in front of her. Tony and Michelle both beamed. As they did, Jack wondered if he and Audrey would ever have the chance to know that same happiness.

They spent a few minutes catching up before they sat at the kitchen table to discuss all that had happened in the last few hours. They spoke with Chloe, who had nothing new to offer them. While they were talking to Chloe, Bill and Curtis returned from the search of Graem's house. It was fruitless; they found nothing and Bill and Curtis were both beginning to allow the frustration of the day to show on their faces. Bill didn't have much time to consider his frustration. He needed to get back to CTU. Secretary Heller had just arrived in LA and he expected an immediate update on the situation.

"Bill," Jack said as Buchanan started for the door. "I've been thinking. You asked if there was a place that I thought Graem might use as a hide out and I might have come up with something."

"Really? Where is it?"

"It's a warehouse at the far end of an industrial park. BXJ rented this warehouse for about 15 or 20 years. It was becoming pretty dilapidated and the owner refused to do the repairs that my father asked for. The Board of Directors agreed to allow BXJ to build a warehouse of its own. We did that and ended the rental agreement on this other warehouse. Unless the warehouse owner made some repairs, I would think that he had trouble renting the place. If the place is still empty, I could see Graem using it. I'd be willing to bet that he still has a set or two of keys and if there isn't a new tenant, then the owner may not have changed the locks. I think it's worth checking into."

Bill looked skeptical. "That's quite a long shot, Jack. Give me the address. I'll have Chloe contact the owner and see if it's been rented. Unless the owner agrees voluntarily to have CTU search it. I doubt that we'll be able to get a search warrant."

"Do what you can, but I think this is worth a shot," Jack said adamantly. He wrote the address on a piece of paper and handed it to Bill.

The evening wore on and Audrey sat alone in the dark room in the warehouse. She had cried for a while when Henderson first locked her in the room, but once her initial crying spell ended, her mind seemed to clear and she was able to think. The goal of every captive was self preservation and Audrey was no different. The problem was that she didn't think that was possible. She had two choices right now: give Graem the information he wanted to contact Jack or remain silent. Either way she would end up dead, the only difference was that if she gave up the information, Jack would die, too. And Audrey decided that that was not going to happen. She wasn't giving up any important information regardless of what they did to her. She would let them think they were getting to her. She would tell them about the scramble phone, but deny that she knew the phone number. That was plausible. It would also keep them satisfied for a while and maybe, just maybe give the authorities some additional time to find her.

Audrey had no idea what time it was when she heard the door behind her open and quiet footsteps approach.

"We gave you some time, Audrey," Graem said. He began stroking her hair and Audrey involuntarily flinched.

Despite her initial reaction, she took a breath and got her emotions under control. She was almost grateful that it was Graem who came in rather than Henderson. Graem was an amateur at this very dangerous game. She sat tense allowing Graem to think that he was gaining headway. He stroked her neck with something soft, probably a feather.

She flinched again, reviled by his touch, but internally strong. "Please stop," she begged. "I'll tell you what I know. I'll tell you. Just stop and let me out of here."

"That's it, Audrey. You can save yourself. Just tell me how to contact Jack."

"I gave him a scramble phone," she whimpered. "I told him I'd call him."

"Good. Now give me the phone number and this will all be over."

"I don't know it," Audrey sobbed.

"You don't know it?" Graem asked. "You're a smart lady, Audrey. Do you honestly think that believe that you don't remember a ten digit phone number? Give me the number and this will end! Until then it's only going to get worse." With that, Graem came around in front of Audrey and faced her. "Now, tell me the number."

"I told you; I don't know it. If I knew it don't you think I'd tell you? I just want you to let me go. Please, you have to believe me," Audrey continued lying.

Graem was getting frantic. The information was so close that he could almost touch it but he still didn't have what he needed. "Alright. Alright," he said as he paced along a path in front of Audrey. "If you didn't memorize the number, you had to write it down somewhere. Where did you put it? Is it stored in your PDA? Do you have it written down?" Audrey could tell that he was trying to stay calm but anger was overtaking him.

"It's on a slip of paper on my desk," she told him.

"On your desk!" he roared. "How am I supposed to get it from your desk?" Graem stopped pacing. He leaned forward with his hands on Audrey's shoulders.

"I don't know," Audrey cried convincingly. "You asked me how to get in touch with Jack and I told you. Please just let me go. I can't help you any more."

"Where did you get the phone? Who gave you the phone? It's a scramble phone. You don't just go into the wireless store and buy it. Where did you get it?"

She couldn't tell Graem that Chloe had arranged for the phone. If he knew that, then Chloe would be in danger as well. "I stole it," she told him.

"You stole it? Like a common thief, Audrey. I don't believe that. You're much too sophisticated and well connected to steal a phone. Now tell me where the phone is!" His hands still on Audrey's shoulders, Graem pushed her, along with the chair she was sitting in, backwards across the cement floor, slamming it into the wall. Audrey's head hit the wall hard stunning her. "Maybe that will knock some sense into you! Now tell me where you got the phone."

The blow to the head hurt, but Audrey was still thinking clearly. "I stole it from DoD. I couldn't tell anyone why I needed it or I would have blown Jack's cover. I stole it and I knew that it would be months before anyone noticed that one phone was gone and deleted the phone number from the system. Until then, Jack could use it if he needed it and no one could trace his calls."

Graem clearly bought Audrey's story and he was stymied. He had no idea how to get the phone number from Audrey's desk in Washington. He paced again this time taking out his phone and dialing. "Christopher, I think we've got something," he said. He went on to tell Henderson about the information that he had gotten from Audrey. "So, if we can get into her office. The phone number is on her desk."

Audrey almost had a stifle a laugh. The thought of Graem trying to break into the DoD was truly laughable. Based on Graem's end of the conversation, Henderson thought the same thing. "I don't know how we're going to get in the office, Christopher. That's why I called you. Maybe you could have someone pose as a repair person and get in. He could say that he had to work on the computer or the phone in Audrey's office."

Again Audrey nearly laughed. She was pretty sure that once her abduction was reported that her office would be sealed off. And again judging from Graem's end of the conversation, Henderson was telling him just that.

"Then, I don't know how we're going to get the phone number, but we have to come up with something," he told Henderson in an exasperated voice. "Call me when you've got something!" Graem said and then hung up. He took a breath and then turned to Audrey.

"Okay," he said approaching her and checking to make sure that she was securely bound to the chair. "You just sit here a little while longer and we'll see if something jogs your memory and you can come up with that phone number."

"Please," Audrey begged still trying to play the game. "Please, can't you untie me? You've got me locked in this room. Where do you think I'm going to go? Please untie me and let me move around."

"Forget it! You give me what I need and you get to go free. Until then, you're stuck here." Graem walked away and closed the door, locking it behind him.

Audrey swallowed hard and finally allowed herself to breathe, proud of the way she was handling the situation. Now the waiting started again. She had done all that she could do to help herself. The rest was up to CTU or whoever was trying to find her. At least now she knew what time it was. She was able to see the time on Graem's phone when he opened it. It was 9:30. Just 24 hours earlier, she was sitting with Jack in his apartment explaining the plan that would take him to safety. Now she had to face the fact that, instead of saving him, her plan had simply put him in more danger.

The mood at the safe house was gloomy. They had no leads to go on and no ransom demands had been made. Bill had Chloe looked into Jack's suspicions regarding the warehouse. She made contact with the owner's office. The woman they spoke with confirmed that the building was not rented at the time, but the owner was out of town and there was no on available who could authorize a search of the property. With no evidence that there was any foul play at the site, Bill couldn't convince a judge to give him a search warrant. On a whim, he sent a team to look over the perimeter of the property looking for any evidence that Graem or Audrey was there. The team found nothing but what appeared to be a dilapidated and abandoned warehouse, thus leading to yet another dead end.

With nothing else to do, they made plans for security watches on the safe house for the night. Shifts would be four hours long. They all agreed that Michelle should go to bed. Tony, Chase and Jack would take the midnight to four shift. Curtis and Bill would return for the four to eight shift. Jack offered to stay up and work that shift with them. Protocol required three agents on duty at all time, he reminded them and he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. He was too worried about Audrey. Security plans now set, Curtis and Bill left for a few hours to get some sleep and return at 4 am.

Tony, Chase and Jack spent their four hour shift largely in silence. Despite the fact that the three had much catching up to do, none of them felt like talking. They did their job with routine sweeps of the exits and the perimeter of the house. The night was quiet and it took all of their effort to remain focused. Tony and Chase were particularly happy to see Curtis and Bill arrive around 3:50.

"Go to bed," Bill told them as he went to the kitchen to make coffee. "We'll see you in the morning. You guys need some coffee?" he asked Curtis and Jack.

"None for me," Jack said. "I'm already too wired."

"I'll drink some," Curtis said. "Who's doing the first perimeter sweep?"

"I'll do it," Jack offered. "Tony and Chase did the last two. You guys relax."

Bill and Curtis agreed and took up their posts near windows while they waited for the coffee to brew. Jack picked up a flashlight and gun and headed for the back door. He rounded the property, reporting back to Curtis through his comm unit and as expected, found nothing. He re-entered the rear of the house.

"All clear," he called to Bill and Curtis. "I'll be out in a minute." Jack headed for the bathroom. Once inside, he turned on the exhaust fan and waited for a moment. Sure that Bill and Curtis were otherwise occupied with manning their posts, Jack opened the bathroom door and slipped out and closed the door behind him. He headed for a closet where weapons and supplies were kept. He stepped into the closet and closed the door. He turned the flashlight on to the lowest setting and quickly found what he was looking for. It was a first aid kit. Not exactly a run-of-the-mill first aid kit that someone would keep in a medicine cabinet, no, this was a CTU first aid kit that included enough equipment to do minor surgery in the field. Jack dug through it and pulled out a bottle of capsules. The bottle was labeled "pentobarbital". It was a barbiturate once used as a sleeping pill. Its purpose in the first aid kit was to sedate a wounded agent for transport to a medical facility. Jack slipped the bottle into his pocket and peeked out into the hallway. No one was nearby. He left the closet and returned to the bathroom where he flushed the toilet, washed his hands and turned off the fan. He returned to the front of the house to find Bill and Curtis right where he had left them.

"Maybe I do need some coffee," he said as he entered the kitchen. "Can I pour cups for you two?"

"Is it finished brewing?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, looks like it just finished. Smells a little strong, Bill. How much did you put in here?" Jack said as he took three cups from the cupboard and set them on the counter. He knew that the drug was going to give the coffee a bitter taste and he wanted to give Bill and Curtis the impression that the bitterness was simply due to excessive coffee in too little water.

"It's four o'clock in the morning," Bill noted. "I figured that strong was good."

Jack emptied the contents of a capsule into each of two cups and then filled them with coffee. "Here," he said taking the cups to Bill and Curtis. "Drink up. We need to stay awake."

Jack anxiously took up his own post, a position that allowed him to watch Bill and Curtis. Within fifteen minutes Jack could tell that they were both fighting sleep. And within a half hour, both were out cold. Jack smiled to himself. The plan had worked beautifully. He found Bill's jacket and dug the car keys from the pocket. He then returned quietly to the supply closet and armed himself with guns and ammunition, explosive devices and communications equipment. He stuffed it all in an olive drab bag and slung it over his shoulder. Keys in hand, Jack checked the front door and, finding it clear, headed out into the cool night. Without looking back, Jack got into the driver's side of Bill's CTU-issued car, started it and, without headlights, backed out of the driveway and into the street. He was free and he was going to rescue Audrey.

For those of you who have read my other stories, I'm sorry about using the drugged coffee trick for a second time! I was going to have Jack shoot Curtis and Bill with a tranquilizer gun (like he did to George Mason in season 1) but that trick had obviously been used before and I simply couldn't bring myself to have Jack shoot my dear Bill with anything even if it wasn't fatal. I know it was cheap, but I resorted to drugged coffee. Hope you'll forgive me!