Chapter 9

The Following Takes Place Between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.

Though it was not as well-known as Grand Central, Penn Station was probably the far more impressive of New York's transits hubs Lying adjacent to Madison Square Garden, it was the crossing point for many of the major subway lines, a huge amount of the intra- New York Traffic, and the major hub for out of state travel. If you wanted to hit a huge amount of New York's population, this was the place to do it. The station went several floors, and had twists and turns to its brown-tiled hallways that native New Yorkers who didn't pass through there on a daily basis would be hard pressed to find their way out of the maze.

Ever since 9-11, one would have hoped that the increase in security would have made it harder for infiltration by any hostile group, let alone terrorist action. But the brutal truth was Penn Station had never been treating with same regard as any of their airports. There were a fair amount of New York's finest present, as well as a station across from a Pizza Hut, and one could infrequently see a man in combat fatigues prowling the halls. But Homeland, which was provisionally in charge, had never done much for it, and Doggett had a feeling that it would cost.

"How much experience have you had with Homeland?" Doggett quietly asked Jack.

"This is a lousy time to be concerned about territorial issues," Jack reminded him.

"That's not what I meant and you know it,". Doggett told them. "If there's any place for this attack to go horribly wrong, this is where the conspiracy would stick its nose in."

"I'm well aware of that, but we don't have a choice," Jack pointed out. "CTU isn't big enough to completely oversee this kind of operation. We need people on the ground, and right now, Homeland's the only organization I would trust with this."

"I know, Jack, but on more then one occasion on the X-Files, I went to people I thought I could trust, and they ended up being the worst kind of traitors," Doggett told them.

"Listen, I know far better than most that sometimes people you trust with your life are completely unreliable," Jack told him. "So do Sydney and Vaughn, for that matter. But we're also aware that no man is an island, and if we don't have some level of faith, a lot of people will end up dead."

Doggett resisted the urge to tell Jack that if this faith was misplaced, the same thing would happen. But he knew Jack knew this as well, and that he was also right--- they couldn't do this alone. So he shut up, as the marshals from Homeland came over.

"This man is part of this attack, and the ones that happened earlier today in D.C." Jack told the Marshal. "He is to be kept under guard until the current crisis has passed. Unless you get instruction from either Agent Doggett or myself, you are not to let anyone see this man or even know that we have him in custody."

"Understood," the Marshall told them.

"Where's the head of field ops?" Jack asked.

"Here," A man in a jacket stepped forward. "Tom Kinsey. Glad that you're here. Could somebody please tell me what the nature of this attack is? "

"I sent out a message to search the ventilation system for anything suspicious," Jack informed them.

"There are several miles of ventilation in Penn Station," Kinsey told them. "Plus it's not the most easy place to maneuver or send in cameras. We'd probably have an easier time if we knew what to look for."

Doggett turned to Smith. "This is what you're here for," he told the alien.

"The easiest way to contain the virus has been inside geological stratum--- rocks, to be frank," Smith told them. "In order to increase the volume of the virus, the conspirator ground the rocks into powder and mixed with dirt--- tripled the speed of the infection." Smith paused. "There's a reason that your people haven't been able to find the virus--- it's been hidden in plain sight."

"What is this?" Kinsey asked. "Some variation on anthrax?"

"Worse," Smith told them. "Doesn't work nearly as fast, but once it invades the host it completely overwhelms the brain in a matter of minutes."

"Christ. Who developed this mother, Al Qeada?"

"The contagion is foreign, but we still don't know all of the people behind it.," Jack interjected. "Right now, we have to focus on containing the threat."

Just then, they heard screaming from the east. "That's from the decontamination center!" Kinsey yelled.

"How many people do CDC have exploring the vents?" Jack demanded as they started running

"So far, just one!" Kinsey told them.. "Far as I know he came back clean!"

Ten feet from the contaminated area, they were stopped by three people in bio-hazard suits. " Don't come any closer!" one of them, a woman, yelled through the mouthpiece. "I don't know was happening, but it's like nothing I've seen before."

Coming from people who had seen samples of Ebola, this was not encouraging. "What the fuck happened?" Jack demanded.

"Deakins was coming through the first sweep of the place, hadn't even gotten his suit off yet." the woman said. "His suit was covered with this blackish residue--- I thought it was soot. He didn't even take off the suit when... the soot liquefied somehow, and it started turning into... it looked like snakes or worms. And then they started moving towards his face and legs"

Even Doggett wasn't sure that he believed this. "These suits are contaminant proof," he began.

"You don't think I know that?" the doctor snapped. "It's like the virus went through the suit straight into Deakins as if it didn't exist. I don't know who designed this goddamn thing, but there are microcomputers that don't have the intelligence this thing does."

"All viruses are sentient," Smith told them. "This is far smarter than that."

"Who the hell is he?" the doctor asked.

"Look, Doctor, -um."

"Macer. Sunny Macer."

"Dr. Macer," Jack told them. "We need to get this man into isolation somehow."

"We don't know if we can do it without further risk of contamination." Dr. Macer replied.

Jack looked at Smith. "There is a vaccine for this virus, but there's no way we can get it from anyone," Smith told them. "Your best chance to stop the infection is to get the man's body temperature down. Going out into the heat may have caused the virus to activate."

Again Macer looked at Jack. ""Is this man credible?" she asked

"I can safely say that he knows more about the virus than any of us," Jack told them.

"We've got equipment to induce hypothermia on site," Macer told them. "What's the chance of the virus spreading from him to us?"

"The virus will remain in stasis for a few hours," Smith told them. "But I suggest you move him fast."

Jack's cell rang. "Bauer."

"Jack, it's Syd. We're on site."

5:07:44

5:07:45

5:07:46

"We've got confirmation the virus is here,." Jack told them, not wasting any time. "It's already infected someone who went through the vents. He wore protection and the virus went right through him. Nobody told us this thing was smart."

"It's managed to survive thousands of years in the earth's geological strata," Syd told him. "Makes sense that the thing has evolved a bit."

"How much did Mulder and Scully know about the virus?"

"Not as much as Smith would," Sydney replied. "But Scully's a doctor. She might be able to give us more definite terms."

"Contact CTU. Get her on the radio. I just saw three CDC doctors come close to panic; we need people who can remain rock steady."

Vaughn nodded. "I'll get Nadia on the phone. And I'll have Edgar get the video feed off the security cameras."

Sydney got back on the phone. "We're on the first level," she told him. "The one where Amtrak operates out of. If these people are serious about this attack, my guess is that this would be a pretty good place to call collateral damage."

"Have the people from Homeland checked the ventilation?"

"Jack, we warned the local transit authorities, not interstate," Sydney reminded him. "They're still trying to stop trains from coming in.. Fuck, this level isn't even completely evacuated. This could be one of their secondary protocols."

"This virus could be going live any minute," Jack reminded them. "And according to Smith, the only way to neutralize it when it goes hot is a vaccine we don't have."

Vaughn came over with the radio.. "They're on," he told them.

"Dr. Scully, have you been updated on what's going on?" Jack asked.

"We all have," Scully replied.. "And right now, I think you're best bet is the turn the AC on it and makes sure the vents are as cold as you can make them. It's the only way that we've got to slow it down."

"That buys us time. How do we stop it?" Vaughn asked.

"Where have your heads been?" Mulder told them. "We've already told you. You can keep it inactive; you can't stop it completely. All you can do is delay so you can complete evacuate the station."

"And then what, we burn the place to the ground and salt the earth?" Sydney asked.

"Agent Bristow, it's like we told you earlier," Mulder told them. "We've been dealing with variations on the is problem for more than a decade. This isn't a virus, it's an alien consciousness. And it will not stop until it infects everyone in that station."

"That's not entirely true."

"Mr. Smith?" Sydney was somewhat surprised. "Is there something that you haven't told us?"

"You're only partially right. The virus is sentient, but that does not make it unstoppable." Smith told them. "You 're also right about adjust the temperature. That will slow it down. Long enough for us to flush it out."

"Like I said, how? Mulder asked.

"We need to talk to the people that run the plumbing. Fast"

5:13:04

5:13:05

5:13:06

5:13:07

"You want us to do what?"

Even though she knew that Jack had his hands full, Nadia couldn't help but wish that he was handling this particular conversation, especially since she still didn't know which part of their reasoning he was following. "We are now certain that the chemical agent is inside the ventilation system.," she told the Homeland agent working with head of maintenance, "and the only way to get the virus out is to flood it, and push the virus out."

"There's no drainage inside the ducts," he told her. "And we don't have enough sprinkler. We're going to have to rely on outside plumbing Even if we fill the vents, the only 'out' that we have is inside the station itself. And we're still not fully evacuated."

"That virus is going to go hot any minute," she told him. "And it's already started to infect people. Now which levels of the station are still occupied.?"

"We've been trying to evacuate the station since the call came in," he told her. "I think we've blocked off the subway and local trains. But the out of state trains are still coming in. It's going to take at least half an hour before we know that all the traffic has been shut down. Now we managed to get all the workers and store owners, but we've still got at least a hundred commuters in the station uppermost level."

In the most cold-blooded sense, it might have been easier to just isolate Penn Station, and count the hundred or so people inside as collateral damage. But Nadia knew that from an incident with the Cordova virus in a hotel in LA a few years back that had essentially been shot the hell when a single man got out and nearly infected half of the city. Containment had been nothing short of a miracle. And in a city which relied on mass transit a lot more than Los Angeles did, the possibilities were far more deadly.

"Get the lower level station empty," Nadia finally told them. "Clear it out from end to end. While you're doing that find somebody to adjust the plumbing. Start breaking pipes if you have to. Just get it done."

"All right," the officer said. "But you'd better have a plan for when whatever it is gets out of the plumbing. I'm not going to be responsible for getting this stuff into the water supply."

Just then her radio started to buzz. "What?" she shouted.

"Don't yell at me," Sydney told her. "I didn't place the virus."

."Where are you?" Nadia asked.

"I'm doing another sweep of the place, trying to evacuate the first level."

"Why didn't you just tell me what else you're looking for?" .

"All three of the people on the inside said that the conspiracy wouldn't be foolish enough to put one of their own men behind to make sure things go off as planned," Sydney told her. "But I don't trust two of them, and I don't think these people cared much for the value of life to begin with. "

"So what, you're going to search the place inch by inch? This could happen any minute."

"Which is why I have to find him," Sydney countered. "Fast."

"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Nadia countered.

"These people haven't exactly been subtle so far," Sydney argued. "I think I'll find a sign soon enough."

5:19:35

5:19:36

5:19:37

Edgar walked up to Nadia. "We've got the security cameras finally working," he told her.

"We were supposed to have those fifteen minutes ago," she snapped.

"Hey, I've also been coordinating with the fire and NYPD for evacuation protocols, getting the list of possible suspects down to our agents, and keeping the mayor and the governor happy," he said coolly. "I'm not your friends from LA. I'm not a superman."

Fortunately, Mulder walked up to them, abbreviating the conflict.. "Where exactly is the video feed for the first level? Isn't that where we expect most of the trouble?"

"I'll bring it up," Edgar told them, and walked over to the station on the ground level where Mulder and Scully were camped out.. "What are we looking for?"

"I haven't a clue," Mulder sounded way too cheerful for Nadia's taste. "But I also have a feeling that we'll all know when we see it."

"Fine," Nadia got on her radio. "Syd, where are you?"

"Easternmost side of level one," Sydney told them. "Grid B."

"Bringing up the camera," Edgar pushed some buttons. He brought up a bathroom, and a chain of a pretzel maker. " Syd, confirm that this area is clear."

"Copy," There was a pause as Sidney entered the edge of the screen, and began ho search it.

"Agent Dunham, begin the search of Grid C." Nadia continued to call out grids and the names of other agents to search.

Before she got to Vaughn's Mulder spoke up. "Which grid is this?" he asked, pointing to the fifth monitor.

"Grid F," Nadia told him.

"Um, Edgar, was it?" Mulder said with a little bit of awkwardness. "Could you zoom in on the far left side of the monitor?"

Edgar looked at Nadia., who nodded. Reluctantly, he began to push a couple of keys. The cleft side of the filled the screen. Three garbage cans moved to the center.

"Can you get any closer?"

Edgar now looked at Mulder with suspicion. "These cameras are a year out of date. I was lucky I was able to zoom in that close," he said snarkily.

"All right, Vaughn," Nadia said over the radio. "Check out Grid F."

"What exactly am I looking for?"

"The middle trash can," Mulder told them. "The one with the, ketchup nearest the bottom."

A sinking feeling hit Nadia. And Vaughn clearly had an idea what he was going to see before he looked inside.

"Ah, shit!" he shouted. "Someone, shoved a security guard in there! Looks like he had to break him in half in order to do it!"

Nadia whirled around. "Let me guess. This is the work of another one of your alien friends."

"We're acquaintances, but believe me, the pleasure is all his," Mulder told them.

""I thought Syd killed this fucking alien!"

"She killed a fucking alien," Mulder reminded him. "For all we know, there's a mini-colony in the station."

"Do you really believe that?" Vaughn asked.

"No," Mulder admitted. "With these people, one is far more than enough."

"Have you finished the evacuation?" Nadia demanded.

"We're just getting the last group out of here."

"We need to widen the parameters of the search. Whoever's behind this, there is an alien on site making sure that everything goes according to plan!" Nadia turned to Mulder. "Check the security tapes."

"That won't help us," Sydney told them. "These creatures can look like anybody they want."

Nadia actually paled for a moment. "You're telling us that this fucker could be anywhere?"

"Or anyone."

Over the radio, the voice of Agent Dunham said, "What sort of freak show is this that some guy can just shape shift?"

5:25:11

5:25:12

5:25:13

5:25:14

"The place is empty?" Jack asked.

"They've managed to divert all trains for the next half-hour, and we just cleared out the last of the passerby," Nadia told him. "Of course, for all we know, we just let the guy responsible for the virus out the front door too."

Jack looked over at Jeremiah Smith. "Doggett tells me that Smith has some kind of beacon in his head that lets him know when a fellow alien's nearby," he told her. "His radar didn't seem to go off when we got here."

"Maybe the presence of the virus was a distraction," Nadia paused. "Honestly, Jack you ever think we'd be using these words in a conversation?"

"Not when I got up this morning." Jack admitted. "Ask me several years ago about giant red balls and Rimbaldi, I would have given you the same answer. Have Sydney and Vaughn finished the sweep of the first level?"

"They're going through the place inch by inch," Nadia told him. "Have they had any luck with the Patient Zero?"

"They're working on it, but it'll be hours before we can tell if his condition changes one way or another, "Jack told her

Nadia hesitated, then asked the question. "Jack, does this feel right to you?"

"Which part?"

"Let's take out the extra-terrestrial part and try and look at this like it's any other kind of attack," she began. "We're on the scene, we empty out the target area, we find some of the chemical agent. Does the enemy just shrug and head back home?"

"Not if home is several galaxies over," Jack told her. "But I do see your point. There's obviously some kind of backup plan. Otherwise, why kill a member of the security detail---"

The idea hit them simultaneously.. "Where did you evacuate the commuters?" Nadia demanded.

"We spread them out through the larger offices around the area!" Jack told them.

"And the biggest complex on the scene is the Post Office!," Nadia astold them.

"Maybe, but there are thousands of people spread over a dozen buildings. They wouldn't have to try that hard to have a high casualty."

jack got on the radio. "Sydney, Vaughn pick-up.!"

"I'm here," Sydney said. "What happened?"

"Are either of you near the security guard they killed?" Nadia asked.

"I'm less than ten feet away." Vaughn told them.

"Get a picture of him, and make sure that every CTU agent we have here has it" Jack told him. "He might have shifted identities, but if he killed that guard he probably did it for a reason."

Vaughn and Sydney both got it "How sure are we that he's working alone?" Sydney told him. "For all we know, he could still have another man on the inside. This is exactly where they'd use him."

"Hold on," Nadia ran over to Edgar. "You have a listing for all the agents who are on site?" she demanded.

"No, but they should've filed with the field office. It shouldn't be that hard to get it," Edgar told them.

"I need you to go through the agent's names, and see if you can find any outside link --- particularly connections with the FBI. Look for anybody suspicious, and find out where they are right now," Nadia told Edgar hurriedly. "The priority is the Post Office!"

5:30:46

5:30:47

5:30:48

The man in the blue business suit had been looking extra pissed for the last five minutes, and now he walked up to the policeman. "I demand to know what the hell is going on here!"

"Sir, I realize that this has been exceptionally frustrating, but there is some very important going on---" the policeman began.

"I'll tell you what's important!" the man in the business suit interjected.. "I have a teleconference with nine of the largest bond traders in the world scheduled for eight o'clock tonight! Now these are powerful men, officer. Men who would look at men like your boss and regard him as gum on your shoe."

The businessman hadn't been that quiet to begin with, and now he was starting to stir up the crowd around them. Realizing that a potential riot of the nine to fivers in what was, after all, a government building, would be as messy as an actual chemical attack, the NYPD called in for some reinforcements.

"We're still in the middle of a hot zone," one of the CTU agents reminded them

"The area's been cleared," one of the cops countered. "And I'm more worried about a possibility of an actual riot then some half-assed chemical attack."

The argument that one of their own was infected, possibly dying, from this purported biological threat would have shut them up, but it was never made. "All right, get another three or four cops in here," a ranking agent said..

"We haven't gotten orders from either Bauer or Santos---"

"They're not on the scene. We are. Get the men in blue here."

Reluctantly, an agent gave the okay. The second it was given, the reporting agent switched his radio to a channel the other agency wasn't set to receive. "The ants are all in the hill," he reported. "Time to set it on fire."

On the second level of the Post Office, the false security guard (who had taken the credentials from the dead one before he had stuffed the body in the garbage) stepped away from the air- conditioning vent where he had placed the last of three rocks with the virus. The man on the inside had turned off the AC ten minutes ago, which would not only accelerate the virus' emergence, but also make the people downstairs more unruly, and therefore less likely to notice anyone suspicious until it was too late. It wouldn't have the same casualty rate as Penn Station, but it would go along way towards starting a mass panic.

And the more chaos and destruction they sowed, the easier thing s would be when they followed through with the rest of the plan.

"We've been going through the agents on file as fast as we can," Nadia told her husband. "But without something solid, we can't even speculate."

"You've got Mulder, Scully and Reyes going over the files?" Jack asked.

They're trying but, as they were more than willing to tell us, they didn't have a lot more luck in spotting traitors until it was too late then any of us were," Nadia told them grimly.

"Wonderful," Jack turned from the monitor. "Agent Doggett, any luck?"

"When are you going to admit we're just spinning our wheels here?" DOggett said as he looked at another screen.

"We'll search area building by building if we have to. It'll be a long shot, but---"

"Holy Christ. " Doggett's voice had dropped so low that Jack was concerned. "The last file that you sent to me; send a copy to Monica. Now!"

There was the briefest of pauses before Agent Reyes spoke. "That's not possible," she almost whispered.

"I thought we had a moratorium on that," Mulder told them.

But Doggett wasn't laughing. "He's not supposed to be out! Fuck, he's supposed to be in prison!"

"Who?" Jack demanded.

"One of the agents working for Homeland used to be with the Bureau.," Doggett told Jack. "Assistant Director Brad Follmer was a major pain in the ass for Monica and I the year we worked the X-Files . About a month before we were shut down, he was implicated in corruption charges and killed the man who was bribing him."

"You're sure of this?" Jack asked.

"I saw him kill the man," There was definitely some private pain behind Agent Doggett's eyes, but Jack decided to let it go for the moment. "Last I heard he'd been stripped of his title."

"Apparently not far enough," Nadia told them. "He was suspended for two years and placed under house arrest for that time. Bureau didn't want anything to do with him, but he still had some friends in the government."

"But that doesn't mean---" Monica seemed flabbergasted as well. "Brad did some horrible things, but I can't see him committed this kind of treason."

Jack looked at Doggett. "I'm sorry, Monica," he finally said, "but there are some coincidences even I don't believe."

"It gets worse," Nadia told them. "According to the computer, Follmer was assigned to the Post Office."

"Edgar, text the photo to Sydney and Vaughn. Now!"

5:38:47

5:38:48

5:38:49

5:38:50

Outside the temperature was still that of late spring, pleasant, barely out of the seventies. However, it was also the time of year when people automatically turned on their air conditioners. So when Sydney walked into the 35th Street Post Office, and felt like it was hotter inside than it was outside, she automatically became suspicious.

By now she was off the radio, and was using one of the earpieces. "Vaughn, you see anybody who looks like they're in charge?" she asked.

"I believe right now that's us," Vaughn reminded her. "Which reminds me, let's keep this a private conversation."

At that moment, Syd's cellbuzzed. She took it out, and saw a text from Nadia. 'Believe he's our guy.' Touching the screen brought up the picture of a man with brownish-blond hair and a slight mustache. "You get this?" she asked Vaughn.

"Any sign of him?" she asked.

"If he really is part of this, logic says he'd be long gone," Vaughn reminded her.

"How big a role has logic ever played in our jobs?" Sydney countered.

Considering that they were in large room crowded three and four deep with people, most of whom looked extremely pissed off, Sydney didn't think that this was going to be easy The sight of her ID wasn't helping nearly as much as it should have. Still, she looked carefully.

."Shouldn't we be evacuating ?" Vaughn asked.

"We've done that. That's why we're in this mess," Sydney told her husband. "Besides, we've basically run out of places to put people."

Ten steps later she ran into a man in a suit giving instructions to two police. When he turned to face her, Sydney could tell it was Agent Follmer. She kept her face perfectly blank.

"You're supervising?" she asked casually.

"We've been here for nearly an hour, and we still have no idea what were up against," he told her. "Someone had to step up. I'm Agent Follmer with Homeland."

"Agent Bristow," she replied.

"So you're in charge. Maybe now you can tell me why we had to clear out the biggest transit hub in the city for no apparent reason."

"We have a reason, Agent Follmer," Sydney told them, "but we now believe the terrorists involved had shifted their attack."

'That was awfully farsighted of them," Follmer replied.. "And I assume by the way you're breathing down my neck, you think this is the target."

"We are packed a little think," Sydney looked at Follmer. "Have you seen anyone suspicious?"

"You people have been so vague, I don't know what suspicious looks like. Would you mind telling me what exactly the enemy is?"

He was good, but Sydney had dealt with better. "We're still trying to figure that out," she said slowly.

"You speak as if I don't know who you are," Follmer said. "What monsters are tracking us? The ghost of Irina Derveko? Genetic clones? Something a little," he deliberately hesitated, "out of this world?"

"I'll let you know" Sydney touched her earpiece. "Vaughn, are we getting anywhere?"

By now Vaughn was on the uppermost level of the post office., checking the vents. "I don't know, but it's awfully goddamn hot in here," he muttered. "Where' the fuck is the thermostat..."

H e stopped mid-sentence, because he had just seen someone he was pretty sure that his wife had killed less than three hours ago. He pulled his weapon, and was a bout to fire, when the creature yanked the vent that he had just examined off the wall.

"Syd, we're in trouble---"

She had taken her attention off Follmer for less than five seconds, but it was long enough to draw his weapon. "I think the time for playing games is over," he told her.

"Killing me won't get you out of here," Sydney told him smoothly

"You now, you're absolutely right."

And then before Sydney could react, Follmer fired his gun in the air three times. Even with the crowds, the sound resonated throughout the building. The result was instantaneous--- people began to fly around in panic In seconds,

Before Sydney could blink, Follmer was gone.

5:45:22

5:46:23

5:46:24

Jack and Doggett had made it over to the Post Office, and had begun leading a search for Follmer , when all hell broke loose. They also knew that if the virus was out, they would have almost no chance of containing it among this chaos.

"Your years of training ever g teach you how to stop a riot?" "Doggett yelled.

"This is Agent Bauer!" Jack yelled. "We need every available man to assume positions around the post office. Bring all riot gears and mask!" He switched frequencies. "Syd, Vaughn, somebody in there talk to me!"

All of those years of meeting in crowded nightclubs that almost invariably resulted in mob scenes finally repaid their value ; Sydney managed to maneuver around the panicked throng like she was a quarterback eluding a defensive line.

Sydney was just as concerned about the panic as Jack was, but knew one cardinal rule--- the only way to stop people thrown into panic inside was to throw them into a bigger panic if they go outside. She had an idea of how to do that, but it involved her getting upstairs and hope that this same panic affected their friends

As it turned out, she got a bit of luck, though she was pretty sure that it wouldn't qualify as such by anyone higher up. Less than ten seconds after she started, a large BOOM echoed through the arches as the alien that looked exactly like the one she'd killed before (They do all look a like, went crazily through her mind) with a perfect three point landing. He had also managed to crush two people doing so, but it was pretty clear that was the least of his concerns.

"Stay where you are!" Sydney was pretty sure warnings wouldn't still this monster, but she had to at least pretend this was normal.

The alien looked surprised that she didn't even blink as his landing, or that she had some idea of what he was—otherwise why would she be aiming for him? "You are a fool."

"Maybe," Sydney told him, "but I'm a quick study!"

"Indeed." The alien took a step forward.

"This place is surrounded. We cordoned off Penn Station," she told him. "This operation is a failure."

The alien cocked its head. ""We have different considerations for success," the alien told her. "Besides, even if this plan fails, we have far more in store. Attacks that no one will be able to resist. We will succeed."

Sydney knew that this creature held the keys to this entire conspiracy, and that those were only the start of their knowledge. But she also knew that this place was going to become a hot zone in seconds, if that, and she had to whatever she could to limit the damage.

The alien charged her, intending to roll over her like an Abrams tank on the LA freeway. Sydney didn't even blink, and fired one shot into the eye, hoping that the impact—or the dented bullet—would blind the alien a moment. She dropped to one side, an arm out to absorb the impact. She stick one leg up in the air so that her legs were at a ninety degree angle.

The alien, distracted by the noise and commotion around them, not to mention confused by the sudden move on Sydney's part, almost ran into her leg—it wouldn't have tripped him, but it would have broken her leg if she had held it straight and stiff. Instead, she went with the impact of his leg, sweeping her other leg behind his knee, collapsing the leg from under him, and then rolled, twirling the leg up like spaghetti with her legs as the folk tines. He landed with one side of his face on the ground...facing away from Sydney.

"Shame you'll never see it," she said, and fired three shots at the back of the alien's head from the neck up.

The first one blew out a chunk of his skull, and the second one nearly tore his head from his neck. She rolled away and fired the last shot....and never saw what the third one did, because a split second later, the creature was gone, and there was a huge pile of green acid falling to the ground.

She wasn't sure if it was the acid or the second round of shots, but something produced a ripple, and suddenly every body had stopped running.

"What the fuck?" Sydney turned around, and saw that Jack and Agent Doggett had arrived.

"What the hell is going on?" one of the suits yelled...

"Ladies and gentlemen, I realize that you're all very frightened, and confused," she told them. "The fact is we believe that they're has been some kind of chemical agent on the premises that terrorists were planning to release. We have the situation under control, but it can only be resolved if everybody slowly and orderly evacuates the building., if you would just follow the agents at the front, everything will be fine."

By now, everyone was so concerned that they left with a minimum of fuss. Jack actually looked more agitated than Sydney. "Are you trying to start a new kind of crisis?" he whispered angrily.

"I don't know. Would you like the people of this city to know that this was the first strike of an alien attack?" Sydney whispered.

"It's New York. Most of them wouldn't blink at the idea," Jack replied.

"I think Agent Bristow has a point," Doggett replied. "The President gave us a specific set of instruction. We need to follow them. Or would you like to see a recreation of Halloween 1938?"

Jack couldn't ague with the logic. "We need to get everybody out of here," he said. "Where's Vaughn?"

"I'll get him," Sydney walked up the stairs, trying to raise her husband on the radio. "Come on, everybody---"

When she reached the landing, she froze. Her husband was lying on the ground, impaled n a piece of a ventilation shaft, eyes blinking, and trying to scream.

""I need--- " she sputtered. "Jack, I need a medic!

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The medic looked up. "It's as bad as it looks," he told Sydney bluntly. I don't know which vital organs have been punctured, but I'm certain that the pressure from this shrapnel is the only thing keeping him from bleeding out. We move him, he dies."

"And if we don't move him?" Jack asked..

"He'll die from shock . Most he has is an hour."

The AC had been turned back on, and the virus was in stasis for the moment, but it could come oozing out any minute. Nevertheless, Jack knew far better than to try and push Sydney.

"There is another way." Jack hadn't even heard Jeremiah Smith approach. "But in order for this to work, Michael needs to be removed from the spike.

Sydney seemed to come out of the shock that she was in. "But, that'll kill him."

"No, Agent Bristow," Smith told her. "It won't."" For the first time, there was kindness mixed in with the certainty in his voice.

"Syd, I don't think this is a good idea---"

"Let him," Doggett interrupted.

Jack looked at Sydney, who managed to nod. "Take him off the spike."

The medic nodded reluctantly, and very gently the team began to remove Vaughn from the shrapnel. Just as they'd predicted, the blood began shooting out of the wound instantly. Vaughn's eyes rolled to the side of his head that same instant.

"Stand aside," Smith ordered, and knelt by Vaughn, ignoring the blood spurting up at him. He put his hand over the wound and closed his eyes.

Not even what Jack had seen happen to Sloane quit prepared him for what happened next. The blood spurting out began to flow backwards, while the stain itself began to shrink. Within the space of half a minute, the blood was gone. Within the space of a minute, there was no wound at all., only a hole in his shirt to marked where the shrapnel had been

A few moments later, Vaughn was conscious, coughing loudly. Hardly daring to believe what she had just seen, Syd looked at her husband. "Michael?" she whispered.

"S- Syd?" Vaughn was barely audible, but it was definitely there.

Finally, Sydney breathed and began to weep.

"The orders are from Homeland. Mr. Strughold is to be taken into custody now!" the agent told him.

"Jack Bauer's orders were that no one touches that man without his approval," the other agent said.

The suit shook his head.. "I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up."

Five seconds later, gunshots filled the air

Despite the magnitude of what he'd seen, the moment Jack heard the shots, he was back to business. "What the hell?" he yelled over the radio. "All units, report!"

Having completed his task, Brad Follmer took apart his rifle, and began to leave the building. As he did, he speeddialed a number on his phone.

"Yes?"

"Strughold's been taken care of.," Follmer told them. "What do you want us to do with Covarrubias?"

"Hold on to her for the moment," the voice on the other end said. "We need to find out what else she knows about the rest of our people."

"What's the next step, Henderson?"

"Now that they've failed, we take over the operation," Christopher Henderson told the former Assistant Director. "Now we show them to never send an alien to do a man's job."

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