Chapter 10: Forfeit / Farewell
She was so beautiful. She was so broken.
Turning back to Audrey after the con and the doctor had left the room, Jack garnered his first real look at one of the few things that had kept him going for the last two years. He wasn't able to stop the distressed thud in his chest as he registered the taint of prolonged despair on her gaunt face.
Her green eyes were shining, with imminent tears or present happiness he wasn't sure. All he knew was that Audrey deserved everything he could give her, and right now, the only tangible thing he had to offer was physical, and intimate.
But one stare between them, and the pain he saw in the woman he loved forced him to turn away.
Mahone had his head reclined on the armchair he was sitting in, eyes closed. Watching the man for a moment, Jack recognised with unsettling familiarity the still raw shock and horror etched into his partner's exhausted and unguarded face.
"Maybe you should rest up, too."
Jack let out sharp hiss as he felt Audrey's hand on his shoulder. Flinching away as he spun back around, he caught her drawing her hand back to her chest, frightened.
"I'm sorry."
"No."
He stopped kneading the shoulder that had been dislocated under Cheng Zhi's orders so many times, and allowed his heart to sink. He knew Audrey had submitted to crushing guilt a long time ago. The way she was looking at him now, he also knew that that wasn't likely to go away any time soon.
Taking her hands in his, he murmured, "Please don't tell me you're sorry, ever again."
"I should've done more. Gotten help from Dad."
"There was nothing the President could've done, either."
"Jack …"
He didn't need a reason or a definition for what compelled him to step forward suddenly and kiss her on the cheek.
Audrey's face was scarlet as he pulled back. Despite that, and her coherent silence, the glimmer in her eyes signalled the hope he'd been searching for – hope that eventually, no matter how long it took, they could be together the way he'd dreamt for three years.
"Is there someplace I could wash up?" he asked, trying to ease the tension.
She blinked, snapping herself out of what looked like a disbelieving dream state, before nodding.
"Bathroom's last door on the left."
"Thanks."
He stared at her for a few moments, but soon realised what he was doing and lowered his gaze. Burying the words he desperately wanted to say, he gave a small nod and left for the bathroom.
Splashing water from the tap onto his face did nothing to refresh him, but it soothed nevertheless. Drying himself with a towel, he inspected his reflection for the first time since he'd shaved himself clean four days earlier.
He sighed.
The mirror he'd been provided with then had been cracked and dusted. This one was clean and unblemished, and projected the truth. Though his face bore far fewer scars than the rest of his body did, there was still a blatant suffering there that ran much deeper.
He'd had no idea he'd been carrying his burden around for the whole world to see.
Tracing the lines on his face with a pockmarked hand, he reined back his emotions and set his expression into one of cold steel. There were three other people in the building he still had to deal with. None could be less trustworthy if they tried, and none could be allowed to so easily discern his weaknesses if he wanted to maintain control of the situation.
Clearing his throat and straightening his shoulders, he set the towel down and exited the bathroom.
The doorbell rang.
Snapping his head around to peer down the hallway, his immediate concern was for Audrey as he grasped for his gun. He quickly surmised, however, that the doorway in front of him led through to the front hall. He opened it and eased inside what seemed to be a sitting room.
Footsteps echoed from a few metres away. Backing against the wall on the other side of the front door, he waited tensely.
"Hey."
It was Audrey.
"I didn't expect you back until Friday."
"Suppliers were choked up, there was an accounting error, so the sale went through," a male voice replied. "Bad, but good in the sense of a week off."
There was a brief, stilted silence, before the man continued, "Care to let me in?"
Jack furrowed his brow and rubbed his temple at the vaguely familiar voice.
"I …" Audrey hedged on her words. "Well … of course you can come in."
There was barely palpable distress in her voice. Carefully checking the chamber of his gun, Jack positioned himself against the front hall's adjoining door as Audrey tried to stall the man, to no avail.
He kicked the door open.
"Hands above your head!" he shouted, side-stepping into the front hall with his gun held steady on the man. "Don't move. Audrey, close the door."
"Jack, it's alright, he's my cousin," Audrey exclaimed, raising her hands and shielding the man behind her. "Drop the weapon for god's sake."
Regarding the stranger with dubious eyes, Jack was overcome by an intense feeling of familiarity.
He felt his slightly convulsing hands holster his gun as Michael, Sara and Mahone arrived in the front hall. Their faces mirrored his own stunned recognition of the new arrival as Audrey made to introduce him.
It didn't take her long to decipher the primal, hateful glares all being trained on her cousin.
"Jack?" she said in a small voice, turning back to him.
But Jack had finally reached deep enough inside his memory to put a name to the smirking face.
"Paul Kellerman," he growled.
"Yeah." Audrey shook her head. "But … I never mentioned him to you …"
"Because I've met him before. The son of a bitch tried to kill me."
She dropped the gun in her hands and blocked Jack's as he pulled it out again and aimed it squarely between Kellerman's eyes.
"What are you talking about? Paul, tell him …"
"He knows exactly what I'm talking about," Jack yelled, stabbing his weapon at her cousin. "I know him. He had orders to terminate me. He is not the man you think he is!"
Two years ago – Chicago, Illinois
"Thank you."
Jack felt a small lump constrict his throat as Chloe O'Brian nodded and smiled as brightly as she could. Entering her blue rental car, she gave him one last glance, before driving off.
He wiped his bleary eyes as he took out two cell phones from his shoulder bag. Crushing them between his hands, he dropped them into a nearby dumpster.
Inner calm hadn't been an option ever since he'd received the call from Chloe almost 18 hours ago begging him to meet her. Now that she'd told him the cover he'd had for less than a month had been compromised, sleep was something else he could rule out for at least the next week.
Digging his hands into the pockets of his hooded jacket, he walked slowly back to his car.
The loud thrum of an engine made him pivot his head to the side. He watched as a motorcycle pulled ahead of him on the abandoned backroad. It stopped a short distance away.
He threw his bag onto the passenger seat, climbed in, and started the engine, all the while keeping his eyes on the leather-clad biker. They stared at each other for a long time as the motorcycle engine revved menacingly.
A black BMW suddenly tore around the corner, tires screaming. It headed straight for Jack. He pulled the car into reverse without hesitation. Swerving around in a 180 spin and narrowly avoiding a collision with the car, he hit the accelerator, speeding off towards the nearest cluster of traffic he could get to.
Though Jack pulled out everything he had, ducking in and out of vehicles in his attempt to escape, his pursuers maintained their lead on him for at least five minutes before he spotted a forklift rolling into a junkyard.
He made a sharp turn and entered the area. The engine whine and sound of braking tires behind him signalled that they'd taken the bait.
"I got you now," he muttered into his rear-view mirror.
Wrenching the steering wheel around, he took a hard right, narrowly avoiding another forklift standing to the side.
He came to a stop a few metres away, just before the BMW gyrated around the corner. It lost control on the dirt ground and impaled itself on the forklift's sharp blades.
Lowering himself beneath the windshield, Jack picked up his bag and crawled out the passenger door.
He heard a man wheezing in the distance, followed by a car door being thrown open. Still crouched out of sight, he tugged his bag strap over his head and manoeuvred behind a stack of wooden platforms.
"Paul?"
Jack squinted through the small openings between the platforms. Freeing a pistol from his bag and loading it with a fresh cartridge, he studied a runty-figured man as he spilled out of the BMW.
The man repeated the name as he peered through the tinted windshield.
"You alright, man?"
A groan came from the driver's side in reply.
Jack dashed forward and halted as close as possible to the BMW without giving himself away. He watched a tall figure emerge from the passenger door with his hand clutching a bloody area just below his jaw.
"If you hadn't spotted it in time, it might've done more than nick my neck, Danny."
The smaller man gave an amused grunt as his partner removed his shades and scrupulously checked his wound. Jack could tell from the man's cold green eyes that he was the far more dangerous of the pair.
"Got a lot more to worry about than cuts and bruises," the man continued, nodding at Jack's car.
Jack shadowed them closely as they made their way over to inspect it. The injured driver's cell rang, and he picked up, looking irritated.
"Agent Kellerman."
Kellerman turned his back to listen to the caller's response as his partner dug through Jack's vehicle for anything left behind.
"My status? My status is he's gone, Rachel. And if you'd secured the CTU analyst when I told you to, he would've stuck around long enough for me and Hale to do our jobs."
Jack readied his gun and mentally calculated the movements he would have to take as Kellerman continued with what he'd already figured out.
"There's only one exit out of this place. So if Bauer wants to leave, he'll have to show himself first."
It took Jack only five rapid steps forward before he was behind Hale and blocking his mouth in a forearm chokehold. Hale managed to emit a loud enough grunt to grab Kellerman's attention, though, and the other man rotated with his phone still pressed to his ear.
Jack's weapon was already on him. Scowling through the long curtains of hair framing his face, he mutely exhorted Kellerman to hang up.
Kellerman registered no emotion at his partner's predicament. Nevertheless, he wisely chose not to move for his gun, instead continuing to drawl into his cell as though nothing was happening.
"Rachel. Unless you want there to be more hell to pay, I suggest we end this call now."
He rolled his eyes and hung up. The resulting silence was nothing less than strained.
Without being prompted, Kellerman very slowly reached into his jacket and withdrew a silenced pistol. Making a small gesture of surrender, he lowered the weapon onto the ground and promptly kicked it over to Jack.
Jack let his eyes waver for only a moment before he returned his glare to Kellerman.
"Secondary weapons as well."
"Do you really think I'm gonna fake you out and have you blow his head off? That's all I have on me."
Weighing up the legitimacy of Kellerman's claim, Jack transferred the aim of his gun to Hale's thick neck and frisked the agent's jacket with his other hand. He produced a wallet with a badge and ID inside.
"Secret Service Agent Daniel Hale," he read out, before tossing the wallet at Kellerman's feet. "You working under the same people from Logan's administration who tried to have me killed a year ago?"
"It was never about killing you, Jack," replied Kellerman, smoothly manipulating the question. "The only thing we're trying to do here is uphold national security."
Jack jammed the gun further into Hale's throat. "Are you brainwashed or just stupid?"
"You fall into the wrong hands, you pose a threat your own CTU colleagues wouldn't hesitate to take out." Kellerman gave a nonchalant shrug. "Shame the ones you were ever acquainted with either quit or died."
"Shut up."
Head pounding, Jack finished disarming Hale and shoved him towards Kellerman.
"Hands behind your heads. Down on your knees. Now. Both of you."
"Going to shoot us in cold blood?" Kellerman asked, as he and Hale complied.
Jack marched forward enough to effectively communicate his next order.
"Call your superior back and tell her you've cornered me on Third Street," he said, waving at the cell Kellerman had dropped.
Kellerman scoffed with a slight curl of his lips, but relented when Jack moved his gun to Hale's head again.
By the time he ended the call, Kellerman's face was beginning to show signs of a temper.
"Now what?"
"Now you stand and walk in that direction until you reach the fence," Jack replied, wrenching the cell from Kellerman's grip and backing up towards his car. "Keep your hands on it until I'm gone, or this really will get unpleasant."
Hale quickly made his way towards the end of the junkyard. Kellerman, however, approached Jack much more slowly, eyeing him with an inscrutable expression as he passed.
"Take a minute to think about the people who helped fake your death, Jack," he said blithely. "Think about your daughter. If you turn yourself over now, you can guarantee they won't be touched."
Jack ignored him even as a twinge of discontent permeated his chest.
Again throwing his bag into his car and re-entering it, Jack surveyed in the rear-view mirror as Kellerman joined his partner. The Secret Service agent muttered something to Hale as he placed his hands on the fence.
Wasting no more time, Jack gunned the engine and peeled out of the junkyard. He repeated Kellerman's last words to himself in his head as he tried to figure out his next move.
He knew that as well as Chloe, Michelle and Tony were also still based in L.A.
And Kim was currently living in Valencia.
His carelessness had put them at even greater risk. He couldn't fathom leaving the country with the danger he'd placed them in hanging over his head. If anything, he needed to be as close as possible to them in order to protect them as best he could.
And returning … it would be the last place they'd expect to find him.
There was nowhere else to go except back to California.
"Please, Jack. What you're saying is impossible. All of it is impossible. Paul isn't … he sells imported beef jerky."
Easing his gun down, Jack stared at Audrey uncomprehendingly as a weary chuckle sounded behind him.
"Beef jerky salesman. Weren't even trying with that alias, were you, Kellerman?"
"Alex."
Kellerman emitted the name almost jovially. Rolling his eyes at Jack, he stepped over to a set of hooks lined up below the staircase and threw his coat onto one.
"I heard about your wife. Need recommendations for a quality therapist once Cameron leaves hospital?"
Mahone's face transitioned from weary mirth to murderous rage in one flicker of an eye. Mouth curled into a searing snarl, he leapt forward. Michael was able to catch him in both hands, however, and hold him back.
Eyes wide with disbelief, Audrey appealed to her cousin, who refused to return her gaze.
"You know them?"
"He shot me," said Mahone.
"Electrocuted me in a bathtub."
"Tried to suffocate my brother after sending him to the chair."
"OK, enough."
Audrey curled a hand against her throat, as though holding herself back from saying something extremely repugnant.
Kellerman looked devastated as she shook her head at him. He followed her as she backed away into the sitting room.
"Auds."
"Stay away from me."
"Listen, Audrey, I lied for a reason …"
"I'm sure Dad'll love to hear it!"
As Audrey's decibel level grew, Jack lowered his head and quietly shut the door behind them. When he turned back around, Mahone had vanished, and Michael and Sara were regarding each other with nervous indecision.
Sara was the first to speak as she met eyes with Jack.
"What happens now?"
"Something I should have told you before," said Michael, speaking up before Jack could spell out their arrangement. "I wasn't just planning on handing over evidence today."
She blinked as Michael stepped towards Jack, his hands held together in front of him.
"You can't go back to prison," she said blankly.
"It's not a choice, it's an imperative," the con replied, shutting his eyes as Sara came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not obligated to do anything, Michael. And it's still too dangerous."
"I can't keep running and putting your life at risk."
"She's right."
The morose pair returned their attention to Jack. To their surprise, he produced the keys to the stolen green sedan parked outside and held them out to Michael.
Hazel eyes tight with bemusement, Michael took them.
"I didn't ask for this."
"Right now, whether or not you deserve to be in prison doesn't matter," Jack said, choosing not to proffer a weapon knowing Michael would refuse it. "If you go back to prison now, the Company'll most likely have you dead within a week."
"You're just going to let us walk?"
"No."
Jack stepped over to the front door, opening it. He gestured towards the sitting room, from which Audrey was still prominently verbalizing her anger at her cousin.
"Ms. Raines knows several locations in the country you can stay until this is all over. They contain supplies that'll last you weeks. She'll stay with you while I handle the Company in D.C."
"What about …"
"I'll deal with Mahone," Jack cut in testily. He rubbed his jaw. "And Kellerman."
He moved aside as the other two made their way out to the driveway. Michael hesitated on top of the front porch steps.
"One more thing," he said to Sara, smiling wanly as she waited for him. "You go ahead."
The doctor gazed from Michael to Jack, looking put out. However, she eventually nodded and headed for the car.
Michael folded and unfolded his arms as Jack heard the shouts echoing out from the sitting room die down.
"Make it quick."
"Earlier I mentioned an agent named Bill Kim," the fugitive began, sweeping a hand over his bruised face. "I had a … uh … an encounter with him, a while back. It was pretty obvious at the time he was close to the top of the Company food chain. If there's anyone from Kellerman's address book you want to get to first, it's him."
"You know where he works out of?"
"Looked him up myself. Room 1006, Gossamer Building, 16th Street, Washington D.C." Michael shifted on his feet. "I want him to pay, Jack. For everything."
"I'll do the best I can. You just stay alive long enough to testify against him."
"Okay." Michael raised a hand for Jack to shake. "Good luck."
Jack stared at the outstretched arm before him.
"Audrey'll be with you soon," he muttered.
Michael surmised that his gesture was probably the first courteous thing Jack had received in 18 months and dropped it. Making an ashamed noise in the back of his throat, he spun and went down to Sara by the car.
By the time Jack braced himself to join Audrey and Kellerman in the sitting room, it had grown even quieter. Audrey had her head in her hands on one end of the couch, while Kellerman was positioned on the other end, murmuring to her in a subdued tone.
"I was protecting you, Auds," he was saying. "The Company brokered a deal with the Chinese. They were going to pass on your location in exchange for the specs of a new security technology they were developing."
"I really don't follow."
Kellerman sighed and gazed into the distance, looking almost hurt. He caught Jack's presence at the same time.
"Once they knew where you were, they were going to fake your death. Try to understand. They were going to hold you prisoner, torture you, maybe even condition you, so they could use you –" he directed a finger at Jack "– as leverage against him. I had to get you out of there as soon as I could."
Jack remained silent, trying to hide his rage at the lengths Cheng had been willing to go. Audrey blinked up at him for a moment, before glancing down at her clasped hands.
"I've been back for months. You could've said anything then."
"And encourage you to go back on a suicide mission and expose what I'd done at the same time? We both would've been killed. Don't say that if I'd told the truth, you would've stayed away for all our own sakes."
"Does Kristine know?"
Kellerman winced involuntarily. Narrowing his eyes and carefully considering his answer, he gently replied, "Of course not."
"Audrey."
They both observed Jack again as he came closer and stood over the couch. Kellerman glowered.
"Do you mind? We're still talking."
Jack returned the glare with equal fervour, deriding Kellerman as well as he could without punching him.
"I do mind, actually."
"Hey."
Audrey's snapped remark silenced them both. Wiping her hands on her skirt, she stood and edged past her cousin.
"Are they outside, Jack?" she asked, voice pinched.
"Yeah."
Jack walked her out to the driveway. Kellerman followed close behind, an injured expression on his face.
Sara was already sitting in the back seat of the car, chatting with Michael through the open window.
"Audrey, I can't thank you enough for doing this," Jack murmured, as Michael caught their approach and opened the driver door.
"We haven't regressed to the point where you need to," she replied, taking his hand in her cold ones. "I love you."
Kissing his palm, she smiled sadly before climbing into the driver's seat. Michael made his way to the other side of the car, but halted when Kellerman clamped a hand on his arm and directed a nod at Audrey.
"If anything happens to my cousin under your watch …"
"You'll do what?" sneered the con, pushing Kellerman off him. "In case you've forgotten, we're even now. I don't owe you a thing."
"So keep it that way, Scofield."
Kellerman backed up reluctantly as Audrey started the car. Waiting for Michael to enter on the other side, she finally glanced at her cousin.
"Whatever happens, Paul, make sure the Company's kept away from the President." She licked her lips. "If they haven't gotten to him already thanks to you."
"I swear I will help right this," Kellerman replied, his face twisting into an expression of awkward earnestness.
Audrey sighed bitterly. "I'll make contact once we're out of the state."
The car reversed down the driveway, leaving behind a deeply sombre Jack. He raised a hand in goodbye as Audrey directed a final look at him. Communicating everything they'd left unsaid with her eyes, she broke the gaze and drove the car out of sight.
Jack only snapped back to reality when Kellerman uttered his name. He tore his gaze from the street, and headed back for the house without so much as sending a fist to the other man's face.
"So what's done is done, right, Jack?" continued Kellerman, as they re-entered the front hall. "I want Audrey safe and the Company dissipated just as badly as you do, and I have considerable benefits to offer in achieving that."
"All you have to offer is incompetence, betrayal, or both mixed with spontaneity that'll get us killed."
"Right. I've been in this line of work as long as you have, but of course, you have to make things harder for yourself …"
Jack signalled at him to stop talking as they made their way into the lounge. Trailing off, Kellerman inclined his head questioningly.
"He's gone," Jack hissed. Raising his voice, he called out, "Alex?"
There was no reply.
"Guy's probably tossed in his last straw and bailed," remarked Kellerman, not bothering to keep his voice down.
"I don't care what it looks like. Check upstairs."
Kellerman gave a theatrical sigh, but gave in under the unrelenting glare being directed at him.
As the other man traipsed up the stairs, Jack opened the sliding door to the kitchen and entered it, cautiously covering his bases.
"Alex?"
The room was just as empty as the lounge. Running a hand down his face, he spotted something on the floor, and bent and picked up an empty plastic capsule lying on its side. His brow creased as he read the label plastered over it.
"Up and against the wall."
Jack whirled around. Mahone was standing in the kitchen doorway, the gun Audrey had dropped back in his hands. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot – he looked seconds away from either a breakdown or renal failure.
"What are you doing, Alex?"
"Hands on top of your hand and up against the wall!" Mahone barked, ignoring the question completely and wiping a palm over his sweaty forehead.
Jack complied. He gritted his teeth as Mahone darted forward and frisked his pockets, removing his gun and hunting knife.
"That's the second time I've gotten the jump on you in two days, right? And I … thought I was the one losing my edge."
The FBI agent finished searching Jack and stepped back. Jack turned away from the wall with his hands still up.
"What are you doing, Alex?" he repeated slowly.
"Do you have any idea what I … what I gave up to get anywhere close to that son of a bitch again? And you just let him go. Just like that."
"Tell me you didn't take that entire bottle of midazolam."
"They're tranquilisers, moron, and I'd be dead already," Mahone snapped, emitting a harsh laugh even as he struggled to keep his eyes focused. "No. They don't give me the help I need anymore. I flushed them down the sink."
"Then what's all this?" Jack asked, indicating his partner's weapon on him. "You want tips on how to detox without getting your son killed?"
"Cameron's already dead."
Jack's mouth fell slack.
"What?"
"The agent holding him phoned in from Colorado." Mahone let out a half-strangled and half-crazed guffaw. "They ran out of patience. He's dead."
"No, that's impossible. Alex, I ordered a protective detail to be sent to Cameron's bedside. There's no way anyone could've laid a finger on him."
"Well, obviously it wasn't safeguarded enough because they dragged him out of the hospital and shot him like an animal!" snarled Mahone, his chest rising and falling rapidly as shock took hold of him. "Like … like ... like a dog, like they made me shoot Apolskis …"
"They're trying to draw you out," Jack persisted. He pointed at his cell, which Mahone had thrown onto the kitchen bench. "Let me call into headquarters. I'll confirm for you that he's still alive."
Mahone shook his head, clutching his forehead with his free hand.
"I don't care anymore, Jack. There's nothing left. All I want is Bill Kim dead!"
The FBI agent retreated into the lounge, heading for the front door. Jack followed as closely as he deemed without having Mahone snap and shoot him.
"You won't last two seconds in D.C. trying to find him."
"Room 1006, Gossamer Building, 16th Street, D.C.," Mahone recited from memory. "Top floor. Spacey, good view. Enclosed office most likely. Perfect for a little one-on-one payback."
"Revenge on Bill Kim won't achieve anything," Jack insisted, changing tact immediately. "You want to avenge Pam, help me find the bastard and keep him alive so he can lead us to the heart of the Company."
"And watch him get hauled off to a minimum security prison for ten years, to be released on parole in two? I'm doing this my way."
They reached the front door. Mahone rushed up to Jack, blue eyes tight with anger.
"This is for the move you pulled on my arm in Santa Fe."
He kneed Jack in the chest. Jack let out a tremulous yell.
Slumping against the wall, Jack's hands went down onto his knees as a sharp pain spread through a still unhealed laceration on his stomach. After a few seconds, the stinging sensation went away, and he was able to stand upright again.
Mahone had already fled out the front door.
At the same time, Kellerman descended the staircase, appearing unfazed yet sounding piqued as he said, "He's gone."
"Not yet."
Dashing outside, Jack reached the driveway in time to see Mahone swerving a second car out onto the road and speeding away.
"Damn it!"
Kellerman ran up to join him as he kneaded his chest.
"Bastard stole my coat and keys," he said, taking in the empty driveway with a glazed expression. "And … my car."
Jack grimaced. "He's still going after the Company, just like us. But he's going in alone."
"And that's a problem? Captain Chip-on-Shoulder-o'-Widower loose with a gun could be the distraction we need."
"Not if he dies."
Jack ran a hand through his hair, then pulled out his cell and pressed in a number. Kellerman's brow creased.
"What are you doing?"
"Dialling an old friend to help stop Alex before he gets himself killed."
Kellerman snickered. "A friend who's still alive, imagine that. Let's hope calling them like this won't do anything to change that."
Out of nowhere, Jack slammed Kellerman against the garage door, pinning him with a forearm shoved against his neck.
"Let's get one thing straight, Paul," he hissed, as his cell continued to dial. "Partnerships born out of necessity aren't breeding grounds for recurring references to the things in my life which were destroyed by the people you've worked for half your life. Push me again and there won't be another time."
A familiar series of beeps indicating he was being patched through to the person he wanted sounded in Jack's ear, and he pulled away. The other man's expression showed no loss of arrogance, but he had the decency to look at least somewhat abashed.
"O'Brian speaking."
Jack tore his glare from Kellerman and turned to hide the small glimmer of a smile on his face.
"Chloe. It's Jack."
There was a minute pause before Jack heard a rapid burst of keyboard strokes over the line.
Then, "You're not calling from China, sorry."
"I was released by the government less than a week ago and brought back to U.S. soil."
"Yeah, well, why would you call me? What if they've brainwashed you, and now you've been told to hack into the CTU mainframe or something? And it's not like I haven't heard of voice modifiers before, but whatever you're using is really good …"
"Chloe, please, we don't have time for this," Jack interrupted as gently as he could. He peered back at Kellerman, who was rubbing his throat, looking mutinous. "When I was hiding out in Chicago two years ago, the code word you used whenever we communicated to tell me you weren't speaking under duress was 'Alberta'."
The next resulting pause was filled with a small hiss of breath.
"Oh God, it's really you."
"I'm sorry I didn't let you know sooner. But I'm here to fix something bigger than we could've imagined, and I need your help to do that."
"Anything you ask for."
"I'm gonna need you to pull satellite bandwidth from the main servers as soon as possible. Do you think you can hide that from the Director for ten minutes?"
"Ever since Bill left, his replacement's been a complete idiot. Don't worry about it."
Suppressing any thoughts about what might have contributed to Bill's departure, Jack switched his phone to his left ear.
"I need satellite coverage of a building in D.C," he said, locking eyes with Kellerman's half-suspicious and half-curious ones. "There's a government agent we need to get to before my partner does."