Return Sunday, 23:50 pm LT, Edwards Air Force Base
It was late in the evening, when Audrey had still not heard anything from Jack. Her dad had left her hours ago, and he had promised her to call her the minute he knew something new from Jack. But nothing had happened up to now.
She glanced at the clock, for the hundredth time. The hands still only showed ten to twelve. Four hours had passed since that nurse had last been here to check on here. Ever since that she hadn't heard a single noise.
Audrey had switched on the little reading light next to the bed. It dimly lit that cold and the furniture was kept very simple. They had done some checks and then had changed the dressing on her wound from the surgery once more. The doctor had told her that she had been lucky. He had seen many more people who had escaped from Bakersfield. Some of them had been in a far worse condition.
She sighed and leant back into the cushion, though she wasn't really tired.
Miles had gone away. This was a military area and they hadn't allowed him to stay the night. Actually she was glad about that. She didn't want to see Miles right now.
They had given her some pain medication, as a precaution. As she moved right now she didn't even feel that she had been in surgery not even a week ago.
Audrey moved her arms and her legs underneath the blanket.
Then she decided to stand up.
She went around in the room, to have a look outside the window.
It was disillusioning to find it only leading to a dirty light well of maybe 4 times 4 yards size. From what she could see here she had to be on the third floor of the building.
She went to the other side of the room and opened up the door. To her surprise it was neither locked nor set off an alarm.
Audrey had a look outside the corridor. She couldn't really remember what it looked like. As they had brought her here there had been people all around her. They had distracted her attention so much that she couldn't even remember if the door to the outside of the hospital ward lay to her left or to her right.
So she simply tried to find it on her own and went right.
As a matter of fact there was nobody around.
The door to one room stood slightly open. Inside was light, but the other door to the adjacent room was closed. Audrey guessed that might be the sleeping room for the nurse or doctor on overnight duty.
The one seemed to be sleeping.
She found the exit door of the ward, silently opened it and sneaked out.
A long corridor lay in front of her. There were no doors on both sides, but on the end there was another corridor joining it. She could see from over here that there were some larger windows.
Audrey went down the hall. The tiles beneath her bare feet were stone cold.
As she reached the end of the corridor she saw another one, leading from left to right. There was a variety of doors on one side of that corridor, and on the other side of it there were all windows. The view from here was down to a huge square.
She could remember that square from being brought here- that was where she had arrived with the convoy a few hours earlier.
She stopped for a moment and leant at the windowsill to have a look down. Everything was dead silent. Nothing on the square moved, except for the two guards patrolling the front gates.
Behind these front gates there were a few other buildings, smaller ones. Behind these there was another fence, another gate, which was also heavily guarded.
For the first time since a while Audrey really felt safe.
She decided to wait here, from where she'd see them approaching when they'd finally arrive.
Hoping that no guard would come along that corridor she sat on the large windowsill and tucked up her legs. She waited. It felt like hours had passed when she saw headlights of a few cars approaching at the horizon.
Hours passed.
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James Heller had tried to get some sleep at couch in the office which they had placed at his disposal. But he hadn't been able to get a minute of sleep, no matter how long he forced himself to keep his eyes shut.
Bauer. He is about to return. That was the only thought that went through his head. They had reported about an hour ago that they were successful in allocating a few hostile places. But they hadn't been able to take out all of them. They had gathered all the intelligence which they needed to go back to that place with a lot men more.
He needed to keep this man away. Though their government wasn't seeing him as an outlaw any more since president Taylor had finally agreed to give him some kind of a pardon he was still a high probability target for most of their enemies. It was simply dangerous to be around this guy. He had sworn to himself that he wouldn't expose Audrey to that kind of danger.
When Colonel Wyatt had talked to him yesterday, on the phone, he had listened. It had been a real relief to hear him agree to go back into that fight along with the army. He had already started to weigh his chances whether Bauer would return or not. Bauer had already been there for a few days in a row on his own- that could mean he was already exhausted enough to make some crucial mistakes in the field. Then again, that man was a real professional in what he was doing. He already knew these places and he had the help of a whole platoon which he was about to accompany there.
As a matter of fact, they had reported major losses. Four out of 24 men had been killed, three others wounded. That was another reason why they had returned so early. It was out of question that there were enemies in the area of Bakersfield. But they hadn't been able to find out if there really was radioactivity in the area or not. All the measured values were still conflicting. At some places the measurements were disturbingly high, at other places the values had read zero, they had said.
Their commander, a lieutenant named Rowan had phoned him, happily reporting him that their special team member – Bauer – was also about to return unharmed.
Heller had congratulated him, feigning the congratulation well but not good enough. He would have been glad if Jack hadn't returned.
Sighing he stood up from the couch. He had just now received a message on his cell phone that they had now arrived.
Heller went over to the window in his office and looked down to the main square. A convoy of five trucks had come through the gate. They stopped at the main entrance where they were anticipated by a few doctors who waited with gurneys.
A few men heaved others out of the trucks and placed them on the gurneys. They had shot wounds and needed immediate medical care, Rowan had told him.
Heller decided to stay in his office. His presence wasn't needed there. If possible, he would avoid to get in touch with Jack personally, because he didn't know what would happen. One of the last times he had seen him personally, this man had threatened him with a gun, saying that he was ready to kill him.
It didn't take long to move into the building. The drivers took the trucks away and the rest of their men, who hadn't gone to bring their comrades to medical gathered at the square. By now, the square was fully lighted.
He identified Rowan who moved in front of the men and met his superior, a Major named McKinsey.
Somebody knocked at his door.
Heller startled. Could that be Jack?
He quickly went over to his desk, sat down and opened the uppermost drawer where he kept his gun.
Strained he grabbed the gun before calling to the one outside to come in.
The door slowly opened.
Heller got ready to shoot if it would be Jack.
But in came Colonel Wyatt. "Mr. Secretary?"
Relieved Heller let go of the gun. "Yes, Colonel?"
"Mr. Secretary, would you please join us in the situation room? We'll have a meeting with Sergeant Rowan in a few moments to be debriefed about their mission."
"I'll join you right away. Would you please give me a minute?", Heller answered.
"Of course, Sir.", Wyatt answered and left the room.
Heller quickly grabbed the gun and stuck it into his belt. Then he grabbed his jacket and looked into the only mirror inside the room whether the gun would be seen or not, before he left the room. Thank god it was not.
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Audrey had also watched their arrival from her position. There had been such a great load of hectic that she at first hadn't even seen Jack among these men.
They had been unloading some wounded men from their trucks.
At latest there she had known that they were right headed for her position – for the hospital ward.
She had wanted to turn around and run back to her room, but in that moment she had seen that the sleeping doctor was awake now, opening the door, running towards her.
In a real panic she started to run down the corridor, into the other direction and hid behind the next corner she found.
It had been no second too early. That moment the doctor came to the place where she had sat before. The door on the other side of the corridor got pushed open and a huge group stormed in. Two medics lead them, pushing two gurneys with soldiers on them.
Feverishly Audrey had a look at them. She hoped that none of them would be Jack.
Finally she saw him, he was running at the end of the group, along with one of the others they pressed a piece of gauze against the stomach of the soldier who was lying at the gurney.
They turned right and ran down the hallway, into the hospital ward.
Audrey sank down to the floor and closed her eyes for a moment, with a big smile on her face. Thank you, god, she silently murmured. Thank you for bringing him back.
Eventually, she would have to sneak back into the ward. But she would wait here until the situation had settled down a bit.
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The situation room was crowded with people, as Heller and Colonel Wyatt arrived. Everyone had waited for them.
Sergeant Rowan was already there.
Heller eyed him from head to toe. Actually he had to admit that Rowan looked terrible. His clothes were dirty and torn, on the sleeves of his jacket there was blood, most likely from one of his wounded men. He looked exhausted, as he stood at the large table, leaning over the large area chart and started to explain what they had faced.
There was still no helpful satellite or infrared image available. The power grid was down and with it also the landlines and the cell phone towers. All they knew was what Sergeant Rowan was telling them now.
He kept talking for ten minutes, where nobody interrupted him.
Finally Colonel McKinsey turned to Secretary Heller, asking him "Do you support my plans to go back in with two full companies tomorrow morning at sunrise?"
Heller nodded. "Absolutely, Colonel. I think we shouldn't waste any more time. How soon could your men be ready?"
"They are on standby. We can move within two hours. We'll get the troops ready while we plan the further strategy here."
"Do that. Meanwhile I'll inform the president.", Heller answered. "Where's Captain Bauer by the way?"
"I sent him to the hospital ward. He had some minor injuries.", Rowan answered.
"Will he be fit enough to lead one of the companies back into this?"
Rowan startled as he heard that. "I don't know, Mr. Secretary…", he stammered, "I'm not a doctor, but with all due respect, Sir, I think that all my men have gone through a lot there. I wouldn't like to place them into the front line again right away. We have enough fresh men here for that job."
Heller thanked him for his opinion, but he had no consideration for this. "I'm going to phone the president now and I can already tell you that she'll want you to be part of this. Your experience is beyond price."
Heller left the room, leaving Rowan and the others back speechlessly.
He was very contented with what he had heard. Two more hours and Jack would be going back again. He knew what he had to tell President Taylor to make her want Jack to be on this mission.
Right as he had left the room, his phone rang. To his surprise it was CTU director Wellington. He feared nothing good to come, as he picked up the phone.
"Mr. Secretary?", the other voice asked.
"Yes, Mr. Wellington, go ahead. Please make it short, I was just about to call the president.", he answered.
"It seems we have a small problem again.", Wellington sighed. "Mrs. O Brian is getting nervous. She tried to call Bauer three times in the last hours, but never got through to him, of course. Is there… something particular you want me to do about this?"
Heller took a deep breath. "No.", he finally answered. "I was just about to call the president about Mr. Bauer's pardon. Then the situation will resolve itself."
"Alright Sir. Sorry to bother you.", Wellington said, but he heard from Heller's voice, that this man was thankful for his warning. After all, his own reputation was also on the line. If this pardon wouldn't be signed by president Taylor soon, not only she would face severe trouble. He had also played a role in that game, not even a minor one.
He glanced at Chloe's desk. She was hiding her doings very well, but he was alert. He would stop her efforts to call Bauer, but at the moment, he wasn't sure how.