Chapter 21

3:00AM-4:00AM

I stood outside the operating room crying. I couldn't help but think of Paul. How great our relationship used to be and what happened that made us grow apart. I noticed Jack leave the operating room. He stood a few feet away from me and I ignored him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. I ignored him and kept crying. "I'm so sorry."

"How could you?" I managed to say. I meant for it to be louder, angrier even but it came out just above a whisper. He didn't say anything and I stepped towards him. "How could you kill him, Jack? How could you do it?"

I put my hands on his chest, wishing that this was all just one horrible nightmare.

"Come here," Jack said, trying to hug me. I tried to resist but I was too tired. I hugged him back and cried into his shoulder. How could I be so angry with him and still feel so at ease in his arms? I shouldn't and it made me sick that I did.

"No, Jack, I can't be near you, right now," I said, pushing away from him. I went to the opposite wall and turned away from Jack. I cried and I could feel Jack still lingering right behind me. He finally walked towards the door.

"Please Audrey," he said, begging me not to hate him. "Just tell me what you want me to do."

There was nothing. Nothing would fix this. "Leave. I want you to leave, Jack."

I heard the door shut behind him. The worst part was that I still loved Jack. I hated myself for it. I took a deep breath a wiped away my tears. I tried to remember all the reasons I hated Paul. I had to get back to work and I couldn't do it if I was thinking about him.

I sat down at a computer. Of course, Jack walked over.

"Audrey, I'm sorry to bother you," Jack said. "I need you to call Marcy. Authorize a block transfer. I need all pertinent DOD databases sent over here to CTU."

"Were you able to keep Lee alive?" I asked, ignoring his request.

"Yeah he's stabilized," Jack said. I didn't know how to feel about that. I was happy that Paul at least died for a reason. But, I would have preferred it if Paul stayed alive.

"Alright," I said. "I'll call Marcy."

"Thank you," Jack said quietly. I picked up the phone and called her. I told her what Jack needed and hung up. I sat quietly, trying to focus on my work but was bombarded by thoughts of Paul. And Jack. I rested my head on my hands, praying this day would be over soon. Jack came over a few minutes later.

"Com just confirmed we got the data from Marcy. Thank you," Jack said.

"You're welcome," I said, barely looking up at him before looking back at my paperwork. He stayed for a moment before turning away. Then, changed his mind and turned back.

"Audrey, you should get some rest," Jack said.

"With everything that's going on I can't," I said.

"You could go back to the hotel," Jack said.

"Jack, please don't tell me what to do," I said, standing up.

"Audrey," Jack said.

"What?" I asked, after a few seconds of silence. "Jack, what do you want from me? You made a choice to kill Paul, and I'm trying to deal with it. We both have a job; let's just do it."

I walked away from him. I went back to the desk once Jack was gone and got back to work. I got up again a little while later to get a file, but Curtis stopped me.

"Audrey," Curtis said.

"Yes?"

"The investigator from the Chinese Consulate wants to talk to you," Curtis said. This had to be about Jack invading the Consulate to get Lee. The reason Paul was dead.

"Why does he want to talk with me?" I asked.

"In order to protect Jack's cover, we put together some new hourlies for him to look at," Curtis said. "It showed you and Jack working together at the time of the ambush."

"Buchanan wants me to lie to the Chinese to protect Jack?" I asked.

"Not to protect Jack," Curtis replied. "To protect the United States government."

I'm not usually a good liar to begin with. Never mind lying when I'm angry. But, the fall back on the US was too risky for me not to do it.

"Is that going to be a problem?" Curtis asked.

"Where are the hourlies?" I asked.

"Edgar's sending them to your system," Curtis said.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this Curtis," I said honestly.

"I understand," Curtis said. "But whatever you decide, you're still going to have to talk to Cheng."

Curtis walked away. I looked over to the conference room where a Chinese man, presumably Cheng, was pacing. The hourlies uploaded onto my screen and I read them over. I saw Jack come onto the floor and I walked over to him.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Lee gave us a probable location on Marwan," Jack said. "We're getting ready to move in on it now."

"I'm getting called in for questioning," I said.

"By who?" Jack asked.

"Cheng from the Chinese Consulate," I told him.

He grabbed my arm and started leading me away from where we were standing. "Come here."

"Why you?" he asked as we walked.

"Buchanan modified the hourlies so that it looked like you were working here with me during the abduction."

We were out of sight from everyone now and we stopped. Jack looked angry.

"I'm sorry but whatever Buchanan laid out, you have to stick with it," Jack said. "We need to sideline Cheng now."

"Why?" I asked. "Now that Lee Jong's incriminated himself the Chinese government isn't going to protect him."

"That isn't what this about," Jack said. "A Chinese Consult was killed during Lee's extraction. The United States government cannot be held responsible for that."

This was worse than I thought. "Jack, what are you doing? You have broken every major protocol set by DOD and CTU for what? Is any of this working?"

"You're still alive," Jack said. "Your father's still alive. And we managed to stop all the major power plants from melting down. Yeah, it's working. We have to fight to keep it working."

I hated it, but he had a point.

"Do what you have to, Audrey," he said. "I'm sorry. I've got to go."

He was right. I had to lie. I walked over to the conference room where Cheng was.

"Hello," I said. He stopped pacing.

"Ms. Raines?" he asked. "My name is Cheng Zhi. I'd just like to ask you a few questions."

He indicated to a chair and I sat down. He remained standing so he could feel like he had the upper hand.

"I am surprised that after you were kidnapped that you stayed on to work here," Cheng said. "That must have been very difficult for you."

"Well, I wasn't physically hurt and I wanted to help find the people who planned these attacks," I said. Bill had walked into the room, which made me feel a little better.

"Very admirable," Cheng said, unenthusiastically. "I looked through the hourlies for Mr. Bauer, your associate for the Defense Department. I noticed that from one AM to three AM you and he were working on some data processing tasks."

"Yes, that's correct."

"And, what analyst did you give this information to?" he asked, his stone cold eyes trying to read my thoughts.

"Edgar Styles," I replied. "Why does that matter?"

"They go through all this trouble to re-enlist a man who used to run this place, Jack Bauer. And, he's doing data processing?"

"Well it's much more subtle than it sounds," I said. "There were hundreds of lists that had to be cross referenced and with Mr. Bauer's experience, we were able to narrow the search."

"I am surprised," Cheng said.

"Why is that?"

"Meaning no disrespect, the log shows that your husband, Paul Raines, was at the clinic during the same hours. And, unfortunately he passed away," Cheng said. I tried to keep my composure.

"What's your point?" I asked.

"I don't believe you were with Jack Bauer," he said. "I think that you were waiting for your husband while in surgery and that you are lying to me now to cover for Mr. Bauer."

"Mr. Cheng," Buchanan said, stepping in. "I'm not going to allow you to stand there and accuse my people of lying."

"No, and I'm not going to stand here and endure these alibis," Cheng said.

"You can believe whatever you want," I told him. "My answers stand. Now, if we are done, I have to get back to work. If you'll excuse me."

I walked past them and went back to my desk. About five minutes later, Jack called over the COM unit.

"I'm looking at a live feed of the warhead," Jack said. "It's been mounted on a missile."

"Missile?" Tony asked. "How can that be?"

"I don't know we're trying to get the feed to you now, hold on," Jack said. The feed came up over the large screen and everybody looked over at it. The launch time was also on the screen. It was down to less than a minute. "Tony, can you see this?"

"Yeah."

"Can you get a source of the transmission?" Jack asked. Tony tried but couldn't. Everyone worked frantically to try and find it. But nobody could. The timer went down to zero and everyone watched as the missile was launched.