Chapter 21

The Following Takes Place Between 4:00 A.M. and 5:00 A.M.

Sydney wasn't sure, but she thought that Jack had been surprised that she had elected to ride with Vaughn instead of with him. But she knew hadn't spent nearly enough time with Vaughn today, and she was also well aware, given what had happened at CTU in the past hour, that her boyfriend was in need of some serious comforting. For that matter, she wasn't completely all right with what had happened to Eric, either, but she, at least, was a little more used to people that she loved dying because of the job she had. And considering that the most serious death that Vaughn had dealt with in the past five years was her own, and that had turned out to be a fake out, she had no idea how she could handle it.

As they drove out of CTU towards Burbank, Sydney was a little surprised when Vaughn made the first move. "I ever tell you how I met Eric?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so," Sydney admitted.

"He was one of the ranking junior agents at the LA office, when I joined the company in 1996," Vaughn began. "We were on a taskforce scheduling this suburban militia group of out Westwood of all places. It was a nothing thing, the 'group' had maybe half a dozen members, but it was just a few months after McVeigh hit Oklahoma City, so the Agency was taking everything seriously. Anyway, he and I got handed the wiretapping of this 'head terrorists' phone calls."

Vaughn actually managed a smile. "By the end of the first forty-eight hours, it would have been obvious that the most dangerous things this guy was ordering over the phone was Jalapenos for his pizza, but they kept us out there for a week, before they were willing to admit that there was nothing here. So Eric and I did what I guess every other agent does when you're handed an assignment that you know is a waste of the taxpayer's money. Played a lot of cards--- no surprise, he won like ninety percent of the games----- spent a lot of time talking about our life stories--- " he lowered his voice "---- my reasons for joining the Agency were far more interesting then his, but that's a story for another day, and he did quite a few magic tricks. By the end of the week, we were practically friends for life."

Sydney was reluctant to ask the next question, but she found out that she needed to know this. "Did he have any family?"

Vaughn looked a little surprised at this. "I thought---- didn't you live with him for three months?" he asked.

"I did," Sydney admitted, "but I was so caught up in everything that had happened to me over the past couple of years that we never really talked much about it."

"Pretty sure that his parents are still alive," Vaughn said, thinking. "They still live out in Hoboken, Eric hasn't---" he cleared his throat "hadn't gotten out to see them in a few months. He had three younger sisters, all of who lived on the East Coast. He didn't see much of them, either, and I'm betting that none of them knew what he was doing in LA. " He looked straight at the road. "Honest truth of the matter, over the fast few months, we were probably closer to Eric than the people he was biologically related to." Now he swallowed. "And I'm probably going to have to tell them I got him killed."

"Vaughn, you know that none of this is your fault," Sydney told him. "You're not responsible for Chapelle's actions any more than we are."

"Am I?' Vaughn asked. "I got him to transfer to APO, I thought that he could handle Katya on his own. He survives getting blown up and shot point blank in the chest, and I want him guarding a Derevko. What the fuck was I thinking?"

"No one ever forced Eric Weiss to do anything," Sydney argued. "He came to work today because he wanted to the job. He knew that there was danger in it, that death was a possible consequence, and he did it regardless."

"You want to know what galls me the most," Vaughn said. "I knew the man for nearly a decade, and I couldn't bring myself to avenge the man who killed him. Instead, I put the burden on your sister, and now she's going to have to carry this for the rest of her life."

Even though this worried Sydney, too, she tried to gloss over it. "Eric meant as much to you as she did to Nadia," she told him. "If you had killed Chapelle, she'd feel as if she did nothing to respond to the man who killed someone she loved. "

"And you think that burdens a lighter one?" Vaughn said. "Syd, I murdered a woman that I thought I was in love with once. And even though she was the worst kind of traitor, I still feel some remorse over killing her. I wouldn't wish that burden on anyone, and now Nadia, who's got so many other loads to carry already, now has to carry this one, too. And for that I am truly sorry. She's already got a lot of grief, she doesn't need this guilt, too."

Sydney wanted to tell Michael that her sister was a strong enough woman to handle it. But the bitter truth was she wasn't completely convinced of this. She remembered something Will had told her the last time she had seen him, after he killed Francie's clone--- that the closure he had thought he would have come after killing Alison Dorian hadn't occurred. Nadia could carry the loss of Eric, she could carry the murder of Chapelle, but could she carry the loss of all the other important people in her life today?

4:09:36/4:09:37/4:09:38

In a move that probably would have shocked everybody at APO for generosity, Jack Bristow had offered to call Division and update them about what had transpired over the past hour. Tony had considered this with some longing, but eventually rejected it. This was not a call that Tony particularly wanted to make, but he was coming to realize that this was one of the uglier parts of being in command, and one he'd have to accept.

He had also reluctantly decided to use Dixon as his shield between the higher echelon assholes like Brad Hammond and Alberta Green. Tony didn't relish doing this either--- Marcus had proven himself to be a friend today---- but he thought given the circumstances, Dixon would understand.

That he had made the right call became clear when Dixon asked his first question: "How's Nadia handling it?"

"In the space of five hours, she's learned that her father has betrayed her country again, her aunt tried to nuke the city, both her aunt and someone I understand to be her boyfriend were murdered. After that, she basically turned vigilante and killed the man responsible," Tonysaid brusquely. "Quite frankly, I'm amazed Nadia is still upright."

"She's like her sister," Dixon said slowly. "They do a great job at remaining steadfast. Only people who get close to them see how badly they're really hurting. It's going to be awhile before we see how deep the damage is."

"Marcus… I'm sorry about Eric," Tony said grievously.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Dixon responded. "Nobody could have suspected that Chapelle was capable of this kind of treason. As for Nadia with Ryan…You know how it works, Tony. If Chapelle had lived, the ink on his deal would be drying right about now. Division is going to say Nadia allowed her emotions to take precedent over the greater good, though how having a bastard like Chapelle alive is part of that good is beyond me… Look, I'm going to try and get on top of whatever inquiry team the brass ends up sending. Hopefully, we can get Nadia out of this with a minimum of effort."

"Let me know whatever I can do to help," Tony said.

"Where are you on this Trepkos?'

"I've sent a team out to try and follows Mr. Bristow's original plan," Tony said. "I've also got Marshall and Chloe working on putting a tap in on Trepkos' phone line. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a lead where to find Cole, and figure out what his next move is."

"Didn't we have a lead on Trepkos back when we got started this morning?" Dixon asked.

"Yeah, but then we got the bomb site in Panorama City, and the lead on Sayed Ali," Tony admitted. "What can I say, Marcus? We dropped the ball. Sometimes it happens on days like today."

"Well, let's hope that it doesn't cost us any more than it already has."

4:16:03/4:16:04/4:16:05/4:16:06

Trepkos' office was in the business section of Burbank, in a building that, compared to the nearby offices of Lockheed and NBC, was a diminutive eight stories tall. However, there were some signs straight off that this wasn't your typical building.

"It's four in the morning a few hours after an atomic bomb goes off," Sydney said as they drove by the building. "Why on earth would anyone still be working?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that Trepkos works on the fourth floor," Vaughn said, as he looked at the exterior. Every window in the place was dark except for the one on that level.

Just then the radio connecting this car to Jack's buzzed. "Sydney, don't park, just keep the car moving," Jack aid without preamble.

"You really think that Trepkos is looking out his window right now?" Sydney asked.

"I'm betting he won't have to," Jack said. "I saw at least one sentry near the front entrance of the building, and if this guys Covenant affiliated, that's probably not the only one. We need to avoid attracting attention as long as possible."

"Copy that," Vaughn took out his phone and began dialing.

"Marshall Flinkman."

"Marshall, it's Vaughn. We're on site. We're pretty sure that Trepkos is in the building, but we don't think he's alone. I need you to do a thermal scan of the building; find out how many hostiles are and where."

"All right."

"Where are you and Chloe on tapping in Trepkos phone records?" Sydney asked.

"Well, um, there's no record of a cell in Trepkos name, which is weird if you're an ordinary California businessman, and normal if you're working for the Covenant. Star-Crossed Industries has a record of him having a landline, but tapping into it may be a problem. The phone companies are still going over the excess of calls over today's attack," Marshall grimly related "There are still a lot of overburdened lines, and it may still take a while getting through to that carrier. Frankly, I think that the fastest way to get tapped into Trepkos line is to do it on site."

"And we do that with some of the technology you gave us before we set out?" Sydney asked

"Correctemundo," Marshall said with a flash of his normal spirit.

Before the tea ms had set out from CTU, in preparation for an occasion just like this, Marshall had given Sydney and Vaughn a package of some of the more advanced equipment that he had been working on.

The most relevant piece of gear was a Marshall-enhanced version of a laser mic. As he had explained it, "It slices, it dices it…well, no it doesn't, but it does what all laser microphones do—laserbeam, hits window, and brings out all ambient sound from the room, right? However, in this case, I upped the strength on this baby, al all you need to do is point it at the room of your choice, point and click, and presto…" He had blinked a moment, and added, "The strength part comes in when the bad guys are on the phone. Normal laser mics are useless with getting both sides of a conversation. In this case, not so. Essentially, all you'd need to do to tap to Trepkos' phone is drive by the office, place it across the street at his office window, leave and turn the transmitter in the car on."

And now, in her own car, she frowned, thoughtfully. Sydney said, "Where are you on the thermal scan?"

"Hang on," Marshall was away from his phone for less than five seconds. "All right, we're picking up nine heat signals in the building, six of them on the fourth floor. Only one of them is stationary, I think we can assume that's Trepkos. Three of them are position around the front of his office, the other two appear to be doing sweeps of the floor."

"What about the exterior?' Jack asked.

"We've got another five sweeping the perimeter of the building, all at ground level," Marshall said. "Considering the amount of protection this guy has you'd think this guy was royalty."

"It does seem a little like overkill," Vaughn replied.

"Never mind that," Jack said. "Marshall, I need you to feed their patterns and positions on your screen, and send it to Sydney's and my Palm Pilot."

"How are we going to play this?" Sydney asked Jack.

"One of us is going to create a minor distraction at the perimeter," Jack said. "Just a commotion, we don't want to engage the enemy yet. Then the other's going to place the mike near Trepkos' window. Then we get out as quickly as possible."

"There a reason we aren't just getting ready to grab Trepkos?' Vaughn asked.

"Two. This guy is probably our best chance of finding Cole."

"So, why not call CTU for backup, we grab him and we go after him with both barrels." Vaughn asked. "I mean, it's not as if the clock is running anymore. They have to gotten Sloane out of the country by now, unless they're complete fools."

"I wouldn't underestimate that possibility," Sydney said, "but Vaughn is probably right."

"We may end up doing that," Jack admitted. "But I don't know how much effort it's going to take to break Trepkos."

"He's a financier, not a psychopath," Sydney pointed out.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive," Jack pointed out. "Besides, some bankers have the tolerance to get through that kind of interrogation." There was a pregnant pause before he continued. "I think that your father's strategy is still the best one we have. That means getting into his phone and his computer."

"What's the second reason?" Curtis asked.

"Even simpler," Jack said. "I want to know who his five a.m. is."

4:23:16/4:23:17/4:23:18

"An incident like this happens, you are supposed to inform Division immediately!"

Leave it to Brad Hammond to refer to quantify the murders of three people as an incident, Tony thought to himself. "Sir, I don't have to tell you how busy things have been today," he argued, knowing as he did this was a fait accompli. "We're in the middle of an effort to retrieve the head of the American cell of the Covenant. I thought that this was a higher priority."

"Well, you haven't held your position long enough to make those kinds of calls," Hammond said in the don't-fuck-with me tone that Tony was pretty sure was the only one the man had. "I should have heard about this from you straight away, not relayed second-hand by a refugee from another unit!"

Tony wasn't sure whether it was the lateness of the hour, the fact that he was in charge now and Division had done nothing to help them, but he lost his cool with the Division head.

"First of all, calling Marcus Dixon a refugee is a disservice to everyone working at APO today," he started. "Second, I don't know why you've decided to overlook this, but Ryan Chapelle was a traitor and a murderer, certainly not someone we should be mourning. And while were on the subject, his duplicity suggests that there may be more corruption in your own house then there is in mine!"

There was a pause on the other end. "I don't like what you're insinuating, Tony." Hammond's tone had gotten sterner, if such a thing were possible. "Especially considering that you allowed another mole for the Covenant to work alongside you for most of the day without any hindrance."

Tony would have laughed if it weren't so serious. "The only reason we worked with Sloane was because we were ordered to by this office. So don't try to use that as a club against me or APO!"

"We're straying rather far from the point," Hammond's voice was business-like again. "No matter what his allegiance was, I will not have Ryan Chapelle's execution swept under the rug. I will be sending a team to investigate in and the actions of Agent Santos. Unless you want formal repercussions, I suggest that you don't interfere anymore with this process than you already have."

"When?" Tony asked, knowing the answer.

"Immediately."

Tony really didn't want to deal with this, so he was grateful when Chloe chose that moment to reappear. "Chloe, where are we with Trepkos?" he asked.

"Jack and Sydney have been getting in position. We'll have a connection with Trepkos' phone line in two minutes."

Tony returned his attention to the phone call. "Brad, I have to go. You want to send your team in, fine. But we're within minutes of finally getting the people behind today's attack. So make sure that you're people stay the hell out of our way until we can finish cleaning up this mess!"

And with that Tony did something he wouldn't have dreamed of doing twelve hours earlier: he hung up on Brad Hammond.

4:29:33/4:29:34/4:29:35/4:29:36

Considering all of the things that had gone wrong today, getting the laser mike in position on Trepkos' phone line had gone almost flawlessly.

By using the Palm Pilot, Sydney managed to position herself by side of the building while two of Trepkos' guards had been walking by. She had done a modified version of one of her aliases--- acting like a slightly freaked out tourist in an unfamiliar section of LA, adding a slurred version of Spanish with a flawless accent. Her freaking out had forced the sentries to move in and to callin two others.

In the meantime, Vaughn had hurried over across the street from Trepkos' building and positioned the mike at Trepkos' window.

By the time both Sydney and Vaughn had gotten back to theirvehicle, it was transmitting to the speaker that they had in it.

"All right," Sydney said as got on the radio to Jack. "The mike is in position. "

"Copy that. Marshall," Jack asked. "How long will it take you to start getting records of the most recent calls Trepkos made?"

"Well, um, what exactly should I be looking for?"

"Any calls that connect us with some of the people involved in today's attack ---- Cole, Sloane, even Nina Myers wouldn't surprise me now."

No sooner had Sydney finished speaking than Trepkos' ringing phone could be heard over the bug.

"I guess this what you call getting lucky," Vaughn said.

"Yes," Trepkos' voice was as cool as it had been when they had heard him talking to Chapelle.

"It's me." The woman's voice was unfamiliar, at least to Sydney.

"Sherry," Trepkos' adopted a tone of mock surprise, "I wasn't expecting to hear from you for half an hour."

"Well, there's been a change in plan, Alexander." Now the woman sounded a bit annoyed. "But you should know that by now. Almost every plan you've made today has come to ruin."

"Marshall, I want you to run this through voice recognition software---" Sydney began.

"We don't have to." For possibly the first time today, Jack sounded thrown. "I know who this is. It's Sherry Palmer."

The look on Sydney's face might have been comical under other circumstances. "Sherry Palmer, as in the President's ex-wife? The woman who was busted conspiringwith Stanton and Sloane?"

"What's she doing even talking to this guy?" Vaughn was only slightly less surprised.

"Quiet," Jack said. "Let's see what she has to say."

4:34:06/4:34:07/4:34:08

"You're in no position to be making demands of me, considering that this as much your failure as it is ours, COMMA" Trepkos said.

"I've done everything the Covenant has told me to do," Sherry barked. "No one's done more than me over the past six months to help your organization make a major inroad into how our country works."

"That's all very well, Sherry, but that's not what we made contact with you to do. "

"Don't blame me for the failure of today's attack. Those were Cole's failures, not mine. I told you that unless your evidence was completely flawless, my husband would never declare war in the Middle East, no matter how nervous you made the Joint Chiefs."

There was a pregnant pause. "I wouldn't go elaborating our failures, Mrs. Palmer." Trepkos' voice became icier. " We had many jobs to deal with today. You had one--- to get back into the President's inner circle. We had to sacrifice people like Raeburn and Stanton to make sure that happened. And you failed, completely. What possible reason should the Covenant have for not terminating our arrangement?"

Now Sherry was the one who paused. "Because," Mrs. Palmer said slowly, "unlike some of the less intelligent people within your cabal, I made a contingency plan. One that will expose your organization far worse than anything else that has happened today."

"We've already been exposed."

"I don't mean the bringing to light of today's plan, Alexander. That can be laid at the feet of a select few, who I'm pretty sure you've already set up. I'm talking about the kind of revelations that would completely obliterate the Covenant's operations in America."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've got a hard disk which contains every contact I've made with the Covenant since I joined the organization." For the first time, Palmer's wife sounded more confident than Trepkos. "There are some very crucial names on the list. Congressional aides, Pentagon officials, intelligence directors. If anything should happen to me, that list will go to the executor of my estate, and he will know exactly how to make use of it."

There was a longer hesitation as Trepkos considered this. "Assuming that this is true, what do you want in exchange?"

"You must be mistaking me for a fool, Alexander. I'm not making any deals about this list until I have some guarantees. And I'm not going to negotiate over the phone."

"Then come into my office, like we planned."

Sherry Palmer actually managed a laugh at this. "And then you kill me the second I leave? No chance," she insisted. "We meet in neutral territory, out in the open."

Another long pause. "All right," Trepkos agreed. "Marina Del Rey, along the harbor, thirty minutes"

"Alone," Sherry insisted. " Any of your thugs show up, I disappear and the list finds it way into the wrong hands."

And with that Sherry Palmer terminated the call.

4:40:11/4:40:12/4:40:13/4:40:14

"Vaughn, how hard would it be to get into Trepkos' office?" Jack asked.

Vaughn was only mildly thrown by the question. "It wouldn't be that hard," he said. "Marshall could probably figure out the security in a matter of minutes, and APO does have some experience getting into secure buildings."

"All right, here's how I want to play this," Jack said. "Curtis and I are headed to Marina Del Rey. We break the speed limit, we might have a chance of getting there before Trepkos does. Vaughn, you wait until Trepkos and his team leave the building, and then I want to you get into his office, and do what we came here to do: get into the mainfiles, find any information you can that might help us with the Covenant. "

"Got it," Vaughn said.

"Sydney, you wait until his thugs leave the building, then you start heading towards the rendezvous point. Don't worry about Vaughn, I'll call CTU and get them to send backup."

"I can take care of myself," Vaughn pointed out.

"I know you can," Jack said, "but we don't need to lose anymore people today. Besides, if Trepkos' thugs catch you, that'll throw a monkey wrench into what's going to happen next."

"Do you really think she has this list, Alex?"

"You know how cunning Sherry Palmer is; that's part of the reason we recruited her," Trepkos said into his cell. "My guess this is just the kind of leverage that she'd hang on to in case something like this happened."

"You have any idea where she'd keep this disk?"

"It's got to be some place the President would know about."

Mackennas Cole made a gagging sound. "You're telling me after everything she's done, she'd be sentimental enough to… " He trailed off. "I guess the President would still mourn the mother of his children. Besides, letting him know falls under the category of mutually assured destruction."

"How do you want me to play this?" Trepkos had now reached the level of the garage where his car was parked.

"How much of your team did you send out to the harbor?"

"Half of them have headed out; the others are awaiting my orders."

"Well, don't just sit on your ass!" Cole spat out. "In case you haven't noticed, our numbers in this country are getting a little thin. Make sure they can handle the situation."

"Do you want me to have Sherry Palmer killed?" Trepkos asked as he got into his car.

"Not until you find out how much she knows. We can't risk it until I can send some people to search her apartment and find this fucking disk!"

"How long will that take?"

"Give me half an hour. As soon as I hear back, I'll give you the go-ahead to kill that goddamn bitch!"

4:45:30/4:45:31/4:45:32

Sydney had offered to stay behind with Vaughn until CTU showed up, but he had insisted that she hurry up, saying that Bauer was more likely to need her help than he was. Nor was this bravado on his part. From his location a block away from the building, he had counted twelve people leaving the building. Assuming that Trepkos had departed with them, that left three, a manageable number. Because he was not a fool, he had asked Marshall to run a second thermal scan of the building.

"I count one sweeping the perimeter and there are still two on the fourth floor, around Trepkos' office," Marshall said.

"Damn it!" Vaughn exclaimed. "Trepkos probably tasked them there to wipe his hard drive! I gotta get up there before they finish!"

Even in his haste, Vaughn did not forget the essentials, checking his Palm Pilot to make sure of the outside guard's position. He crossed the street while the sentry was still on the far side of the building, then ducked into the shadows while the guard crossed turned the corner. This was no time for chivalry; Vaughn shot him in the back.

A search of the fallen sentinel's body revealed a keycard, which Vaughn used to get into the workplace. If the remaining guards saw him in the camera that guarded the building ----- well, it would be bad, but there was a reason he had armed himself thoroughly before crossing the street.

Vaughn ran up the stairs to the fourth floor. He tried to be as stealthy as possible, but it was futile---- halfway across, the two remaining sentries started shooting at him.

There goes the no-hitter, Vaughn thought as he took out the RF Micro he had brought with him, hit the wall and emptied the clip.

One of the sentries went down in less than five seconds. The second fired four more rounds, before whirling and running. Vaughn shot the last one twice in the leg before he collapsed in a heap.

Vaughn ran over to the fallen guard, and knelt over him. "Where is Mackennas Cole?" he demanded.

The guard was stoic, despite his pain. Vaughn kicked him in the crotch. "Where is Cole?" he repeated

"I don't know!" the guard shouted in pain. "Trepkos kept a lot of things on a need to know basis! Only a couple of the higher echelon guys knew stuff about guys like Cole!!"

Vaughn was pretty sure the man was lying, but right now getting Cole's location was Jack and Sydney's protocol more then it was his. "Why did he leave you behind?" he insisted.

"I was here to wipe his computer, make sure that there was nothing left linking him to today's events!"

"That it?" Vaughn pressed.

"Guy named Ryan Chapelle was supposed to show up at 5," the sentry admitted. "We were supposed to take him out when he showed."

"Did you delete all the files?"

The guard was breathing heavy now. "We only got about halfway done," he admitted.

Vaughn nodded, picked the guard's head up, and slammed it against the floor. Then he took out his cuffs and locked up his prisoner.

As he walked into Trepkos office--- it wasn't that hard to find, it was the only one that had the lights on--- he took out his phone, and dialed CTU.

"Marshall, it's Vaughn. Tell the back-up team that two of the Covenant's sentries are dead, I have one prisoner incapacitated. They tried to wipe Trepkos' hard drive, I'm going to need your help getting whatever information I can get off it."

4:51:41/4:51:42/4:51:43/4:51:44

Tony walked over to Chloe. "Do you have the satellite posted over the Marina?" he asked.

"It's going be another couple of minutes."

"Chloe, Jack and Sydney are going to be there any minute," Tony pointed out.

"I'm well aware of that, Mr. Almeida, but I'm not Power Girl," she said darkly. "The latest satellite was posted over Burbank; in case you've forgotten that's all the way across town from their new location. I can probably get it up by the time they get there, but it's gonna take some maneuvering." Tony stared at her. "And glowering at me isn't going to make the satellite move any faster."

Tony decided his energy could be concentrated better elsewhere, but before he could walk over to Marshall, Brad Hammond came storming into CTU. Even though the majority of Chapelle's team had been tasked to other stations, Hammond also showed up with a stream of followers. Are all Division heads incapable of heading anywhere alone? Tony thought as he walked over to Hammond. "Brad, it's good to see you."

"Cut the crap, Tony, and tell me where Nadia Santos is."

Hammond was never much for pleasantries; Tony didn't see much point in wasting them. "She's out in the field."

Hammond momentarily turned purple before regaining his equilibrium. "I called you less than half an hour ago that I was coming here to talk to Nadia ."

"Actually, you told me that you were sending a team in to begin investigating," Tony pointed out. "You never told me that you were coming here yourself."

"A division director was murdered," Hammond said in that same stubborn tone. "I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't have this investigated competently."

"What Tony is trying to tactfully suggest is that there has been a major screw-up in the chain of command, and now you're trying point all your guns at the same problem instead of focusing them on a more relevant situation."

Hammond turned around to this new attack from a man fast approaching his left side. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"My name is Jack Bristow, Mr. Hammond," Sydney's father said, "and we have long passed the point where following protocols is going to be helpful to anyone. Least of all, the agents in the field."

Hammond was clearly not used to being attacked on two fronts. He tried to shift the discussion back to a more certain area. "Why is Agent Santos in the field?"

"Our agents were investigating a major Covenant figure in Burbank," Tony pointed out, "when we intercepted a call from Sherry Palmer."

The last two words managed to do something neither Tony nor Jack Bristow had managed to do, subdue Hammond. "Sherry Palmer was talking to someone the Covenant?" he said in a much quieter tone.

"Furthermore, in this phone call, she indicated to the man we were trying to intercept that she had information on the identities of Covenant spies in this country," Jack Bristow pointed out. "Hearing this, Alexander Trepkos, the man we were following arranged for a meeting in the Marina Del Rey within the next half hour."

"As you're well aware, Brad, that's all the way across town. I needed to send agents from CTU to make sure the location is secure. Nadia was the best field team leader I had in place. I thought that intercepting Trepkos and Sherry Palmer trumped whatever investigative process you were going to pursue," Tony finished smoothly.

Another smaller shock on a day full of them; Tony and Sydney's father had rendered Hammond speechless. "When is the meeting scheduled?"

"In less than fifteen minutes," Tony said.

"Very well," Hammond said reluctantly. "I believe we can forego the inquiry of Agent Santos until this operation is complete. However, I believe we must take some steps; so I'd appreciate it if you would allow Agent Simmons here to view the security footage around the time of the murders."

Realizing he'd put them off as long as he could, Tony turned to Michelle. "Michelle, would you take him to viewing room 3?"

4:57:24/4:57:25/4:57:26

Jack had been right about his estimation of the traffic. Driving at eighty miles per hour on a nearly empty road, and with the police otherwise occupied with disaster response, the three of them had managed to get to the Marina Del Rey well ahead of Trepkos.

"Jack, I'm here," Sydney said into her radio as she parked her vehicle a block away from the harbor, hopefully well out of sight of the Covenant agents. "You in position yet?"

"Not quite. I'm coordinating with the people at the harbor," Jack responded. "CTU field teams should be arriving any second now; I'll need you to coordinate with them."

The harbor was like any other that Sydney had been to in her years working costal sites. However, even from a short distance away, Sydney could tell there might be at least one problem.

"Jack, where are we going to put the field teams when we get them?" she asked. "Now I get why Trepkos called the meeting here; I can only count six conceivable sites for our people to take position in."

"Do we have any idea how many people Trepkos is going to bring?"

"I had a talk with Vaughn a few minutes ago," Sydney replied. "According to him, Trepkos had fourteen thugs with him, and he only left three at his office. We gotta figure they're all going to start coordinating by the time the man gets here."

"We're going to have a reduced presence," Jack countered. "Aside from you, me and Curtis, there are only going to be four other agents working with us here. The rest are going to be in fallback positions a couple of blocks away."

"Still haven't answered my question, Jack. Where are we going to put these people?"

"The only place we can be sure Trepkos won't have time to look," Jack said calmly. "Underwater."

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