Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Chapter 25

Reilly strode through CTU quickly, ignoring the stares of the workers as he made his way to the situation room. I hope I'm doing the right thing here. I could lose my job. But this woman and her cohorts hurt two people I promised to look out for. She deserves to be locked up for what she did to Chloe and Tyler. They deserve to live their lives in peace after all they've been through.

"Stuart." Reilly looked over to see Brad Hammond standing by, his usual sour demeanor firmly in place.

"Brad. I didn't know Justice would be sending you to take care of this" Reilly replied coolly.

"Don't start, Stuart. I have a job to do, so let's not waste time."

"Fine. Follow me." Reilly led Hammond into the sit room. "I assume you've been brought up to speed?"

"Yes. But before we take over, I just want to know what the hell you were thinking, Stuart."

"What are you talking about?"

Hammond thrust a piece of paper at Reilly. "You allowed an unauthorized person access to a suspect."

Reilly scanned the paper, scowling as he read it. "First of all, Brad, I run this agency, not you. You have no jurisdiction over this building. I granted Chloe temporary authorization so she could question Erin. That decision allowed us to find out what she knew, and she told us everything, without the use of invasive interrogation."

"O'Brian should never have been allowed anywhere near this. She was too emotionally involved."

"Not from what I could see" Reilly said.

Hammond shook his head. "O'Brian is not a trained interrogator, Stuart. But that doesn't matter to you, does it?"

Reilly stared at Hammond questioningly. "What?"

"Oh, come on. You know what I'm talking about. You've always been blind when it comes to O'Brian. All the times you've interceded on her behalf."

"So? Chloe is one of the best this agency has ever had. She might have broken her share of rules, but her only concern was doing her job, Brad."

Hammond scoffed. "We have rules for a reason, Stuart. What kind of message does it send when the national director of CTU allows a loose cannon to break whatever rules she wants, as long as the job gets done?"

Reilly resisted the urge to throttle Hammond and merely turned away. "Like I said, how I run this agency is not your concern. Our job is to protect this country, keep the people safe. And if a protocol gets broken in the process, then fine." He turned back to face Hammond. "Besides, you weren't too concerned about following protocol when you debriefed Chloe, now were you?"

"I'll thank you not to mention that again."

"Are you still upset that I fired you over that? You were given specific orders not to debrief Chloe until she had more time to recover from her imprisonment, and you disregarded those orders. I had every right to terminate your employment."

Hammond glared. "So basically what you're saying is, it's okay for O'Brian to violate protocol, but not others?"

"I didn't say that" Reilly snapped. "Your debrief accomplished nothing, except for forcing her to relive a horrific ordeal too soon."

"That's your interpretation."

"Enough!" Reilly slammed his hand down. "This discussion is over. Now I'll have the transcripts of Erin Driscoll's interrogation sent to you for your review. Once that's done, take her to Federal."

"Very well." Hammond gathered his papers. "I expect this agency's full cooperation in this investigation."

"And you'll have it." Without dismissing the other man, Reilly turned and stormed out, heading back towards the interrogation rooms. This is ridiculous. How dare he come in like he owns the place. Well, he'll soon be gone. He glanced down at his hands. On the other hand, I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this. Perhaps it's time I stepped down. Not until this case is over, though.

2424242424

"Excuse me, Ms. O'Brian?" Chloe looked up as she was being addressed. "Mr. Reilly wants to see you and Mr. Bauer in the situation room immediately."

"We'll be right there." Chloe turned to Jack. "What do you think he wants, Jack?"

"Probably to give us an update. Let's just go see what he wants."

"Fine by me." Chloe allowed Jack to wheel her out of the break room and down the hall to the situation room. She scowled as she saw Hammond standing next to both Reilly and Nadia. "What the hell is Hammond doing here?"

"I have no idea. Guess we'll find out." Pushing aside the door, Jack eased Chloe into the sit room, setting her chair across from Hammond. "You wanted to see us, Mr. Reilly?"

"Yes, Jack. You know Brad Hammond. He's here from Justice. They're taking over this case."

"Unfortunately, I do. Now what's going on?"

Hammond set some papers in front of both Chloe and Jack. "These are your official statements regarding this matter. Check them to make sure they're accurate."

Jack quickly read over his statement. "It's in order."

"Wait a minute" Chloe said, scanning over a section of her statement. She thrust it back at Hammond. "I'm not taking responsibility for that."

Hammond picked it up. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is, Mr. Hammond, I don't remember stating that I would serve time for involuntary manslaughter."

Reilly snatched the document out of Hammond's hands. "Brad, what the hell is this?"

"O'Brian was responsible for the death of a lawful federal official."

"An official that violated prison protocol, and assaulted an inmate. One that should not have been in that position in the first place. We agreed to have the charges dropped."

"You made that decision, Stuart. And you don't have jurisdiction over federal prisons."

Reilly grabbed Hammond's shirt, pulling him close. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Brad. You might be aware of the recent revisions to the Patriot Act. One of those revisions gives CTU jurisdiction over federal prisons, specifically with regards to current and former CTU agents. Since Chloe is a former CTU agent, she falls under that rule, which means CTU had jurisdiction. She is free of all charges. Now fix the statement." He lowered his voice so only Hammond could hear. "If you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will make it my personal mission to ensure you never work for the government ever again." Reilly let go.

Hammond dusted himself off. "Very well." He pulled a copy of the statement out of his bag. Chloe grabbed it, read it thoroughly, then picked up a pen and signed it. "There."

Jack signed his as well, handing it to Hammond. He gathered them up, sticking them in his bag. "That's done. Now, as for Erin Driscoll. She offered to give up all her information on this case, in exchange for a lighter sentence. She'll serve 10 years in prison."

"10 years?!" Chloe almost shouted. "Mr. Hammond-"

"Enough, O'Brian" he said, holding up his hand. "10 years in prison, plus another 20 under surveillance."

Reilly merely nodded. "Fine. Take her away."

Hammond collected his papers, walking out. Chloe and Jack both rounded on Reilly. "Sir, how can you let him do this?"

"I don't have a choice, Jack. The agreement Brad made prevents CTU from interfering in any way. We put Erin away for years. She can't ever hurt your and your family again." He glanced at the time. "Look, your job is done. You brought Erin to justice. You two did exactly what you set out to do. Now it's time for you to go live your lives, away from here. Go home."

Jack opened his mouth to argue, but shut it quickly, and made a move to wheel Chloe out. Reilly stopped him. "Let me speak to her for a minute." Jack walked out, leaving Chloe alone with Reilly.

"What is it, sir?"

"Chloe, please don't be angry with me. I really didn't have a choice in this matter. If I had pushed for a tougher sentence, you could have been charged with the death of Craig Hartwell. This way you'll stay out of prison."

He agreed to this, to help me? "I understand, sir. Thank you."

"There's one more thing. Don't tell anyone about this until it's been finalized." He rubbed his forehead. "I'm retiring as national director of CTU."

"Sir?"

"I'm almost 70 years old, Chloe. I've been working for the government since before you were born. It's time to let the next generation take over."

Chloe frowned. "Why now?"

"Because it's the right time. And I want to spend the last few years of my life my way. Besides, this'll give me time to get to know you better- if you want."

She smiled. "Of course I want that, sir."

Reilly gave her a stern look, then smiled. "I'm not your boss anymore, Chloe. Stuart is fine."

"Okay... Stuart."

"Good. Now that that's settled, have you and Jack given any thought as to what you want to do with your lives?"

She nodded. "A little bit. But our first priority is taking care of our children. Whatever comes after that, we'll deal with it."

"Fair enough." Reilly opened the door for Chloe. "Go on, Chloe. Jack's probably waiting for you. You have my number. Call me anytime, day or night."

"I will. Goodbye, Stuart. And thank you." Chloe shook his hand, then left the building. Jack was standing outside with Doyle. "You ready to go, Chloe?"

"Yeah, I am. I just want to go home."

"Me too." Jack turned to Doyle. "Thank you, Mike. I know you risked a lot to help us. I owe you more than I can ever repay."

Doyle merely shook his head firmly. "You don't owe me a thing, Jack. But there is something I wanted to tell you guys."

"What's that?"

"Nadia and I are leaving CTU. We turned in our resignations this morning."

"You resigned?" Chloe asked.

"Yes. After this whole mess happened, I realized that this job wasn't what I wanted anymore. And Nadia feels the same way. We don't want anything to happen to each other because of this job. We both want to be there for our children. My dad wasn't there for me growing up. You know how dangerous field work is. My kids deserve to have their father around."

"Well, you're a lot smarter than I was, Mike" Jack replied. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know yet" Doyle admitted. "But we still have some time to figure it out." His phone beeped. "I gotta get back to work. You guys go home, get some rest." He walked back into the building quickly.

"Come on, Jack. Let's go." Chloe pushed her chair into the van and shut the door, locking herself firmly in place. Jack took a quick look at the building behind him, then got in himself and started the van up, leaving the parking lot and heading for their home.