London, England
"This is like finding a needle in a haystack," Weiss bemoaned. Down the table, Lex arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, a needle in a haystack with a chain link fence and a security system."
"Where's Nina?" I asked. "In the infirmary," Oliver informed me, "under the care of Dr. March and with Agent Rice standing guard." Satisfied with this answer, for I didn't have anyone to spare anyway, I reached across a table covered with blueprints, intel and coffee cups and grabbed the conference phone. Needless to say I was surprised when someone other than Jack or Mason, or for that matter, anyone I knew, took my call.
"Who the hell are you?" I said, resting my elbows on the table. I knew everybody that worked at CTU, because there weren't that many of us, and I didn't recognize the voice at all.
"Agent Vaughn. Agent Bauer stepped out for a moment."
Then it hit me, straight from Leticia's file: her other handler was Michael Vaughn. "Right. My apologies. This is Agent Frederick calling in, I need to speak directly with Agent Bauer."
"I'll find him. What's going on out there?"
"Roughly, we have twenty-four hours to remove the key files from a vault where they are connected to a hydra that will collapse the Counterterrorism Center as soon as the key files are accessed."
Pause. "Everyone's still alive, right?"
"Oh, yeah." I rolled my eyes and caught Oliver giving me one of his 'what in the name of God do you think you're doing' looks. Finally, Jack was on the phone. "What's up over there?"
"We captured and interrogated Nina…"
"You what?"
"Captured and interrogated her … and she revealed the key files are in the CC vault. She's had them all along. They're linked to a hydra that will eat the CC systems if we try to move the key files. So she would escape with the files and take out the building, quite literally. We're in planning now."
"Any ideas?"
"Not yet, we just got started. And Jack?"
"Yeah."
"Is it okay if I shot Nina?"
"You shot Nina?"
"It's a long story, Jack. What about that backup?"
"Division's put a freeze on it. Mason's trying, but nothing so far. You may have to do without."
"All right. We'll find a way. That's what I'm good at, after all."
"True." He paused. "You got her."
"No, we got her." I stressed the difference. "As soon as she stabilizes, CIB is sending her back immediately. You'll want to make arrangements. I've given them your contact information. Anyway, I need to go, but Jack, just know we're doing all we can, all right?"
"Never doubted it."
I laughed softly to myself, then hung up the phone. Next to me, Oliver was standing, silently presiding over everything, and he finally looked in my direction again, much less annoyed – but then I never could tell. "New standing orders?" he said tonelessly, and I shook my head. "Same ones I've always had. Any way, all the way. Lex, give me what you've got on breaking hydras and tell me it's good."
"Good might be an overstatement," he said, and I sighed. "Hydras are the most complex viral programs. They've got layers upon layers. Depending on the length of the trigger, we could all still be in the building when it blacks out, that's how long they could take to crack. Even for me," he said at my glance. "I can try to develop a counterprogram, like a reverse hydra, but without knowing what specifically I'm dealing with, it could be way too general."
"Do it anyway. Michael, what about evacuating the building, minimizing potential loss?"
"There might be some minimal difficulty. I think they're still reeling from the internal security breach. But I'll phone over right away. When do you want them?"
"As soon as we're done here. Say another two hours, give them some time. As for that, I want estimates on how much time we can give ourselves once we get in there. Weiss, I'm putting you in charge of supplies and firepower. Work with Oliver, he knows the place." I ignored how severely creeped out Weiss looked at that suggestion. "Now, Leticia and I are going to take a look at the blueprints and see what we can do. I want a status report in one hour, we go in two."
As everyone began to scramble on their assignments, I grabbed the CC blueprints from my end of the table and headed in Leticia's direction. For a moment, I thought I was back in class. Then I shuddered. I don't know if it was the CIA job ahead of me or the thought of Professor Berghof's class, or the fact that Professor Berghof had seen me wielding a gun and committing assault and kidnapping. I chose secret answer E, all of the above.
Counterterrorism Center
London, England
Two Hours Later
*So much of what you say is true
I'll never find someone quite like you again…*
It was disconcerting, this stolid building I had come to see as a pillar of British counterterrorism strength, completely empty and void as we pulled up in our two vehicles. I didn't think about it much, just slammed my door behind me and started for the door, wired, armed and feeling like I was staking my life on what was about to happen next. Our strike teams split up, and as we breezed through the front door, Leticia and I headed straight for the situation room.
"What are we looking for?" she asked me.
"Damned if I know," I said. "Anything that gets us out of here."
"Okay," she said, but it lacked her usual confidence.
I went over the battle plan in my head: Weiss and Lex were to go straight for the vault. Leticia and I were to head for the situation room, the central nervous system of the CC. Tony and Michael were on their way to the sub-basement control room, for whatever good that would do. And Oliver was en route to the main operations floor. We all had our pieces of the puzzle. We all had our own ways now. Time to walk alone.
We stepped out of the elevator and I scanned my security pass from the previous visit into the situation room keypad. The locks gave way, and on instinct I shouldered open the door to an empty place. Leticia stepped inside, and I followed, setting my sights on what had to be an administrator's panel at the head of the massive oak table. At least, that's the way it was supposed to work.
Back at CIB, Lex had trained all of us in operating said panels in case they ended up being encrypted, codelocked, or otherwise secured. It was now time to see if we'd been paying attention. Leticia and I went to work.
*The razors and the dying roses plead
I don't leave you alone with any gods
But God, God knows I'm not at home*
Data scrolled past my eyes at an interminable rate as I went through menu after menu, glad I'd practiced my speed operating skills to the tune of Evanescence many, many times at work. I needed to know anything there was about that vault, who had accessed it. We had accepted that we wouldn't be able to capture Nina's cohorts, but maybe I could still figure out who they were…
"Anything?" I asked her, still watching data fly past my vision.
"Nothing yet."
"Keep trying. I know you can do it," I replied, hoping the answer lied within.
Finally I found it: a menu for the vault. Stopping quickly, I stared at the menu and knew I had to make a really quick decision here. Of course, not knowing what any of the symbols meant was going to be a slight problem. Acting on my first instinct, I punched one of the on-screen buttons. Now or never. The panel bleeped at me, and I smiled at Leticia. "I think we've got it."
*I, I looked into your eyes and saw
That does not exist
I looked into your eyes and saw
I wish I was you*
I immediately plugged a data device into the external port and started downloading access records. Obviously we didn't have time to go through them all now. "Make sure you get hers," I said to Leticia, who was already on it. I'll tell you, that woman knows what to do in a crisis situation. I was just kind of going on the voices of my better angels. Jack deserves half the credit on that merit alone.
"How is it?" a voice said in my ear, and I nearly jumped.
"Damn it, Michael!" I blurted. "It's fine, but we're supposed to be dark, you know that."
"I know … I just needed to know," he said, and that moment I understood.
Putting a hand to my earpiece, I said, "I know. Just talk to me when we get out of here."
In the resulting silence as I returned to controlled chaos, I almost found that I missed his voice.
*I'll never find someone quite as touched as you
I'll never love someone quite the way that I love you*
Lex's invocation of the name of our savior was full of fury and desperation as it burst into our earpieces.
"Lex, what's going on?" I yelled instinctively, moving away from the panel toward the door. "What's happening?"
Then, as I tried the door handle, I knew. The situation room had locked itself from the outside. Leticia and I looked at each other and realized we could be the last thing we saw. Lex had tripped the hydra, and one by one, the systems were coming down.