Things were getting crazier and crazier and my head was spinning. Everything felt out of control, like I couldn't stop it, and somehow I had become the center of it again. What drove me insane was that it felt manageable if I could just find something that wasn't there.
Heather Dessler had been called and was in an interrogation room with Kevin and Steve being interviewed again, and her brother was on a conference call in there. If we were going to find Michelle, her family looked like the best bet. Meanwhile, nothing substantial had been turned up on the searches – a few false alarms, but no flesh and blood security specialist. Chris was adding to the map, adding to the timeline, keeping the information running. Lex had multiplied our security programs triplefold and was now feeding Chris all the information he could possibly find. Leticia, Vaughn, Michael and I were waiting at the ready to investigate leads, but leads weren't coming.
At least she hadn't left the area … as far as we knew.
"Is there anything?" Leticia asked hopefully.
Chris sighed. "I can't make any sense of this."
"Welcome to the club," Vaughn deadpanned.
"Hold on," Kevin said, emerging from the room. "Heather just tried to call her sister's cell phone. Michelle told her she's at Parker Air Force Base." Parker Air Force Base being a small AFB maybe half an hour out from CTU itself. We always heard planes flying over and such.
"What the hell is at Parker?" Chris asked.
"Who cares?" said Vaughn. "She's there."
Michael checked his watch. "We'd better hurry. It'll be dark in an hour." Only he knew what I meant. He didn't want us out in the night if Code Fives could be jumping us when we weren't paying attention. I put a hand to the gun in my holster, but headed briskly for the parking lot. Leticia and Vaughn would take Leticia's car and scope out the place while Michael and I provided the big guns. I was the daughter of a military reservist, and that could help, but I'd never actually been to Parker…
"She's not going there for the commissary, obviously," Vaughn quipped as we headed out to the parking lot. "We'll get the place covered for you, all you've got to do is make the pick-up."
"We can do that," I said. "Good luck. Take care of yourselves."
"Don't we always?" he said, smirking, and I chuckled and hugged Leticia goodbye before slipping into the passenger seat of the CTU vehicle Chris had allocated Michael earlier in the day. The sound of Leticia's Neon pulling out and getting on its way was cut off by the sound of Michael bringing the Toyota engine to life. He backed out of the parking space and swung the car around with significant dexterity. "What's your take on this?" he asked me.
I shrugged. "Only the truth matters."
He nodded, then put the car into drive, taking his hand off the gearshift and covering mine. As I looked into his eyes – so deeply committed that said he would do anything to put things right again for Michelle and for much more than her – he hit the gas and we moved ever forward into whatever was coming next. I might be a while from forgiving him, but I still needed him by my side.
Parker Air Force Base Los Angeles
The sun was beginning to slip away, and with it, the blood in my veins ran hot as I thought of what might be rising to meet it. I turned my gaze away from the road over to Michael. The last sunlight was falling across the planes of his face and that made him look ever more like an ordinary man just trying to be a hero and not doing a half bad job. Despite the selfish pain, the world needed more people like Michael Colefield to defend what no one else would stand for. He was the kind who did things too important to show the world.
*I'm a wounded soldier on a downtown train to your place
You launched a secret haunt with your face*
He looked over in my direction, dark eyes betraying commitment mixed with concern and a sense of his own humanity. We made eye contact, and he squeezed my hand reassuringly. "We're going to find her," he said, and I didn't doubt him. It was myself I was doubting.
*You don't always say what I want to hear but you move me
I've crossed the rooftops, gone into the deep blue sea*
I just nodded and he began to pull the car into a parking space. Leticia and Vaughn hadn't found anything yet, so it was time to give them a little backup. The two of us stepped out of the vehicle and surveyed the almost abandoned parking lot, spotting the red Neon almost instantly. Looking at him one more moment, I turned and circled around the car, and we started walking.
*Did we not choose each other
Are we just heroes for a day
This time I will stand by you
And mine is the heart I will save*
"Anything?" Michael asked, putting a hand to the ear radio Lex had outfitted him with.
"We're on our way to the south computer lab," Vaughn replied, the audio crackling. "Best place to start as any."
"We'll meet you there." He looked over at me. "South computer lab. Makes sense if she's carrying a spider."
"About the only thing that does make sense, Michael."
"Right." He was watching the area up ahead. "Let's see what we can do to change that, shall we?"
*I drew a hard line but I just can't see it
Your colors are bleeding all over my secrets*
We slipped past the main building's gate officer without complaint (Vaughn had taken care of that; he's a smart guy, I'll give him that) and were told the appropriate location was actually not in this building but could be accessed via an emergency evacuation corridor in the sub-basement that, when followed, would lead across the complex to the technology headquarters building. I set off for the elevator and punched the right button. I was already breathing hard.
*I want to be your star but I've got to learn to feel myself
I want your love and I need your help*
Next to me and gripping the bar behind him, Michael glanced in my direction. "They should have found her by now."
"I told them not to advance. God knows." I paused. "I haven't forgiven you yet, you know."
"I know. I'll work on that."
"But I do appreciate your help." I watched the elevator lights as they neared B3. "Now let's do this."
*Can we not judge each other
I'd rather wipe your tears away
I can follow my heart to the end
But I just can't choose the way*
We met Leticia and Vaughn in the other building on the third floor down the hall. "She's in there," Vaughn said, pointing out the familiar form. "She hasn't noticed us yet, but I'm thinking it's only a matter of time."
I watched her body language. "She's scared."
"Can you blame her?" Michael said.
"How do you want to play this?" Vaughn asked me.
"Cover me," I said, then pushed open the door and walked in. Michelle didn't look that much different from when I had last seen her, well, except for the fact she wasn't as dressed up as she usually is at work. She was working away busily at a computer and I could see the spider hooked up to it. I don't know why I felt guilty then as I put my hand gently on her shoulder and said, "You don't have to be afraid anymore."
Her head snapped over and I knew she recognized me instantly. "You don't understand…" she began, but I cut her off. "We know. You stopped the virus. You got it out of the system. I don't know why you ran."
"I haven't stopped the virus yet. I needed help. That's why I came here." She looked at me. "I just got afraid. Something I couldn't handle. It was just … I couldn't take this anymore." She looked at me with scared eyes. "You can't take me back."
"You'll have to go back to CTU eventually. Your sister's there, she's worried. But we're going to beat this virus and we're going to take care of you. Turns out, it's not just a virus."
"What?"
"It was used by somebody to impersonate me in the hopes of getting a friend of mine out here, away from his work and his home, to have him killed. That's going to mean we'll need your help. Are you in or out?"
Michelle thought over this for a moment. "I'm in."
"Good choice." I tried to smile. "Let's go."
Outside, Vaughn smirked a bit. "She's done it."
Michael was a little more ambivalent. "Yes, she has."
*I don't want to take your pain away
Isn't yours to give, isn't mine to save
Here's my heart, here's my hand, here's my soul
Take it in, take it apart, take it easy, let it go*
Michelle gathered her things and together we exited the lab to meet the rest of the team. She was adamant that we had to find an expert, or at least a computer, that could handle the virus, that was what she was trying to do. She was afraid she would be fired if she didn't do something proactive, if she couldn't handle it. She might still be fired – I couldn't lie to her – but at least it was better than being a suspected terrorist.
"I'll call in," I said to Vaughn, "then I want to get a hotel room, give her time to compose herself and us time to figure out what to do about this virus and the death threat."
"I'll make arrangements," he said, reaching for his own cell phone.
I reached for mine and asked to be connected right to Jack. "We've got her," I said, "we're taking care of business." And then I hung up, leaving it at that. Past Michelle, I looked over at Michael, who didn't seem like he was feeling better about any of this at all. I wondered if he had just gone dead inside.
*Did we not choose each other
Are we just heroes for a day
This time I will stand by you*
Out at the car, we made the decision to transfer Michelle in the car with Michael and me since she knew me and only knew the others by reference. Vaughn had booked a hotel but didn't remember quite where it was. We pulled Leticia's Thomas Guide out of her trunk and started turning pages. It was now barely dark, though, so Vaughn pulled out his flashlight.
"This is kind of creepy," I said to Michael, looking over my shoulder. Parker AFB was pretty much empty except for three people walking down our aisle, apparently heading inside.
Vaughn drew my attention by muttering something. He lost his grip on the flashlight for a second and it spun.
As the light crossed the three security officers, they recoiled. My stomach went with them.
Michael reached to his right for his firearm.
"They're Code Fives."