"Where is Jack?"
"I think he went to his office."
"He needs to be debriefed," he said sounding annoyed.
"Mr. Chappelle, in all respect, he is not too good. He may not be up to it sir."
"Well if that is the case he shouldn't be here."
"I didn't mean that, it's just...nothing." She hurried away.
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Jack lay on the couch, now asleep. He was dreaming he was back with TEARBACK, being beat up again. Only this time both Tony and Kate were there, and they were encouraging the guards, and he couldn't understand why they were doing this. He tried to fight back but no matter what he did they kept coming at him.
Chappelle entered Jack's office quietly, seeing Jack asleep. He was turning his head violently and was drenched in sweat. Chappelle walked over and gently began to shake him awake. Jack's eyes snapped open and he looked around confused, before he remembered where he was.
"Sorry Jack I didn't know your office doubled up as a bedroom," he sneered.
"Ryan," said Jack sitting up, "I didn't realise I'd dosed off."
"Well you shouldn't be here anyway. I spoke to the doctors Jack, they feel strongly you need to be in the hospital."
"I'm fine," said Jack growing angry.
"Look Jack, I'm not in the mood to argue okay, Iv had Palmer in my ear all day, I just wanna debrief you and get back to Division, okay?"
"Fine," said Jack as Chappelle setting up the tape recorder to save him from writing it up.
"Wait, you said the president has been in contact with you?" Jack asked surprised.
"Yes Jack. He is the one who gave the go for the operation. Those documents you were there to get, were classified, even from you, right?"
"Yes" said Jack getting confused.
"Well, they were for the presidents eyes only. Which is why he chose you for the mission, somebody he could trust." Chappelle sounded bored.
"Oh, right." said Jack.
"Now lets start the debrief."
"Sure." Jack began.
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Tony sat in the same cold hard chair in the interrogation room. They had finally moved out the body of Kate Warner. Tony felt so full of guilt, it was his fault she was dead. If he ever lived through this, he thought, he'd tell Jack himself, he owed it him. He just couldn't help but wonder how he would react to this. He had already lost one person he loved through his job, now Kate. Tony was sure it would send him over the edge, he wasn't far away already.
Sal entered the room and handed him a phone.
"Ring CTU. Get your confirmation."
Tony dialled the number and Michele answered.
"Michelle...?" his heart skipped a beat.
"Tony...oh my God, are you okay?"
"Yeah listen, I need confirmation Jack is back at CTU and alive."
"Yeah he is here, he seems okay I guess. What about you Tony where are you, what's happening?"
"Listen sweetie I have to go. I have to go, I love you."
"I love you too baby, come back soon, please..." she hung up and Sal took the phone away, handing it to Walker who was sat on the couch watching every move he made.
"Jack's back, so talk."
Tony sat still, scared to death, shaking his head. He had saved Jack, and still couldn't believe they had been stupid enough to comply. Or had they? Tony felt something wasn't right. And he was going try and stick around long enough to find out what. But he knew he would not jeprodise their mission by giving up information freely. He would die saving the mission, or at least try to.
"Are we going to do this the hard way Tony?"
"Why did you guys just give Jack up? He knows more than I do."
"That is none of your business."
"Your being squeezed aren't you?"
"Yes Tony, were being squeezed, for Jack. But no one is squeezing for you."
The two men approached Tony.
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Harry Dean entered Marie's room, slightly nervous, seen as she wanted to be the one to kill Kate.
"Marie," he said.
"What's happening with Bauer?" she asked eagerly.
" I'm afraid somebody wanted him freed, somebody I can not say no to."
Marie looked disgusted. "What? Harry, you promised me him, do you know what that bastard did to me? Do you?"
"Yes I do, but it is not like you can't get your revenge, he is still alive, we will just get him another time when this person is off my back."
"Can't we just use Kate to bring him back?"
"I'm afraid Kate is dead."
Marie looked down at the floor, then swallowed. Finally she spoke, her voice soft and quiet.
"Harry can you do anything right?"
"Look, Bauer does not know about her death, we can use that to get him back later then you can make up for killing Kate by giving him and even slower death?" he smiled.
She seemed to like this thought and smiled back.
"Who is this person who is wanting Bauer alive?"
"The president."
"What? I mean, how the hell is he involved in this." she was clearly shocked.
"The documents that Bauer tried to retrieve tied him to use."
"How?"
"There was information that Palmer had used TEARBACK after the attempt the detonation of a nuclear bomb. He wanted payback to the terrorist cell that tried to bomb America, so he agreed to finance our group and slow down the hunting process if we got rid of them. We recorded proof about his involvement, for insurance, and it seemed Palmer wanted it back."
"Great. Well if we have the proof why can't we use that proof to get to Bauer?"
"Because Palmer can simply deny it, and he has the force to destroy our own organisation."
" So what are we going to do?"
"I don't know."
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Jack had finished his debrief, Chappelle sat back with a bemused look on his face.
"Well Jack I gotta be honest with you, this account you have given is a little sketchy."
"What do you mean."
"Well you can only account for about a half of what happened while you were there. I mean, you were, 'unconscious' a large part of the time. What proof do you have to back it up? How do I know you are not involved in this somehow Jack, why did they let you go and not Tony?"
"You have gotta be kidding me. You think I'm involved with them. Hello, they have my fu****g girlfriend there for Christ's sake! And as for the proof ask the doctors why they say I have so much fu****g bruising around my skull. Maybe, just possible, it was because Iv been smashed round the head with the butt of a gun God knows how many times!"
Chappelle and Jack were now stood merely inched apart and Michelle burst into the room hearing the commotion. Jack had clenched his fists and was ready to kill Chappelle if he said anything else.
"Jack, erm do you wanna come take a look at this?" Michelle asked trying to split the two up.
"What is it." Jack snapped.
"Weve got a location on Tony from your bug. We tracked the position down from when you were there, but managed to get an exact location on the place you were being held."
"Perhaps I better go take a look at is Michelle I don't think Jack is very capable of doing anything, with the condition he is in and all."
Jack spun around hitting Chappelle dead on in the nose. He dropped to the floor instantly unconscious as blood gushed from his nose.
"Shit," said Michelle, "Why the hell did you do that Jack?"
Jack looked down, realising he was probably fired now. He sat back down and grabbed the discarded bag of ice and held it to his head which was now killing him.
"What should we do?" asked Michelle.
"Get Baker ready, me and him are going into that location, and are not coming back without Tony, Kate and the document."
"But-" she was cut off.
"Just do it. I'll figure something out with him."
Michelle left the room and Jack stood above Chappelle.
Lying on the floor, Chappelle began to stir.
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