Author Note: Sorry it took so long to update this. I have officially dug
myself in a hole and am trying to get out of it. Someone tell me something
about this. Even if it is "Yo! Meg your shit is crap. If I were you I
would of killed myself. As a matter of fact I think you should kill
yourself now for thinking of this crap and actually trying to write." Tell
the truth if it's crap let me know so I can figure out what is crap and
work on it or something else. I will attempt to get more up before I go
home for the weekend because than nothing gets done.
"Hello Mr. President."
"Hello Jon. How are the wife and kids?"
"They are fine, sir. Thanks for asking."
"I know that's not what you are here for. Shall we go to the conference room?" David asked his long-time friend.
"If you don't mind, Mr. President."
"Jon, how long have you known me?"
"Since we were children, Mr. President."
"Then call me David."
"Sorry David."
They walked to the conference room talking about everything, but what they needed to discuss. When they reached the conference room John took a deep breath and asked, "David, do you know all of the details of what has happened over the past few hours?"
"Yes. CTU Director Tony Almeida has been keeping me informed."
"Good sir, then you know they have both Jack and Darla. And all we know as they are Mandy, and whoever she's working for."
"Yes. Is THIS what you came here to tell me?" Palmer said stressing the this.
"No sir. I actually wanted to ask how much you told Jack about Operation Nightfall."
"He was in it, you know."
"Yes sir, but how much did he know about the operation other than his part?"
"Nothing really. I told him we found out that after the mission already went underway, Drazen was not going to be there. We decided to go along with it because we had known where he would be and that way we could grab him and have everyone think he was dead."
"That's all?"
"That's what happened. Wasn't it? Jon, please don't tell me you sent a team out to their deaths."
"I did not, sir."
"John please tell me we did not have them go out there, knowing they would not succeed because we gave the Drazens the information?"
"We did, sir." John said walking away from the president to face the wall.
"How? Why? It was not necessary. Even if they all died, the possibility of it getting out was slim because it was a secret mission."
"No sir, that's where you are wrong. If they died, the Drazens would have boasted to prove that the U.S. was trying to assassinate them by using their bodies ." Jonathan said looking David in the eyes. Nothing showing in his eyes, it was as if he was ordering breakfast that he ordered every day.
"How did we get the Drazens the information? Let me guess, Darla? She was close to Jack."
"How did you know, sir?"
"I could tell when I spoke with her about Jack's relative safety. She was very worried as if she had cared for him at once."
"Yes sir. She used Jack on my orders. If she did so, I told her I would help her and her family get out of there. All she had to do was keep him occupied while he was there long enough for someone to get the information from his room. We did not get it all, but what we didn't get was leaked through the channels."
"John, you have kept this from me. The entire time you have lied to me. I lied to him. I need to know who carried out this entire plan."
"Why David? It's all over with. There is nothing to be done now. Nothing you can do."
"Yes there is. These people will be brought to justice."
"I was afraid you would say that. Sir, I have to advise you not to go against these people. They will not back down and they will win, sir. They always do."
"Are you threatening me John?"
"No sir. I am just conveying their message."
"Who are they?"
"I don't know completely, but they have Jack and Darla. What they intend on doing, I'm not sure."
"I want to know now. Who are they and where are Jack and Darla at?"
"Sir, I'm not sure about any of it. I am only doing this because they gave me a choice and I have chosen nothing, David. We have been friends a long time and I just wanted to warn you. Do as you please, but I'm getting my family out of here. Good bye."
"John, wait. If you help, we can protect your family."
"No, you can't sir. The people that will be protecting them, some will be, if not all of them, are with these people. I can't risk it. I did what they wanted and now I am going away. Good luck and I'm sorry." Jonathan left the room. David thought about sending someone after him, but he knew the man had to have been scared and probably did not have any more information that would be helpful. David called Tony and shared the some of the information he got from Jonathan. He left out the source, but said it was credible, and he left out most of the details of Operation Nightfall.
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"You're dead. I killed you. I shot you three times. There is no way you could have lived." Jack said confused as to how she could be there.
"You've said that already, Jack. I'm not dead. Here I am in the flesh."
"It's not Nina. You are someone else. Surgery probably like they did for the assassin that was supposed to kill Palmer." Jack said trying to figure out how someone who looked like Nina could be in the hotel room at that moment.
"Nope. No surgery. But you're onto something."
"You are not Nina."
"Jack, do you need me to convince you? The last time I saw you was on the plane. The woman Chloe, I think her name is, stopped the virus, and I knew then you were going to kill me. Tony had a bullet hole in his neck from being shot earlier that day. When he went to go get Richardson, a friend inside helped me make a switch. Needless to say, you never killed me. You killed my very good friend who was going to die anyway. She accidentally slept with Alvers and Amador. And you could tell she was quite worried about it, or at least I acted like I was. It was nice of Amador to help me with paying for the surgery to get her to look like me. You were so fucked up that day and so hell bent on killing me that you never even noticed the slight difference, like my hesitation to kill Kim. You guys would not have had the manpower set up in time to stop me. God was she ever annoying, almost like her old man. But you are a good annoying and she's a stupid annoying. You also missed the idea of me staying in CTU, wasting time, to rip wires out when I could have used the guns I had picked up along the way to get out. Jack, I was quite disappointed in you that day. But then I also have to remember you were not on the top of your game. That withdrawal is a bitch, isn't it?"
"And I'm supposed to believe that somehow you got out of CTU without anyone noticing, not a single camera picking it up? And somehow this other person got in."
"Yeah. I had help, what can I say? CTU is not the best at screening its people or at least keeping them faithful. You offer someone enough money they'll do anything, or if you have the right incentive, they will."
"I don't believe you. I think you're full of crap."
"Well as you said that lovely day when I didn't believe you had stopped the virus, I don't care what you believe." The woman who looked like Nina said. "Get him ready. We need to move in case anyone saw him. They have an APB out on him, Mandy, a woman who resembles you, Amber, and Darla."
Mandy walked outside and got two men to come up to escort Jack down to the car that was waiting. One of the men walked over to Jack and waited for him to stand up. He was ready for Jack who stood up quickly throwing a straight punch at him.
He grabbed Jack's fist in his hand and twisted it. Most people would twist with it to avoid the pain, but Jack allowed the man to twist his arm to the point it almost broke. The man stopped twisting it when he noticed Jack just stood there. This pissed him off that Jack was not doing what he wanted so he took his free hand and smashed Jack hard in the left shoulder. Jack dropped to his knees in pain, gasping and almost in tears from the pain of being hit in his shoulders. The other man walked over and said, "If you don't mind now, Jack. We'd like you to walk to the car. I don't want my friend here to have to fight with you again. Clearly, you will not win and will only get yourself hurt worse." Jack complied, with the help of the man who still had his fist in his hand he got to his feet and followed the men down to a black Lexus. One man slid in the other side and Nina sat in the back next to him so that Jack was sandwiched between the two, his injured shoulder on the side Nina sat on.
"Let me see your shoulder." Nina said reaching behind Jack to loosen the sling in the back.
Jack wanted to wrench away from her, but there was nowhere to go. They were stuck in the back closely together. The guy next to him was at least three times his size and there was no way Jack could even move the guy.
"Unbutton your shirt, or have you gotten shy in your old age?" Nina jested.
Jack slowly unbuttoned his shirt revealing the wife beater underneath. He gently slid his right arm out of the sleeve and then with the help of Nina, he got his injured left arm out of the other sleeve. The bandage was covered with blood again, as Jack had already expected it.
"They really did a number on you earlier today." She said looking at him noticing the two different holes in his shoulder and the bandage on both wrists, his left hand and then the fingers he had taped because they were broken.
Jack swallowed hard trying to ignore the pain and ignore her. He was nauseated again. How could Nina still be alive? This was like a horrible made for TV movie. He always thought it was such a cliché for the killer to come back to life, or in the spy movies the bad guy kills someone in the beginning who was not really killed either because some miracle or a body double. It was a stupid idea that could never happen unless it was on TV, but this wasn't. It was still stupid, but he was almost positive that he had killed Nina, but here she was, and she acted like Nina, she talked like Nina, and she had memories Nina would have. He hated it not only because she was alive, but because it was too much of a cliché.
Amber turned around with Jack's pill bottle. "Here Jack." She said handing him one of the pain pills.
Jack took it from her reluctantly not sure if he wanted to take it. The woman who looked like Nina solved that dilemma though, "Take it." She said looking at him, knowing he was contemplating taking it.
Amber handed her water bottle back to Nina. Jack put the pill in his mouth. He hated pills especially when you put them in your mouth because of the horrid taste that registered in your mouth as soon as the pill touched your tongue. He took a gulp of the water and thanked Amber for it. Handing the water bottle back to her, he waited for the drug to take its effect. It took ten minutes before the drug started to work. All of the pain started to subside. He knew soon he would not be able to think clear, not that it matter because he would not be able to get out of his situation. Nina or the woman who looked like Nina, knew him well and would be able to stop him. With the thought of not escaping, he thought he might know how to figure out if it really was Nina. "If you are Nina. then tell me something only you should know?"
"Do we really have to play this cliché game?"
"Yes, since we already are in the world of major clichés."
"Fine. The day you found out I was a mole, you got a clue earlier in the day. Jamie had a key card that said information was taken from my terminal. You thought about it and believed it so you confronted me in the break room asking me, "How long have you been playing me?" Later I brought to your attention we were in Santa Barbra together the day I supposedly snuck the information out."
Jack thought about it. The only people how knew about his weekend with Nina were him and Nina he thought, and the same was true for the key car incident because Jamie was dead. He was still not positive it was Nina, but then again he did not believe it wasn't her. There was no way he could ever be sure, it was a catch-22.
The car stopped outside of an old mental institution that was out in the country. Someone had bought it and never did anything with it. Nina helped Jack out and escorted him inside. Jack noticed how clean the placed looked for being abandoned. Nina led Jack down after corridor after corridor till finally she reached the padded room area. She opened one of the doors to the room and gently pushed Jack into the room. She locked the door and had one of the men posted outside.
Jack felt tired from the medication so he sat down against the padded wall. He had never been in one of the rooms before, but the wall was not as soft as one would expect. He rested his head against the wall and allowed himself to relax for a minute. He never planned on falling asleep, but his mind was too tired to fight to stay awake. Darla sat next door. She heard the people come and she heard Nina order the man to stay outside and watch him. She assumed the "him" was Jack. She wondered how he was. She had been told he was not in the best shape and she worried for him. She was not sure what they wanted with both of them. She sat in the room worried about how long their future would be. She thought if they escaped this, she would confess to him everything she had done. She felt guilty, but at the same time she had paid for it.
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Jack sat asleep his head resting against the padded wall, his injured arm resting comfortably on his legs, his mind gone away somewhere safe. Nina looked in through the peep-hole in the door and that is what she saw. She quietly opened the door, she did not want to wake him. He had looked so tired and now peaceful. She use to love to watch him sleep when they were together, and this was almost like that. She entered the room with a few supplies in hand. Quietly, she closed the door behind herself and went to tending to his reopened wounds. She slowly pulled the old bandage off and looked at the two different holes in his shoulder. She concluded one was clearly a bullet hole and the other must have been a nail or something. She took out the gauze grabbed his good shoulder waking him up.
Jack woke up feeling someone touching him. He opened his eyes and say someone who looked like Nina the confusion registered on his face than it went away with the memory of what had happened. Hoarsely he asked, "What do you want now?"
"Nice to see you too, Jack." Nina said conveying no emotion. "I'm trying to rebandage your wound for you, if you don't mind." She said grabbing the gauze and helping him to sit leaning forward.
She took the gauze and wrapped it around his shoulder lightly going under his armpit and back around each time until she covered the wound well enough. She taped the ends off and said, "Looks like you dislocated it, too."
"Yeah." Jack said his mouth dry and throat soar. "What's going on here Nina? Really, why do you need me or Darla?"
"I have my reasons, Jack." Nina said standing up.
Nina nor Jack had noticed that Mandy was standing in the door way. "Sorry to disrupt your little thing here, but the boss is here."
Nina looked down at Jack whose eyes were still glazed from the drugs. She knew he could not take more. She never really wanted him dead, she just didn't want to be dead either. She hoped for her sake and his that he had learned something from when he killed the woman he thought was Nina last year. Every time she saw him, she felt pain and longing. She wanted to leave this life, she hated the life she had to live. When they were together she was ready to give it all up for him, she never told him that or conveyed that because the minute she did she knew the dream would go away. She knew the minute you realized you were close to a dream, it moved farther away or disappeared like the fluffy cloud on a windy day. "I'll be there in a minute. Let me finish here."
"Fine. We're down the hall." Mandy said walking away not sure what was going on.
"What do you want Nina? I'm retired now, I can't be of any help." Jack said just wanting to get away from Nina. When he killed the person he thought was Nina, he believed that chapter in his life was finally closed. He was able to deal with his pain of losing Teri. Killing her did not make him feel any better, but it allowed him to move on with his life. There where no more of those reminders every time he looked at himself in the mirror or walked through CTU.
"Jack you can never retire. People like us the only way we ever get to rest is when we die. Until then, our employers will continually beg more of us until there is no longer anything left to give." Nina said with a sad smile she had not shown too many times before. She left the room closing the door behind herself and locking it again from the outside.
Nina left the room putting her "game face" on again. She was ready to go out and do what she had to do in hopes of being able to leave after this mission. Every mission had the same final goal, make it away alive. Her father once told her You have to think of yourself first because no one will think of you first. She took his words and made a life of it. She always looked out for herself, except those few rear occasions when her conscience got in the way. She still had the conscience, but she was good at blocking it out. She wanted to stop though. She wanted to leave all of it behind and start over again. Try having the normal life with the house with the white picket fence, but deep down she knew it was all a dream that would never happen. She will end up doing it all again she was stuck in the cycle and couldn't get out. If she had to give someone advice, it would be don't ever get into this life because you can not escape. She saw the woman who had been hanging around Mandy for awhile and noticed the concern in her eye for Jack earlier when they had come in the hotel. Nina took note of it and continued on. She would watch the woman to make sure she did not mess with the operation.
"Hello Mr. President."
"Hello Jon. How are the wife and kids?"
"They are fine, sir. Thanks for asking."
"I know that's not what you are here for. Shall we go to the conference room?" David asked his long-time friend.
"If you don't mind, Mr. President."
"Jon, how long have you known me?"
"Since we were children, Mr. President."
"Then call me David."
"Sorry David."
They walked to the conference room talking about everything, but what they needed to discuss. When they reached the conference room John took a deep breath and asked, "David, do you know all of the details of what has happened over the past few hours?"
"Yes. CTU Director Tony Almeida has been keeping me informed."
"Good sir, then you know they have both Jack and Darla. And all we know as they are Mandy, and whoever she's working for."
"Yes. Is THIS what you came here to tell me?" Palmer said stressing the this.
"No sir. I actually wanted to ask how much you told Jack about Operation Nightfall."
"He was in it, you know."
"Yes sir, but how much did he know about the operation other than his part?"
"Nothing really. I told him we found out that after the mission already went underway, Drazen was not going to be there. We decided to go along with it because we had known where he would be and that way we could grab him and have everyone think he was dead."
"That's all?"
"That's what happened. Wasn't it? Jon, please don't tell me you sent a team out to their deaths."
"I did not, sir."
"John please tell me we did not have them go out there, knowing they would not succeed because we gave the Drazens the information?"
"We did, sir." John said walking away from the president to face the wall.
"How? Why? It was not necessary. Even if they all died, the possibility of it getting out was slim because it was a secret mission."
"No sir, that's where you are wrong. If they died, the Drazens would have boasted to prove that the U.S. was trying to assassinate them by using their bodies ." Jonathan said looking David in the eyes. Nothing showing in his eyes, it was as if he was ordering breakfast that he ordered every day.
"How did we get the Drazens the information? Let me guess, Darla? She was close to Jack."
"How did you know, sir?"
"I could tell when I spoke with her about Jack's relative safety. She was very worried as if she had cared for him at once."
"Yes sir. She used Jack on my orders. If she did so, I told her I would help her and her family get out of there. All she had to do was keep him occupied while he was there long enough for someone to get the information from his room. We did not get it all, but what we didn't get was leaked through the channels."
"John, you have kept this from me. The entire time you have lied to me. I lied to him. I need to know who carried out this entire plan."
"Why David? It's all over with. There is nothing to be done now. Nothing you can do."
"Yes there is. These people will be brought to justice."
"I was afraid you would say that. Sir, I have to advise you not to go against these people. They will not back down and they will win, sir. They always do."
"Are you threatening me John?"
"No sir. I am just conveying their message."
"Who are they?"
"I don't know completely, but they have Jack and Darla. What they intend on doing, I'm not sure."
"I want to know now. Who are they and where are Jack and Darla at?"
"Sir, I'm not sure about any of it. I am only doing this because they gave me a choice and I have chosen nothing, David. We have been friends a long time and I just wanted to warn you. Do as you please, but I'm getting my family out of here. Good bye."
"John, wait. If you help, we can protect your family."
"No, you can't sir. The people that will be protecting them, some will be, if not all of them, are with these people. I can't risk it. I did what they wanted and now I am going away. Good luck and I'm sorry." Jonathan left the room. David thought about sending someone after him, but he knew the man had to have been scared and probably did not have any more information that would be helpful. David called Tony and shared the some of the information he got from Jonathan. He left out the source, but said it was credible, and he left out most of the details of Operation Nightfall.
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"You're dead. I killed you. I shot you three times. There is no way you could have lived." Jack said confused as to how she could be there.
"You've said that already, Jack. I'm not dead. Here I am in the flesh."
"It's not Nina. You are someone else. Surgery probably like they did for the assassin that was supposed to kill Palmer." Jack said trying to figure out how someone who looked like Nina could be in the hotel room at that moment.
"Nope. No surgery. But you're onto something."
"You are not Nina."
"Jack, do you need me to convince you? The last time I saw you was on the plane. The woman Chloe, I think her name is, stopped the virus, and I knew then you were going to kill me. Tony had a bullet hole in his neck from being shot earlier that day. When he went to go get Richardson, a friend inside helped me make a switch. Needless to say, you never killed me. You killed my very good friend who was going to die anyway. She accidentally slept with Alvers and Amador. And you could tell she was quite worried about it, or at least I acted like I was. It was nice of Amador to help me with paying for the surgery to get her to look like me. You were so fucked up that day and so hell bent on killing me that you never even noticed the slight difference, like my hesitation to kill Kim. You guys would not have had the manpower set up in time to stop me. God was she ever annoying, almost like her old man. But you are a good annoying and she's a stupid annoying. You also missed the idea of me staying in CTU, wasting time, to rip wires out when I could have used the guns I had picked up along the way to get out. Jack, I was quite disappointed in you that day. But then I also have to remember you were not on the top of your game. That withdrawal is a bitch, isn't it?"
"And I'm supposed to believe that somehow you got out of CTU without anyone noticing, not a single camera picking it up? And somehow this other person got in."
"Yeah. I had help, what can I say? CTU is not the best at screening its people or at least keeping them faithful. You offer someone enough money they'll do anything, or if you have the right incentive, they will."
"I don't believe you. I think you're full of crap."
"Well as you said that lovely day when I didn't believe you had stopped the virus, I don't care what you believe." The woman who looked like Nina said. "Get him ready. We need to move in case anyone saw him. They have an APB out on him, Mandy, a woman who resembles you, Amber, and Darla."
Mandy walked outside and got two men to come up to escort Jack down to the car that was waiting. One of the men walked over to Jack and waited for him to stand up. He was ready for Jack who stood up quickly throwing a straight punch at him.
He grabbed Jack's fist in his hand and twisted it. Most people would twist with it to avoid the pain, but Jack allowed the man to twist his arm to the point it almost broke. The man stopped twisting it when he noticed Jack just stood there. This pissed him off that Jack was not doing what he wanted so he took his free hand and smashed Jack hard in the left shoulder. Jack dropped to his knees in pain, gasping and almost in tears from the pain of being hit in his shoulders. The other man walked over and said, "If you don't mind now, Jack. We'd like you to walk to the car. I don't want my friend here to have to fight with you again. Clearly, you will not win and will only get yourself hurt worse." Jack complied, with the help of the man who still had his fist in his hand he got to his feet and followed the men down to a black Lexus. One man slid in the other side and Nina sat in the back next to him so that Jack was sandwiched between the two, his injured shoulder on the side Nina sat on.
"Let me see your shoulder." Nina said reaching behind Jack to loosen the sling in the back.
Jack wanted to wrench away from her, but there was nowhere to go. They were stuck in the back closely together. The guy next to him was at least three times his size and there was no way Jack could even move the guy.
"Unbutton your shirt, or have you gotten shy in your old age?" Nina jested.
Jack slowly unbuttoned his shirt revealing the wife beater underneath. He gently slid his right arm out of the sleeve and then with the help of Nina, he got his injured left arm out of the other sleeve. The bandage was covered with blood again, as Jack had already expected it.
"They really did a number on you earlier today." She said looking at him noticing the two different holes in his shoulder and the bandage on both wrists, his left hand and then the fingers he had taped because they were broken.
Jack swallowed hard trying to ignore the pain and ignore her. He was nauseated again. How could Nina still be alive? This was like a horrible made for TV movie. He always thought it was such a cliché for the killer to come back to life, or in the spy movies the bad guy kills someone in the beginning who was not really killed either because some miracle or a body double. It was a stupid idea that could never happen unless it was on TV, but this wasn't. It was still stupid, but he was almost positive that he had killed Nina, but here she was, and she acted like Nina, she talked like Nina, and she had memories Nina would have. He hated it not only because she was alive, but because it was too much of a cliché.
Amber turned around with Jack's pill bottle. "Here Jack." She said handing him one of the pain pills.
Jack took it from her reluctantly not sure if he wanted to take it. The woman who looked like Nina solved that dilemma though, "Take it." She said looking at him, knowing he was contemplating taking it.
Amber handed her water bottle back to Nina. Jack put the pill in his mouth. He hated pills especially when you put them in your mouth because of the horrid taste that registered in your mouth as soon as the pill touched your tongue. He took a gulp of the water and thanked Amber for it. Handing the water bottle back to her, he waited for the drug to take its effect. It took ten minutes before the drug started to work. All of the pain started to subside. He knew soon he would not be able to think clear, not that it matter because he would not be able to get out of his situation. Nina or the woman who looked like Nina, knew him well and would be able to stop him. With the thought of not escaping, he thought he might know how to figure out if it really was Nina. "If you are Nina. then tell me something only you should know?"
"Do we really have to play this cliché game?"
"Yes, since we already are in the world of major clichés."
"Fine. The day you found out I was a mole, you got a clue earlier in the day. Jamie had a key card that said information was taken from my terminal. You thought about it and believed it so you confronted me in the break room asking me, "How long have you been playing me?" Later I brought to your attention we were in Santa Barbra together the day I supposedly snuck the information out."
Jack thought about it. The only people how knew about his weekend with Nina were him and Nina he thought, and the same was true for the key car incident because Jamie was dead. He was still not positive it was Nina, but then again he did not believe it wasn't her. There was no way he could ever be sure, it was a catch-22.
The car stopped outside of an old mental institution that was out in the country. Someone had bought it and never did anything with it. Nina helped Jack out and escorted him inside. Jack noticed how clean the placed looked for being abandoned. Nina led Jack down after corridor after corridor till finally she reached the padded room area. She opened one of the doors to the room and gently pushed Jack into the room. She locked the door and had one of the men posted outside.
Jack felt tired from the medication so he sat down against the padded wall. He had never been in one of the rooms before, but the wall was not as soft as one would expect. He rested his head against the wall and allowed himself to relax for a minute. He never planned on falling asleep, but his mind was too tired to fight to stay awake. Darla sat next door. She heard the people come and she heard Nina order the man to stay outside and watch him. She assumed the "him" was Jack. She wondered how he was. She had been told he was not in the best shape and she worried for him. She was not sure what they wanted with both of them. She sat in the room worried about how long their future would be. She thought if they escaped this, she would confess to him everything she had done. She felt guilty, but at the same time she had paid for it.
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Jack sat asleep his head resting against the padded wall, his injured arm resting comfortably on his legs, his mind gone away somewhere safe. Nina looked in through the peep-hole in the door and that is what she saw. She quietly opened the door, she did not want to wake him. He had looked so tired and now peaceful. She use to love to watch him sleep when they were together, and this was almost like that. She entered the room with a few supplies in hand. Quietly, she closed the door behind herself and went to tending to his reopened wounds. She slowly pulled the old bandage off and looked at the two different holes in his shoulder. She concluded one was clearly a bullet hole and the other must have been a nail or something. She took out the gauze grabbed his good shoulder waking him up.
Jack woke up feeling someone touching him. He opened his eyes and say someone who looked like Nina the confusion registered on his face than it went away with the memory of what had happened. Hoarsely he asked, "What do you want now?"
"Nice to see you too, Jack." Nina said conveying no emotion. "I'm trying to rebandage your wound for you, if you don't mind." She said grabbing the gauze and helping him to sit leaning forward.
She took the gauze and wrapped it around his shoulder lightly going under his armpit and back around each time until she covered the wound well enough. She taped the ends off and said, "Looks like you dislocated it, too."
"Yeah." Jack said his mouth dry and throat soar. "What's going on here Nina? Really, why do you need me or Darla?"
"I have my reasons, Jack." Nina said standing up.
Nina nor Jack had noticed that Mandy was standing in the door way. "Sorry to disrupt your little thing here, but the boss is here."
Nina looked down at Jack whose eyes were still glazed from the drugs. She knew he could not take more. She never really wanted him dead, she just didn't want to be dead either. She hoped for her sake and his that he had learned something from when he killed the woman he thought was Nina last year. Every time she saw him, she felt pain and longing. She wanted to leave this life, she hated the life she had to live. When they were together she was ready to give it all up for him, she never told him that or conveyed that because the minute she did she knew the dream would go away. She knew the minute you realized you were close to a dream, it moved farther away or disappeared like the fluffy cloud on a windy day. "I'll be there in a minute. Let me finish here."
"Fine. We're down the hall." Mandy said walking away not sure what was going on.
"What do you want Nina? I'm retired now, I can't be of any help." Jack said just wanting to get away from Nina. When he killed the person he thought was Nina, he believed that chapter in his life was finally closed. He was able to deal with his pain of losing Teri. Killing her did not make him feel any better, but it allowed him to move on with his life. There where no more of those reminders every time he looked at himself in the mirror or walked through CTU.
"Jack you can never retire. People like us the only way we ever get to rest is when we die. Until then, our employers will continually beg more of us until there is no longer anything left to give." Nina said with a sad smile she had not shown too many times before. She left the room closing the door behind herself and locking it again from the outside.
Nina left the room putting her "game face" on again. She was ready to go out and do what she had to do in hopes of being able to leave after this mission. Every mission had the same final goal, make it away alive. Her father once told her You have to think of yourself first because no one will think of you first. She took his words and made a life of it. She always looked out for herself, except those few rear occasions when her conscience got in the way. She still had the conscience, but she was good at blocking it out. She wanted to stop though. She wanted to leave all of it behind and start over again. Try having the normal life with the house with the white picket fence, but deep down she knew it was all a dream that would never happen. She will end up doing it all again she was stuck in the cycle and couldn't get out. If she had to give someone advice, it would be don't ever get into this life because you can not escape. She saw the woman who had been hanging around Mandy for awhile and noticed the concern in her eye for Jack earlier when they had come in the hotel. Nina took note of it and continued on. She would watch the woman to make sure she did not mess with the operation.