Chapter 2

He had been called into work late many times in the past eight years, but Kate could never get used to it. There was always the possibility that he would be lured back into the field, Jack was never one to let others take charge of what he thought he should do. Then there was also the strong possibility that he wouldn't come home at all. Kate feared that Jack had already used up eight of his nine lives.

Jack had changed his clothes and was ready to leave, "I'll be home as soon as I can." He hugged her and kissed her head and asked, "Where's Ryan, I want to say goodbye?"

Saying goodbye to Jack every morning was easier; she could pretend he held a normal nine to five office job. So Kate hated these goodbyes at night the most. It usually meant that she would be sleeping alone and that he could be in danger, despite his promises to be careful.

"He went out to ride his bike, I'll tell him you said bye."

"Ok, see you soon." He gave her one last kiss, then turned to leave.

"Jack!"

He looked back at her, "Yeah?"

"Be careful." She couldn't stop worrying about him every time he left the house.

"I will." Jack left the house through the garage door and started up his new Expedition. He reversed the car, then headed back to CTU.

As soon as he walked in, he noticed that Michelle, Kim, and Chase, as well as the rest of his team had all been called in. He motioned them to join him in the conference room.

"Give me a status update."

Michelle was ready, "Well, we don't have very much yet. We received a call about thirty minutes ago from a group claiming to have taken over the Franklin Hydroelectric Power Station at 1298 Beverly Drive."

"Have you confirmed?"

"Yeah, BHPD and LAPD arrived on scene and confirmed that there are several armed people inside and around it with several hostages. The doors seem to be wired with explosives. They are setting up a perimeter now."

"Who are they?"

Kim punched some keys on her computer and a map came up on the large screen on the wall. She explained, "We think they are from this small country, here." She pointed to a spot on the map. "The country was formed a couple of years ago when they split along religious lines, their government has been very unstable since and has been involved in guerilla warfare with most of the surrounding countries."

"Ok, what are their terms?"

"We don't know yet. But Jack, it gets worse." Jack looked up from his notes at Michelle. He didn't like the look on her face.

Michelle took a deep breath and continued, "They claim to have bombs planted at twenty other power plants in the Los Angeles area as well as another twenty scattered around the country and five more in Washington, D.C."

"Do you think they are serious?"

Chase spoke up, "Yeah, they blew up the UCLA South Campus Central substation about the same time the call came through. They claimed responsibility for it, saying they would blow up the rest one by one until we listened to them."

Jack shook his head, it was happening again. "Was anyone hurt?"

"No, thankfully, classes were all out near there and the fire was contained pretty quickly. However, half of UCLA is now without power," Adam offered as he flashed a picture of the destruction on the screen opposite Jack.

"Ok, we are treating this as a real threat people. Chloe, I need you to get me a list of every power plant in LA, as well as California. We need to get people over there and find those bombs."

Chloe looked up at Jack, "But Jack, there are 1013 power plants in California, 129 in LA alone, there is no way we can check all of them in time."

"Just do it Chloe."

She got up to leave, "Fine."

"And get me a list of the twenty probable targets here in LA, too."

"Jack, with the current energy crunch in Los Angeles, this could be a disaster. If they blow up any more stations, we could be looking at a blackout like the one a few years back in New York. And we wouldn't be able to get back online as quickly as they did. We would be without power for months." Michelle was not painting a rosy picture.

"I know. Kim, call CTU in DC and alert all other CTU agencies to be on the lookout and to check their power plants."

"Adam, what else do we know about this country?"

"Well, President Burke recently sent in American troops. He received Intel that they were working on a nuclear bomb."

"Ok, we'll have to assume that this is in retaliation. Let's get to work, I'm going to head to the site and help with negotiations." Everyone left the room, but Michelle hung back.

"Michelle?" Jack asked softly.

"I'm ok. I just can't help but think that Tony should be here."

Tony served four years in prison for treason, a short time considering he could have done twenty. Michelle stuck by him and visited him as often as she could. When he was released, he couldn't return to CTU because of the conviction. Tony joined a large PI firm and spent as much time as he could with their three-year-old daughter Alyssa.

Jack nodded and said, "I know, but we'll get through this. I'm going to the plant, call me on my cell with anything new."

Michelle knew that Tony was happy just to be home with her and Alyssa, but she had loved working with him here at CTU. Just having each other there in times of crisis like these made it easier to get through them.

Jack left the conference room and headed back out of CTU. Kim walked him out, "Dad, be careful."

"I will sweetheart. Why don't you have the babysitter take Angela and Christopher over to stay with Kate and Ryan? Then you and Chase don't have to worry about them until tomorrow, I'm sure Kate could use the company."

"Sure Dad, I love you." She leaned in to hug him.

He hugged her back, "I love you too, sweetheart." He couldn't believe his baby was going to be thirty in a couple of years. She was so grown up and had really proved herself at CTU. It made him feel suddenly very old.

Back at the house, Kate had finished the dishes and sat down on the couch to watch her favorite show. She glanced at her watch and decided to give Ryan another fifteen minutes before she called him in. She noticed her wedding album out of the corner of her eye and went over to pick it up. It was dusty, but she opened it and looked at the pictures.

They looked so young. Jack and Kate married in a small ceremony in their backyard soon after Ryan was born. Because of the disaster that Marie's wedding had become, they both agreed they didn't want a large to-do. Kim was her maid of honor, and Chase stood up for Jack. Only close family and friends were in attendance. It was one of the happiest days of her life next to the day her son was born.

Meanwhile, Ryan was curled up in a little ball, wondering if it was safe to move yet. Then he heard footsteps approaching.

To Be Continued...