Chapter 9

Amy called Kim's extension at CTU, "Kim, it's Amy."

"Hey, how's Kate?"

"She's holding up, but listen, we've tried Jack's office and cell phone and there's no answer. Kate really needs reassurances from him; he should be here with her. Can you connect me?"

Kim paused, wondering how much to tell her, "Um, dad's unreachable, he's in the field at the power plant."

"Well, then transfer me over there, we won't take too long."

"I can't Amy." Kim sounded scared.

"Why not? What's wrong?" Amy wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer.

Kim realized Amy wouldn't let up, so she had to tell her the truth, "He traded himself for Ryan. He's inside the power plant."

"WHAT?" Amy yelled into the phone, turning heads throughout the room. Then she lowered her voice, "What are you talking about? So Ryan's safe?"

"I'm sorry Amy, that's all I know. I'll call you back when I know more. I'm as worried about them as you are, but you know Dad. I have to think he'll be ok or I won't get through this."

"Ok, bye."

She put the phone down as Kate rushed up to her, "Did you get a hold of Jack?"

Amy shook her head. She didn't want to tell Kate the truth, but she also didn't want her to hear about it from anyone else. She had a right to know. "Kate, sit down." She led her to the couch.

Kate was getting very worried. People only asked you to sit down when they were giving you bad news. "Is it Ryan? Something's happened hasn't it?" She put her hand to her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Amy shook her head again, "No, it's Jack. He traded himself for Ryan. He's inside the power plant that was taken over by terrorists."

"Oh, my god! No!" Too many questions flooded her mind at once and rushed to get them out, "Is Ryan safe? Why did Jack go back into the field? Why haven't we heard anything yet? Why didn't he call?"

Amy tried to comfort her, "I don't know anything else, but Kim promised to call with more information." She hugged Kate, "Jack can take care of himself, he's been in worse situations than this, I know he'll be fine. And so will Ryan."

Kate closed her eyes, letting the tears fall, "This is my worst fear come true."

"Ryan, I'd like to ask you a couple questions about your abductors," Agent Goodrich asked.

"My what?"

"The people who kidnapped you, can you describe them?" He had forgotten he was talking to an eight year old.

Ryan was confused, "But no one kidnapped me."

Now Goodrich was confused, "What do you mean?"

Agent Bowman interrupted, "Sir, they're on the phone again, they want to speak to whoever is in charge now that they have custody of Agent Bauer."

He put out his hand, "I guess that would be me."

"This is Special Agent Brett Goodrich."

"I assume that you want Mr. Bauer to come out of here alive."

"Of course."

Hassan smiled, "Good. Then this is what you need to do. Deposit ten million dollars into an account we have set up in the Caymans. I will call you back to give you the account number to give you time to collect the funds."

"That's a lot of money, it is going to take some time."

"Not compared to one of your movie budgets. Now, where is my helicopter?"

"En route." Agent Goodrich debated on telling him that they had Ryan back. He wasn't sure if that would make it worse or better. They probably didn't even know he was missing yet.

"Goodbye Mr. Goodrich, I will call soon. You better get that money or Mr. Bauer will not make it." The line went dead.

Money, that's what they all wanted. Agent Goodrich went back over to Ryan, who was sitting on the back of an ambulance covered in a blanket. "Ryan, what do you mean when you said no one kidnapped you?"

Ryan glanced at the gun that hung from the agent's belt and figured he should tell the truth, "I only wanted to see CTU and then I went inside and I heard them talking and they don't have any bombs and I'm sorry, I'll never do it again, I promise."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. How did you get here?"

Ryan put his head down, "I hid in the back of my dad's truck. I was going to look around CTU, but then he came here."

Agent Goodrich smiled, "So you weren't kidnapped?"

Ryan shook his head, "No."

"So you stowed away in Jack's truck and then what?" Agent Goodrich couldn't understand why Ryan was in the building.

"I was waiting in the car and I was about to get out and look around CTU, then he came back and drove here. I got out and wanted to get a closer look at what was going on, there were so many police cars and stuff around so I snuck around back."

The agent nodded, "Go on."

"So I hid behind bushes all the way up to the door. I thought it would be cool to sneak in like they do in the movies, so I waited till the guard moved, and I went in. Did you know those guys inside have really big guns?"

He was really starting to like this kid, "Yes, we know, keep going."

"So I kept under tables and stuff, trying to hear what they had to say."

"And did you hear anything."

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, there were two guys talking, a really big one and a smaller one. The smaller one asked if he thought they were going to find out there weren't any other bombs planted and that they had used all the money they had on the bomb at ULCA. And the other got mad and said they would be gone before they found out."

"Do you remember anything else? How many men did you see?"

"They also said they were welcoming a guest. That's it. I only saw three guards at the doors and then the other two men."

"Thanks Ryan, you were very brave. I have to go now, but Agent Bowman will stay with you."

Ryan grabbed his arm as the agent turned away, "Am I in trouble?"

"Well, Ryan, I'm sure that your dad is going to be little upset with you, but I think they will be more relieved that you are ok."

"Can I see him?" He was scared about what Jack would say, but now he just wanted to go home.

"Soon, he's busy right now. Just sit tight." The agent left.

Jack had been led into an office with Hassan and listened while he relayed his newest demand to Agent Goodrich. So this is what this was about. Money. That's what it usually boiled down to. This man didn't care about troops in his country or women and children; it was just to throw them off.

"Jack?" The voice in his ear was back.

He lightly coughed.

"You are not going to believe this." He paused, and then continued, "Ryan was never kidnapped, he was hiding in your backseat and then got out when you came here. He snuck into the building on his own."

Jack yelled out, "What?"

Hassan turned to look at him, wondering whom he was talking to, "Mr. Bauer, do you have something to say?"

Jack thought quickly, "What are you going to do with me?"

"If your friends cooperate, you will be fine."

Jack continued, trying to get the message to Agent Goodrich, "How are you going to pull this off with only fifteen people?"

"Copy that Jack," Agent Goodrich said in his ear, "Can you see anything else?"

"The bomb on the door wasn't even real, they are going to figure it out soon."

Hassan was getting angry, "Enough, all is going according to plan. Now shut up, I've heard enough from you."

Agent Goodrich spoke up, "Jack, Ryan overheard two men saying there really aren't any more bombs at any other power plants, it was a ploy to keep us busy and give them time to get out. We feel it is time to end this. Are you ready?"

Jack coughed again, then spoke one more time to Hassan, "Hey Hassan, how's the weather?"

To Be Continued...

Is anyone reading this??? If so, do you like it? Two chapters left