Chapter 11

Amy and Kate approached the scene on foot. They had to park a block away due to the sheer number of police and federal cars, ambulances, and television news vans surrounding the site. They heard talk of gunfire as they passed and then saw several bodies being taken out of the plant as they moved closer.

Kate squeezed Amy's hand, "What am I going to do if something happened to Jack?"

"Don't worry," she answered, "We both know Jack has been through worse and come out ok." Amy silently prayed that her thickheaded brother hadn't done something stupid like get himself shot. Again.

They reached the perimeter of the scene cordoned off with police tape. As they ducked to go under it, a young agent walked up to them, "I'm sorry, you're going to have to wait behind there."

Amy groaned, "What is it with you rookies today?"

The agent shot back, "Excuse me, ma'am, but you aren't authorized to come in here."

Amy wanted to punch him, but she lowered her fist and held herself back. Instead she said, "Look, this is Jack Bauer's wife. If you don't let us in, you are going to have two very distraught and emotional women on your hands."

"Did you say Jack Bauer?" the agent questioned.

"Yes, this is his wife and I'm his sister," Amy responded.

"Sorry, I didn't know, come on through. Agent Goodrich thought you might show up here." He led them to the command post and introduced them to SAIC Goodrich.

He shook both of their hands and explained, "Ryan is right over there, Agent Joiner will go get him for you." He motioned to the rookie agent, and then continued, "Jack is still inside with the paramedics getting checked out, he will be out soon." He noticed the stricken look on their faces and added with a chuckle, "Don't worry, he's fine, just a few bumps. He somehow always manages to come out of these things unscathed."

"Mommy!" Ryan ran as fast as he could toward Kate as soon as he saw her. She scooped him up in a giant bear hug and kissed his face.

"Ryan, thank god you are ok. Did they hurt you?" She checked him out from head to toe, making sure he was fine.

"No mom, I'm fine. Where's dad, they won't let me see him. Hi Amy!"

Amy reached over and ruffled his hair, "Hey sport, I'm glad to see you. You had us all really worried."

Kate set Ryan down and kneeled down next to him and took both of his hands, "Honey, what happened?"

He lowered his head, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see, and they had big guns, and dad came here and I slipped under the door when the guard wasn't looking, and—"

Kate was confused, "Ryan, slow down, what are you talking about?"

"Kate!" Jack came out of the building limping towards her. She turned and put Ryan's hand in Amy's, then ran to Jack and embraced him tightly, "Jack, don't ever do this to me again. I can't do it anymore." Her hand went to hold the back of his head and she felt the bandages. "Oh my god, what happened?"

He kissed Kate and hugged her again. "It's nothing, I'm fine, just got into a little fight. Where's Ryan?"

"Daddy!" Ryan let go of Amy's hand and ran over to Jack.

Jack leaned in and picked him up, "Hey sport, you really scared me." Jack turned serious, "But if you ever do something like this again, you'll have worse things to worry about than terrorists. If you're lucky, we might let you out of the house before you're thirty."

Kate looked between the two men in her life, she knew she was missing something and demanded, "What's going on you two, what happened?"

He grinned at her and looked down, "Uh, I'll explain on the way home. I think this is going to be a really long conversation, and I need to sit down. Let's get out of here."

Kate looked to Ryan for explanation, but he just looked up at her with his angel face, "I'm sorry mom, I promise I'll never do it again."

Jack walked over to Amy and leaned in to hug her, "Thanks for your help Amy, I owe you."

She looked up at her big brother and joked, "Yeah, again. When am I ever going to collect on all these promises?" Amy hugged him again, "I'm really glad you and Ryan are safe. I'll call Kim and let her know."

Agent Goodrich walked up to the newly reunited family, "Jack, you can debrief at CTU tomorrow. We talked to Ariz and it seemed the only thing they were really after is the money." He shook his head and laughed, "These were the worst terrorists I've ever seen."

Jack nodded his agreement and turned to leave. He asked Kate as they headed towards the car, "What do you think about a nice, long vacation?"

THE END