"This is it, then?" Tony asked nodding towards a large wooden container. "Any idea what's in there?"
Jack stopped to look at the container: "No, but we'll find out soon. Help me find something to open it."
Tony started turning aroung in search for a tool or alike. "I swear to God I'll kill him if he's got anything to do with Michelle's death." He muttered to himself thinking about Chase.
"Not if I get him first." Jack replied knowing right away who his friend was talking about. Tony looked at Jack and smiled. He didn't think he had heard him.
"This will do." Jack found a crowbar from a toolbox in the corner and lifted it on the air and showed it to Tony.
Michelle walked around the room searching for something she could use to get the door open. She kicked the door frustratedly once more knowing that it wouldn't open and no one would hear them. She felt stupid for getting out of the car in the first place. She should have known better. And when Kim started making noise and she realized where she was, maybe she could've done something more to prevent the situation from getting so bad. She could have stopped Alex for starters. Why did men have to play heroes?
Kim sat on the floor next to Alex. He was breathing but was no longer conscious, although Kim had managed to get the bullet wound cleaned and tied quite nicely.
"I still can't believe you're alive." Kim gasped. The room cast a deep shadow over her and the small window didn't provide much of a light.
"Believe it or not." Michelle smiled. "I'm pretty much amazed myself. Our house is completely wrecked and had I been inside..."
"I'm sorry about the house."
"Don't be, it's just stuff. I couldn't stand the neighbors anyway." She tried to lighten up the situation and she managed to get a faint smile on Kim's face, which wiped away quickly as Michelle's voice got a more serious tone: "How's Tony? I reckon he didn't take it too well?"
Kim let her eyes drop to the ground. "I didn't get a good chance to talk with him, but Jack did, though."
Michelle was glad that Jack was there for Tony.
"But he seemed.. pretty scattered basically. And it's totally understandable. He sounded so sad but also at the same time so angry."
"I wish he doesn't do anything stupid. Do you know where he is?"
"What do you mean?" Kim asked unaware that her father and Tony had left the building at the same time she found herself being attacked by her boyfriend.
"Chase said they were out. What is he planning to do?"
"With us?"
"With the whole situation..."
"I think it has something to do with the dead agents."
"With what dead agents?" It was Michelle's turn to be puzzled.
"You wouldn't know, would you?" Kim sighed going through the things Jack had told them earlier. "I don't know everything, because, well, Tony told us about you and we were all kinda upset.. But well, anyway... Dad told us about the missing satellite frames Tony and that new girl were working on earlier and that the team he'd sent to check the location was found shot and the warehouse had been cleaned in a hurry and then there was your house and then I was about to go get Chloe because she was the one who found the satellite images and that was when Chase, well, attacked me..." Kim took a deep breath, she had just let the words out and forgot to breath, that upset she was.
"Oh my God, I didn't know that.." Taking a closer look at Kim, Michelle noticed her eye had swollen a bit from the fight with Chase – she'd have a black eye later. "You were going to get Chloe? I checked some files for her before I left."
"So did dad say. He thought they were all connected: the warehouse, you, your house, Chloe and the files, everything. And now Chase. I just don't see how."
Michelle was putting together the puzzle but there was still pieces missing. Suddenly she remembered something: "Do you know someone called Lilah here in the office?"
Kim went through names and faces in her head. "Lilah? Does she work in domestics?"
"I'm not sure but I think I've seen her in the coffee room perhaps. Dark, shoulder lenght hair, mid-thirties maybe, thin and about my height..." Michelle described.
"Yeah! Now I remember her, she's a bit quiet, not much of a talker, isn't she? Why are you asking?"
"She gave me a ride home and just minutes after she drove off the house blew up. I think that's just too big a coincidence."
"You can't be sure, can you? I mean, you remember me telling you about how she dates Ryan Chappelle? And I don't think she would be a mole, if that's what you're saying?"
There could have been someone other around their house too, now that Michelle came to think of it, but he would have probably spotted her when she walked out of the house. "She's dating Ryan? When did you tell me that?" Michelle realized what Kim had just said.
"When I heard the girls from District gossiping about it some time ago. You were as amazed as I was, you even said that you didn't think anyone could ever be involved with him!" Kim laughed.
Michelle smiled. "That sounds like me!"
"But seriously." Kim lowered her voice. "You can't believe that he would be involved in this!"
"I don't know what to believe!" Michelle sighed. "But he sure holds grudges against me and Tony."
"But still, he wouldn't get this personal. He's the biggest nitpick I've ever met when it comes to rules!"
Michelle smiled - Kim was right.
Jack and Tony had struggled getting the cargo opened and finally, when the wooden door had opened, there'd been more wooden boxes, but smaller and they'd carried one outside. Jack was now opening the box. Tony was breathing nervously and he could see that Jack was as eager to open that box as he was. The wooden planks soon gave in to Jack's attempts and revealed its contents. Jack lifted a large weapon inside.
"RPG-7, a grenade launcher." He gasped. "I saw these in Kosovo." He looked at Tony, who nodded at him. "It can be fired from over 400 metres from the target. They leave a big mess..."
"Why not smuggle guns, why these?" Tony wondered looking inside the box and seeing more alike.
"I bet they pay high prices from these in the Middle East. The other warehouse was probably where they kept them before selling them to terrorists." Jack muttered checking the gun and then carefully putting it back to the box.
"Whoever Chase is working for, won't let these gather dust in here. I'll bet they're going to pick up the cargo some time soon." Tony said developing a plan in his head. He hadn't been in field for ages but that was like riding a bicycle, once you've learned it, you'll never forget it.
"And we'll get them then." Jack continued.
They looked at each other and a thought crossed their minds at the same moment and Jack grabbed his cell-phone. Chase was heading CTU as they were speaking!
"Drop the phone, Jack!" A figure came out from the shadows followed by two other. Jack let his hand drop, when he noticed he was at gun point. Two guns, to be exact, was aimed at them. One was aimed at him and the other at Tony, who hadn't noticed the three men sneaking in either.
Jack didn't need to see the face of the man, neither did Tony. They both recognized him by voice.
"Surprised to see me?"
"Not really, Ryan, I was just thinking that something smelled really bad here. Should've known it was you all along."
Ryan Chappelle smirked. "A lot of talk considering the situation, Jack. Drop the phone to the ground and your guns too and kick them over here. NOW!"
Jack and Tony did as they were told to do.
"So what were you going to do with these? Sell them to terrorists and help them destroy innocent lives of women and children?" Jack tried to come up with an escape plan. They probably hadn't noticed Kate and if only she'd realized the situation before they would get her.
"That's not your concern. I'm actually surprised that you found out this quickly and amazed that you didn't find out sooner."Ryan Chappelle kept on smirking nastily. "You'd probably be still sleeping completely unaware of everything if there hadn't been that idiotic partner of yours who has a tendency of screwing things up, but I'm amazed that, once again, you couldn't spot a mole even if it was shagging with your own daughter under your nose!" He laughed at his last comment which he thought had successfully hit a nerve. And it had. Jack was disgusted by Chappelle and he had to control himself so he wouldn't jump at his throat and choke him to death.
"You son of a bitch!" Jack hissed through his teeth. "I always knew you were a sleazy bastard! Didn't make enough profit working for the Government like the rest of us, uh?"
"Everyone has their price, Jack. Even your precious golden boy Chase did!"
"And it's worth it?! Worth killing two good agents...?" Jack shouted hoping to spend enough time for Kate to arrive. If she hadn't get caught yet. Jack was sure that they hadn't noticed her yet though, if they had Chappelle would have been first to tell him. He wished he could wipe that smile off his face.
"Worth killing my wife?!" Tony opened his mouth.
"There are always unexpected losses in war. Think of her as a casualty. Besides, as much as the thought of you losing someone you love, after you two humiliated me in front of everybody and nearly put me into coma and made me the most unpopular person in the whole country just after the terrorists, thrilled me, I honestly did not intend to kill her. You can blame Chase for that. If that ugly computer analyst hadn't found the files he left on the computer and brought them to Michelle, you and your wife would be enjoying your morning porridge right about now!"
Jack felt guilty for having Michelle check the files Chloe had brought to him. "Ryan, she didn't even find anything...!"
"I had to be sure. You can also think that.. What was her name, again? Chloe? ...As a casualty too. And your stupid Kimberly as well!"
"If you lay your hands on my daughter..." Jack started emphasizing every word.
"Don't have to. My side-kick will do the dirty work for me! But enough of the chat already, I have a buyer to meet."
Ryan Chappelle was about to leave, but turned around once more: "And, don't worry. Jack, you'll meet your daughter soon and Tony will be reunited with his wife."
He turned to address the men holding the guns: "Shoot 'em and dump the bodies so they won't be found in a few days. I don't see who could be left to miss them but atleast I'll get out of the country safely!"
Jack wished he'd had an extra grenade to blow Ryan Chappelle to the orbit of Pluto as he watched him to leave.
Jack stopped to look at the container: "No, but we'll find out soon. Help me find something to open it."
Tony started turning aroung in search for a tool or alike. "I swear to God I'll kill him if he's got anything to do with Michelle's death." He muttered to himself thinking about Chase.
"Not if I get him first." Jack replied knowing right away who his friend was talking about. Tony looked at Jack and smiled. He didn't think he had heard him.
"This will do." Jack found a crowbar from a toolbox in the corner and lifted it on the air and showed it to Tony.
Michelle walked around the room searching for something she could use to get the door open. She kicked the door frustratedly once more knowing that it wouldn't open and no one would hear them. She felt stupid for getting out of the car in the first place. She should have known better. And when Kim started making noise and she realized where she was, maybe she could've done something more to prevent the situation from getting so bad. She could have stopped Alex for starters. Why did men have to play heroes?
Kim sat on the floor next to Alex. He was breathing but was no longer conscious, although Kim had managed to get the bullet wound cleaned and tied quite nicely.
"I still can't believe you're alive." Kim gasped. The room cast a deep shadow over her and the small window didn't provide much of a light.
"Believe it or not." Michelle smiled. "I'm pretty much amazed myself. Our house is completely wrecked and had I been inside..."
"I'm sorry about the house."
"Don't be, it's just stuff. I couldn't stand the neighbors anyway." She tried to lighten up the situation and she managed to get a faint smile on Kim's face, which wiped away quickly as Michelle's voice got a more serious tone: "How's Tony? I reckon he didn't take it too well?"
Kim let her eyes drop to the ground. "I didn't get a good chance to talk with him, but Jack did, though."
Michelle was glad that Jack was there for Tony.
"But he seemed.. pretty scattered basically. And it's totally understandable. He sounded so sad but also at the same time so angry."
"I wish he doesn't do anything stupid. Do you know where he is?"
"What do you mean?" Kim asked unaware that her father and Tony had left the building at the same time she found herself being attacked by her boyfriend.
"Chase said they were out. What is he planning to do?"
"With us?"
"With the whole situation..."
"I think it has something to do with the dead agents."
"With what dead agents?" It was Michelle's turn to be puzzled.
"You wouldn't know, would you?" Kim sighed going through the things Jack had told them earlier. "I don't know everything, because, well, Tony told us about you and we were all kinda upset.. But well, anyway... Dad told us about the missing satellite frames Tony and that new girl were working on earlier and that the team he'd sent to check the location was found shot and the warehouse had been cleaned in a hurry and then there was your house and then I was about to go get Chloe because she was the one who found the satellite images and that was when Chase, well, attacked me..." Kim took a deep breath, she had just let the words out and forgot to breath, that upset she was.
"Oh my God, I didn't know that.." Taking a closer look at Kim, Michelle noticed her eye had swollen a bit from the fight with Chase – she'd have a black eye later. "You were going to get Chloe? I checked some files for her before I left."
"So did dad say. He thought they were all connected: the warehouse, you, your house, Chloe and the files, everything. And now Chase. I just don't see how."
Michelle was putting together the puzzle but there was still pieces missing. Suddenly she remembered something: "Do you know someone called Lilah here in the office?"
Kim went through names and faces in her head. "Lilah? Does she work in domestics?"
"I'm not sure but I think I've seen her in the coffee room perhaps. Dark, shoulder lenght hair, mid-thirties maybe, thin and about my height..." Michelle described.
"Yeah! Now I remember her, she's a bit quiet, not much of a talker, isn't she? Why are you asking?"
"She gave me a ride home and just minutes after she drove off the house blew up. I think that's just too big a coincidence."
"You can't be sure, can you? I mean, you remember me telling you about how she dates Ryan Chappelle? And I don't think she would be a mole, if that's what you're saying?"
There could have been someone other around their house too, now that Michelle came to think of it, but he would have probably spotted her when she walked out of the house. "She's dating Ryan? When did you tell me that?" Michelle realized what Kim had just said.
"When I heard the girls from District gossiping about it some time ago. You were as amazed as I was, you even said that you didn't think anyone could ever be involved with him!" Kim laughed.
Michelle smiled. "That sounds like me!"
"But seriously." Kim lowered her voice. "You can't believe that he would be involved in this!"
"I don't know what to believe!" Michelle sighed. "But he sure holds grudges against me and Tony."
"But still, he wouldn't get this personal. He's the biggest nitpick I've ever met when it comes to rules!"
Michelle smiled - Kim was right.
Jack and Tony had struggled getting the cargo opened and finally, when the wooden door had opened, there'd been more wooden boxes, but smaller and they'd carried one outside. Jack was now opening the box. Tony was breathing nervously and he could see that Jack was as eager to open that box as he was. The wooden planks soon gave in to Jack's attempts and revealed its contents. Jack lifted a large weapon inside.
"RPG-7, a grenade launcher." He gasped. "I saw these in Kosovo." He looked at Tony, who nodded at him. "It can be fired from over 400 metres from the target. They leave a big mess..."
"Why not smuggle guns, why these?" Tony wondered looking inside the box and seeing more alike.
"I bet they pay high prices from these in the Middle East. The other warehouse was probably where they kept them before selling them to terrorists." Jack muttered checking the gun and then carefully putting it back to the box.
"Whoever Chase is working for, won't let these gather dust in here. I'll bet they're going to pick up the cargo some time soon." Tony said developing a plan in his head. He hadn't been in field for ages but that was like riding a bicycle, once you've learned it, you'll never forget it.
"And we'll get them then." Jack continued.
They looked at each other and a thought crossed their minds at the same moment and Jack grabbed his cell-phone. Chase was heading CTU as they were speaking!
"Drop the phone, Jack!" A figure came out from the shadows followed by two other. Jack let his hand drop, when he noticed he was at gun point. Two guns, to be exact, was aimed at them. One was aimed at him and the other at Tony, who hadn't noticed the three men sneaking in either.
Jack didn't need to see the face of the man, neither did Tony. They both recognized him by voice.
"Surprised to see me?"
"Not really, Ryan, I was just thinking that something smelled really bad here. Should've known it was you all along."
Ryan Chappelle smirked. "A lot of talk considering the situation, Jack. Drop the phone to the ground and your guns too and kick them over here. NOW!"
Jack and Tony did as they were told to do.
"So what were you going to do with these? Sell them to terrorists and help them destroy innocent lives of women and children?" Jack tried to come up with an escape plan. They probably hadn't noticed Kate and if only she'd realized the situation before they would get her.
"That's not your concern. I'm actually surprised that you found out this quickly and amazed that you didn't find out sooner."Ryan Chappelle kept on smirking nastily. "You'd probably be still sleeping completely unaware of everything if there hadn't been that idiotic partner of yours who has a tendency of screwing things up, but I'm amazed that, once again, you couldn't spot a mole even if it was shagging with your own daughter under your nose!" He laughed at his last comment which he thought had successfully hit a nerve. And it had. Jack was disgusted by Chappelle and he had to control himself so he wouldn't jump at his throat and choke him to death.
"You son of a bitch!" Jack hissed through his teeth. "I always knew you were a sleazy bastard! Didn't make enough profit working for the Government like the rest of us, uh?"
"Everyone has their price, Jack. Even your precious golden boy Chase did!"
"And it's worth it?! Worth killing two good agents...?" Jack shouted hoping to spend enough time for Kate to arrive. If she hadn't get caught yet. Jack was sure that they hadn't noticed her yet though, if they had Chappelle would have been first to tell him. He wished he could wipe that smile off his face.
"Worth killing my wife?!" Tony opened his mouth.
"There are always unexpected losses in war. Think of her as a casualty. Besides, as much as the thought of you losing someone you love, after you two humiliated me in front of everybody and nearly put me into coma and made me the most unpopular person in the whole country just after the terrorists, thrilled me, I honestly did not intend to kill her. You can blame Chase for that. If that ugly computer analyst hadn't found the files he left on the computer and brought them to Michelle, you and your wife would be enjoying your morning porridge right about now!"
Jack felt guilty for having Michelle check the files Chloe had brought to him. "Ryan, she didn't even find anything...!"
"I had to be sure. You can also think that.. What was her name, again? Chloe? ...As a casualty too. And your stupid Kimberly as well!"
"If you lay your hands on my daughter..." Jack started emphasizing every word.
"Don't have to. My side-kick will do the dirty work for me! But enough of the chat already, I have a buyer to meet."
Ryan Chappelle was about to leave, but turned around once more: "And, don't worry. Jack, you'll meet your daughter soon and Tony will be reunited with his wife."
He turned to address the men holding the guns: "Shoot 'em and dump the bodies so they won't be found in a few days. I don't see who could be left to miss them but atleast I'll get out of the country safely!"
Jack wished he'd had an extra grenade to blow Ryan Chappelle to the orbit of Pluto as he watched him to leave.