Thanks for the reviews. I hate Hammond too, and might actually try ending it with him being "accidentally" killed.
I promise no killing or hurting Tony (in case you want to know, he'll be in the next part)
"You knew." Jack's voice echoed across the parking lot, the anger in it making it thunder. He wondered if anyone would care if he wrapped his fingers around Hammond's neck and drained all the life from his body. They'd sent Michelle to her death, and he had known.
The smile on Hammond's face vanished, returning to that superior air of condescension that he normally wore. "President Keeler wants one of our agents to talk him through the mission, its important to him that the information remains private. You need to leave now."
And there it was. Michelle would die, and Jack would go to the president and play the babysitter. Jack knew full well that if he tried to help her, he would be shot as a traitor before he even got near to the building.
Hammond watched Jack's mind sort through the possibilities and felt a laugh rising up inside him. He waited until Jack got into the car before he turned to go back inside. Laughter ran silently in his head.
Michelle glanced at her watch, another half an hour until they got there. She was supposed to be reviewing the mission plan, but she no longer cared. Her mind was focused elsewhere. In 9 days, Tony would die, alone. Would he blame her for not being there, for not coming back? He'd forgiven her before, could he do it again?
She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them to her body. Jack would be there for him, he'd tell Tony what she'd said, and she wouldn't have to watch him die.
They'd been over the mission twice, Jack knew there was no way he could get to Michelle now. Jack suspected President Keeler was the stupidest person he'd ever met in his life.
"So the agent we're sending in, what are his chances of survival?" President Keeler knew Jack was getting irritated with him, but he needed to be sure of the details. It was very important that the information these terrorists had was kept secret.
Jack wanted to say that there weren't any, she was going to die regardless of what happened, but didn't. "Her chances are low."
"Her." They were sending in a girl?
"Michelle Dessler is one of our best, highly trained and with an immunity to the virus." Jack answered automatically. This had happened before, politicians in particular seemed to have difficulty accepting that Michelle might be good for anything except washing dishes. He pulled up her service record. Eight top secret missions in the last six years. Six completed successfully without any casualties. Two completed but with extensive civilian casualties.
Keeler barely glanced at her record, he was entranced by her picture. She was fairly young, too young to have such a haunted look in her eyes. She was unbelievably pretty. Somehow, it would have been easier if she'd been a middle aged man with a shaven head and dead eyes. "Can I speak to her? I mean, she ought to know that she has her country's gratitude before she walks into that building."
Jack stared at Keeler, he had a strange look in his eyes and was swallowing hard. Almost as if he cared.
Jack nodded and pulled out his phone, calling the agent in charge of transporting Michelle.
The man, Michelle couldn't remember his name, gave her his phone. Who would be calling her? She imagined that Hammond had sent Jack somewhere where he couldn't interfere. The second before she put the phone to her, her heart skipped a beat. Maybe it was Tony. Placing the phone to her ear, she felt her face fall as Jack's voice sounded in her ear.
"Michelle?"
"Yes." Why was he calling her. It was too late. He couldn't change her mind.
"I have the President of the United States here. He wants to speak to you." Jack almost smiled as he imagined her face on the other end of the phone.
"Miss Dessler, this is President Keeler. I just wanted to make sure you understood that you had your country's undying gratitude."
God, this document must be important if the President of the United States was calling her to make sure she did her job properly. Responding as she should, not in a way that represented how she felt, Michelle said, "Thank you sir."
Even her voice was beautiful. She sounded so vulnerable, surely they had someone else who could do this. "Is there anything we can do for you?"
Michelle thought of all the things she could say, and was sorely tempted to ask for a pardon for Tony. But she'd already tried that one. Palmer had made it clear that that would never happen. Instead, she said, "Just tell my husband that I love him and that I am so sorry."
Upon hearing her words, Jack knew they were meant for him. She wanted him to tell Tony that she was sorry. That would have been funny if it hadn't been so awful. Despite everything, he was the only person in the world who she was close to, the only person she could trust.
Hanging up, Keeler turned to Jack and said, "Surely we must have someone else, someone who doesn't have a family."
Jack shook his head, Keeler had taken her words to mean that she had a husband sat at home waiting for her. "She's the only one with a chance at this."
"Honestly, what are her chances of coming through this." He didn't like to admit it, but the idea that they were sending her in made him distinctly uncomfortable.
Jack looked at him for a moment, trying to look for the best way to dress the truth up. Then, deciding it didn't matter, he said, "She's not coming back."
"What? But you said..."
"If there was a way out, Michelle would find it, but she doesn't want to come back."
This didn't make sense to Keeler, why wouldn't she want to come back, "But, she has a family, a husband. Of course she wants to come back."
So Keeler didn't know. That didn't surprise Jack, Keeler looked too stupid to know anything apart from his own name. "Her husband's name is Tony Almeida, he is being executed for treason next week."
Tony Almeida, he knew that name. "Wasn't he was the man who committed treason to save his..." Keeler didn't finish his sentence, he couldn't. Tony Almeida was the man who committed treason to save his wife, the woman he'd just sent to her death.
Jack watched Keeler scurry through the door. Yes, that's right, run away. That'll make things better. God, he hated that man.