"Except for you being here I think I'll be fine." She said into the phone, she was vulnerable and Jack always made her feel safe, even when her sister had a gun pointed at her head she felt safe with him.
"I'm so sorry Kate. I promise to get back there as soon as I can." Jack said knowing she needed him, but again duty called and he had to let his personal life go on hold. He thought to himself his rallying call, They always want more than you have. For some reason every time he reached a point where he could just not bring himself to do what he had to do that came to mind and it made him ready to go on for more. "Bye Kate."
He hung he phone up and joined Tony and Michelle for the briefing.
"We don't know a lot about the terrorist group. They are threatening to attack again if we do not stop all aid to Israel and pull troops out of the Middle East." Michelle played the tape for them to hear. Nothing came out of the tape yet they were able to trace the accent to but not limited to Saudi Arabia, but the man could have lived anywhere, but was raised in Saudi Arabia, it didn't amount to much of anything.
"So we have no clues, no leads, and there is going to be another attack among the others that have already happened soon. These terrorist killed the President, single-handedly destroyed the oil reserves, and not mention the other small attacks on gas stations around the U.S." Jack stated.
"Yes." Michelle said knowing where he was going to go with it, "We had no warning of any kind on this."
"Now you want Tony and I to come back in a clean this all up." Jack continued.
"Jack come on don't be so hard on Michelle it's not her fault we were called in." Tony said defending his wife who was taking the most of Jack's anger.
"Sorry Michelle." Jack said finally feeling a little like the arshole he was. "It's just what have you guys done to stop this. Nothing."
"I know Jack. We are trying. We really need your help. For some odd reason you and Tony are able to get things done quickly."
The phone rang and Michelle answered it, "Almeida?"
Bob Cooley came over the phone, "There had just been another attack and there is a man holding a group of people hostage at the mall. Suicide bomber who hasn't blown himself and others away yet."
"I'll send Jack over." Michelle said into the phone.
"I'll go with him." Bob said hanging up before Michelle could say anything back.
"There has just been another attack and there is a threat going on. A man has a group of people held hostage at the mall. He has a bomb strapped to himself. Jack would you please go over and handle the field op's teams there. They need someone to lead."
"Yeah." Jack said putting his feelings aside for the moment there were innocent people's lives at stake, and it was not time to have a paroxysm.
"Bob is going with you." Michelle yelled at Jack as he walked out of the door.
Bob Cooley sat in wait for Jack at the desk outside the door.
Jack recognized the man as the person who arrested him and brought him in. "Don't you have something better to do other than harass me?"
"Yeah stop the terrorist attack. Which you are going towards now." Bob said, "I didn't introduce myself earlier, I'm Bob Cooley. Head of Field Operations."
"Great." Jack said thinking how did they replace him with this chump.
Chase came down to Jack and said, "Welcome back Jack. I got a car all ready for you. SUV fully loaded with all the trimmings."
"Thanks Chase." Jack said grabbing the keys from him. "Staying here?" Jack said testing him.
"Hell yes. Your back in the field last time I was shot, lost my hand, and almost died from being around you so long."
"Nice Chase." Jack said smiling at the young agent who he was proud to know, and even happy that Kim meant him and was going out with him. "Keep Kim safe." Jack said walking out.
Bob followed Jack and said to him, "I'll drive."
"I got it." Jack said never one to let others drive him around. He got in the SUV and backed it out speeding out of CTU. He played with the radio until he found a station he could tolerate.
Even thought I know
I don't want to know
Yeah I guess I know
I just hate how it sounds.
If I traded it all
If I gave it all away
For one thing
Just for one thing
If I sorted it out
If I knew about
This one thing
Wouldn't that be something
Bob went to change the station but was stopped by Jack.
"What are you doing? Leave the radio alone."
"You can't like this music. This is what my daughter listens too."
"Well I can see she inherited her great music taste from her mother." Jack quipped back. Both men did not like the other man and they made it known. "You should be worrying about the terrorist attack and not what's on the radio anyways."
They reached the mall with little other conversation. Jack got out and approached the yellow police tape. He was stopped by a police officer, "Sir you can't go through."
Bob smiled at Jack as he pulled out his badge, "CTU. He's with me."
"Sorry sir." The police officer said raising the yellow police tape to let them through.
Jack followed Bob through the empty mall to the area above where the man with the bomb stood holding at least ten people hostage.
Bob whispered to Jack, "Any plans?"
"Yeah. You go down and talk to the man. IF he decides to set the bomb off you hug him and we hope you take most of the explosion saving the rest." Jack smiled at him, he really did not like the man, and Jack knew he should be serious but his hatred was hard to hold back for the pencil neck dork that took his job.
"Funny. Why did they bring you back again? Aren't you just a wash upped has been?"
"Yeah I am. So maybe I should go back to my nice life again." Jack said walking away.
"Bauer get back here unless you want me to call Brad. I'm sure there is still something out there he can dig up to charge you with. Murder doesn't have a statue of limitations. And your buddy Palmer isn't in office anymore."
Jack stopped in his tracks. He knew what Bob was talking about and his hatred grew. "Fine. What is your plan?"
"We try to diffuse the situation."
"How do you plan on doing that? This man is willing to die. The minute he thinks we will move in they are all dead. So what's your plan?"
"We give him what he wants before he kills everyone."
"How do we know he doesn't have the bomb rigged to go off if he doesn't hold a switch or something?" Jack said still facing away trying to calm the anger he felt and that showed in his voice slightly.
"We look and see." Bob said glancing down at the man who had not seen the two men above him.
Jack turned around and looked. He studied the bomb attached to the man but could not tell much from this far of a distance. "This is useless we won't learn anything standing up here." Jack said walking away with another plan.
"Where are you going Bauer?"
Jack was on the main floor of the mall. He grabbed a flack jacket from one of the police officers, putting it on he walked down the empty hallway of the mall. He heard the quiet whimpers of people being held hostage. Someone grabbed him from behind before he turned the corner to where the man was holding the people.
"What are you doing?" Bob asked looking at Jack.
"Getting information."
"By getting yourself killed. You really aren't that smart are you?"
"I have this lovely one way turned on so you can hear what we are talking about. If the bomb is not rigged so you can shoot him without making everyone die I will give you the signal."
"Which is?" Bob asked.
"I'm sorry."
"What is the signal?"
"I'm SORRY!" Jack said loud, but not loud enough for the people to hear him.
"I can't let you do this. You are still only a civilian."
"Fine you do it." Jack said looking at him knowing he would not chance it, he still had things to hold onto in the world. "Fine I'm going. Get in position and please hit him on the first try." Jack said walking away into the open area.
When he walked into the open area the man looked at him, "What are you doing?" The man screamed in a thick accent.
"I'm just here to talk." Jack said raising his arms to show the man that he was unarmed.
"What do you want to talk about? There is no negotiating."
"I know. I understand your cause, but do you want to kill all these innocent people in the process?"
"Why should I care about these people? Your country and others kill hundreds of innocent people daily, yet we cannot attack your people?"
"I understand." Jack studied the bomb. "It's not fair. But you have to give us time to meet your demands." Jack tried to keep the mans attention.
"Time is something you have had to much off."
"I'm sorry."
