Bob heard the words and aimed his rifle. He had the cross hairs were he needed them he held his breath and pulled the trigger.
Jack felt the bullet whiz past his ear and saw it enter the terrorist skull. Jack hoped his hunch was right.
The terrorist fell to the ground dead. Jack rushed over looking at the bomb it was not active and he knew it wouldn't go off. The hostages were crying still sitting still out of fear. Jack told them, "Some agents are coming in now. They are going to question you and than you will be free to go. If you need to we will have psychiatrist on hand to help with any emotional duress you might have." Jack left them as the agents came in. There was nothing on the man to help identify him.
He ran into Bob as he was heading towards the exit.
"Damn you got some ball's. They told me you never actually thought things out, but damn I didn't expect you to just walk in like that and do it."
"Nice shot. Call Michelle have her get an ID on the body." Jack said as if Bob were to stupid to figure it out himself.
"Already done. There is a possible lead. We got it from the L.A. Police department. They have a possible hide out for a terrorist group. Guess where it is?"
"Where?" Jack said not in the mood.
"A mosque go figure."
Jack and Bob left the mall to go to the mosque. Jack thought about the last time he was in a mosques and than he thought about Kate. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his home number.
The phone rang and Kate looked at it unsure if she should answer it. She wsn't sure if Jack had a girlfriend or just anyone that he would mind her talking to. She finally answered the phone, "Hello."
"Kate it's Jack. How are you doing?"
"I'm good. I borrowed some clothes and money. I found some in the night stand and ordered a pizza."
"Great. I'll try to be home as soon as possible. I have to help out with some stuff and than I'll be there." Jack said goodbye and hung the phone up.
"Who was that?" Bob asked from the passenger seat.
"No one." Jack said focusing on driving.
"OK. Where to next?"
"Do you ever think on your own?" Jack said clearly irritated.
"I must some times because they made me the director of field op's after you left."
"Yeah I see they got desperate." Jack said still angry.
"Yeah especially when they made to director of field op's." Once he said it Bob felt bad, but didn't show it. He actually had respected Jack up until the day with the virus. There were many things Jack could have done instead of what he did that would have saved lives, but in the end Jack always choose the hard way.
Jack didn't answer back. Hit bit his lip trying not to act out on his anger. He sped up and he turned into CTU. When he got out he slammed the car door and walked inside. He leaned against Michelle's desk unsure of what to do next.
"Hey Jack this is a no parking zone." Michelle said joking she hadn't seen Jack in awhile. Tony would invite him over and Jack always had an excuse not to go.
"Sorry." He said standing up.
"WE don't have anything yet. Nothing solid on the guy. I have Chloe and Tony working it if they don't kill each other first. What's your instinct say?" Michelle said trusting Jack's instinct.
"I don't know." Jack said sitting on the sofa thinking about it. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back.
Bob interrupted them and said, "I'll be in my office if you get anything. When your finished with your nap Jack we can try to think of a lead or something to check out."
Michelle smiled at Bob as she watched him leave she liked the man, but she could already tell Jack would hate him.
"Why me?" He said once Bob was out of the office. "That guy is a fu(king idiot." Jack said.
"No he's not. It's like putting to beta fish together they will go at each other till ones dead. You both think you are the best at what you do, and you both are great if you could just work together we might get this threat taken care of.
Jack thought some more and something hit him, "These terrorist up until now, we've had small one major organized threat."
"Yeah?" Michelle said not sure of where he was going.
"This is a major scale attack that would take a lot of funding, and a lot of planning and coordinating among more than one group because the large area."
"So there has to be someone funding it, and someone running it." Michelle said catching up to Jack's thoughts. "we just have to find out who. Want to take bets on which Middle Eastern country it is?"
"Who says the main funding has to come from a Middle Eastern country? It could be Britain for all we know." Jack said not ruling anything out.
"Jack they are Middle Eastern men. With the same believes as those terrorist organizations that are based out of the Middle East. For Christ sakes they are based out of the Middle East there is nothing to show that it is another country or anyone for that matter."
"Same as the day with the nuclear bomb and looked what happen than." Jack said reminding her.
"This is not the same. They did not give up an ultimatum with the bomb. Here they did."
"Which makes it even more weird. When have we received an ultimatum from them that they were seriously willing to give stuff up for? Really think about. Something's not right here." Jack stated.
"Get the proof than Jack. I know you have some of the best instincts but we need proof I can take to the President."
"Sh!t" Jack said all of the sudden.
"What?" Michelle said confused.
"I'm suppose to meet with Palmer sometime today or tomorrow to discuss something with him." Jack said.
"So call him and tell him you have something you have to do. It's not like you have much choice Jack."
Jack grabbed his cell phone and called his office where his secretary gave him the number to Palmers residents in California. After five rings Palmer picked up, "Hello?"
"Sir. It's Jack Bauer. I called to let you know I won't be by anytime soon. I got called back to CTU for a few days to help with a possible threat."
"I really need to talk to you today jack. It's very important that I see you. If you could spear a half hour that's all I'll need." Palmer said.
"I'll try sir. But I can't promise anything." Jack felt obligated to help Palmer in any way necessary after all of the stuff he had done for both Jack and Tony.
"Thank you Jack." Palmer said before he hung up the phone.
"What does he want?" Michelle said after Jack put his phone back.
"He said he needed to talk to me today it was important." Jack said wondering what Palmer could want that could not wait until a terrorist threat was diffused. "Anything yet?" Jack said to bring his thought back to the current problem at hand.
"I don't know lets go make sure those two haven't killed each other yet." Michelle said smiling.
When they walked over to where Chloe and Tony were working Jack could see Tony's face turning red. Jack let out a laugh that caught Tony's attention. "What's so funny?" Tony said snappily.
"Nothing at all." Jack said holding back a smile, Jack wasn't the only one dealing with someone he couldn't stand. "Got anything yet?"
"Nothing. We are running the bombers prints now, but we are getting nothing back on them." Tony said looking at Jack for some sort of help he couldn't stand working next to Chloe any longer.
"What do you think?" Jack asked wanting Tony's opinion on it.
"I don't know what to think there have been a few more attacks: a gas station Florida, a federal building in Illinois, and a prison in Texas that was holding a known terrorist they picked up jumping the boarder a few years ago."
"Get any information on him maybe he has something to do with the group." Jack said.
"No it's a Israeli terrorist not Arab." Tony said. "The only thing I could see is them wanting him dead, but they didn't succeed and he's free at the moment along with a small group of other convicts."
"Are there any connections between these attacks other than theories?" Michelle asked.
"Nothing other than the group who is claiming them by calling the local law enforcement agencies. We have tapes of all the calls coming in for voice and other analysis." Chloe finally jumped in.
Jack looked at his watch, there was nothing he could do here and he still had a business to run, "I'm going to go see Palmer and see what he needs. Call me if you get anything." Jack said turning to walk away.
Michelle said, "Jack this is important."
"I know Michelle but there is nothing I can do here right now. I'll think about it and see if Palmer can think of anything he was president for four years so he might have some idea of something we are missing too." Jack said walking away.
Bob Cooley walked down and saw Jack leaving. He ran after Jack and grabbed Jack's arm as he was walking out the door, "Where do you think you are going?" Bob said in a commanding tone that already had Jack ready to knock him out.
"To see David Palmer. Michelle already knows. I'll be back. If anything happens they can call me."
"This is not the time to be visiting with old friends Bauer." Bob said still holding on to Jacks arm.
"Bob we don't like each other. So I'm going to give you a friendly warning, IF you don't take your damn hand off me in three seconds I'm going to spend the rest of the day in jail for knocking you the fuck out." Jack hissed through clenched teeth. "I've done this job longer than you and I would not go visit friends on a day like this. There is nothing I can do right now. Tony and Chloe are running around trying to find a lead, we have none, so I'm going to talk to an old friend and a valuable source of information to see if he has anything, and possibly help him with whatever problem he might have. If you have a problem take it up with someone who gives a damn." Jack yanked his arm away from Bobs grip and walked out of CTU.
Bob stood in the doorway to shocked to react. He went back to his office angry. How could he let Bauer show him up like that. Still mad and not sure what to do Bob grabbed his coat and keys and yelled over to Michelle as he walked out, "Call me if you got anything."
Jack drove watching for anyone or anything following him. Sure that no one was around he continued on to Palmers house. He contemplated what Palmer could want. It sounded very urgent and Palmer sounded stressed, something he should not be now that he was just a civilian with enough money to retire on. Lost in thought Jack was surprised when he felt the car wasn't moving anymore, he was at Palmers house. Getting out Jack scanned the area there weren't any secret service men in sight, Aaron, who was Palmers friend and trusted head of secret service, followed Palmer out of the white house was no where to be found. Jack knocked on the door and waited for Palmer to answer. Jack thought maybe they were inside or just on leave, Palmer had been known to evade them a few times especially when something bad was going down.
