CHAPTER TWO: EARLY WARNING
Airforce One on approach to JFK International: 3:27pmPresident John Keeler was tired, although exhausted would perhaps be the better term. Sat in his office as the presidential airliner readied itself for a final approach to awaiting airport, he was trying desperately to catch a few minutes rest before having to reveal himself to the viewing public yet again. He could feel the lethargy sweeping over him, his sleep deprived limbs becoming numb as he sank deeper and deeper toward slumber. A small, satisfied smile spread across his face. Since winning the office of president following David Palmer's dramatic, and to some, unexpected announcement of his decision to withdraw from the presidential race, sleep had not come easily.
He was beginning to admit a grudging respect for Palmer that he had never had before. While he had managed to avoid the early character attacks that had rocked the Palmer administration he had nevertheless suffered setbacks and scandal the likes of which he had never envisioned. His Vice President, Donald McArthur, had resigned within the first six months for health concerns. His abrupt departure so shortly after taking up the office had triggered a media feeding frenzy. Some of the more downmarket rags had even reported stories of incompetence and conspiracy to conceal the truth from the public. It had taken a press conference and a protracted inquest to determine that no cover up had been made and that McArthur had in fact resigned due to a recently diagnosed heart condition. Still the damage to his standing in the public eye had been significant and since then, Keeler had been struggling to regain public support.
Recently though, the tide had begun to turn in his favour and finally he was beginning to feel at ease again. In fact once START IV had been signed he was planning on a short vacation to ease some of the stress he had been under, something that would've been unthinkable a mere month ago. Yes, for the first time since he'd taken up office, his future as President of the United States was looking decidedly good.
He'd just drifted off to sleep when there was a knock on the door. Keeler gave a frustrated groan as he forced himself back into the land of the living, rubbing balefully at his eyes.
"Yes?" he demanded, trying his best not to sound like a crotchety old man who'd just been deprived of sleep. His personal aide poked her head around the door and flashed him a sheepish grin.
"I'm sorry Mr President, but I've got CIA Director Sikes on the line. He says it's urgent." Keeler gave a second more pitiful groan and hung his head in his hands.
"Put him through." He said. Common sense told him he wasn't about to get another shot at sleep.
New York: 3:45pm
Long shadows stretched lazily across the street as Kim and Tony sat beneath the striped awning of the roadside café, sipping their coffee in a bizarre silence as the world moved noisily by beside them. It was hardly the kind of reunion Kim had wished for, but then Tony was the last person she'd expected to come visit her. She'd moved to New York some three months ago, a last desperate bid to try and get her life back on track and escape the chaos that had dogged her every move within LA.
There was a time when nothing could've dragged her from LA. She'd loved her life there, a relatively happy teenage girl living in a city that catered to the adolescent dreams of so many people. Of course there had been the odd problem, things that had seemed so much more important at the time than they actually were in hindsight. Yes her dad hadn't always been there for her, and no, she and her mother had not always been on the best of terms, but then what family was perfectly happy? Things had just been coming back together again when her mother had died. From then on, it just seemed her life had tripped and stumbled in ever decreasing circles, springing an ever-worsening series of crises on her one after the other.
The last straw had been her relationship with Chase. After that complete fiasco, she'd made up her mind to get out of LA before it was too late, to start over somewhere fresh with as little baggage as possible. The offer of a transfer to the burgeoning New York CTU branch had come at just the right time. She'd had the right qualifications, the right experience and almost as importantly the right contacts. Her dad had helped of course, although it had taken some significant persuading and daughterly guilt tripping until he'd agreed. Despite his ardent protests to the contrary he could still be a little too overprotective at times.
"So…" said Tony, his voice breaking her from her silent reverie. "I hear you're in town as the chief network technician for CTU." It wasn't exactly the world's finest icebreaker, but then Tony was hardly the world's finest conversationalist.
"Yeah." Kim nodded. "It's really just a part time deal though. Once the network's up and running, I'll be transferred to the floor as a full time data analyst and technical advisor. We just don't have enough staff to cover all the bases at the moment."
"Uh huh." Tony nodded, taking another sip from his coffee as he gazed around the street.
"Um… so…" said Kim, desperately trying to keep the conversation flowing now they'd managed to get one started, "how's Michelle? I hear she's got HQ ticking over quite nicely these days." Tony's whole stance shifted at the mention of his wife's name, his eye line drifting from the street down to the table. He picked up his teaspoon and began to stir his coffee absently.
"She's doing fine." He said. Kim couldn't quite place his emotion. He seemed both wistful and bitter at the same time, the thought of Michelle obviously bringing both good and bad memories to the surface.
"Fine?" She said, her tone inquisitive. "I thought she'd be over the moon. I mean the last I heard you were serving a thirty-year sentence. Now you're free I'd have thought you two would be… well…" she could feel her face reddening under his steady gaze, that same steady gaze that had junior techs running for the hills every time it was fixed on them. She wracked her brain, trying desperately to think of the right way to put it.
"…inseperable." She said finally trying desperately not to wince at how terrible that sounded. Tony turned his attention back to his coffee, the silver teaspoon tracing circular patterns through the dark liquid again.
"Me and Michelle, we're…" there was a long pause, the only sound coming from the teaspoon as it clinked melodically against the sides of his cup. "Well we're separated." To anyone who didn't know him, they'd never have noticed anything wrong. Kim had worked with him for too long not to hear it though, that almost unnoticeable tremor in his voice. Tony was hurting in a way she'd never seen before.
"God Tony, I'm so sorry." She said. "What happened? You and Michelle seemed so steady, like nothing could break you." Tony shook his head.
"It hasn't been the same since, well, you know, since I was arrested." He scratched absently at the scar on his neck. "I think we just gradually stopped trusting one another. When you're apart for so long, sometimes you can't help but think the worst of what's going on."
"But you're out now. Surely you could figure something out. I mean she could get you work back at CTU and…" Tony was already shaking his head.
"No can do. Conditions of my parole. I can't seek employment with any government agency or defence affiliates." He gave a small wry smile. "I guess former traitors to their country just can't be trusted."
"I thought you had to serve at least ten years before there was even the possibility of parole." Kim said with a frown. Tony gave a forced chuckle.
"C'mon Kim, we all have connections. I mean, your dad's close friends with the former President! With those kind of strings being pulled, I was never going to serve time for too long." Kim gave a vague nod.
"I guess." She couldn't argue with his reasoning, but still, something wasn't right here. Even Tony didn't seem that comfortable with his own logic! If he was out on parole why had he come to visit her in New York? He might have been her ex boss but they had never been particularly close friends. Neither of them were the type to make friends easily these days. It all boiled down to one real question. Why was he really here? Why wasn't he back in LA trying to patch things up with Michelle? What was so special about her that he'd stopped by to see her? The more she thought about it, the less the pieces fit together.
She was about to call him on it when her cell phone rang, its piercing ring tone cutting through the tension between them like a knife. She cursed mentally. She'd meant to turn the damn thing off again! She gave an apologetic shrug as she tugged it from her pocket and flipped it open in one smooth motion.
"This is Kim." She said simply.
"Hey Kim. It's Greg." Kim rolled her eyes as across the table from her Tony raised a quizzical eyebrow. Greg was one of the trainee technicians brought in to the New York CTU branch. She liked to think of him as fresh meat for the grinder. Within a day of arrival he'd pretty much installed himself as her unofficial assistant and worse still no one objected! It wasn't that she didn't like the guy. Far from it. He was quick efficient and really kind of sweet, but he was also a daydreamer and had been cursed with an over abundance of optimism, a combination of personality traits that Kim was beginning to find profoundly annoying.
"Hey Greg." She said, trying her best to keep the frustration at his interruption out of her voice and failing miserably. "What can I help you with?"
"Is this a bad time?""It could've been better." She admitted grudgingly.
"I'm sorry Kim but this is really important." He sounded worried, and what it took to get Greg worried didn't bare thinking about for most normal people. "Queen Liz is going ape around here! She wants you in right away. Keeps yelling about how the shit's about to hit the fan!"
"Greg, I haven't had a full day off since I started three months ago! The network's bedded in, the systems are practically bug free. What possible emergency would she need me for that the on duty techs can't handle?"
"That's just it Kim. It's not about the network! She's calling in all qualified data analysts we have, but she specifically wants you. Says she needs someone with, and I quote 'more than a shit stain's worth of experience.'" Kim winced at the coarseness of the language. It certainly sounded like Elizabeth all right. She gave a long resigned sigh.
"Okay Greg. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Just get here quick Kim. Something tells me she's not going to put up with any crap from you today." There was a click as Greg hung up the phone, leaving Kim blinking in surprise at just how quickly an otherwise good day had turned into a potential nightmare."You leaving?" Tony sounded anxious. She couldn't help but wonder why.
"I've got to go." She said sliding back her chair and grabbing a napkin as she rose. "Something's come up and I need to get in to CTU." Tony nodded.
"Listen Kim, about my being here, there's something I should really have told you…" Tony began as he got to his feet dropping a few dollars to the table before following Kim across the sidewalk. Kim shook her head, not really listening as she tried to hail a cab. All she was thinking about was Elizabeth and just how bad this day could get if she was on the warpath.
"I'm sorry Tony but I really have to go." She said as the familiar yellow shape of a taxi pulled up out of the stream of New York traffic. She clambered in, scribbling frantically at the napkin with a pen she'd found in her inside pocket "Can we talk about this some other time? I'm in kind of a hurry."
"I guess…" Tony began, but was cut off by the sound of the cab door slamming.
"Thanks Tony." She said, her smile all genuine. She handed him the scrawled on napkin. "That's my cell number, call me and we'll talk about this again right." She barely had time to see him nod before the cab was moving off into the thick flow of traffic.
