AUTHORS NOTE: Well, here it is, the chapter where I (kind of) start to explain what's going on. Things should start coming together a little more speedily after this, although my actual time to write may decrease somewhat as I'm starting a new job on Tuesday. Anyway, hope you all enjoy and I'll be back with a new chapter again soon.

CHAPTER THREE: FIRST MEETINGS

New York: 3:56pm

The battered red transit van ground to a halt on the loose gravel, its vibrant colour a stark contrast to the dull grey walls that surrounded it. Dhul Fiqaar leaned forward in the passenger seat, his eyes scanning the empty tarmac yard that stretched out around him. Next to him Fahad, stirred uncomfortably his fingers locked tightly around the steering wheel.

"I don't see anyone." He said, shooting Dhul a worried look. "Maybe they're not coming."

"They'll be here." Dhul replied. "These aren't the kind of men to shy away from such a lucrative deal." Fahad shook his head.

"We shouldn't be trusting them. They have nothing to gain from this."

"I agree with Fahad." Abul said from the back of the van, his arms folded tightly across his chest. "We do not need their help, and they have nothing at stake. If they choose to betray us we will lose our opportunity."

"Don't be so stupid!" Dhul snapped, his anger flaring up. "They have money at stake, and to men like this riches are their truest cause!"

"Yet another reason why we should not be doing business with them." Fahad said, ignoring the dangerous glance Dhul shot him. "Men who would sell their souls have no sense of loyalty and no sense of honour." Abul gave a sage nod of agreement.

"We should leave." He said. "There are other sources we could use, more reliable ones that we know can be trusted."

"You are all forgetting one thing." Said a fourth voice from deep in the back of the van. Dhul gave an inward sigh of relief at the sound of it. The speaker leaned forward slightly fixing Fahad and Abul with a penetrating gaze. "I am our leader and I say this meeting will take place." His eyes narrowed threateningly.

"Do I make myself clear?" his voice was steady and unwavering. Supremely confident. Abul tried to hold his stare, but is defiance crumbled rapidly.

"I'm sorry Kadeem." He said, looking down at his feet. "I'm just worried. We have planned this for so long that if anything were to go wrong…" he trailed off when he realised Kadeem was no longer listening. Instead he'd shifted his attention to Fahad.

"And you?" he said quietly. "Do you accept my judgement?" Fahad managed to display considerably more backbone than Abul, holding that scarily steady gaze with an equally brash look of unbridled self-possession.

"I accept your judgement." He said, only the slightest hint of nerves echoing in his voice. "But I maintain that this remains a bad idea." The four sat in stony silence, Kadeem and Fahad's eyes still locked on one another. It took the sound of fresh wheels on the gravel to break them from their face off.

"They're here." Kadeem said simply as he twisted to open the rear doors. It took mere moments for the four of them to clamber from the van, their eyes blinking to become accustomed to the mid afternoon light. A newer, sleeker black transit van was sweeping across the tarmac toward them, shadowed closely behind by an old fashioned grey Mercedes. The two vehicles drew to a halt close by, their chrome chassis glinting brilliantly in the light.

Dhul's stomach was churning with nerves as the side door of the black van slid open, disgorging a group of men, each one visibly armed with a handgun of some sort. Dhul couldn't help but wonder how many other weapons were secreted about them. The comforting weight of his own berretta lent him some small amount of confidence. So far the numbers were even, but he didn't like to think about how much better trained these main would possibly be.

The door to the Mercedes lurched open as a world weary looking gentlemen clad in a black suit with matching black silk shirt clambered out. His hair was a stunning shade of silver, his widow's peak riding high on his head while a thin neatly trimmed beard stretched across his cheeks and jaw. While the suit obscured his build to a certain degree, it wasn't hard to tell that the man had once been in good physical shape, his physique only recently dulled by age. Dhul would place him somewhere in his mid to late fifties, his light brown eyes carrying a degree of experience and knowledge behind them that the young simply did not possess.

"Kadeem!" The newcomer exclaimed with mock affection as he crossed the gravel to stand face to face with Kadeem. He offered Kadeem his hand. "It is good to see you again. I only wish you and I could've had more time. I feel we would've had much to talk about eh?" His voice was heavily accented, Russian from the sound of it.

"Alas Kazimir, the hour of action draws near." Kadeem replied with a similar theatrical show of affection as he took Kazimir's hand in his own and began to pump it vigorously up and down, his knuckles whitening as he squeezed a little too hard. Kazimir made no sign that it bothered him.

"I'm afraid these must be our final dealings." Kadeem finished.

"Such a shame." Kazimir said, his apparent disappointment not really fooling anyone. "Nevertheless, soon the world will know of you and then I shall count myself proud to have known you personally." Dhul could barely believe how badly their feelings of contempt for one another were hidden. Kadeem gave an indolent half smile.

"The world will know nothing if we are not equipped to carry out our task." He said. "I take it you have brought what we agreed upon?" Kazimir nodded.

"But of course." He gave a snap of his fingers, at which two men clambered back into the van only to re-emerge moments later carrying three metal briefcases. Dhul was handed one while Abul took the other two.

"I hope you will not object to me checking the contents." Said Kadeem, the innocent tone of his voice barely disguising the veiled insinuation. Kazimir gave a martyred nod, as if his pride had been wounded.

"I understand. People these days can never be trusted am I right?" Kadeem gave a barely apologetic smile before nodding over his shoulder to Dhul and Abul. Dhul wasted no time, cracking his case open with a resounding click of releasing latches. He gazed down at the contents, a satisfied smile creeping slowly across his face.

"Is everything in order Dhul?" Kadeem asked, never taking his eyes of Kazimir whose face was fixed in an overly warm smile.

"Oh yes." Said Dhul as he closed the case, obscuring its contents from the world once more. "Everything's just right."

New York CTU Branch: 4:12pm

The New York branch of CTU was decidedly different in appearance to its glitzy glass and steel counterpart in LA. The centre of operations had been established in what was previously a small library built in the late 19th century, and it showed. While the building had been largely renovated to make room for the demands of a modern government agency, elements of the buildings original design still remained.

The central offices and computer stations had previously been the library's main hall, while the room's many bookcases had either been stripped out, or converted to act as cabinets for storage. Rows of wooden reading booths stretched up the middle of the room like some bizarre spinal cord, each one showing the care and attention to detail that only hand carved furniture could. The latest computer technology could be heard humming beneath the general hubbub of the office while the many glowing monitors lent the whole thing a strangely anachronistic feel. The offices of the senior agents and operations directors existed above the computers on a large wooden balcony accessible only by two delicately wrought iron spiral staircases at opposite corners of the room. Each office had been fitted especially, constructed from frosted soundproofed glass that prevented those outside either seeing or hearing what took place within. The balcony lent a tiered approach to the offices, where superiors would frequently be stood above the various technicians and analysts working below, a layout that had earned the main office the nickname of 'the pit'.

Right now Elizabeth Hudson was pacing around the balcony for what seemed like, and more importantly probably was, the fiftieth time in the last hour. She'd never been a patient woman, but that had often worked to her advantage more than anything else. She demanded immediate results and her fiery temperament usually meant that she got them. She was going to be in need of those particular qualities today, perhaps more than any other time in her life. How could the intelligence community have dropped the ball so badly on this one? How was it that the first word of this had only just filtered down to CTU? She shook her head as she stopped and planted her hands firmly on the solid wooden rail that ringed the balcony. It didn't matter now. Worrying about the mistakes made by other organisations and individuals could come later as it always inevitably did. Right now she had to worry about her own department and just how they were going to proceed. Just as she straightened, the large double doors below creaked open as Kim Bauer walked in.

"About goddamn time." Liz muttered to herself. She'd had Greg call the girl in nearly half an hour ago! It was a half hour they didn't have time to waste. She watched as Kim crossed the office, smiling and greeting various colleagues as she passed.

Liz didn't like Kim. There were various reasons why of course. Liz had spent a great deal of time and effort to get where she was today, and as a result sacrifices had been made, particularly with regard to her private life. Her husband had left her after two years, unable to cope with his wife's greater degree of success. Up until a year ago, she'd spent ten years as a member of the NYPD's SWAT team, before her recruitment to the new CTU branch. Kim on the other hand wasn't a well trained in field operations and was rising quickly in prominence purely due to her own contacts. She was a to all intents and purposes, a desk monkey and a young one at that.

Liz swept a hand through her own greying brown hair as Kim mounted the stairs beneath her.

"What took you so long?" she demanded as the girl reached the top of the stairs. "I ordered you here half an hour ago!"

"Sorry Eli…" Kim began before hurriedly correcting herself. "Liz." She finished. Liz hated for her full name to be used, but she decided to let it slide just this once.

"I came as quick as I could, but traffic out there is murder today." Liz gave a curt nod, not really accepting the excuse but letting it go anyway. They didn't have any more time today.

"Get inside my office. We need to talk." She said, turning on her heel and striding off across the balcony, Kim following close behind.

"Liz?" said Kim questioningly as they stepped inside the office. "What's going on?"

"Shut the door." Said Liz as she sat herself down behind her desk. Kim did as she was told. The moment the door was closed the sounds of the many computers and conversations died away, replaced by an almost complete silence. The only sound that filled the room was the low whir of the ventilation system.

"What's going on Liz?" Kim repeated. "What am I doing here? You wouldn't have called me in if it wasn't serious." Liz leaned back in her chair and blew out a long breath of air.

"You'd better have a seat." She said, nodding slightly toward another chair piled high with sheets of computer print out. Liz had many positive points as an operations director, but the ability to maintain an orderly workspace wasn't one of them. Kim crossed to the chair, moving the pile of paper to the floor before seating herself in it. She looked expectantly at Liz.

"You've heard of START IV right?" Kim nodded.

"Obviously. We've been racing against the clock to get the network up and running just to coincide with the signing." She said. Liz cocked her head slightly as she gazed levelly at Kim. Could the girl really be trusted with something as big as this? Everyone knew the stories of course, about Kim's life in LA and her role in the attempts on then Senator David Palmer's life and more recently the hotel bio weapon attack in LA. Liz wasn't sure if she believed them in their entirety though and Kim didn't talk about her past much. She gave a slight sigh. She didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.

"I received a file earlier today from CIA director Sikes. It concerns a recent covert operation in New Dehli." Kim frowned.

"India? What's this got to do with START IV?"

"The op went sour." Liz continued, ignoring Kim's question. "Nevertheless the CIA managed to gather enough information from it to confirm what I'm about to tell you." Kim leaned forward, her curiosity peaking.

"Liz, if you want me to do my job, you need to tell me what's going on." Liz gave another sigh.

"We have reason to believe that sometime today, an attempt will be made to assassinate the Indian Prime Minister during his visit to New York."