Jack made it to the FBI building in twenty minutes and checked in and handed over his weapon. They were expecting him and he was given a visitors badge and led back past a series of cubicles and offices into a small conference room and told to wait.

He looked at his watch, he had been waiting for over twenty minutes and was growing impatient. He got up to leave, when the door opened abruptly. A tall but muscular kid in his mid twenties motioned to Jack, "Let's go."

Jack got up to follow, "You Murphy?"

"Nope."

"Look, I'm supposed to be meeting Sam Murphy. Why don't you just tell me what I'm doing here?"

"Just come with me please."

Jack stopped in the middle of the hall, arms crossed across his chest. "I was told to be here by five. I was here. Then you kept me waiting for over twenty minutes. I deserve to know what's going on."

The agent stopped and shrugged his broad shoulders. "I'm just following orders. I was told to bring you over, so I'm bringing you. Let's go." He kept walking and Jack had no choice but to follow.

He led Jack to yet another conference room, this one slightly larger than before. A short pudgy man in glasses sat at the table surrounded by computer equipment and mountains of folders. He got up and introduced himself, "Mickey Phelps, Intel Analyst. Have a seat."

"What am I doing here?"

"We'll get to that." Mickey asked Jack hundreds of questions about his time in with the Salazars. He was shown pictures and asked to identify members of the cartel. Jack played along for over an hour, then he was fed up. "Look, I've answered all your questions. I'm hungry, I could really use a drink, and no one will tell me what's going on. I'm not saying anything else until I talk to this Murphy." Jack leaned back in his chair.

Mickey took one look at Jack and knew he wasn't going to get anything else useful out of him. He grabbed the phone and dialed a few numbers. He spoke softly into the phone, although Jack could still make out his words. "He wants to see Murphy. I know. It's not going to be easy. Okay."

"They'll be down to get you in a minute."

A couple of minutes later, the same tall agent escorted him out of the room. "Follow me."

"Are you taking me to Murphy?"

"Yeah. Sam just went out in the field on a lead, I'll be driving you over there." He stopped at a locked closet and opened it. He took out a flak jacket and handed it to Jack, "You'll need this. Do you have a weapon?"

"Yeah, but they confiscated it when I signed in."

"No time, you'll just have to use this." He handed Jack a Sig Sauer, then grabbed a jacket for himself. "Let's go." The agent hurried along the corridor to the parking garage and got in a tan sedan. Jack slipped in next to him.

"Where are we going?"

"Westwood. Lead on Salazar." They rode the rest of the way in silence. By the time they finally made it through traffic to their destination, the sun was setting in front of them. They parked in an alley and got out of the car. The agent whispered to Jack, "Stay back. Murphy and the others should be in the next alley over."

Jack smiled as the kid told him what to do, as if he was a rookie. This kid couldn't be over twenty-five. He nodded toward the gun, "Have you ever shot that thing, kid?" Jack rolled his eyes when he noticed the kid's safety was still engaged.

"You mean outside of the shooting range?" Jack nodded. He looked at the ground and answered softly, "No, not yet."

He pushed the kid lightly back against the car, "Then let me lead. You stay right behind me and do what I say. And take off your safety." He looked the kid up and down again and added, "Don't shoot me, either. What's your name, kid?"

"James Temple."

They kept close to the wall and Jack snuck a look around the corner. He counted three agents, two men and a woman, in the adjacent alleyway. He whispered, "How many are we expecting?"

"Three - Murphy, Ramirez, and Denton."

"Ok, got em. Let's go." He stood upright and walked out into the alleyway to join the other agents.

The woman turned around with her gun drawn just as they entered the alleyway. She recognized Temple and nodded to him. She lowered her gun and walked over to Jack and extended her hand, "You must be Bauer." He nodded and shook her hand. She pointed at the Hispanic man who nodded back at Jack, "That's Ramirez. And Denton." She motioned to the other man, a dark haired athletic man in his thirties.

As she was about to introduce herself, she glanced up behind Jack. She threw herself at Jack and landed on top of him, tackling him to the ground. "Sniper. Take cover!" A bullet whizzed past them and struck where they had been standing just moments before. The other agents scrambled for cover while Jack's instincts took over and he immediately hugged her close and rolled her over, covering her body with his. They were now hidden by a dumpster and judging by the trajectory of the bullet, Jack hoped out of range of the sniper. But there could be more.

He whispered to her, "Are you ok?" She nodded and tried to get up. He pushed her back down with his body. "No, wait. It's getting too dark, I can't see if there are any more." Jack picked up a rock and threw it against the opposite wall from their position. A shot rang out in the fading twilight and hit the wall. "Did you see where Temple went?"

She looked him in the eyes, his face mere inches from hers, and shook her head. Despite the fading light, she was able to make out his face. He was ruggedly handsome, with faint lines at his eyes and a day's growth of beard on his face. The body that covered hers was hard and athletic, causing a stir in her belly. He looked away down the alley, then back at her. He caught her staring at him, and they studied each other's eyes for a moment. The moment was broken as two more shots rang out across the alley.

Somebody moaned.

Jack whispered to Sam, "Do you have a cell phone?" She nodded, but couldn't reach it because she was still pinned under him. "Cover me, then call for back up and an ambulance. I'm going to look for Temple. The sniper is on this side of the alley, probably directly above us."

Jack rose to his knees, and peeked around the dumpster. He crawled back over to Sam, who sat up and had her gun ready. He searched her eyes for a moment, gave her an encouraging smile that made her heart beat faster and then nodded back at her. She pointed up and opened fire. Jack bolted from his position towards the moans at the end of the alley.

He found Temple hiding behind an air conditioning unit about halfway down the alley. "Are you ok?"

He nodded almost imperceptibly, just staring at the ground. "Hey kid, stay with me here. You're going to be fine." Temple looked up at Jack, finally acknowledging his presence. Jack checked his weapon and looked over at the scared kid. "On my mark, shoot up in that direction and then follow me." Temple nodded again, this time a little more enthusiastically. Jack grinned and added, "But make sure you aim up, or you'll shoot your boss."

Sam watched as Jack ran off down the alley. She should be the one to go after her team. After all, she was in command of this task force. She chastised herself for taking his orders without question, but he had distracted her when he was lying on top of her and left her brain muddled and nearly speechless. It would not happen again.

Sam quickly called in the cavalry, then ordered herself to get it together. She had scrutinized Jack Bauer's file, knew of his propensity to go off on his own, to take risks. He was here to help them get Salazar, and that was it. He was a maverick, and she would not allow herself to fall for another one of those.

She had not had a significant relationship in many years, and promised herself that no matter how lonely she was or how handsome he was, she would not fall for Jack Bauer. Her instinct told her he was trouble, and from now on, she would be completely professional. Her job was her life, she couldn't have attachments like normal people.

Jack and James ran toward the other end of the alley, successfully dodging several bullets aimed at them. They found Ramirez huddled over Denton's body, applying pressure to a wound in his leg. "Just hang on, backup's on the way." Sirens could be heard in the distance.

Jack searched the darkness of the alley for Sam.

Introducing Angie Harmon (Law & Order) as Samantha "Sam" Murphy

Introducing Shane West (A Walk to Remember) as James Temple