Michelle knocked on the door of the conference room where Tony was briefing his programming team. She nodded at Kim and Chloe as she entered. Tony looked up at her face and he could tell immediately from her expression that she wasn't the bearer of good news.

'Tony. I'm sorry to interrupt but Gael says there is an update on the camera feed he was monitoring.' Michelle

Tony recognised that Michelle was being purposely cryptic, not wanting to alert the other people in the room to the content of the feed.

'OK, thanks Michelle. I'll be there as soon as I can'

'We'll be monitoring it in Tec 1' She said.

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When she got back to Tec 1, she found Adam and Gael sitting at the table staring at the computer screen on the wall.

"We don't all need to watch this' she said.

'Yeah but - I don't think I'd be able to concentrate on anything else knowing what is happening' Gael said.

'No – fair enough' Michelle replied slowly, feeling instantly sickened yet mesmerised by the voyeuristic exercise.

'I take it that's Jack on the floor?' She asked, standing now behind Adam and Gael.

'Looks like we're about to find out' Gael replied as one of the men approached a prostrate handcuffed figure lying face down on the floor in a shadowy corner of the barn and, using his foot, rolled him over onto his back. Gael zoomed in on the image to confirm that it was Jack and they could see that his eyes were still closed. Michelle nodded to herself, finding that her question had been answered by the video link.

Another man emptied a glass of water over Jack's head and pulled him by the hair so that his head was raised from the floor. A fresh wound was visible on the right side of his head where his hair was matted with blood and Jack clearly winced as he was pulled up. Having apparently convinced himself that Jack was now fully conscious, the man pushed Jack's head back down on to the floor.

After about ten seconds, the man the CTU team had now recognised as Carlos Pando, leant forward towards Jack's head as if to pull him back up again. Jack flinched visibly, clearly wanting to avoid any further damage to his head. He appeared to shout something and then struggled to pull himself up into a sitting position with his back to the wall, listening to Pando as he talked. It seemed clear that Pando was going to be leading the interrogation.

Jack was concentrating on what was being said and Michelle could imagine him trying to work out who he'd been taken by and why. Then Carlos took a step back to let Jack stand up. At the same time, he beckoned slightly with his right hand and two of his men moved forward to stand either side of Jack's shoulders. Carlos had his back to the camera but he stood eye to eye with Jack Jack stared back coldly, no emotion evident in his face. He pursed his lips slightly as one of the men moved behind him to uncuff his hands. As soon as his hands were released, he kicked back at the man behind him sending him to the floor and swung a solid punch winding the man by his side. He was easily and immediately quietened though by the barrel of Carlos' gun, which he felt pressed to his forehead.

Carlo moved his head slightly to one side and a third man joined the other two to drag Jack across to a table in the centre of the barn. They pushed him into a seat next to the table and cuffed his right wrist to the chair while one of the men forced Jack's left hand out onto the table, palm facing down. Carlos took a seat opposite Jack, presumably asking him questions, which were being answered by an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

Tony entered the room just as the third man began to raise Jack's index finger,

'Shit' Tony said, as the finger was raised ever so slowly up to, and then beyond, the limits of its flexibility. The sound of the bone breaking was felt just as clearly in TEC 1 as it would have been heard in the barn. The CTU team could do no more than watch as Jack's expression moved from a quiet intensity as the nature of the torture was explained to him, to a snarl as the finger was stretched and then, finally, to an awful grimace as the bone snapped. Jack's eyes closed automatically as the pain washed over him. He opened them now and tipped his head back slightly, breathing deeply trying to regain control, seeming to be staring straight at the camera. Then he looked down at his misshapen finger and then up again at Carlos. He blinked slowly, listening again to what was probably a repetition of whatever question he'd been asked first.

Tony tipped his head back thoughtfully in a similar movement to Jack's and then addressed the others,

'Is this just the beginning?'

Michelle was standing with her hands pressed together, thumbs touching her lips, almost as if she were praying. Hearing Tony's question, she turned her head towards him and nodded.