Chapter 4: Fear
It was nearly 6 o'clock when the driver dropped Tony off at his hotel. As he stepped off of the elevator, he noticed a cleaning lady straightening out her cart near his room. They made eye contact as Tony passed and he recognized her immediately as a South Korean agent. The South Korean government wanted to put their hands on Yuen as much as the Americans did, so their agents were working cooperatively with the CIA. Tony had been given the pictures of several agents who would be stationed in and around the hotel to be available if they were needed. Tony smiled and said hello to her. She returned his smile, nodded and pushed her hair behind her ear. As she did so, she tapped her ear. Tony understood; she was trying to tell him that Yuen's people had bugged his room.
Tony slipped the card key into the reader and opened his door. He closed the door and locked the security latch. He looked carefully around the room to see if anything was out of place. He couldn't see anything and there was no point in looking for surveillance equipment. Yuen was going to keep an eye on him, but he was smart enough to be subtle about it.
He took off his suit jacket and tie and opened the collar of his shirt, then sat down on the bed. He reached under the pillows and retrieved the scramble phone that the South Korean agent left for him. He couldn't use a regular phone to contact CTU, it was too easily traced. He took the phone and walked into the bathroom. He closed the bathroom door, turned on the fan and started the shower. If Yuen had listening devices in the room, all of the background noise in the bathroom would effectively drown out his conversation.
CTU director Jeff DuBose was waiting for Tony's call. Tony filled him in on the details and let him know that overall, the meeting had basically gone as planned.
"My contact to Yuen in LA is a man named Weldon Hutchins." Tony spelled the name for DuBose.
"We'll check him out and see what we can get on him, Tony."
They agreed that further contact was risky and unless things changed, Tony would not contact CTU until he got back to LA. "Jeff," Tony said, almost as an afterthought, "when our guy inside Yuen's operation briefed him on my background, did he give Yuen any information on my business partners?"
"No, Tony, why would we have done that? But if he wanted the information, it's a matter of public record. Your business is incorporated, right? All of your names would be listed on your articles of incorporation."
"I realize that, but Yuen knew some things that wouldn't be recorded anywhere about one of my partners."
"Like what?"
"Like his personal financial problems; Pedro like girls and gambling, not necessarily in that order. His finances are usually a mess. If you guys didn't give him that information, Yuen went out of his way to get it. That means he's watching me closer than I thought he would." Tony paused. "The guy is a sociopath, Jeff. You should see him. I've been eye to eye with a lot of psychos at CTU, but this guy is way out there. He was ranting on about how he knew how angry I must be with the US government. He became totally disconnected. When I tried to change the subject, he didn't even hear me. He scares me, Jeff."
"Don't do anything to give yourself away and I think you'll be fine." Jeff told him. "Just be careful, Tony."
As Tony got off the phone, he found himself feeling a little paranoid. He expected Yuen to be watching him, but it suddenly started bothering him. He decided to change clothes and go out running. That would give him a chance to watch for someone tailing him. He undressed and wet his hair. If someone was listening, they would have heard the shower running for the last ten minutes. Tony needed to leave the hotel looking as if he had showered.
He had only run for a few minutes when he spotted the man following him. Tony obviously had caught the man off guard. He probably had planned on Tony leaving the hotel in a taxi or maybe even walking, but hadn't considered that he might go running. He wasn't dressed for running and was forced to follow Tony in a car. This quickly became awkward. He would wait while Tony ran a block or so and then move his car or circle the block. Tony lost him twice, but both times he was persistent and managed to catch up with Tony. It started to become a game for Tony and he was amused by it. He ran into a large public park that he had run in on previous trips to Seoul. The park had a number of bike and jog paths that crisscrossed the many acres of land.
Cars could only drive on the outskirts of the park, so Tony picked an inside trail and ran toward the center of the park. He was almost immediately lost to the tail who decided his best bet was to keep circling and hope that he would see Tony exiting the park. If he didn't see him leave the park in the next half hour, he would simply go back to the hotel and wait for him to return. He wouldn't mention losing Almeida when he wrote his report that was due in about twelve hours on Mr. Yuen's desk. Rumors around the company were that Yuen would kill you for far less grievous offenses. He wasn't sure if that was true, but he wasn't going to take any chances.
Once he was near the center of the park, Tony sat for a while on a secluded bench near a pond. There were some children sailing remote control boats at the other end, but it was otherwise deserted. He had a good view of the area from there. The man tailing him couldn't walk up on him without Tony seeing him first. He had to admit that losing the tail had been a fun exercise, but the whole idea that he was being tailed and that Yuen had gone to the trouble of checking out his partners made him edgy. He started thinking of Michelle and his children back in LA. What if Yuen was watching them? What if he kidnapped one of them to make sure that Tony complied with his plan? Tony's heart started to pound. The thought that Yuen could get to his family had not occurred to him before now. He needed to know that they were alright. He looked at his watch, with the time difference it would be early morning in LA. He took his phone from the holder he had clipped to the waistband of his running shorts and hit the speed dial to call Michelle.
"Hello," Michelle answered.
Tony breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her voice. "Hi Sweetheart," he said. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"We're fine. Sophie is on her way to school. The boys are eating breakfast. I have to take Joe to preschool in a few minutes."
"Who's driving Sophie to school today?"
"It's the Miller's turn to drive this week. I drive next week. Why do you ask?"
Tony made a mental note to call the school in a few minutes and make sure Sophie had arrived. "No reason. I just wondered who was driving. Anything else going on today?"
"I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. They're going to do an ultrasound."
"I wish I could be there, Honey. Who's watching the boys while you're at the doctors?" He asked trying to sound casual.
"I'm going to drop them off a Kate's. Why are you so concerned about this, Tony?" Michelle sensed that something was wrong.
"I don't know, Babe. I just really miss you guys right now. I'm worried about you. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay by yourself. I know we had agreed that I wouldn't do any long trips for a while and I feel bad about this."
"I'm doing okay, Tony. You were right the other night. Even if I'm not happy about this baby, I can't do much to change things and I shouldn't be taking it out on you and the kids. We're going to be okay, Tony. I mean you and me, I promise, we're going to be okay."
"I know, Babe. I just can't help worrying about your. Give the kids a kiss and tell them I love them. I love you, too, Honey. Be careful today, okay." Tony said to her. He was having trouble keeping his fear in check.
"Tony, what's wrong? You sound funny. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Baby. I just miss you guys, that's all."
They exchanged goodbyes and hung up. Tony started walking the trail to exit the park and made a quick call to Sophie's school to verify that she had arrived. After being assured that she was in her first grade class room, Tony hung up and hastily put the phone back in its holder. He increased his pace back up to a run and returned to his hotel. He was no longer concerned with the man following him; he was too worried about his family. Yuen was a sociopath and he would stop at nothing. Tony took the most direct route back to his hotel without even looking to see if Yuen's man was behind him.
When he reached his hotel, he tried to walk casually through the lobby to the elevator. He was out of breath, having run at full speed all the way from the park. He opened the door to his room and locked it behind him. He stopped for a moment, leaning forward with his hands on his knees trying to get his breath. As soon as his breathing slowed, he pulled out the scramble phone and, as he had done before, he went into the bathroom and started the shower. This time he wasn't calling CTU, he was calling Hammond. Tony wanted protection for his family and only Hammond could order that. He listened anxiously as the phone rang.
"Hammond," said the voice on the phone.
"Brad, it's Tony."
"Almeida, I just got off the phone with DuBose. He said everything went well with Yuen."
"That depends on your point of view."
"What does that mean?"
"Look, Brad, like I told Jeff, Yuen is crazy. He dug up information on my partners that would have taken some work. I'm worried about what he is capable of."
"We know what he's capable of, that's what we're trying to prevent."
"I'm not talking about the arms shipment. He's already got a tail on me and now I'm worried about my family. I'm afraid he might take some action against them to get to me, to make sure I follow through with the plan. I want you to provide protection for my family."
"We're not baby sitters, Almeida. I don't have people to put on that detail."
"You're going to find people, Brad. I'll give you one hour to make sure that you've got someone watching my daughter's school, my son's preschool and Michelle. By the way, Michelle is leaving our boys with Kate Bauer today; I want someone watching their house, too. I'll call DuBose and make sure it's been taken care of in one hour. And you better tell them to be invisible. I don't want Michelle to see them, because if she does, she's going to put two and two together and figure out that I'm on a mission. I also don't want Yuen's people to see them, because if they do, my cover is blown and I'm dead."
"Since when do you give me ultimatums?" Hammond was indignant.
"Since right now. If I can't confirm that you've put protection on my family in one hour, I'm flying home today and calling the Los Angeles Times. I will blow the lid off this whole operation. I'll go to the media and tell them they were lied to regarding my pardon, that I've been beholden to you since I got back to the US."
"I told you before, Tony, if you so much as blink the wrong way, I will press charges against Michelle."
"You've been holding that over my head for five years, Brad. This time I'm going to call your bluff. I still don't believe you have any evidence that I was in the US during the time I was wanted, nor do I believe you have any evidence that Michelle helped me. You try and press charges against a pregnant mother of three over something that happened six years ago after I was granted a pardon, and you are going to have a public relations nightmare on your hands. You forget, Michelle was very popular on the talk show circuit. After a couple of interviews on the talk shows, the women's groups are going to be screaming for your head. Go ahead, Brad, just try and arrest Michelle."
"You're just crazy enough to do that, aren't you? Alright, your protection will be in place in an hour. I can't afford for you to blow this mission."
"Thanks, Brad. I appreciate it."
Hammond hung up without saying goodbye. Working with Almeida just isn't worth the effort, he thought. He's probably worse than Bauer. Hammond had stopped calling Jack in a couple of years ago. Working with Jack drained him and working with Tony was becoming similarly difficult. He sighed and called DuBose. Jeff could assign someone to it, let him deal with Tony.
Tony checked his watch, undressed and stepped into the shower. He could think of nothing except his family and found himself numb with fear. He literally had to will himself to turn off the water and dry off and get dressed. He checked his watch every couple of minutes; he couldn't wait for the hour to be up so he could call Jeff and make sure agents were in place.
He finally decided to order room service. He was too upset to eat, but Yuen's men were watching and he felt it was best if he acted as if everything was fine. He would be expected to have dinner. He didn't feel like leaving the room to go to a restaurant, so ordering room service seemed to make sense. At least it made as much sense as anything could right now.
He checked his watch for the millionth time. Only ten minutes and he could call Jeff. He had to come up with a way to call Jeff without the call being monitored. He couldn't turn on the shower again. No one would believe yet another shower today. He forced himself to concentrate and quickly formulated a plan. First he called room service. It would be about twenty minutes they said. Tony thanked them then hung up and put his scramble phone in his pocket. He picked up the ice bucket and headed out of the room. The ice machine was on the floor below him.
Tony stepped quietly into the stair well and listened to make sure he couldn't hear anyone else on the stairs. Then he walked up a couple of floors and back down past his own floor to the one below. Once he was sure that no one else was moving, he pulled out the phone and called Jeff.
"CTU, DuBose"
"It's me, Jeff"
"Everyone's in place, Tony. I assigned Baker's unit. They'll have a man on your house and your office 24 hours a day. They'll also watch the kids' schools. We've got someone following Michelle. If she drops the kids off anywhere, someone will watch that location. Nothing will happen to them, Tony. You have my word."
Jeff was one of the good guys. He had been one of Tony's department heads when he was CTU Director. He was one of the people who helped in Tony's escape. Hammond had tried desperately to connect Jeff to Tony's escape but could never get any hard evidence. Eventually, with an impeccable service record and years of experience, Hammond promoted him to CTU Director.
"Thanks," was Tony's only reply before the conversation ended. He returned the phone to his pocket and stepped off the stairwell into the hallway. He walked half way down the corridor to the ice machine where he nonchalantly filled the ice bucket and bought a soda from the vending machine. He then returned to his room and waited for room service to bring his meal.
Tony spent the next half hour picking at his dinner. It was actually quite good, but he just couldn't bring himself to eat it. Fear was gnawing at the pit of his stomach and eating just seemed to make it worse. After eating less than half of his dinner, Tony gave up, covered the plate and left it out in the hallway for housekeeping to pick up. He tried to read for a while, but couldn't concentrate so he decided to try and get some sleep. He was tired. The time change and the run and the events of the day had worn him out. He wanted to sleep and drifted off easily enough. It didn't last long, though and he found himself sleeping fitfully. He was dreaming vividly and in every dream Michelle or one of the children was being followed. Sometimes an unseen force tried to grab them and Tony would wake up as he was trying to fight them off, trying so hard to save his family. He lay awake at 3am thinking about Michelle. He remembered when Saunders kidnapped her and how scared she looked. He never wanted to see that look again. He prayed that she would never have to be that scared again.