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Chapter 17: Let's Get Going

It was just past 2pm California time and the military transport plane carrying Jack and Chase and the other former field agents was high above the Pacific. Ian and Evan were traveling with them as was Juan Rodriguez. Kim and Frank Healey stayed behind to monitor the flow of information.

No one was quite sure how Ian had arranged the flight, but suffice it to say that some General owed him a favor. It had something to do with an exchange of classified information that had allowed the General's Special Forces team to avoid an ambush. Ian had provided the information against CIA regulations. So in return, the General gave several soldiers an extra day of leave time in LA and made room on the flight for Ian and his men. Such a change in plans wasn't common, but it wasn't so unusual that it would raise any eyebrows. Occasionally soldiers would be bumped from flights so that Special Forces or members of other agencies or even higher ranking officers could be allowed aboard. Everyone on the plane and those who were lucky enough to get an extra day of leave guessed that the men who boarded the plane belonged to the CIA. They also assumed that this had something to do with the agent who had been kidnapped, but all knew enough not to mention their presence to anyone.

In addition to the transport, Ian also managed to procure all of the equipment they needed. Jack wondered how many favors Ian had to call in to get all of it and knew the list was huge. He had racked up his share of favors in his years at CTU, but it couldn't hold a candle to this.

They had just reviewed the plan again and had been assigned their positions. The plan was good but as Jack told Kate, it wasn't foolproof. Much of it depended upon their assumption that an underground entrance to the compound existed. Jack, Juan and three other agents would be the "ground crew". They would go to the coordinates that Kim and Frank had established and look for the entrance. Chase and two others were the "jump team". They would be circling in a plane waiting for the ground crew to confirm the existence of the tunnel. Once the ground crew got into the tunnel, the jump team would have to time their jump so that they landed in the compound at the same time the ground crew reached the door to the building. The jump team would be required to perform a technically difficult HALO (high altitude, low opening) jump into order to avoid being seen.

The assault would be made around midnight and hopefully would take Yuen and his men by surprise. The jump team would have to establish the number of hostiles outside of the building and take them out before they could warn anyone in the building. They would then assist the ground crew in neutralizing the hostiles inside. The most difficult part of the whole thing was trying not to "neutralize" Tony in the process. In an operation such as this, you often had to shoot or be shot. So they all knew how easy it was to accidentally shoot a hostage. They had discussed the possibility of using a sedative gas on the building. That would allow them to get in with little resistance. The problem with that was that gases were inaccurate; different parts of the building could have different concentrations of gas. Sometimes those concentrations were lethal. They thought they knew where Tony was being held, but couldn't know for sure. Without knowing exactly were Tony was, they couldn't gas the building without running the risk of killing him.

Jack drank from a bottle of water and looked around him. He put his head back hoping to get some sleep. Military transports were notoriously uncomfortable. I must be getting old, he thought. Twenty years ago none of this would have bothered me. I would have slept like a baby. His last trip on a transport had been on his way to Kosovo. Fourteen years, he thought. Fourteen years ago he was a different person. He was still so impetuous, so gung ho, so ready to lay down his life. That trip had changed his life. He thought he had seen carnage and death before, but Kosovo had been worse than anything he had ever experienced. He had trained all of those men and they had been so brutally murdered. He could still see their mutilated bodies. He could identify all of them. Of course they never found Stephen Saunders' body. He had wondered why at the time, but was almost grateful that they hadn't. It just would have been one more body to identify.

Yes, Kosovo changed his life. If it hadn't been for Kosovo, he would probably still be at CTU. Teri would still be alive and they would have had another child. He wished that Teri could still be alive. After all of these years, he still felt guilty about her death. His life now was incredible though; so much better than it was during what he now termed his "Rambo" years. As much as he loved Teri and Kim, he was a lousy husband and father. He freely admitted it. They both deserved better. In the back of his mind there was a place he rarely let himself wander, but in it he wished he had a chance to make it up to them. He wondered if Teri had lived if their life together would have been any different, if during that day he would have learned any lessons. There was no way to know. Instead, he drifted for almost the next five years after that terrible day. Kate came into his life during that time, but he failed to appreciate her. He dabbled with alcohol and finally became dependent on heroin. Thank God Kate hadn't given up on him. She gave him a second chance. Kate made him whole again. She even gave him two sons. He thought he was too old to become a father again, but Kate wanted a baby more than anything. He couldn't deny her that, not after the way she stuck by him when he went to drug rehab. He remembered crying when he held Mason for the first time. As he looked at Kate lying exhausted but smiling in the hospital bed, he marveled at their tiny creation. He had been too young when Kim was born to really appreciate what a miracle she was, he wouldn't make that mistake with his son. Then Ryan was born three years later. Once again he was amazed at what a miracle they had made.

He smiled as he thought of Kate. Even as he made love to her early this morning, he thought what an unlikely pair they were. Talk about the "uptown girl" and the "downtown man". Billy Joel had gotten it right in that old song. It was as if the song was written for them. She was so refined and well-bred. She had gone to the finest private schools in California and Europe. She had traveled the world and had studied all of the great music and art work and architecture. He was Jack Bauer. Born and raised just south of LA and educated in public schools. He was the son of a longshoreman who drank too much on weekends and disciplined his only son with a leather belt. He had seen the world, too, courtesy of the US Army. He had seen Kuwait, with its oil wells on fire; he had seen army bases across Europe. He had been on covert missions in countries in the Middle East and the Russian Republics.

He took another drink from his water bottle and again looked at the men around him. Everyone was quiet now. Most of them sat with yellow legal pads on their laps writing last letters to their loved ones, just in case. Jack would do the same, but the flight was long and there was plenty of time for that. He had written any number of those letters before to Teri and Kim. They had never needed to read any of them; he had torn them up when the mission was over. He knew exactly what he wanted to say to Kate and Mason and Ryan and Kim. In his mind, he had written the letters hours ago. He had written them as he lay next to Kate, watching her sleep after they made love.

He must have dozed off because when he next looked at his watch it was 6:14pm, California time, of course. By now they were well past Hawaii and headed for South Korea. They would refuel in midair, so there would be no stops. Jack looked around him and saw several of the men milling about the plane. Some were eating the boxed lunches that Ian had gotten from the officers mess hall at the airbase. Realizing that he was hungry, Jack got up to get a lunch as well. He sat back down to examine the contents of the cardboard box: two sandwiches, one roast beef and Swiss on rye and the other ham and turkey with American cheese on wheat, small plastic cups of potato salad and cole slaw and two oatmeal raisin cookies. Not necessarily his favorites, but he wasn't picky and he certainly had eaten worse, so he sat back, box balanced on his lap and began to eat.

"I'll trade a roast beef for the turkey and ham." Jack looked up. Evan Dessler was standing next to him.

"That sounds like a deal." Jack said smiling at him.

"I thought so." Evan said, handing him the sandwich. "I figured you for a 'red meat' kind of guy. Mind if I sit down?" He asked indicating the empty seat next to Jack.

"Not at all." Jack answered. He moved the jacket that he had tossed onto the seat.

The two men ate in an awkward silence. Jack eventually spoke. "You know, Evan, I've known Michelle for ten years, she's my wife's best friend and our sons play together. She occasionally speaks of her mother but I've never heard her mention her father. I guess I always assumed that you were dead."

"From Shelley's perspective I probably am. If I were her, I'd feel that way, too." Evan proceeded to tell Jack about leaving his family. They had lots of time to talk, so he spared no details. "So that's it." He said with some finality. "I thought it was more important for me to be a spy than a husband and father, so I left. Believe me, Jack; I thought I was doing what was best for them."

Jack shrugged his shoulders and looked at Evan's sad eyes. He had stopped judging people long ago. "At least you made a choice, Evan. I thought I could have it all; CTU, a wife, a family. I thought I could build a wall that kept my job and my family separate, but it didn't work. My wife was murdered because of my job and my daughter was kidnapped and barely escaped alive."

Neither said anything else, there was nothing more to say. They sat back in uncomfortable seats and listened to the roar of the engines and the quiet chatter of the men scattered about the plane. It struck Jack how much he and Evan were alike. They both lost their families to their job and relied heavily on substances to find some peace. For Evan it was alcohol, for Jack, heroin; the substance didn't matter. Both dulled the pain. Jack knew he was luckier than Evan. No, he would never get Teri back, but he did get Kim. He broke his addiction to heroin and Kate gave him a new family to love and to live for.

The flight seemed endless and everyone was happy to feel the plane begin to descend and to see the runway ahead of them. They waited while the plane landed and taxied to its hanger. They continued to wait while the soldiers who had been on the plane with them disembarked. It was finally their turn to gather up their equipment and get it packed up in trucks that waited in the corner of the hanger. After that they would be taken to an officer's barracks to shower and eat and change into camouflage for the mission ahead of them.

At just a few minutes to midnight and the eight man team was in position for the assault. Jack, Juan and the rest of the "ground crew" had just arrived at the site where they hoped to find the underground access to the old army headquarters. Chase and the "jump team" were in an airplane circling high above the area. The "ground crew" moved quietly through the wooded area.

Jack checked his handheld GPS. "We should be within a few feet of the entrance. Start looking for an opening." The group searched in silence for several minutes before the hidden entrance was found. The cellar door was well hidden under brush. The men smiled to see that it was secured with a chain and a cheap padlock. Jack pulled out a set of picks and quickly picked the lock while another team member radioed the "jump team."

"Falcon, this is Prairie Dog. Come in Falcon."

"This is Falcon." They heard Chase's voice through their earpieces.

The lock on the tunnel entrance popped open easily. "Falcon, we found the tube and gained entry. Stand by."

Two of the "ground crew" stood to the side of the doors and each grabbed a handle. Jack counted to three and the doors were flung open, the other team members standing ready to shoot any hostiles that might come out of the tunnel. The entrance to the tunnel was empty. Jack shined a light into the hole and began to descend into the darkness. He was quickly followed by the rest of the team. Everyone was tense, but calmed quickly as they verified that the tunnel was empty.

Again they radioed the "jump team". "Falcon, we're in. I repeat, we're in. Proceed as planned. Have a nice jump."

"We copy, Prairie Dog. Thank you and good luck." With that the pilot maneuvered the plane into position for the jump and the team readied themselves. All of them had performed this type of jump before on a number of occasions, but none had done it recently. They all reviewed the procedure and hoped that once in the air their instincts would take over.

"Gentlemen," the pilot said to the team. "We will reach the jump site in 30 seconds. Please stand by."

Each of them looked at his watch and adjusted equipment for the tenth time. "Twenty seconds" the pilot told them. "Ten, nine, eight, seven," the pilot counted down, "six, five, four, three, two, one. Godspeed, gentlemen. See you back at the base." The jump door was thrown open and the three men jumped into the darkness as the pilot flew due west to return to his base.

Jack was the first to reach the door to the old army compound. This one was far more secure than the simple cellar doors used to cover the entrance to the tunnel. They would have to blow this one open. Dave Appleton stepped forward and with Jack's help pressed a putty-like explosive material along the hinges and lock. He added a short fuse and pulled a lighter from his pocket. The others stood back as Dave lit the fuse and stepped away. In just a few seconds, a bang reverberated through the tunnel. He had used a minimum of explosives to keep the noise down, but it was enough to do the job. They were able to pull the heavy door away and step into a dark room. A quick search with the flash light showed that the room was empty. The door on the other side of the room was open and a small amount of light entered the room from the hallway.

Tony had been asleep but was awakened abruptly by the noise. He wasn't sure what it was. At first he thought it was a door slamming, but it had caused the wall to vibrate. The door in the next room had been slammed before and the wall never vibrated. No, this was something else. This was more like an explosion. He listened intently but could hear nothing more.

Jack's group walked quietly through the room and into the hall. The next room was the one where they believed Tony was being held. Jack tried the door, but as expected, it was locked. Jack went to work on the heavy lock with a set of picks. This was going to be a hard lock to open. It would be quicker and easier to blow it open, but that would attract too much attention. They would only blow it open if forced to do so.

Tony had just started to relax again when he heard the door rattle. The sound made him jump. He wondered who was on the other side of the door. Whoever it was didn't have a key, so it probably wasn't Yuen or any of his men. He thought for a second that it could be a rescue team, but banished the thought immediately, too afraid to get his hopes up. He was already partially hidden by a crate, but inched himself further behind it for protection. He didn't know what was coming next, but he didn't want to be a sitting duck.

Jack was losing patience with the lock when Chase's voice came through their earpieces. "Falcon has landed. Repeat, Falcon has landed."

"Welcome, Falcon" answered ground crew member Ben Hamilton. "What's your position?"

"Right on the mark, staging area A. And we've got a perfect view." Chase said scanning the area through his night vision goggles. They could see two hostiles on the roof and two more acting as sentries around the perimeter of the building. "We need about ninety seconds to neutralize the target and we'll meet you inside."

"Copy, Falcon. See you there."

"Jack," Wayne Engle, one of the "ground crew," said softly. "We're out of time. Let Dave blow the door." Jack agreed and stepped back. Dave stepped forward again and carefully placed an absolute minimum of explosives on the door. Wayne was timing the operation to give Chase the time he needed. The explosion in the tunnel had not attracted any attention, but this one might. They couldn't afford to attract any attention.

Chase and his team watched and waited as one of the sentries disappeared behind the building. At that point each of them got one of the hostiles in his sites. Chase gave the signal and they fired. All three of the men dropped. The fourth man heard the noise and came running back to investigate. By then Chase and his men had advanced and shot him at nearly point blank range. The hostiles inside were awakened by the noise and took up defensive positions at the windows. They took aim and began firing at the jump team.

Chase and his team took cover and began to fire back. Despite the fact that they were taking fire, they were all smiling. The hostiles took the bait. While Yuen's men were concentrating on firing on the three men outside, there were four men coming up from the basement to surprise them. The jump team had to provide just enough resistance to make sure that the hostiles continued to fire from inside the house. If they tried to come outside, all bets were off.

"Come on upstairs, Prairie Dog." Chase said into his radio. "They're focused on us now. We can hold them for another minute or so."

"We're on our way." Jack responded. "Dave, blow the door. We've got to move."

Jack, Wayne and Ben ascended the stairs quickly while Juan and Dave blew the door. Dave had calculated correctly; the explosion was small, but the charges had been critically placed and the door came open easily. Dave entered with his weapon drawn. With the light from the hallway, he could see a figure against the crate in the corner.

"Don't move!" He shouted first in English then in Korean. The assault team had quickly learned some key phrases in Korean in case the need for them arose. "Put your hands where I can see them."

Tony leaned forward into the light. "Appleton, is that you?" Tony asked in disbelief. At the same time, they began to hear the sound of combat boots on the floor above them. Round after round of gunshots peppered the air.

"Hell, yeah" Dave shouted over the din. "I needed a vacation, thought I'd check out Korea." He looked over his shoulder at Juan. "I'll cover the door. Let's get him out of here."

Juan ran into the room and dropped the heavy backpack he was carrying. "Here you might need these."

"Geez, Juan! How did you get here?" Tony asked almost too stunned to speak.

Juan pulled a bulletproof vest, fatigue jacket and helmet for Tony out of the backpack. "You know how it is, Jack wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. By the way, you look like shit, Buddy." Juan told him trying to lighten the mood as he eased Tony's arm into the jacket. "Can you still shoot?" He asked as he handed Tony a sidearm.

"Better than you" Tony answered taking the gun in his right hand. Tony still couldn't believe Juan was standing in front of him. He wanted to ask a thousand questions: How did they get here? Who else was with them? How is Michelle? But he knew that would have to wait for later.

"They need us upstairs." Juan said. "Let's get going."

The three of them ran up the stairs and into the fray. The air smelled of spent ammunition. At least three of Yuen's men lay dead or wounded inside near the windows. The fighting had moved outside. Two more lay dying just outside of the building. They could see no one but could hear gunfire coming from three distinct areas around the building.

Jack's voice came through their earpieces. "Ben and I are pinned down in the trees about 30 yards to the left of the building. We need some help."

Chase shouted through the sound of automatic weapons fire. "We've got our hands full, Jack. Hang in there; we'll get there as soon as possible."

Dave, Juan and Tony began to move in Jack's direction. "Hold tight, Jack. We're on our way." Dave told him. Tony had trouble keeping up with Juan and Dave but did his best to maintain the pace. His entire body ached and with each step the pain in his side and his arm increased.

They came quickly upon the hostiles and started firing. Two of them were taken by surprise and dropped quickly. Ben was able to take down a third. Jack remained pinned down by two men. Dave and Tony circled around behind them. With all of the noise they were completely unnoticed until they were a few steps away. The first man turned and began to shoot but lost his balance. His shot went awry and Dave couldn't miss at this range. He fired and the man fell.

Tony held the semiautomatic pistol that Juan had given him. It was clenched in his right hand, his arm outstretched in front of him. The man shooting at Jack remained unaware of Tony until he felt the cold steel of Tony's gun at the base of his neck.

Everything was quiet. All gunfire had ceased. "Drop your weapon." Tony demanded through gritted teeth. "Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head, Yuen." He repeated angrily.

"I seem to be at a distinct disadvantage." Yuen said calmly.

"Shut up and drop your weapon." Tony demanded again.

"Why? So you can shoot an unarmed man. I don't like those odds." Yuen spun and leveled his gun.

Tony coolly pulled the trigger. Yuen was thrown backwards to the ground but held onto his gun. Tony aimed again and shot twice more then stepped forward to kick the gun away from Yuen. Jack ran forward and grabbed the gun from the ground. Yuen lay gasping for breath.

"You were a worthy opponent, Mr. Almeida." He said in a barely audible whisper. "One more bullet would finish the job, if you would do me that favor."

Tony smiled a mirthless smile and shook his head. "Not a chance. If you're lucky, you'll die before the wolves find you." He said as he replaced the safety on the weapon and pushed it into the waistband of his pants.

The entire assault team was now standing together around Tony. He was overwhelmed by how his friends had risked their lives to save him. He quickly blinked some tears from his eyes; there would be time for that later. He pushed back the emotions for the moment. "It's a long ride home, guys. Let's get going."