"Wh... what do you mean there is no bell tower?"
Father Andrew could sense his panic and realised that this was probably where the bomb was supposed to be. "The building was remodelled about 18 months ago. Health and safety inspectors picked this place out with a fine tooth comb. They said the bell tower was dangerous, added unnecessary strain to the structure of the building. In bad weather conditions is could have collapsed, taking the whole building down with it."
Jack cursed under his breath, this was a problem. He knew in the worst case he could get himself and the priest from the building, but after looking through one of the circular windows on the back way he could see there were a lot of cops on the surrounding land, and hundreds of the protesters waiting behind the cordoned off area. Many of those would get hurt if the building was to blow. Plus, he didn't like the idea of allowing such a historical part of LA to be ruined either. He had to do find the bomb.
He stopped pacing and pulled out his cell, dialling Jay's phone. He was still with Beanies so he could help.
Jay herd his cell ring and quickly pulled over to the curb. He turned to look at Beanie, who sat beside him unrestrained. He showed him that it was Jack who was calling and placed a finger to his lips, Beanie nodded in response. He had to stay quiet, they couldn't give anything away to Jack.
"Yeah man?" He answered, making his accent harsher.
"Jay. Your still in the house with the suspects right?"
"Yeah man jus like you told me. They aint moved a muscle now I got one of your loaded guns dude."
"Good, listen. I need the man Beanie. He told me the bomb was hidden inside the bell tower. I'm here now Jay, and there is no bell tower."
"What?" He shrieked, clearly as shocked as Jack had been.
"Yeah I know. You have to get Beanie to tell me where it's hidden, really. If he doesn't give in, threaten his family like I did earlier. You have to do this kid."
"Aight man, no problem. I'll call you back in ten," he said before hanging up.
Beanie was watching him with curiosity, Jay had paled some, as though he had seen a ghost.
"What's up man?" He asked, he was beginning to feel unsettled.
"The bomb, its supposed to be in the bell tower right?"
A slow nod of the head was Beanies reply.
"There is no bell tower."
Silence.
The two men sat and thought, confused and angry that this was happening, as there was nothing either of them could do to fix it. Finally Beanie perked up.
"We gotta call Tony."
Jack paced the floor again, getting more and more frustrated with himself for allowing this to happen. He started thinking through everything he needed to do. For starters he needed to evacuate this man, but discreetly. If the cops found out he didn't have a hostage they would storm the place, arrest him, then let the people back in, lead them to their deaths.
"Sir I need to get you out of here."
"Like hell you do," snapped Father Andrew, his own anger with the situation becoming stronger.
"Sir this building could blow up at and second. I don't even know where the bomb is, so I can't stop it."
"I'm aware of the situation Mr. Bauer," he replied, calming some. "But I am also aware of the fact that when your friend rings you back with a location, you have no idea how to find it, and this is a very big building. You don't have a chance of stopping it without me."
"Sir, if we do get a location, we may not get there in time, anything could happen, there are many variables you have to consider. In all honesty sir, getting out of here is doubtful at best."
"I know. This is my cathedral and I'm not leaving it. If the Lord expects this to happen, he expects me to go too. I'm not going to disobey him."
Jack said nothing. He understood the mans faith, yet he couldn't understand what could compel a man to believe that some being had decided he was to die, and just accept it the way he had. No anger, no questions of why?
Although he didn't like the idea, he decided he would go by the mans wishes. It was the least he could do as he was putting him in a life threatening situation.
"What do you mean there's no bell tower?!"
"Listen Tony, calm down man. None of us were expecting this."
"Don't tell me to calm down Jay," Tony snarled, "I'm the one holding all the cards here. I got Division on my back, I'm trying to stop them from killing Jack, trying to stop them from taking control of the building. All the while I'm trying to make Jack practically kill himself! Do you know how complicated this is getting? I'm struggling to understand the rules here, I'm beginning to doubt that he is going to understand any of this. The lines too blurred"
"Look Tony, I know what your doing there," he spoke in a gentle tone. "but whether Jack chooses to thank us for this or not doesn't matter, it wasn't our call. Chase was pretty sure he would be dead by his own hand sooner or later if we didn't do this, and he's right. At least this way, if Jack understands or not, he's got his life."
Tony was silent while he tried to sort through his emotions. "I just want it to work," he whispered. "It seemed like such a good plan 6 months ago. But now, I just think that we have messed him around big time, almost put him through hell. I don't think it's going to make him suddenly decided that his life worth living Wha.... what if it tips him the other way?"
"I know, I've been thinking the same thing all day but we've just gotta go by Chase's judgement, him and Kim know how Jack will react better than us. Right now, we have to forget that any of this was planned. We have Jack in a building, with a bomb. We need to find it Tony, or this plan will fail, in the worst way possible. I'm sorry that's falling on your shoulders, but it has. Get those satellites."
"I'm on it," Tony snapped, before hanging up his phone. He looked around the tech room for a moment, the images were still downloading. He wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes and slammed both fists down onto the computer terminal.
Right now his anger was aimed at Jack. He was mad that he made them feel they had to do this to save him. He knew that wasn't the truth though, he was frustrated that their plan to save him was going to do the opposite. It would kill him.
