I think this is the penultimate chapter….
Chapter Twelve
Tom walked through the parking lot, listening to the field teams reporting in.
"This is Delta One. Ground floor, north section clear. No sign of the target."
"Delta Two, ground floor, east section, clear."
"Delta Three, ground floor, south section, clear."
"Delta Four, ground floor, west section, clear."
He touched his microphone. "Copy that. Ground floor clear. Move up to the first floor, stick to the same search pattern." He switched channels quickly. "Chloe, we're moving to the first floor."
"Copy that, Tom."
These places were always so damn cold, so soulless, temporary. He shivered as he walked, despite the weight of his jacket, pressing down on him, despite the sweat he could feel breaking on his forehead.
He ignored it, not bothering to wipe it away as he climbed the ramp to the first floor of the parking lot. He couldn't afford the distraction, not with this ruthless bastard about.
He was getting closer. Closing of his hiding places with every floor they searched.
"Delta One, first floor, north section, clear."
"Copy that, hold your position. Report, Delta Two"
"This is Delta Two, first floor, east section, clear."
He was getting closer.
"This is Delta Three, first floor, west section, clear."
He could almost taste him.
xxxXXXxxx
The bonds slipped away from Ashley's shoulders Quickly she grabbed the ropes, holding them in place around her, creating the illusion that she was still bound.
"Ashley's free. Be ready, on my signal." Tony breathed a sigh of relief. At least she had a chance, at least they had a chance to stop the damn bomb before Jackson Alexander had the opportunity to detonate it.
"Copy that."
"Remember, if possible, that we want him alive."
He took another look, seeing Ashley, still on her knees, still watching Alexander. She had shifted position, though, coiling her legs underneath her body, preparing to spring.
Tony slid his pistol from its holster.
He saw Jackson Alexander turn away from her, just briefly.
Just enough.
He saw Ashley push herself off the floor, flinging herself at Alexander.
"She's made her move. Go, go, go."
He nodded at the rest of the Delta team and they went through the front door of the clinic.
xxxXXXxxx
It was almost harder to pretend to be a prisoner than it had been to get free. Every time he looked at her, she wondered if, this time, she'd given herself away, if the rope had slipped too far. If this time, he'd come over and check the bounds himself.
"Please let me go. I'm a doctor." Lester moved, taking advantage of the new found slackness in the ropes to try and look at their captor.
She nearly groaned aloud. She had to do something, before Lester gave her away, before he got them both killed.
"Shut up." Something moved behind him, just a shadow, a flicker of movement. He turned away from them, turning the gun away from them.
Now or never.
Ashley flung herself at him, trying to catch him by surprise. It was her only chance, she had to get that gun.
She hit him as hard as she could, as low as she could, trying to overbalance him. Dimly she heard (thought she heard) the doors of the clinic open. She tried to push the thoughts out of her head, concentrating on reaching for the gun.
She knocked it from her grasp, seeing it slide across the floor. Alexander swung at her, connecting hard with her head. Stars swarm in front of her vision and she could taste blood in her mouth.
The gun.
Oh fuck, the bomb.
Ashley dropped to her knees, scrambling away from him, desperate to get to it before a solid wave of fire swept across the clinic.
A single shot rang out in the clinic.
xxxXXXxxx
"This ones from Dave in Valencia. Today sucked for him because he got fired this morning and came back to find his girlfriend in bed with his best friend. Sounds like the start of a bad joke or a bad country song. But that really is a suckey day."
"Tracy in San Diego says that today sucks coz she couldn't get tickets for the Rose Bowl showdown. Let me tell you, Tracy, you aren't the only one having that problem. The game is sold out. So, if you don't have tickets, why don't you get yourself a few beers and listen to the game, right here on CSRFM."
"Its 635pm."
xxxXXXxxx
"Delta Four, third floor, west section, clear."
"Copy that." Tom's voice came clearly, evenly across the channels. "Chloe we're moving up to the fourth floor."
"Copy that. Watch yourself Tom." Chloe glanced at the screen, conscious of Michelle standing behind her. "Near as we can tell, the shot came from the fourth floor."
"Copy that."
"Michelle, I've got Tony on the phone for you."
"Put him through to station three. Thanks Adam." She let the phone ring twice, trying to buy herself some time to pull herself together. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the phone. "This is Dessler."
"We got him Michelle."
"Good." She breathed a sigh of relief. "What about Ashley? Is she okay?"
"She's fine, Michelle."
"Bring Alexander back to CTU for debrief." She touched her forehead, the headache retreating from her touch. "I think we might just get through this Tony."
"Yeah. I'm on my way back to CTU now. Michelle?"
"Yeah?" He was smiling, she knew he was. She couldn't stop herself smiling back.
"What do you think of the name Jessica?"
She laughed, the first time he had heard her laugh, really laugh, since she had taken the fucking job. "We'll talk about it later, okay." She put the phone down and turned back to Chloe, opening her mouth to ask how the search was going.
And then Natasha Grey walked into CTU.
xxxXXXxxx
He couldn't be dead.
He couldn't be. She still wanted to shout at him. Shout at him for going into work today, shout at him for getting shot, for making her worry like this.
"Please God, let him be alright."
She wanted to yell at him until he put his arms laughed at her and made her laugh, until he put his arms around her, kissed her and made everything all alright again.
Rebecca pulled out into the traffic, her hands shaking, trying to pretend that she wasn't crying, that she wasn't terrified that Nathan was already….
No. No, he'd be alright.
Pleas God, let him be alright.
xxxXXXxxx
Tony handed her a cup of coffee as the van rumbled back towards CTU. "So how are you?"
"Not bad." Ashley took a mouthful of coffee, grimacing briefly at the bitter taste. "All the better for seeing you guys. I owe you a beer."
Tony smiled, running his hand across his face. "Don't worry about it." He leaned back against the side of the van. "Michelle will want to debrief you, but I can probably arrange for you to do that tomorrow."
"No. I want to do it now. Get it over with." She closed her eyes briefly. "Then I want to go home and stand in the shower for an hour or so."
"Rough case?"
"It just…" She bit off her words, falling silent. "Yeah. There's just something wrong with those places, Tony. They're haunted. Too many dead babies, too much blood. So much blood." Six months of frustration, sadness, anger and loss spilling out of her like blood. Remembering the stories, the true stories she had heard. So much guilt, so much blood.
Tony put his arms around her. Letting her cry.
xxxXXXxxx
"Delta Three, fourth floor…wait we got something here!"
"Hold your positions, I'm on my way." Tom broke into a run, hurrying across the car park to the south section. "What have we got?"
"This." A Delta team member shone his torch underneath a parked car.
Illuminated in the glow, lying there like a snake was a discarded sniper's rifle. Tom smiled savagely as he stood. "Get a forensic team over here. I want them to dust the car and the rifle. He probably wore gloves, but we might get lucky."
Oh fuck, he was close.
xxxXXXxxx
"What's going on Michelle?"
"We uncovered a link between Jackson Alexander and a hit man known as Vincent."
"I thought I told you to back off Rights of the Child. I thought you had backed off Rights of the Child."
"New evidence came to light." Michelle walked around her desk and sat down. "Evidence that linked the organisation to an attempt on Amy Gardner's life and an attack against Dr Lester's clinic."
"You went against my orders Michelle."
"I know I did, but I had good reason to."
"I told you to leave this alone for a reason, Michelle. Powerful people…"
Politics. It all came down to politics. Couldn't they just let her do her job.
"It's like this Natasha. Either back me on this, or replace me as Director of CTU."
I think the next chapter will be the last one, folks, so come on, please read and review. Pretty please…
