Chapter 1

« Where is she Jack? » His fist connected with the restrained man's jaw. Jack let out a gasp and spit out some blood between his feet. Before he could prepare his jaw for another hit, he was punched again. This time, there was a loud crack and Jack screamed. The man smiled coldly and whispered in his ear:

"All you have to do is tell me where she is and this will all end…. You will feel no more pain."

Jack stared straight ahead and did not react. He would not break. He could not break. Getting no reaction from his prisoner, the man sighed. They would move on to the next level. At a nod from him, his goonies lifted Jack up from his chair. His hands were restrained behind his back with handcuffs and his feet were tied tightly together with a thick rope. They dropped him on the floor and proceeded to beat him into unconsciousness.

When Jack woke up, he was lying down on the floor on his stomach. He could hear voices all around him. He slowly opened his eyes. Everything hurt. He had trouble breathing and he remembered the kick that had broken one of his ribs. There was a pair of feet by his head and he looked up to see his interrogator sitting in a chair talking on the phone. Jack tried to feign unconsciousness again so as not to be discovered awake but the man already noticed. He smiled.

"Ah! Our friend is awake. String him up boys!" With that he said a couple more words into his cell phone and stood up. Immediately, Jack was surrounded by 4 men. They untied his handcuffs and retied them over his head. Then they tied a rope around his hands. A man cut the rope around his ankles. They threw the rope over a beam in the ceiling and proceeded to pull him up. Jack grunted in pain. God, he could barely breathe. They only stopped once he was standing on his tippy toes.

The interrogator smiled at Jack. What was his name? Oh yes, Jack remembered it now, it was John. John Atkins. He was a torture specialist who enjoyed his work immensely. Jack would kill him when he was freed.

"Now Jack, I won't lie to you. This will hurt." He smiled deeply pleased with his work. He was standing in front of another man. John stepped back slowly, never loosing his smile. The man had a thick chain around his fist and it was red. Obviously they had warmed it in a fire. Jack concentrated on breathing. He needed to breathe deeply. The man approached slowly and prepared himself. He pulled his fist and proceeded to punch Jack on his broken rib. Jack screamed and screamed. He did so about 10 times before John stopped him.

"Now Jack, have I convinced you yet or do I need to continue this?" He really did not care what Jack's answer was he just had to make sure that he did not die.

Jack was breathing heavily, slowly swinging to and fro on his rope. He had lost his footing after the first hit. He hurt so badly. He could hardly breathe anymore. His rib had been broken into millions of pieces. He would need an operation to fix it if he survived. He breathed deeply and whispered;

"Fuck you."

John smiled maliciously. His eyes were twinkling. He giggled and said "Ok boys. He wants more! You're going to regret this Jack."

Another man approached jack. He grabbed his head by his hair and made him stare into his eyes. Jack was terrified but tried not to show it. There was nothing in those eyes. There was no humanity. He was cold. He let go of Jack's head roughly and Jack noticed his knife.

'Oh fuck they're gonna cut me' he thought to himself.

The man started stabbing him all over his body, not deep enough to cause major blood loss, but deep enough to hurt like a bitch. He never cut where there were major arteries. Jack grunted after ever stab. After ten minutes of this, Jack's chest was covered in cuts which were all bleeding. John approached again and told his goonie to stop.

"Now Jack, my boss doesn't appreciate it when an FBI infiltrates his gang, has an affair with his daughter, his baby girl and manages to turn her against him. Just tell us where she is and we'll kill you slowly. The pain will end, I promise. And if you worry about her, she will not be hurt. She will be punished but we will not kill her. Where is she!"

Jack stared stonily back at him and breathed deeply, as deeply as he could with some broken ribs.

John waited a couple of seconds. He never broke eye contact with Jack. Finally, he stepped back and asked another one of his men to step forward. He was holding a metal rod attached to a machine. It was used to burn skin.

'Oh God, they're gonna burn me!' Jack thought. He started to panic. He had been tortured like this before. It hurt. It hurt enough to break him, he knew. 'Oh God, when is CTU getting here?' Jack tried to hide his fear but the man noticed. He smiled. The smile did not reach his eyes. Jack tried to breathe deeply. The man pressed the rod against one of his many cuts. Before it made contact, Jack couldn't help but think that at least it would stop the bleeding.

PAIN PAIN PAIN. This is all Jack felt. He heard himself scream, a loud raw scream, a death scream. After what seemed like an eternity, the man removed the rod. He waited a couple seconds and put it against another cut. And the pain and the screams started all over again. Between each cut, he heard a soft voice in his ear say

"Where is she Jack? Tell me where she is and this will all stop. She and her child will not be hurt."

At the word 'child', Jack's resolve strengthened. He could not break. He must live. It was his child. He must protect her and their unborn child. He would not let his son or daughter be brought up to be a terrorist. He must protect the girl. He loved her. He would die before giving them away.

TO keep himself going, he thought of her beautiful face and her beautiful body. He loved her and wanted to grow old with her. She was the first woman to make him feel this way since Terri. No woman would ever be hurt because of his work. After an eternity, Jack finally passed out. His last thoughts were of Isabelle, his pregnant fiancée.