Chapter 7, The first sign of freedom
"I'm here," Tony heard the voice on the other line.
"You have Michelle?" Sam grinned wickedly at Tony.
"You bet your ass I do." Then Tony heard Michelle scream. It made him want to get up and throttle Sam-but he couldn't do that, not while he was tied to the chair about ready to be electrocuted.
He looked out and saw Jack hold his sister and his parents were holding onto each other, crying. He wanted to scream out to them but couldn't. Tony had never felt more helpless in his entire life and Rendez' next order confirmed just how helpless he really was.
"Go ahead and rape the living daylights out of her." Then Rendez leaned in and put/taped a microchip on Tony's shoulder—to the outside world it appeared that he was just being somewhat supportive. "So you can hear her scream while you die." With that Rendez left.
Jack felt his pager beep and he looked down. It was Michelle. He looked up and noticed that Rendez was gone. "Give me a minute Vanessa," he excused himself.
Tony saw him leave but didn't think anything of it—he could hear Michelle screaming. Suddenly it stopped and he felt himself die. Michelle would never be the same again—if she was alive and now he would be dead too.
He looked upward and silently prayed to God that he would die quickly. He closed his eyes and waited.
Then, he heard footsteps. Tony opened his eyes and saw Jack inside the staged area. Hammond, Bill and some other guards followed him.
As soon as the gag had been torn out of his mouth, Tony declared-"What the hell?"
"We know it was a set up Tony," Hammond said. Then mumbled an apology of sorts.
Tony still didn't quite understand but he let himself hope—"Michelle?"
"I'm right here." Tony glanced over at her, not daring to move. Had he died that fast? Had God granted him his wish and he hadn't even realized it?
Michelle could sense his disbelief so she ran to directly to him and held onto him.
Previously, Michelle had beeped Jack to let him know that she had gotten enough from Sam. At that point, Michelle got out of her car, heart-pounding praying she made it in time.
She had to trust Jack—that he would get to Tony while she got to Rendez. Michelle flashed her CTU ID and rushed in to where she needed to be.
She found Rendez and smiled at him in only the way a survivor could smile at her captor. It was, it felt, very freeing. She punched him in the face and nodded when she saw Chloe come up. "Arrest him." She shouted then Michelle ran to find Tony.
Michelle couldn't believe that he was in her arms again. He wasn't saying anything, which worried her, but at the same time she could feel his hands on her back, holding her tight and his head was buried in her chest. "It's real Tony, it's real," she tried to soothe.
Tony heard Michelle bust still didn't comprehend what was going on. He had been prepared to die. He had accepted his fate the moment he had heard Michelle stop screaming.
Finally, he looked up into her eyes and noticed that they were bringing tears but there was also so much love there. Without thought, he pulled her in for their first kiss in almost a year.