Again a huge thank you to my beta anmodo and to everyone that has reviewed.
Disclaimers see chapter 1
Chapter 7
FBI HQ NY
Sunday 2330 – 9.5 hours until Operation Rhino
He shivered. It was so cold, and he didn't know how many more of Molotov's 'games' he could play. He could hear two voices – they sounded concerned – but after his time in captivity he felt he could no longer trust any body. He heard two more voices enter his cell. They were probably more of Molotov's goons, or maybe they were echoes of the original voices. He didn't know. He was in so much pain and so confused. He felt a prick of a needle on his hand and tried to jump back. He couldn't take anymore of Molotov's drugs or mixtures. Feeling pressure on his shoulders – he remembered – this time it wasn't any of Molotov's mixtures or drugs; it was Ebola. He tried to move again. He didn't want to die in this cold cell, alone from Ebola.
Sam felt Danny tense up and try to move away from the paramedic's as if they were here to continue the torture. She looked over at Jack, who shared her concern. Sam knew somehow she needed to reassure Danny, so he could get the help he so desperately needed. She had tried talking to him, holding his hand, stroking his hair but nothing was working and time was running out. Finally Sam gently kissed Danny's forehead, hoping this action would calm him. As she did, her tears slowly made tracks through the dried blood on his face. How could someone do this to anyone, Sam thought, how could someone do this to Danny. The simple kiss that she had laid on Danny's forehead appeared to have worked as she felt him relax. Nodding to the paramedics, she watched as they started to do their job.
Finally, after what felt like hours, they were moving towards the elevator. "Sam go with him," Jack said as he paused unsure how to phase the next part of his sentence, "if anything happens…. I don't want him to be alone."
Jack watched as the elevator doors closed, leaving him and his whirlwind of emotions alone. Making his way back to his office, Jack made two phone calls: one to the FBI's head of counter terrorism, New York branch, Christopher Nelson and one to Agent Harrington of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, quickly briefing them on the situation. Once those phone calls were out of the way, Jack had the difficult task of telling the remaining members of the team that they had found Danny alive but… well that was going to be the hard part. Picking up the phone he dialled the familiar number. It rang a couple of times before it was picked up.
"Hello."
"Viv, its Jack."
"So the case has been wrapped up then?" Vivian asked.
"What?" This small statement, puzzled Jack for a second, so much had happened since wrapping the case. "Yeah, but that's not why I am calling."
"Surely we can't have a new case."
"No, but we need all hands on deck. We have just received intelligence that there is going to be a terrorist attack on New York tomorrow," Jack replied. He was just buying time so he could phase the next part.
"I will be there in 20 minutes," Vivian replied. She was just about to put down the phone, when Jack started to talk again.
"Viv, wait there's more. We found Danny. He's alive." Jack took a deep breath, "it looks really bad Viv. It looked really bad," Jack said repeating himself as he barely contained his emotions. "Danny was…" Jack stopped. He couldn't refer to Danny in the past tense. "Danny told me about the terrorist attacks."
Viv swallowed as she tried to process this information. Danny was back but barely alive and had been held by some psycho terrorist group. "Jack, this is Danny we are talking about. He's probably the most stubborn, toughest, bravest person I have ever met. He will be ok."
"You weren't there. He thought that he had failed me. He thought we were going to hurt him Viv. It was heartbreaking." Jack didn't know how much longer he could keep his emotions in check; he had stayed strong in front of Danny and Sam. But these animals had tortured one of his people, his family. "I am going to kill those bastards once I get a hold of them."
"Jack, please," Vivian responded. Jack thought Viv was going to reason with him, but he was beyond reasoning. "Jack, remember there is no 'I' in team."
There was a knock on Jack's door. He looked up to find Agent Harrington from the JTTF. "I've gotta go. The JTTF has arrived." Jack paused. Martin didn't know about Danny. As it was unlikely that he would get a chance to tell him now that the JTTF had arrived. "Viv, I feel really bad asking you to do this, but can you tell Martin. I don't want him receiving this from a third hand source."
"Don't worry about it. I will see you in about 20 minutes. Bye."
After ending the call, Jack looked up at Agent Harrington. "So what do you need?"
"Firstly, I need all the intelligence you have regarding this threat. Secondly I need to interrogate your source to see if they are credible," Harrington said
"The source is credible, but you can't interrogate him," Jack replied.
"Why the hell not? This isn't one of your missing persons cases. There is a potential terrorist attack on New York tomorrow and I need to know if the intelligence is credible before I proceed. Who is your source and why the hell can't I speak to him?" Harrington yelled.
Jack felt his blood boil. Trying hard to suppress his emotions, he replied, "His name is Special Agent Danny Taylor of the FBI. He is on my team, so I can tell you his information is credible. And the reason why you can't interrogate him is because he damn near died getting the information to us, and he may still die."
"You did what? Damn-it, Jack, I need to interrogate him. Why didn't you wait until I got here?" Harrington yelled as the tension continued to rise in the room.
"Sorry Harrington," Jack replied sarcastically, "while Danny was lying there struggling to breathe, struggling to live, I should of told him: 'Danny we need to get you down to an interrogation room, so the JTTF can determine if your information is credible or not. Don't worry it should only take a couple of hours.' Sorry, Harrington, but I have humanity. I care about my agents. Maybe you should try it sometime." There was another knock on Jack's door. "Yes," Jack yelled as he felt his façade cracking.
"Jack, you said you had credible intelligence on a bio-attack. Who's your source?" Christopher Mellor - head of New York's counterterrorism unit - asked as he entered Jack's office.
"My source is Special Agent Danny Taylor. He's one of mine"
"I know. Hasn't he been missing for about three weeks?" Jack nodded and then Christopher continued, "Ok we have established the source is credible…unless…unless he was under duress at the time?"
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Mount Sinai Hospital
Monday 0200 – 7 hours until Operation Rhino
Sam sat alone in the cold, sterile hospital passageway. Jack had sent her with Danny, but in all honesty, she would have gone anyway even if he had ordered her not to, not that he would have. She had tried to read one of the years out of date women's magazines, but had found she was too distracted. She had found herself staring at the same page for what felt like hours, but the clock on the sterile wall told a different story. Sam had thought that she would be would be happy and relieved when Danny came back, but now she had never felt so apprehensive. She needed this whole situation to have a fairytale ending, but she felt it wouldn't. Fairytale endings don't happen in the real world, she thought, but maybe it would happen…just this once.
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Poughkeepsie
Monday 0300 – 6 hours until Operation Rhino
Hutchison and the others sat in the abandoned Nike warehouse preparing the virus. They were in the final stages before they unleashed the virus upon the citizens of New York and in time the citizens of the world. They were so concentrated on their task that they did not notice the SWAT teams surrounding the building. The first Hutchison knew about it was the explosion that ripped the door open followed by a flash-bang. Soon the warehouse was swarming with FBI agents and LEO's. Commands were issued and were quickly followed. Within minutes, the suspects were detained. Now came the task of locating the virus before it was too late. To one side of the warehouse, there was a refrigerator. Inside there were five racks of test tubes filled with a clear liquid, which tests would later confirm as being the Ebola virus. But on closer inspection, it appeared that one of the vials was missing.
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Near Roosevelt City, New Jersey
Monday 0430 – 4.5 hours until Operation Rhino
Martin stared out into the darkness of New Jersey, the wind and rain whipped around the SUV. Based on Danny's vague description, there were six buildings in the area that matched and they had already searched five. This was the sixth and final one. Martin hoped that they would find the terrorists this time, otherwise they would be back to square-one and the clock was ticking. But he also hoped that they would find the terrorists in this building, so he could show them the true meaning of pain.
"Agent Fitzgerald?"
"Yeah," Martin replied, blinking as he tried to clear his head and prepare for the next raid. After the news from Poughkeepsie, it was vital that they detained all of the suspects. Martin stepped out of the SUV and into the rain and looked around. This was by far the most remote location out of all the previous places searched. Gripping his numb hands around his gun, he followed the SWAT teams into the building. The first thing Martin noticed was how cold and damp the building felt; it wasn't much warmer that outside. He heard agents ahead of him yelling at a suspect. Martin continued to follow the SWAT team down the passageway, clearing the cells as they went. Finally they reached the end of the passageway and the final cell. As Martin cleared the cell, he looked around and knew this was the right building. At the far corner of the tiny cell was a wall that had a hole cut into it. Martin felt a small smile reach his mouth. He realized Danny hadn't been dumped in Jack's office. He had escaped. MacGyver himself would have been proud.
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FBI HQ NY – Interrogation room
Monday 0630 – 2.5 hours until Operation Rhino
Molotov sighed. He was ex-KGB. He knew how to interrogate and this wasn't the way. But he was not completely at ease. The guy in the far corner had done nothing but stare at him from the beginning.
"Are there any more vials of the virus?"
"Maybe, maybe not," replied Molotov trying hard not to laugh.
Jack stood in the corner. He didn't know how much longer he could stand and listen to this crap. This guy was talking about Danny as if he was some dirt on his shoe. Walking towards Molotov, Jack stopped; he had to keep his emotions in check if he was going to succeed. "What was your use for Agent Taylor?"
Molotov smiled this was his chance to get a reaction out of these guys; a chance to see how much 'Taylor' meant to them. Then he would tell them 'Taylor' was dead. "His brother owed me money for drugs, and my crew thought it that Taylor would be a useful asset, but it was proved to be wrong. So we just use him as pawn in the game and to test out the new interrogation methods."
This was the straw that broke the camel's back; Jack couldn't take it any longer. Quickly crossing the room, he grabbed Molotov by the neck and threw him against the one-way glass causing it to break. "His name is Special Agent Daniel Taylor, and he is one of mine."
"I am sorry to tell you that he is dead then." Molotov looked into Jack's eyes; he had always been fascinated with people's reactions to death especially when it was someone close to them. But in all honesty, he was quite scared by this guy's reaction; bearing in mind he had already put him through a window.
"You must be an appalling interrogator, because if you were any good you would know, that Danny Taylor is still alive," Jack said, his hand not leaving Molotov's throat and hoping Danny was still alive. But he had seen the look in the paramedic's eyes. They were not holding out much hope for Danny, but they did not know Danny Taylor.
"He's alive? Physically maybe, but mentally—he's gone. They say half the battle of recovery is mental. Face it—he's gone. I broke him; he's worthless to you now," Molotov said icily.
Jack wanted nothing more that to crush this bastard's windpipe, but that's what Molotov wanted him to do. But he could threaten him. "He IS NOT worthless, he IS a brilliant agent and he IS an incredible person. You will never be able to hide from me. I am in front of you, I am behind you, every where you go I will be watching you and that one day you stop looking over your shoulder, is the day I will kill you." Releasing his grip from Molotov's throat, Jack smiled as he watched the fear in Molotov's eyes. He could not turn back time, but he could take revenge. And the guy possibly had vital intelligence regarding a terrorist attack on New York. Time was of the essence; they needed the intelligence to stop the attack, so Jack felt his actions could be deemed as justified.
"Jack, what the hell are you doing? Get off him." Jack stood back shrugging off the agent.
"I want to file a complaint," Molotov yelled. "He threatened me."
"No, Molotov I didn't threaten you. By threatening you, it would mean there is a possibility I wouldn't carry it out." Jack left Molotov to mull over his last comment.
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FBI HQ NY – Interrogation cell
Monday 0700 – 2 hours until Operation Rhino
We know who the leader of the cell is. If you tell us his location, we can grant you immunity.
Molotov laughed. "You think your weak little deals interest me. I will become a martyr for my cause."
Harrington laid the document containing the deal on the table. "If you give us Dropshot's location, you can walk out of that door. We would place you into Witness Protection. You can start a new life, safe from prosecution, safe from the wrath from your former associates"
"They are not my 'former' associates, and I will never be safe. I will always be looking over my shoulder," Molotov replied.
"We can protect you; we will protect you," Harrington said, trying to persuade Molotov, this was their best chance to get Dropshot.
"You cannot protect me from one of your own," Molotov countered.
"Malone? It can be arranged," Harrington said as he tried to continue to persuade Molotov.
"You will never be able to protect from Malone. I have only seen that fire of determination once. And every threat he made, he carried out. No federal agency will be able to protect me from Malone."
Harrington paused. They needed Molotov to roll on Dropshot. Not only was it the best chance to capture one the FBI's most wanted terrorists, but they also didn't know if they had got all the Ebola vials. Harrington knew that persuading Molotov to roll on Dropshot would be the easy part, telling Jack and his team about the deal would be the hard part.
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FBI HQ NY
Monday 0730 – 1.5 hours until Operation Rhino
"Martin!"
Martin turned towards the voice, to see his father, "What are you doing here dad?"
Sensing Martin's tension, Deputy Director Fitzgerald got straight to the point. "Due to the recent intelligence about a potential terrorist attack on New York, the National Security Council believed it was necessary to have a more senior FBI agent dealing with the threat. Since the director is tied up in Washington, the most senior FBI agent is myself. We also need to verify if the intelligence is credible"
"What? Danny gave the information to Jack, that's as credible as you are going to get."
"We have to check." Victor Fitzgerald said.
"You don't believe Danny and Jack? They are both to brilliant agents, Danny is a good friend and Jack is a great boss."
"Jack is treading a dangerously thin line. That stunt he pulled in the interrogation room could have lost us a vital intelligence asset. That temper of his has landed him in trouble in the past and will in the future. It's just bad breeding Martin. You would never have done that that."
Martin looked out of the 30th floor window, before returning his eyes to meet his father's. "You're right, Dad; I wouldn't have shoved that bastard through the interrogation room window. I would have thrown him out of this window." Martin turned and walked towards the bullpen, leaving a stunned Deputy Director in his wake.
TBC…