Jack gave the silent hand signal for other members of the SWAT team to approach the door. The hallway was dimly lit, the only light source coming from a window at the end of the hall, and the air was stagnant. There was no carpet but had been, rotting boards now taking its place. The creaking made it almost impossible to stalk the location but a neighbours TV blared somewhere along the hall, disguising their footsteps a tiny bit more.
Equipment clattered on his belt as Jack reached up to bang on the door, a 9mm poised in his hand. Bobby, Myles and himself carried smaller calibres while the rest of the fully armoured SWAT went all out. They had positioned themselves along the hall, to the sides of the door and on the next floor up, their eyes and guns pointing down. Myles stood to the side of Jack while Bobby trailed at the top of the stairs they had just scaled.
Jack banged three times. Bang Bang Bang. The sound echoed through the apartment block. A shuffle from inside the apartment and they heard the door unlatch its chain. Jack shot a look towards Myles, then to Bobby, who nodded in anticipation. The door swung open to reveal a dark haired woman of medium build, quite tall but a match to the profile of a bomber. No sooner had she opened the door and looked up had she slammed in on Jack and fled back into her apartment.
The door hit Jack's foot and ricocheted on its hinges back into the apartment, leaving a noticeable dent in the wall behind with its handle.
'We got a runner!' Jack exclaimed towards Bobby. Jack and Myles took chase through the apartment, leaping over strewn furniture towards the fire escape balcony. Meanwhile, Bobby had begun thumping his way down the four flights of stairs they had just scaled.
'They always run' he growled to himself, jumping three or four steps at a time.
The suspect ran through a water stained archway into a back bedroom. The apartment was minimalist. No carpets, no colour to the walls, just a couch and a table, that had been throw into the path of the FBI agents. The back bedroom had a mattress lying in the corner with a small foot stool next to it, a laptop sitting on top. Some kind of shrine littered the opposing corner of the room and beside that was a window.
'She's heading down the fire escape on the south side of the building' Jack radioed to Bobby. Bobby exited the building through the front doors, a few SWAT agents in tow and paused briefly, listening to Jack's instructions. He turned and ran along the front of the building to wards an alleyway that led to the fire escape stairs. Bobby rounded the corner to the alleyway and collided with the suspect, he mind too busily checking behind her for more agents. Bobby grabbed her hands, pulled them behind her back roughly and threw her to the ground. Kneeling beside her he handcuffed her then stood back while SWAT surrounded her with their guns.
Jack and Myles pounded down the alleyway towards the ring of SWAT agents and a cockily smiling Bobby. Panting them holstered their weapons and patted him hard on the shoulder.
'It's about time Sparky' he mocked as Jack bent over panting hard.
Myles, breathing hard added 'We had her' before clutching his sides. Bobby grabbed the suspect and dragged her to her feet, causing her to groan slightly.
'Com'on Cowboy' he said and pulled her towards the awaiting truck.
The suspect sat silent in the interrogation room, the only noise from the motor of the fan, whirring above her head. The clicked open and Jack and Bobby entered, her intense stare full of anger and hatred. Jack pulled out the chair that sat opposite her and sat down, his fingers locked together resting on the table in front of him. Her gaze followed Bobby as the taller man, carrying a brown folder, leant on the wall behind her. Sue and Myles observed from the room adjacent to the interrogation room, its one-way mirror concealing them.
'We already know your name isn't Jesse James' Jack told her matter of factly 'so it's unlikely you a US citizen'
'Second generation, born a bred' she spat in a Jersey accent. Even Bobby couldn't hide his surprise as Jack flashed him a look.
Sue frowned and looked towards Myles who didn't take his eyes off the room before him. 'She's American' he told her stunned. Sue looked back at the room open mouthed.
Lucy was having a hard time trying to understand the situation at hand. Americans were terrorists to their own country? Home terrorists? 'Whatever happened to they came, they saw…' she waved her arms not even bothering to finish the sentence.
'They way they see it is they are serving their religion' Jack began.
'And the way religion sees it is recruit who you hate. They are going to die anyway' Bobby pointed out.
Myles raised his eyebrows sipping his coffee. 'So if Americans are willing to blow themselves up for another person, they win' Sue stated, waiting for confirmation.
'And we prove how incredibly stupid we are' Myles sighed.
'Whoa' Tara suddenly exclaimed from her desk, eye fixated on her computer in front of her. Everyone stampeded across the bullpen to her desk. She looked up briefly to address them a panicked look on her face.
'What?' Jack asked her, searching her eyes fro a clue.
'A new target has just been confirmed in another email' she started, scrolling down the screen of the hacked email account. Sue, who was standing beside her, went wide-eyed with shock and fear.
Jack turned his gaze towards Sue, her fear turning into his heartache. She breathed deeply and looked at Jack. 'Here' she said simply.