disclaimer: All characters belong to FOX. This is just for fun

The following takes place between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.

11:00:01 --- 11:00:02 --- 11:00:03 --- 11:00:04

CTU, office where Jack is
Still with the phone to his ear, Jack shuts down the computer, opens the door of the office and starts walking down the hall, to the bathroom. "I'm there. What now?"
Nick: "There's a box underneath the sink."

Jack kneels down and reaches under the sink, finding the box easily. "I got it."

Nick: "Good. You're doing fine so far. Put the earpiece in your ear and say something."
Jack does as told. "I'll kill you if you hurt Kim. Where is she?"
Nick: "She's fine. Good boy, Jack." The phone line disconnects. Jack drops the phone into his pocket and walks out of the bathroom.

CTU
George receives a phone-call and after leaving a cryptic message on Tony's desk, leaves to meet a contact.

The Cottage
Kim doesn't like this one bit. But the door is open now... She glares at this new man, Pat, but says nothing. Instead, she mentally notes where her gun is and inches towards the side of the room. It could be easier to run out...

CTU
Tony takes in this information. "Okay. But that's not all...is it?" He doesn't move. Michelle's going to tell him everything. Right now.

"No... I told Jack about what we're working on and he gave me names." She pauses, she won't give them up until he agrees. "In brief, he thinks these two men are hiding in the US and preparing for some kind of a big hit, because our government tried to prevent their expansion in Eastern Europe..."

Tony doesn't look very happy. He surely knows what follows. Michelle continues anyway.

"Look, I know you don't want Jack around here, but I think he can help us. I mean, he came up with this in two seconds, we've had two hours and no results. Come on, you know we could use his help."

cottage
Pat moves away from the door frame, kicks the door closed and starts to slowly walk towards Kim. "Whaddaya think, shall the two of us have some fun?"

Kim backs off, but he continues approaching her. With one sudden large step, he catches up with her, and grabs her, turning her around, so he holds her from behind, pulling a knife out and putting it to her throat. "You make one sound, you never will again!"

CTU

Tony sighs, loud enough for Lisa to hear and look up from her work but elect not to say anything. That's all he needs, Jack hanging around when there was so much stuff left for them to deal with. But if Michelle was the go-between...

"Fine," he gives in, "But you keep your eye on him. And, if he doesn't provide anything substantial in ONE hour, he goes home." He give her a look then waves her on, "Let me talk to Jack. I know you didn't let him go home."

"I don't know where Jack is, I really don't. All I know is the information he gave me and that it's probably better to keep George away from him. Do you want me to give the names and the details to Lisa or put one of our own people on it?"

"Nah, give it to Lisa. I don't want anymore of our guys on this than necessary and Lisa's got Kevin to do her grunt work." Tony does the 'Tony scratches his face' thing. "Michelle...um..." What's the use? She is only doing what she believes is right and no one should be harassed for that. "Get the information to Lisa. I'm get an update with Andre."

the cottage
No...No...NO! Adrenaline pumping and her mind racing, Kim's not about to give up now. She throws her foot back and succeeds in knocking Pat away. Even if it's for a second, it's all she needs to grab the gun Joey gave her.

Now, weapon in hand, she shakily points it at Pat from her location barely three feet away. "Come any closer and I'll shoot. I swear!" Kim's voice is shaking but her finger is on the trigger. Her life is on the line and she knows it.

"How the hell did you get that?", Pat is quite taken aback. He certainly didn't expect to find himself on that side of a barrel. "Okay, I'll drop it. Alright?", he drops the knife to the floor, but as he lets his arm fall, he pulls out his gun from the holster and points it at Kim.

"Now you drop it! Now!"

Kim doesn't budge, though she's shaking as if she could lose control any minute. And she can't help but think this would be a good time for Joey to check on her. "You won't kill me. You can't." She only hopes it's the truth. "Your boss needs me to get to my dad. He can't bargain with my dad if I'm dead. And if you kill me, what then? You actually think you'll live much longer?"

CTU
As Tony makes his way to his desk, he notices a piece of paper not on there previously and then he recognizes George's handwriting. After reading the message, Tony sighs - again. Perfect. George might have some information coming from a source who he's gone to meet. With a roll of his eyes he ignores his previous quest for an update and decides to check incoming and outgoing phone calls, just in case Jack has used any phones. Then he checks security cameras. Jack has to be somewhere...

And then a hit. Jack's coming out of the bathroom.

Hurriedly and after alerting security to be ready if needed, Tony rushes to the hallway he's just watched and sees Jack. Running to get in front of him, he blocks Jack's way. "Where you goin', Jack? Michelle told me you might have some information for us so why don't you stay and update our team? We could use ya."

Nick (through the earpiece): "Yeah, why don't you tell them, Jack?"

Jack lies: "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't tell her anything."

Michelle walks back to her desk to prepare the files to give to Lisa. Passing by Tony's desk, she glances at his screen. Tony was watching the surveillance cameras. One picture shows Jack and Tony facing each other in the hallway. Tony, what are you doing, she sighs. She should have told him everything from the start. She has to stop this before chaos ensues. Michelle dials Tony's number and hopes he'll pick up before he says something that could hurt Kim. Tony's phone rings. A good opportunity for Jack to get himself out.

Jack : "I'll find you if I have something to tell you." and with that, Jack moves and pushes Tony aside, giving him a very unkind "Get out of my way."

Nick: "I hope your the sake of your daughter you didn't tell her anything, Jack."

"I didn't.", Jack mutters in a low voice as he walks to the elevator.

"Michelle..." Tony watches Jack slip away. This isn't good. It's not good at all. "Michelle, don't move. Don't leave your desk. I'm going to be right there."

The Cottage
Pat: "Maybe not. But I don't need to kill you. I can hurt you just enough for you to drop that gun and be a good girl."

Joey walks over to the cottage, Pat still hasn't come out, he wants to know what's going on. Since the door's unlocked, he pushes it open and as he sees Kim and Pat pointing guns at each other, he knows it's very bad. Kim drew the weapon he gave her. He's gonna have to extract her from here quickly, before someone dies. He pulls his gun out, just for safety, and points it alternately at Pat and Kim, so he doesn't blow his cover immediately. The door snaps to behind him.

"Pat! Put the gun down, what are you doing? We need her alive... Come on man, be smart. Kim, do the same. It's not like you stand a chance. Guns down. Both of you."

Pat complies. "Alright. Man, she came at me!"

"Right. I'm sure she did. You're lucky if I don't tell Nick about this. Kim, give me the gun." She does. While Pat turns around to the door, Joey hits him with the butt of the gun and knocks him out. "Kim, help me out here. Get some rope from the bathroom. Go." When she comes back, he ties Pat up and gags him, then gets up , facing Kim. "They're gonna be looking for him soon. I'll try to get you out of here as soon as I can... Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Kim nods her head, swallows hard, and looks towards the windows. "I'll be fine. But...I'm not leaving you here. If I'm gone, they'll know someone helped me." She can tell Joey doesn't get it. Who would? Why not just take the chance and run? "I've been here before. I just can't let you risk your life and get me out of here. I know what happens. My dad can help us, he can get a team here, get us both out. Please." She's very sincere in her words. "I don't want anything to happen to you because of me." , she continues.

CTU
All this hasn't been lost on Lisa, who has had an extra set of eyes in Kevin. He has been watching events unfold for her while she has 'kept quiet' and logged into the security cameras. "Almeida's heading back to his desk," Kevin announces.

"Amazing..." Lisa can't help but smile. She thinks the person she just saw is Jack Bauer. But it can't be, can it? Jack's not supposed to be at CTU right now. Not since... She shakes the thought. Had to have been devastating. He never returned her phone calls but she didn't take it personally. "Kevin, keep this socket clear. I want the cameras on and available for monitoring."

Lisa has decided enough is enough. She's going to invade their space even though they won't like it.

Tony manages to get to Michelle just as Lisa is approaching. "Look, Lisa, I need to speak with Michelle. Give me-"

"No." Her voice is calm and firm. "Things are quickly going down the drain around here. I'm here to help, not be stuck in a back room despite what George Mason thinks. You might as well start talking to me or I'll poke my nose around anyway."

Tony feels like giving up. But he has work to do. "Michelle, Jack was here. You had information from him. I want to know what he has had access to and I want you to work on that with Lisa while I go track him down."

"Tony, no. Leave him alone.", Michelle calls out as she glances at Lisa. She doesn't know a first thing about this woman and she certainly doesn't feel like giving out this kind of information to an outside agent.

"Tony, you think I'm protecting Jack, and of course, you're right. But believe me, I have every reason to do so. You know I wouldn't be going around you if I didn't have to..." She knows Tony wants particulars this time, but she feels uncomfortable around Lisa.

"Lisa, I'm sorry, this is very personal information, I have to talk to Tony alone.", she says and pulls Tony away. They walk into an empty holding room.

The questioning look on Tony's face leaves her no choice. If she doesn't tell him what she knows he's likely to mess things up. She's just hoping it won't hurt Jack. Or Kim.

"You want information, okay. But this has to stay between us.", she says with a firm look. "Jack told me not to tell anyone, but since you won't let him be, I have no choice... Jack is here because somebody kidnapped his daughter. Yes, again. And he's just trying to find out who. I've given him full access and Tony, be honest, he helped us. The two names he gave me are of two Russian mob headmen, Michail and Nikolay Petrov. Ten years ago, they tried to expand their ring to Eastern Europe and killed the Bulgarian president when he tried to stop them. Our government put together a mission to apprehend them, but since that failed, they've disappeared. Jack believes they have a hand in what's happening here today." She gets no reaction from Tony. He just stands there, his arms crossed, waiting for more. "Come on, you know he's usually right about these things. Tony, he works for us, and you really shouldn't get in his way right now. He's in a place where he needs our help. And we need his." she pauses to let this sink in.

"You heard what he said to you... What is the first thing every rookie learns when they start out? "Admit nothing, deny everything". Can't you see that's exactly what he's doing? He's likely bugged by now and can't talk. Tony, you know Jack. And from what I've heard about him, he wouldn't do anything to put us in danger. As soon as he can free himself from this situation, he'll cooperate. Leave him be. OK? Please."

Her expression is almost placable. "Please.", she repeats and hopes telling him this was not a mistake.

Cottage
Joey: "Kim, I'm an agent. If things go wrong, they go wrong, occupational hazard.", he smiles, trying to make things less tense. But it's not really working. "It's my job to protect you and I'm not letting you out of my sight until you're safe. Stay here, right now my main priority is to take you out."

Kim is still looking unsure about this. "Look, don't worry. I know who your father is, he's the guy who saved the President's life last year. I'm not letting anything happen to you, ok? I've contacted my team earlier, a vehicle is on its way. I'm going with you. If these guys find Pat, he'll talk or they'll wonder how you got the gun and it won't take them long to figure it out, cause I haven't been with them long and they mistrust everyone as a matter of principle. Wait for me. I'll be back shortly."

"Can I at least keep the gun in case he wakes up?" Kim isn't excited about being left alone with Pat, even if he's knocked out. She's not even certain Joey will make it back alive. "Joey, be careful. I really need someone here for me."

Joey to Kim, handing her the gun: "Of course. Kim, it's gonna be alright. Look, whatever happens, my team is informed, you'll be fine." and with that, he leaves the cottage and closes the door behind him.

Alone again. But wait, there's Pat. Kim stares helplessly at the closed door Joey has just exited. She has the need to escape - it's a fight or flight feeling really. It's the need to run, get away from her problems. Yet she isn't in control. Once again.

Kim, gun in hand, takes a seat in front of Pat.

CTU
Someone had Kim. Well that explained everything. Great, just great. Tony sighed but wanted to scream. "Michelle. This isn't something to fool with. Jack may be bugged but we can help him now as much as he can help us and-"

"Excuse me..." Lisa interrupted, "Michelle, Tony? Jack Bauer is involved? Bring me up to date. I know him quite well and can work with you on this."

Michelle to Tony: "Tony, stop stalling. If you're not going to co-operate, at least stay off his toes, he knows what he's doing. Give him an hour or so. If you don't care about Jack, at least try not to get Kim killed, okay!"

Michelle's pretty upset right now. She was expecting this kind of reaction from Tony, but this stubbornness was driving her crazy. If he didn't start cooperating soon, she might have to use that tranq gun on him that Jack apparently used on George some months ago. She gives him one last glance and walks out past Lisa.

Then she reconsiders.

"Lisa, if you'd like to come along, please." Lisa does. They go to another empty office. "You saw Jack Bauer come in earlier today. You probably know he's officially on a leave of absence and as you may suspect, he didn't come here because he was summoned to. Fact is, he's in a delicate situation and he could use all the help he can get. But it has to stay between these walls. I told him you were here and he'll contact you when he needs you."

Fact is also, I don't know you, Michelle thinks to herself. "Lisa, what is your background with Jack?"

Lisa smiles only briefly. "Like most people in this business, Jack and I worked together." She's not giving up anything quite yet. "Heh...you know, we've all got plenty to do around here and I should be getting back to work. If there's anything I should know, just tell me."

With that, Lisa leaves Michelle and nonchalantly makes her way back to the room so sweetly given to her by George.

"Kevin," she speaks in a serious tone, "I need you to leave. Leave the room, make copies, use the bathroom, just go."

"You're about to do something, aren't you?" Kevin's been in this position before and it always makes him uncomfortable.

"And you've never gotten into trouble. Go, Kevin." Lisa waits until he is down the hall to begin. She quickly brings up the video feeds she had previously accessed and begins to pull up the entire series of feeds. Jack can be seen entering George's office. The lights dim but she can see him fumbling with something...he's retrieving files. "Oh Jack...okay, let's take a look at George's computer."

Lisa pulls up George's directories and begins to dig. The Drazens have their own file but it hasn't been accessed in a while. She goes further. What would be logical? Lisa goes to Jack's file. Nothing. Pin his movements.

Lisa returns to the backlogged video feeds. Jack leaves George's office and...where? There are about 30 seconds that she loses him but that's okay. Never give up, right? Lisa scans the feeds quickly and Jack pops up in an office she doesn't know. "Okay, Jack, something's up."

She comes to the conclusion that this could take some time.

Michelle's right and Tony knows it. He makes the decision to take a deep breath and get back to work. If Jack is on to something, there will come a time when he shares it. Hopefully.

Michelle is approached by Catherine, a new CTU techie.

"Michelle, you asked me to scan through all the files and see which ones were accessed last night? Well, I believe I'm on to something here. I think you'd better take a look."

"Alright. What is it?", Michelle asks as they walk over to Catherine's desk.
"Well, the obvious thing is that someone made it look like they were stealing our backup files. But I did a search and they aren't lost, they had just been re-routed and I found them."
"Okay, that's good news. But there's more, right?"
"Yes... The data that were actually compromised... Well, this concerns the whole intelligence community. Every file on every agent currently working undercover has been accessed and copied. That can't be good."

Michelle stares at Catherine in disbelief. "No. It can't."

Nick's place
Joey walks back towards the house. Mick, now in a US navy uniform, block his way.

"Where's Pat?", Mick asks.
"I dunno. Last thing I know he was taking a leak back at the house.", Joey answers casually, as if he didn't really care.
"Really? Last thing I know he was going to check up on Kimmy."
"Well then you must be right. I haven't seen him in a while."
Mick stares Joey down for another second or so and then replies. "Go get changed. It's almost time."
"Yeah.", Joey answers curtly and walks away. It's getting tight. He and Kim are gonna have to make a move soon.

CTU
Michelle's distress is obvious to Tony. Usually she's pretty collected but Catherine's news must not have been good. He locks down his system then heads to her desk. "What's wrong? And don't tell me it's nothing," he stops her, "I can read your face quite well by now."

Of course it's not nothing. What would this day be if we got good news at some point, Michelle thinks for a moment, then explains to Tony what's going on, and asks: "Tony, what do we do?"

Tony pulls up the data retrieval system to check the information Catherine provided. "I don't know what to do, Michelle. We've got nothing to go on except the names Jack gave you."

He takes a moment to clear his mind then makes a decision. "All we can do is take those names and begin gathering intel. You take one, I'll take the other. If we divide the workload, maybe we can find where it connects."

The Cottage
It's too quiet. Kim is looking out the window very carefully but cannot see the cars she heard pull up earlier. Pat is starting to stir and all that is running through her mind is what happened last time. Could she shoot him if she had to? Sure she had the gun, but could she really pull the trigger?

She looks at Pat, considers what could lie ahead if Joey cannot return...

Yes. She could pull the trigger.

CTU
Nick to Jack, who is hiding underneath a staircase in the CTU basement: "Open the box and do it."

Jack complies. He takes a small device from the box turns it on. This scrambles the security cameras signals. A few seconds are all he needs to run out of the hiding and into the main control room, freeze the picture emitted by the cameras on that level and turn the device off again. Leaving the control room, he heads down the corridor.

cottage
Pat regains consciousness and looks up. That little brat is holding him hostage, now that's a new situation. He coldly stares at Kim. His eyes unmistakenably say he won't sit through this peacefully.

Outside, a gate in the ground opens and reveals a tunnel and a long underground road. Clearly, truck engines are humming from underneath the premises.

Joey walks inside the house as if to change, but then immediately takes the back door out and hides behind trees, as he tries to make it to the cottage where Kim is unnoticed.

"Joey, where do you think you're going?", he hears behind him, just a few steps away from the cottage.

"Damn" , is the first and only thought that runs through Joey's mind before he swiftly turns around and shoots his silenced gun. Luckily, he is quicker than the other guy, and kills him.

But now, he and Kim have got to go. He runs towards the cottage.

CTU
Lisa is typing in coordinates when she gets something unexpected. Or rather...nothing. In fact, the images on the camera she has just requested are the same. Empty and unchanged. The time isn't moving. Probably her computer. She hopes. She shuts it down and boots it up again with her fingers crossed.

The Cottage
Pat's scowl is noticeable, as well as a distinct motor noise. Kim tries to match Pat's glare. "Don't think about it. Everything I learned, I learned from my dad.", she tells him.

She takes another look out the window and sees Joey coming... no, running towards the cottage. Kim swings the door open for him. "Pat's awake. Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"Kim, we gotta go. Come on. They're getting ready to make an exit. We have a few minutes at best."

As Joey says this, Pat, who had a Swiss Army Knife in his back pocket and had cut the rope in the meantime, suddenly jumps up and heads towards Kim, the knife pointed at her. Joey promptly reacts and fires. As the shot hits him, Pat drops to the floor in agony. Joey kicks the knife away and stands over him, aiming at Pat's head: "What's the target? Tell me and I'll make it quick."

"Screw... you...", Pat mumbles, gasping for air. He's going to die, but he's not gonna die a traitor to what he believes in.

Joey takes just a second to think this over. "Kim. Look away."

Pat's not gonna make it anyway, so why risk somebody talking to him? Joey pulls the trigger.

"Come.", he says, taking Kim's hand and rushing her to the door. A quick glance, and off they go. To the woods. Hopefully towards the FBI team.

outside
Trucks keep riding out of the tunnel. Military transport trucks with soldiers in the back. In US Navy uniforms.

From a distance, a helicopter rotor sounds and is getting closer quickly. Mick is waiting outside the house for the chopper to land. Nick watches through the window, while in contact with Jack. "Jack, don't mess with me if you want to see Kim alive again."

CTU
Jack walks out of the main power room and hits the staircase.

"This is unnecessary.", he utters, but he has no choice.

Nick: "Maybe so. But it's safer for me. Do it."

Jack sighs and checks his watch. He leans against the wall and waits.

In the woods outside the Cottage
Though momentarily stunned, the adrenaline rush has come back and Kim doesn't know if she'll ever let go of Joey's hand. It's the only thing that is keeping her grounded for the moment as they rush out of the cottage, leaving a bleeding Pat behind.

"What? What's that!" She hears the roar from earlier but now it has grown to a massive thunder of rolling and grinding gears and motors. No time for questions, no time for answers. Joey continues pulling her forward through the woods. "They don't just want information from my dad, do they! Why did they take me?"

"My guess is they want to force him to do something and make him take the fall for it. Come on."

Joey knows they will have company soon. "Kim, the FBI team should be at the other end of this trail. If anything happens to me, you just have to follow it, ok?"

Outside Nick's house
Mick quickly greets the helicopter pilot, saying that they're ready to go. Then he gestures to Nick to come out and takes two men with him towards the cottage to get Kim.

The door of the cottage is unlocked, which doesn't smell right. He walks in and sees Pat bleeding on the floor with two bullet wounds and Kim is gone. "Joey!", he shouts out and starts running through the house to the back door which is still open. The two other men follow. He stops behind the house, looking around, but not seeing anything, and takes out his radio. "NICK! Kim took off! We're going after her. Send the chopper up, she is probably heading towards the street."

Nick runs out of the house and gives the orders to the pilot. "And if there's anyone out there, take them out!"

"Copy that.", the pilot answers and runs back into the chopper, starting the engine immediately. A man with an assault rifle joins him and the chopper takes off.

Nick to Mick: "I'm sending a few men around from the other side of the house, case she's headed West. Find her!"

"We will", Mick answers, but he's not sure if he can. How long ago did she run away? And if Joey was helping her, she might be far away already. Their best bet right now is to run through the underbrush as fast as they can and try to catch up.

The helicopter heads over the woods and towards the street, shining a strong spotlight into the darkness between the trees as it flies over the trees.

As the spotlight's beam begins to cross over them, Kim instinctively falls to the ground. "They found us. How did they find us? How!" Now panic is setting in. She pulls away from Joey and begins to run on the trail they were following. "Hurry! I can see a clearing!"

"Kim! Wait!", Joey shouts as he catches up with her and pulls her back. "Stay between the trees, a clearing is too dangerous."

They keep moving, but pretty soon, they can make out voices behind them in the distance. "We're gonna have to split up. I'll lure them away." He knows the surroundings well enough to quickly find a tiny cave nearby, hidden from view. "Crawl in there", he says as he pulls her toward it. "As soon as they pass, go! The longer you stay here, the lesser your chances. More men will follow. Still got the gun?" She nods nervously. "Okay. Good luck Kim." and he runs off, in the direction of the voices.

A few dozen meters away, he hides behind a bush and waits. When he hears the voices closing in, he starts moving forward again, as if he were running away from therm, but deliberately making more noise than necessary as he goes.

Mick falls for the bait. "Wait!", he says as he stops in his tracks. "There, I can hear them.", he says quietly and gestures to the other two to go around from different sides and close in, while he goes straight ahead, following the sounds.

The helicopter clears the woods and sees a black van waiting at the street. Circling around it, the pilot decides it looks like a government vehicle and radioes the news to Nick. Nick gives him the go to fire and he does. An explosion tears the van into pieces and it goes up in flames.

CTU

Jack stands as he waits. He doesn't like what he's doing but he has no choice. He sees no outs here. His mind is focused on Kim. Just when did it become so easy to manipulate him? Where does it say 'Just snatch my daughter and I'll do as you wish."? And now he's jeopardizing the people he worked with and he cares about. Again.

He counts down the seconds and then covers his ears.

4...3...2...1... B O O M !

The lights flicker, and a moment later, the entire CTU grows dark. The computers are short-circuted, screens start to throw sparks. Catherine is screaming.

11:59:57 --- 11:59:58 --- 11:59:59 --- 12:00:00