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Things Have Changed

Chapter Eleven
Hunted
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It was early morning when the three men walked into the lobby. Jean felt her heart starting to pound faster when they flashed their badges. FBI.

"What's going on?" she stuttered.

One of the men gave her a reassuring smile that only made her more nervous.

"We're looking for a man and a woman."

He opened the folder he had with him and placed two photos on the counter. She started breathing again and felt herself relaxing a little. They weren't asking about Rick – this had nothing to do with her useless brother…

She stared down at the photos.

"Have you ever seen any of them? Are they guests of this hotel now?"

Jean recognized them right away. In the photo the man had a beard and looked like he did the first time she had seen him at the hotel. The woman looked a lot different in the picture but Jean was still sure. It was them - no question about it.

They were wanted? For what? All the guesses and bets… Sure they had speculated about them being on the run from something but... Somehow she couldn't imagine them as dangerous criminals.

Jean looked up at the man in front of her. "No."

The man tapped his hand on the counter and gathered up the photos. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, we don't have that many rooms and I recognize all our guests."

The man nodded and asked to see the ledger. None of the names seemed to mean anything to him and he slammed it shut. The man next to him sighed and said something about how this most likely was a false lead. A misunderstanding.

The third man stood silent behind them watching her.

Jean shifted behind the counter. She shouldn't have lied. So she hated feds – that wasn't so strange after all that harassing she and her family had to put up with the year before when the bureau had been convinced they knew the whereabouts of her brother. But she hadn't lied back then. She had had no idea where Rick was and frankly she didn't care either. But lying to feds could only mean trouble.

This is so coming back to bite me in the ass.

She thought about the man and woman in the room upstairs. All this had done was increase her curiosity and she was dying to ask the agents more – but she was too worried that she would give herself away.

So she stood quiet behind the counter watching the agents withdraw to the entrance, where they talked for a minute before exiting the lobby.

As soon as they had left she called for Tommy. She knew she was being irrational but she just wanted to warn them – just let them know that FBI was asking for them.

Tommy was in kitchen and she quickly told him what had happened. She saw he was angry but kissed him before he could say anything.

"Come on, Tommy – don't you think it's romantic? Don't you want to know more about them? What they've done?"

"You can't lie to the feds, baby! No matter how good a tipper they are it's not worth it… You know what can happen… You want them coming after you?"

"Well, I didn't really want to help them, you know! Not after what they put us through…" Her voice came out sarcastic and she stared defiantly into his eyes.

He shrugged and sighed. It was too late anyway - the damage was already done and he agreed to watch the reception while she ran upstairs.

"It will only take a minute", she assured him.

Nervously Jean knocked on the door. There was no sound from inside and she knocked again, a little louder.

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Nina heard the second knock on the door and wondered why Jack didn't move. He lay still staring empty in front of him and just gave her a quick glance when she threw his shirt on and went to see who was at the door.

The girl from the reception was standing outside. She looked nervous and excited at once and she kept looking towards the stairs.

"Yes?" Nina asked.

"They're looking for you… For you and him." She nodded towards Jack who she was able to see through the small gap between the doorframe and Nina's body.

"Who?" Nina asked but she already knew the answer.

"FBI"

Nina looked at the girl. Why on earth was she warning them?

"Are they searching the hotel?" she asked and the girl shook her head.

"No, I don't think so… I - I kinda lied to them…"

"Why?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I have to go… You can use the fire exit over there and then go out the back through the kitchen if you want to leave."

She turned around and quickly walked back downstairs before Nina could ask her again why or even thank her.

Nina closed the door and turned to Jack. He was still lying in bed. His eyes closed now and the expression on his face made her heart stop and she remembered the feeling…

...---...---...
"Let's go, Jack…" She had aimed the gun at Ramon Salazar's head and everyone else backed off.

She felt the dull pain in her head and she knew she had a concussion. She had to watch herself or she'd make a mistake. The hand holding the gun trembled slightly and she hoped they couldn't see it.

She had to make sure they got out of there before Ramon decided to kill them. They probably wouldn't make it through the night now that the money was all in Ramon's account. And making sure Jack came along seemed like her only option – she wouldn't be able to get out of here by herself and he knew where they were and how to get to the next town.

How could she have known how much Ramon trusted Jack? It seemed insane after everything that had happened that night. What was it that bonded these men together and that betrayal didn't break?

When Jack didn't move she had felt like she was falling into a pit, realising he had set her up. Everything he had whispered to her in the hallway before they came into this room had been lies. And he had known just how to fool her. He had known she felt sick, that the throbbing pain in her head clouded her judgement.

She was staring into Ramon's surprised yet amused eyes. He had no intention of killing them yet. He still wanted to use them.

Too late she saw Ramon's eyes darting to something over her right shoulder and before she could react she was attacked from behind. She saw Jack leaping forward, pushing Ramon down, and she managed to pull the trigger.

The bullet ricocheted against the wall right next to Jack as she was wrestled to the floor and the gun was snatched from her grip. Everything was spinning and when she was pulled to her feet she screamed to them, trying to get them to understand that Jack Bauer would never turn against his country – no matter what! Ramon laughed as he sat down behind his desk and she was overwhelmed by dizziness when she realized it was over.

So she became quiet and just stared at Jack. His eyes were cold and showed no emotion.

Two of Ramon's men were ordered to take her out back and if it hadn't been for her becoming acutely nauseous as they walked across the patio behind the house they would have killed her.

She leaned forward and threw up all over one of the men's boots, causing him to let her go. She fell heavily to her knees and heard him swear loudly in Spanish. It was pure luck that her eyes fell upon his gun sticking out of the shaft of his snakeskin boot.

Such a predictable place for a common gangster to keep his extra weapon. Her instincts kicked in and to survive she fought back another wave of nausea and grabbed the weapon.

It was a small gun with a butt made out of mother-of-pearl she noticed as she aimed and fired up at the surprised man. She hit him in the head and as he was falling backwards she rolled over and fired again, knowing that it had to sound like an execution or the men in the house would suspect something and come running.

The other man stared at her in disbelief and moved his hand to the wound in his chest. Blood was staining his shirt red and his lips moved but no sound came out. He fell down and she took a deep breath, lowering the gun.

They were both dead.

She got to her feet as quickly as she could. The nausea was gone and on pure adrenaline she managed to start jogging. Taking shelter behind a shed she made sure the coast was clear before she ran into the woods.

She had no idea where she was going but she kept on running until she couldn't run anymore. The exhaustion from the exertion and the headache had rendered her practically blind and, out of breath, she dove into the brush where she finally passed out.

Luck had saved her that time – would it save her again?
...---...---...

"What have you done, Jack?"

He didn't move or look at her.

"What have you done?" She moved closer and got her bag and started packing her things. She let his shirt fall to the floor, found her own blouse, and quickly got dressed.

He looked at her now and she stopped buttoning her blouse for a second and looked back into his eyes. They seemed to will her to stop, to stay, but how could she? She was still not willing to give up and when he moved she thought for a moment that he would try and keep her here, that he wouldn't let her go.

But he just sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands.

She was finished, ready to leave – to run again and she wished she could be more angry with him than she was. She knew it was more about him turning himself in than about finally taking out his revenge on her. She turned towards the door.

"I'm sorry, Nina."

She had a feeling of dejà vu when she remembered how their affair had ended. She realized that just as back then he really was sorry - and just as back then she had known that he would end it, that he wouldn't be able to do this forever. It was inevitable.

"Goodbye, Jack." she whispered and left the room as fast as she could, afraid of the thoughts that threatened to surface. The thoughts that told her how nice it would be to finally stop running.

She took the fire exit and the back way out and she was glad she hadn't parked her car in the hotel garage but further down the street.

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When she was gone Jack closed his eyes and he saw Chase. Chase the way he had looked when Jack had aimed the gun at his head down in Mexico.

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