Title: Short #2
Author: thecrystalkey
Summary:Second in a series of shorts covering some of the time not shown in episode 1 of Day 5. Jack/Chloe friendship.
Spoilers: Season 5 of 24
Disclaimer: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here. Also, none of the dialogue you actually recognize is mine. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.
Chloe O'Brian moved as quietly as she knew how through the oil drilling equipment, repeatedly checking behind her to see that Derek was still there and that no assassins had come out of the smoke behind them.
Jack will be all right, she assured herself. Jack Bauer was always the last man standing. It was practically an article of faith among those who'd worked with him at CTU. Just like the best way to live through any situation was to be right behind Jack or following his orders. Most of the time. But the men who'd come after her were good. They'd been genuinely trying to kill her, that much she was certain of. Well, maybe capture, but given what had happened to President Palmer, Tony, and Michelle, kill was much more likely.
They must have tracked her somehow, she was sure she hadn't been followed. They'd been trying to kill her, if they'd had her in view, they would have kept trying. God! This was why she hated being in the field. And she was responsible for someone else now, though she still wasn't completely clear on why Jack had brought a kid with him. A pushy kid, who wouldn't shut up.
"Who are you? Who are these guys? What's going on?"
"Sh!"
"I'm in the middle of this, don't I at least deserve to know who I'm hiding from and why?"
"I don't know who they are!" she snapped. "But I'm pretty sure they've already killed at least two people so far this morning and now they're after me. If they find us, they'll kill both of us. Do you understand?"
She waited until he nodded.
"Jack has a plan." That, too, was an article of faith. Jack Bauer always had a plan. "So we need to hide. That means follow me, stay down and be quiet."
The kid nodded again, eyes wide as saucers, looking terrified. She probably shouldn't have scared him like that, but she'd had to say something and the truth was her default mode. It had shut him up anyway. She'd apologize later.