Title: Short #5
Author: thecrystalkey
Summary: Fifth 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.
Jack looked back a couple of times at the two people watching him from the van. Neither of them should be here. Derek should be safe at home, doing whatever it was fifteen year old boys did during summer vacation; and Chloe should be safely back at CTU. Jack far preferred it when the people he cared about were safely away from the action. He fed the agent some excuse about needing to get in to his apartment. When the man turned his back, Jack struck; getting him in a head lock that would choke off his air. Stopping him from crying out and rendering him unconscious without doing him permanent damage.
As he took the FBI agent to the ground and waited for him to stop struggling, Jack smiled at Chloe's comment (obviously meant for Derek), "Relax. He's good at this." It was a relief, after eighteen months on his own, to have someone he knew and trusted actively watching his back. It was good to be home.
--
Glad that she no longer had to time to think about anything but the mission, Chloe watched her computer screen and did her best to ignore the young man hovering at her shoulder. She held her breath through the confrontation with the President's brother, inwardly cursing at the agents on scene for not following protocol. It was against the rules to have a civilian still wandering around the crime scene. Chloe felt herself shaking her head when he gave Wayne Palmer his gun and waited to hear a shot. Then released her breath slowly when Jack's next words implied he'd gotten Palmer's cooperation. Only Jack.
When they actually found something, she'd started the searches before Jack asked her if she'd gotten it. They had a name and a place, both thankfully away from here. If Jack could get out without being seen, they might yet pull this off. Then her computer beeped as agents suddenly began streaming into the building. She warned Jack and began working on alternate routes out of there. The front door was fine when nobody had expected it but it was clear they now knew he was there.
Her heart about stopped when all the green dots suddenly disappeared. Someone at CTU must have spotted her activity on the network. She was a little bit proud of her people, but mostly irritated; they couldn't have been blind for another couple of minutes? She warned Jack and then waited tensely; either for him to appear at the stairwell, or tell her he'd been caught. At least her search on Chevensky and Ontario airport had finished first.
The side door of the van slid open unexpectedly and she jumped, twisting in her seat to see Jack in the open door. She breathed out in relief.
"What did you get for me on Chevensky?" Jack asked as he stripped out of his FBI camouflage.
"He's not a passenger. He's the baggage supervisor at the airport."
They both heard the secret service agent's warning.
"Dammit," Jack swore. "They've found us."
His eyes went back to hers. She knew what had to happen now. Jack had to stay on the trail. The kid was safer with him. Chloe herself was no longer a target with the assassins all dead. "You need a distraction."
"Yeah," he said softly. "Derek and I will get out one of the fire exits on foot. They won't expect that, especially not if the van is driving out the front at the same time. You up for this?"
"I'll keep them busy as long as I can. How long do you think you'll need?"
"Not long. Get as far as you can through the barricades. They'll want me alive and they probably think you're a hostage, so they're unlikely to shoot. We have to go." He held her eyes for another second, reached out and touched her arm. "Be careful."
She smiled a little. "You, too. You're the one going after the people who shot a President."
Then he and Derek were gone and the van door was closed. She got the motor running and floored the gas, aiming to make it look as much like a desperate escape attempt as possible. She was definitely going to get arrested today.