The following takes place between 9:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M.
"Jack," Audrey warned over the phone, "if that ship crashes hard the Uranium in the device could still kill hundreds."
"There's no avoiding it," Jack said as he and Ingram fought to rapidly learn how to fly a blimp. "This thing is going to crash." He looked out the window to see the buildings getting closer.
"Jack," Mac said bringing over a map of the city. "We're not far from a beach." He pointed it out on the map. "The sand will soften the impact. If we level this beast out before it hits we can keep the device intact." Mac then moved over to the control station and Jack went to the power controls. "Okay," Mac said. "Let's see. Turn left!" He pulled left on the controls and Jack tried to control the flow of power to the engines to get it to turn sharper. "WHOA!" Mac shouted as he fought to maintain the airship's stability. "Easy Jack!"
"You take it easy!"
"GAH!" 'This day has been utterly ridiculous.' Down on the streets below and from the stadium a half-mile away people knew something was wrong by observing the insane maneuvers of the Goodyear blimp. Within two minutes two news channels, one sports, the other local, had their cameras fixed on the out of control airship soon to be followed by the major news networks.
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"Damnit," Manning swore as he punched up another screen showing the split channels broadcasting the ship. "The media is already onto this."
"There's the beach!" Jack pointed it out.
"Turn on the landing lights!" Mac shouted.
"What the hell for?" Jack shouted.
"So I can see the ground before we hit it!" Jack nodded and turned all the exterior lights on. Meanwhile the CTU chopper raced ahead and using its searchlight and loudspeaker warned any civilians on the beach to evacuate immediately. About three dozen college students attending a rave on the beach panicked and fled up the slopes to the street as the blimp appeared to be heading for their bon fire.
"Leveling off!" Mac called out as he pulled back on the controls. "Cut the engines!" Jack did so and the ship began to drag along the relatively loose sand. They smashed right into the raging bonfire which set fire to the ship. "SHIT!" The ship shuddered and was threatening to roll over.
"Damn," Jack cursed. "We've got to get out!" He and Mac stumbled on the shaking deck as they made for the emergency hatch in the rear of the compartment.
"Go Jack!" Mac shouted as he fell to the deck. Jack jumped onto the sand and rolled as the partially burning blimp continued to glide across the sand. As soon as Mac reached the hatch the blimp turned sharply to the left and rolled. The starboard engines caught fire and exploded just as Mac jumped free. The aviation fuel inside soon caught flame and burst into a fireball high enough to cause the CTU chopper to turn sharply to avoid flying through the flames.
"MAC!" Jack yelled as he ran towards the burning wreckage. He found Mac lying on his back and coughing through the smoke from the fire. Both were hoping that the smoke didn't contain any radiation.
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After a quick sweep of the agents with a Geiger counter by the chopper pilot found that they were not in any danger and no radioactive material was in the smoke the agents were called back to CTU. A van transporting a HAZMAT team arrived to secure the device and area. Soon after that the news trucks started swarming the site like starving vultures to a half devoured water buffalo.
Back at CTU Kim breathed relief along with the entire staff. It was beginning to look like the crisis was over. However, the Deputy District Supervisor, Lorenzo Camparelli arrived saying he was going to be supervising all activities. "What's going on, Lorenzo?" Curtis asked the superior who he reported to everyday. "The crisis is contained and the device has been neutralized."
"NSA has picked up chatter going between several cells believed to be operating in the LA area," Camparelli replied. "CTU is going to be getting a little busier and more proactive with me in charge now."
"What?" Audrey asked.
"We're going after these cells before they have a chance to strike," Lorenzo replied. "If you have a problem with that you can resign now."
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When they walked into the control room the agents were met with light applause. Of the two agents Jack looked remarkably clean compared to the beat up, bruised, bloodied, mud stained and downright dirty Ingram. His clothes and vest were tattered and caked with mud and sand. Sand was dominating his hair and was in the cuts along his arms and face as well as his nostrils and ears. His pants were torn up and a composite color of brown canvas, dried blood, caked sand, clay mud, oil grease and God knows what else. His once white shirt was now stained with oil grease and was charred at the ends of the sleeves. The hair on the back of his head was singed by the fires from the explosion at the refinery and airship and the right side of his face was red from the steam that was blasted in his face.
Simply put, he looked like shit.
"You look awful," Kim said as she approached Mac.
"I can't look good all the time," he joked with her. He then spotted Lorenzo approaching them. 'Oh, boy,' He groaned inwardly. 'Here we go.'
"While I say good job on stopping the attack, agents," he said, "the job isn't done yet. We've learned the locations of other terrorist cells in the city." He then eyeballed Mac. "You've caused quite a lot of trouble on your first day, Mac."
"Cut me some slack, Lorenzo," Ingram shot back. "I just survived an airship crash. I've lost track how many times I've had a brush with death today." He was shot in the chest, nearly got killed when his car crashed, almost had his head blown off a half-dozen times, barely escaped a pump platform explosion and now he survived the crash of a freaking blimp. He was not having a fun day.
"Get yourself to the clinic and get checked out," Lorenzo ordered and Mac headed for the clinic. "Jack I want you to be ready to help take these cells down."
"Yes, sir," Jack answered. "Lorenzo, I request that, if he's cleared by the doc, Mac join us."
"Jack, things are going to heat up around here," he pointed to the news feeds. "The media will be swarming the city once they learn of everything here. We can't afford any screw ups on this Jack. I'm going to need experienced agents handling this." And Lorenzo walked off leaving Jack fuming over the insult to his new protégé's abilities.
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Kim found Mac in the clinic getting a thorough looking over by the doctors. His shirt and pants were off and all he was wearing were green hospital pants with a set of dog tags dangling in the center on his chest. She entered the room as the doc stitched the cut over his eye. They had washed all the mud, sand and grease off his body and applied bandages to the cuts on his arms, adhesive ice packs were placed on his ribs and back and they gave him aspirin to keep the pain down. It was her first good look at his frame.
At first glance he looked to have a frail build. But a closer look revealed that his thin frame was actually quite well developed. He had fairly broad shoulders and the meat on his bones appeared to be virtually all sinewy muscle giving him a thin but muscled appearance with almost no body fat on his body.
"How are you holding up?" Mac asked Kim when he noticed her.
"I'm okay," Kim responded. She overlooked his bare chest; which was very appealing to her. She saw the numerous scrapes, bruises, and scars on his body. "Do you get into weekly bar fights?"
"Close enough," Mac replied with a light chuckle. "Actually I was in the Army before I got my degree and joined the Border Patrol."
"What did you do in the Army?"
"I was a reconnaissance specialist. I frequently found my buddies and myself in very unfriendly territory surrounded by enemies." He reflected on those days; scouting out hostile towns along the Iraqi border for insurgents in the pitch black of night without knowing if the next block hid an ambush or just a bunch of innocent families just trying to sleep, protracted firefights pitting M4's and grenade launchers against AK47's and RPG's. "I also did a few hostage rescues of kidnapped journalists. And now I can add a line to my resume stating that I survived an airship crash." Kim smiled a bit and chuckled.
"I like your sense of humor." She said admiringly.
"Where I come from the only other option is going insane."
"Are you sure that hasn't happened?" She shot back. Mac pointed casually at her with a smile on his face.
"Touché," he purred. "That's what I'm talking about. You're a quick learner. Before you know it-AH-HAH!" He jumped when the doctor put a very cold stethoscope on his back. "You'll be giving me a run for my money." Kim couldn't help but smile at his comical interaction with the doctor.
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Lorenzo was briefing Jack, Audrey and Curtis over the new proactive strategy to take these cells out before they could activate. However, as the briefing continued, it had already begun. An unidentified terrorist group fired a surface to air missile was fired at an airliner as it approached LAX. The missile, due to its poor reliability, missed the target and the FAA was already diverting flights to other areas. Airport security and LAPD pursued the suspects in several vehicles until one group holed up inside a telemarketing company resulting in a hostage standoff. The other groups were out there somewhere with portable missiles.
"We're guessing the missile was a vintage Soviet SA-7," Audrey explained to the group.
"This is going to get out of control if we don't act fast," Lorenzo commented. "Audrey, I want the hard drives from the terrorist base that was raided earlier decrypted ASAP."
"Chloe is out of action," Audrey argued, "along with some of the other analysts."
"Look just get those files. Jack, I want you to track down the people who have these missiles."
"What about the hostage situation?" Manning asked next. "The media is going to have a field day with it."
"An agent is being reactivated to help you deal with that, Curtis," Lorenzo responded. "He'll be arriving at the top of the hour."
"With all due respect, sir," Jack argued, "I think Mac should also be involved. He's trained in dealing with hostage situations and will do a good job."
"Out of the question, Jack," Lorenzo declined. "As I said I need experienced agents…"
"I know he can handle it, Lorenzo."
"I know of Fuchs' qualifications, Jack. I was his Supervisor when he was with Border Patrol. But I need agents experienced with CTU policies, not rookies."
"Who's the agent you're bringing in?" Curtis asked. "If he's coming here I need to know who he is. And what makes him more experienced than Ingram?"
"To answer your last question," Lorenzo continued, "he's already worked with CTU Los Angeles and has been on temporary disability leave pending rehabilitation." Jack's mind did a quick file search. There were only a handful of agents that fit that bill. "His name is Chase Edmunds."
9:59:59