The glare of the T.V. was the only light illuminating the small section of a dark room. All the lights were off, blinds were over the window and shut. A voice on the T.V began to speak,
"Yesterday afternoon at 12:00 PM, President Logan decided to step down and leave his position as the President of The United States."
A short video clip of Logan speaking at Palmers casket departure played then the news anchor began to speak again.
"Almost a month ago, questions were being raised as the President was escorted out of the sending of Palmers casket by the Secret Service. We learned a week ago that the President and his family were suffering from family issues, and that is why the President had to leave the sending so abruptly. Last Thursday the President announced that in one week he would step down. The current events that took place in L.A. put a mental strain on Logan, and his wife Martha. Logan stated, "I don't feel I am fit to run this country anymore. I don't feel that I can do my job with the proper leadership that this country needs. I have been having some family troubles, and these are things I need to attend to. So I am resigning as President of The United States and Hal Gardner will be sworn in shortly after. I thank you for your understanding." It has also been confirmed that Martha has filed for divorce from President Logan, and also President Logan will be spending some time in a psychiatric hospital. President Logan leaves next Monday for New Hampshire."
The T.V. flicked off and President Logan angrily slammed his remote down on the couch. He grabbed his cup of whiskey and coke off his side table and took a sip. He exhaled deeply and put his cup down, as soon as his cup hit the wood surface. Logan, startled removed his hand quickly from the cup and reached into his pocket. He looked at the number, it was a blocked number but Logan had an idea of who it was. He took a deep breath and flipped the phone open,
"Hello?"
A familiar voice spoke into his ear."
"Hello Charles, glad to hear you got granted clemency."
'Graham, I told you I never wanted to speak to you, or your people again."
Logan stood up off his couch and walked over to the window, with the phone still pressed to his ear he stared out the window.
"Charles, let's not get to testy here. I'm just calling on behalf of my self, and my partners to congratulate you Charles. This could have turned out a lot worse for you."
"Yes, well luckily the people in my cabinet who knew about this, and Martha agreed it would be better for the public not to know that there President is a terrorist. It was hard to convince Martha, but Mike Novick and Aaron Pierce got her to go along with it."
There was a slight pause,
"Well that's good to hear, and you're not a terrorist Charles, you're a man of your country, a Patriot."
"Well that's not how they look at it. Now if you'll excuse"
Graham interrupted,
"No, not yet Charles we need to make sure a few things are clear first. We know that Martha and everyone will keep their mouth shut for the good of their country. But Charles we are worried about you."
Logan grew angry and Graham could tell by his voice,
"The public think it end's with Christopher Henderson, no one except everyone who has agreed to be quite knows about me or Walt Cummings."
"Yes Charles we all understand this but your life will be a mess for a while. People thinking you need help, being in a psychiatric hospital when you don't actually have to be there, your wife divorcing you. We just want to be sure that no matter how hard things get, or what comes up, our names will never leave your mouth."
"I assure you"
"I wish I could believe your words Charles but you couldn't even handle a simple task. I just want to let you know that we have taken precautions."
Logan's eyes grew wide,
"Precautions? What kind of precautions?"
"All you need to know is that we are keeping a close eye on you, and the people you may come in contact with. And if we find out you say our names, well do I really need to tell you what will happen.? Now if you'll excuse me, we have a certain little problem to attend to. Something you didn't take care of." The line went dead, Logan slammed his phone shut and threw it on the couch. He grabbed his whiskey and downed the rest of it.
The sounds of people typing, sounds coming from monitors, and the familiar chimes of the CTU phones flowed through out CTU. Bill Buchanan and Karen Hayes, the new co-director of CTU stood at the end of the table in the briefing room. Audrey and Chloe sat across from each other at the table looking up at Bill as he began to speak
"Curtis has just arrived at the landing strip, the trade will take place in five minutes. All our resources and being directed to security around the area correct"
Audrey pushed her glasses up as she looked at Bill,
"All our analyst are monitoring the surrounding area within in a 30 mile radius. If there is anyone there we will know."
Bill nodded,
"Good, and Chloe where are we on communications"
Chloe stared down at the lap top, the glare reflecting off her face.
"I'm connecting with Curtis now hold on"
There was a small crackle on the speaker phone then Curtis began to speak,
"This is Curtis, CTU can you hear me"
Karen responded,
"Loud and clear Curtis, has President Gardner arrived yet"
"Him and his Secret Service are arriving now, the Army is already here."
Karen kind of let out a sigh,
"I really wish Gardner wouldn't have come, this could be dangerous."
Curtis responded,
"There is no reason to believe there is any danger towards President Gardner. We have over twenty American soldiers here, plus me and three other CTU agents. The Chinese don't want a war"
"It's not the Chinese I'm worrying about. Logan wasn't working alone, if the people helping him know about this trade this could turn out bad."
Audrey began to speak,
"Curtis, how are the two prisoners?"
"They have been quite for the most part."
"Hopefully they can stay that way for five more minutes, this needs to go as quick as possible."
Curtis began to walk forward,
"Yeah, I'm going to talk to Gardner now. I will contact you once the trade is over."
As Curtis was walking away from the SUV he turned and spoke to one of the soldiers that was guarding the Chinese prisoners.
"Are you ready?"
The solider nodded and Curtis stopped in front of the limo, a secret service agent opened the door for him and Curtis ducked into the car. He looked to the right of him and shook President Gardner's hand,
"President Gardner, it's an honor."
Gardner let out a smile,
"Same, I'm sorry I never got a chance to thank you personally for your work along with CTU. But it has been a hectic time as you may have guessed."
Curtis nodded,
"I understand, CTU appreciated the phone call from Mike Novick."
There was silence for a second as the sound of a plane begin to roar over head,
"Our surveillance satellites are covering a 30 mile radius so you are safe , and we have the Army here for your protection, but we should still make this as quick as possible"
Gardner nodded,
"I agree, I just want to personally thank Bauer and make sure he is back on American soil safely"
Curtis looked back out of the window as the airplane came into view,
"Bauer will appreciate that, but just to be clear your Secret Service wants you to stay in the car. We will bring Bauer to you."
"I understand."
"If you'll excuse me, the plane is landing"
Curtis pushed the door to the limo open and stepped out, he squinted his eyes as he looked at the landing air plane. Curtis walked back over to his SUV and stood behind it, in front of the hood. The planes landing tires came out from under the belly of the plane and it began to lower faster and faster. The plane finally touched ground, and the tires screeched against the cement. It slid across the run way, Curtis opened the door of the SUV and grabbed a helmet and a bullet proof vest and closed the door. He pointed his hand forward and the SUV slowly began to move towards the plane, Curtis followed along side it. The plane had come to a complete stop and the SUV pulled up beside it. Curtis walked away from the SUV and stood beside the small airplane as the stairs began to unfold from inside the plane. Once the stairs of the plane touched the ground four Chinese soldiers dressed in uniform came out. Following after the soldiers was a scrawny Chinese man with glasses, medium length black hair and brown eyes. Behind him were more soldiers.
"Mr. Zhi couldn't make it here for the trade, he has some business to take care of at our consulate here in L.A."
Curtis looked at him and said,
"It doesn't matter, do you have Bauer?"
"Of course we do, do you have Han Li Soul and Lao Pei?"
Curtis nodded and handed one of the Chinese soldiers the helmet and bullet proof vest
"We want these put on Bauer before you bring him out."
"Why would we need this?"
"Precautionary measures, we have done the same for your two prisoners. We both know there are plenty of people in the United States government and the Chinese government who do not want this trade to take place."
The man gave Curtis a cold glare and ordered two Chinese soldiers to go onto the plane and get Jack. Curtis spoke into his microphone
"Bring out the two prisoners and hand them off to the soldiers."
Curtis turned back towards the plane and waited. After about thirty seconds Jack stepped off the plane followed by Chinese soldiers. The doors of the black SUV swung open and two CTU agents came out. They both went to the back doors on either side of the vehicle and pulled out two Chinese men. One of the men was very muscular, about 5'11 220 pounds, black hair and brown eyes tattoos covering his whole body. The other was a scrawny young Chinese man, short brown hair and glasses. They were both charged on trafficking cocaine through Los Angeles, but they were also people who thought they were responsible for a 1998 subway bombing in L.A. but there was never enough proof against them. They had to be important to China if they wanted them for Bauer. The two CTU agent's walked forward with the Chinese men and handed them off to the U.S. soldiers, the soldiers took them and began to walk forward. The U.S. soldiers stopped in front of Bauer and the Chinese soldiers. The Chinese man spoke,
"Let him go."
The soldiers hand receded from Jack's arm and Jack began to walk forward. Curtis, with out taking his eyes of Jake spoke,
"Release the prisoners."
The two Chinese prisoners walked to the Chinese soldiers and they quickly took them onto the plane. Curtis looked at the Chinese man,
"Were done here."
The man nodded and got back onto the plane as the CTU agent's walked off. Curtis took Jack's arm lightly and nodded to the American soldiers. Curtis placed his arm on Jack's shoulder,
"Jack are you ok?"
Jack looked at Curtis and gave him a cold response,
"No."
Curtis gut wrenched at the thought of what they did to Jack, how much they tortured him. He could only imagine how many scars he had under his light blue t-shirt. There was a small scar on his left cheek, and his right eye was a little swollen, barley noticeable though.
"President Gardner came, he wanted to personally assure that you were back on American soil safely."
They walked towards President Gardner's limo, Curtis opened the door and Jack slid into the Limo. Jack looked at Gardner and raised his hand to salute Gardner, but Gardner interrupted him,
"Please don't, if anything I should be saluting you."
Gardner reached his hand out for a hand shake and Jack put his hand down, firmly grasped his hand and shook it.
"Mr. President, with all due respect I am very grateful, but why did you accept the trade?"
Gardner looked at Jack and responded,
"Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have done it, but it is because of you Logan was exposed and.."
There was a pause,
"And David Palmer would of done the same thing. I figured America owed it to David Palmer, seeing as he died because of Logan's actions"
Jack looked down for a moment then looked back up,
"What happened to Logan?"
Gardner kinda hesitated,
"You're not going to like it, but he was granted clemency."
Jack rubbed his face,
"I figured that, it's better for the public to not know what happened."
Out side the airplanes engine started roaring and Gardner began to speak again,
"Jack, I am sorry for everything you had to go through. I could only imagine what you had to endure."
Jack thought about what to say for a second then began to speak again,
"I'm not going to lie sir, it was awful. I didn't give up any information. They were going to kill me, but one of their men suggested the trade before they go the chance to kill me."
Gardner looked down then looked out of his window as the plane began to move forward.
"Go get some rest."
Jack let out a slight smile,
"I got plenty on the ride home."
Jack stuck out his hand again,
"Mr. President, it has been an honor. And again I thank you for everything."
The President shook his hand and said,
"The honor is all mine Jack, this country owes you so much."
Jack smiled again and slide the helmet back over his head, he pushed the door open and stood in front of Curtis closing the door behind him.
"You ready?"
Jack stared at the airplane as it left the ground,
"Yeah."
They started walking towards the CTU vehicle and Curtis said,
"Jack, Kim is waiting at CTU for you. She has been calling every day and coming in a couple times a week since you disappeared."
Jack smiled,
"Thank yo.."
Before Jack could finish his words, a loud noise screamed out and all of a sudden the Chinese air plane exploded. It sent jack, Curtis and the other three CTU agents flying to the ground. After the explosion gunfire broke out. The President's SUV sped off. Jack clenched his chest as Curtis pulled him up and began to run towards the door. The other three CTU agents were cut down in the gun fire. Curtis opened the back door and put Jack inside. He then got into the driver seat, started the explorer and hit the gas. He began to speak into his microphone,
"The Chinese airplane has just been hit by a missile, Coughlin, Strauss, and Reynolds are dead. Jack is alright."
Audrey looked at Chloe,
"I thought you had a 30 mile radius secured."
Chloe didn't say anything still starting down at her monitor. Bill was looking at Chloe waiting for a answer,
"Chloe?"
Chloe looked up,
"I don't get it, we are monitoring a thirty mile radius, the explosion isn't even coming on to the screen."
Everyone looked at the big screen in the center of the room and realized nothing was coming up, not the gun fire, not the explosion, nothing. Karen looked at Chloe,
"What's going on?"
"I'm not sure but the only thing I can think of is someone is resetting our satellite system."
Bill walked towards the screen looked at it then back at Chloe,
"What does that mean?"
Chloe looked up,
"Some one on the inside knew about this, and is making the satellite repeat it's self from a certain time frame. Who ever did this is good, it's normally easy to tell if something like this is repeating it's self. Unless."
Audrey looked at Chloe,
"Unless what?"
"Some one knew exactly what time we would start the coverage feed, took some old feed that would last long enough so it would never repeat it's self and play that on to our system."
Karen looked outside at all the CTU employees,
"So we have someone in CTU working for who ever caused this?"
Chloe kept staring at the screen,
"I may be able to tell who it is."
Bill was still staring at the screen,
"How?"
"The people running this will probably have a good block on this but I should be able to trace where the recording is playing from. It will be especially easy if it's coming from a CTU computer."
Karen responded,
"Get on it."
Chloe unplugged her laptop and walked out of the room. Audrey stood up and sighed as there was a knock on the door. All three of them turned to the door and saw Kim. Audrey looked at Bill and Karen,
"I will take care of her."
Audrey walked out of the room, and stood in front of Kim,
"What do you need?"
Kim looked Audrey straight in the eye,
"I heard the Chinese plane exploded, please tell me my dad wasn't on it."
"Kim your dad is fine, he was off the plane when it happened. But this could be bad for your dad."
Kim sighed,
"Why?"
"The Chinese are going to want to know who blew up the airplane, and well their going to think the American Government or your father set this up"
Kim put her head in her hand and let out a deep sigh,
"What can be done to prove it wasn't him?"
"We are figuring that out right now, Kim don't worry. Your dad has been through so much the past year and a half, the worst thing for him was leaving you. We will not let this happen to you guys again. I promise, now please just relax your dad will be here in about ten minutes."
Kim nodded,
"Thank you Audrey."
Kim walked away and Audrey fell back against the glass wall of the conference room and rubbed her head.
Jack pushed him self up in the backseat and rubbed the back of his head, he pulled his hand away and saw blood on it from hitting the ground.
"Damnit!" Jack shouted,
"Their going to think that I or the U.S. government set this up, their going to come after me again."
Curtis looked at Jack through the rearview mirror,
"President Gardner won't allow that to happen."
Jack wiped the blood off his hand,
"Call President Gardner and give me the phone."
Curtis, while keeping one hand on the wheel reached into his pocket with his other hand and pulled out his cell phone. He looked at it and hit two buttons then handed the phone back to Jack. Jack put the phone to his ear and listened to the dial tone until a female operator picked it up,
"How may I help you?"
"This is Jack Bauer, I need to speak with President Gardner"
"President Gardner is in the middle.."
Jack interrupted her and raised his voice,
"I know what he is in the middle of damn it I was there. Put me through to Gardner now"
The woman on the other end sounded nervous,
"One moment please."
"Thank you."
Jack looked out the window for a few seconds then finally a voice picked up,
"This is Ryan Montgomery of the Secret Service.",
"I need to speak with President Gardner, put him on the phone."
"One second."
Jack waited then he finally heard Gardner's voice,
"Jack what do you make of this."
"Mr. President I was going to ask you the same thing."
"You know what the Chinese will think about this."
Jack sighed,
"Yeah, that's what I'm calling for. Their going to blame it on me or the U.S. government, what do you propose we do."
There was a slight pause while Gardner was thinking then he spoke again,
"I assume the Chinese will want to take you back into custody seeing as you will be a suspect in this. The only thing I can think of Jack…"
Jack interrupted them,
"Let them take me."
"Yes, or you can escape but you can't do it before they get to C.T.U. the Chinese have to get my permission to go into C.T.U first. If you are gone before they get there they will think I told you about it and that would be an act of war in their eyes."
Jack let out another deep sigh,
"I think I may have an idea of who I can get information out of."
"Who?"
"President Logan."
Gardner's face grew a worried look to it,
"Why would Logan know anything?"
"We know Logan wasn't working alone, the people who helped him would be the ones who either wanted me dead or back in the hands of the Chinese. I go to Logan I can find them."
"Jack I don't like this."
"I will act on my own, I will escape C.T.U. when the Chinese get there, I know an ex C.T.U. agent who will help me, from there I will question Logan and prove my innocence."
There was a pause,
"I won't stop you, but we never had this conversation."
"I understand."
Jack hung up the phone and handed it back to Curtis
President Logan stared at his T.V. as he watched the news report about the attack on the Chinese airplane. Logan quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. After about three rings he got a automated voice system saying the number was invalid. Logan put the phone down and almost as soon as the phone hit the table it rang. Logan quickly picked it up and pressed the phone to his ear,
"Hello."
"Charles, you just tried contacting me. Why?"
"Why is your phone disconnected?"
"We found it in our best interest to change the number, we can still monitor who calls though. What's on your mind"
"Was Bauer killed during the attack?"
"This doesn't concern you Charles."
"Why did you blow up the plane? Why didn't you just kill Bauer directly?"
"We have other planes Charles, Bauer is part of them. I have to go, good bye Charles."
"Wai.."
Before Logan could finish there was a click on the other line. Logan put the phone down and stared at the T.V. again, his phone rang once again and he grabbed it. He looked at the number, it was his twenty four year old son Alex. Logan flipped the phone open and began to speak,
"Hello?"
"Hey dad it's me."
Logan let out a smile on his face and leaned forward,
"Hey, I just wanted to know when your plane was leaving tonight."
Logan looked down at his watch and began to speak again,
"It's leaving in two hours. I will be leaving for the air port in a little over an hour, I shold be in Massachusetts between seven and eight."
"Ok, I made reservations for us at a great Italian restaurant."
"Ahh good my favorite."
There was an awkward silence then Alex began to speak again,
"I spoke to mom a little over a half hour ago, she said there was something I should ask you about."
Logan rubbed his chin and kind of sighed,
"What is that?"
Alex paused, rubbed the back of his neck and spoke again.
"She said to ask you the real reason you had to step out of office, dad is there something you didn't tell me?"
Logan quickly stood up and began to pace the room,
"What did she tell you?" Logan asked with an irritated tone,
Alex began to worry a little,
"Dad? What's going on."
Logan stopped pacing the room and said
"Don't listen to your mother, she is still bitter about the divorce."
"But she filed for the divorce?"
"Listen just don't listen to her, I will see you tonight."
Logan slammed his phone shut and quickly flipped it back open again. He pressed a speed dial number and the phone began to ring.
Martha Logan was standing in front of a podium looking out into a crowd of young men and women and she began to speak,
"And with that I will say this, put your mind on one thing and be what you want to be. You have graduated college, your options are limitless, congratulations!"
The group of young men and women cheered, Martha turned and walked away from the crowd. She walked into a back room and walked straight into Aaron Pierces' arms and kissed him right on his lips. Aaron kissed back then pulled away,
"You were great Martha."
Martha smiled and said,
"Why thank you Aaron."
Aaron's toned quickly changed,
"Charles is on hold for you."
Martha took the phone from Aaron's hand and Aaron began to walk out of the room to give Martha privacy but she grabbed his arm,
"Stay."
Martha put the phone to her ear and began to speak in a despicable tone,
"Charles."
Charles began to scream,
"What the hell are you trying to do Martha!"
"Why Charles what ever are you taking about?"
"Telling Alex to ask me questions about why I'm really stepping out of office, what the fuck are you trying to do!"
Martha kept her same calm tone,
"He is your son, he deserves to know what's going on."
"It will hurt him, I'm not telling him."
"Well maybe you should of thought about who it would hurt. But it's fine if you don't want to tell him, I will."
"Martha if you do you know what will happen."
"Oh what? The higher ups are gonna come kill me? Please Charles."
"Martha I'm warning you damnit!"
"I will be at the dinner tonight. Alex paid to fly me out, I will see you tonight Charles."
Martha hung up the phone and handed it back to Aaron. She then pushed Aaron onto a couch in the small room and straddled him.
"Now where were we?"
Martha leaned into Aaron and kissed him passionately.
Jack was looking out the window, him and Curtis had been silent for pretty much the whole ride but Curtis finally broke the silence,
"How you holding up Jack?"
Jack snapped out of it and looked at Curtis through the rearview mirror and answered,
"Good considering the circumstances, I'm just glad to be back on American soil. I just want to see Kim and Audrey again."
Curtis nodded,
"Were about four minutes away, listen Jack what ever happens with this whole situation you know CTU and my self will be behind you all the way. You have been through to much, you deserve a break."
Jack smiled,
"Thanks."
Chloe was typing at her laptop, her face wrinkled in an unsatisfied manor. Bill noticed it and asked,
"What's the matter?"
Chloe looked up at him,
"I removed the video that was playing to block our satellite coverage but it doesn't make sense."
She paused for a moment and then looked back up at Bill,
"Even with the video removed there is no activity. I all stays the same, it doesn't even show the airplane landing."
Bill leaned back on the wall, let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face,
"So we don't even have a lead?"
"Real leads no, but I think we may have a probable lead."
Bill pushed him self off the wall,
"What do you mean?"
"We should get Audrey and Karen in here first."
Bill leaned over the conference table and pressed a button on a phone in the middle of the table. Karen answered,
"Yeah?"
"It's Bill, we need you in the conference room."
"For what?"
"Chloe has a probable lead."
"Probable?"
"She is going to explain, she wants you and Audrey in here though."
"Ok, I'll be right down."
Bill pressed the button on the phone and walked over to the door leading out of the conference room, opened it up and leaned out. He looked toward Audrey and yelled,
"Audrey we need you in here."
Audrey looked up from the CTU employee she was talking to and nodded. She looked back down and said,
"If you find anything let me know."
The employee nodded and Audrey walked over to the interrogation room, when she got near Bill asked,
"What are you having Ray do?"
Audrey looked back at him,
"Having him check for terrorist cell chatter, see if there is anything to do with airplanes."
Bill nodded,
"Good"
Bill looked up at the stairs and saw Karen coming out of their office. CTU was getting another office added for their new co-director but until it was finished being built Karen and Bill had to share the office. Bill didn't mind at all, in face he kind of enjoyed working with the woman he had feelings for. Karen walked up to Bill,
"I don't like the sound of a probable lead"
Bill put his hand on her back and walked into the conference room,
"Me either, but let's see what she has. It's not like we have anything else."
Bill, Audrey, and Karen all stood around the conference table looking down at Chloe. Karen cleared her throat and asked,
"What's going on."
Chloe looked up,
"I just explained to Bill that I managed to get rid of the video that was playing to cover up the attack on the plane."
Audrey interrupted,
"So you can see who led the attack?"
Chloe looked at Audrey,
"That's the problem, that part of the footage has been removed. The video was removed a half hour before the attack up until ten minutes ago. Nothing is there"
Karen grew a little frustrated,
"So how do you have a probable lead?"
Chloe sighed,
"It's a stretch but the only people who have access to these files are high Government officials"
"So what's your point?"
"We know Logan had co-conspirators but no one knows who. Logan is the lead, he can lead us to the co-conspirators."
Everybody in the room kind of sighed and Karen said,
"How do you know it's the same people, what if it was somebody else in the cabinet. Someone else working with Logan."
"Think about it, Logan's co-conspirators have all the loose ends tied up. Christopher Henderson, Walt Cummings, everyone else their all dead. Besides Logan, and they have to have him on a tight string. Who was the only other loose end, their only other real threat"
Audrey spoke,
"Jack."
"That's right, Jack caused them trouble. They don't want Jack back on American soil, Jack isn't happy with the Chinese. So blowing up the plane sets up Jack."
Audrey sighed and rubbed her forehead, Karen began to speak.
"Ok if Logan had information, we cant interrogate an ex-President with out solid proof."
Chloe looked at Audrey,
"We don't have to question Logan, someone els.."
Audrey interrupted her,
"Jack."
Chloe nodded her head,
"Jack could question him."
Audrey shook her head,
"No. no no no. After everything he has been through he isn't getting involved in all this again. He needs a break, he needs to live a real life."
Chloe looked at Audrey,
"I'm not trying to be an ass but he is already involved. As soon as that Chinese plane exploded he became involved."
Audrey started to speak again but she was quickly interrupted by the sound of loud clapping outside the conference room. Everybody turned quickly and saw Curtis Manning and behind him Jack Bauer. Audrey's jaw dropped and she quickly ran out of the conference room and toward Jack. Jack saw Audrey and he quickly walked towards her and embraced her into his arms. As soon as Audrey hit his chest she began to cry, Jack held onto her as tight as he could and rested his chin on her forehead. He kissed the top of her head and put his chin back on her head. Audrey began to speak but she was interrupted by her own crying,
"Jack I thought everything thing was finally over."
Jacks' whole body filled with warmth and the whole month before seemed to just exit his mind. He interrupted her words,
"Audrey, I'm not going anywhere. I'm here now"
Audrey looked up,
"But Jack, the plane"
"Shh, it's going to be handled, don't worry."
Everyone in CTU was still clapping at the sight of Jack Bauer. They all know that he brought the President to justice. Jack kissed her one last time and Audrey said,
"Jack, we have Kim in holding room one. We had a meal prepared for you two. She hasn't had a real chance to talk to you in over a year and a half, go see her I will be out here."
Jack smiled and kissed her forehead again,
"Thank you"
Jack looked over towards Bill and before he walked away Audrey said,
"Jack.. I love you."
Jack looked her straight in the eyes,
"I love you too."
Jack let go of her and walked over to Bill and shook his hand,
"It's good to see you Jack."
Jack released his hand from Bill's and smiled,
"It's good to see you too Bill."
Karen walked over to Jack,
"Jack I never had a chance to apologize for the trouble I gave you. If I had known"
Jack interrupted her,
"Don't worry about it, you were doing your job. I appreciate the apology though."
Jack shook her hand and looked at Chloe still sitting in the conference room looking at him. Jack walked over to her and gave her a hug. Chloe was kind of surprised about being hugged but she certainly wasn't disappointed. She quickly hugged back and smiled,
"Jack I was so worried. After everything you have done for me.. You saved my life."
Jack smiled and ended the hug,
"Everything I have done for you? Chloe you have been a great friend and person to work with. I owe you so much."
Chloe smiled and Jack rubbed her shoulder,
"How have you been?"
"It's been a little hard accepting Edgar's death but it's getting easier"
Jack stopped rubbing her shoulder,
"I wish I could have been there."
Chloe kind of frowned at the though of Edgar's death but then said,
"Enough about me, Kim is waiting for you."
Jack looked over to holding room one.
"Yeah."
He looked at all the CTU employees who had finally stopped clapping and he just simply said,
"Thank you."
He then began to walk over to the holding room and stopped in front of the door. He remembered the last time he saw Kim and what she said to him. His stomach began to turn. He swallowed hard and turned the handle on the door and opened the door. Kim looked up and saw Jack in the door way, before Jack could even walk into the room Kim sprang up from her chair and jumped into Jack's arms. She instantly began to cry like Audrey,
"Dad I'm so sorry, everything I said to you last time. I'm sorry, I talked to Audrey after you disappeared and realized you had to do what you did. I'm so sorry."
Jack rubbed Kim's back and rocked her side to side,
"Kim don't, I wish I could of told you but I just couldn't"
Kim kept on crying harder and harder,
"You don't have to explain. I understand."
Jack pulled away from her and looked at her,
"I can't believe how much you have grown. The year and a half I was gone was so hard, only having one picture to see you with. You have no idea."
Kim squeezed him harder then Jack looked at her again,
"How are you doing?"
"Alright, I broke up with my boyfriend but I am fine with it."
Jack stroked her hair and asked,
"Why did you break up? If you don't mind me asking"
Kim looked to the side then said,
"I realized I still had feelings for someone else. And I pushed that person away for the wrong reason."
Jack looked her in the eyes again,
"Chase?"
Kim nodded, she then looked down at the food on the table and said,
"You want some food?"
Jack shook his head,
"Ever since they agreed on the trade they have been feeding me non-stop. One of the agreements was I had to be in good condition for the trade, I had lost weight so they kept on feeding me to get my weight back up. I'm still full from the last force feeding."
Kim looked at him,
"Dad what did they do to you?"
Jack looked away,
"I would rather not tell you, you don't need to know."
Kim looked at him,
"I understand."
Jack looked at the table,
"I could use some water though."
Kim turned to the table and handed Jack a glass cup filled with water. Jack took it and drank half the cup in one sip, he put the cup down on the table and smiled.
"Sweetie I want to keep talking, there is so much to talk about but first we have to deal with the plane exploding. The Chinese are going to blame me."
Kim nodded,
"I understand"
"If you want to go home you can, don't feel like you have to stay here."
Kim shook her head,
"It has been too long, I want to be around you"
Jack smiled,
"I will be back in a couple minutes."
Jack turned to the door, pulled it open and walked out. He looked inside the conference room and saw Audrey, Bill, Karen, Curtis and Chloe all standing around the table. Jack walked into the conference room and took a seat,
"Have you found anything about the attack?"
Audrey looked at Jack,
"Jack you should be in with Kim."
"We need to figure this out, I'm not going to have a lot of time with Kim if the Chinese think I did this."
Audrey sighed and Curtis looked at Jack,
"Chloe thinks Logan can give us information."
Jack looked towards Chloe,
"How?"
Chloe explained the whole satellite situation to Jack and Jack nodded his head.
"Is Logan still in L.A.?"
"Yea."
"I'm going to question Logan, get me the coordinates to his location."
Audrey looked around the room then at Jack,
"But Jack CTU can't back you up with this. The Chinese are going to be all over us."
"I have someone on the outside who will help me."
Jack got up and looked at Curtis and whispered in his ear,
"You were in the car when I spoke to Gardner, you know what I have to do. I need you to leave me a cell phone in the armory before the Chinese get here. And it's better if you don't tell anyone what Gardner told me for their own safety."
Curtis nodded and walked out of the conference room, Bill looked at Jack.
"What was that about?"
"It's better if no one knows what me and Curtis know until we prove I'm innocent. And don't tell anyone the me and Curtis know anything it's for your own safety."
Chloe looked up at Jack and said,
"I've got them."
"What are they?"
Chloe told Jack the coordinates and Jack wrote them down on a piece of paper.
"How far out is that."
"About twenty minutes."
Everyone in the room was silent and Audrey looked at Jack,
"Jack I don't want to loose you again."
Jack walked over to her and held her close,
"You are not going to loose me, I will not be taken away for something I didn't do. I promise you that."
Jack looked back at Curtis as he walked back through the door,
"The Chinese are here."
Jack acted surprised and looked at him awkwardly,
"What? How the hell are they already here?"
"I don't know but they have a signed document from President Gardner to be here."
Jack slammed his hand on the desk,
"Damn it!"
Jack saw Cheng Zhi with four Chinese officers walking toward the conference room. Jack looked at the group,
"What ever happens next, don't try to interfere."
Cheng and the officers walked into the room and looked at Jack,
"Mr. Bauer you are to be held at the Chinese consulate until your Government can find out who launched this attack on our prisoners."
Jack looked at him,
"You can't seriously think I would set this up? Who would I have contact with on the out side? Why the hell would I jeopardize my own freedom?"
"Mr. Bauer, now is not a time for questions. You are a main suspect in the explosion of an Chinese government plane. We have permission from your President to take you in. If you don't like it tough."
Jack looked at him with the up most hate in his eyes and he began to yell,
"DAMNIT I DIDN'T ORDER THE SHOOTING AND YOU KNOW THAT!"
Cheng looked at the officers then back at Jack,
"Place him under arrest."
Jack looked at the officers as they walked toward him. Jack began to back up,
"This is bull shit!"
The guards drew nearer, Jack quickly reached out towards the closest guard and grabbed his arm. He placed his right hand in between his shoulder and lower arm and sent him flying forward into another guard toppling them both over. Everyone in the room jumped up and yelled,
"Jack!"
Jack quickly advanced toward the next officer and kicked him in his shin, sending his leg buckling to the ground. Jack punched the fourth officer in the chest and pulled his hand gun out of his hand. Jack hit the officer on the ground in the back of the neck and knocked him out. He used a chair for support and kicked the fourth officer in the neck, not hard enough to kill but enough to send him back grasping for air. Jack then pointed the gun at Cheng,
"Get out of my way now!"
"Mr. Bauer you have no."
Jack cocked the gun back,
"Now damn it!"
Cheng moved and Jack ran out of the conference room and toward the armory. Cheng looked at Bill and yelled,
"Locked the place down now! Or I will call your President!"
"Mr. Cheng you don't have the authority to order me.."
"THIS PAPER SAYS I HAVE THE R IGHT TO DO WHAT I WANT. ORDER A LOCK DOWN!"
Karen looked at Bill,
"Just do it."
Bill pushed a button and a voice picked up,
"Yeah"
"Order a lock down and stop Jack Bauer."
Bill pressed the button again to turn the phone off. The alarms went off inside of CTU, Jack slammed the door shut in the armory and quickly changed the password for the keypad. The Chinese officers got up and joined the chase for Jack. Cheng looked at everyone in the room,
"That was not a smart move on his part."
Jack turned to the table in the center of the room and grabbed the cell phone off the table. He walked over to a locker and opened it up. He pulled out a Sig Sauer 9mm and a bullet proof vest. He slipped the vest over his chest and attached the holster and the gun onto his belt. He looked up at the ceiling and noticed the air duct. He slid the table under the duct and hopped onto the table and began to pull at the vent. He pulled it off but not before he heard the Chinese officers yelling out side of the door, Jack placed both hands on either side of the vents and pulled him self up. He slid all the way into the vents and began to crawl forward. After crawling for about two minutes he finally came to the last vent near the exit and busted it open. He hopped down and aimed his gun at the two CTU guards,
"Give me the keys to Audrey Raines car. NOW!"
One of the guards fumbled through the keys, grabbed the pair and tossed them to Jack. Jack quickly took off out of CTU and ran to Audrey's car. He unlocked it, got in, inserted the keys into the ignition, put the car into drive and slammed on the gas. He flew out of the parking lot and once he was on the road he pulled out the cell phone and dialed a number. The phone rang a few times then a familiar voice picked up,
"Hello?"
"Chase it's Jack, I need your help."
"Jack? I heard about everything I wanted to"
"Chase, I don't want to be rude but now is not the time. I need your help with something I can't go to CTU. I will explain everything but can you meet me?"
"Yea where?"
"L.A. Central park, ten minutes."
"I'll be there."
"Chase bring a gun."
2:59:58 2:59:59 3:00:00