The Gardner house was set in an expensive LA suburb with its own private security; not wanting to arouse suspicion Jack drove round only once then parked up out of the way. He and Chloe headed in on foot. They succeeded in accessing the house despite security cameras, alarms and an army of guards patrolling the area. Once inside they headed straight for the master bedroom where Jack dragged Carl Gardner from his bed and into the adjacent bathroom. Jack proceeded to use various forms of mild torture to get the information from him they needed. Chloe meanwhile held a gun to Mrs Gardner, attempting to reassure her that as long as her husband cooperated they would both be fine.
It took Jack less than two minutes to get the name and location of the mastermind behind the Logan conspiracy. They left the house the way they'd gone in, through the front door having temporarily rendered both Gardner and his wife unconscious.
As they returned to their car, Jack turned to Chloe saying "it'll be over soon Chloe, then we can get out of here and you can go back to your life. I'm really sorry for dragging you into this, sorry for constantly dragging you into whatever mess is going on." Chloe smiled at him, insisting that she was fine but not wanting to tell him that she wouldn't have it any other way for fear of him guessing her true feelings.
Just then they heard a screech of tires as a black SUV suddenly turned the corner and came to a halt just in front of them. Jack pushed Chloe behind him and raised his weapon against the vehicle's occupants. Chloe felt her heart speeding up as adrenaline pumped through her system. Then just as she was slowly pulling the gun she had hidden in the back of her jeans she felt a wave of relief at the sight of Curtis exiting the vehicle.
Jack lowered his gun slowly and shouted "Back off Curtis, we need to do this and we need to do it now. If you get in my way then I will have no choice but to shoot you."
"Jack, I'm not here to stop you. I am here to help you" Curtis said calmly.
Chloe saw Jack falter a little, obviously trying to process whether or not this was a trap. "How did you find us?" he asked.
"Morris called it in. He was worried about Chloe, worried she might be helping you under duress. He provided a link up to the recording device he'd given you so we could create a live feed when you used it. We knew you were here but just didn't know why. Now we do and we want to work with you on it."
Jack lowered his weapon completely but stood firm in wanting to go in alone. "I'm sorry Curtis I can't let you do that. I need to make sure nothing goes wrong. If it does then both Chloe and I are either going to end up dead or in jail and I can't let that happen. Not to her."
"It's ok Jack but it's just me. Morris came straight to me and no-one else knows about it yet. We can be in and have the information we need before anyone suspects anything."
Chloe moved out from behind him then. She saw a flash of shock in Curtis' eyes at the sight of her injuries. "Why did Morris come to you? He hardly knows you Curtis. If he was going to anyone, why didn't he go to Bill?"
At that question the passenger side of the SUV opened and Jack again lifted his weapon and pulled Chloe behind him – only to lower it again at the sight of Morris standing by the side of the vehicle. Chloe pulled herself from Jack's grasp and walked towards Morris, the anger in her expression evident by the way he backed off slightly when she approached.
She walked up to him and grabbed the lapels of his jacket and shook him none too gently "why the hell did you do it Morris? I told you I was fine, that I knew what I was getting into. Why couldn't you just leave it alone?"
Jack stepped forward, urging her to calm down "Chloe, its ok. Morris was just protecting you, I can understand that. Its ok we'll work this out."
Chloe turned from Morris scowling "humph….like I need protecting. He's the one that'll need protection."
Morris looked relieved that she had turned away from him, as though he'd been on the receiving end of Chloe's bad moods on more occasions than he cared to remember. "Chloe, I'm sorry. I just thought we could help."
"Well you can't…you've done.." Chloe's words were cut off mid sentence by Jack who saw an opportunity for him to continue this without putting Chloe at risk any longer.
"Actually Chloe, I think maybe they can help. Curtis can come with me and Morris can take you back to CTU. I know they will give you a hard time to start with but eventually they will see you were trying to do the right thing." Jack stopped talking at the expression on Chloe's face – it was an expression that reflected a number of emotions, not least her disappointment that he was so willing to work without her after all she had done.
Jack sighed and, taking hold of her hand he led her around the back of their car to talk more privately. He held onto her shoulders and looked into her eyes "Chloe, I couldn't have done any of this without you today and for that I will always be grateful. But, I'm worried about you, you've been through so much and I don't want to put you at risk any more. I need to know that you're safe."
Chloe felt tears stinging the back of her eyes but was unable to find the words to respond to what he was saying. The reality was that she needed to know that he was safe too and the only way she felt able to do that was to not let him out of her sight again. She almost laughed at herself; how could she, geeky computer genius be better equipped than Jack or Curtis to keep anyone safe in the field?
The sight of her tears were nearly his undoing. He pulled her towards him and held her for the briefest of moments, then gently touched his lips to the top of her head before pushing her towards Morris. "Go Chloe, please…go with Morris."
Chloe left then and for the second time that day she wondered if she would ever see him again. She got in the car and drove with Morris back to CTU in silence but with an awareness that Morris was studying her almost as much as he was studying the road.
Within the hour they were pulling into the CTU car lot and as he pulled to a stop Morris turned to her. "You ok love?" he asked gently.
"I'm fine" she said screwing up her face. "Not looking forward to getting arrested but it's not the first time and probably won't be the last so let's just get it over with."
"At least you won't be dead" Morris said on a sigh.
They walked into CTU and Chloe was aware of a number of looks in her direction, not least the look she received from Audrey Raines. Just as Audrey looked as though she was going to approach her, Bill stepped in front of her and, gesturing for Audrey to back off he walked over to Chloe and Morris. He took hold of Chloe's arm and led her into a quiet room, asking Morris to wait for them outside.
"Chloe what is going on? You look terrible."
"It's just superficial Bill, no big deal really. Jack and Curtis are together and following a lead. It should be over soon, and then they'll be back."
At that Bill looked over at Audrey, thinking that finally she will be out of his hair once she knows Jack is ok and he's back there. He looked back at Chloe saying "I don't suppose there's much point in me asking you where they are is there? Despite the fact that I can send back up to help them?"
Chloe rolled her eyes at that "you know the drill by now, I'm not saying anything. If they want our help I'm sure they'll let us know. Feel free to arrest me though" she said on a scowl.
Bill sighed "that won't be necessary, for the moment anyway. Let's get you to medical so they can check you out."
Chloe sat in medical waiting to be treated when the door opened suddenly and Audrey walked in. "How are you Chloe?"
"Um, well fine I guess"
"Good….."
Chloe rolled her eyes then, "I don't suppose you've really come in her to ask how I am have you? You want to know about Jack? I don't really know what you want me to say other than he's alive – for now. That he has been battling all day with very little help to get to the bottom of what's going on."
Audrey sat down. "I know Chloe. It's just it was a shock to hear that he'd just turned up today with no warning, no word."
"He had his reasons and I'm sure he'll tell you about it if…, when he gets back."
Audrey left then and the doctor came in to examine Chloe, pronouncing her fit for questioning once her wounds had been cleaned and redressed. Chloe was anxious for news about Jack but knew that as soon as she left medical she would likely be arrested.
Just as the doctor was finishing up Bill came in. "I thought you might want to know that I just got a call from Curtis. They have the information they needed and are heading back here. We sent a team in to detain those responsible for the Logan conspiracy and the scene is secure. Both Jack and Curtis are fine although Jack has sustained an injury." At the look in Chloe's eyes he quickly added "nothing too serious apparently".
An hour later Chloe was sitting in holding, just as she'd expected. Bill had told her that Division were sending someone to debrief her as they felt everyone at CTU lacked certain objectivity. She'd been told Jack was back and being treated in medical and that Audrey was with him. She sighed at that; not that she had too much of a problem with Audrey, it wasn't like Chloe ever thought she herself stood a real chance with Jack.
Just then she heard a commotion outside the holding room door, she couldn't see anything but she heard raised voices, one of them belonging to Jack.
Chloe heard Bill sigh "Jack, Division have asked me to keep the two of you apart, they want to question you separately."
"Dammit Bill, I just want to talk to her for a second. What harm will it do? This is Chloe; she's not a threat to anyone. I just want to make sure she's ok."
There was silence for a moment then the door opened suddenly and Jack came in. He had a dressing on his arm but otherwise looked to be in one piece.
"Jack! Are you ok? What happened?" Chloe asked in concern.
"I'm fine Chloe; it's nothing more than a scratch really"
Chloe looked at his arm suspiciously, knowing that a scratch to Jack Bauer would most likely fell any other man.
"Chloe, how're you holding up? I'm really sorry about this. I never meant for you to get into trouble, I'd hoped they'd think you were doing this against your will but unfortunately because of your track record when it comes to helping me they are suspicious about your level of involvement."
Chloe looked at the worried expression on his face and quickly jumped in to reassure him that she was fine. "It's hardly the first time I've been kept in holding Jack. I'll be fine."
Jack nodded at that then walked closer to where she was sitting then knelt down next to her. "Chloe, I want you to tell them that I forced you to do everything today and that I threatened to kill you if you didn't do it."
Chloe rolled her eyes at that. "Jack they won't believe it for a second."
"It doesn't matter what they believe as long as we both stick to the same story. They have no evidence otherwise."
"No Jack. I did what I thought was right and I won't feel ashamed of that. We got results didn't we? What are they going to do to us?" she asked, the sarcastic tone of her voice implying a faith in a system where getting results was the only thing that mattered.
"Chloe, please ……. I don't want you getting into trouble over this."
"Jack I won't lie. You may have forced my hand to get me involved in the beginning but since I walked into that office this morning, everything I have done I've done willingly and I won't deny that."
Jack ran his hand through his hair in frustration but knew it was pointless arguing with her when she was in one of her righteous moods. He smiled then and was just about to say something when the door opened suddenly. It was Bill telling them that the agent from Division had just arrived and it wouldn't look good for anyone if they were found together. Jack left then, telling Chloe he would see her later.
But he didn't see her later; in fact Jack's was the last friendly face she saw as she was taken to Division for questioning to eliminate the risk of anyone from CTU hindering their investigation. Chloe started to feel nervous, this had never happened before and she'd been in trouble a lot. She started to feel afraid for herself rather than for Jack this time; she felt as though she was in serious trouble, the kind that she would not easily get out of.
