Chapter 3

Standing at the door, Jack Bauer poked his head left and right with his gun drawn, scanning the room from side to side looking for a possible and well-hidden hostile presence.

Everything had gone smoothly up to that moment: all the tangos were down or into custody and the rest of the team was sweeping the rest of the facility, but still there was no reason to relax. Their mission to break in that underground base and extract the prisoner had not been authorized and if they'd got caught in there at the arrival of the back up team, consequences would've been severe.

Seeing no other than the prisoner in the room, Jack put his gun back in the holster and reached for the radio.

"I found him. Stop the sweep and meet me at the north gate in 5 minutes", he said.

"Copy that", was the scratchy response of the radio.

Jack put the radio away and glared at Tony for a couple of long seconds. At that moment, more than ever, he wouldn't have wanted to be the one who had led the mission. At that moment, more than ever, he wouldn't have wanted to be there, in front of the man that, the last time they'd seen each other, had used him and backstabbed him with no mercy.

It had been a year ago, but Jack still seethed with anger. Trying to kill him and, more important to Jack, trying to kill thousands of innocent people spreading a pathogen in Washington subway were not things easily forgettable or forgivable. Jack couldn't still understand how the hell he could have gotten so far. They'd been friends for years, he trusted him and he knew him as a man of honor and moral integrity, who had devoted his life to protect people, how could he have just ignored all his past and believes and go on with that absurd plan?

At least, Jack could understand the reason. He knew how much Michelle meant to him and how much her unfair death had devasted him, but that couldn't be a justification. He had lost his wife too in a similar unfair way, but not because of that he'd been able to consider expendable the lives of innocent people just to get closer to his revenge.

Seeing Tony again now, Jack decided that, however, this was not the time nor the place for reasonings, fights or regrets. He had orders to execute and the best way he could follow them was to let his feelings aside and be as detached and distant as he could. That would've been his strategy.

Jack took a step into the room, walked to the chair where Tony was sat and headed straightly to his handcuffed hands, kneeling before them. No words were spoken, neither the obvious "You OK?" question. It wasn't hard to imagine that the commonly positive answer would've been a lie, so it wasn't worthful to waste time or distance over that.

Tony, on the other side, adopted the same strategy, feeling extremely uncomfortable for the whole situation and decided to just lower his eyes as Jack passed by.

Eventually, silence had to be broken. Seeing his hands handcuffed to the chair, Jack had no chance than to do it. In a cold tone he said:

"Do you know where the keys are?"

Tony took a second to think, rewatching everything in his head and fighting hard to remember which of the men had cuffed him. His memory was so damn slow and sloppy now.

Without waiting for his brain to find an answer, his lips started to speak as in an unconscious way.

"Please Jack, give me some water", he said under his breath.

Not sure of what he had just heard and pretty surprised from the unusual demand, Jack moved ahead to be able to see his face and then, in a whisper, asked:

"What?"

Tony slowly raised his eyes at him, unsure if really continue explaining his request or don't push this already uncomfortable situation even further. Though his brain said the latter, his body said not to lose even the smallest chance and so, avoiding Jack's look again, he explained:

"Since I've been here, they haven't let me sleep or eat anything yet…It's been several days, I'm going nuts. So, if you have at least some water with you…", Tony stopped and glanced at him.

Jack stared at him blankly for a few seconds, realizing that the detached approach he'd been planned it was simply not possible anymore. He had been too many times in similar hellacious situations with heartless captors not to be moved. It didn't matter how much he was still angry at Tony, it is in human nature to have sympathy and it's more likely to feel it for a person that, besides everything, he had considered his friend for more than 13 years.

"Sorry, I don't have any", he said truly meaning it.

Tony simply tilted his head and sighted.

Jack continued: "Tony, listen, we're gonna bring you back to the FBI HQ and, once we got there, you're gonna have all the medical attention you need, but right now I need you to try to remember who cuffed you."

Tony collected his thoughts for a while and then said, still with a low voice:

"White, middle aged, dark hair, blue shirt…he got out just a few moments before you entered the room."

"All right", Jack replied as he stood up. "I'll be back in a min. Hold on."

Jack walked across the room when his eyes fell on the empty bottle on the floor, previously used by the two guards in the waterboarding torture. Without saying anything, he looked at Tony that, noticing the whole scene, glared at him with the same thought in his head.

Thinking about it again, Jack said:

"We gotta be outta here before their back up arrives or we may be screwed. We don't have much time left, I don't know if it's a good idea to hang around to find a place to fill it."

"A'right", replied Tony a little disappointed. "Go."

Jack stared at him for a few seconds, then, looking back at the bottle, he swore under his breath and decided to pick it up anyway before heading to the door.

"Thanks", whispered Tony.

Jack stopped and turned around.

"I don't assure you anything", he said.

Tony nodded and then Jack got out of the room.

Jack started running through the empty corridor that, just some hours earlier, Tony tried to walk along in vain, but, despite him, Jack knew exactly where to go since he'd studied the blueprints of the facility before breaking in, plus he thought he remembered where he'd shot the guard with the blue shirt. The only problem, at most, would be to find a sink to fill the bottle, but he was quite sure to remember a bathroom on the schematics not so far from there too.

Walking through the base, he arrived at the spot where he thought the man he was looking for would have been. He was still there, lying on the floor with a bullet in his head. Jack kneed over him and searched for the keys. Then, not completely satisfied, he decided to take his gun too.

Back on his feet, he walked away, headed straight to what he believed being his next place to go. As he got there, his radio buzzed.

"Jack, what's your status?", it said while Jack reached the sink and, with the free hand, started to fill the bottle.

"We'll be out in a few minutes, is there any problem?"

"Yes, you've got company", said FBI agent Renee Walker as looking outside the van.

"What? They weren't supposed to be here for at least another 10 minutes."

"Unfortunately, that's not what I'm seeing right now. Two SUVs on approaching from the east side. I can't tell how many men inside yet. Do you want us to open fire?"

Jack closed the bottle and started running back to Tony's cell.

"No – he replied – We can't afford to be stuck here in a firefight, I'll handle it from inside, possibly using stealth. You just stay where you are and cover for us when we come out, understood?"

"Jack, I don't know if that's a good idea. If they find out that you're still there– "

"Renee – interrupted Jack, raising his voice while he was still running – you can't get inside again, it would be a huge risk both for you and the mission, trust me, it's easier if we just get out and you and your men do what I told you and be ready to leave, all right?"

Renee thought about it for another second:

"Yes, copy that", she said, knowing that Jack was right and she was just worried.

"Ok. I'm going off comm now. I'll call you back if needed."

Jack put the radio away and, after a few moments, entered Tony's cell.

Tony looked at him as he walked in, knowing immediately from his eyes that something was wrong.

Jack got closer to him without saying anything, then he opened the bottle and made him drink. Tony enjoyed the sip of that murky and maybe even undrinkable water as it was 1964 Dom Perignon.

"Better?", asked Jack.

Tony nodded and then, raising his eyes back at him, added:

"Thank you so much."

Jack looked at him again and simply said:

"Yeah."

Then he put down the bottle and started working on his handcuffed hands. Tony stayed quiet for the whole process, waiting for Jack to be the first one to explain what was going on. The wait didn't last more than a few moments since Jack started speaking almost instantly.

"Their back up has arrived sooner than we thought. There's a van waiting for us at the north gate, but down here we have to handle it by ourselves – Jack finished removing the handcuffs – You ready?"

Tony nodded as he moved his now free wrists.

"Yeah", he replied.

"Ok – then, picking up something from his pocket, Jack added – You may need this."

Jack handed Tony the gun he took from the guard. Tony looked at him for a while, unsure if this was really happening.

"I assume you won't try to shoot me this time", continued Jack with a small grin.

Tony looked down and took the gun.

"Listen, Jack – "

Without letting him finish, Jack intervened:

"We gotta go."

Then, he got on his feet and started walking to the door. Tony did the same, but after taking a step, everything around him became dark and he had to lean on the table.

Jack noticed it and started thinking that this could have been more problematic than he'd thought.

"Can you walk?" he asked.

Tony leaned back and then headed to the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine", he said.

Jack looked at him not sure of it at all, but, since they were running out of time and they had no other chance, acted like he believed it.

"All right, let's go."

Then they both walked through the door with their guns drawn and left the room.