Audrey sat in the paper-filled study at her father's house reading through files searching for any information to find the one person who truly understood her. The one man who never stopped loving her. The hero who saved her life. Since Jack's captured she'd been living with her father, it was safer for her, not that anyone wanted her dead; she was living at her father's house simply because James was scared of what she might do to herself.
Since the day he found Audrey in her apartment, sitting on the sofa in a kind of trance with a butcher's knife hovering above her wrist he'd never let he stay on her own for more than a few minutes. James still worked for the government as one of Wayne's military advisors, but he only worked from home. Having meetings by videoconference or phone call. It wasn't in convenient but as long as Audrey was safe he didn't care and Wayne understood how hard it was for Audrey so he didn't have a problem with it.
For the past five months Audrey had spent almost every minute of every day sitting in her father's luxurious study with large mahogany desk and black leather chairs. Every time Heller came in to check on her she'd be typing furiously on the computer, staring at the screen with bloodshot eyes or, reading through a bulky file full of pointless information.
Each night at the Heller household James woke screaming and whimpering from Audrey's room, there hadn't been a night since that fateful day that Audrey hadn't jerked out of bed shrieking from her nightmares of what was happening to Jack in China. Audrey's room was filled with pictures of her and Jack together, James didn't really approve as he thought it would just be a constant reminder of what had happened; but Audrey insisted they sat, they reminded her of the happy times her and Jack spent together.
James never realized how much his daughter had loved Jack until now, he had months back been told that there was no hope of ever getting back the man that had saved the lives of millions. CTU had given up after a month of intense searching, it didn't take them long to find out that the Chinese had taken Jack but the problem was that America could do nothing. It had already been agreed 2 years ago after the raid on the consulate that Jack would be handed over.
If Wayne had asked for Jack to be returned to the US then he would also have to admit that the mission that jack carried out was sanctioned. I doing that it could start World War 3 and however much anyone wanted jack back they knew that he would never want any lives lost to save him. They all knew he'd rather die than that.
The only way for Jack to be saved was to find proof that he was indeed being tortured in China. But this was impossible, no one knew where in China Jack was or were he was being held and even if they did it would be extremely difficult to get any evidence against the men holding him.
With a great amount of despair and sorrow CTU were forced to give up the search, much to this dislike of its director Bill and every one of his employees. Some people there even pleaded that the search should carry on. James had heard that Chloe O'Brian had offered to be put on minimum pay and have her position taken so she could help find Jack. No one wanted to stop but they'd hit a dead end.
Everyone at CTU remembered how much Jack had done for them. When they had been in danger and needed help Jack had always come through for them. He'd come back from the dead to save them and the American people. Jack would manage impossible, do the unthinkable, put everything on the line. Yet when he was the one in jeopardy, when he was the one in desperate need of help nothing was done. No one could save him.
Audrey was devastated; she was at CTU when the order came down from Division to cease the hunt. She wasn't angry with anyone at CTU for not getting results, she was there, so she knew how every single person had spent long days and even nights of their spare time searching. After a month of non- stop searching the American government had given up on their hero. But Audrey…….she never would.
Audrey dedicated the last five months of her life trying to hunt down Jack. She hadn't been out of her father's house for since Heller had brought her over, James had tried many times to get Audrey to stop and move on. All he got was a stare of utter hatred from Audrey and a barrage of 'don't you care's and 'this is the thanks you give to the man who saved your life's. Heller had, after a while accepted that Audrey would persist at her search, he gave Audrey extra funds and access to classified files, and recently she managed to contact the Chinese General Wu who'd agreed to help as long as he was never named in any reports as a source.
Audrey jumped as the phone rang, causing the papers on her lap to spew out onto the floor. 'Dammit' she cursed, she'd have to waste valuable time cleaning up when she could be reading through the report on President Logan's hearing.
He'd admitted to informing the Chinese of Jack's whereabouts during the day and his part in the terrorist conspiracy. The public was never informed of what had happened to him. He was charged with murder, deception and treason and given life imprisonment. Audrey was glad that he had at least been served some justice, as he now would spend the rest of his days in one of DOD's secret underground detention centers.
Audrey swiveled round in her chair and found the phone under a mound of files. She checked the caller ID and found the call was originating from a secure satellite phone. She perked up as a sudden wave of hope rushed over her. It must be General Wu calling and for him to be contacting her again meant one thing, he found out something on Jack.
"Hello… th…this is Audrey…… Heller" she said, only just managed to get the words out, she was so nervous.
"Miss Heller, General Wu speaking." He began with a heavy Chinese accent. "I have just received information from one of my team on the whereabouts of the American Agent Jack Bauer.
Audrey squealed in excitement, this was the break she was looking for; she was one step closer to finding him. The general was obviously surprised at Audrey's reaction, he had been told by former Secretary of Defense Heller that Audrey was working for CTU and just continuing the search for Mr. Bauer, now he realized they must have known each other. After a few seconds of awkward silence he continued.
"Mr. Bauer is being held in the maximum security Chinese prison camp Mae Tzi on the border with Siberia. The Chinese official heading Agent Bauer's case is a Mr. Cheng Zhi."
"Are you sure?" Audrey asked, her voice quivered slightly, the deep amount of concern she had over the matter becoming very apparent.
"Yes, I had the information double checked, I am 100 certain of Agent Bauer's location and that Cheng Zhi would be the one to ask him any questions. Miss Heller I gave you exactly what you wanted, if you need any more information I suggest you contact someone else, if my superiors find out I've been talking to anyone in your government without permission I'll be killed. Good luck with the rest of your search."
General Wu quickly ended the call and looked around his office suspiciously, but ever seemed to be usual. Thinking back over the call he realized how concerned Miss Heller had been. Then he made the connection. He grabbed the file on Jack off his desk and flicked through to the report of Jack's last day on American soil, he scanned down the page until he came across Karen Hayes report.
"We suspected Audrey to be part of the conspiracy and Jack asked if he could be the first to talk to her, at first I thought against it because of his personal relationship with Audrey, but after all he had already done for CTU throughout the day I decided that he should at least be given a chance". General Wu stopped reading back over the sentence, confirming what he had just read, 'personal relationship'. This man, Jack Bauer was Audrey's boyfriend. This new information could be very very useful indeed for Bauer's interrogators.
Audrey heard the click on the other end of the phone just before it fell from her hand, hitting the floor with a thud as she burst in to tears. Thirty seconds later James was in the room, very concerned as to what just happened, he was very anxious as he saw Audrey curled up in the chair, her knees brought up tightly to her chest as she sobbed.
"Hey Audie, what's got you so upset?" Heller asked, slowly approaching Audrey and crouching down in front of the chair gentling taking her hand in his as an attempt to calm her. Audrey peered down at her father; she was still in a state of shock, tears rolling down her face.
"Come on Audie, what's the matter?" Heller said, once again trying to get to the bottom of what was going on.
"It..it's…Jack, I….fo..found out where…he…he is." She answered trying to keep back the tears.
"Well that's great sweetie, your closer to getting him back" Heller was unsure to why his daughter was so upset, finding jack's location was fantastic news, now it was possible to try and start finding evidence.
"It's not..not great dad, they're holding him at Mae Tzi " Audrey burst into tears again.
James now understood why he daughter as so traumatized. When CTU had been looking for Jack they compiled a list of possible places the Chinese could have taken him to. Mae Tzi was the Chinese prison where only the worst criminals who committed major crimes against the country were taken. It was a prison for spies and traitors. The prison was not really used just to hold prisoners like the other ones in China; it was used to torture them.
Heller remembered being told by Bill about the prison. The personnel there were trained especially for torture, only the best were taken, they trained for years learning and improving many skills. They were professionals, the best in China. James knew that they must have brought Jack there straight away, probably torturing him daily. There he would stay until he gave up all the information the Chinese wanted or he was killed when they were trying to get it.