Thanks for reading Saturn, Angeliena and Star!!!
Jack grabbed a sandwich and coffee off the SWAT truck and finished them quickly before he joined a concerned looking Elliot in the CP.
"Bauer, we've been looking at the intel and it would seem we were hasty in our conclusions. We find our computer files are compromised and some entire sections have been erased. However we've managed to locate an internal memo showing that Simmons was about to be sidelined by Peters who felt he wasn't of the caliber required by SWAT. A shame as I valued Simmons." Looking up at Jack he asked, "What made you suspect he might be involved?"
"Simmons mentioned Edmund's blonde girlfriend, yet when I met her she was a brunette. She's a model and she'd just returned from a photo shoot with bleached hair. Simmons must have seen her this morning when he shot Taylor."
"Christ," Elliot shook his head sadly, "So Simmons has a run in with Peters and Taylor envies Edmunds, so they somehow decide to work together and eliminate the both of them. Shoot Peters and frame Edmunds for it, then kill Edmunds saying he threatened them. It would have been the perfect crime except Edmunds got away from them... I guess they tried to shoot you at the Diner to ensure nobody trusted Edmunds."
It nearly worked too, Jack thought to himself. "I'm interested to know why Simmons shot Taylor. Do you have a lead on him yet?"
"He's left the area but we have an APB alert out. We hope to apprehend him shortly." Shuffling his feet, Elliot looked baffled as he admitted, "Look Bauer, we have a problem... we're still unable to locate Edmunds."
"Perhaps he got through the cordon?"
"No, it was solid. We have him running past the bank's security camera at 7:16 and the barricades were in place within minutes. He had no time to leave the secured area."
"And the dogs found no trace?"
"They followed his trail here to the car park but they seemed to become confused after that. It didn't help that they found some sandwiches which I'm sorry to say were sampled by two of the dogs. Eating interferes with their sensory abilities and they had to be retired. The others milled around in confusion... We wonder if perhaps he found an underground tunnel. We've searched the storm sewers to no success... He seems to have simply vanished, you know the man, perhaps you can determine where he might be?"
Jack was worried. He had already passed through the area twice, calling out on the bull-horn telling Chase it was okay to come out. Five hours had passed since he was seen on the CCTV; he could be lying trapped somewhere. Chloe had been right; the blood work confirmed he had been hit with an animal tranquilliser. The CTU clinic warned he could be suffering memory loss and confusion, or he might have fallen unconscious.
He went back outside into the blazing sunshine. The tracker dogs had followed Chase to here. Where would he hide? And why come this way anyway, straight towards the SWAT Command Post? Chase had worked SWAT; he knew how they operated, how they thought. The only comment he'd made about them was that they lacked imagination; they always followed procedure exactly as laid out in their thick manuals.
SWAT would expect Chase to run, to get as far away as he could yet instead he had deliberately come closer. He must be here Jack knew, right here. He looked around but there was nowhere to hide. A line of straggly trees which had been individually checked, four SWAT trucks, the Com Ops van and two Humvees. He had the feeling Chase would take high cover, partly from his sniper training and partly his own nature, but all the buildings, roofs and trees had been searched and then re-checked again, by both man and dog.
So damnit, where the hell was he?