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Chapter 12: Breaking the Code
Jack sat down behind her desk and turned on her computer. She quickly made her way to a news station broadcast and leaned back in her chair to watch……
"Agent Mahone, do you have any thoughts on the death of David Apolskis?" asked a reporter.
"It was unfortunate," replied Alex, keeping his cool.
"Was there every an opportunity to subdue…?"
"Let me remind you," interrupted Alex, growing irritated, "That despite David 'Tweener' Apolskis' age, he was a fugitive who made a move for my weapon. I did not want to have to kill him. Sometimes things happen that are just…out of your control."
Jack took a long, steadying breath. Alex was definitely better at keeping his composure than she was. She gritted her teeth, and forced herself to remain calm. The sound of Tweener's name made her heart leap up into her throat. But she could not have a break down here. Not while there were other agents nearby.
"Our sources say that you have recovered Scofield's hard drive," said another reporter, "And that you have obtained substantial data from it."
"What sources," snapped Alex.
"Information detailing not only how Scofield broke out, but how he plans to stay out. Care to comment?"
"No…"
Jack inhaled sharply. How did the press find out about Scofield's hard drive? That was classified information. The only people who knew about it were the agents that were assigned to the manhunt...which meant someone in this building had talked…
"What happened at the Botanical Gardens in Utah today…that was a result of the drive data that you collected?"
"No comment," replied Alex, quickly growing very edgy.
"Have you been able to discover any other locations where…"
"I believe I said no comment," snapped Alex as he turned and moved away from the cameras.
Jack ran her hands through her auburn hair. This could not be good.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
A little later that afternoon…
"I heard that it came back from the lab," said Agent Lang as she approached Wheeler's desk.
Jack glanced up from her work to see what she was talking about.
"Yeah," replied Wheeler, as he stood and took the lid off of a box, "Thirty-two hundred nitroglycerin tubes."
Jack stood up and walked over to listen in.
"Now," continued Wheeler, "Scofield knew that they needed to be stored in a cool, moist area. Best place for that in the Utah desert is the Botanical Gardens."
"Stable?" asked Jack.
"All medical grade," replied Wheeler, "Safely used by heart patients all the time, but in the aggregate…"
"It can take out an entire building…that box, right there."
All the agents in the room turned around and saw Alex. He strode into the room, looking confident, but Jack could tell otherwise. His gate was too stiff, too rigid. He was ticked.
"This is why we can't have…leaks, coming from this office," he said quietly…too quietly.
Suddenly, he kicked a nearby desk violently.
"God help the agent who goes behind my back and talks to the press!" he yelled.
He paused for a moment and glanced around the room, as if he were trying to pick out the rat. Then, he turned and strode into his office.
Wheeler and Lang exchanged a glance. It did not go unnoticed by Jack………………
Later that day, Alex was plotting points on a map.
"We were just inches away today…just inches," he muttered to himself.
He tossed some papers on to Wheeler's desk.
"I want these blown up huge. Put them up in my office and give Jack a copy," he ordered.
"What are these?"
"Somewhere in those combinations is information regarding a rendezvous that Scofield set up. And we're going to crack that code today."
He whirled around, looking for Agent Lang.
"Lang! Today's the day Franklin told his wife that he was going to meet her in the rainbow room, right?" he asked as he whisked past the board with the cons pictures.
"That's right," answered Lang, confidently.
"Wrong! Today's the day Franklin is going down. You ready?"
"Everything's arranged," she answered as she pulled a gun out of her desk drawer and turned to leave the office.
Just then, Wheeler leapt up out of his chair.
"Mahone, we got a tip from a waitress who thinks she saw Burrows outside St. David, Arizona."
"Get a team out there to confirm," he said as his phone rang, "Once they get a beat on Burrows, notify me."
Alex stepped into his office. Wheeler turned to look at Jack.
"Help me with this?" he asked her.
"Yeah," replied Jack, giving Wheeler a long look, "What do you need?"
"Just a confirmation on the Burrows sighting."
"Okay, I'm on it."…………………………………….
Alex closed the door to his office and answered his cell phone.
"Yeah?"
"Sarah Tancredi just booked a one-way ticket across the country," said Kellerman's voice on the other line.
"To where?" asked Alex as he walked over to a smaller map on his office wall.
"New Mexico."
"Of course," muttered Alex to himself, as he gazed at the map.
"Any luck breaking that code?"
"This helps."
"Good."
Kellerman hung up. Alex turned his attention to the different combinations of the code that were now plastering his walls. He began to circle some of them.
"Wheeler!" he shouted.
Wheeler looked up from his paperwork. He gave Jack a quick glance.
"I'll be back."
Jack just nodded and watched Wheeler walk into Alex's office. Something about him made her skin crawl with unease….
"Yes sir?" asked Wheeler.
"Every combination that has an NM in it…I want you to check it to see if it has the name of a location in New Mexico. And I want it done, now!"
……………………………………………………………………………
Late that afternoon, Alex was sitting behind his desk, desperately trying to figure out the code. He threw his pen down on the desk in frustration. Then, he glanced down at another piece of paper he had not yet looked at.
He grabbed his pen and began drawing lines around the code until it read: EL GILA NM 6/3.
He glanced over at his calendar and realized that it was June second. Whatever Scofield was planning, was happening tomorrow.
Just then, his phone rang. He glanced down at the caller ID and saw that it was Pam…his ex-wife. He sighed and answered the phone.
"Pam…I really can't talk right now."
"Maybe I should call back."
Alex's eyes grew wide with shock. The voice on the other end of the line was not his ex-wife's…it was Michael Scofield……………………..
PLEASE REVIEW!!!
Next chapter is going to be a little shorter that usual…
But after that I'm going to begin working on the chapters for my favorite episode from season 2: Rendezvous!!!