Chapter 5

Undercover Part 2

That same night:

When Michelle stepped out of the van onto the cool, wet pavement, her heart sped up. The strip club was in sight a couple blocks away. Jack got out behind her and handed her a cell phone.

"Here. Keep this somewhere safe where no one will see it. We won't have any communication with you while you're in there, so in case of an emergency this is your only lifeline." Jack looked at her deeply as he said this, reminding her the importance of no emergencies on this mission. Michelle nodded in response. She wasn't even sure if her voice would come out if she tried speaking. She looked down at her outfit and seeing no where else to place the phone, stuck it down her shirt.

Jack looked at her awkwardly for a second and then said, "uh, here let me take Tony's coat." Michelle had completely forgotten she was wearing it and slipped the jacket off.

"Okay, I'm ready" she said firmly after shaking out her hair, making it look even more untamed. She really did look like a hooker off the street, but prayed it didn't attract too much attention.

"Good. When you get inside, try your hardest to blend in but stay out of sight. We'll give you a call once Chloe confirms that the back room is empty from the infrared scan."

She nodded. Michelle started walking towards the club and when she entered from the back way with the other dancers, she tried to make it seem like she knew what she was doing. Although she had never stepped foot in the place before that night, no one seemed to question her being back with the other girls. She looked just like them, and began to observe their actions so she could copy them.

In the meantime, Michelle tried her best to hide out in the dressing room while the other girls danced. The last thing she wanted to do was bring any attention to herself. She pretended to be fixing her makeup or hair whenever someone walked by.

About a half an hour passed before the cell phone began to vibrate. She went into a corner of the room and answered it.

"Yes."

"Michelle, it's Tony." She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. She felt so much better now and was relieved to hear his soothing voice.

"We haven't received the results from the satellite yet, but they should be in soon, so hang in there. Listen, we've been keeping an eye on the flow of traffic from the security cameras and our facial recognition software picked out a couple Damien's bodyguards, so most likely he's in the building. Unfortunately, it seems as if they disabled some of the cameras in the club, near the back rooms and bathrooms. We need you to start doing a scope around the building and see if you can identify him. Can you do that?"

"Yes. I will call you if I spot him" she replied firmly.

"Good. Michelle…be careful" he reminded her.

"I will" she promised, and hung up the phone.

When she entered the club, Michelle was bombarded by darkness, flashing lights, the scent of stale alcohol and dozens of men crowded around the bar where the girls were dancing on poles. Michelle looked and saw that the backrooms were located on the opposite side of the building, so she began to push her way through the bodies of people to try and get to the other side.

As she tried to push through, one guy slapped her ass and another grabbed her breast. To each one she forced a sexy smile and they handed her a couple of singles. She had never felt so violated or degraded in her entire life. Michelle wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and burst into tears. She felt sick to her stomach, and her face was pale.

She was almost to the other side where the bathrooms were located until one guy grabbed her by the arm and turned her forward. "And where do you think you're going, missy?"

Michelle thought it was just another sick, drunk pervert until she looked at his face. She recognized him from the groups of photos in Damien's file; it was one of his bodyguards, one of the terrorists. Tony had warned they were scattered around the place but the reality didn't sink in until she was actually in his grasp.

"I'm just, uh, I was just going to go the bathroom" she stammered. "My shift's over."

The guy glanced over to the rooms, and Michelle followed his stare to the left. "Third door to the left" she said to herself mentally. By the look on his face, obviously Damien was inside that room, not the one they suspected.

The bodyguard looked her up and down, his gaze focusing on her breasts. He paused then said "You ain't so bad…" and pulled out a couple of twenties and stuck them in her skirt. Then he yanked her over to a chair and forced her on top of him. "Come on, bitch, that's more than you've made all night."

Michelle was frozen. She felt tears stinging in her eyes, but kept concentrated on all of the lives they could save if they just got this information. She took a deep breath and realized this was just a small sacrifice she could give for all of those people. She sat up and began giving him a weak attempt at a lap dance. She had no idea what the hell she was doing, she just made it up as she went along.

As she lowered herself down, her head came down next to his neck. It reeked of alcohol and made Michelle's stomach turn. She turned her face away and tried to take a deep breath. Over his shoulder she noticed a camera with a blinking green light. Her face turned to despair as she remembered that CTU was watching her, right now…Tony was watching her.

A tear escaped from her eye but she quickly blinked the rest away. This was not the time for her to break down. She kept breathing and tried to just slip away, tried to forget where she was, pretend like this day had never happened…

Tony looked at the monitor displayed in the bullpen and felt sick. He was standing here watching Michelle being forced to give some guy, some terrorist, a lap dance! He felt his blood begin to curdle. He wanted to punch something, someone. He watched as Michelle looked directly into the camera they were monitoring her on. He watched her face turn to horror as she remembered they were watching. He watched a tear slide down her cheek. He watched as she struggled to keep them from falling, wanting nothing more than to reach over and wipe them away. She shouldn't be going through this, she shouldn't have to deal with this, she shouldn't have to…

Tony's thoughts were interrupted by some guy who whistled in the back. Tony spun around, ripping the comm. out of his ear. He looked over to see Michael, some young guy they just hired sitting in a chair, laughing at how cool he was.

Tony had lost it. He marched over to were this kid was sitting and ripped him out of his seat. Michael's face turned from laughter and lust into fear as Tony grabbed his collar.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? Do you think this is funny?" he yelled in his face. "Answer me! Do you think it's funny that we have agents out the field, risking their lives to gather crucial information, as you sit here and watch?"

Michael looked like he was about to shit his pants. "Geez, Tony, take it easy, I was just kidding around…"

Tony threw him against a wall and grabbed his shirt with both hands. The kid was practically dangling on his toes. "Kidding? You were just kidding? We don't kid here, you asshole. Do you think Michelle wants to be in that position? Don't you think she'd rather be here, kicking your ass instead? Next time, I'll send you into the field so you can get shot by a terrorist, how does that sound?"

"Tony. Tony."

Tony jumped at the sound of George's voice. He turned around and saw everyone in the office staring at him, fear in their eyes.

"Let him go. I said drop him."

Tony opened his fists and the kid fell to the floor. George grabbed Tony by the elbow and began leading him away.

"No, damn it George, let go of me, don't touch me!" He shook Mason off his arm. "What, are you just going to let this go? Didn't you see what this asshole just did? I want him out of this office now."

George looked from the kid shaking on the ground to a security guard at the door. "Get him out of here" he said firmly. He looked at Tony again and said "My office. Now."

Tony took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He scratched the side of his face and followed George up to his office, feeling the stairs of every employee burning into his back.

Tony sat down on the couch across from George's desk. "What the hell was that?" he demanded.

Tony held his head in his hands and grumbled. He tried to wipe away the sleep and tears that had begun to overtake him. It had been a long day, and the image of Michelle's face was still branded into his brain.

George sighed. "Look, I really don't have time to deal with any of your shit right now."

Tony looked up at him, his anger beginning to return. "Sorry to inconvenience you, George, I didn't realize that my life was getting in your way!"

"Damn it, Tony!" he walked right up into his face. "Now you listen to me and listen good. Do you want to help Michelle. Do you want to help her?" He was screaming right in his face.

Tony nodded slowly.

"Then you need to pull your act together. That's it, from this moment on, you need to forget about the past, and move on. Leave all of your baggage shit behind and start with a clean slate, otherwise I'm going to have to find someone to replace you."

Tony was stunned. He had never seen Mason lose his anger like this. "Look, George, I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize" he said. "I just need you to get control. It's obvious you care about Michelle, okay? I get it. I can see you guys are really close friends. But if you want to help her, then get it together, Tony. For all of our sakes."

George walked out of the room and back onto the floor. Tony watched him leave and felt a growing sense of strength. Whatever it was clicked, and Tony realized that if he wanted to help Michelle he needed to be on top of his game. This was a fresh start, this moment right here. He opened the door of George's office, and the rush of wind that hit his face symbolized his freedom. Finally, Tony could move on.

Finally, the bodyguard got tired of her. He pushed Michelle off of him. "I don't know how you got your job, slut, you suck."

Michelle tried to remember how to breath. The world was getting fuzzy around her, and she forced herself to walk towards the back doors and gain control. As she stumbled over, out of the darkness someone came up behind her and pushed her against the wall. She was hidden in a shadow from the rest of the club, and rough hands grabbed at her throat. Suddenly she was thrown back into reality, and gasped for air. As she kicked and struggled, the man hoarsely whispered into her ear,

"And where do you think you're going?"

Michelle couldn't make out his face in the dark, and stray curls scattered across her eyes, blocking her vision. She needed to get out in the open so that she could signal CTU somehow. They needed to know she was in danger, that the mission was in danger; that was imperative.

She tried to choke out words. "I…I was just going to the bathroom. My shift's over."

She made a weak attempt at freeing herself, in hope that the man would move her over to get a better grip on her. She was right. The shadowed figure thrust her to the right, and Michelle was able to stick her arm and leg out of the dim hallway. Light from the club casted over the man's hard face, and Michelle's eyes widened in fear and surprise. It was him.

"No, it's not, you're shift started an hour ago. I've been watching you."

"Okay, fine. Can't I just pee, please?" she pleaded.

The man let her go roughly. "Fine, bitch, you want to be sarcastic?"

He grabbed her arm roughly and threw her onto the hard tile of the bathroom and slammed the door shut. "Oh shit" she thought. She glanced around the room quickly and remembered there were no security cameras in the bathroom. CTU couldn't see her, couldn't see what was happening. Then she remembered what Jack had said: not to fight back. She was helpless, this man could kill her if he wanted to and she would have no control over it. The man leaned down and grabbed a fistful of her hair, and Michelle squeezed her eyes shut and prayed it would be over soon.

Tony stood in the bullpen watching helplessly while Michelle was grabbed by an arm and thrown into a shadowy hallway. He was so hopeful as she made her way to the bathroom, he thought finally this entire nightmare would be over. She could get the information and get out. But then, in an instant, she was seized right out underneath him. He jumped when her figure disappeared. "What the…" he began.

Tony flew over to tactical. "What security over in that hallway?"

The IT girl typed away and responded. "Nothing. Lustkovitz disabled all of our connections in that vicinity."

"Damn it!" Tony yelled, truly frustrated. He ran his hands through his hair. "How do we know if she's still even there? They could have taken her into another room, how can we have nothing? Anything from the infrared satellite?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing that's been updated in the last 20 minutes."

He threw his fists onto the table and looked at the screen. "Come on, Michelle, give us something" he whispered to himself. "Come on, baby…"

Just then, as Tony stared intently on the monitor, he saw a small arm and exposed thigh appear around the side of shadow. Tony looked harder, and found it was accompanied by stray, loose curls. He would recognize those anywhere.

Immediately he stood up. "That's her, that's Michelle, she's still there! Focus in on her, she's giving us a signal."

Tactical zoomed in on Michelle's hand and Tony saw her holding up two fingers. Tony's heart dropped and he lost control of his breath. Michelle was signaling to them that she was in danger. But there was nothing he could do about it.

Michelle tried to concentrate on anything, her little brother, the mission at hand…Tony's face. Anything except where she was and what was happening. The man grabbed her by her thick hair and wrapped a hand around her throat. She felt his strong hands making bruises on her neck as they constricted her breathing. Her knees were barely dangling off of the hard floor when he kneed her in the stomach. The sharp pain of his knee caught her off guard and she yelped as much as she could through her constricted airway.

He dropped her and she fell on the floor, and her temple slammed against the cool tile. Michelle couldn't breathe, and she clutched her bare stomach. The man began kicking her consistently with his foot, and Michelle's stomach felt like it was about to explode. There was nothing she could do; if she wanted, she could easily fight back. But Jack's words kept ringing in her ears. So she laid there, and took the punches as they came.

Michelle refused to give this guy the benefit of hearing her scream. She bit her bottom lip as hard as she could and held back all of the pain she was feeling, both physically and emotionally. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, and the guy was getting pissed. Obviously he was expecting her to beg for mercy, to be crawling on her knees.

The grabbed her again and threw her up against the wall. Michelle's head slammed onto something hard and she felt dizzy. The room began to spin and she thought she was either going to be sick or pass out. The man slapped her hard across the face, whipping her head to the side. She felt the burning of his palm resonate after the blow.

The room was turning black. The man let go of her, and she slid to the floor. She felt a warm liquid run down her side, and her red fingers stuck to the floor. Michelle struggled to continue to take slow, steady breaths, but each one she took got more and more shallow. Consciousness was getting harder to hold on to. She felt herself slipping away when she heard a crash and the bathroom door flung open.

Michelle flung open her eyes, a new adrenaline pulsing through her veins. Now was not the time to give up. She made out a shadowy figure holding a gun, and sensed danger. Then she heard a familiar raspy voice yell, "Drop your weapon! I said drop it!"

Tony looked one last time at Michelle and noticed something…a third finger pop up. He stared intently and counted…forefinger, middle, pinky…that was it!

He leaped up and yelled to tactical, "Quick, call Jack! Tell him we're a go! We've got the signal."

Thirty seconds later he was on the phone with Jack, who insisted it was too soon. Tony picked up the phone. "Jack, it's Tony. Listen, we've been watching from the security cameras. Michelle gave us the signal, Damien is in there."

"Are you sure, Tony? We need to be absolutely positive Lustkovitz is in there. We cannot afford any mistakes…"

"I'm positive, Jack" Tony said firmly. "Damien is inside, and I think Michelle is in danger, you need to go in now."

Tony listened as Jack gathered his men. They were going in. He only hoped it would be too late.

Michelle watched as Jack and Damien stood off, both with guns in their hands. Damien was just about to kill Michelle before Jack had walked in.

"No, you drop it!" Damien yelled. "Or I swear to God, I'll kill the bitch!"

Jack inched closer, and Damien grabbed Michelle and put his gun to her back. She struggled to stand on her feet, and looked Jack in the eyes. He looked at Michelle up and down and saw the blood and bruises. Michelle looked back at him with fear on her face, yet a strong will spread across her eyes. She stared at him and mouthed, "Do it."

Jack was attempting to avoid the inevitable. He looked at Michelle uncomfortably, obviously not wanting to be the one to make this kind of decision. Finally she screamed, "God dammit, Jack, do it already!"

Jack looked at her one last time and whispered, "I'm sorry." Michelle nodded courageously. Finally Jack said quietly, "Go."

Michelle threw her body down face-first on the ground, bringing a surprised Damien with her. Damien landed on top of her, and two shots rang through the tiled room.

Jack put his gun down and saw Damien with a bullet in his head, laying on top of Michelle. Suddenly he realized the second shot didn't come from his gun. He ran over to her and dragged his body off of her, to find a blood pooling out of a bullet wound on her upper-right shoulder.

Jack scooped her up into his arms and ran out of the club to the waiting helicopter. From there he radioed CTU.

"CTU, this is Jack Bauer. Lustkovitz is dead along with seven bodyguards. We have an injured agent flying back to CTU medical now, I need a team ready. We will be arriving in fifteen minutes."

Jack rushed to Michelle and flipped her over to see her face. Her eyes fluttered, unconsciousness taking over. Jack gently hit the sides of her face. "Hang on, Michelle. We're almost at CTU. Hang on, come one stay with me. Damn it!"

Her head rolled to the side. Jack ripped off the tight tube top and began to forcefully pump her chest. With every move he made more and more blood appeared on his hands from various wounds across her body.

For the entire ride back, Jack continued CPR. He had no idea if she was still even alive or not, it didn't matter; he didn't want to take the chance to find out.

When they got to CTU, Jack carried her to the gurney and continued his compressions while he updated the medics. They ran inside and Jack saw Tony standing at the entrance. He watched as his face turned from confusion into horror when he saw who they were rolling in.

Tony's face went pale. He looked down at Michelle, topless and covered in blood, and instantly threw up onto the sidewalk. He thought he was going to pass out. He keeled over and his body began to spasm.

Jack let the medics take Michelle in the OR and kneeled in front of him. "Tony…Tony, relax, you need to calm down."

Tony couldn't hold it in anymore. He looked at Jack dead in the eyes and clumsily swung at him. his anger was pouring out of his body. Immediately Jack grabbed his fist mid-air.

"God dammit Tony, look at yourself!" Tony stopped and could only hear the forcefulness of his breathing. He could feel his chest inflating like it was about to explode.

"Look, I'm sorry. We did everything we could. Michelle saved this entire operation. Damien was about to kill her when we walked in and we caught him off guard. Michelle was willing to sacrifice her life for this operation."

Tony took all of this in. "She shouldn't have had to" he whispered through a quivering chin. He thought he was going to break down again. Just as he was letting her in, she was ripped away. The scars felt fresh and new. "I should have been there to protect her, I should have done something, I should have saved her…"

"Tony, there wasn't anything you could do. Michelle isn't dead yet, so don't go there…not now."

Tony looked up in confusion. "What?" he whispered hopefully. "She's still alive?"

Jack nodded gravely. "Yes. I don't know how bad the damage is, though, but she is still alive. She was shot in the back, near her shoulder…not near any major arteries. But…" Jack hesitated, wondering if he should tell Tony the rest.

"What?" Tony demanded. Jack sighed heavily. "She sustained some pretty serious injuries before we got there. By the looks of it, Damien beat her up good. And probably just for fun. We're lucky we got there the time that we did."

Tony felt tears stinging. He shook his head, stood up and paced around the parking lot. "I just don't understand!" he yelled in frustration and scratched the side of his face. "We couldn't see what was going on in there, but I've never seen an agent as quick on her feet like Michelle before. I mean, Jack I swear, I was caught off guard in the training the yesterday so many times, Michelle was better than anyone could have ever expected. How can this happen? How could she not have a fighting chance against this guy? He doesn't have half the training as we do. How the hell does this happen?"

Jack felt guilty, but knew he made the right decision. He had to tell his friend the truth. "Tony…I told Michelle not to fight back if Damien got a hold of her so she could keep her cover. It was what was best for the mission, we had no other choice."

Tony's eyes widened in anger once again. "What? What the fuck do you think you're doing Jack? What gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies? You had no authority in telling her to do that, Jack, this is completely your fault! Her life is on your hands now!"

Tony punched a nearby SUV, leaving it dented like his body. He ran his hands through his hair. "God damn it, you could have had her killed! What if Michelle doesn't make it through this? You had a choice, Jack."

He walked back into the office, went into the bathroom and began to cry.