Here's a little more. This part is mostly just establishing stuff. I should warn that two new characters feature prominently in this part, and I did interpret them in part from the one-line descriptions I have read of the new characters, so if that bothers you don't read this. I figure it will be interesting to see how my interpretations compare once we actually meet these characters in season 8.

Jack is standing in a secluded area near the warden's office talking to Brian Hastings and Agent Cole Ortiz, the head of Field Ops for CTU NY, on the phone.

"I don't understand," Brian says. "Why can't we just reprogram a cell phone to make it look like it's coming from a nearby pay phone so Almeida can make the call from where he is?"

"We can," Jack answers. "But if we do that we give up an opportunity."

"What kind of opportunity?" Hastings asks.

"Cardiff is most likely a mercenary, working for whoever's behind today's attacks. If Tony can convince him that he really escaped and needs help, we may have a chance to find out who he's working for."

"How?"

"By making it look like Tony killed the agents transporting him and stole their COMM equipment. We can modify the equipment so that they think they're linked into CTU's communications, but we can hide a microphone inside so that we can hear what's going on."

"Hold on a second. You're not seriously suggesting that we trust Almeida to pull off some kind of undercover operation, are you?" Hastings asks incredulously.

Jack sighs, knowing it is going to be tough to convince them. "Please, just hear me out. I know that I mistakenly trusted him a year and a half ago and a lot of people died as a result. But the circumstances are different today than they were then. We now know what Tony's end game was, and we know that he was working alone. Agent Walker is checking the records right now, but as far as we can tell it doesn't look like he's had any contact with the outside world besides me and a few FBI interrogators who came to question him about Alan Wilson. Chloe crossed his name with everyone we know to have been involved with today's attacks and it came up clean. It's highly unlikely that he had anything to do with what's happening today, and assuming you haven't found any other leads and don't have anyone else who's put in time undercover with Cardiff, I think this is our best option."

"How do you know this isn't just a ploy so he can escape?" Ortiz asks.

"I don't," Jack admits. "But I don't think so. Tony knows how lucky he is to be getting out of there in eight and a half years, and I don't think he'd be stupid enough to jeopardize that. Besides, formulating a plan to escape from prison requires motivation and determination that I don't think he has right now. And we can establish a perimeter that makes it pretty difficult for him to escape even if he tries."

"So what, you think he offered to do this because he wants to try to make up for what he did before?" Hastings asks.

"Something like that, yeah. I know it sounds suspicious, and believe me, I'm skeptical too. I know that he exploited my trust and a lot of people got hurt as a result. But last year, I'm ashamed to say that my gut told me something was off, and I ignored it because I wanted to believe him."

"What are you saying, Jack?" Ortiz asks.

"I'm saying that this time, my gut says he's telling the truth."

Hastings sighs. "I don't know, Jack…you're asking me to go out on a pretty big limb here."

"I realize that, Brian. Look, it's your call. But you asked me to come in today to advise you how to handle this crisis. And my advice is that this is the best chance we have to find out who's responsible for this morning's attacks and stop them before they do any more damage."

"I think Jack's right," Ortiz agrees. "I think the potential upside of this outweighs the risks."

"If I did agree to this, how would we make it look like Almeida killed his CTU escorts without anyone actually getting killed?" Hastings asks.

"We can use the bodies of the agents who were killed this morning in the standoff at the United Nations."

"For Christ's sake, Jack, their families are coming to pick up their bodies. You want me to tell the wives who just lost their husbands that they have to wait to claim the bodies because they're being thrown around as bait for a terrorist?"

Jack opens his mouth to respond, but Ortiz cuts in before he gets a chance. "I think there might be a better option," he interjects.

"What's that?" Jack asks.

Ortiz hesitates for a second, a little nervous about what he is about to say. "Look, Brian, I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this for a while, but Dana and I have been seeing each other for a while now."

"You mean Dana Walsh, our systems analyst?"

"Yeah," Ortiz admits.

"Putting aside the fact that this is a violation of CTU protocol, why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I think we might be able to use it. Instead of just using dead bodies, we can make it look like I was transporting Almeida and he took me hostage. When he calls Cardiff, he can say that he overheard me talking to Dana on the phone and realized he might be able to use me against her. That way he's giving Cardiff more of an incentive to bring him into the operation, and I'll be in place to help control Almeida, and their communication with Dana will keep CTU in the loop about what they're doing even if he decides to disable the tracker."

Jack sighs. He knows that he would have come up with the same idea if he were in Ortiz' shoes, but somehow it seems different when it's someone else putting himself on the line. "Cole, I'm not comfortable with that."

"Why not?"

"Because even though I don't think Tony's plan is to escape, I think it's possible that he might panic at the thought of going back to prison and try to make a run for it, and if you were in his way he'd have to neutralize you. Not to mention the possibility that Cardiff will ask Tony to kill you to prove his loyalty, and even if he's trying to do the right thing, he may have no choice but to comply to maintain his cover."

Ortiz chuckles. "Look, I appreciate your concern for my safety, but this is my job. If you were in my shoes, wouldn't you do this even if it was dangerous?"

"Probably," Jack admits.

"Alright, then let's do it. I'll start heading your way now…we can discuss the logistics while I'm en route," Ortiz says.

"Wait a second. I haven't agreed to this yet," Brian protests.

"Look, we don't have time for you to hem and haw about this. I'm going to start heading out there now…it takes about 20 minutes by helicopter. If you want to stop me, go ahead," Ortiz challenges. Jack chuckles to himself, amazed at how much Ortiz reminds him of himself.

"Listen, let's keep this to as few people as possible," he suggests. "Bring Dana up to speed so she knows her role. But other than her and Chloe, I don't want anyone else to know about this yet."

"Why not?" Hastings asks.

"It's just safer that way…trust me. Keep this on a need-to-know basis."

"Alright," Brian agrees. "Is Agent Walker there with you? Have you brought her up to speed yet?"

"No, she's still with the warden going over Tony's records." He sighs heavily. "She's not going to be happy when she hears about this," he says glumly, not looking forward to that conversation.

Hope you liked this. I'll have more up soon. As a teaser, here are a few fill-in-the-blanks for the next chapter. Feel free to review or PM me with your guesses of what the missing words are and who says them to who.

1. "How could you ever think of ________ _______ again?"

2. "I was afraid that if I pushed too hard...I was afraid he would try to _____ ______."

3. "Don't you think there are some people who are just beyond ________?"