At long last, here is the next part. Sorry for the delay...I was stuck on the logistics of the undercover operation, but I think I figured out a plausible scenario, so hopefully the next part won't take as long. Thanks so much for all the feedback...you guys have inspired me to keep on writing, which is somehow a lot harder to stay motivated to do when the show is not on. Anyways, enjoy and please review...like I said, it helps keep me motivated.

I bolded the lines that were part of the fill in the blanks I posted...two of them are in this chapter, and two will probably be in the next chapter.

Enjoy!

Renee is on the phone with Dana explaining the plan. Dana is understandably upset.

"How do we know Almeida's not going to kill him?" Dana asks anxiously.

Renee sighs. "We don't," she admits.

"I read this guy's file...a year and a half ago, they trusted him to help the government and people died because he betrayed them," Dana protests.

"You don't need to remind me what happened," Renee says softly, trying to keep her emotions in check. "Listen, between you and me, I don't like this plan either," Renee admits. "I don't trust Almeida and I think this plan is too risky. But I was overruled…Jack and Cole both think this is the best plan, and I think we have to trust their judgment. I know you're worried about Cole, and trust me, I understand how you feel. But his life depends on your ability to do your part properly. If Cardiff even suspects that you know what's going on, Tony's cover will be blown and Cardiff will kill Cole. You have to act like you are completely caught off guard when Tony calls you...Cole's life depends on it."

"I...I understand," Dana says shakily.

"You can do this," Renee encourages.

"I hope so," Dana says, not sounding too convinced.

Jack is on the phone with Chloe outside the warden's office where Tony is being held.

"Chloe, did you talk to Morris?" Jack asks.

"Yeah...he's going to meet Agent Davis at the airfield in Teterboro, New Jersey with the modified sound equipment you requested."

"Okay, good. I need you to try to figure out a way to get at least a radius on his location so we can figure out where to stage the escape, but I need you to make sure that nothing you do could alert Cardiff to the fact that we're tracking him. I'm going to put Tony on the phone so he can explain the method he believes Cardiff would use to mask his location."

"Um, okay," Chloe says awkwardly. Jack senses her discomfort.

"Listen, Chloe, I know you're probably angry about what Tony did and hurt that he lied to you, but this is not the time to tell him that. I need him focused on the task at hand."

"Yeah, I understand," Chloe agrees. "Actually, I know this is going to sound terrible, but sometimes I find myself feeling sorry for him. I know it's kind of ironic, since I wasn't exactly the most sympathetic person when he went to jail for letting Stephen Saunders escape. But I guess now that I'm a mother I see things differently. If anyone ever tried to hurt Prescott, I think that would be enough to make me turn psychotic too. And besides, the people who killed Michelle tried to kill me too, so maybe I'm a little biased."

"Yeah, I understand," Jack says softly. "The truth is, I've been conflicted about it myself."

"Yeah, I kind of got that sense," Chloe replies. "That must make things kind of weird for you and Renee. I mean, she used to be with Larry and Tony killed him, but you probably feel conflicted because Tony used to be your friend...and all of her anger towards Tony is probably making you wonder if she's really over Larry enough to be with you and…"

"Chloe," Jack interrupts gently.

"I'm sorry. It's none of my business, is it?" she says quickly.

"It's alright," Jack says, slightly amused. "I appreciate your concern, but we need to stay focused right now. I'm going to put Tony on, okay?"

"Yeah."

Jack walks back into the warden's office where Tony is waiting.

"Tony, I've got Chloe on the line. I'm going to put her on so you can explain to her how you think Cardiff will mask his location, alright?"
"Yeah, alright," Tony agrees, looking a little hesitant as he takes the phone from Jack.

"Um, hi," Chloe says awkwardly on the other end.

"Hey," Tony says uneasily. He takes a deep breath. "Listen, Chloe, I'm sorry for lying to you. I know you probably don't believe me, but I didn't tell you more about Wilson because I didn't want to make you a target."

"Not now, Tony," Chloe snaps. Realizing she sounded harsher than intended, she quickly corrects herself. "Sorry…that didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to. I mean, I appreciate your saying it, and if you want to pour your heart out later I'm all ears. But Jack says we need to stay focused, so why don't you just tell me how to decrypt Cardiff's location from his phone?"

"Yeah. The way we used to do it was instead of disabling the locator feature on the phone, we'd leave it on, but use a code I wrote to scramble the GPS signals so it would give the wrong location. I used different parameters for every phone, but I'm pretty sure the code I gave Cardiff for his phone would put him 20 miles north and 15 miles west of wherever he actually was. I don't know if it will work…he may have figured out how to modify it…but I figure it's worth a try. He wasn't much of a tech person so there's a pretty good chance he's still using the same hack I gave him."

"Alright, thanks. I'm going to try to get a preliminary read on his location so we can figure out where to stage the escape."

"Alright. Just make sure you do it in a way that he can't detect."

"Yeah, got it," Chloe says, amused that Jack just said the exact same thing a minute ago.

"Look, Tony, I don't think what you did was right…that's a pretty big understatement," Chloe says before hanging up. "But for what it's worth, if anyone ever hurt my son, I would want them dead too. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I accept your apology, and I don't hate you. I mean, maybe I should after everything you did, but I don't."

Tony can't help but be slightly amused by her awkward-as-usual way of phrasing things. "Thanks, Chloe. I appreciate that," he says, managing something sort of resembling a smile.

RANDALL AIRPORT, MIDDLETOWN, NY

Davis gets out of the chopper and is met by two local police officers.

"Agent Davis?"

"Yeah, that's me." Davis shows his ID.

"We were told to have a vehicle for you to borrow to pick up a prisoner at FCI Otisville."

"Yeah, that's right."

"You sure you don't want backup? Normally there are at least three members of a security team transporting a prisoner."

"No. I need to handle this myself. Those were the orders from Brian Hastings at CTU."

"Alright, here are the keys."

"Thanks."

Davis gets into the car and starts driving when his phone rings.

"Davis," he answers.

"Cole, are you crazy?" Dana asks on the other end of the line.

Davis chuckles. "I guess Agent Walker explained the plan to you," he says sheepishly.

"The plan is insane," Dana insists. "You're going to go undercover as a hostage and trust someone who killed over 20 federal agents to protect you? They're going to want him to kill you to prove he's not playing them, and even if they don't, what's to stop Almeida from killing you so that he can escape?"

"The man committed crimes that could have easily gotten him the death penalty or g-d knows how many consecutive life sentences. Instead he's going to get out of there in 8 ½ years. Jack knows him better than anyone, and he doesn't think he'd be stupid enough to risk that."

Dana sighs. "Look, Cole, I know how much you admire Jack, but I don't think he's using the soundest judgment here."

"This plan wasn't Jack's idea," Cole admits. "It was mine. Yes, it's dangerous, but it's the best chance we have to find this guy Cardiff and save potentially thousands of innocent people from being killed. I have to consider my own life secondary…you know that."

"Yeah, I know…it's just really hard to deal with sometimes, Cole. You're always putting yourself in these crazy situations where it's a miracle you come out alive."

"Well, I'll do my best to come out of this one alive too. But if you want to help protect me, the best thing you can do right now is get off the phone and get prepared so that if Almeida or Cardiff calls you you'll be able to pull it off. My life depends on you, Dana," he urges.

Dana sighs, looking like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Back at the airfield, the two local police officers who gave Davis the car are walking toward another police car. As they go to get in, a SHOT is fired at the bottom of the car, making the car EXPLODE. Both officers are killed in the explosion.

The pilot of Davis' plane gets out with his gun and looks to see where the shot came from. A man sneaks up from behind and shoots him in the back.

The man checks the pilot to confirm that he is dead, then takes out his phone.

"Rajesh? It's Cardiff."

"Vince? What's the status?" Rajesh asks.

"A CTU officer just left the airfield to pick up Almeida. The pilot and two local police officers have been neutralized. We're in position to take out Almeida when he gets here."

"Very good. Before you eliminate him and the agent he's with, make sure you find out what he told CTU."

Cardiff seems reluctant. "We don't have time for that," he protests. "When the two local police don't respond to their radios, police are going to be all over the scene. I'm going to wire the plane with C4 then get out of here before they find me."

"No," Rajesh objects. "You do this my way, or Almeida won't be the only one we eliminate."

Hope you enjoyed it. I promise to post more soon. Here are a few teasers for the next chapter:

"Tony knows who you are and he knows that you and ______ were more than just _________." "This operation has _______ _______ written all over it." "You don't want to spend the rest of your life _____ _____ ______."